CyberRose
أرفع الشفرات
Ok prepare for a rant!
If the BNP is to be defeated then it's pretty obvious that a whole new strategy is needed. Media campaigns and political campaigns telling (working class) people not to vote BNP because they are racist/fascist has failed miserably and the BNP will only grow in strength from here (in fact there's a good chance that the support the BNP won was a big two fingers up to those campaigns)
I think a massive problem for the left is that they don't seem to understand what the working classes actually want. There's the misguided assumption that because socialism aims to empower the working class, that the working class must automatically support left wing policies - well last night showed that more of the working classes support an extreme right wing party than those who support left wing parties (in fact that was something experienced all across Europe)
I admit that I don't know a great deal about the BNP's policies (in detail), I've never been spoken to by any of them, I've never read any of their literature (despite it being delivered to me) and having a quick glance through their main policies on their website saw that they all had references to immigrants, foreign control, etc. However, listening to Griffin's speeches from last night (and today) it's obvious that the people he appeals to are "old" Labour voters (his contempt for New Labour selling out on their Old Labour values mirrors many opinions on U75 and further afield in the left). What the BNP has demonstrated, perhaps putting a silver lining on this sorry affair, is that real working class people still yearn for those Old Labour values.
Fascist parties come to power by playing on people's emotions, but first they need to fully understand what will play effectively on those emotions and that is where the BNP have been so successful and that is where, imo, the left have failed miserably.
And that brings me to the question of my post: Does the left understand the working class and how would they answer their concerns?
The only time I ever hear the left wing parties is then they're marching for Palestine or Iraq or Afghanistan. They're at full voice as well when the topic turns to welfare reforms or civil liberties. But are these issues the working class actually give two shits about? For the wars, they care about British soldiers not about Iraqis or Afghanis. The working class care about jobs of course, but do they care that people who don't want jobs get handouts every week? And civil liberties, do the working class care that they're constantly on CCTV or do they want their estates flooding with it and police on every corners?
However, there are issues that the BNP have triumphed that the left could equally have no problems in supporting. I think the main policy would be massive investment in our public services. People want investment in transport, they want investment in the NHS, they want more police and better equipped armed forces (this is something the left need to swallow their pride over and actually pay more than lip service to "the democratic will of the people") - how on Earth have the BNP managed to sway people with their promises of investment into our public services and not the left?! (Other issues more important that the working class don't care about?)
The left, imo, either don't know or don't care what the working class actually want. Or when they do seem to have gotten it right other issues take precedence. Possibly this all comes down to priorities. The left seem to put an awful lot of effort into campaign issues that the working class either doesn't care about or has the complete opposite opinion (not to say that these issues aren't important, but this is politics isn't it?)
It's a sad state of affairs but this is something people need to accept if things are going to change but the BNP have showed they are more in tune with the working class than the left have, and that's something they need to learn from.
Anyway, I know I'm generalising and the entire working class doesn't support the BNP, but it just seems that the type of person that voted BNP should be the type of people the left are targeting
/Rant over (and last night's results called for a rant!)
ps the above is my opinion of what the working class wants, it could be right, it could be wrong, you may have a different experience
If the BNP is to be defeated then it's pretty obvious that a whole new strategy is needed. Media campaigns and political campaigns telling (working class) people not to vote BNP because they are racist/fascist has failed miserably and the BNP will only grow in strength from here (in fact there's a good chance that the support the BNP won was a big two fingers up to those campaigns)
I think a massive problem for the left is that they don't seem to understand what the working classes actually want. There's the misguided assumption that because socialism aims to empower the working class, that the working class must automatically support left wing policies - well last night showed that more of the working classes support an extreme right wing party than those who support left wing parties (in fact that was something experienced all across Europe)
I admit that I don't know a great deal about the BNP's policies (in detail), I've never been spoken to by any of them, I've never read any of their literature (despite it being delivered to me) and having a quick glance through their main policies on their website saw that they all had references to immigrants, foreign control, etc. However, listening to Griffin's speeches from last night (and today) it's obvious that the people he appeals to are "old" Labour voters (his contempt for New Labour selling out on their Old Labour values mirrors many opinions on U75 and further afield in the left). What the BNP has demonstrated, perhaps putting a silver lining on this sorry affair, is that real working class people still yearn for those Old Labour values.
Fascist parties come to power by playing on people's emotions, but first they need to fully understand what will play effectively on those emotions and that is where the BNP have been so successful and that is where, imo, the left have failed miserably.
And that brings me to the question of my post: Does the left understand the working class and how would they answer their concerns?
The only time I ever hear the left wing parties is then they're marching for Palestine or Iraq or Afghanistan. They're at full voice as well when the topic turns to welfare reforms or civil liberties. But are these issues the working class actually give two shits about? For the wars, they care about British soldiers not about Iraqis or Afghanis. The working class care about jobs of course, but do they care that people who don't want jobs get handouts every week? And civil liberties, do the working class care that they're constantly on CCTV or do they want their estates flooding with it and police on every corners?
However, there are issues that the BNP have triumphed that the left could equally have no problems in supporting. I think the main policy would be massive investment in our public services. People want investment in transport, they want investment in the NHS, they want more police and better equipped armed forces (this is something the left need to swallow their pride over and actually pay more than lip service to "the democratic will of the people") - how on Earth have the BNP managed to sway people with their promises of investment into our public services and not the left?! (Other issues more important that the working class don't care about?)
The left, imo, either don't know or don't care what the working class actually want. Or when they do seem to have gotten it right other issues take precedence. Possibly this all comes down to priorities. The left seem to put an awful lot of effort into campaign issues that the working class either doesn't care about or has the complete opposite opinion (not to say that these issues aren't important, but this is politics isn't it?)
It's a sad state of affairs but this is something people need to accept if things are going to change but the BNP have showed they are more in tune with the working class than the left have, and that's something they need to learn from.
Anyway, I know I'm generalising and the entire working class doesn't support the BNP, but it just seems that the type of person that voted BNP should be the type of people the left are targeting
/Rant over (and last night's results called for a rant!)
ps the above is my opinion of what the working class wants, it could be right, it could be wrong, you may have a different experience
