The BNP Are Bastards

I write this assuming that all who read it know who Harry Patch is, and the huge contribution and sacrifice he and his comrades made so as we may have the freedom we now enjoy.

On a personal level, I am not in agreement with the recent wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I have campaigned against these wars in the way of the fuzzy liberal - I have marched, I have written letters, I have pontificated and prevaricated on the matter.

I am in agreement that, thanks to a great many great men, who fell in wars that seemed to be in far off lands during both World Wars, I have the right to think and express these opinions. I can never fully express my gratitude for that. These men were not volunteers like those who had served before them in conflicts. The introduction of conscription in February 1916 meant that they had no choice but to fight. Many of them were extraordinarily young, but all of them showed bravery so enormous in the face of such excruciating terror that it is difficult for me to comprehend what they faced, both externally and internally.

In May of this year, the Royal British Legion wrote a private letter to Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, asking him to no longer wear the poppy that is recognised as a symbol that remembers those who fell in battle.

When he ignored them and continued to wear the poppy emblem, they wrote to him again. This this time it was an open letter, and their message was simply this; "Stop it, Mr Griffin. Just stop it."

The BNP have refused to stop it. They are again trying to affiliate themselves with someone loved by the country as a symbol of something good and true. The BNP posted a tribute to Mr Patch on their website. Again, they are trying to associate themselves with a man who fought to release others from the shackles of fascism, by attempting to tie him to their own dubious motives.

Mr Patch was a man who "would have had no truck with the BNP... [for the BNP] to do something like this is quite despicable. Harry is an ideal example of the whole essence of duty, honour and service. There is nothing of that within the BNP." (as per Robin White, chairman of the Wells branch of the Royal British Legion.)

This is not a man who would want to be associated with such evil. I have spoken with plenty of people who say they vote BNP, seemingly without realising the policies and manifesto of the party itself, thinking it is about 'giving British people jobs.' IT ISN'T.

The BNP are about bullying, destroying the foundations of this country, and associating themselves as the only patriotic representation of Britain. They're not.

True patriotism and heroism lies in acting in a way that makes you feel proud of your country, and your role in it. Britain was built on immigration, and by incorporating other cultures into our own. When the suggestion is that this shouldn't be done, it rallies against everything that makes me proud to be British.

Alison Wedgewood, of Nor SCARF has stated that "these nasty attempts by the BNP to steal the patriotic passion of the British people and mix it up with their brand of hate and intolerance. Harry Patch's message was of peace and reconciliation; the BNP deny the holocaust and share platforms with Nazis." We have seen this time and time again.

If you want facts and figures, if you want legislation to prove my point, I am happy to supply them. I am happier still to debate the points.

I just think that, by the action of giving their lives for you and I, so that I can write blog entries that are sometimes on contentious areas, and you can read and ignore them, we owe these men that went before us something. And I think that something is respect. If we are to respect them, then we must rally against these men and women that chose not to honour them, but to politicise them for no reason other than to serve their own purposes. RIP all.