For what it's worth, I agree with Captain Birdseye's 14 Jun 09 - 06:25 AM post excluding his comment about British or English folk clubs-I exclude that portion of his comment only because I know too little about British or English folk clubs to agree or disagree with that comment.

Also, FWIW, Lizzie Cornish is my friend, and she's no racist. I agree with Lizzie's point that "The folk world has an element within it who actually feed the BNP". It's pm;s I would interpret Lizzie's "purity" description as folkies believing that traditional English folk music must meet their definitions and their standards and if it doesn't than it isn't really traditional English folk music. But-it seems to me-that every art form has an element who seek to strictly define what their art form is and how it should be presented and/or performed. That viewpoint/preference doesn't make those people racists.

Royston, I think that Lizzie's statement that the "Racist label gets thrown at innocent people" for liking cricket and roast beff" (beef) can be true simply because-as it has been often noted on this thread and other threads on this subject-the BNP is trying to expropriate elements of traditional English culture and trying to twist and use use people's fondness traditional English culture for their (the BNP's) hateful purposes. Because the BNP twist a genuine appreciation for traditional English culture around for their purposes, some people can think that Lizzie's comment "reads like BNP propaganda". But that doesn't mean that what Lizzie wrote is in fact BNP propaganda.

Also Royston, I agree that people are racist "who blame or hate non-white or immigrant communities for irrational reasons." I also agree that personal "Racism is... a symptom of individual anger, insecurity and ignorance." There is also "'institutional racism' describes societal patterns that have the net effect of imposing oppressive or otherwise negative conditions against identifiable groups on the basis of race or ethnicity." http://civilliberty.about.com/od/raceequalopportunity/g/inst_racism.htm

On other threads I have commented about Lizzie's statement that "There is, however, only ONE race, and that is the Human Race." I understand the spirit of what she is saying, and agree that this is the bottom line. However, I wish to say for the record that such a stance can be used to support institutional racism. That said, I don't intend to go further into a discussion of the whats and hows and whys and whos of racism on this thread.