A Vote against the BNP

Derek Wall writes well (Morning Star, 25th February 2009) about supporting the Green MEP Caroline Lucas in the European Elections in the South East of England this summer.

The same is true of the Green candidate in the North West, Peter Cranie.
Of course, elections are not the be-all and end-all. People on the left know that this bourgeois parliamentary system of "democracy" is not of our choosing. We should not allow it, to divide us, in our other practical actions against war and imperialism, environmental destruction, privatisation and profitable private pensioneering of failed financiers.

But while the mainstream parties have conspired to prop up the free market, with seemingly endlessly doling out "free" money to the banks, the danger has always been that a vacuum is created, and that understandable resentment at the consequences of the crisis of capitalism might lead to the rise of the (far) right.
That is why there is a real question for the left at these European Elections, of how to stop the fascists in their tracks. In the North West there is a real likelihood of the BNP seeking to gain their first Euro victory. The left has to consider a real alternative.

Strategically there are three different strands to this. First is to fight the fascists wherever they appear, on the streets, when they try to hold events or meet in public premises. It is disgraceful to see Labour Ministers minimising the nuisance of the BNP as no more than "thoughtless" in "clashing" with football matches and describing this as merely a question of police resources. Second we must tackle the distortions and lies that the fascists peddle, in the local communities, and work on the ground with local campaigners, to explain that we are also angry with the lack of housing and jobs, but that there is an alternative, which is not to scapegoat other communities. Racism is not the answer to the recession. Third is to consider uniting behind one electoral flag, for this election.

While it is important to get everyone to vote and reduce the proportion of the fascist numbers, it is more convincing to offer people something positive to vote for. Asking everyone to "vote for anyone else" rings hollow if that means voting Labour, in a region which sadly displays Straw, Blears, Purnell..... and Woolas. These are the people who have legitimised much of the BNP agenda, especially regarding immigration. We have to be tough on the causes of the far right as well as on the far right themselves.

So I would add to Derek's tentative plea that the socialist left seriously consider supporting the Greens in this election in the North West. Voting for an avowed anti-fascist, who has been supporting the Palestinian cause in the recent weeks of action, gives a positive (and anti-capitalist) candidate to offer to the electorate. This is better than suggesting the fascist ideology will be stopped by voting for the mainstream parties of (continuing) war and big business. There will also be little likelihood of any serious socialist electoral platform, in this election, in this region, not least because of the prohibitive financial barrier. Our electorate would welcome one left candidate. And arithmetically it is more effective to vote for a fourth party to gain the final seat on the list. Simply speaking, this vaguely proportional system means that it take 4 times as many extra votes for Labour to equal 1 vote for the fascists, when it comes to the 8th seat on the list. But it only takes 1 more Green vote to match any 1 more BNP.

When the Chair of Respect, Kay Phillips, announced at the recent Convention of The Left conference that Respect would be supporting Peter Cranie, in the interests of left unity to defeat the fascists, there was a resounding ovation. The response from the Green Left was that they would be encouraging a reciprocal vote for the Left, at future Westminster elections. These are early days. But unity in practice is worth a million words.