BNP candidate sends hate mail to rival

In an abusive letter, the BNP candidate for Croydon Central has called Conservative Gavin Barwell a “traitor” to his race and said he would like to see him “hung for treason”.

Cliff Le May, wrote to Mr Barwell at his campaign office after he received David Cameron’s letter urging residents not to vote for Andrew Pelling.

The letter, which was seen by Mr Barwell’s wife and his seven-year-old son reads: “You dirty, sleazy scumbags. If I have my way I will see you all hung for treason.”
Mr Barwell said he received the letter after a long day on the campaign trail and because he was tired, left it out when he went to bed, where it was seen by his family.

He said: “I just think it shows what kind of people these are. I don’t understand why people, when they have different views, can’t just be polite about it.
“If he wants to write to me about being in the EU or immigration that’s fine, but there is no need for personal abuse.”
Mr Le May was unrepentant when asked why he wrote the letter.

He said: “I am referring to the entire Conservative Party – they are dirty, sleazy scumbags. This is a personal view, not a party view.”

Mr Le May did not think his letter was “harsh” and did not care his words had been seen by a child.

Your local Guardian

Elections 2010: Racist comment overshadows debate on schools

BNP deputy leader Simon Darby made a racist jibe at an Asian opponent during a public hustings event.

Mr Darby made the remark about Conservative Parliamentary candidate Norsheen Bhatti during a debate last night in Bentilee.
Responding to a resident's question, Miss Bhatti commented "there is nothing British about the BNP".
But Mr Darby cut in, saying: "I'm more British than you are."
After she demanded an explanation, Mr Darby told the Birmingham-born candidate: "You made a personal attack on me and you got one back."

At the beginning of the debate, Miss Bhatti had complained to organisers after discovering that she had been sat next to Mr Darby.
Miss Bhatti eventually moved away from the far-right politician, leaving a conspicuously empty seat between them.
Another candidate, Liberal Democrat John Redfern, refused to attend because he did not wish to share a platform with Mr Darby.
Audience member Dawn Kelly, aged 40, who lives in Bentilee, said afterwards: "What Mr Darby said sounded racist and there was no need for it."

Mr Darby and Miss Bhatti are among 10 candidates contesting the Stoke-on-Trent Central Parliamentary seat but only half attended the event.
They all pledged to fight to keep a high school in the Bucknall area under reorganisation plans.

The debate was organised by the Community School Action Group, which is battling to keep a school on the site of the Mitchell Business and Enterprise College, in Bucknall.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council plans to merge the school with Edensor Technology College, in Longton, to create a new academy outside Bucknall.
BNP Mr Darby said he was opposed to forcing white and Muslim pupils to mix at an academy he called "a huge social engineering factory".

Independent Gary Elsby said: "The new school should be built on the Mitchell site."

Miss Bhatti blamed Labour leaders for not listening to residents' wishes, and said: "Rather than telling you what the solution should be, we want you to tell us."
Matt Wright, of the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, said: "Our solution is to refurbish the existing community schools and use the money we save to recruit more teachers to reduce class sizes."

Independent Brian Ward told campaigners: "I wouldn't come here and ask for your vote if I wasn't prepared to back you."

This is Staffordshire

The roots of racism are in our brains, based on empathy

The roots of racial prejudice lie deep within the brain, research has suggested.

A study found that when we watch someone from our own race do something our brain simulates the action mentally as a form of empathy, known as 'mirroring'.
But when we see someone of a different race do the same thing we make much less effort to empathise.

Researchers asked a group of white men to watch film clips of white, black and Asian men picking up a glass of water and drinking.

While the men watched the videos the scientists hooked them up to machines that monitored whether their brains mimicked the action.

The men's brains lit up most when watching someone of their own race.

All the viewers were white but the researchers believe the results would still have been similar with any other group.

Writing in the Journal Experimental Social Psychology, Dr Michael Inzlicht said he believed people are born with a tendency to group others on how like themselves they are.

Dr Inzlicht said the research did not necessarily mean prejudice was innate, adding that discrimination about race, religion or hair colour was 'probably learnt'.

Daily Mail

Black neighbor suspected of killing white supremacist Richard Barrett breaks silence (USA)

A black man accused of stabbing an outspoken white supremacist to death in Mississippi said Monday he didn't know about the man's racist views before the killing.

Vincent McGee, 22, told an Associated Press reporter that he didn't learn until after Richard Barrett had been killed that he was a racist leader. McGee, who is charged with murder, spoke to AP outside the home where Barrett's body was found stabbed, beaten and burned last week.

"I know — now I do — I didn't know at first," McGee said of Barrett's views.

McGee blurted out comments even though deputies told him he was not allowed to do interviews. McGee wouldn't comment on whether he killed Barrett, and was cheerful and joked with deputies.

He also claimed to have killed 25 people, then smiled and stuck out his tongue. Deputies escorting him didn't appear to take his claim seriously and the sheriff didn't immediately return a telephone message.

Police have not said why they think Barrett was killed.

Deputies at the scene would not say what they were looking for during the search or whether they found it.

Barrett, 67, was known for traveling the country promoting segregationist views. He founded a group called the Nationalist Movement and ran a school for skinheads in Mississippi.
McGee was arrested and charged with murder just hours after Barrett's body was found Thursday in the rural Monterey community near the Jackson suburb of Pearl.

McGee, a convicted felon, wore a yellow prison uniform Monday as seven deputies took him from Barrett's house to a wooded area nearby. They searched tall grass near a dilapidated barn and then walked McGee down the street to his mother's house, just two doors down from Barrett's.

Barrett was stabbed several times in the neck and bashed in the head, police said. He had burns over 35 percent of his body, though investigators believe he was killed Wednesday, and his house set on fire the following day to cover up his death.
Three others have been charged in the case. Albert Lewis, McGee's stepfather, was charged with being an accessory after the fact, while Vicky and Michael Dent, a mother and son who live nearby, are charged with being accessories after the fact and arson.

Mike Scott, a public defender representing McGee, didn't want to comment on specifics of the case or his client's remarks, saying he is looking forward to presenting his side at the trial.
NY Daily

FAR-RIGHT PARTY CALLS FOR 'DISSOLUTION' OF BELGIUM

Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang on Tuesday called for the "dissolution" of Belgium, as King Albert II sought to patch up a breakdown between Flemish and French-speaking coalition partners. "The profound political crisis Belgium has run into clearly proves the Belgian model is a complete failure," said a statement from Filip Dewinter, chairman of the far-right Vlaams Belang in the Flemish parliament. "The disease is Belgium and the only remedy is Flemish independence," he added, saying his party had introduced a bill in the Flemish legislature -- one of three in the federal kingdom of Belgium -- to prepare negotiations for Flanders to become "the successor state" to Belgium. He said Flanders, the larger and more prosperous Dutch-speaking partner in a country constructed by European superpowers in 1830, would "remain a partner" in the European Union and the NATO military alliance. Militants from the party created a stir in the Belgian federal parliament on Thursday when the long-running political crisis first hit a new peak after King Albert accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Yves Leterme. They sang the Flemish regional anthem in the assembly, wearing badges with "Split Belgium" written on them. Belgium's government collapsed last week when a coalition party pulled out in protest at the slow pace of negotiations on devolving more federal powers to the Dutch- and French-speaking regions, which have long been at odds. Opinion polls show that most people from the relatively prosperous Flanders region do not want to break away from poorer Wallonia. Belgium's third region is the officially bilingual Brussels capital area.


AFP

RUSSIAN COURT BANS NEO-NAZI ORGANIZATION

A Moscow court on Tuesday outlawed one of Russia's largest neo-Nazi organizations as extremist, ruling that the philosophies of the Slavic Union resemble the ideology of Adolf Hitler's Germany, the Interfax news agency reported. The ultra-nationalist group said it will fight the ruling. "We will definitely appeal to the Supreme Court," Slavic Union leader Dmitry Demushkin was quoted as saying. Two weeks ago, a municipal court judge known for his work against neo-Nazis was shot dead outside his apartment by a contract killer. Human rights activists have long criticized the brutality of right-wing extremists in Russia. Racial hatred has been blamed for dozens of deaths in the country since the beginning of the year. The victims of the deadly attacks often are immigrants from Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The murderers often brag about their brutal acts in the internet.


DPA

BNP "too racist" for black vicar

A black reverend who defected from the BNP because it was “too racist” is standing in the general election as a Christian Party candidate for the Croydon Central seat.
Reverend James Gitau, 63 from West Croydon, joined the BNP and went on the campaign trail on April 10 with Nick Griffin in Barking and Dagenham, the constituency where he is standing.

The Kenyan, who moved to Britain in 1997, said: “I actually decided to join them when they opened up for all races. I campaigned for them to open up to other races.

“I asked them to give me one of the constituency seats in Croydon and they refused so I decided to leave. I also realised then that they were too racist.”
Rev Gitau will be standing against BNP candidate Cliff Le May in Croydon Central who has come under fire for his racist views.
He wrote to London Mayor Boris Johnson asking him to “stop ruining our community by stuffing New Addington with violent immigrants who have no right to live among decent civilised white people” and called Gavin Barwell a traitor to his “race and nation” for the Conservative’s immigration policy.

Rev Gitau, who is affiliated to the United Holy Church of America, said he was approached by the Christian Party on April 17 who encouraged him to leave the BNP and join their party.

However, he said he still gave advice to BNP leader Nick Griffin.

He said: “I am giving him advice and telling him that racism is not the way forward.”

Mr Gitau said he told Nick Griffin there should be immigration controls but “genuine immigrants” should be allowed into the country.
Rev Gitau said one of the reasons he campaigned to join the BNP was because it was “the only party that boldly speaks against sodomy in public”.

However, he hastened to add, he was not homophobic.

He said: “I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and he preaches against homosexuality. I don’t hate homosexuals, I love them. They are my friends, they are human beings. We should love them but teach them to be better people.”

Rev Gitau said he wanted homosexuals in Croydon to vote for him “because we are all sinners”.

Croydon Guardian