Berkley Center

Since I arrived in London in September, I have seen campaigns, demonstrations, and posters in opposition to the British National Party (BNP) almost everyday on campus and across the city. I didn't know anything about the political party upon my arrival, but this didn't last long, as the BNP has attracted significant attention among British citizens recently. The BNP was founded in 1982, and today it is often described as a fascist Nazi Party. In June, one million people voted for the BNP in the European Parliament elections, earning the party two seats in European Parliament. In the 2008 British local elections, they won 15 of 584 council seats. While the leaders claim the BNP is no longer the racist, anti-Semitic party it once was, the party still only allows Caucasians to be members (this policy is currently under revision due to pressure from the Equality and Human Rights Commission), and heads of the party have in the recent past made statements denying the Holocaust and demeaning homosexuals and Islam.

In the midst of much controversy and uproar, the BNP was invited to join the panel of BBC's Question Time, a show that has become an institution in British democracy over the past 30 years. The show airs every week, offering a forum through which the audience can have an open debate and question-answer session with members of Parliament. Nick Griffin, who holds one of the BNP's two seats in European Parliament, represented the party on Question Time on October 22. Over the course of the show, he managed to insult and disgust people by calling homosexuals “creepy; stated that Islam “doesn't fit in with free speech, democracy, and equal rights for women;” and described the influx of immigrants as “genocide” of the indigenous British people.

People in the audience and on the panel described Griffin's views as not only offensive, but also in contradiction of the very fabric of British culture and tradition. The long history of immigration in the United Kingdom was touted as one of the country's strengths. In tracing back the importance of diversity in British history, one panelist cited the involvement of Chinese, African, Indian, and Pakistani soldiers alongside British soldiers in the fight against fascism in WWII. An historian on the panel marked the reign of the Romans in the region as the beginning of this rich multicultural tradition.

When Nick Griffin stated that the country is and must remain a “British, Christian nation,” with more respect for the rights of the indigenous people, Jack Straw of the Labor Party responded that almost no one in the country can claim to be entirely British. It seems there is a fundamental disagreement between the BNP and its opponents over what kind of nation Britain is. According to the English Church Census of 2004, on average, 6.3 percent of the population in the United Kingdom goes to church on Sunday, and Sunday churchgoing is falling by 2.3 percent every year. A Tearfund survey of 7,000 UK citizens in 2007 showed that two-thirds of them had not been to church in the last year. One in 10 of those surveyed goes to church every week. Fifty-five percent of them identified as Christian, however.[1] Christianity, whether practiced or not, does seem to be part of the British culture and tradition, but some would argue that pluralism and the peaceful coexistence of people with different religions and cultures is just as central to British culture.

While the BNP has numerous opponents, the fact remains that one million people voted for the party a few months ago. The rise in the BNP's popularity is partly attributed to current lax immigration policies. According to an Institute for Public Policy Research study based on the 2001 UK census, 7.53 percent of the UK's population in 2001 was born overseas; this rose from 5.75 percent in 1991.The BNP is winning votes from white, middle-class workers who are disappointed with changes that have come with the rise in immigration in the United Kingdom.

So is Britain facing an identity crisis, as a “British and Christian nation” that is an increasingly multicultural and multi-faith country? Is the rise in the BNP's popularity a small show of resistance to the growing population of immigrants, or is it the beginning of a reversal in the acceptance and pluralism that some consider an integral aspect of British society?

During Question Time, Jack Straw of the Labour Party stated that the BNP does not represent a threat to fundamental British values. He said it is simply another example of the trend in British politics of fringe parties on the right “defining themselves against the others—first the Jews, then the Irish, then the Afro-Caribbeans, and now against the Muslims.” In that statement he may have been attempting to further diminish the credibility of the party, but he also managed to call Muslims "the other”" and upset an audience member by using the term Afro-Caribbean instead of African-Caribbean. This slip of tongue and the surprising success of the BNP in the June elections are both reminders of how insidiously and unknowingly cultural arrogance and threats to pluralism can creep into a society.

Peace and acceptance in a pluralist society must be actively maintained as a community grows and changes with time. Over time, there may be threats to this peace. Constructive responses to these threats include healthy debate, as is occurring in the United Kingdom now. They also include citizens having the opportunity to tell their representatives that they are African-Caribbean, not Afro-Caribbean, or that they disagree with current immigration policies. Ultimately, the challenge to equality and diversity presented by the BNP has been met with a public that is actively asserting the importance of these tenets in British society today.