Over the last few weeks and culminating with the BNP victory in Kent this week there has been a lot of talk in the media regarding the rise of nationalism - most of it entirely inaccurate.
There is a tendency among the self-appointed elite in Britain to smear nationalism as "extremist", but the reality is that the vast majority of people are nationalists. Wales and Scotland both have nationalist parties which enjoy considerable support and success - the SNP is the governing party in Scotland. Does that make them extremist? Of course not. It is not because the vast majority of British people are extremist - it's because they are patriots and patriots tend to be nationalist.
I very much doubt that anyone, anywhere wants an extremist government - all they want is a normal, sensible political party that will put the interests of their country and their people first. It's not enough for the leaders of those parties to say they will, they have to demonstrate that they are - and the simple fact is that none of our mainstream political parties do.
Unlike the people of Scotland and Wales, the English have no nationalist party to support. The British people as a whole only have a choice of two nationalist parties - the BNP and UKIP.
UKIP can -and have - manage success in EU elections as this is their major campaign issue (some say their only issue - but that's a little unfair), but they have a major problem making inroads into our mainstream politics because they are mainly positioned to the right of politics - and therefore appear to the majority of voters as an alternative to the Conservatives.
Conservative voters are as patriotic and nationalistic as any, but it is not Conservative voters who are mostly affected by the issues of nationalism. It isn't them who are losing their jobs, homes and streets to foreign immigrants. It isn't their towns and cities which are being turned into foreign enclaves which the indigenous people no longer feel comfortable living in - it is the working class.
Despite what the politicians and media say about the BNP being "extreme right", the politics of the BNP are a mixture of what would have been considered left of centre fifty years ago and mixed with a heavy dose of social conservatism one can understand why that would appeal to Labour voters. With that in mind, it's hardly surprising that the BNP are gaining ground in Labour heartlands as it is principally traditional Labour voters who have suffered from our political parties selling out to trans-nationalism.
If our political parties are truly concerned about the rise of "extremist" parties then their is a simple course of action. Stop pandering to the political elites and start listening to your people - we are socially conservative, patriotic and nationalist and will vote for parties that reflect our views.
A love of one's country, a belief in one's culture and a determination to maintain that nation and culture are not extremist views. Patriotism, social conservatism and nationalism are natural beliefs for the vast majority of people - they just want a party to reflect those beliefs. The Tories, Labour and Lib Dems no longer do - who else are we going to vote for?
2 comments:
I would disagree there are no English Nationalist parties there are several the best known and largest probably being the English Democrats, however they're all quite small at the moment. Smaller than the BNP and less well known. The BNP afterall does get quite a lot of publicity even if it is largely negative.
You're right that the English Democrats are basically nationalist, but currently they are a "fringe" party at best - and therefore not a real alternative for voters. When I say there are no English nationalist parties, I mean there are none which provide a national coverage for voters to choose - unlike the SNP in Scotland or Plaid Cymru in Wales.
I recognise that it is harder for a new party to make inroads into our electoral system in England than it is in Scotland or Wales, but until the ED can offer up candidates across the nation they are not a genuine alternative. They also tend to come across - like UKIP - as a single issue party with their insistent demands for an English Parliament.
To be honest, voters are turned off by that. UKIP get more coverage on television - through appearances on Quesion Time and the like - than the BNP could ever hope for, but all they ever do is bang on about withdrawing from the EU.
People don't want to be told "if we withdraw from the EU we can do this" or "if we had an English Parliament we could do this" - they want to hear "vote for us and we WILL do this" - that is the message the BNP put across.
Post a Comment