BNP CANDIDATE DEFENDS RAPE
Nick Lowles from Searchlight reports that although Nick Eriksen was originally defended by the BNP Press Officer and deputy leader, Simon Darby claiming that his writing was just a bit of satire. Darby claimed the accusations were a ’smear’ and that Mr Eriksen’s remarks had been taken ‘completely out of context’.
BUt last night, the party was trying to remove him as a candidate in a bid to limit the fallout. Erisken is currently number two on the BNP’s London list, and could be elected to the GLA if the BNP get 9% of the vote across London. Yet Today’s Evening Standard reports that Erikson still remains the BNP’s London organiser.
Nick Lowles and David Williams write:
“Rape is simply sex.” That is the appalling view of the BNP London election candidate Nick Eriksen. Writing on his own blog, under the name John Bull, Eriksen claims “men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime”.
He goes on to say: “Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors”.
Eriksen is not only number two on the BNP’s London-wide list, and so stands a chance of getting elected to the London Assembly, but is also the party’s London organiser. This means he is in charge of the whole London BNP campaign.
Eriksen is a recent recruit to the BNP but has been a controversial political figure for some time. As a former Conservative councillor in Southwark, his views were so extreme and divisive that his surgeries were regularly picketed.
He went on to be a founding activist with Right Now, a magazine aimed at the far right of the Conservative Party. Its first editor was Ralph Harrison, a close collaborator of one of Britain’s most important postwar racist and antisemitic activists, the Dowager Lady Jane Birdwood. Harrison was followed in 1995 by Derek Turner, a former activist in the Social Action Initiative, a small fascist group active in the Irish Republic.
In some early issues Eriksen wrote openly under his own name but he later submerged his identity in the deeply odious John Bull column, in which he raged against multiculturalism, women’s equality and political correctness.
Eriksen also voiced his obnoxious views on his John Bull blog, which he started in April 2005 just before the general election. In August of that year he turned his attention to the date-rape drug Rohypnol.
“It turns out that these stupid tarts are simply getting blind drunk, taking ‘recreational’ drugs themselves, and then having sex,” spouted Eriksen. “Next day they wake up with an almighty hangover and a deep feeling of shame and regret. So what do they do then? Why, cry rape of course, and try to get a poor innocent man sent to prison in order to save their ‘reputation’ – as if they had one!”
Under the heading “Assault with a friendly weapon”, he continued in similar vein.
“Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched.”
Eriksen obviously hates women. In another article the following day he wrote: “Men are more intelligent than women – it’s a fact. Let’s be proud of it, let’s celebrate it, let’s take advantage of it, and let’s not tolerate women who seek to deny it.”
But his violent misogyny does not stop there. Eriksen believes that figures that show women are the victim in nearly four fifths of domestic violence incidents are a lie and that men are the real victims. In an article in November 2005 entitled “Give her a slap”, Eriksen attacked campaigns that try to heighten awareness of the domestic violence and abuse as an attempt “to vilify men”. Eriksen believes that “Very few men have any inkling of the hatred and contempt which most women have for them” and that “Feminist talk about ‘equality’ is just a pretext – their real agenda is to try to gain superiority over men”.
Concluding this particularly odious piece of twaddle, Eriksen endorsed physical violence against women. Commenting upon a very public fracas in which Rebekah Wade, editor of The Sun, was arrested following a fight with her husband, the actor Ross Kemp, in 2005, Eriksen advanced his own solution. “Come on Ross,” urged Eriksen, “let’s see if you’re as tough as your on-screen persona – give your wife a good slap!”
With statements such as these it is not surprising that his blog profile states that he takes a “‘right-wing’, nationalist, patriotic, traditional viewpoint, promoting men’s rights and the national interest of the British people. Opposed to all forms of political correctness.”
In Eriksen’s mind, when not being raped or beaten women have one role in life. “Let’s be honest,” he wrote on 16 September 2005, “for a woman to consider a job or career more important than having children is, quite literally, unnatural. Of course having children usually leads to women’s careers being disrupted, but so what? … Instead of complaining that nature prevents women from having successful careers women should embrace the career nature has ascribed to them – motherhood.”
In this view he fits neatly in the BNP. The racist party has long argued that women should not work but stay at home and bring up children.
This piece about Eriksen was in hte Standard yesterday by Gilligan of all people. Does anyone know what we can do to complain to the Electoral Commision about his eligibility to be considered a candidate? I’m not going to suggest that there are nice fascists and horrible fascists, but this guy is so obnoxious that even your common and garden BNP supporter might be revulsed.
Comment by Harold — 2 April, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
Better to let him stand and get maximum publicity I would have thought. That way the BNP become known as the Rapists’ Party.
Comment by Dumbo — 2 April, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
Yes, let them stand - and whilst they campaign, assaults on black people, gays, women goes up. Great idea.
Comment by Harold — 2 April, 2008 @ 6:39 pm
You’ve got to ask why, with this kind of dynamite story, the Standard chose to release it so the BNP could get rid of him before the list was finalised.
One conclusion has to be that there is a serious worry the BNP are going to take two seats, even allowing for the damage this story might cause them closer to the election.
Following Searchlight’s guidance, the only way to lessen the chances of the BNP is to vote on the list for an anti-racist party that will gain more than 5% of the vote.
If people do this, it also raises the bar for us in the Greens to gain a 3rd or 4th seat, but the risk of 2 BNP Assembly members is something that we should all work to minimise. While the skeleton may have fallen out of this cupboard, we all know the typical calibre of BNP elected representatives, and we need less of them, not more.
Comment by Peter Cranie — 2 April, 2008 @ 7:19 pm
#4 Peter Cranie fair point about BNP removing skeletons, but all of us whatever our views on other questions must raise this question far and wide, not just to ensure that every party on the list gets a larger vote, but also to make it clear that this BNP member is a high ranking thug who represents the BNP
Comment by Harold — 2 April, 2008 @ 7:33 pm
Peter Cranie: “You’ve got to ask why, with this kind of dynamite story, the Standard chose to release it so the BNP could get rid of him before the list was finalised.”
The BNP list had actually been finalised - it was already up on the London Elects website - but the general point about timing is right on the button.
The more appropriate question, however, is why Searchlight decided to release this information so early - it appeared in the Jewish Chronicle two weeks ago and Searchlight was the obvious source: http://tinyurl.com/28bedf
Tactically, it would have made much more sense to allow the BNP campaign to get under way, allow Eriksen to raise his profile and then expose him. We could have done a real number on the bastard. Here, for example, is Eriksen writing in Right Now! magazine (December 2004-January 2005):
“What a ridiculous fuss was made about the so-called ‘monkey noises’ directed against the English football team’s black players by Spanish supporters recently…. Football supporters see their role as that of encouraging their own players while intimidating the opposition. Derisive or abusive chants are therefore frequently directed at opposition players to put them off their game…. I remember a couple of years ago attending a match where a slightly portly opposition player was met with the cry of ‘you fat bastard!’ … Why does the media consider ‘You fat bastard’ acceptable (though crass) but ‘you black bastard’ not? It is utterly illogical.”
As it is, the BNP have been able to ditch Eriksen at an early stage of the campaign, remove him from the list and escape with the minimum of political damage.
Comment by Eugene — 2 April, 2008 @ 8:59 pm
“Yes, let them stand - and whilst they campaign, assaults on black people, gays, women goes up. Great idea.”
You can’t stop them from standing. However, standing while lumbered with something like this is better than them standing not so lumbered.
Comment by Dumbo — 3 April, 2008 @ 9:37 am
Anyway, it’s unfortunate that they’ve taken him off their list in the nick of time. Shame about the timing of this story - a couple more days till the deadline for withdrawals and they would have been well fucked by this.
Comment by Dumbo — 3 April, 2008 @ 10:00 am
It’s still important to use it across the board, particularly in Barking and Dagenham where they expect to do well. It’s not his withdrawal, but that such a high ranking cretin has such obnoxious views - he wasn’t a David Copeland non-entity, but a leading memebrs and they would have known his views on all these questions.
Comment by Harold — 3 April, 2008 @ 10:08 am
“You’ve got to ask why, with this kind of dynamite story, the Standard chose to release it so the BNP could get rid of him before the list was finalised”
Basically, the usual incompetence we can expect from Searchlight, who were responsible for this oh so clever ploy. In any event, any negative publicity the BNP obtained has been eased by them quickly sacking Erikson, and by announcing they will support Boris with their Second mayoral vote- which has got more column inches for them.
All in all, may not undermine their support that much. They probably still wont get in on the GLA list but may still poll 2-3% this time- probably exceeding any of the vote of the 2 competing socialist lists, and Galloways clique as well.
Comment by JimPage — 3 April, 2008 @ 12:37 pm