No ifs, no buts, no nazis

"British National Party members will not be banned from teaching.... Teachers in England should not be banned from membership of the BNP or any group which may promote racism, a review has concluded."

This was the headline and the opening paragraph on the education section of the BBC news website yesterday. Prompted, we are told, by the leaked identification in September 2009 of fifteen confirmed BNP members working as teachers, the government-commissioned review was carried out by a man named Maurice Smith. He concluded: "I do not believe that barring teachers or other members of the wider school workforce from membership of legitimate organisations which may promote racism is necessary at present." I am shocked and appalled by this statement, not least because it strongly suggests that hehas written the review while being fully aware of the BNP's intolerant agenda and the possibility that this could be allowed to infiltrate schools and therefore the impressionable minds of schoolchildren. The implications horrify me.

The first problem is that the BNP is a legally constituted political party. I am very much in favour of free speech and I believe that every member of a democratic society has the initial right to openly voice his/her beliefs without fear of persecution. However, if these beliefs advocate or encourage the persecution of other members of the same democratic society then that individual or group of individuals should forfeit their right to promote and practice these beliefs. In short, it is abhorrent that the odious Nick Griffin is at the helm of a legal, officially recognised political party and not, as should be the case, the gagged boss of a shunned, powerless mob. If banning current BNP members from teaching, or banning current teachers from joining the BNP, would currently lead to legal proceedings then there is clearly a systemic problem. The law needs to be changed in order to protect students and school staff from being subjected to the racist propaganda of a mindless minority. To suggest otherwise is to destroy the sense of community cohesion, the gel that holds many schools together.

The second problem is the idiocy of the Labour government's Education Secretary. It is damning and shameful that Ed Balls, who sought the review with the intention of preventing the promotion of racism in schools, accepted the findings without complaint. This absurd decision defies belief and, in a political system that professes to uphold personal responsibilty, his resignation should be forthcoming. Any lingering shred of trust that public sector education workers still had in him following the most recent announcements on pay has surely, finally disappeared. As a brilliantly written article on The Morning Star website points out: "When it comes to recommendations from statutory pay review bodies for public services, the government feels free to ignore as much as it wants, but, in the case of protecting children from the toxic growth of racism, it swallows the lot."

Griffin reacted to this gift from the government by saying: "Today is a good day for British democracy." He went on to make a comment that, on the surface, seems to be perfectly reasonable: "Teachers should... keep their politics strictly from the classroom." He is correct, of course. However, this does not mean that this despicable little man - who has described the country he lives in as "a multi-racial hell-hole" - has softened or in any way adjusted his racist views. It simply illustrates that he is perhaps less stupid than he used to be. Even he will have realised that the review's conclusions are favourable towards his modern-day nazi party and that another offensive quote from himself - such as "I want to see Britain become 99% genetically white" - would do more to hinder rather than help his fascist cause at a time when a former chief inspector of schools, Smith, has set a staggering precedent by giving the green light for teachers to admit to official BNP affiliation and, worse still, for BNP members to apply for teaching positions.

NASUWT General Secretary Christine Keats voiced her concerns at the review: "The idea that a person who signs up to membership of the BNP can simply leave these beliefs at the school gate and behave as a 'professional' when they walk into school is risible... The report is woefully inadequate." I agree completely with what she said. Smith's review is, at best, dangerously naive and he has opened up the very real possibility that legitimised fascists will be legally entitled to put themselves in a position to shape and to influence the thinking of children by promoting, for example, racial, ethnic and religious intolerance.

Schools cannot afford to adopt a neutral stance on this issue. We should be openly and actively ant-fascist. There needs to be a blanket ban on BNP members working in education, as there is for the police force and the prison service. No ifs, no buts, no nazi bastards in our schools.