“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”…George Orwell

“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act”…George Orwell

The man at left, Nick Griffin of the British National Party, may not be your idea of someone who should have the right to say anything in public but he, like you and me, live in a democratic society where we all have the right to express our opinions. Whether you like what he has to say or not, he has the right to speak and I – more importantly – have to right to choose whether or not I wish to hear what he has to say.

But not according to some so-called ‘anti-fascists’ protesting outside BBC’s Television Centre. Once again the old ‘fascism’ cause has been taken up – back in the thirties it you had two things, fascists and communists, and if you had a social conscience you declared yourself ‘anti-fascist’. People were so fired up back then about Mussolini and Franco that they ignored what a little guy called Adolph Hitler was doing in Germany…

These anti-fascists gathered outside television centre in London don’t like Nick Griffin and what he stands for – fair enough – but they also seem to be confused about what democracy and freedom of speech is all about; it is not about just saying nice the things, it is about saying everything without the rag of censorship gagging you. It is also the right to HEAR what someone has to say. Nick Griffin now has a seat in the European Parliament, he is not going to disappear tomorrow – this man wants a platform to espouse his views and WE must have the right to share that platform and challenge those views.

If anything, this issue will shake the British public out of their political apathy and force them to look at themselves and ask questions that need to be answered. We need to really demand more from our elected leaders – we need to vote responsibly and we need to push for more choice instead of the usual ‘two party elections’ – if we do not then people like Nick Griffin and his BNP will flourish. The BBC has cannily handed Nick Griffin a very long piece of rope and he will no doubt use it to hang himself.