This is a tricky one... on the one hand, I'm all for 'no more racist teachers in schools', but on the other I'm worried about what kind of precedent this might set.

The BNP may well be a bunch of idiots, but their organisation is not illegal within British law.

What if they were to ban members of Muslim groups who they saw as extreme?

And what if they then started banning members of mainstream Muslim (and other) groups?

And what if they started banning people because they might have once been on a political protest in their earlier life?

It's like a snowball effect.

So while I'm all for strictness on people who have criminal convitions - for racism, for drug abuse, for child abuse etc etc etc - I'm not sure membership of ANY party/organisation (no matter how much we don't like it) is reason to ban someone from teaching.

As long as there is enough accountability that teachers don't get an opportunity to preach to students (about anything), I think it will be safe.

they should ban the bnp party how can it be legal in this so called civilised country, can someone explain please, how it is possible, some loophole? Some nonsense about "freedom"? How did they enter the political field? any links appreciated.

Like everyone else i don't think they should be banned from teaching either, as much as i detest them, since the same rule would have to apply to other partys also.

Hajjar wrote:

they should ban the bnp party how can it be legal in this so called civilised country, can someone explain please, how it is possible, some loophole?

Cos freedom of speech extends to 'I don't agree with what you say, but I will die for your right to say it'.

There is no running away from the fact that people DO have these views, a significant proportion of the population as the recent elections demonstrated. If the government banned this particular organisation, then the people who supported them will still exist. They will just find a different platform to spread their hate (and if the government banned THAT group they'd find another one, and so on and so on, each time adding supporters due to their notoriety and 'anti-establishment' status/kudos).

If the organisation is legal; their spokesmen can go on national TV etc, then it gives others the opportunity to challenge their views as well as showing them up for the nasty, narrow-minded people they really are.

If we, as Muslims, want to be able to share our beliefs and make da'wah etc, we have to accept that (and support the right for) other people, with totally different beliefs, get to voice their opinion too.

You automatically lose an argument by running away from your opponent, punching them in the face until they shut up or locking them away in a dungeon.

hmmm... seems that there IS a loophole, challenging the BNP because they don't employ people on an equal opportunities basis.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/23/bnp-equal-opportunities

assalamu alaikum,

so if a group of ppl have fascist views and want to further them, they can get some votes and be taken seriously as a politcal party? Isn't this how Nazi beliefs progressed? Is it wise to allow these sort of parties in regardless of morality? What if a white supremacist party wanted to become legit like the BNP, it's cool within the uk so long as you follow the rules??

You wrote:

They only get votes if people agree with their beliefs. Having members of the BNP is not the problem but the fact that people are willing to vote for them is.

Punishing the BNP there after the fact is pointless. Question is why do people think the BNP represent them and what can be done about that.

Exactly.

The BNP is nothing more than a car. A car driven my an alcoholic maniac.

If he got drunk and crashed into a wall, do you think the CAR is to blame? What would happen if you destroyed the car? Wouldn't the maniac be able to get a new one the next night?

'but... but... but... drunk-driving is illegal', I hear you say. 'The maniac should be locked up.'

That is, of course, true. But you can't arrest him BEFORE he's committed a crime.

And the BNP don't EXPLICITLY tell their followers to kill/assault anybody. Not publicly, anyway. If they did that, then they'd be arrested.

Even then the car would be allowed to stay on the road, as long as it passed it's MOT.

What I think is odd is that, even though everyone who's commented on this doesn't think they should be banned, close to three quarters of people have voted that they should (I'm including 'think of the children' in this).

So if you voted that they SHOULD be banned, A) why haven't you commented? what is your reason? and C) I want another argument.

i voted yes.

cbb to state my reason.

Should the Government ban members of the BNP from teaching?

No.

Somebody, think of the children!

bnp hate muslims and people of colour, everyone knows that. so how can they treat them fairly?

they are racists, racist people attack others, sometimes verbally, physically or emotionally.

teachers are important people, kids look up to them, they are their role models at that time. who wants a racist for a role model? is that a good thing?

Although I dont agree with BNP; I am against the proposed ban.

In fact, I think that if a BNP teacher is daily seeing lots of muslim children,
then this may, after some time, actually remove his bigotry.

He would get to know muslims not as monsters, but as
beautiful people who can teach his group a moral lesson or two.

That can only be good for our society.

Omrow wrote:

Although I dont agree with BNP; I am against the proposed ban.

In fact, I think that if a BNP teacher is daily seeing lots of muslim children,
then this may, after some time, actually remove his bigotry.

He would get to know muslims not as monsters, but as
beautiful people who can teach his group a moral lesson or two.

That can only be good for our society.

That is one of the sanest thing you've said that I've read. Well done.