Nick Griffin, the leader of the “far right” (Quotes added. — Ed.) BritishNational Party, has found a country where it is even tougher to getheard than in his own – the U.S.
Griffin had lined up three venues to speak at this month in a visitto the U.S. But all three were canceled, leaving Griffin with afamiliar feeling.
In July, the far right BNP, which advocates repatriation of all“non-indigenous” races from Britain, capitalized on a low turnout towin two seats in the European Parliament in Brussels, including one forGriffin, whose appearances are often accompanied by loud protesters. InOctober, for example, the police had to take control of a near riotoutside a British Broadcasting Corp. studio as Griffin took his seat ata political talk show – his first appearance on a primetime BBC show.
In the U.S., Griffin was set to speak at a conference hosted byAmerican Renaissance, an online magazine for “race-realist informationand perspectives,” outside of Washington. The conference was canceledwhen protesters made life miserable for hotels that had agreed to takeAmerican Renaissance’s bookings, according to Jared Taylor, who helps run the magazine.
For Taylor, his British contact’s difficulties in finding a U.S.podium are about freedom of speech. “This is not the kind of thing youwould expect from the home of the brave and the land of the free,” hesaid.
Griffin, who was convicted in 1998 for distributing material likelyto incite racial hatred and has in the past questioned the extent ofthe Holocaust, found himself as unwelcome in Ohio, when a student groupat Kenyon College rescinded its invitation for him to speak on globalwarming at a conference they were holding on the subject. A spokesmanfor the college, which is currently holding a Black History month, saidstudents had called it off after protests and because of security fears.
Next up, a speaking engagement at Michigan State University was alsocanceled by the students who sent the invitation, a universityspokesman said. The spokesman said he didn’t have many other details.
A Griffin spokesman was sanguine, saying Griffin is very busy with his job as a member of the European Parliament.
The BNP’s lack of concern may also be due to Griffin frequentlyvoiced despair over U.S. politics, given its lack of white nationalistparties. “The place is a political disaster zone of self-indulgentjuvenile extremism and lack of self-discipline,” Griffin wrote in ablog posting.
Having met with the leaders of Britain’s Labour and Conservative parties, would President Barack Obama have extended the hand of friendship to the leader of another British political party heading stateside?
Griffin is as unimpressed with the U.S. president. “For at the veryheart of Barack Obama there is a deep-seated anti-white racism,” hesaid on his Web site. The BNP man’s prediction for Obama’s presidencyis one of waste in which he will end up “increasing handouts to thosehe sees as ‘his people.” And for America itself, Griffin believes thatas “its European-American founders become a minority in their owncountry” we will witness the death of “America as anything other than ageographical expression.”