Mark Wilson shares his experiences of attending the biggest pro-European Identity gathering in Britain – the Red White & Blue Festival, an annual event organised by the British National Party.
Recently, I travelled to the United Kingdom and made contact with representatives of the most successful nationalist party in the English-speaking world, the British National Party. The BNP have over 100 elected representatives at local government level, including on the prestigious Greater London Assembly.
For nine years the BNP has hosted an annual festival for nationalists, attended by BNP members, supporters, and their families. From all accounts, each festival has been a great experience.
I attended the RWB with high expectations – and I was not disappointed.
Firstly, the BNP were kind enough to let me speak on the Sunday, directly after Richard Barnbrook, which was an honour (also a daunting task). I also had discussions with BNP officials regarding closer ties between the Australian Protectionist Party and the British National Party, as well as discussing future tours of Australia by Nick Griffin and other BNP representatives. The BNP were very sympathetic and have promised to do everything they can to help us in Australia.
The whole event was professionally run from start to finish, with professional security, a wide range of food, there were several stalls with the regional produce from around the UK, kids’ amusement rides, bumper cars and ghost train etc. The overriding theme for me was the normality of it all, everyone there were normal everyday people, mostly families with kids.
The Sunday morning started with a service given by a BNP-affiliated clergyman, complete with dog collar, which took place in a large marquee – it was packed, with standing room only, as there was hundreds of people in attendance. I left there and wandered around chatting with the various stall holders, it was striking how many women were in attendance, I would say half were women, which is obviously how it should be, not a skinhead to be seen and no extremist displays, just normal families celebrating their pride in their ethnicity, culture and nation. It was without a doubt the most impressive and emotional nationalist event I have ever been to.
The warm reception I was given by the BNP, from the leadership to the rank and file BNP members, was quite remarkable. I was taken aback at times by the attention and reaction to me, because I was there representing Australia. The blood ties are still very strong.
I would urge anyone who has toyed with the idea of going to the RWB, to pull out all the stops, book your ticket and go to next year’s event – you will not be disappointed! If you come back, like me, with a renewed determination to achieve greater success for Australian nationalism, then we all benefit.
See the back cover of this issue for more photos from the Red, White and Blue Festival.
A video interview by Simon Darby (deputy chairman of the BNP) with Mark Wilson can be seen on Simon Darby’s blog and on the APP’s YouTube channel.
[The video can be watched here]
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