Fifth council seat for BNP
01 January 2003
The British National Party (BNP) picked up its fifth council seat in the Yorkshire ward of Mixenden, Calderdale, in January. Adrian Marsden's victory increases the BNP's representation in the north-east from the four seats they already hold across the Pennines in Lancashire; three BNP candidates were elected to Burnley council in May last year and a fourth was elected in Blackburn six months later. Marsden won with 679 votes on a 37% turnout. Within days of his victory the Labour Party's national executive committee held a formal investigation into the BNPs victory, but their primary concern was that a weakened Conservative Party would allow opportunities for the far-right to make headway in May's council elections. The BNP have also announced that they will target Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's constituency in Blackburn at the next general election.
Andrew Marsden is a known fascist who was once involved with the International Third Position as well as the nazi Combat 18 (C18). He was C18's regional organiser for the Halifax region, until 1999 when his house was raided by the Special Branch as part of a nationwide clampdown on right wing violence. He then joined the BNP which, at least superficially, has distanced itself from C18 by instructing party members not to associate with the organisation.
The BNP's vitriolic campaign against asylum seekers has been taken up by much of the UK's tabloid media, local radio and some national television programmes. The Labour government has not only taken on their rhetoric, but argues that it is essential that they put anti-refugee polices into practice in order to counter the rise of the far-right. Labour MP Jon Owen Jones, for instance, has argued that the Labour Party needs to find a "middle way" between "the rabid right wing press sensationalising it or the liberal press ignoring it." This "middle way" has been mooted by Tony Blair who envisages the prospect of ending the UK's asylum commitments under the European Convention of Human Rights while introducing temporary migration, with few or no rights, for skilled immigrant labour, based on the German "guestworker" model.
In Calderdale, of the nearly 300,000 residents in the borough there are about 130 asylum seekers. The BNP's racism was condemned by the Labour MP Alice Mahon who criticised the "false perception that asylum seekers are to blame for everything". Anti-racist campaigners from the Coalition Against Racism have launched a campaign, "Unite to Stop the BNP", which will co-ordinate actions across the UK to prevent the fascists from being elected and to counter them when they have gained office.
The Coalition Against Racism can be contacted at PO Box 263, Oldham OLE 1PZ.Halifax Today 31.1.03.
ITALY
Fascists attack Muslim on live television
Adel Smith, head of the Unione musulmani d'Italia (the Italian Muslim Union), and his secretary Massimo Zucchi, were attacked by a gang on 11 January 2003 in Verona during a debate on local television station Telenuovo. The programme´s host Mario Zwirner has also come under scrutiny for telling the attackers to leave "before the police arrives". Six militants from Forza Nuova were arrested at the time of the raid, and were later placed under house arrest on 14 January for violence against individuals with the aggravating circumstance of instigating racial hatred. Three days later, after a number of FN offices were raided, a further 15 were also placed under house arrest, including the organisation´s regional secretary in Veneto, Paolo Caratossidis. The charges they are facing include causing bodily harm, insults, violence against individuals and participation in the crime, with a further aggravating circumstance (apart from inciting racial hatred) resulting from the large number of attackers.
In a hearing in the Italian parliament, (see Statewatch News online January 2003) Interior Minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, referred to FN and the attack on Adel Smith when he spoke of a "w