September 25, 2007

'Bradford must fight BNP' warning

Bradford must take the lead from Oldham in keeping out the British National Party, the Labour Party conference has heard.

Mohammed Azam, of Labour's Black Representation Committee, told delegates that people must continue to challenge the racist myths and not give credence to the far-right party. Speaking in Bournemouth today Mr Azam told a meeting of the Unite Against Fascism that the strategy adopted in Oldham, where he headed up the Coalition Against Racism, is proof the BNP can be driven back and have an impact in areas like Bradford and Keighley.

He told delegates: "In Oldham the BNP polled its highest results in the 2001 general election that year. It did this against the backdrop of the myths that Asian were main perpetrators of violence, creating no-go areas for whites. The reality was that Asians were the main victims of attacks, but this was going unreported to the police."

Mr Azam said the situation was turned around against the BNP - which can be replicated in other affected areas, including Keighley, where he said the extremist agenda was often fuelled by myths.

Bradford councillor Anne Sinfield (Lab, Keighley West) hit national headlines about four years ago when she formed Families Against Child Exploitation (FACE) after allegations that gangs of Asian men in Keighley were grooming under-age girls for sex. She later accused the BNP of hi-jacking her campaign to promote its own racist agenda.

West Yorkshire Police set up Operation Parsonage which investigated claims about older Asian men targeting vulnerable white girls. The inquiry resulted in ten people - nine men and a woman - being charged with offences ranging from rape and indecent assault to witness intimidation."

Keighley MP Ann Cryer has been at the forefront of attempting to tackle the problem after receiving complaints from mothers about young Asian men targeting their under-age daughters. She said that attempts to raise the problem with community leaders had met with little success, with most of them being in a state of denial about it.

In Bournemouth party delegates were told challenging racism had to be central to the strategy. The meeting was told a recent poll showed 38 per cent of British people "look at Muslims in a bad way".

Issuing a rallying call for all party members to go out and stamp out the BNP, Mr Azam said: "Stopping the BNP making breakthroughs is always more effective than moving them out when they have a foot in."

Telegraph and Argus

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the new home page heading - keep up the good work

Antifascist said...

Thanks very much. The graphic is courtesy of Denise, so big thanks to her too. :-)

Anonymous said...

Piss poor heading, my five year old son can do better!

Fight!!! Don't make me laugh, you idiots couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag lol

Muppets!

Antifascist said...

And you wonder why every decent person in this country considers people like you to be aggresive and brainless imbeciles?

Anonymous said...

"you idiots couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag"


Yeah, yeah, yeah - that's why the BNP are going from strength!

Fewer councillors
Fewer members
No accounts
Resignations left, right and centre (or right, extreme right, and nutcase right to be accurate)

BNP - Backward Nonentity Party

Anonymous said...

anon said....piss poor heading, this idiot really does not get it, the majority of good people who post on this site are not of a violent nature, and believe that the 'pen is mightier than the sword' and lets face we can run rings round the nazis when it comes to stringing a sentance together.

BUT that is not to say that we will not fight for what we believe in remember world war 2 when nazi facists like him well and truly got their arse whipped.

Anonymous said...

Ignore the nazi, LUAF. The new heading is great and you're all doing an excellent job. Well done all.

Anonymous said...

Maye the BNP are making breakthroughs in Oldham and Bradford because the locals are feeling the effects of multiculteral "enrichment."

Anonymous said...

"Maye the BNP are making breakthroughs in Oldham and Bradford because the locals are feeling the effects of multiculteral "enrichment.""
Or maybe the BNP are just stirring as much shit as they can wherever they stick there ugly mugs. With you lot around it's no wonder there are problems.

Anonymous said...

anon said:

"perhaps the BNP are making breakthroughs in Oldham because ....."

Who said they have made any breakthrough in Oldham?

They have gone backwards in Oldham and gained, er, NO seats on the local council.

In 2001 one N Griffin stood in Oldham.

In 2005 same N Griffin flitted off to Keighley.

And, er, lives in mid Wales.

Where's he going to pop up next?

anon - the BNP are a joke, and going dooooown the pughole.

Thank God.

Anonymous said...

The BNP are not making breakthroughs in Bradford. Nor Oldham. They are reaching out to rural Little-Britain style bigotted people, but even there, in narrow-minded all-white villages, people are beginning to believe the true Hitler-loving nature of the BNP.

Can some of the ignorant trolls who come on here please tell me why many BNP members adore and worship Adolf Hitler?

Anonymous said...

If you think the BNP are only gaining support in white villages, you are very much mistaken.

Anonymous said...

"anon - the BNP are a joke"

How can you come to this conclusion after only giving one example?