By Louise Livesey | 18 May 2009, 08:49

The European elections are fast approaching (alongside some local elections) and the BNP are hoping to get MEP elected. Why is this a feminist issue? (We have covered some issues of this before here and here)

The BNP, apart from their generic racist, sexist, homophobic atttiudes are suggesting

• repealing protection of witnesses in “>rape cases


• reformation of family law to benefit men on the basis that:
  

  Divorce and family laws and maintenance arrangements discriminate against men, and innocent men who are falsely accused of rape have their lives ruined while their lying accusers cannot even be named.

  From p7 of the BNP Manifesto



• arguing for tax reforms which will re-establish women as dependents of their husbands


• Nick Griffin (the Party leader) has said he doesn’t recognise human rights


• Nick Griffin describes claims for equal rights between men and women as “feminist poison”.


• The Party is also anti-choice

The BNP have taken down the webpage with their White Paper on Family Policy, I don’t know why but it might have something to do with being written by Nick Eriksen who was the BNP London Assembly candidate who said “women are like gongs, they need striking regularly” and women were more troubled by handbag theft than rape because rape was just sex and women liked sex (he was later removed from his position). There is some discussion of it here.

Whilst the BNP are fielding some women as candidates, sadly some of them seem to be “off-message” as evidenced here including one who argues the BNP isn’t in favour of extraditing non-whites abroad (in direct contrast to the BNP’s own website!).

So what’s the message - Ensure you are registered to vote and then go out and vote in the European and Local Elections on June 4th!

The European election voting system means that the BNP can only win if turnout is low. The fewer people that vote, the better the BNPs chances are of getting representatives elected because they can and will turn out their hardcore supporters, sensing a miasma of politically opportune apathy at the moment. So go and cast your vote, but don’t let the BNP win through a willingness to not oppose them.

HOPE not Hate has a campaign page here and are advocating four things you can do - join the HOPE not hate campaign, tell your friends, find an event and go and vote!

HOPE not hate was set up to counter racism and fascism in elections and beyond. Over the past few years the British National Party has seriously contested council elections all over the country and achieved 55 councillors at district/borough level after the May 2008 local elections, though this has since fallen to 54. The BNP is now concentrating all its resources on the European elections, in the hope of getting Nick Griffin elected to the European Parliament. Once there, he would link up with other European fascist parties, to gain international influence and, above all, funding beyond the BNP’s dreams. At Searchlight we want to make sure that people know the full story about who the BNP are and what they really stand for. The HOPE not hate website aims to do just that, serving the anti-fascist movement and providing up to date news, good practice and analysis.