Fascist Bastards

At midday today on BBC2, See Hear - a programme aimed at deaf people - had a feature about the deaf survivors (and victims) of Nazi Germany. It was one of those programmes which was both interesting and disturbing at the same time.

Jewish deaf people obviously were targeted worst by the Nazis, but all deaf people in Germany at the time were in danger. As well as the 6 million Jews and millions of Communists and Trade Unionists who were murdered by the Nazis, hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities ("useless eaters" as the Nazis called us) were similarly exterminated in the gas chambers.

As both a communist (I'm not ashamed of the term!) and a person with disabilities, I have an interest in making sure the horrors of Nazism are never repeated. (For my views on Nazis, see my article on the Red Disability website). So last Saturday and Sunday I was one of the group of Unite Against Fascism members who leafleted Alfreton and South Normanton (where the BNP stood, and thankfully failed to win) with anti-BNP literature.

Unite Against Fascism is a united front, a broad group of people from several political parties and other groups, whose sole aim is the defeat of fascism. Which is why SWP, Respect and Labour Party members and supporters work alongside each other while leafleting and organising against the BNP.

Whatever my views on Labour as it stands, I'd rather be ruled by Labour - or indeed by the Lib Dems, Tories or even UKIP - than by the BNP. In the same way that I'd rather have a nimbostratus cloud above me than a cumulonimbus thundercloud. Both may piss on me from a great height, but only one risks killing me!