Membership Data Becomes Newest Weapon Against Britain's Far-Right BNP
BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, October 21 2009
Why might the British National Party not exactly be thrilled that its membership list was revealed to all the world on Wikileaks, that online clearinghouse of sneaky bits created by Chinese dissidents and geared towards revealing state secrets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East? Well, despite the BNP's recent successes in the EU Parliamentary elections, belonging to the party is somewhat outside the mainstream of polite British Society -- the BNP party chief, for example, refers to the "Holohoax;" the official party website maintains a list of leftist "Liars, Buggers, and Thieves;" and its leaders make the case on Facebook that the U.K. should "@#$& Islam." That sort of thing.
But, indeed, just before BNP leader Nick Griffin was set to appear on the hallowed ground that is the BBC's "Question Time," the BNP membership rolls suddenly popped up online (though BNP disputes the list is accurate -- more on that in a bit). The Beeb says that Griffin deserves air time because the BNP is proving itself a political force by traditional measures, a somewhat indisputable reality that has many Britons feeling a queasy. The Guardian news organization, which has been tracking the BNP's rise with a critical eye, promptly pounced on the release of the purported member list. Using the names and addresses in the file, the Guardian produced a map charting out BNP membership across the country; areas of high BNP concentration appear a bloody red color. The Guardian also posted a boiled-down version of the membership file. Quite a demonstration of how transparency can become a political tool when when all the traditional political tactics seem to be failing.
Back to the validity of the list itself. Griffin is saying that the 12,000 names of the list is "a malicious forgery." The list doesn't reflect BNP membership, he says; it includes anyone who has contacted the BNP in anyway -- including to tell them to shove off. On the other hand, his BNP.uk.org website has just posted for sale t-shirts that brag Proud to Be on the List.