So I voted... what now?

Well, wasn't Sunday evening fun? Oh yes indeedy. Having to wait up until 2.30am until you finally get the result in that that odious "human" shit Griffin has been elected to the European parliament. Yep, that was certainly worth waiting up for. This of course means that even at 2.30am you can't sleep, so that you really feel great in the morning.

Even though I could have fallen asleep as soon as I got in from work later that day, I was still able to force myself to go to the demo in Picaddilly gardens. Despite the fact that it had only been called the day before there were many hundreds of people there. The crowd was young, angry. Through out the demo and the speakers you could feel the sense of urgency in this demo. People wanted to do something. The following day there was a organising meeting for Unite Against Fascism with about 100 in attendance. The numbers were so great that we struggled to get everyone in, even with people sat on the floor and window sills. "This movement is going to need a bigger room," I remarked to a friend.

The level of protest against Nick Griffin has not let up for a moment. He desperately wants to be seen as a normal, respectable politician, and he thinks that his election will do this for him. He is wrong. He is still the same Nazi scumbag he was before, and we're not going to let him forget it. Griffin has said himself that one of the most damaging things to his party is when people call him a Nazi. it so important that we do this as loudly and as publically as we can, because it doesn't come from the media who prefer meaningless terms like "far right," or understating terms like "racist."

To be fair to the media, recent times has seen as good a response against the BNP as I can ever remember seeing before. The Manchester Evening News has been excellent, carrying stories exposing them every day. The same with the Mirror. I even looked through the Sun today, and they carried stories saying what Britain would look like with the BNP in charge, including the picture of the England football team with the non white players blanked out.

I have heard complaints from some that the tactics of anti-fascists play into the hands of the Nazi's. This argument you hear time and again, but it simply isn't true. For whatever level of sympathy Griffin can gain for himself by saying he isn't being treated fairly, is nothing compared to the effect we have in refusing him the platform to appear like a normal politician. Normal politicians may occasionally get hit with an egg, but not every single day they make a public appearance!

And as Weyman Bennett said yesterday, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs (If anyone wants to know how to make a Nazi omelette by the way, that's where you only use the egg whites).

Some say that by throwing eggs at him, the anti-fascists are showing themselves as being no better than they are. Pardon? Hmm... maybe I'm wrong. Were 6 million Jews egged by the Nazi's? Even Griffin wouldn't go that far, and he's a convicted Holocaust denier.

No, the fascists show themselves up as the thugs they are, an example being the protest outside Westminster where a woman protester was punched in the face and knocked to the ground by one of Griffins goons. This movement shows incredible discipline when facing the fascists. Did we beat Griffin up when he tried to get into Manchester town hall on Sunday? No, we just denied him the way in of the normal politician, and then he ran away.

They shall not pass, and we will stop them through the building of a mass movement.


And I'm not too scared about life in Britain right now. Fighting against the Nazi's should never be considered an automatic thing (how on earth did we let the scumbags get 55 councillors nationwide??), but we have a great movement to fight them. Also, the new series of Big Brother has been on but it was only today, and only once, that I've heard it being discussed.

And I've heard it might be cancelled because PEOPLE HAVE STOPPED WATCHING IT!! If this is true, and we have life without Big Brother, then I'm proud to British! Although we cannot stop fighting until Britain's got Talent is off the air as well! Brothers and Sisters, Unite!!

Seriously though, I can't be the only one sickened by this parading of deluded individuals, including the genuinely mentally ill. What the hell is going on? Voting in this country starts to resemble the 1930's, and our entertainment has gone back to the Victorian age!

Hey, you know what?... I feel a little better now. I've got such a level of confidence in the anti-fascist movement that I've been able to go back to pointless grumbling about what's on TV. Which is strangely comforting, it must be said.

Stop the BNP! But what else?

The European elections are coming up and I will of course be voting, but only because of the need to vote against the BNP. The Nazi's were in a stronger position than at the last elections up to a few months ago anyway, but with the scandal revolving around MP's expenses the potential they have has risen. Public disgust over this issue has turned people off from supporting the mainstream parties more than ever. A scandal against Labour may ordinarily be to the gain of the Tories, but all 3 of the main political parties have been tarnished by this issue.

Thankfully there has been concerted effort in campaigning against the BNP by Unite Against Fascism and Hope not Hate, and the danger the BNP pose is being taken seriously. It is getting a lot of attention in the press about the need for people to get out and vote to stop the BNP. It is also being taken up as a serious issue more than ever by the other political parties, who are stating more than ever before their opposition to the BNP.

This is to be welcomed of course, but it does also bring up some other issues of concern. This can be summed up by an advert I saw today in the Metro from the Green party that explained that you had to vote for them to keep the BNP out, as it was between the 2 of them who could get the last Euro seat in the northwest. The entire emphasise was put on voting for them to keep the BNP out. Not on climate change, peace issues, better cleaner public transport. Not on any issues of policy at all. It was just about voting against the BNP.

The ad also had testimony from people like Salma Yaqoob from Respect and Mark Thomas backing them in the northwest, the intention clearly to attract a wider liberal and radical left audience. Essentially this was the point of the advert, to get to that layer of people who will be voting to stop the BNP, but have no party affiliations. I find it worrying that in a time when the field is more open than possibly ever before to fringe parties, and therefore more opportunity for left wing parties, that campaigning is being boiled down to simply offering yourself as a tactical vote.

Don't get me wrong, it is definitely a good thing that parties state their opposition to the BNP, and say why they are an alternative to the main parties instead of them. But it can't be the only reason they put forward for why they are an alternative.

This is on my mind because it brings up a personal question of who I should vote for in the European elections. I will definitely vote, ao I always would if the Nazi's are standing, but I would still like have something that I want to vote for. I think it basically comes down to the Green party or No to EU. No to EU is a more leftwing campaign, and was initiated by unions. But then the Green party may well be right in saying that they're the most likely to stop the BNP in the northwest, as they would expect more votes. I hadn't heard of No to EU until 2 weeks ago, and I'm not sure they have a campaign that will amount to anything outside of London. The Green's do stand for a number of good issues, I just wish they would talk about them more and actually try to connect with people and get them involved in those campaigns.