‘Whether we like it or not, the BNP are a legitimate political party and are therefore entitled to a platform on mainstream media channels. To refuse them would be to undermine our democratic principles. Nick Griffin and his party’s demonization of British Muslims is based on factual inaccuracies and an ignorance of history. As such, they are not difficult to refute. British politicians, rather than shying away from the BNP, need to arm themselves intellectually against the BNP and publicly challenge their ideology. If our politicians really believe that Griffin is wrong, they should have the courage to publicly challenge his views.’ – Lucy James, research fellow at Quilliam
‘Fighting fascism is a matter of life and death, and the rules of the Oxford Union don’t apply. The point of ‘no platform’ is to show that there some views that are so repellent and uncivilised that they fall outside the spectrum of democratic politics; by refusing to share a platform and engage with extremists, we demonstrate our solidarity with the people they would persecute and oppress. By allowing the BNP onto Question Time, the BBC and Mentorn have made a grave mistake. They should reverse their position. Until then, Labour ministers should not appear.’ – Paul Richards, weekly columnist on Progress Online
‘We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend that the BNP doesn’t exist. Nor can we deafen our ears to the increasing noise of the bigoted right or the legitimate concerns of working people. It must be our responsibility as progressives to heed the warnings before us, to debate openly and freely and – most importantly – to have the conviction of our purpose to win the battle of ideas against the vicious BNP.’ – Alex Smith, editor of LabourList.org
What possible positive outcome does the BBC expect to gain for any body or any political party from inviting the BNP onto Question Time. Are the BBC inviting them onto Any Questions too?
the BNP’s existance doesnt legitimise them. Intellectual debate does not discourage support for the BNP. As for ‘open debate’ would Cable Street be an example of that?
For years the BBC was banned from allowing the voices of people associated with Sinn Fein from being heard by viewers & listeners. This did not prevent the horrendous violence.
Through real dialogue and the pressure of having to be within the political process, engaging in greater public scrutiny and undergoing the pressure of having to justify publicly thier position and beliefs Sinn Fein radically abandoned thier fundemental armalite & the ballot box strategy, without actually achieving thier goal of unity of Ireland.
No matter how odious engagement with English Facists may feel, until they are challenged and thier stupidity of thought exposed they will be able to play to the crowd on thier own terms, no matter how base these may be.
I don’t really see how the BNP could be stopped from appearing on Question time, we live in a free society and Britain prides itself on our democratic system and even these far right groups can air their views. I don’t agree with many of their opinions, to me they are fascists and hasn’t the world seen enough of what that particular ideology can do. A previous comment mentioned Cable street in East London and look at the trouble which happened there in the 1930’s when Mosley and his henchmen started to whip up hatred regarding the Jewish people who lived there and the fighting which came about with the anti-fascists mostly communists. I myself come from that area and have read many books on this subject. I recently put a comment on another site about the BNP and their fascist views and some people sent comments back saying I was anti-British which is complete poppycock, the BNP may have some good ideas but I can’t see any, if they say they are not racist why don’t they allow non-whites to join their party. I look forward to the question time programme soon, but I think Nick Griffin is in for a rough ride and a real grilling from the audience.
Putting the race issue to one side for the time being, you should take a look at other BNP policies…you would be surprised at how many of them tick the boxes for people generally – not just for the ‘disaffected white working class’. Perhaps this is why support for the BNP is growing.