← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Kevin_O'Keeffe
Thread ID: 19416 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2005-08-04
2005-08-04 12:47 | User Profile
[url=http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/article.tvt?_scope=Flow/Inverness%20Courier/News&id=49256&ARTICLECAT=News&_ticket=YA7ARZ89CHVR6JL1HONDNOVK9LLDNVP5TRRIVQNAFN1EEMTDHHWFURUQC609ANWRCKLAFSM3GQRFL1MAAUTDALSFBHSMWQRFO0MAAT2DALRDBHSJ5K8T]Link to Inverness Courier original article[/url]
Colleagues rally behind far-right councillor
INVERNESS community councillors last night rallied behind their vice-chairman after he admitted being a senior official in the far right British National Party.
Kenny Smith, the secretary of the BNP for Scotland, is vice-chairman of Smithton and Culloden Community Council and the man behind a planned family event at Fort George to mark the bi-centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in October.
But while his political affiliations have raised serious concerns among Highland councillors and political activists, his community council colleagues pledged their support.
Chairman David Lafferty insisted that the body was non-political.
"I have always had the view that a person's political views are a private matter to decide on his own, " he said. "The man is doing a good conscientious job of voluntary work within the council and he has been very hard-working at getting a number of items off the ground."
He had not been aware of Mr Smith's BNP role but pointed out: "Kenny Smith is not aware of my political beliefs either. It does not bother me that the vice-chairman is a high-ranking official of the BNP."
And at least one other member has said they would consider resigning if Mr Smith was forced out.
But the Scottish Socialist Party, which tipped off The Inverness Courier about Mr Smith's BNP role after his photograph appeared alongside an article about the Battle of Trafalgar event, has demanded Highland Council and the community council deal with the matter urgently.
Steve Arnott, the SSP's regional organiser, said community councils received funding from Highland Council which had clear policies against racist and religious discrimination and he described Mr Lafferty's response as inadequate.
"It is a shame the chairman of Smithton and Culloden Community Council does not understand the simple fact that the community council is there to represent everyone in the community, " he said. "The BNP is trying to pretend it is a serious political party but it avowedly promotes racist and religious hatred. It is worrying that this neo-Nazi organisation could be infiltrating community organisations throughout the country.
"I'm sure the people of Culloden and Smithton will be horrified to learn that such a senior figure of the BNP also holds an influential role on their community council. This shows that we should all remain vigilant in case of the BNP trying to muscle in on any other public activities."
He queried whether it was a BNP tactic to establish a face on the community council prior to standing for election to Highland Council.
Mr Smith, of Walker Crescent, Culloden, runs his own IT company and has been a community councillor for two years, having been initially elected and then co-opted when the 12-strong council was re-constituted.
He did not believe his political views were relevant. "It should not be an issue, " he said yesterday.
"I have never brought politics into the community council, nor do I intend to."
A BNP member since 1992, he believed the party was growing in popularity.
"It is a relatively young party, " he said. "In Highland, it is growing all the time. We have a new local organiser."
He denied that the party's policies were racist, insisting the BNP was "squeaky clean".
"We want to preserve our heritage and culture and identity, " he said.
"You will not find anything in our literature which implies hatred for other people. You will constantly find we tell people not to do anything illegal."
He maintained that the BNP was multi-culturist.
"We don't want any culture or identity to be lost for these different varieties and people of the world, " he explained. "If we continue this headlong suicide mission of getting this melting pot, everything will be the same."
Mr Smith has offered to stand down from his involvement in the Trafalgar bi-centenary event if his BNP membership threatened to prevent it going ahead.
Highland councillor Bob Wynd (Balloch) had previously been unaware of Mr Smith's political leanings but felt it was an issue for the community council. "My personal views of the BNP is that is not a nice organisation and not one I would want to be associated with, " he said. "I think the vast majority of people feel the same way."
Councillor Roddy Balfour (Ardersier, Croy and Petty) held similar views.
"There is a distaste about the BNP which people would not want to be associated with voluntarily or otherwise, " he said.
02/08/2005
2005-08-04 15:45 | User Profile
Interesting. The BNP and europe in general are a decade or more ahead of us in their mobilization efforts to save their herritage. Im curious about what the Scotts are having to say about the BNP, but thats a subject for another post.