John Park MSP: Hear the alarm bells ringing 30,000 times

Published on Wednesday 10 June 2009 21:15

I WAS just eleven years old in 1985, but two events that year still shape my attitude to politics today.

The first was the return to work of striking miners in the March of 1985. As a schoolboy in Fife, I witnessed their struggle firsthand. It led to me become a shop steward at Rosyth, not long after I finished my apprenticeship.

The second was a school visit to Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam. Most of us have read the diary she wrote as a young girl and struggled to comprehend her experiences under the Nazis.

She told of discrimination and prejudice suffered by her family, and hundreds of thousands of others, just because of who they were.

In a debate about the importance of educating young people about the holocaust in the Scottish Parliament last year I spoke about that visit to Anne's house in Amsterdam and the effect it had on me and my Primary 7 classmates.

The story of Anne Frank and her family should be known by every person in Scotland.

The holocaust debate last year coincided with the launch of the Anne Frank Trust's permanent travelling exhibition in Scotland, which widened the opportunities for people in Scotland to learn from Anne's story.

I am pleased that this exhibition Anne Frank: A History for Today has been such a great success. It draws on the power of her life and diary to challenge prejudice and encourage young people to respect others.

The exhibition has been used in schools and community venues to reach over 13,000 people and provide a focus for educational programmes.

Undoubtedly, her story lives on over 60 years later. On the agenda of the Scottish Parliament today is a members' debate to mark Anne Frank Day.

The 12 June is now celebrated every year to mark the birthday of a little girl, who had she lived, would have been 80 this year.

Since I lodged the motion for this afternoon's members' debate, several weeks ago, it has taken on a new significance.

It is a dark irony that MSPs will be coming together to highlight the legacy of fascism in Europe in the wake of elections that have seen fascists elected to represent Britain in Brussels.

The BNP's success in getting a smirking Nick Griffin elected to the European Parliament shows there is a continuing need for vigilance and strength to challenge racism, bigotry and intolerance.

Mr Griffin, the leader of the BNP, was found guilty, in April 1998 of distributing material likely to incite racial hatred and handed a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

In 1984, Andrew Brons, the winner of the party's other European seat, was fined 50 by Leeds magistrates in 1984 for abusive chanting that included calling an ethnic minority police officer an "inferior being".

At the time he was the chairman of the National Front and was marching through the streets with his colleagues chanting slogans including "white power" and "death to Jews".

It is difficult to imagine a parliamentarian anywhere with a less palatable CV.

Other commentators have highlighted the bitter irony of a fascist party making headway in British politics in the very week of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Of course, the biggest irony of all during the recent European election campaign was the use of a Polish Spitfire by the BNP on anti-immigration materials. It is difficult to imagine more contradictions in one poster.

The politics of the north of England are different to those in Scotland, but this is not a time for us to complacently pat ourselves on the back.

We've seen similar "wha's like us" attitudes before when some people questioned the need to challenge sectarianism, which still haunts many parts of Scotland. Politicians of all parties have a responsibility to face up to the politics of hatred and discrimination.

I have no doubt the BNP will in particular look at how best it can undermine communities across Scotland. They were at their most visible during the recent election campaign.

What concerns me most is their "under the radar" approach to building support, playing on people's concerns and fears and placing the blame on "non-British" communities. It's not just in our streets, it's in our workplaces too.

That's why we must ensure that unscrupulous employers are not allowed to exploit migrant workers through low wages and questionable conditions. This kind of unscrupulous behaviour might increase the profit margins on multi-million pound contracts, but it undermines the rest of the workforce.

The Anne Frank declaration states that "I will stand up for what is right and speak out against what is unfair and wrong." I am sure my fellow MSPs will take the opportunity to add their names to that Declaration ahead of the debate today.

In doing so, they will recognise Anne's life as a symbol of what can happen when prejudice and hatred go unchallenged.

Nearly 30, 000 voters in Scotland put their cross against the politics of the BNP last Thursday.

The BNP may not be in our name but we must now ensure that our response holds dear not just the name but also the memory of Annelies Marie Frank and the many like her.

&#149 John Park is a Labour list MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife.