It's been a while...

Falling slack of my blogging recently, I thought I would drop in again and explain.

Firstly, I've not been lazy, just exceptionally busy, in a good way. I have 5 assignments in for the next 2 weeks, and I've only just about finished 2... because of various reasons.

Along the way, I've been able to interview some very interesting people. In the space of 4 days, I managed to interview someone from an underground anti-fascist organisation in the UK; the secretary of a TU anti-racism group, and the a prominent member of the BNP. It's been educational, to say the least.

Since I've begun studying journalism, I've realised just how naive I have been. The world will never fall in the 2 categories of good and evil, nor will anything ever be simply black or white. Just as I believed that all forms of anti-fascism were a great thing, I believed that all BNP members were unable to see how inhuman they were.

What worries me most about this is that neither are particularly all they seem. This might come across as an obvious statement of being to some, but honestly, I wholeheartedly believed that both parties were the polar opposites of each other. I have always believed that your principles make up the most of your personality and being. I'm not so sure of that now.

Interviewing both parties was mindblowing. I had been trying to get out of getting in touch with anything to do with the BNP for quite some time, until I was advised that in order to write a good story about the BNP, it really is neccessary to speak to one. With a heavy heart, I dialled the number I had found on the BNP website.

He was thrilled to "have a platform" to speak from. He was civil. He was defensive. He attempted to speak logically. And of course, he had no idea I was Chinese, so that made the interview a whole lot less complicated.

Meanwhile, I emailed a member of the underground anti-fascist organisation, and pleaded for an interview. After a few responses, I was granted what can only be called, a statement from the group. Thrilled with the result, I began typing up my story.

That was when I realised that elements I thought were restricted to the BNP side of my argument, seeped through to my anti-fascism argument, and vice versa. Things were not as they seemed. Like a cheesy indie flick when the protagonist finds out the truth a little too late and they are left out in the rain with a sad look in their eyes, my moment of realisation and disappointment arrived.

You cannot fight fire with fire. Anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-anything cannot be combatted with the same forces. Violence may only be one resort, but it should never be the one of the first. Without trying to come across all Dalai Llama, I think some of the strategies we employ to fight bigotry can be less violent and confrontational. I regret shouting at the BNP on my doorstep now, not because I think I was in the wrong, but because they were in the first place, and the worst thing I could have done was rise to the occasion.

It's been a strange week, but I've learned a lot. I abhor the several wars that the UK have participated in with such vigour recently, and why should I not feel the same about violence on my doorstep? I still say that the basis of all understanding begins with "education, education, education". Even misdirection is a form of learning, even though it is wrong.

Without education, where would any of us be?