Saturday, April 17, 2004

...i'm thinking of joining the national front...

They seem to be entirely right-on (no pun intended) on a number of issues. Here are a few culls from their FAQ:

Q. FROM WHAT YOU'VE SAID, DO YOU MEAN THAT THE NATIONAL FRONT IS AGAINST AMERICAN BASES LIKE MENWITH HILL IN BRITAIN?
A. Yes. If Britain is to be independent we must have total control over military establishments in our country. Menwith Hill is a spy station used by the USA to intercept ALL telephone calls, e-mails, etc. and is used by the USA, in conjunction with the British State, to monitor everyone and anyone who is a potential threat to their system. We need our own nuclear deterrent, the equivalent of France's "Force de Trappe" - enough to deter potential enemies without the capability to destroy the world several times over. This deterrent must be British designed, British built and British controlled. We are not the USA's 51st state, the Yanks will be sent packing from the UK when the NF take power.

Q. WOULD THE NF KEEP BRITAIN IN NATO?
A. No. NATO is an organisation that is under the control of the USA. It seeks to replace the independent defence capabilities of independent Western nations such as Britain. NATO demonstrated its deadly capabilities in the war against Serbia in 1999. On the orders of the USA, a sovereign nation was viciously bombed by a variety of European nations, led by their US masters under the NATO banner in direct contravention of international law that bans the meddling by foreign powers in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. Now that the Soviet Union no longer exists there is no real need for an alliance such as NATO - except, maybe, against the United States!

Q. HOW WOULD THE NATIONAL FRONT SOLVE BRITAIN'S UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM?
A. There are three basic causes of Britain's unemployment problem: Foreign imports, the export of capital and the way industry is owned in this country.

Q. HOW DO THESE CAUSE UNEMPLOYMENT?
A. A huge proportion of the goods sold in our shops are made abroad. Britain's other political parties are all internationalist - this means that they believe that Britain's factories should be capable of competing with factories in Korea, Uganda, Bolivia or wherever. Yet workers in those countries are paid a pittance, whereas British workers have fought for generations to achieve a decent standard of living

Q. WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO FOREIGN-OWNED FIRMS?
A. Legislation would ensure that all foreign owned firms come into the ownership of their British employees.

A. Yes. While the High Street banks have fostered a 'nice, friendly' image and the reputation of 'respectability' the fact remains that all banks act by creating credit for private gain rather than in accordance with the national need.
We believe that only the government should have the right to create new money for the economy. Merchant banks have also grown to hold positions of tremendous power (their employees and members sit on the boards of all Britain's major industries) largely by their ability to move money around the world. We believe this leads to 'money power' controlling local factories and thus local jobs - we are opposed to this.

Q. WHAT SORT OF EDUCATION SYSTEM WOULD THE NATIONAL FRONT IMPOSE ON BRITAIN?
A. The National Front wouldn't impose any 'system', we believe that education policy must be adaptable to local needs. Thus, a particular type of school structuring which is quite suitable in a densely populated urban area may be quite unsuitable in remote rural areas.
The structure of schooling is best decided at local level by the joint decisions of school governors, parents and pupils.
University places would be on merit and not on the ability to pay.

Q. WOULDN'T THE NATIONAL FRONT BAN TRADES UNIONS IF IT TOOK POWER?
A. No, we recognise that unions are essential to maintaining the rights of workers in industry. However, in the long term we would like to see most industries become workers' co-operatives with all the workforce jointly owning the factories. Under such circumstances the unions would have to adapt to a new role which, in order to safeguard the rights and wages of the workers, will also mean safeguarding the future of the firm. This will prevent the senseless and destructive 'us and them' attitude between workers and management

...then again, mabye not.