Sunday, 23rd November 2008
St Julian's resident on far-right list
A St Julian's resident is named in a list of members of the far-right British National Party leaked over the internet.
But Graeme Robinson, 67, told The Sunday Times that he has no regrets over his support for the party long reviled as racist and intolerant. The BNP bars nonwhites from its membership and wants foreigners to go home.
Last week's disclosure of the list containing more than 10,000 names - including addresses, telephone numbers and occupations - caused controversy in the UK.
Mr Robinson, who has lived in Malta for 38 years, said he did not fear reprisals, amid reports that some of those named have been threatened.
Blaming a union control centre supportive of the British Labour government for the leak, Mr Robinson said the move was a clear witch hunt.
"However, we don't care that our names have been revealed. It's actually generated a lot of interest and a lot of people are now actually joining the BNP rather than leaving it.
It backfired," he said, adding that the only phone call he received so far was one of support.
So how does he feel about the BNP's connections with the extreme right, even with Nazi sentiments?
"There is an association but there are no actual links. We have Jewish members in the BNP.
It's very doubtful how Jews can be pro-Nazi," Mr Robinson said.
He insisted he was a member of the BNP because Britain was being overrun by foreigners.
"In 50 years, there won't be any ethnic British people left - we'll be overwhelmed. They should stop non-EU citizens coming into the UK... A person who comes into the UK can get a house while an indigenous person cannot," he said.
Mr Robinson said he could see a parallel to the immigration problem in Malta, albeit to a much lesser extent.
"I can't see it happening right away - but don't forget the EU wants these foreigners in."
A police officer whose name appeared on the BNP list was suspended from duty by Merseyside police. Police are banned from becoming members of the far-right party because it conflicts with obligations under race relations laws. A South Yorkshire councillor is also facing demands to quit after her name appeared on the list.
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Comments
There is a racism in reverse ie a racism directed towards their own. If you are Maltese then you have no mystique and therefore no real value. Anyone foreign, on the other hand, is up there on a pedestal. And an English person in Malta is revered to the point of obsequiousness, speaking (after a fashion) his language in preference to their own, and so on. Sounds familiar. Of course this is the class of English person who barely tolerates anything foreign. Of course British people have always come to Malta, many to settle. If anything, Malta's EU membership makes this easier. How easy is it for Maltese people to come to Britain, no questions asked?
"It's muddled thinking to simply describe the likes of the British National Party as "extreme right". The truth is that on issues like health, transport, housing, protectionism and globalisation, their economics are left of Labour."
Mr Robinson is British, lives in Malta and joins a party which in his own words campaigns against foreigners living in Britain.
Does he not see any contradiction in what he is stands for?
Mr Robinson happens to be as much as a foreigner to another country as I am.
Is Mr Robinson considering sticking to his principles and pack his bags?