In July 2009, almost a million voters chose the BNP in the EU elections. As well as the traditional BNP voters explaining this success, a recent survey found one in 20 young people would vote BNP. In this Channel 4 documentary, Peter Beard follows 19-year-old Kieren who is considering joining the BNP but is unsure that the party represents his views. As the Channel 4 summary put it, "t
his fascinating First Cut documentary offers an insight into a young person's attraction to a party whose policies and image continue to cause extreme controversy throughout the country."
Kieren is part of a new generation of far right recruits, "I do want to see an all white Britain. An immediate stop to immigration and repatriation which would follow”.
Walking down the high street, Kieren points out Halal and Carribean food shops saying he doesn't like all of these things being around. He sees them as a threat, culturally changing his town and destroying what his town is about saying that “its just catering for minority groups but it seems like the majority of the high streets are getting taken over by that” and that he doesn't want it "on my doorstep".
Talking about being a nationalist, Kieren says “you have to be a pessimist about the whole society. You gotta be quite angry and depressed and think oh this is horrible everything about this life is just rotten. But then once you have an alternative once you have an answer which manifests itself via the BNP you can only look forward and try and be optimistic”.
The first thought that comes to someone hearing Kieren have such extreme views is that it must come from his family and friends, but that is where you would be wrong. His mum doesn’t want herself or Kieren brothers to be involved in filming the documentary. His mum comes from a background of liberal voters and doesn’t agree with her sons views. Kieren's parents split up when he was one years old and he didn't have a male role model growing up. This has made him want a strong family when he has children and he wants to be the 'breadwinner'. Five years ago, his Dad moved to Wales with his new wife and children and Kieren sees him a few times a year. His dad is a labour voter and says of BNP leader Nick Griffin, “the way he says things makes him look like a complete racist”. He also disagrees with his sons views. After his Dad moved away, life became difficult for Kieren. He and his mum later had to move out of London because of domestic violence and then move again because of another 'woman beater'. He made friends with nationalists from his old London area of Barnet online and then his friendships grew and he was welcomed into their group. He says that he felt like he belonged to something and found it quite comforting.
Kieren doesn't agree with mixed race relationships, hanging a banner in his garden saying "love music, hate race mixing", a twisted pun on the slogan "love music, hate racism". Asked about mixed relationships he said "as a matter of principle I'm against immigration and multiculturalism. Our own women, by fraternising with the other races, they're part of the problem as far as I’m concerned”. Kieren has a girlfriend called Amy. He questioned her heritage, thinking she had an 'oriental look in her face'. She had to ring her sister to confirm that there was no Chinese in her family and he still didn’t believe it. He admitted he wouldn't have dated her if she had Chinese in her family. Kieren thinks that "people should be around their own type of people” and thinks "multiculturalism cannot work, as a concept, or will work...just from looking at social circles, from studying it. I would welcome people to live amongst each other in harmony but I don’t think it can happen”.
He has also made a new group of friends, none of which are nationalist or agree with his views. One of his friends asked Kieren “how do you feel about me losing my virginity to a black girl?” to which he responded “you know how I feel about that and I told you at the time that you hate your own race...Its a form of genocide”. Despite everyone around him disagreeing with his views, Kieren is unashamed to be honest with them, saying things like “its not that I don’t see people as unequal, its that in my life I want people like me around me” and “if they want to call me a racist then fine, I’m a racist, I’ll happily be a racist but I don’t think its racism and I think the word racism needs redefining and we need to have a common sense acknowledgement of what it actually is”. His friends and girlfriend looked very awkward being around while he said these things.
When deciding whether to join the BNP, he watched the infamous episode of Question Time (read about question time here) with BNP leader Nick Griffin. He said “theres never been a question time like this. I enjoy this show normally”. He is extremely disappointed with Nick Griffins performance and unsure whether they still represent his views. This disappointment was made stronger by the news that the BNP could be extending their membership to allow non-whites to join their party. Kieren doesn’t join the BNP. Instead he attends the annual National Front remembrance march. The National Front are a far-right party that have stronger views than the BNP and are arguably more racist and elitist.
The filmer, Peter Beard, talks to a militant group who also grew disillusioned with the BNP. They only agreed to talk if they could be in disguise. The man speaking for the group said “we would like to see England returned to the hands of the people who have the blood right to this country... their blood is in this soil... we have seen the filth flooding through our streets, we have seen a consumerist nation overtake a moral nation”.
Kieren admits that there can be problems with not wanting to integrate with other races. “A lot of nationalists might suffer from social problems I suppose. You don’t really want to indulge in a social life with people who don’t see everything along the route lines as you. I don’t not want to have a life. Nationalisms brilliant and I put all of my thought into it but at the same time I’m 19 and I want to live a normal life”. Sometimes his nationalist views provide a worry to Kieren: “I want to do well and I feel like I’ve turned it around from not being in school to being in education. I want to enjoy university and have a great time and I want to enjoy a successful career. It shouldn’t be considered wrong for me to say how I feel no matter how un socially acceptable it is I’m not doing it in an aggressive manner. I do worry that my honesty in that regard could hold me back."
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