Saturday 3 May 2014

EU elections: around the fringe (1)



The election campaign finally seem to have started in earnest as I was woken up this morning with the arrival of two leaflets on my doormat. The first from my local Tory Councillors was promptly put through the shredder (ecologically reused as cat litter) but the second was from an outfit I'd never heard of, the Communities United Party. Their website declares:

The Communities United Party consists of staff who work tirelessly to ensure that people gain access to justice that they are entitled to by right and not merely by privilege of birth. The Party has a legal arm, KM Legal Advisory Ltd, which offers free legal advice and consultation in: Human Rights, Housing, Employment, Education and Immigration law.

Their leader is one Kamran Malik, who also appears to be their sole candidate. Coincidentally an advert appears prominently on their home page for (cough) KM Legal Advisory Ltd which seems to suggest this more of an advertising campaign than a serious electoral intervention.

Next!

Channel 4 reports on a rather odd electoral alliance knwn as the National Liberal Party:

Former National Front deputy chairman Graham Williamson, who sits on the executive of the BNP-supported "trade union" Solidarity is running for election in London on a multicultural election list for the National Liberal Party (NLP).

We can reveal that Williamson founded the National Liberal Party with Nick Griffin's European parliament staff manager and former National Front leading figure Patrick Harrington.

The organisation's manifesto gives no indication of the party's far-right roots declaring: "the National Liberal Party is putting forward a team of 8 ethnically and racially diverse candidates – Tamil, Sikh, Azerbaijan, Kurdish, English, north Borneo (sabah-sarawak), to represent the real grassroots London."

Electoral front

Harrington and Williamson have run a nationalist think tank called Third Way together for two decades. Third Way is named after and develops so-called third-positionist strategies - influenced by the ideology of Italian self-described fascist Robert Fiore.

Third Way published a leaflet last year with the slogan "Want a Muslim neighbour? Vote UKIP", which was described as an "excellent" resource by the BNP.

Third-positionist politics greatly influenced the "political soldier" faction of the National Front, this group included Graham Williamson, Nick Griffin and Patrick Harrington.

Together the political soldier faction voiced support for black separatist Louis Farrakhan, Libya's Colonel Gaddafi and Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini as part of their new nationalist strategy.


Oddly these fascists and their misguided allies are targeting the "ethnic minority" vote, specifically as their Manifesto states:

"There are at least 200,000 Sikhs in London, 100,000 Tamil, 80,000 Kashmiri, 60,000 Kurds, and perhaps some 200,000 others from smaller Diasporas, who wish that their brethren 'back home' could enjoy the same freedoms we enjoy here."

One can only imagine for what sinister purpose this misalliance is for. 

Not everyone is taken in though, as Channel 4 reports:

Balwinder Singh Rana, Spokesperson for the group Sikhs Against the EDL, has dealt with attempts by far-right groups to ally with the Sikh community in the past.

He told Channel 4 News: "We warn all Sikhs that this organisation may pretend to be our friends today but having used us for their own sinister purposes, would spit us out tomorrow.

"When Sikhs begin to find out the truth about the National Liberal Party the vast majority of them would want to have nothing to do with this organisation as the Sikhs would not be easily fooled."


Finally for now, a report in yesterdays Times caught my attention:

The daughter of the late rail union leader Bob Crow used a May Day rally to announce that she will take his place as a candidate in elections for the European Parliament .

Natasha Hoarau will be part of the far-left NO2EU slate, the largest of the extremist challengers to the left of Labour that polled sweet FA last time but is being run in conjunction with the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition campaign in the local elections (see here). 

I will be covering the NO2EU campaign in a forthcoming post.

Watch this space.

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