Diapositiva 1

1
Ultra-Nationalism, Xenophobic Prejudice and
Cross-national Political Extremism Contemporary
neo-fascism in Britain and Italy
Timothy Peace (EUI)
Andrea Mammone (Siena)
2

• Plan of presentation
• Introduction to AS and the BNP
• The importance of studying extreme right parties
  at the local level
  
• The local elections of 2006 in Britain and Italy
• The dark face of nationalism as used by AS and
  the BNP
  
• Reactions to the extreme right in the public
  domain
  
• Conclusion national populism or neo-fascism?

3
Azione Sociale (AS) Social Action

• Origin in split from Alleanza Nazionale (AN)
• Initially called Libertà di azione, changed to
  Azione Sociale in 2005
  
• Alessandra Mussolini member of the Identity,
  Tradition, Sovereignty group in the European
  parliament
  
• Unashamedly neo-fascist party

4
The British National Party (BNP)

• Led since 1999 by Nick Griffin who has attempted
  to modernise the party
  
• Concentrates on community politics in order
  exploit local concerns (e.g. Burnley, Oldham,
  Barking and Dagenham)
  
• Now targets Islam as enemy number one
• Popular nationalism or neo-fascism?

This is the threat that can bring us to power.
This is the Big Issue on which we must
concentrate in order to wake people up and make
them look at what we have to offer all round.
Nick Griffin, Identity, March 2006
5
Studying extremist parties at the local level

• Good opportunity for such small parties to come
  to the fore.
  
• Parties are more selective about the seats
  contested and are able to organise campaign
  resources in a more targeted manner
  
• Electorate is more likely to vote for such
  parties at the local level
  
• Parties feel more free to express their true
  ideas

At local elections the public can let their real
feelings out. Nick Griffin interviewed by David
Dimbleby on BBC News, 4 May 2006
6
AS local election material
We neither need nor want Italy to become a land
of conquest for gypsies and foreigners who dont
want to work or integrate but merely be
delinquents () Murderers, rapists and drug dea
lerslets throw them back into the sea.
7
The local elections of 2006 in Italy

• Poor result, no elected candidates
• Polled 7,600 votes (0.6 of national share)
• Presence of Alleanza Nazionale and Lega Nord
  makes it difficult to gain votes

8
The local elections of 2006 in Britain

• Contested more seats than ever before. Made
  record gains
  
• Won 33 seats bringing its total of local
  councillors to 53
  
• 229, 000 votes (3 national share)
• Controversy over Labour minister Margaret Hodges
  pre-election comments
  
• Billed the election as a referendum on Islam

9
BNP manipulaltion of anti-Islam sentiment local
election material 2006
10
The dark face of nationalism
Organicist nationalism Based on a thick ethn
ic concept in which the nation is fundamentally
defined by extremely determinist criteria which
entails that the national community is internally
homogeneous and exclusive () The objectivism
of this concept of nation, founded on a thick
ethnicity that presents itself as ontological
evidence of the nations existence as a natural
entityit not only implies the establishment of a
sharp distinction between them and us, but
also promotes the radicalization of this
distinction as outright rejection or even hatred
of all things foreign, as a distinction between
friend and foe.
Ramón Máiz, Framing the nation three rival
versions of contemporary nationalist ideology
(2003)
11
BNP infopack PDF document available to download
from www.bnp.org.uk
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National preference

• We will examine closely the licensing policies
  of the council in relation to taxi and minicab
  businesses to ensure that the ownership of such
  firms and the supply of drivers bears the closest
  possible relationship to the average make-up of
  the local population. This will also apply to
  other areas of trade where a BNP council has
  control of licensing including the sale of
  alcohol, market trading and late hours catering
  services.

BNP local election manifesto 2006
13
Fears about multiculturalism

• Multi-ethnic classes penalise learning (as has
  been seen in Germany and the UK). AS manifesto
  2006, Ravenna.
  
• Where foreign pupils have not achieved a
  satisfactory standard of English, they should be
  taught separately rather than being allowed to
  drag down standards and hold back native
  English-speakers. BNP local election manifesto
  2006
• There are genuine concerns about issues relating
  to immigration, asylum and multiculturalism and
  the British peopleare saying weve had enough
  of the whole multicultural experiment, especially
  as its financed with our taxes without our
  consent.
• Nick Griffin interviewed by David Dimbleby on BBC
  News, 4 May 2006
  

14
BNP condemnation of racism
The imposition of equal opportunities quotas is
both unfair on the majority who are discriminated
against, and condescending to capable members of
ethnic minorities who are seen as having obtained
jobs on account of their colour rather than their
personal abilities. Council run equal
opportunities policies encourage racial tensions
and deny the taxpaying public the right to have
the best people doing the jobs for which we have
to pay. BNP-run councils will move on from racist
quotas and discrimination and become Best
Possible Employers, hiring the best-qualified
and suited person possible for each job,
regardless of their ethnic origins. BNP local
election manifesto 2006 We are not a racist pa
rty Nick Griffin interviewed by David Dimbleby
on BBC News, 4 May 2006
15
National populist or neo-fascist parties?
Neo-fascists desperate to lose the fascist label
can clothe themselves in the more respectable
garb of national-populism. Where this happens, we
are not witnessing the praxis of a genuine
national-populism but fascism recalibrated a
form of neo-fascism- to suit contemporary
sensibilities. At its core, its ideological v
ision is revolutionary its long-term objective
is a post-liberal, regenerated national
community Nigel Copsey Reflections on the ideol
ogical evolution of the British National Party
(2007)