Different extremist groups in Britain today.

There are a number of groups in Britain today whose views and policies are seen as being outside the accepted norm.

British National Party (BNP)

The British National Party (BNP) is a far right political party operating in Britain today, with an extreme ideology that uses race as key membership criteria. However, this is likely to change as it has been ruled illegal to deny membership based upon race and cultural background, and the BNP have now stated that it is planning on changing its admission policy.

It was founded in 1982 by John Tyndall, as an offshoot of the British National Front. A former organiser of the National Front, Nick Griffin, is now the current chairman.

The constitution clearly states that the BNP wants to reverse the tide of non white immigration and restore the population of Britain to a predominantly white nation as was pre 1948.

This would mean the return of all British citizens that are not of white “Indigenous” Caucasian origin. However, the BNP are prepared to accept any white immigrant that is prepared to assimilate to the accepted white Caucasian ethnicity. The BNP believe that there are biological differences in races, which determine characteristics and behaviour particular to that race. Until recently, the BNP have been overtly anti Semitic, blaming many of the current economic problems on Zionism. Due to the recent changes in the law on making Holocaust denial unlawful, the BNP have now accepted the occurrence of the Holocaust albeit on a much lesser scale than globally acknowledged. The BNP have recently started to concentrate their policies against Islam.

It has become more and more mainstream, with the BNP gaining two seats in the most recent European Elections. In June 2009, the BNP won their first county council seats, namely in Lancashire and Leicestershire. This was in addition to the several metropolitan borough council seats. In 2008, the BNP finished fifth in the London Mayoral election, and the candidate, Richard Barnbrook was elected to the London Assembly. Currently, the BNP have no elected Members of Parliament, although many analysts are now looking keenly to the next General Election.

The party is ostracised by mainstream politicians and opposed by the leaders of Westminster’s major parties, including Conservative Party leader David Cameron, Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg.

Sources

http://bnp.org.uk/policies/

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/the-real-bnp/

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/article-23478458-bnp-picks-psychic-and-a-gay-porn-director-as-candidates.do

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party

http://www.douglasmurray.co.uk/TheBNPandtheOnlineFascistNetwork.pdf

English Defence League (EDL)

The EDL are a fairly new organisation established in 2009 with the sole purpose of protesting against ‘Militant Islam’. They claim to be a non racist, political social movement with the main aims of promoting democracy and cultural tolerance. They claim that the Government has let down the British forces abroad, especially in Afghanistan.

The EDL have held a series of anti Islamic rallies across the UK in 2009, namely in Birmingham, London (Harrow) Manchester and Leeds. At all rallies there have been significant police presence and skirmishes at each rally have lead to a number of arrests.

The EDL use quotes from an acute minority viewpoint to legitimise their views on Islam, namely statements made by Anjem Choudhary (see below).

Sources

http://www.englishdefenceleague.org/

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1159175_edl_protest_in_manchester_as_it_happened

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8261027.stm