I know exactly what you mean, but the hope is that people who use Indymedia, SocialistUnityNetwork, the IRR site and others are part of the 72% of the population who would never vote BNP under any circumstances.

There is a real difference between the Echo and Post publicising the BNP (albeit with a negative slant) and us discussing it here. If you were to look at coverage for the BNP in Liverpool (1 local candidate) compared to the Tories (29) or the Greens (27), it is horrendously skewed. The BNP picks up lots of free name recognition, which is exactly what they want, while the Tories and Greens (who both actually have a chance of winning council seats in these "3 up" elections) are ignored.

I think if we are discussing the BNP here and the best way to defeat them because they only need about 8% of the population of NW voters to choose them. It is not publicity for them, but a sign that anti-racist voters will get their act together and choose the best available option to stop them. If they are reading, I hope they see their best laid plans and strategies evaporating as everyone works out that a couple of %age points used tactically should stop them.

With regards to the photo, I think it is totally unnecessary as well, but I believe it is satirical, so I'll try not to be too judgemental.

isn't it a possibility that the New Labour supporting Daily Post and Echo are trying to exaggerate the threat of the BNP to boost the New Labour vote?

I think Gerald Kaufman's comments on the Israeli government would be echoed by most Indymedia readers. I also think that most Indymedia readers would back the policies of the Israeli Labour Party. The fact that we disagree with Sharon, assassinations, ethnic cleansing and apartheid means that we hold the moderate ground. It is a disgrace to compare criticism of a regime to that of racism against people.

What next? We hate Zimbabweans because we think Mugabe is a despot? Let's stick to the issue here. The BNP are racist, they are anti-semitic, they are homophobic and they have a real prospect of getting elected. Let's stop them.

The BNP do seem to have a disportionate media attention. whoevere we need to expose the mtyhs and lies that the BNP create .

I dont want to provide oxygen to the BNP , in fact it needs to be cut off. But

when Le Pen came to GB , i think the actions against him were the right. in GB and in france we need to expose the NF and BNP for what they really are i.e Nazis.

In france the left and anti-racist groups do not equal the NF and Le Pen as nazis and they get away with being presented as respectable politicians standing up for every day people. What was interesting when Le Pen visited GB he was seen on french TV with protesters calling him a fascist, he is rarely called a fascist in france.

The BNP will get publicty by the mainstream media, we need to campaign for no platform for nazis if we cant then mobilsie as many people against them when they are in our streets.

0p.s theres going to be carnivals against the nazis in the coming including Finsbury park on 6 june where David Gray and the Libertines will heading the performances.

Someone anonymous scribed:

"isn't it a possibility that the New Labour supporting Daily Post and Echo are trying to exaggerate the threat of the BNP to boost the New Labour vote?"

YES! And that's the simple answer! When the working class won't submit to voting for 'Social Democracy' (Liberal-Labour-Conservative and other pro-capitalist parties) and are potentially moving towards to socialism and communism then in come the far right, the shock troops of capitalism. Why do you think the working class here in Liverpool are kept in a state of political ignorance, simply because to awaken the working class political conscience is to awaken us to our potential political future.

Fact is here in Liverpool working class people are being pushed around viciously, moved out of 'our' family homes, out of 'our' neighbourhoods and communities, the spark is waiting to be ignited. This is a common feature to both the Kensington & Fairfield ward and the Norris Green ward and in numerous other places.

Norris Green ward has very few black or ethic minority people, though many are from an Irish background, it is also split through religion with a sizeable catholic community and also a protestant community as well, it has a large composition of working class people. The 'Boot' built housing area is one of the poorest and most deprived parts of this ward.

The 'Boot' estate is being flattened to build a middle class enclave within the largely working class Norris Green estate, as is the common social policy of the government and the city council, it's called 'mixed housing', what it is in reality is the conscious break up, division and control of working class neighbourhoods and communities.

The SLP won't barely get a mention in the media or press, even Indymedia's Liverpool controllers fall into line. The far right are ultimately the opposition to socialists. Both parties are competing for the working class vote up in Norris Green.

In both the Kensington ward and St.Mary's ward last year the BNP came third.

Here's the 2003 Kensington results:

LIB-DEMs 1220
LAB 742
BNP 92 < 3rd place
GRN 45
CONS 30
LIB 23

Here's the 2003 St.Mary's results:

LIB-DEMs 1280
LAB 464
BNP 120 < 3rd place
LIB 49
CON 40

Both the above wards contain a large concentration of working class voters and high levels of depravation.

It may well come down to which candidate can best appeal to the 500 remaining families in the 'Boot' housing area in Norris Green. Baring in mind that it may well take less than 500 votes to get a third councillor in, though I doubt very much people will vote in large numbers for the BNP or in fact Green (41 votes in 2003) many are ingrained, do or die Labour voters. The BNP haven't stood there before whereas the SLP have three times in Norris Green. Fact is Liberal, Liberal-Democrat and Labour councillors have betrayed that entire community, including the 500 remaining families ever since 1998, the tenants have been the greatest victims of injustice in particular. They are still council tenants (not COBALT tenants) and have had no radical support for their plight from any of their councillors. So herding people towards the same 'Social Democracy' parties (who've got a record of betraying them) to defeat the BNP can be clearly shown up for the (pro-capitalist) tactic that it is, we'll see how this all unfurls over the coming weeks.

Here are the candidates for this ward:

Norris Green

Andersen, Kai (SOC LAB)
Bebb, Violet (LAB)
Cartmel, Eric (GRN)
Cooke, Francis (LAB)
Mayes, Charles (LIB)
Mayes, Irene (LIB)
McBride, Cecilia (LD)
Owens, Joseph (BNP)
Phillips, Vera (LIB)
Walker, Alan (LAB)
Woods, Kelly (LD)
Woods, Linda (LD)

 http://groups.msn.com/SocialistLabourPartyLiverpool

The original poster suggests that the anti-fascists drew attention to Le Pen's otherwise secret meeting. Hardly - the event in Altrincham was in fact a press conference called by the BNP, and the anti-fascists only discovered its location by following the TV and print journalists (and there were a lot) to the Cresta Court Hotel.

The counter protests against fascists do not draw more attention to them. USing the example of Australia the huge protests against the racist one nation party stopped the party from growing and in turn forced them to implode into factional fighting as they became isolated. Would you want to attnd a meeting or rally if you had to face the a fact that the majority of people find your views repulsive. The idea that you just ignore the nazis is what the german social democrats did in the 1930's and theres over 6 million dead jews, communists, social democrats, roma, disabled and homosexuals who will testify that that was a mistake. We can not rely on the state to control fascists the only thing that will wipe this vermin of the face of the earth is the organised mass of the people

People are absolutely right about continuing to challenge the BNP, calling them fascist and racism, and stopping them from entering the mainstream.

I'd like to say thanks to all those Indymedia types who have let this debate flourish :)

There are going to be a lot of anti-racist people in the North West of England who are a going to be better informed about how to stop the BNP now, at these elections, and what we need to do together in the future. Indymedia is also informing the mainstream. We might even get some sensible coverage of this filtering into the Daily Post (shock, horror) next week and I'm sure some sensible left wing writers for certain periodicals keep their eye on these issues.

Oh my word, if anything the Daily Post and it's Echo stablemate are lodged somewhere up the backside of the Lib Dems!
ANY criticism of the Lib Dem council is ALWAYS tempered by a huge reposte from Storey and the article will generally pour scorn on the criticism anyway.