BNP leader calls for white people to "maim and blow things up"

If you want a reason not to vote BNP in May, this is it.
From the excellent anti-racist group Expose the BNP:

Nick Griffin, British National Party leader and election candidate for Barking and Dagenham, says white people "with a legitimate grievance" have the right "to hurt people, to maim and blow things up".

BNP supporters "have a right to take up arms, arguably in fact a duty to take up arms", using "physical force" against their enemies, he says.
Griffin's chilling words were caught on film by the journalist Dominic Carman, who spent days interviewing and videotaping the racist leader.
Given the news yesterday of the death threats bandied about by BNP leaders, the findings from this investigation provide further evidence that violence is at the core of the party's politics.

The revelations of Griffin's call for armed resistance follow the jailing of BNP member Terence Gavan in January for terrorist offences after he accumulated a stockpile of bombs and weapons. Next week [12 April], white supremacist Ian Davison is on trial for producing the deadly poison ricin.

Posted today in the New Statesman

BBC plunged into BNP election row (UK)

Senior BBC journalists are furious that the BNP leader Nick Griffin is being guaranteed prime time interview slots in compensation for his omission from the first ever televised prime ministerial debates.

A new directive issued by corporation executives forces the editors of flagship news programmes to give airtime to minority parties, including the BNP, immediately after the live debate between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

Insiders have revealed they are deeply unhappy and believe that the edict – overseen by the BBC's deputy director general and head of journalism Mark Byford – could wreck proper reporting of the debates.

The editors and presenters on Radio 4's Today programme have been told they must interview representatives of the BNP, Ukip, the Green party, SNP and Plaid Cymru on the same show, the morning after the debates.

Sources said this will leave almost no room for serious discussion of how the mainstream leaders performed.
One source said: "We're all spitting feathers here. This is further proof that the BBC's obsession with 'compliance' is destroying its news coverage and journalism.
"The only result of this directive from Mark Byford and the rest of the overpaid detached senior management is that listeners will simply switch off in droves.
"The idea of having to interview the Ukip leader Nigel Farage – let alone Nick Griffin – is turning people's stomachs."

Another senior source added: "People are very angry indeed. The Today programme has an audience of 6.5 million people and everybody knows it is easily the most important of the BBC's morning news programmes.

"And yet it is being treated like the man at the Lord Mayor's Show who has to walk behind the main parade sweeping up the muck with a bucket and a shovel. "The Today programme is being used to assuage the minority parties rather than doing what it is meant to which is analysing the performance of the three main party leaders."
In addition to the Today Programme slot, the minority parties, including the BNP, will be given air time immediately after the debate on BBC One's News at Ten as well as on Newsnight on BBC Two – both of which will inevitably attract large audiences.

The directive will infuriate campaigners who believe the BBC has already pandered to Mr Griffin by allowing him to appear on Question Time last year.
The BBC was accused of needlessly giving Mr Griffin the oxygen of publicity to boost ratings.
Under the new rules, the nationalist parties will also get their own local television leadership debates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
There will be three, 90-minute televised debates, each taking place a week apart in the run up to the election expected on 6 May.
The first will be broadcast on ITV1, the second on Sky News and the third on BBC One, each on different topics.
The BBC will screen the debates on rival channels later that evening 'as live' which will then be followed by further discussion with the fringe parties.
BBC insiders fear they will have to give the minority parties compensatory airtime after each of the three debates – not just following the BBC contest, although that has been denied by the corporation.

The BBC defended its decision to give slots to the minority parties, saying it was necessary to maintain impartiality.
Ric Bailey, the BBC's chief political adviser, said: "This [row] is a complete nonsense. This is about the BBC ensuring due impartiality to make sure the other parties get fair representation."
"During an election we have a very high threshold for making sure that minority parties – based on their electoral support – get appropriate coverage.
"Because this [debate] is so new and different we are trying to plan this ahead. In the past it would have been a judgment for each programme. This time we are making sure in advance where and when these parties will get coverage."

Sky News sources said the channel would also have to accommodate the minority parties in the wake of the debates but since it has 24 hours of rolling news, little in the way of analysis will be sacrificed to make space for them.
The source said: “We have a lot of airtime – 24 hours a day in fact – so it’s relatively easy for us to reflect the views of the minority parties.”

ITV was unavailable for comment.

The Telegraph

BNP members have foothold in schools, say teachers

NUT delegates say BNP members should be banned from becoming teachers or governors

British National Party members have gained a foothold in schools across some parts of the country, teachers warned today.
Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) – the biggest classroom union – argued that teachers or parent governors who sympathised with the BNP should be banned from schools.
Last month, ministers ruled out banning members of the far right party from the teaching profession, after an independent inquiry into racism in schools decided such a move would be disproportionate.

But Jason Hill, a teacher in Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, which has eight BNP councillors, told the NUT's annual conference in Liverpool that there were "a number" of school governors from the far right party in his area and he believed they should be stripped of their posts.
"We haven't succeeded in removing a single one," he said. "Members of the BNP should be barred from this position."
Prison officers are not allowed to be members of the BNP; the same should be the case for those who work in education, he said. "There is a duty on governors and teachers to promote positive community relations. Those who can't accept these values should be banned."

Teachers from Derby, in the East Midlands, and Dudley, in the West Midlands, said they knew of BNP sympathisers working in education.
Jayne Sinden, a teacher from Dudley, said she came into teaching to "make the world a better place" and was "not going to let those Nazis stop me doing that".
But Jean Roberts, a teacher from Hammersmith and Fulham, in west London, said, while she detested the BNP's views, it was a legal party. "I don't believe the NUT should call on the state to bar teachers from joining a presently legal political party.
"To remove such a basic civil right, the right of association, something trade unionists find especially precious, is in my view a grossly disproportionate response. But more importantly, it gives the BNP a credibility it does not deserve."

The union was debating a resolution stating that the BNP, and other similar organisations, posed a threat to community relations. It called on the union to "reaffirm its belief" that being a member of an organisation like the BNP "is incompatible with the role of a teacher, or other member of a school staff, in a democratic and multiracial society".
An amendment to the motion called for the NUT to lobby the government to enact legislation to ban members of parties like the BNP from working in teaching.
The NUT did not pass the resolution or the amendment, after running out of time for the debate.
Last month, ministers said the issue of whether those who belong to racist organisations should be prevented from teaching – as they are from working as police or prison officers – would be reviewed annually.
But a separate inquiry has been announced into whether measures to stop racism being promoted in independent schools are adequate, provoking an angry response from representatives of the private sector.

In his review for the government, Maurice Smith, a former chief inspector of schools, said he had decided banning teachers from being BNP members would be "taking a very large sledgehammer to crack a minuscule nut".
Paul Golding, BNP communications officer, said: "It's a dangerous road to go down: once you start banning based on political beliefs where does it end? Isn't that the sort of thing always lambasted by democratic politicians, banning people based on political beliefs?"

The Guardian

BNP officers unite ‘unanimously’ after anti-Collett hate session

The British National Party’s sacked head of publicity set up a series of front companies apparently with the intention of “skimming off” printing bills, yesterday’s special meeting of the British National Party heard.

Party officers and organisers gathering near Coventry were told that a copy of a tape recording of a conversation between Mark Collett and the party treasurer David Hannam was in the hands of the police who “would be able to investigate a number of potential crimes including threats to murder, assault, fraud and falsification of accounts”, according to a BNP statement issued afterwards.
The meeting had not been allowed to hear the tape and draw its own conclusions, however, but appointed a “four man strong subcommittee” to listen to it and report back on its “full contents and implications”. Its spokesman Michael Simpkins, a BNP town councillor in Corsham, Wiltshire, declared the tape was genuine.

The BNP statement left several questions unanswered, above all why Eddy Butler has been replaced as the party’s national organiser and national elections officer by Clive Jefferson, the North West regional organiser. Members were told that Butler was “still very much with the BNP and is set to play a leading role in the party’s attempt to take control of the Barking and Dagenham council”. However Butler has not issued any personal statement.
Last November Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, announced that Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s London Assembly member, would spearhead the party’s Barking and Dagenham council campaign. Presumably he has not been producing the canvassing returns Griffin expects.
Griffin read out a statement from Emma Colgate, who resigned as party manager last week, warning that “fake Facebook and YouTube accounts” were being set up in her name “with the obvious intention of sowing confusion”. Despite her continuing important role, running the BNP’s campaign in Thurrock, she was apparently not at the meeting.
BNP members have clearly not been told the full story about the abrupt departures of Butler and Colgate from national party positions and the party’s EU payroll, and their connection with Collett’s “misdemeanours”.
Another omission from the statement is any reference to Jim Dowson, the BNP’s fundraising and management consultant, whose extensive financial hold over the BNP makes him in effect the party’s owner. Last week’s BNP organisers’ bulletin, which first announced Collett’s suspension, referred to a threat to the “personal safety” of both Griffin and Dowson and there have been suggestions since then that it was Dowson who discovered Collett’s financial irregularities.
Collett has long been accused of making a profit at the party’s expense and of being very poor at the graphic design and leaflet production that are a major part of his role, but Griffin has only listened to the allegations now. That may be because Griffin was in desperate need of a scapegoat to allay dissent in the party following his disastrous performance on Question Time last year, his capitulation to the Equality and Human Rights Commission over changing the party’s racist constitution, accusations from members that the central party apparatus is appropriating branch funds, questions about Dowson’s control over the party and Griffin’s very own EU parliamentary expenses scandal.
After venting their “hate” for Collett, in events reminiscent of Geroge Orwell’s 1984, the party united “unanimously” behind Griffin, according to the BNP’s statement, and will contest 326 constituencies in the general election on 6 May.

As for Collett, he claims to be “completely loyal” to the party and willing to help people with local publicity material in the run-up to the elections. “There is currently a smear campaign against me,” is all he has said publicly so far.
Collett had been lined up to contest the Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough constituency against David Blunkett in the general election but has been replaced by John Sheldon, a Sheffield BNP activist.

The events of the past few days are far more than the sort of differences of opinion and personality clashes that any political party suffers. Griffin constantly claims he is the leader of a moderate, non-violent organisation, but it is difficult to see how he can square that assertion with his statement to the police that his own head of publicity has been threatening to kill him. The BNP remains a party full of thugs.

Hope Not Hate

Politician lodges complaint over BNP using wife's photograph

THE former leader of the British National Party in Stoke-on-Trent has lodged a formal complaint against four party members.

Councillor Alby Walker, who quit the BNP in February, made the complaint to Stoke-on-Trent City Council's top legal officer.
Mr Walker, pictured, alleges that current BNP group leader councillor Michael Coleman and BNP councillors Philip Sandland, Steve Batkin and Anthony Simmonds breached the members' code of conduct.

The allegation relates to recent campaigning ahead of elections.
It states party activists distributed a newspaper, with a picture of Mr Walker's wife without permission.
Councillor Ellie Walker left the party last month to join her husband as a non-aligned councillor.

She said at the time that the BNP leadership had mounted a smear campaign against her husband, who is running against the far-right party's national deputy leader, Simon Darby, for the Stoke-on-Trent Central Parliamentary seat in the General Election.
Mr Walker said: "This complaint arises from the BNP distributing 18,000 newspapers with Ellie's photograph prominently displayed on the front page, promoting BNP policy, even though at the time she was not part of the BNP group.
"The four BNP councillors were identified as delivering this newspaper by several residents and two serving city councillors."
Mr Coleman told The Sentinel the BNP distributed the newspapers at the end of March, and he was not aware at the time Mrs Walker had left the party.
This is Staffordshire

David Cameron's Prague spring (UK Politics)

Chris Grayling would fit in well with David Cameron's new allies in eastern Europe. On the Radio 4 Today programme yesterday morning, Michael Heseltine airily dismissed a question about the Conservatives breaking links with their sister parties in eastern Europe as something that no voter was interested in. Maybe, but the judgment call of David Cameron in crawling into bed, breakfast, lunch and dinner with weird rightwing nationalist populists does deserve greater scrutiny.
We know about the dubious record on the Holocaust of Michal Kaminski, who leads the Tory MEPs in the European parliament. We know that Cameron's Latvian allies join in the annual commemoration of the Waffen-SS in Vilnius. Now, the latest example of the unpleasant nature of the Conservatives' new chums in Europe comes from Prague.

There, Mirek Topolanek has been forced to stand down as leader of his party (ODS in Czech) just ahead of crucial elections. The reason? Like Grayling, he made unacceptable remarks about a gay transport minister in the current Czech government. He also sneered at the Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, as "the Jew". Fischer's son has reacted furiously to the antisemitic tone of Cameron's Czech mate.
David and Mirek are close buddies. Last spring, Cameron went to Prague to stand side by side with Topolanek to launch their breakaway Movement for European Reform. The ODS hero is the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus. He is a climate change denier and virulently anti-EU. During the communist era, unlike the other Vaclav – Havel, who led the resistance against totalitarianism – Klaus worked for the communist regime.

Klaus discovered his rightwing anti-European views once Havel had helped bring down communism. For William Hague, who was instructed by Cameron to destroy the Tory alliance with Germany's ruling CDU party or France's ruling UMP party, the ODS, whose hero is the Eurosceptic Thatcher-admiring Klaus, was a natural partner. When Angela Merkel came to London last weekend, she refused to meet Cameron. Before May 1997, every European leader wanted to be seen with Tony Blair. In 2010, no one want to know Cameron, who will poison Britain's business and trade relations with Europe if he becomes prime minister.
Cameron's friend in Prague is exposed as someone with views on gays and Jews that should put him beyond the pale in decent European politics. But the massive shift to the right in European politics – evidenced by the racist and anti-Jewish BNP and xenophobic Ukip wins in the European parliamentary elections last June is altering the British political landscape.
The PiS party in Poland is the main ally of the Conservatives. But whenever PiS politicians have gained power, they have targeted gays. As mayor of Warsaw, the PiS leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, banned Gay Pride marches and the PiS MEP Kaminski uses the term "paed " – a homophobic Polish slang word that needs no translation – to denigrate opponents.

Like Jean-Marie Le Pen, who first coined the word "federaste" to attack supporters of the European Union in France, the right in Europe lurches from nationalist populism, via homophobia, to hate of Muslims and unacceptable language about Jews; it indulges in a constant rant against the EU and Brussels to create a witches' brew of intolerance and political nihilism.
One can understand why Lord Heseltine wishes to see all this brushed under the carpet, and why Cameron prays every morning to the British news editors who refuse to examine and expose the Tory links to the new hard right in Europe with its rampant xeno- and homophobia.
Tory MEPs also refuse to support measures in the European parliament aimed at supporting gay rights and other equality measures. Again, there is simply no coverage of what is said and done in the European parliament and what would cause uproar if spoken on the floor of the House of Commons passes unnoticed in Strasbourg.

Whereas Topolanek's homophobia has forced his resignation there is no inkling that Cameron is willing to take action against Grayling. But someone should dig up the pictures of David and Mirket as they toasted the launch of their new party. The Czech ODS members have forced Topolanek to go ahead of their election. Are there any decent Tories out there who will say it is also time for Grayling to be removed from the frontbench? And will Chris Patten, who is now attacking Gordon Brown, say anything, but anything, about his party leader's alliance with some of the nastiest extremists operating in European politics?
The Guardian

Homophobia ‘endemic’ in Merseyside schools warn teachers (UK)

HOMOPHOBIC bullying has become “endemic” in Merseyside’s secondary schools teachers admitted last night.

And the Daily Post can exclusively reveal that almost one in three teaching staff working in Wirral, Liverpool and Warrington schools claim to hear pupils openly using homophobic language on a daily basis and 15% witness a pupil being abused every day just for being gay.
Last night union chiefs called for more training and teaching resources to be devoted to tackling homophobia which they claim is being made worse by some teachers’ watered down use of the word “gay”.
The claims comes as we exclusively reveal the findings of a North West survey of the National Union Of Teachers – around of third of which hailed from high schools in Liverpool, Wirral and Warrington.

The individual results of the three areas will be released in May and last night NUT officials said they will mirror the shocking results of the collective North West survey which found homophobic bullying is rife.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Post, Jeff Evans, the NUT’s North West lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advisor said the figures made a mockery of findings from Liverpool council’s annual anti-bullying audit of five to 19-year-olds.

The council’s audit showed the number of people citing their sexuality as a reason for being singled out has dropped from 6% to 4% and bullies admitting picking on a pupil because they are gay falling from 7% to 3%.
He applauded council-backed measures to tackle the problem but he said it was clear teachers needed more resources to combat the problem in a region reeling from the murder of gay teenager Michael Causer in Huyton two years ago and the brutal homophobic city-centre attack last October on PC James Parkes.

He said: “The results will show that like the North West, in Liverpool, Wirral and Warrington homophobia is endemic in schools. To suggest the problem is actually falling when every piece of evidence we have suggests the opposite is ill founded.”
The homophobia Liverpool, Wirral and Warrington teachers complained of he said “covered the whole spectrum” ranging from name calling to “assault”.


The survey of 740 teachers found that 31% of teachers overheard derogatory homophobic language coming from pupils’ every day, while nearly one in seven saw a child suffering homophobic abuse on a daily basis.
Teachers are also being abused due to their sexuality, with 3% complaining they are targeted every day.

Almost 70% agreed homophobia must not be allowed to go unchallenged but less than half felt confident enough to tackle a pupil on the issue.
Mr Evans added: “Teachers by definition address ignorance and are crying out to be given the tools to tackle this issue. If you don’t address the fear it festers in the tragic way it has been seen on the streets of your city.”
He called on schools to “celebrate difference” such as ensuring events like February’s annual LGBT History Month were marked in the classroom.

Liverpool council has received plaudits for tackling homophobia.
Gordon Brown earlier this year gave particular praise for the work it has commissioned educational charity Ariel Trust to do on its behalf – specifically its Denial learning pack addressing the issue of homophobic bullying and a vehicle for debate in English lessons.
The film and lesson plan charts the tragic story of a pupil targeted by bullies in the mistaken belief he is gay.
Ariel Trust director, Paul Ainsworth said the anti-bullying audit homophobia figures should be seen in context.
“Things like Denial are a positive case of making it easier for teachers to teach these issues. I don’t think anyone at the council is trying to argue homophobia has been sorted but what their statistics show is the positive start made and the local authority are saying ‘let’s build on that’.”

Liverpool Daily Post

Eugene Terreblanche 'killers' in South Africa court

Two South Africans are due to be formally charged with the murder of white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche.

The two farm workers, aged 28 and 15, have admitted beating him to death in a dispute over unpaid wages, police say.
There is a heavy police presence outside the court in the north-western town of Ventersdorp, after the killing raised racial tensions in the country.
Members of Terreblanche's paramilitary AWB organisation are also there. They refuse to speak to black journalists.
The AWB - Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging or Afrikaner Resistance Movement - on Monday retracted its initial threat to take revenge for Mr Terreblanche's killing.

However, it blames ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema for contributing to the killing by recently singing a song from the anti-apartheid struggle called "Shoot the Boer".

Boer is an Afrikaans word for farmer, which has become a derogatory term for all white people.
Mr Malema has denied any responsibility for Mr Terreblanche's death and the ANC argues that the song does not incite people to kill but is part of the country's history and the fight against white minority rule.

It is planning to appeal against a court judgement banning the song as hate speech.
The authorities are keen to stress that the killing appears to be a criminal, rather than a politically motivated, act.
President Jacob Zuma has appealed for calm and condemned the killing.
Mr Terreblanche, 69, was fiercely opposed to the end of apartheid in South Africa, which led to the ANC winning the country's first democratic elections in 1994 and Nelson Mandela becoming the country's first black president.
He served three years in jail after being convicted in 2001 of the attempted murder of a farm worker.

He is due to be buried on Friday.

BBC News

Racist thugs sent to jail at long last (Scotland, UK)

TWO racist thugs who were sentenced to five years in prison for a brutal racist attack on an Asian man in 2006 are finally behind bars – but only after their sentence was reduced.

John Anderson and Ryan Wickstead were found guilty of punching, kicking and stamping on Khalid Iqbal, leaving the innocent victim permanently disfigured.

The pair launched a marathon appeal against their convictions, which they lost in December, but remained free as lawyers appealed the length of their sentences.
The five-year terms originally imposed on them were cut to 45 months by judges at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh yesterday.
Lord Eassie, sitting with Lord Hardie, said they were cutting the jail time "with some hesitation" as it "was a serious and vicious attack which was racially aggravated".

Ethnic community leaders today welcomed the move to finally jail the men despite the sentences being cut.
Anderson, 24, of Cathcart Place, Dalry, and Wickstead, 23, of Robertson Avenue, Gorgie, were released on bail in spring 2007 while they waited for an appeal.

The men served less than nine months of their five-year sentences from August 2006, after lawyers argued they should be free while the appeal was ongoing.
Jalal Chaudry, the Edinburgh and East of Scotland representative on the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "I am pleased that these two men are finally behind bars. The sentence has been reduced but the time spent outside waiting for the results of their appeal and worrying about it was no doubt difficult for them. So the 45-month sentence along with this long wait is probably the same as a five-year sentence.

"It's still a concern that two people found guilty were free for so long as they may have offended again during that time."
Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: "I'm pleased that this case has finally been disposed of, but I'm seriously concerned that the appeal process took such an inordinate length of time."

Solicitor advocate John Scott, pleading for leniency at court yesterday, said Wickstead had been in no further trouble and had a new partner suffering from postnatal depression following the birth of their child seven months ago.
But, ruling that prison was inevitable, Lord Eassie said: "This was a serious and vicious attack which was racially aggravated."
The attack in May 2005 was described by the sheriff who jailed them as "an affront to civilised society". Anderson and Wickstead, along with Bradley McLennan, were found guilty of attacking Mr Iqbal in Wardlaw Street in May 2005 to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
McLennan, who has already served his sentence in a young offender's unit, also lost his appeal against conviction in December.

Mr Iqbal, then 23, had been walking in Gorgie with his white girlfriend when Anderson and McLennan began hurling abuse.
Joined by Wickstead, the drunken trio followed him to a flat before kicking in the common stair door and attacking the victim, leaving him lying in a pool of blood.

As they left, Anderson told Mr Iqbal's girlfriend: "Ha ha, your P*** boyfriend is dead.
edinburghnews

Senator says domestic terror threat is real danger (USA)

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee says domestic terrorism is a real and growing danger.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, says the political discourse in the U.S. turns extreme and incendiary at times, and that can lead some people to take radical actions.

Federal authorities report an uptick in the activities of domestic extremist groups in the last year.
Noting the recent bombings in Moscow, Lieberman says more must be done to protect trains, subways and buses in the U.S.
Lieberman appeared Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The Guardian

Nazi collaborator to lose “Hero of Ukraine” title

A Ukrainian court has reversed a controversial decision made by the country's previous president, Viktor Yushchenko.
Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator and leader of Ukraine's Nationalist Movement during World War II, is to be stripped of the title “Hero of Ukraine.”

The decision to award him with the honorary title split the country in two in January, with most major political parties expressing strong opposition.
The Council of Europe also lashed out at the move, deeming it a glorification of Nazism. The appeal against the award was instigated by a lawyer from the city of Donetsk, Vladimir Olentsevich. The judges ruled Bandera ineligible to carry the title, as he died before the independent Ukrainian state was established in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The ruling can be appealed within ten days
RT

Disabled man 'attacked in street' in Aberdare (Wales, UK)

A mother says she thought her disabled son was going to die after an "unprovoked attack" on a night out.

Martyn Griffiths, 32, who is awaiting a heart and lung transplant, was injured in an incident at Aberdare town centre in the Cynon Valley early on Saturday.
He was knocked out but later regained consciousness and is being treated at hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
South Wales Police said one man had been arrested and bailed, and inquiries were continuing.

Mr Griffiths's mother Janette Leonard said her son had battled against health problems since he was a baby.
She said she had always tried to ensure he enjoyed as normal a life as possible.
"He's very physically disabled and he's very vulnerable. He wanted to go out with his friends so off he went," she said.
"He's 32 but he looks like a 13-year-old or an 80-year-old. He's a very vulnerable adult."

She added: "I've always tried to make him as independent as possible despite his disabilities. I've always encouraged him to do the most he can in life."

Ms Leonard received a call from police in the early hours of Saturday saying her son had been hurt, so she rushed to the scene.
Mr Griffiths had regained consciousness when she arrived and was waiting for an ambulance, but his condition suddenly deteriorated.
"He said he had severe chest pains and I thought he was dying. I said to the ambulance people 'you've got to come quickly'.

"They still said 'you will get an ambulance through but it might be an hour or two'.
"I thought he was going to die. The taxi driver said 'get in the car and we will go over', and he took us to the hospital."

'Heart problems'
Mr Griffiths was treated at Prince Charles Hospital and his mother hoped he would be discharged on Sunday afternoon.
She said his face was "battered" but he seemed to be physically okay.
Mr Griffiths has been in and out of hospital since he was a baby and was given one of his mother's kidneys in an operation about 10 years ago.
She said he had suffered from kidney, heart and lung problems.
"He's had operations in the [Royal] Brompton hospital in London since he was six months old," said Ms Leonard.
"He was born with heart problems. He's on the list at the moment for a heart and lung transplant."

A South Wales Police spokesperson said: "In the early hours of the 3rd April, an assault was reported to police near to New Look in Aberdare.
"One male has been arrested and bailed, and inquiries are continuing."
In response to Ms Leonard's concern about the waiting time for an ambulance, a Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We are unable to comment on individual cases but if the patient or his family wish to contact us we would be happy to discuss it directly with them."

BBC News

TURKEY'S GAYS, TRANSSEXUALS DECRY INCREASING HOMOPHOBIA

When Turkey's family affairs minister recently described homosexuality as a curable disease, she was roundly criticized for discrimination and flouting human rights. But for activists her remarks only underscore what they say is increasing prejudice, discrimination and violence -- even from police -- against homosexuals and transgender people in this Muslim-majority country stuck between its conservative roots and flourishing modernism. A total of 45 gays and transgender people were killed over three years in "hate murders", said Demet Demir, a transsexual and leading activist from Istanbul-LGBTT, a civic body promoting homosexual rights. "In February alone, five people were killed. In Antalya (southern Turkey), a transsexual friend was brutally murdered; her throat was slit. "In Istanbul, another was stabbed to death. Three young men... killed her for money, but she only had 70 liras (46 dollars, 34 euros) and a gold chain," Demir said, adding that three gay men had also been killed in Anatolia. The violence comes against a backdrop of clashing values in this secular democracy that is vying to join the European Union. Unlike other Muslim countries, same-sex relationships have never been criminalised in Turkey. Prostitution and sex change operations are legal. Several gay and transgender bars have flourished in major cities such as Istanbul, while a transsexual singer and homosexuals figure among the country's top celebrities. There are also several associations fighting for gay and transgender rights that organize regular conferences, parades and demonstrations. But at the same time, traditional Islamic values hold sway over large sections of this macho society, which frowns upon displays of femininity.

Discrimination is rife: transgender people are forced to work in the sex sector as nobody will employ them while homosexuals feel they have to hide their sexual identity so as not to risk losing their jobs. Last year, for example, a football referee came out on television, only to see his refereeing licence revoked. The Turkish army classifies homosexuality as a "disease" while police are notoriously harsh against transsexuals. "Just yesterday, police raided the flat where we meet our clients, breaking down the door," Ece, a 43-year-old transsexual, said. "They arrested everyone and beat one of the girls with a truncheon. She had to have three stitches to her head," she added. Although the Islamist-rooted government has enacted a series of rights reforms to boost the country's EU bid since it came to power in 2002, it has turned a blind eye to homosexual rights. In March, Family Affairs and Women's Minister Selma Aliye Kavaf declared in a newspaper interview that she believed homosexuality was a "biological disorder, a disease." "I think it should be treated," she said, attracting a storm of anger and enhancing fears that Islam is taking a more prominent place under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). According to Demir, the violence against homosexuals and her kind has its roots in a "rise in nationalism, Islamic values, poverty, and unemployment in the past seven or eight years". "In such a climate, homosexuals and transsexuals are easy targets. Assailants think that nobody will ask questions and that they won't risk heavy penalties if they kill a transsexual," she said.
Ece, who has been working in the sex sector for 22 years, said she felt compelled to take precautions to minimize risks to her life: making sure she is not alone when meeting clients and never seeking work along motorways. "In the flats where the girls work, there are always housekeepers and cleaning ladies... We are never really alone with the client," she explained. "If there is ever any aggression against one of us, we all intervene. If there is a fight, we all join it." In a letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in February, several non-governmental organizations called for the government to ensure security for gay and transgender people. They pointed out that eight transsexuals had been killed between November 2008 and February this year. Ece said the authorities share responsibility in those crimes. "When a minister makes such declarations, when the police break down your door and beat you up with a truncheon... there will always be people who think that we are evil creatures," she said. "They will think they have a right to eliminate you, make you disappear." Firat Soyle, a lawyer for Lambda Istanbul, a gay rights group, said the government needed to ban discrimination on sexual orientation. "In the Turkish legal system, there is no reference to homosexuality, neither penalisation nor positive discrimination. But this legal vacuum is always used against homosexuals," he said.
AFP

BELGIUM MOVES CLOSER TO EUROPE'S FIRST BURQA BAN

In the clash of cultures between the West and Muslim world, few battles have been more fiercely fought than the one raging in Europe today over the burqa. The burqa, or full-face veil, was the law for women in Afghanistan under the Taliban, and is still worn these days in the more conservative parts of the Middle East, as well as in Europe, raising questions about how far liberal democracies should go in tolerating such dress codes. Belgium gave an answer Wednesday when parliamentarians backed a draft law that would ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public places. The Justice and Home Affairs Committee voted unanimously to endorse the move, which must now be approved by parliament for it to become law. Such a vote is expected by the end of April, which would make Belgium the first European country to implement a ban. Because of the support for the measure among all the main political parties, it is likely to pass.

The draft law would make it illegal to wear clothing that covers all or part of the face, which would also include the facial veil known as the niqab. Defying the rule could lead to nominal fines of $20 to $35 or possible imprisonment for up to seven days. Proponents say they're targeting the burqa not because of its religious symbolism or even because it is widely seen in the West as a sign of male oppression, but rather for safety reasons: they say that people who hide their faces represent a security risk. In that light, the law also seeks to target potentially violent demonstrators who cover their faces, backers say. But the bill's chief sponsor, Daniel Bacquelaine of the liberal Reformist Movement party, admits that cultural considerations have also come into play. "In an open society, we need common values and we need equal rights and duties," he says. Bacquelaine estimates the burqa is worn by only a few hundred of Belgium's 630,000-strong Muslim population, but the numbers have been rising in the past decade. "It has become a political weapon," he says. "There is nothing in Islam or the Koran about the burqa. It has become an instrument of intimidation, and is a sign of submission of women. And a civilized society cannot accept the imprisonment of women."

Other European countries are enacting similarly strict laws when it comes to burqas and headscarves. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing for a ban on the burqa to follow a 2004 French law prohibiting students and staff from wearing headscarves and any other "conspicuous" religious symbols in state schools. Headscarves have also been outlawed in schools in the Netherlands, Britain and in many German states, and the Italian government has just started a debate on whether to ban them. The European pushback against Islam has gone even further in Switzerland, where the public last year approved a referendum making it illegal to build minarets on mosques, a move that outraged Muslims in the country.

In Belgium, however, the burqa bill has the cautious support of much of the Muslim community. "Nobody likes somebody covered," says Saïd El Khadraoui, a Belgian Socialist member of the European Parliament. "It is wrong to say the burqa is part of Islam — the vast majority of Muslims do not wear it. And it's not a bad idea to give a signal that we need some rules to live together." His sentiments are echoed by Emir Kir, who was born in Belgium to Turkish Muslim parents and is now the Secretary for Public Sanitation and Monument Conservation in the Brussels region. "I don't like the burqa. Every person should be visible. In most cases, it is not a religious act, but macho one," he says. "But I wonder if we need a law on it. If we do this, we could make it a symbol and reinforce extremists on all sides. And in the middle of this economic crisis, where everyone is concerned about their job, this is not the number one problem." Kir also wonders whether the bill would be compatible with the Belgian constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. Indeed, legal concerns led France's Council of State to warn this week that a similar proposal working its way through France's legislative system could be unconstitutional. French politicians are still mulling their options. The leader of Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party has said that while he respects the council's conclusions, the parliament is not bound by them. The lower house of Belgium's parliament is set to vote on the bill on April 22 and it could enter into law in June or July. But even if the measure is delayed by court challenges, it is still hugely significant for Belgium and its relationship with its Muslim community, according to Carl Devos, a political scientist at Ghent University. "The Muslim community is not yet well-integrated in Belgium. The difference between them and us is still there," he says. "This law draws a line, saying we in western European democracies accept Muslim beliefs, but in order to live together — and even communicate — we have to be seen."

Time.com

RACISM ON THE RISE AMONG TEENAGE PUPILS (Ireland)

ALMOST half of teachers in some post-primary schools have recently reported a racist incident, new research reveals. Rising unemployment has made racism a bigger problem among teenage students, according to the survey. It is worse in Dublin, in schools with higher numbers of students from migrant backgrounds and in areas suffering high rates of joblessness. There are more than 48,000 migrant students from over 160 different nationalities in Irish second-level schools/colleges, predominantly in urban areas. Marketing company Behaviour and Attitudes conducted the research among members of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) on the issue of interculturalism, racism and resources for minority ethnic students. TUI represents about one-third of second-level teachers, employed in VEC and community and comprehensive schools, as well as lecturers in further-education colleges and institutes of technology. The post-primary schools in which they teach have a higher proportion of minority ethnic students than those in the voluntary secondary sector, traditionally run by religious groups. According to the survey, 46pc of teachers in community and comprehensive schools were aware of an incident of racism in the month prior to the survey last year, compared with 40pc of those in VEC schools. It found the influx of pupils from migrant backgrounds has presented particular challenges for schools, including racist behaviour and intimidation. African children were perceived to be subjected to more incidents. Racist incidents also occur between different nationalities, particularly in schools with large populations of minority ethnic pupils, with examples of eastern European children taunting African/Indian/Pakistani children.


Devastating
One-in-three teachers reported that their schools did not have a policy to deal with racism. TUI deputy general secretary Annette Dolan warned of the impact of education cuts on schools. She said that key middle management posts played a vital role in promoting interculturalism and that the ongoing block on appointments to these positions would have devastating effects. "While the various cutbacks inflicted on the education sector have had a severe impact on all students, minority ethnic students have been disproportionately hit by government cutbacks," Ms Dolan said. "In addition, specific supports for these students have been asset stripped in the Government's slash-and-burn approach to education over the past 18 months."
Irish Independant

Is Mark Collett about to reveal the Truth about the BNP?

Is Mark Collett about to reveal all about the BNP?

the You Tube user FIFAPLYR1 now claims that he is Mark Collett and states the following on his channel.

I have recently been the victim of persecution within the BNP party which i believe i should be the leader.I have been falsely accused of' stealing party funds and making threats to kill against Nick Griffin.

This is not true i am a patsy who is being used by Nick Griffin and others.
I am innocent all i have done is challenge Nick Griffin to declare his expenses.It was him along with others who has not threating to kill me but actually tried.I have spent 3 days in custody only to be released without charge.I welcome any police investigation into this as it will only expose the BNP leadership for what they are.....thieves liars and gangsters.
I am making a public statment in a few days time.
Stand behind me if you want the BNP to survive .
Nick why did you do this to me?

Is this Mark Collett?  We honestly dont know. But we felt it was worth mentioning.

Black pupils 'are routinely marked down by teachers' (UK)

Black children are being systematically marked down by their teachers who are unconsciously stereotyping them, it has been revealed. Academics looked at the marks given to thousands of children at age 11. They compared their results in Sats, nationally set tests marked remotely, with the assessments made by teachers in the classroom and in internal tests. The findings suggest that low expectations are damaging children's prospects.

The study concludes that black pupils perform consistently better in external exams than in teacher assessment. The opposite is true for Indian and Chinese children, who tend to be "over-assessed" by teachers. It also finds that white children from very poor neighbourhoods were under-assessed when compared with their better-off peers.
"What is worrying is that if students do not feel that a teacher appreciates them or understands them, then they are not going to try so hard," said Simon Burgess, professor of economics at the University of Bristol and co-author of the report. His study finds that the differences are a result of stereotyping, as opposed to other factors, and are particularly pronounced in areas where there are fewer black children – or fewer children from very poor estates.
The issue of testing is top of the agenda this weekend as the National Union of Teachers urges its members to vote to boycott the Sats test for 11-year-olds this summer. They believe the external tests are distorting education and should be replaced by teachers' assessments. Yesterday, the union used its annual conference in Liverpool to threaten the next government with a "summer of discontent" over public spending cuts and national curriculum tests.
But Burgess, who is director of the Centre for Market and Public Organisation at the university, said his study showed that the tests were the only opportunity some children had to "prove their teachers wrong". He argued: "These findings suggest that going down the route of abolishing key stage tests at age 11 would be a bad idea."

Ed Balls, the secretary of state, said concerns about stereotyping were one reason he did not want to abolish the tests. "There are still schools, particularly in white, working-class communities, where the attitude is 'the children here don't do so well, we do the best with what we have got, aspirations aren't high'," he said. "That is unacceptable."
But teachers rejected the argument yesterday. John Bangs, of the National Union of Teachers, said that if there was stereotyping it should be tackled by improving teacher training so teachers could better assess children themselves – not by retaining Sats. And Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, which is also calling on members to back the boycott, said there were ways of moderating teacher assessment to make it more reliable.
Gloria Hyatt, a former secondary headteacher of black-Caribbean and Irish heritage, said the study confirmed a longstanding complaint made by ethnic minority groups. She now works as an education consultant helping schools to get the best potential out of those who might be "deemed as failures".

"This is not discrimination or racism," said Hyatt. "It is something unconscious. What this study shows is that what we see and what we experience influences our beliefs, attitudes and perceptions. We are conditioned by society, in terms of what comes out of the television about minorities, what we see in books. That says that 'this is the model' and then experiences reinforce that." Hyatt argued that it was hard to go against those pervasive generalisations.
She said she had met teachers who believed "all black children are great at sport" and less able in "English, maths and science". She argued that a "training tool" was needed. "Equal opportunities legislation will not fix this."
Meanwhile, it emerged that the three biggest teaching unions and leaders of the NUS Black Students Campaign have written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission demanding an audit of Britain's schools and universities to uncover race inequality in education. The letter points to the "disturbingly" low numbers of black teaching staff in primary and further education. It says that the London Metropolitan University had more black students than the country's top 20 universities put together.
The Guardian

500 COMMUNITY WORKERS TO TAKE PART IN £1.5M ANTI-RACISM SCHEME (N. Ireland)

Over 500 community activists from loyalist and republican communities are to participate in a ground-breaking programme to tackle racism and sectarianism across Northern Ireland. Specialist Holocaust training providers will educate the volunteers who want to participate in the programme to help change racist attitudes within their local communities. The anti-racism training programme — The Thin End of The Wedge — which has received £1.5m in EU funding, was piloted last year in areas of Belfast where racism and sectarianism were problematic. It received governmental support after several months of racist attacks last year. In April more than 40 foreign nationalists were intimidated out of loyalist parts of Belfast over two weeks following violent clashes between Northern Ireland and Polish football fans. And in June over 100 Roma fled Northern Ireland after a spate of violent racist attacks in Belfast. Some of the families have since returned. Launched at Stormont yesterday by MP Nigel Dodds, the anti-racism programme, which will be delivered by the charity Forward Learning, includes City & Guilds accredited training and a cross cultural study visit to Krakow in Poland and the death camp complex at Auschwitz. Project developer Frank Higgins said the project is the first of its kind in the EU. He added that the project “teaches people not only how to recognise racist and sectarian beliefs but how to stop such attitudes whenever and wherever they exist.” Mr Dodds said the project is designed to tackle “one of the most important issues in our society today”.


Belfast Telegraph

Internal BNP Civil War & Death Threats to Nick Griffin Part 2

Mark Collette been arrested for making Death Threats!

A bnp official has been arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill leader Nick Griffin.

Publicity chief Mark Collett, 29 - since suspended by the far-right party - was held in North Lincolnshire on Thursday.
It came after Griffin, 51, an MEP, made a statement to cops. A Humberside Police spokesman said: "A 29-year-old man has been arrested and bailed on suspicion of threats to kill. We can't comment further."

Sunday People

Internal BNP Civil War & Death Threats to Nick Griffin Part 1

The racist BNP is in turmoil after losing three senior officials in a bitter internal feud.

Leader Nick Griffin was forced to fire two aides and a third stood down after allegedly plotting a "palace coup" against him - leaving the far-right party's election campaign in tatters.
Bnp propaganda printer Mark Collett - twice exposed in TV documentaries as a racist who admired Hitler - was publicly dumped after he was named as the chief conspirator.
The party's crucial national election organiser Eddy Butler was also sacked from his paid role and staff manager Emma Colgate has quit.

The turmoil, less than five weeks before polling day, is a huge blow to Griffin's hope of winning the Westminster seat of Dagenham, currently held by Labour's Margaret Hodge.
Griffin was already under pressure after his disastrous Question Time appearance last year and damaging allegations that he had cashed in on the European Union expenses "gravy train" since becoming a Euro-MP.
He has now been summoned to a crisis meeting of the party's influential National Advisory Council.

A spokesman for Searchlight, the anti-fascist organisation, said: "Griffin is really on the ropes.

"His Question Time appearance was an embarrassment and BNP members have been asking the same questions as everyone else about his EU expenses. He is struggling to hang on to control of his own party."
Details of the "plot" emerged this week when high-ranking BNP organisers received an unsigned open letter outlining the details of an investigation by the party's internal security team.

It claimed evidence had been uncovered of "financial irregularities" relating to the printing of election leaflets and the party's bile-filled Identity magazine.

It said BNP printer Collett, 29, had been "relieved from all positions within the party" and accused him of plotting with "a small clique" to oust Griffin.

The party released a statement on Friday saying Emma Colgate had "decided to step down" to concentrate on her bid to win a Westminster seat.
Bnp insiders told the Sunday Mirror Butler - who was central to the party's national election campaign - has been replaced by North-West organiser Clive Jefferson.

The damaging feud follows months of discontent about Griffin after his disastrous Question Time appearance.
Ordinary members have been infuriated by recent revelations that a handful of Griffin's party favourites are being paid generous salaries with EU money.

They are understood to be angry that Griffin insists on attending to "important business" in Brussels - where MEPs get £260 a day expenses just for turning up - instead of concentrating on the election.

A source said: "This could blow the party apart."

np spokesman John Walker said yesterday: "We have no comment to make."

Sunday Mirror