RSS
Nick Griffin on Question Time – Unite Against Fascism’s shame
Posted by Tory Rascal (@toryrascal)
Thursday, 22nd October 2009
.jpg)
This evening’s Question Time is in the can; according to Auntie, there is anger and shouting aplenty, but the filming went smoothly. All well and good; I hope Griffin’s bonk-eyed lunacy is plain for all to see.
What is definitely plain for all to see is the appalling, shameful behaviour of Unite Against Fascism. I disagree strongly with the No Platform policy, but I can understand people’s feeling on the matter. When the likes of Peter Hain launch their challenges against the BNP’s appearance, I can respect them for putting their case calmly, logically and methodically. For the UAF, though, calm argument is an insidious form of political weakness.
So it was that we saw something truly repulsive outside Television City this evening. We saw wave after wave of UAF supporters barging the police, endangering themselves and breaking the law. We saw furious, swivel-eyed protestors chest-poking policemen and women and screaming in their faces – and, of course, the police responding in kind (and I wonder which images will be more prominent tomorrow?). We saw the police having to drag protestors out of Television Centre, where they were trespassing.
If this is how UAF thinks we should be combating the BNP, it will alienate almost everyone who agrees with its basic principles. Every bit as much as I despise Nick Griffin and everything he stands for, I deplore the outrageous, illegal and extreme behaviour of his opponents. Their shameful and chaotic behavour will, I fear, contrast terribly unfavourably against Griffin’s slickly calm demeanour – and for any opponent of the BNP, that has to be a big disappointment.
