When hate comes to town

This was the main message given to delegates at the Coalition Against Racism conference held in Oldham on 23 March 2002. Oldham, of course, was one of a number of north western former mill towns that were set ablaze during a summer of race riots.

If the British National party were to win a single seat in the May elections fragile relations between Asian and white communities will once again be plunged into a vacuum of hatred and distrust.

BNP leader Nick Griffen has spent the last two years in the North West sowing the seeds of panic and bigotry amongst impoverished white communities. His message: responsibility for their plight lies full square with the Asian communities. The history of the North Western mill towns has proved fertile ground to bring hate to town.

In the 1960's the textile industry was booming. New technology meant that factories could function twenty four-hours-a-day. Factory bosses, in need of more staff, turned to the emerging Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in the UK to work the night shifts that were unpopular with white workers.

This cheap labour was also content to move into the run down 'two-up-two-down' mill homes that were being vacated by white workers. By the 1980s boom had turned to bust. The European textile industry found that exploiting Bangladeshi workers in Bangladesh, was far cheaper that exploiting them in the UK.

As Arun Kundnani writes in his excellent piece "The violence of the violated", the working class bond that the white and Asian communities had was now broken. Unemployment was rampant and the two communities turned inwards.

The situation was further exasperated by a racist council policy that re-housed white communities on new council estates and left Asians in dilapidated terraced housing. Segregated housing resulted in segregated schools.

When small amounts of regeneration came to the city one sector would argue that the other one was getting more. As tensions grew and incidents occurred the BNP seized their opportunity.

On a disused mill in Burnley the BNP draped the building with the slogan 'Save our country'. The BNP were assisted in no small part by the national mood that too was looking for vulnerable scapegoats for society's woes. Aided and abetted by the Labour party's draconian stance towards Asylum seekers the then Tory leader William Hague felt comfortable enough to tell white Britain, 'Let me take you to a Foreign land...'.

The tabloids further legitimised the BNP by filling their columns with fears of impeding floods of asylum seekers and refugees.

Griffen knew that if he re-branded the BNP from the politics of jack boots and thugery to the politics of fighting for the white working poor he might gain respectability. We must not be fooled by this masquerade. The party is still full of bully boys and its policies barely hide the hatred they have for anyone who is not white.

A key target ward for the BNP is in the all-white area of Hollingwood, Oldham. Their candidate Mike Treacy has five convictions of violence, theft and handling stolen goods. Another candidate Kevin Gough is a convicted drug dealer. When the party holds rallies and marches they still call upon their 'boot boys' to swell their ranks. And although they have attempted to moderate their policies not to appear extremist the truth comes bursting through.

The BNP local election manifesto states: that local tax should be spent 'exclusively on local British people'. As the BNP leader has never hidden the fact that 'local British people' mean white, the not so hidden sub-text would mean Asian communities would be destitute and driven from their homes.

Without sounding too alarmist everyone who reads this article has a duty to act. Over the next six weeks in the run-up to the elections the Coalition against Racism will help to distribute leaflets. If you cannot give your time you can send money. The coalition intends to hire mini buses to ensure that people can get to polling booths. Extra security is needed to fend off BNP members who will seek to intimidate voters to stay at home.

The threat of the BNP must be comprehensively quashed. Only then can communities begin to forge a better and more respectful understanding of one another. And as if we personally or our families were being attacked we must help.

For more information contact: Coalition against Racism PO Box 263 Oldham OL1 1PZ 0161 624 1060