No platform for fascists

Anti-fascists have always argued for a policy of No Platform for Fascists. In this article Searchlight explains what this policy means and why it is particularly important that it is implemented during an election campaign by anti-fascists and members of all political parties.

In essence the No Platform policy means two things. Firstly, that fascists should not be allowed a public platform to express their detestable beliefs and incite racial hatred and violence. Secondly, that if fascists do gain a public platform, then members of other political parties and organisations should not share it with them.

Freedom to incite hatred?

Opponents of No Platform argue that it is a denial of free speech but this is to misunder-stand both free speech and No Platform. Firstly, free speech is not an absolute and there are laws in Britain which place restrictions on what can be said, so that it is illegal, for example, to incite racial hatred. When fascists are allowed a public platform they frequently use the opportunity to stir up racial hatred and violence against black people, Jews, anti-racists and others.

Secondly, the right to free speech brings with it particular responsibilities, such as not violating other people's freedom. Fascism as an ideology is inherently opposed to free speech, freedom of movement and the right to live one's life without fear or oppression. Freedom of speech is very important, but so is the right to live without fear of the discrimination, hatred and violence that fascism represents. The fascists of today, such as the British National Party, do not really believe in free speech but they will be quick to exploit liberal arguments in favour of it for their own purposes. The BNP uses the mantle of free speech to stir up racial hatred and deny the Holocaust.

Let us not forget that the BNP would deny all black people not only the right to speak but also the actual right to live in Britain.

Members of the BNP have suggested in print that the party would follow in the footsteps of Hitler and the Nazis if it could, and forcibly silence all its opponents through a campaign of intimidation, imprisonment and murder. Writing in The Rune recently, Nick Griffin stated that, if in power, the BNP would execute "the politicians, those in charge of the media, police chiefs and those responsible for creating this multi-racial hellhole". Fascists will manipulate arguments about free speech but the reality is that they would welcome the chance to deny millions of people their own rights to free speech. In a free and democratic society, to allow the BNP and other nazis to cloak their genocidal hatred in the flag of free speech is to degrade and undermine the concept of tolerance.

No respectability for fascists

The policy of not sharing platforms with fascists aims to deny fascist organisations the veneer of political respectability which they crave. During the election campaign, the fascists of the National Democrats, National Front and BNP will try desperately hard to present themselves to the public as responsible political parties which are democratic and law-abiding. The fascists have spent years trying to create this respectability and to conceal their core nazi ideals. The then BNP leader, John Tyndall, told the American nazi leader William Pierce in 1967: "I do not believe that a movement with an openly nazi label has a hope of winning national power in Britain ... I have therefore sought to modify the form of our propaganda, though not of course the essence of the ideology."

This year, at a BNP meeting in Leeds, Tyndall reiterated the message, declaring that he was "a National Socialist" but that the BNP needed to be careful about its image. In recent issues of the BNP-supporting journal, Spearhead, convicted thug Tony Lecomber has suggested that the BNP needs to remodel itself as a respectable "Euro-Nationalist party".

It is extremely important for the fascists that they can be seen to debate with representatives of the main political parties. This creates the impression that the fascist parties are part of the legitimate political mainstream rather than violent racist extremists. It also confers an undeserved legitimacy on fascist ideas. It must be remembered that fascism is a violent irrational and anti-democratic ideology rather than part of democratic political discourse. If the major political parties follow the lead of the anti-racist and anti-fascist movement by refusing to enter into debates with the BNP and others, then they will help banish the fascists to the gutters of life where they belong.