Links between the far-right and violence...

nosos
Posts: 349 Joined: 24-12-03
Submitted by nosos on 28 February, 2008 - 19:51.

Has anyone got links to any good websites/reading/resoruces about the correlation between the far-right organising and violence / racial attacks etc?

anarcho-punk "A burning fire of injustice"
Posts: 209 Joined: 13-12-07 Location: Ashford in Kent
28 February, 2008 - 20:03

sorry to be obvious but redwatch

Steven. ""Best hair at Unison conference""
Posts: 1622 Joined: 27-06-06 Location: London
28 February, 2008 - 20:45

searchlight, stopthebnp, we got some here: http://libcom.org/tags/british-national-party

Feighnt "the definition of "nobody important""
Posts: 927 Joined: 20-07-06 Location: canada, nanaimo
29 February, 2008 - 00:25

*coughobviouscough* books on WWII?

magnifico "rehabilitating"
Posts: 1331 Joined: 29-11-05 Location: Rasalhague
29 February, 2008 - 09:31

I think nosos is asking for the actual figures or at least some kind of source to back up the constant assertions we get from searchlight, uaf, antifa etc that when the bnp stand for election or whatever in some place then everyone suddenly goes mental and racist and starts carrying out violent racist acts. That is of course why anti-fascism is more important than anything else.

I suspect the evidence for this is ropey at best.

Jack "In it for spite"
Posts: 10048 Joined: 22-09-03 Location: Brighton
29 February, 2008 - 10:23

the figure always given is that racist attacks went up by 3 times when derek beacon got elected in tower hamlets. Always gets quoted, but i've never seen anything to back it up.

Joseph K. "the thinking man's idiot"
Posts: 8013 Joined: 14-03-06 Location: Brighton
29 February, 2008 - 10:45

and it says nothing of causality - if there was an increase in racism for another reason, increased racial violence and the election of a BNP member could both be effects

Jack "In it for spite"
Posts: 10048 Joined: 22-09-03 Location: Brighton
29 February, 2008 - 10:56

it also always made me suspicious that they have been using that one 15 year old example, and nothing else ever, ever since i've had any attention to it.

Joseph K. "the thinking man's idiot"
Posts: 8013 Joined: 14-03-06 Location: Brighton
29 February, 2008 - 11:02

i think i correlation is quite likely, but like i say because an increase in racism is likely to both cause more racist attacks and cause more people to vote BNP

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3659 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
29 February, 2008 - 11:04

i'm just not sure that "BNP -> increased racial violence" is actually that helpful in combatting the far right. it's got some pretty liberal undertones of "all violence is bad" which isn't necessarily true. as such it doesn't realy fit with the idea of 'class war, not race war'.

it also suggests that it is the BNP that makes people violent, rather than the BNP being a sort of confluence of assorted far right tossers and NIMBYists whose rise to prominence is symptomatic of bigger social and economic problems.

Eastern Barbarian
Posts: 72 Joined: 05-12-06
1 March, 2008 - 16:04

Agree with above written. Besides- using Searchlight as a source can be very tricky as they are know to manipulate facts very often.

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1729 Joined: 21-04-06
1 March, 2008 - 22:03

I obviously can't speak to UK conditions but over here it's not at all infrequently the case that those busted for racist violence have had recent contact with or membership in racist organizations.

Alan "Getting drunk, playing punk on a stylophone"
Posts: 5056 Joined: 28-09-04 Location: Mexico City
1 March, 2008 - 22:37

How about the ex-BNP who got arrested with the largest ever collection of explosives in British history?
Or the spate of bombings of minorities in London in the late 90s?
Surely there was a pretty strong far right connection with race riots in the north (hahaha, lovely up there innit) in 2001?
etc