Unite Against Fascism
Date: Friday 2 May 2014
News release: For immediate release
Unite
Against Fascism (UAF) calls on the British electorate to vote against
UKIP on 22 May in the Euro elections. This follows media reports
linking UKIP candidates with the British National Party (BNP) and
English Defence League (EDL), and on-going exposure of racism,
Islamophobia, sexism and homophobia.
Gary
Port a UKIP candidate in Greenwich admitted liking a group devoted to
the British National Party (BNP) on Facebook and said: “I don’t think
it’s clear whether the BNP are racist…”. Heino Vockrodt, a UKIP
candidate in Brent described members of the English Defence League (EDL)
as “honest normal people.” This follows racist comments by William
Henwood who was forced to resign from UKIP after suggesting Lenny Henry
should emigrate to “a black country” and comparing Islam to the Third
Reich; and explicitly racist comments by UKIP member Andre Lampitt. UKIP
donor Demetri Marchessini claimed that rape cannot exist within a
marriage and UKIP Roger Helmer said in 2000 that homosexuality was
“abnormal and undesirable”. (http://www.standard.co.uk/
Sabby Dhalu, UAF Joint Secretary said:
“There
appears to be a racism epidemic in UKIP, coupled with Islamophobia,
sexism and homophobia. The media has been littered with such reports of
UKIP, clearly these are not isolated incidents or individual cases. Any
organisation with links to the BNP, EDL, racism, sexism and homophobia
has no place in a free, fair and democratic society. We urge the British
public to vote against UKIP on 22 May and call on the Standards Board
for England to investigate UKIP.”
Weyman Bennett, UAF Joint Secretary said:
“Earlier
this week, Deputy Chairman of UKIP Neil Hamilton said UKIP was taking
votes off the BNP, saying that former BNP voters feel their communities
are being ‘swamped by immigrants’ and that some of these people are now
voting UKIP. This follows the election adverts produced by UKIP
attacking immigrants for taking the jobs of established British
communities – a cynical attempt to score points prior to the Euro
elections by wrongly blaming immigrants for the cost of living crisis
for the majority of the population, instead of blaming those responsible
for the economy and the welfare of British people. This is whipping up
racism and is the sort of climate that breeds hatred and violent racist
attacks on Britain’s streets.”
