The British National Party leafleted my street yesterday evening. I take this to mean that one of their candidates intends to stand in this ward in the forthcoming local council election. They’ve stood in other (more deprived) wards in previous local elections, but I think this is the first time one of their leaflets has fallen onto my doormat. I only hope my neighbours are aware of who the BNP are, and what they really stand for.
Standing with leaflet in hand, I was unsure of what to do. Despair at this filth landing on my doormat? Accept their right to freedom of speech, given that the leaflet contained nothing illegal? Run down the street after them, shouting abuse?
What I actually did was to screw the leaflet into a ball and hurl it out of an upstairs window, watching it flutter to the ground, unnoticed (to my annoyance) by the five or six party activists working their way down the street. Hardly a display of gritty resistance; I think I’ve probably done the same with a Conservative Party leaflet in the past. I thought hard about whether or not to provide a link to their website, but I’m not going to. If you don’t know what the BNP is, I suggest you use Google to find a broad range of independent information.
I can also react with my allegiance, displaying a poster in my window from the party I support. However, although I’m most likely to vote Liberal Democrat in a general election (being a disenfranchised lifelong Labour supporter who would never vote Conservative for reasons of fundamental ideology) I don’t think their local council is particularly great… they seem to have the same smug inevitability as the Labour Party do nationally. I don’t feel a strong desire to demonstrate my support.
Maybe it’s time to stop displaying “Vote for XXX” posters in our windows. The feelings of apathy and electoral powerlessness have created a climate where “Don’t Vote for XXX” would be more appropriate, so maybe I should do that for the BNP.