Radical v. Racist

Letter to The Observer: 19th August 2008

Dear Sir

The Green Party has long recognised the importance of its existence in the political arena. However, as Rafael Behr's article (The race to be the fourth party matters more than you think, Comment, last week) perfectly highlighted, especially in light of the recent rise in support for the BNP, its presence has never been needed more.

Whilst the Government and its opposition persist in targeting ‘Middle England’, which they believe will be more likely to turn out at the polls and use its vote, a growing number of Working Class (for the want of a better term) citizens are becoming evermore disenfranchised and embittered and are now looking for a radical alternative.

Sadly, having ditched its boots & braces campaigning style for a slightly more sophisticated albeit disingenuous disguising of its violent multi-phobic tendencies, the BNP is reaping some benefit from this collective Westminster negligence and is enjoying a modicum of success of late; incidentally though not nearly as much as the Greens who hold 117 seats on principal authorities nationally, not 47 to the BNP's 37 as quoted in Mr Behr's article.

In any event, due largely to the indifference of all the Parliamentary Parties, BNP support has grown enough to be of concern to the majority of the electorate who abhor far right nationalism and its inherent virulence. In view of this, The Greens have for some time now been discussing the very real possibility of being offered the option to speak on platforms where the media may allow the BNP representation.

Should that be the case, rather than burying my head in the sand in the hope that the problem will simply go away, be assured that every such situation would be used to put forward a positively radical agenda and be seen as an opportunity to discredit and denounce fascism in all its unacceptable forms.

Yours faithfully

Ashley Gunstock
Green Party Leader Candidate

See also:
Greens Versus BNP - Peter Cranie
Greens have a key role to play in combating the BNP, says Lucas