On 20^th of November, during the Annual Delegate Meeting (ADM), one of the main topics in UK’s politics for the last few months was discussed. Passionate debate about the British national Party (BNP) and its role within society was held.

By Julija Jegorova and Stephen Fothergill

The BNP – “Britain’s most democratic party.”

The British National Party gained widespread notoriety after its leader won a seat in European parliament. However, some feel that the BNP should be known as a “Nazi party” as it proclaims that “…BNP exists to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia.”

According to Anindya Bhattacharyya (Unite against the fascism), BNP members are trying to get rid of “three H’s” – Hard image, Hitler and Hooliganism. They want these terms to become less negative and to become regularly used in our day-to-day vocabulary. The only way we can stop BNP is try to break its support and show its real aims. Bhattacharyya said: “Every mistake should be published. People must know that it is an organisation based on lies.”

Question Time

Media, as the fourth estate, is one of the most influential powers a democracy possesses.

The BNP reached the peak of its popularity following the BBC’s “Question Time”, where for the first time a representative of a far right political party was asked to take part in the show.

Media against fascism: facing problems.

The majority of journalists strongly believe that the BNP should not be covered in the media. However, due to the work deadlines and the industry’s competition to get the “hottest headlines” journalists are being forced by editors to interview and observe topics about the BNP.

Things to be done

Speakers during the meeting called for a number of  ways of fighting against the BNP’s methods. They said:

• Big events are needed around the country, exposing British’s National Party aims
• Debates must be made for young inexperienced journalists to debate the nature of political coverage
• Try to prevent BNP’s support from increasing, by accurate reporting of social issues
• Media should take responsibility for intelligent comment on these issues

They expressed concern that without those steps the BNP might never be exposed and would continue to gain support from disaffected voters unaware of their true intentions.

Bhattacharyya said: “Many people don’t understand the concept of the “far right”, but they instictivley know that when a party is described as having Nazi beliefs they are inherently wrong.”

By Stephen Fothergill and Julija Jegorova.

Speaking at the meeting were photographer Guy Smallman, who recently returned from Afghanistan, Nahella Ashraf, who chairs the Manchester branch of Stop the War, and Sue Glenton, mother of British soldier Joe Glenton.

Sue Glenton

Sue Glenton is the mother of British soldier Joe Glenton, who refused to go back to war in Afghanistan on a matter of principle and ethics.

She said: “When Joe was sent to Afghanistan he believed he would be helping to liberate women, stop the opium trade and bring down the warlords. Instead he found himself in a war of attrition which has led to the death of countless innocent people.”

She added that until he sent his letter to Gordon Brown on 30^th July 2009, he was up on charges of being Awol, which allows sentencing of up to two years in prison.

He is now up on the more serious charge of desertion which carries a maximum life sentence. She said:

“We’re supposedly fighting in Afghanistan for democracy, really I think we should be fighting for our democracy over here.”

Guy Smallman

Guy Smallman spoke about his time in Afghanistan during the recent November elections. He expressed his dismay with Afghan democracy by saying: “I couldn’t find a single Afghan person who is happy with politics. They believe that their President was elected earlier in the White House.”

He went on to say that he believes that the war is doing nothing to help the Afghan people. Many people are far worse off than before the war started. He said: “Some people have to sell their children to feed their families.”

Stop the War

Nahella Ashraf, Chair of Manchester Stop the War, began her speech by reminding the audience of the main reasons Britain had gone to war.

She said: “We were told that we were looking for Osama Bin Laden dead or alive and to end Al-Qaeda’s movement.”

Other justifications for the war were to promote democracy and to fight for the rights of women in Afghanistan. She argued that this had not happened and in fact in many cases people were far worse off.

She said: “The support for the Taliban is growing. This doesn’t mean that the Afghan people support them, but rather they support anyone who fights against the people who are killing young men, woman and children.”

Links (open in new windows):

http://www.mancsagainsttanks.org/

www.stopwar.org.uk

By Julija Jegorova and Stephen Fothergill

Her speech centered on issues of student involvement, education and strong trade unionism. When asked about the link between the NUJ and TUC, she said: “The NUJ is the heart of the TUC… Jeremy Dear (General Secretary of NUJ) is on the TUC Executive. I think it’s pretty unusual, for what is, in TUC terms, a relatively small and specialist union like the NUJ to have a leader on TUC Executive.”

Working students

Students will be happy to learn that they are starting to be recognised for the work they do whilst studying. O’Grady said: “It took a while for some people in parts of the trade union movement, to realise that the whole labour market has changed, and changed most for young people.”

Given the difficulties that students can experience working whilst studying, she said the TUC “needs to find new ways to reach people and organise them.”

Work Experience

Frances O’Grady is passionate about training for students. However she is worried that unpaid internships are exploiting both students and staff within media organisations. She said: “Employers, as well as workers themselves need to know the law. In the vast majority of cases, so called ‘internships’, should be paid at least the national minimum wage. People should know their rights.”

Union Membership

Frances feels that although membership has remained steady over the last few years, the current economic climate is changing the way unions are viewed. “Clearly unemployment is having a real impact on people’s lives.” However this has led to an increase in support for Unions. She said: “More and more people are joining because…there is no such thing as a safe job anymore.”

Journalism

When asked how she feels about journalism and journalists, O’Grady said: “The journalists I know are pretty smart and sassy and I can see why it’s such an attractive job.” Frances argues that there is something more to profound to being a journalist. She said: “Journalism is absolutely fundamental to democracy.”

The main goal of NUJ trainers Caroline Holmes and Chris Wheal was to acquaint students, who are involved into media industry, with how the union works.

Being a part of the NUJ and getting involved with the projects is not as easy as it may seem. A highly complicated structure confuses even experienced members. All of them wish to make the system easier, though, no one has agreed on a new model yet.

Five-sex hours of detailed explanations how NUJ works were diluted with a variety of exercises, which helped students to “break the ice”.  The majority of young and enthusiastic students already have experience in different spheres of media industry: television, radio and print journalism.

They main goals of the students are to build a list of useful connections, get involved into the work of NUJ and, of course, to meet new people.

One of the challenges was already waiting for them next day – report the ADM conference (blogs and twitters) and interview experienced journalist from the United Kingdom.

The hard day ended after midnight – after great, but slowly served dinner and a nice chat with people, who are they going to be for the next few days.

NUJ President James Doherty said: “Google can repeat the news, but it cannot write the news.” “Journalists and journalism matters,” he added, imploring delegates to fight for their rights.

“Independence is profitable!” said General-Secretary Jeremy Dear in  his speech. Dear thanked all the members of NUJ and encouraged everyone to talk less and act more.

Lots of pressure and harsh debates about the future of media industry followed, considering the majority of motions.

The industry problems debated today were the financial crisis, lack of media democracy and freedom of speech.

Journalists are concerned about job cuts and government getting involved into the media.