Yerp

Picture the scene... A new world is taking shape against a backdrop of conflict. Seats of power are shifting. The global economy is stalling. Everywhere is uncertainty. Charismatic but ruthless politicians across Europe are blaming the outsiders, the foreigners, the Untermenschen. There are invasions. Tensions are rising. The world is teetering on the brink of war.

Sound familiar? It will. It's now.

Europe's far right, until now a fairly marginal voice on the international stage, is organising and positioning itself for a strong showing in the Euro elections throughout the next four days, making capital out of the global economic crisis and mounting Islamophobic and antisemitic sentiment. Which is why, just this once, I'm going to have the courage of my convictions, step out from behind the veil of irony for five fucking minutes and address you as me. Naked. Mano-a-mano.

Now, I don't know what the geographical make-up of this blog's readership is (assuming it has one), but I'm a British man writing from a British perspective, and so I'm going to assume that most of you out there are fellow nationals.

Tomorrow (Thursday, June 4), it's absolutely vital that each and every one of you goes to the booth and exercises your hard-won democratic right. The British National Party looks set to gain a foothold in Europe as a result of this election, and if they do, will go on to represent Britain in a powerful new far right coalition.

They have a single, but potent weapon in their arsenal: a currently massive disillusion in British politics, as a result of which a lot of British citizens are either going to vote in protest for a non-mainstream party, or stay away from the polls altogether. The BNP has been campaigning hard to pick up votes from the former, and with their small but fanatical and highly motivated support base, they can expect to benefit hugely from a poor showing for the three main parties that the latter scenario will inevitably bring about.

The fact is that nobody really knows what result is going to emerge on Monday. European elections have low turn-outs and are hard to predict at the best of times, but the British electorate at present is a loose cannon pointing in fifty different directions at once. The only way we can be even slightly sure of stopping the BNP from getting represented in Europe is by turning out in force and voting against them.

We're in an unusual situation, in that the most important result this time is 4th place. In fact, the battle for that 4th place makes this probably the most important election, certainly in my lifetime.

If the BNP gets there, if they get even just one candidate into Europe, it'll be a huge victory for them, and the birth of the biggest far right movement that this country has ever seen.

However. There's a ray of hope (and Christ knows, this blog alone is short on those) - if they're unsuccessful, if they lose out on 4th place, and if they fail to get an MEP elected... that, my friends, will be one motherfucker of a mighty blow raining directly down on the soft, malformed top of the BNP's thick, collective head. It'll shatter their confidence and utterly fuck their credibility for years to come.

And credibility is everything to this party. Their entire strategy depends on presenting themselves as a viable alternative to the Westminster elite. It's been under Nick Griffin, with his semi-coherent impression of an almost respectable human being, that the BNP has made such headway in recent years, selling itself successfully to otherwise decent people frustrated with mainstream politics. If he loses this election, he'll be gone in weeks, and the party will be back where it belongs, if anywhere, on the fringes.

So tomorrow: VOTE.

Preferably not for the BNP, of course.

And before I scuttle back under the duvet of sarcasm, I'd like to leave you with this one last thought. There's no such thing as pure British blood. Ours is a mongrel nation. The genes of half of Europe and some of the world beyond are in our DNA. We have one of the most eclectic cultures in the world, and this magpie nature, along with our famous reserve, makes up our national character. All of which is why Britain is rightly known for being a tolerant, moderate nation. If you don't believe me, consider the half a million of our grandparents and great-grandparents who died in the fight against fascism.

That's what Britain's about. The BNP are completely missing the point. But then they are a bit fucking numb.

Don't let history repeat itself.