BBC exposes 'true face' of far-right BNP

[maddezmom]

LONDON (AFP) - An activist for a far-right British National Party (BNP) has boasted about committing a racially-motivated crime, on an undercover BBC television documentary.


The film also shows BNP leader Nick Griffin condemning Islam as a "vicious, wicked faith" and saying he would face seven years in prison if he made such comments in public.


BBC reporter Jason Gwynne, who spent six months undercover with the BNP, recorded party member Steve Barkham confessing to attacking an Asian man during race-related riots three years ago in the city of Bradford, northern England.


"I gave him a good f**king hiding because that's what he asked for.... I'm kicking him, kicking away, kicking away. Oh, it was f**king fantastic," Barkham told the one-hour long programme, entitled "The Secret Agent."
~snip~
more:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1538&ncid=732&e=9&u=/afp/20040715/wl_uk_afp/britain_politics_race

[Screaming Lord Byron]

1. Not exactly a surprise, mind.

What else did people think these wankers got up to?

[Spentastic]

3. Yes I'm truly amazed

Who would have thought that a party with a neo nazi agenda would have unsavoury characters in it? What's next for British T.V? Conservative party full of repressed homosexuals? Labour party full of compulsive liars? Liberal Democrats have secret ginger weapon?

[LibLabUK]

7. Hmm

I actually think that we need more of these type of programmes, illuminating the ideology behind these organisations.

I'd actually like to see behind the scenes of UKIP.. I'm sure a lot of people who voted that way recently would be quite suprised as to the levels of racism and xenophobia.

I'll take undercover exposes over wall-to-wall Big Brother and it's banal clones.

[T_i_B]

15. Yep

It is simply the nature of the beast for the BNP to be violent and racist. It's been that way ever since the days of Oswald Mosely.

And call me what you will, but the whole Mosely thing needs to be brought up as much as possible with regard to the BNP. They were traitors in Britains darkest hour and they would be traitors again today given half a chance. Those who wrap themselves in the flag the most are sometimes the least patriotic of all.

[Demonaut]

4. are you British or English Lord Byron?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. I'm a Canadian from Scotland.

[Demonaut]

8. the anti arab sentiment in Britain is pretty intense

and sense of Nationalism is huge, I wont be surprised if more attacks happen in the near future.

[LibLabUK]

10. eh?

""the anti arab sentiment in Britain is pretty intense""

Eh?

"and sense of Nationalism is huge"

Eh?

"I wont be surprised if more attacks happen in the near future. "

Eh?

[Demonaut]

11. Grandmother lives in West Drayton, sister lives in Somersham, Cambs

just got back from a two week visit and I got this impression while I was there. I dont agree with the sentiments and I no longer live there but in conversations with citizens I met I found it fairly prevalent. I'm not saying all feel this way but I've never felt this level of anger and dislike of "foreigners" before.

[LibLabUK]

14. Hmm..

Maybe it's raised in the areas you visited... or maybe it's just not raised in the areas I visit/live in.

I've not noticed any nationwide increase in racism. However, I have noticed that the people and organisations that were racist before have now become a little more vociferous..the BNP being a big example.

I would dispute any hatred of "foreigners" though...

[Demonaut]

16. could be, but I remember the "Paki-Bashing " of the seventies

but this seemed mostly among the youths at the time, but maybe living there you dont see the gradual rise versus my visits every six years or so. bty I left in 1979, born in 1962

[Monte Carlo]

2. From where I stand, that Britian is not part of Europe is hilarious.

A lot of the right-wing people over there are in a huge hurry to isolate themselves. They refer to Europe as if they weren't part of it. That's not true on any map I'VE seen.

[T_i_B]

13. Dunno if you have noticed this...

...but we are an island. My rabidly anti-EU mother keeps repeating the line that "we are an island race" whenever I am in her presence.

The thing is, for the UKIP types the channel just cannot be wide enough to keep those nasty foreigners out. The fact that we are seperated from the continent by the sea does have an influence on British Euro-scepticism.

[ForPeace]

6. Britain has always had it's share of thugs

There has always been a "yobbo" or thug element in Britain wanting to bash someone - e.g. football "fans". Foreigners give them another excuse such as Paki-bashing in the 1970s, nothing new here. Sad but true.

By the way when you say "Europe" in Britain it means continental Europe. They've always considered themselves separate, as indeed they are, by about 20 miles.

I know - I grew up there.

[LibLabUK]

9. Hmm

Well Entente Cordiale is only just 100 years old... give us a chance. :)

British troops leading the Bastille Day parade through Paris, and the Red Arrows flying over it shows how far things have come since the bad old days.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi Lily!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Briar]

12. In a interview tonight

Nick Griffin tells Newsnight: "If I'm prosecuted under the race act or
under any incitement to religious hatred for telling the truth about a
religion which is in this country and is going to utterly transform our
society and destroy our culture as we know it, then if I'm prosecuted
for that and it becomes a platform I'll be delighted, yes."

(From the Newnight newsletter)

He gets this toxic rubbish from the ever-so patriotic gutter press and its campaigns against mad mullahs and illegal immigrants (or asylum seekers, the terms are interchangeable at this level) of course. As the Kilroy-Silk furore proved, xenophobic bigotry is on the rise over here, outside the capital anyway. It's very shaming.

Excellent article about what it feels like to be a dispersed asylum seeker in Middlesbrough here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11374,1256572,00.html

[SemperEadem]

17. deja vu

Nick Griffin tells Newsnight: "If I'm prosecuted under the race act or under any incitement to religious hatred for telling the truth about a religion which is in this country and is going to utterly transform our society and destroy our culture as we know it, then if I'm prosecuted for that and it becomes a platform I'll be delighted, yes."

(From the Newnight newsletter)

Ah, Bloody Nick. All he needs now is to get a portrait painted with his mates and muster the rebellion to propel Protestantism back to the European mainland and return England to Rome.

Does he wear a red shirt, too?

(/facetious)