Are the BNP racists?

One of the main criticisms often thrown at the BNP is that it is a "racist party" and is "racist" towards non-white people. Many opponents of the BNP use the "racist" argument to attack the BNP's opposition towards immigrants and mass immigration

Firstly let me start by saying I hate using the term "racist". In fact I try to avoid using it whenever possible. Simply because it has very little meaning. It is a term that is misused, abused and misunderstood by many people who use it. The term is of course the adjective of the word "race", but what does "race" actually mean? According to a growing consensus of scientists, it is a word which has no scientific basis. There are no distinctly separate human "races", and hence why the term is no longer used in any scientific context, and why it's use is discouraged.

Nevertheless the word is still widely used in the English language to refer to people of different nationalities and ethnicities. Therefore I will use the term here, in inverted commas.

Putting the accuracy or relevance of the term aside, I will demonstrate that "racist" need not be negative, and that being "racist" is not only unavoidable, but necessary for anyone of the nationalist political persuasion.

So let's start by looking at what the term "racist" actually means. Here is the standard definition from the Oxford Dictionary:

"the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief."

This presents us with a dilemma because as you can see, there are two distinct meanings offered here. The first is ambiguous, it is not negative or positive, it is merely a belief that "races" are unique and possess distinctiveness. It may not necessarily have to taken on a superiority or inferiority nature, but rather, simply a preference for one's own ethnicity and people.

The meaning of the second definition at first glance appears negative, however again, it is also ambiguous as it depends on the reasoning and context. Coming back to the first example, if one favours one's own ethnicity and people in preference to others, that must, therefore, make one prejudicial to a certain degree towards people of a different "race" or ethnicity. One may be critical of people from a different ethnicity or "race", based on cultural, religious, political or other grounds. However we cannot automatically assume that any such prejudice has to be discriminatory, antagonistic, or promoting of hatred.

So as we can see, the term "racist" is ambiguous and can have different connotations in different contexts. However, as we see in our politically correct society, "racist" has become an overwhelmingly negative term. Particularly so in any criticism of anti-immigration or anti-multiculturalism proponents, and against nationalists and nationalism politics in general.

Nationalism, and nationalist politics by their very nature must have an ethnic or "racial" dimension. People who share a common or closely linked ancestry, heritage and culture are a distinctive and unique people, from which arises the nation state. From a nationalist point of view then (one who supports the nation state), it could be argued that the mass influx foreign peoples and cultures is detrimental to the social, cultural and political integrity of the nation state.