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Message |
    
Spike
Member
Username: Spike
Post Number: 1050
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 - 07:01 am: | |
Having watched it last night I think we can safely say that griffin was NOT given a platform to deliver carefully coded incitements, and I would suggest that he was rather challenged and made to look like the lying ignorant racist scum that he is. I have to agree with the Boy about the BBCs lack of impartiality this time, Dimbleby led the pack and let loose the dogs of war. They pinned him down and dissected him - overall a victory for democracy I think. In fact I turned over before the end, all that blood was making me feel a little faint. |
justa TPO
Member
Username: Justa_tpo
Post Number: 403
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, October 17, 2009 - 02:24 pm: | |
If anyone watched last weeks QT, when Dimbleby said the BNP would be on next week there were boo's from the crowd. When he said that Jackie Smith was going to be on, there were louder boo's. |
Islander
Member
Username: Islander
Post Number: 162
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 - 03:36 pm: | |
Guess what? I have been 'outed' as a supporter of Unite Against Fascism by the Swindon Nationalists! Apparently in response to the publication on the net of their membership lists, someone has got hold of the mailing list and published it on their web page - is there anyone else on here on that list? Go and google Swindon Nationalists and find out!
Incidentally - my (old) work email is the one I used to sign up (the gsx one) because at the time I was branch vice chair and it was a union activity. So please don't come back and tell me I'm in trouble for using work email. Pretty please! |
Revolter
Member
Username: Revolt
Post Number: 186
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, September 25, 2009 - 04:11 pm: | |
And when do racism and fascism usually prosper? . . . in times of economic recession. |
The Boy
Member
Username: The_boy
Post Number: 128
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Friday, September 25, 2009 - 12:26 pm: | |
As you said, Rob, the BNP didn't make any 'gains' during the elections to the European Parliament, so one would hope that there aren't enough people who will be convinced that the BNP is a respectable party and then vote for them. However, whatever your political beliefs, the BNP WILL appear more respectable to many millions of people if/when Nick Griffin gets to speak on Question Time, and therefore more people will at least consider voting for a fascist, racist party that would ban democracy if it won power. |
Rob Palmer
Moderator
Username: Rob_palmer
Post Number: 492
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Friday, September 25, 2009 - 11:34 am: | |
Its his 'when we have control of the media' comment that send shivers up my spine. The parallels with pre-war Nazi Germany are evident. The only thing I can hope for is that there aren't enough people stupid enough to buy into his mysanthropic rantings for him to get elected.
But, then again, he was.......
Its that old quote again (this is one of many variants): the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
I don't think, therefore I'm not.
|
The Boy
Member
Username: The_boy
Post Number: 125
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Monday, September 21, 2009 - 02:02 pm: | |
The BNP crave respectability, which an appearance on Question Time will help them achieve. 'No platform' entails a simple decision not to speak alongside fascists. The BNP have had much more mainstream media coverage than a party their size would normally expect. I believe that the BBC should not be allowing Nick Griffin the opportunity to appear respectable and incite racial and religious hatred in front of millions of viewers.
If you doubt the type of person BNP leader Nick Griffin is read this biography from Searchlight:
http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/the-real-bnp/Profile-of-Nick-Griffin.php
The BNP are not forthcoming about their hardcore Nazi ideology, because they realise it is unpopular. Watch Griffin explain this to white supremacists in the US:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04QolIvfQEw
"So, instead of talking about racial purity, we talk about identity..."
See, that's him openly admitting that he wants to make the BNP appear more respectable, when in actual fact it is a violent, fascist organisation, that will feel more confident about attacking minorities (I mean literally attacking them) if it is given more media coverage. |
Islander
Member
Username: Islander
Post Number: 159
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Monday, September 21, 2009 - 12:59 pm: | |
I'm not sure on this one. Either we say the BNP is a legitimate political party (however offensive their views) or we don't. Any legitimate party should be afforded the opportunity to put their views across on publicly funded tv - the commercial stations can pick and choose as far as I'm concerned but not the BBC.
I've no issue with other parties choosing not to share a platform with the BNP, but to my mind that should mean the nasty b**tards get the whole show to themselves. |
Revolter
Member
Username: Revolt
Post Number: 185
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, September 21, 2009 - 12:30 pm: | |
To my mind, we've experienced fascism once in the last hundred years and that was once too many. Anyone who's unsure as to what it's about should go and have a look around Auschwitz. There was a key time in Nazi Germany in the late 1920's when those who ruled the heights of the German economy expressed their dissatisfaction with the Wermacht Government and its handling of the deep economic crises and war reparations. Consequently, the media began to swing behind the Nazi Party. I don't want to draw comparisons with the present, but I think it's worth stressing the danger of giving fascists the platform of free air-time. |
The Boy
Member
Username: The_boy
Post Number: 123
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 - 01:30 pm: | |
There is no meaningful debate or cross-examination going on in Question Time. All that will happen is that Griffin will use the platform to deliver a series of carefully coded incitements and provocations in a plausible Cambridge-educated manner, and the whole affair will be an elaborate PR stunt.
'No Platform' is a highly democratic policy. It is the democratic right of any group, party or person to refuse to share a platform with anyone else, and to refuse to extend a platform to anyone else. The policy of 'No Platform' doesn't stifle anyone's free speech. It simply urges people, out of simple solidarity with the BNP's victims, not to assist the fascists.
The "No Platform" policy isn't a demand to ban the BNP. It is a democratic decision by right-thinking people not to share a platform with fascists.
As James Macintyre wrote in the latest edition of the New Statesman:
“To those who ask, "Don't you believe in free speech?" I say of course, but not in engineering an opportunity to incite racial and religious hatred in front of millions of viewers.”*
*http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/09/wrong-bbc-bnp-griffin-question, 10/9/09 |
Rob Palmer
Moderator
Username: Rob_palmer
Post Number: 491
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 - 09:21 am: | |
My understanding is that the BNP didn't make any 'gains' during the elections to the European Parliament, simply that voters for the other parties didn't bother showing up, therefore allowing the zealots that vote for these kinds of parties to sneak one in.
I would let Griffin on so he can show himself to be what I believe he is; a rabid dog in wolf's clothing.
I don't think, therefore I'm not.
|
papa_chango
Member
Username: Papa_chango
Post Number: 537
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 - 08:01 am: | |
Justa ---- I'm with you on this and I think that the BNP shold be allowed to be an all white party, freedom of association in prive life trumps equality in a democratic society. Would a Black or Asian person sign up with the racist fools. NAPO is for probation staff and CAFCAS staff, we exclude all others. We have the freedom to decide not the state. See what I mean. |
justa TPO
Member
Username: Justa_tpo
Post Number: 399
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 - 09:26 pm: | |
I'm quite looking forward to watching the programme. I feel that it is only be letting them voice their views and challenging them (same as with our punters) that we can expose what they stand for. Their recent 'gains' at the ballot box were probably due to people feeling angry and frustrated, and feeling that voting for the BNP was their only option to vent this. By denying them a voice, however unpalatable their views may be, may only add to people frustrations instead of increasing their understanding of the threat posed by the BNP.
On top of that, I have always been of the opinion that Nick Griffin is a cross between Boris Johnson and Dubya..he's bound to put his foot in it somehow. I think David and the other panelists will not be easy on them. |
The Boy
Member
Username: The_boy
Post Number: 120
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 - 10:12 am: | |
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
The Cabinet has agreed that a senior minister should face Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, on BBC1's Question Time.
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, and John Denham, the Communities Secretary, have both indicated they are willing to sit alongside Mr Griffin.
The decision was disclosed yesterday by Gordon Brown in an interview with Radio City in Liverpool. He said: "I'm not afraid of debating anybody. We have to expose what they are about."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-minister-to-face-griffin-in -tv-debate-1787967.html
Q: Would you share a platform with an extremist like Jack Straw? He has denied the full scale of the devastation inflicted by UK and US sanctions and then occupation of Iraq... |
