Say no to the fascist BNP on Question Time

We are appalled by the BBC's decision to invite Nick Griffin, leader of the fascist British National Party, onto its flagship Question Time programme. Griffin is a noxious racist and neo-Nazi. He has a criminal conviction for incitement to racial hatred for publishing an antisemitic magazine that denied the Holocaust.

The BBC justifies its actions by claiming that the BNP should be treated just like any other party. But no other party has a "whites only" membership policy. No other party burns golliwogs at its "family festivals". No other party has a history of deep involvement in Nazi politics and supporters with a record of organising racist violence against minorities.

The BNP is not a democratic political party. It is a fascist organisation that should be shunned by wider civil society. As a publicly funded body, the BBC in particular has a duty to oppose racism. Black, Asian, Jewish and LGBT people pay the licence fee too. It is their rights to live free of hate that the BBC should be protecting, not those of BNP bigots.

Like all fascist organisations the BNP craves respectability and pretends to be democratic in order to further its real agenda of attacking democracy and spreading bigotry. By inviting Griffin onto Question Time the BBC is playing into the BNP's hands and thereby, however unintentionally, aiding the fascists.

We call on the BBC to stop rolling out the red carpet to racists and stop giving succour to the BNP by inviting its bigots on to our airwaves. The BBC should reverse its decision to invite Griffin onto Question Time – and start taking a robust stand against racism and fascism.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Sign this statement by sending an email marked "Question Time" to unite@ucu.org.uk
• Complain to the BBC by phoning 03700 100 222 or the BBC's online form
• Join the Facebook group protesting at the BBC decision
• Take the UAF petition round your workplace or community
• Make a donation to Unite Against Fascism