Communalism

After the recent local elections Nick Cohen highlights the dual danger of communalism in politics:

"The story of how the anti-war movement led to a merger of Trotskyists and Islamists is the British liberal-left's dirty secret and Respect rarely has to endure the level of scrutiny directed at the white far right. The BNP, however, has been generous in its praise, correctly recognising that a part of the left was now playing its game. It 'welcomed' George Galloway's victory in Bethnal Green in 2005 because it 'demonstrates very clearly to the [white] British voters that the Muslim community, when it forms an ethnic bloc in an area, chooses to vote only for those political parties that explicitly promote the interests of the Muslim community itself'.

While the BNP targets the whites, Respect targets the Muslims. Both parties have believers in Jewish conspiracy theory - the BNP engages in Holocaust denial and Respect's candidate for the mayorship of Newham declares: 'Israel has been formulating and directing UK and US foreign policy."