How to beat the BNP – and make sure they don't come back By Margaret Hodge

It is only through open debate that we can expose the BNP's false prospectus and vile intentions, argues Margaret Hodge
Several symbolic victories lightened the gloom for Labour at the election, but none more so than the trouncing of the BNP in Barking and Dagenham. I doubled my majority; the BNP was driven into third place by the Tories; and all of its councillors lost their seats. In short, the politics of hatred and racism were decisively rejected.

Four years ago, I warned of the dangers of the rise of the extreme Right, after a surge in BNP support in my area. Some believed that by raising the problem, I was creating it. But I remain convinced that we cannot deal with the issue by ignoring it. All that does is add to the alienation of those who believe that politicians don't listen to their grievances, and haven't a clue about their concerns.
The argument about whether we should share platforms with the BNP is redundant. It is only through open debate that we can expose its false prospectus and vile intentions. That is why, in Barking and Dagenham, the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, consistently refused to debate with me, or the other candidates. He knew he'd lose the argument – on immigration, on the BNP's hideous heritage, and on local concerns and priorities.

The people here looked to the BNP because they have legitimate grievances. They have experienced the most rapid demographic change in the country. All of us would feel some unease if our neighbours suddenly seemed foreign, and the produce in the shops became unfamiliar. The traditional employer, Ford, has cut back from 40,000 workers to 4,000. The sale of council houses created a lack of decent affordable homes. The local Labour Party became too complacent, and there was no mainstream opposition.
The result was a cocktail of circumstances that the BNP could exploit. In 2006, they put forward 13 candidates in the local elections and won 12 seats. With more candidates, they might well have taken control of the council. Our voters felt we had completely lost touch with them.

Our response was to do everything we could to reconnect with people, and give them a positive reason for voting Labour. In our coffee afternoons, street meetings and door-to-door visits, we didn't talk about national issues. Instead, we listened to what voters were concerned about – from potholes, to the resiting of bus stops, to anti-social behaviour. And, of course, they talked about immigration and the impact they felt it was having on housing, jobs, schools and crime.

First, we always tried to deliver on the local concerns, to show people we were listening. Second, we worked hard to stay in touch with those we met, so people got to know their MP and local activists. Finally, we talked about immigration. Voters of every race share the same concerns about the way housing and welfare benefits are allocated. We didn't promise to turn the clock back. But just by listening and showing understanding, we began to restore confidence and trust.

Since 2006, we have almost doubled our party membership, and are now truly representative of our community. In the council wards where the BNP was strongest, we put forward African and Asian candidates – and they won with handsome majorities.

Yet this is the beginning, not the end of the campaign. The BNP retained its deposit in 72 constituencies, and remains a threat to tolerant, democratic politics across Britain. In particular, we still have to find our way through the issue of immigration. To this end, we need a better system for rationing housing and benefits, with priority for those who have lived in an area for longest. This would immediately lance the toxic perception that the allocation systems are unfair. In that way, we could start to change people's attitudes to immigration, and relegate the BNP to the dustbin, where it belongs.

Margaret Hodge is the MP for Barking & Dagenham

The Telegraph

Jobbik maintains plan to set up paramilitary organization

The radical nationalist Jobbik party plans to set up a new "national" paramilitary organisation and it is eyeing June 4, the anniversary of the Trianon treaty, as the date of the guard's inauguration, Nepszabadsag daily said on Friday.

"We will set up a state reserve force, the Hungarian National Guard, which will be able to continually support and supply the army with new staff, as well as to protect important assets in the country," said the opposition party's programme.

The new organisation expects to rely on members of the banned Hungarian Guard. Jobbik plans the organisation to provide civil defence and disaster management tasks, and to come under the army's command should there be a war.

Jobbik leader Gabor Vona has made it clear that the party has not given up on the idea of setting up a new guard despite the fact that it would need governing party Fidesz's support to set up a true "state-run reserve force". If it cannot be run by the state then Jobbik will insist on its being a civil organisation, the paper said.

Fidesz, which is forming the new government, has ruled out allowing any kind of paramilitary-type organisation to be formed.

politics Hu

AMNESTY FRETS OVER RACISM IN SWITZERLAND

The minarets initiative weighs heavily on Amnesty International’s annual report on Switzerland’s human rights situation. That report, which alleges rights abuses in 159 countries, is released today. In Switzerland, Amnesty says it worries about a climate of increasing racism, saying the minarets vote allowed for a number of public comments targeting the muslim community. The report quotes heavily from the Council of Europe’s Commission against racism and tolerance. That body said that the minarets initiative never should have been put to a public vote. Amnesty’s report also notes that Switzerland needs to do more to prevent police violence.Just last October the UN Human Rights committee demanded independent bodies to look into complaints against law enforcement. One bright spot in the report: Amnesty does look favorably on Bern’s decision to welcome two former Guantanamo refugees inmates.
ECRI report Switzerland Measures have been taken to foster the integration of immigrants in areas such as employment, housing and health. The federal bodies in charge of racism and migration have continued to raise awareness on racism and racial discrimination. Steps have been taken to combat right-wing extremism. However, there has been a dangerous growth of racist political discourse against non-citizens, Muslims, Black people and other minorities. Legislation is insufficiently developed to deal with direct racial discrimination, which targets in particular Muslims and persons from the Balkans, Turkey and Africa. Travellers and Yenish communities with an itinerant life style are still faced with a shortage of stopping sites and prejudice leading to instances of discrimination. Legislation governing asylum seekers has been tightened and hostility towards them has increased.

World Radio

DUTCH FAR-RIGHT MEP SPARKS TENSION AT TURKEY-EU MEETING

The 64th meeting of the European Union-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee was marred by tension on Tuesday evening after harsh and judgmental remarks by a Dutch member of the European Parliament. During the meeting, held in Ýstanbul, Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Egemen Baðýþ was responding to questions from the committee when Barry Madlener, a Dutch politician from the Party for Freedom (PVV), stood up and started speaking: “If a referendum were to be held in the Netherlands today, then 80 percent would say ‘no’ to Turkey’s EU membership,” the Anatolia news agency reported. “Why do you recognize the illegitimate KKTC [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus] elections that are held? Your real friend is Iran’s dictator [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad,” NTV news channel quoted Madlener as saying. He left the meeting hall after delivering these remarks, NTV reported. While speaking, Baðýþ recalled Madlener’s remarks about the results of a possible referendum and asked whether Madlener was in the hall. Seeing that he left the meeting, Baðýþ criticized him for leaving without listening to the answers to the questions he posed. “I will tell those who are curious the answer to that question. Racism is a very dangerous illness. Europe has suffered much from this illness. We see that there are still those who can’t get rid of this in Europe. That’s why the EU is very important,” Baðýþ was quoted as saying by Anatolia, as he called the EU “the most comprehensive peace project.”


Today Zaman

Serbian police ban neo-Nazi group planned rally

Serbian police have banned a planned rally by a small neo-Nazi group after it was condemned by Serb parties, non-governmental organisations and the World Jewish Congress.

The “Serbian March -- March for the Unity of Serbia", led by the Nacionalni Stroj (National Front) group, was scheduled for October 7 in the northern city of Novi Sad.

Police said the rally was banned “ecause it endangered public morals and public safety.”

The rally would coincide with the birthday of Heinrich Himmler, the SS commander who orchestrated the murder of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Roma (Gypsies) on the territory of the then Yugoslavia in WWII.
The Nacionalni Stroj members -- including 31-year-old leader Goran "The Fuhrer" Davidovic -- have already been jailed for spreading racial hatred in Novi Sad.

The group, whose name means "National Rank" in Serbian, was found guilty of having disrupted a Novi Sad university lecture about the threat of fascism in November 2005, assaulting some participants and raising their arms in the Nazi salute.
In early 2005, anti-Semitic posters and graffiti signed by the group appeared in Novi Sad and Belgrade.

The World Jewish Congress had sent a letter of protest regarding the rally to Serb President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

In the letter, Ronald Lauder, the WJC’s president said: "The extremist views and neo-Nazi activities of Nacionalni Stroj are well known, and certainly not in line with the principles of a democratic society.”

Similar protests were lodged by local non-governmental organisations in Serbia.

ej press

Bogus cop is stoking up race row (UK)

A BOGUS police officer is operating in and around Worksop telling people to remove their England shirts and take down their flags.

A probe was launched after the Guardian revealed that a woman in the town had been asked to take down her England flags by what she thought was a genuine police officer.

It has now emerged that someone is posing as a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) and was in Clumber Park last weekend asking people to remove their England shirts.

Chief Superintendent Dave Wakelin said: "I am aware of last week's publicity regarding the story that one of my staff members advised a local Worksop resident to remove her flag from her balcony as it was upsetting foreign residents."

"We are now absolutely certain that these were not bona-fide members of Notts Police, and this, linked to reports that over the weekend similar incidents occurred with people in Clumber Park being told remove their England shirts, leads me to believe that there is someone in our local community intending to cause unease."

My staff and I respect the right of local people of whatever nationality to display their flags over the coming months and beyond."

"Only if the behaviour of anyone leads us to suspect they are intending to incite racial hatred will the police become involved."

"The mere showing of a flag or the wearing of a football shirt will not attract, on its own, any form of intervention by my officers."

"In relation to the incidents at Clumber Park over the weekend, I am keen to establish the identity of a white man, aged 40 to 50, 5ft 8" to 5ft 10" tall, of medium build, with stubble. He was wearing trousers and a shirt that gave him the appearance of a PCSO."

"If anyone knows of this man's real identity I would be grateful for his details to be passed either direct to us on 0300 300 999 or Crimestoppers 0800 555 111."

He also urged people to drink responsibly during the World Cup so that alcohol-related violence does not ruin the sporting event,

Bassetlaw MP John Mann said it was of "considerable concern" that someone was impersonating a police officer.

"Someone is trying to cause trouble when the whole of the community wants to get behind our England cricket, football and rugby teams. Particularly with the World Cup coming up everybody wants to get behind the England football team," he said.

"We want to see flags up everywhere"
 
Worksop Guardian

BNP man’s poll form had forgeries (Wales, UK)

A man has been cautioned after signatures on the nomination forms of a defeated BNP candidate in the General Election were found to have been forged.

South Wales Police received a number of complaints from members of the public concerned that their details had been used on Richard Barnes’ nomination form.

Mr Barnes stood for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney in the recent election, but received only 1,173 votes.
Before a prospective candidate is allowed to stand, he or she must obtain 10 signatures: a proposer, a seconder and those who signed the nomination papers.

Police investigated the claims and as a result a 30-year-old man was arrested and later cautioned for tampering with ballot nomination papers after he was found to be responsible for forging signatures.

A South Wales Police spokesman said: “Mr Barnes was unaware of the actions and the man was cautioned on May 16.”
Ronald Fealey, of Penydarren, was one of those who had his name used to forge a signature.

He said: “Someone told me my name was on the nomination form and I thought they were taking the Mick about it.
“My son downloaded the nomination form and there my name was. I reported it to the returning officer and they informed the police.

“I don’t know why my name was chosen, it possibly could have been out of a hat for all I know.”
Katy Meredith, of Church Street, Penydarren, was also a victim of the deception. She did not sign the nomination papers and said she did not vote BNP.

The Echo contacted the BNP but received no response.

Merthyr Tydfil Council was unable to help the Echo contact Richard Barnes, but did say: “Fraudulently signing election nomination papers is a criminal offence.

“Therefore, when Merthyr council was officially made aware that there was a potential issue with one of the candidates’ nomination papers the week after the election, the matter was referred directly to South Wales Police for investigation. Merthyr council has no further role.”

Wales Online

Anti-Roma attacks continued in Hungary, says AI 2009 report

Violent attacks against Roma continued in Hungary last year, Amnesty International said in its latest global report on human rights published on Thursday morning. The world's largest human rights organisation said that 2009 was marked by "political and economic upheaval" in Hungary that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. The document said that the "radical right-ring organisation" Magyar Garda (Hungarian Guard) staged a series of marches in towns with a Roma population in eastern Hungary. The report notes that Jobbik, which it describes as "an extreme right-wing political party with a strong anti-Roma and an increasingly anti-Semitic agenda" gained three seats in the European parliamentary elections in June. AI said that a Hungarian court banned Magyar Garda, an organisation linked to Jobbik, arguing that it overstepped its rights as an association and curtailed liberties of the Roma. In July, however, Jobbik announced the relaunch of the Guard and one of its newly elected MEPs wore the Guard's uniform in the first parliamentary session in Brussels. In October the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about the rise of extremism in Hungary, and appealed to all political party leaders to ensure that no xenophobic or anti-Roma statements be made in the 2010 parliamentary election campaign. The report discusses in detail the fatal attacks against Roma people in Tatarszentgyorgy, Tiszalok and Kisleta. AI notes that "about 400 Romani women initiated legal proceedings" against Oszkar Molnar, then an MP of the Fidesz party, over his allegedly defamatory remarks on Roma women. He was also widely criticised by NGOs, other politicians and the media for his anti-Semitic comments during a TV interview. In September the LGBT pride march took place in Budapest with adequate protection and no incidents were reported during the March, the report says. However, a young woman was allegedly attacked by two or three anti-gay protesters after the march, sustaining injuries to her head and arms. The Budapest Police Department started an investigation of the incident, having classified it as "violence against a member of a social group" despite the amendments made in February to the Criminal Code introducing new crimes of homophobic and other rate related attacks.
Politics Hu

EDL WALSALL DEMO CANCELLED

The controversial English Defence League have called off a planned demonstration against a proposed mosque in Walsall after learning that the biggest single group opposed to the scheme are Muslims. George Makin reports.

The anti-Islamic EDL had announced they would hold a demonstration on June 19 against a scheme to build a new place of worship in Vicarage Close which had previously been denied planning permission by the Walsall council.

Proposers of the development have announced their intention to appeal the decision.

The EDL’s proposed demonstration led to a joint statement by the leaders of all three party leaders on Walsall council, fearful of a repeat of violent clashes which have occurred at other EDL events, that the rightwing group was not wanted in the town.

During negotiations with police EDL organiser were surprised to learn the original planning application had been opposed by many Muslims in Walsall who claim there are enough mosques in the borough already.

The EDL are now planning for a demonstration in Dudley on June 19 and for another in Alum Rock in Birmingham at a later date

The Stirrer

SPANISH TOWN TO BAN BURQA IN MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS

Spain's northeastern town of Lerida is to vote Friday to ban the wearing of the burqa in municipal buildings, the mayor's office said, in an apparent first for the country. A proposal was being drawn up and the majority socialists were behind the push to ban the face-covering Islamic veil in the municipality's buildings, a spokesman for the mayor's office said Wednesday. The town had asked its legal services to look into the possibility of banning the garment in all public spaces in the name of the fundamental rights of women, the official said. "We cannot regulate the usage of the burqa in the road, but we can do that in municipal buildings," he said. Few women wear the full veil in Lerida, a town in the Catalonia region that has about 140,000 residents, one-fifth of whom are immigrants including from North Africa. The garment has sparked intense debate in many European countries, with Belgium deputies last month backing a draft law banning the garment in all public places, including on the streets, in a first for Europe. The text must be adopted by the upper house Senate before it can come into effect. France's cabinet has also approved a draft law to ban the full-face veil from public spaces, opening the way for the text to go before parliament in July. Spain's socialist government is opposed to legislating against the burqa.

Expatica

Zimbabwe police arrest gay rights activists

Two members of a Zimbabwean gay rights association are in custody, their lawyers say.

They say the two are facing charges of possessing pornographic material and insulting President Robert Mugabe.
Ellen Chadian - administrator of the group, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe - and Ignatius Muhambi - an accountant - were picked up during a raid.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Zimbabwe, but the group has been allowed to operate openly.

Dzimbabwe Chimbga, a lawyer representing the pair, said they had been arrested on Friday.

"The initial charges are that they were found in possession of pornographic material," Mr Chimbga said.

"Now the police want to add a charge of insulting the president," he added.
Police told by AP news agency say that they had found a letter undermining President Mugabe during the raid.
Mr Mugabe has in the past described same-sex partners as "lower than dogs and pigs", but arrests of gays are rare in Zimbabwe, correspondents say.

Homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries.

Last week a judge in Malawi sentenced a gay couple to 14 years in prison with hard labour after they held a traditional engagement ceremony.

BBC News

SLOVAKS RETALIATE OVER HUNGARIAN CITIZENSHIP LAW

Hungary's decision to allow ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for dual citizenship has sparked an angry response from neighbouring Slovakia. Slovakia has voted to amend its own citizenship law, stripping anyone of their Slovak citizenship if they apply for Hungarian nationality. Southern Slovakia is home to roughly 500,000 ethnic Hungarians, about a tenth of the country's population. Slovak leader Robert Fico has called Hungary's move a "security threat". Aside from the Hungarian case, dual citizenship is generally allowed in Slovakia. The two EU members have repeatedly sparred over the treatment of the substantial Hungarian minority in Slovakia, most recently about a new language law which Hungary says hurts minority rights.

Tit-for-tat moves
The amendment to Hungary's citizenship law passed almost unanimously in the Hungarian parliament on Wednesday. Slovakia retaliated by passing its own measure later in the day. The Hungarian measure is due to come into effect in 2011, while the Slovak one, which still needs approval from the president, would come into force in July, Reuters news agency reported. The Hungarian law will allow ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship, if they speak Hungarian and have Hungarian ancestry. This was one of the campaign pledges of incoming Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his centre-right Fidesz party, which won a landslide majority in elections in April. Of Hungary's neighbours, only Slovakia has objected to the move. Mr Fico told the Slovak parliament on Tuesday that Hungary was attempting to revise history, and accused Hungary of gross ignorance of the bilateral friendship treaty, the BBC's Nick Thorpe reports from Budapest. Hungary ceded two-thirds of its territory under the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, after being on the losing side in World War I. As a result, large Hungarian minorities now live in neighbouring Slovakia, Romania and Serbia. Bratislava is particularly upset that Hungary did not seek talks before passing the amendment, our correspondent says. Slovakia will hold parliamentary elections next month, and Mr Fico is battling for the nationalist vote, he adds.

BBC News

Ex-BNP webmaster confirms Jim Dowson owns the BNP

The British National Party learned the hard way that exploiting and cheating its own supporters has unpleasant consequences, when two days before polling day its webmaster removed the BNP website from the internet.

Simon Bennett replaced the site, which received more visitors than any other political party website, with a brief statement accusing the party of “several attempts of theft today with regards to design work and content owned by myself”. He also claimed that Arthur Kemp and Jim Dowson, two close aides to Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, had threatened violence against him and his family.

Bennett’s action meant that supporters could no longer make online donations or membership applications. For the first time for many months, BNP e-news bulletins came without a donation button.

Bennett had been in dispute with Dowson, the convicted criminal who in effect owns the BNP, for a year, but matters came to a head when Griffin insisted, against Bennett’s advice, on adding an image of a jar of Marmite to a version of the BNP’s television election broadcast pre-released on the party website.

According to a longer statement by Bennett, this “very deliberate copyright infringement” was a stunt by Griffin and Dowson to provoke a reaction from Unilever, which owns the Marmite brand, and so “create publicity and a fund raising opportunity”. In the event, Bennett claimed, website traffic, donations and membership applications barely increased at all.

After Unilever responded by launching proceedings over copyright infringement, Griffin and Dowson realised they had underestimated the severity of the legal and financial consequences and came up with pathetic excuses, such as a claim that a “joker” had amended the film. When Unilever’s lawyers refused to believe them, Bennett says he was expected “to go to court and lie through my teeth in order to bail them out of a ridiculous hole they had dug themselves into”.

Griffin and Dowson had misjudged Bennett. Unlike they themselves and their more sycophantic supporters, Bennett “was not prepared to spend five years in prison for perjury just to protect the financial interests of fools” and told Unilever’s lawyers the truth.

Bennett had refused to do their bidding so Griffin and Dowson wanted him out. Bennett was prepared to go but wanted to be paid for his website design work. Claiming he had invested around £40,000 into the site, he said he was not prepared simply to hand it over to Griffin and Dowson so that they could use it to make more money. “It was my bloody hard work, commitment and money that developed that site into the success it became,” wrote Bennett, “and for Dowson to try and force control of it for his own advantage made me feel sick.”

Money is what it is all about – not for Bennett but for Griffin and Dowson, who, Bennett claims, is paid £120,000 a year by the party. As Searchlight already knew from other sources, Bennett’s dispute with Dowson started over the fact that the telesales staff at Dowson’s call centre earned commission from subscriptions and party memberships and so were telling party members not to renew their membership on the website because it was “unsafe and had been hacked”.

Bennett complained to Griffin who said he would look into it. Shortly afterwards he was contacted by the call centre manager, Kate Hunt, and Dowson. A heated exchange ended with Dowson threatening: “I am a Glasgow/Belfast man as you are about to find out. I was patient simon [sic] but you crossed the line sir, its time some manners were put on you.”

Bennett had crossed Dowson and could not win. As Bennett says in his statement, confirming the conclusions of Searchlight’s investigations: “Jim Dowson now controls just about every aspect of the party structure (including the recently acquired print services) and also the party’s finances with one exception. You’ve guessed it – the website!”

By the Sunday after election day the BNP had a new website up and running, set up by Chris Barnett who, Bennett says, used to run a web server for an online pornographic studio in Birmingham. But the story was not over. Bennett also had control of the party’s Facebook site, with its nearly 26,000 members, and its Twitter feed. He now linked them to a new website of his own on which he exposed Dowson’s financial dealings with the BNP and called for reform of the party.

As well as setting up his own site Bennett posted on various far-right internet forums, disclosing the nefarious ways the BNP operates. On one he revealed that Kemp, the BNP’s website editor who had moved through a variety of party posts, had also threatened Bennett and had once opposed Griffin.

“He threatened to drive to Cornwall, rip my head off off and shove it up my @rse,” wrote Bennett. “I expected better of him too, but I noticed the change in his anti-griffin attitude once he started ‘fund-raising’ for our best friend Jim. From that day on he became very pro-Jim and pro-griffin, even though he knew they planned his downfall at the EU election planning meeting in 2008. They humiliated him, stripped him of his position, income and dignity. He suffered it for over a year until he was offered a scrap of food which he grabbed with both hands and stabbed me in the back to get to it.”

Bennett also removed Griffin’s personal MEP’s website though not the similar websites he runs for Andrew Brons, the BNP’s other MEP, and Richard Barnbrook, the party’s London Assembly member, with whom he has no dispute.

The BNP has taken legal proceedings against Bennett, presumably paid for out of members’ donations, but that has not silenced him. Bennett is gradually adding to his new website, which is likely to become a centre for any moves to oust Griffin from the BNP leadership in the coming months.

Searchlight

BNP man sentenced after shoving two women at East Croydon station

A BNP thug who ran for council has been given a year's community service for assaulting two female pacifist campaigners.

David Clarke, who got 518 votes when he stood in Heathfield for this year's local elections, was sentenced on four counts of assaulting anti-racism campaigners.

Clarke, of Dunley Drive, New Addington, pushed and shoved Lorna Nelson-Homian, James Cox, Nigel Green and Silvia Beckett in two separate attacks last May outside East Croydon train station.

Croydon Magistrates' Court handed the 41-year-old a 12-month community order last week and ordered him to pay costs of £650.

Clarke denied attacking the Hope Not Hate campaigners but was found guilty on April 30.

Giving evidence in relation to the first incident on May 27, campaigner Nigel Green said: "I saw him [Clarke] walking towards me.
"He was walking right towards me and I could see there would be problems. I decided to stop and put the leaflets behind my back.

"But he gestured for me to give him a leaflet and he basically snatched them out of my hand. They were thrown down on the street and that was quite a shock to me.

"Then he sort of pushed me and grabbed my arm and twirled me around. I was very shaken because I had done nothing to provoke him."

Prosecutor Daniel Irving told the court how after the first assault Clarke left, only to return to repeatedly shove Ms Beckett to get to Mr Green.

The court heard Clarke almost knocked the woman off her feet.

Mr Irving told the court that when Clarke spotted other Hope Not Hate campaigners two days later he screamed at them: "F****** scumbags, filth on our streets, taking all our jobs."

Then Clarke again snatched leaflets, threw them on the floor and shoved Ms Nelson-Homian and Mr Cox.

This is Croydon

Catherine Ariemma, Georgia high school teacher, in hot water after students wear KKK robes in school

A Georgia history teacher could be fired after allowing four students to wear mock Ku Klux Klan attire for their final project.


Catherine Ariemma, who teaches an advanced placement course that combines U.S. history and film at Lumpkin County High School, was suspended after four teens wore the inflammatory white robes through the school's cafeteria, according to The Associated Press.

Several black students at the school, about 75 miles north of Atlanta, were incensed, and at least one parent complained.

Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dewey Moye said that Ariemma, who has taught at the school for six years, was placed on administrative leave.

Ariemma's students watch films pertaining to U.S. history and at the end of the year choose a theme on which they base their own final projects. Her class chose to take on racism and its roots this year, she said.

"This stuff happened in history," Moye told The AP. "Do you ignore it? No. But you certainly don't walk the hallway in the garb."

Ariemma said the teens brought white sheets and cone-shaped party hats to school and that she took them through the cafeteria to another area to shoot their film. A fellow teacher confronted Ariemma afterward.

"That's when I heard there were a couple of students who were upset," Ariemma told The AP.

Cody Rider, a student at Lumpkin County High School, told Atlanta's WSB-TV on Monday that he and his cousin saw the students walk through the cafeteria in the robes and were upset.

Ariemma said that while she felt the students were addressing an important issue in American history, she told The AP that it "was poor judgment on my part in allowing them to film at school. … That was a hard lesson learned."
NY Daily News

Police highlight Facebook as e-crime is targeted

Scotland’s most senior frontline police officers have declared war on e-crime and are warning that social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo are among the biggest threats to our communities because of online grooming and paedophilia.

The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (Asps) will demand at their annual conference later this week that internet providers and search engines such as Google start regulating themselves to curb growing levels of online crime.

Speaking in advance of the Dunblane conference, Chief Super-intendent David O’Connor, the incoming president of the association, said there was growing concern about increases in e-crime and the lack of regulation by companies online.

His speech will also outline concerns about the fact the police service is over capacity in the management of sex offenders.

Hundreds of millions of pounds are estimated to be lost in Scotland each year as a result of internet scams. O’Connor will say the Scottish Government, internet providers and senior officers need to come together to discuss e-crime and a better way of paying for its policing.

Facebook has been at the centre of a number of court cases involving adults grooming young people. The most high-profile in the UK was that of Ashleigh Hall, 17, who was murdered by convicted rapist Peter Chapman, 33, in Sedgefield, County Durham. She had agreed to meet him after he posed as a young man on the popular site.

Eight members of the worst child abuse network in Scotland were found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh of a catalogue of charges relating to abuse and indecent images of children as a result of Operation Algebra last year.

O’Connor said: “The industry should be regulating itself and there should be measures in place to counter fraud and exploitation.

“Prevention is far better than cure. While Operation Algebra was a great success we would rather that those crimes had not happened. E-crime is a huge issue for the police – with growing incidents of banking fraud and identity theft.

“On the internet it is very difficult to identify victims and even more difficult to identify suspects. Whilst we are trying to put measures in place to track these people down it is highly specialist, technical and resource
intensive work.”

O’Connor is expected to tell police officers and the Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill: “In terms of public protection one of the biggest threats facing our communities relates to various chat-room facilities providing online social networking sites … Identity fraud and credit card fraud over the internet are costing this country millions of pounds.”

A Facebook spokesperson said: There is no single answer or silver bullet that makes the internet or Facebook safer but we continue to invest in improving the experience for our users on the site.”

Herald Scotland

BNP Race hate boss porkies to PCC exposed (UK)

Racist leader whinges that he is not in the BNP then is filmed at party fundraiser!

THIS is the footage that proves BNP big wig Jim Dowson has been telling porkies!

Barefaced race hate Glaswegian Dowson has asked the Press Complaints Commission to rule that the Sunday World was wrong to say he was a member of the BNP – he told them had never been a member, yet here he is delivering a rousing right-wing speech – proving he’s up to his neck in the far right party.

Last year we revealed Dowson was behind the secret fundraising centre which is tucked away in east Belfast.
But after our first story he appeared on UTV and gave an interview to say he was not connected with the political side of the BNP and was just a businessman running a call centre.

He even said he didn’t agree with the BNP’s politics!

And he has complained to the Press Complaints Commission because we said he was a life member.

Poor affronted Jim told the PCC in an indignant letter: “They also allege that I am a BNP life member when I have never been a member of the party ever in my life!”

But a video passed to us by anti-fascist magazine Searchlight shows Jim praising the racist party and urging people to join up. And he’s even captioned North West Fundraiser.

Rambles
And we’ve since discovered that Jim may not have paid his member-ship to the BNP – because according to sources he owns it!

He has been BNP leader Nick Griffin’s right-hand man – to such an extent he has caused angry rumblings within the party.
During the seven minute video, which was taken during a fundraising event in Blackburn, Lancashire two months ago, Dowson repeatedly uses the phrases ‘we’ and ‘us’ when talking about the BNP.

We’ve picked out some of his most ‘rousing’ rants so you can make up your own mind if convicted criminal Dowson is in the BNP.

“We’re living with the Chinese and the Koreans,” says BNP Jim with a BNP backdrop, as the title BNP North West fundraiser is put on the screen of the BNP internet TV channel.

“They’re now the top of the tree. They’re going to be the ones who dominate the world. But it doesn’t matter how many cheap radios they build or cheap cars they build – they’ll never have what we have and that’s British blood.”
He then rambles on about soldiers and famous wars and battles including Waterloo, Agincourt, The Falklands and Afghanistan.

He tells the crowd: “The same blood is in you as they had. You are the sum total of your ancestors. Think what they suffered; think what they gave to build this Great Britain.

“How can Trevor Phillips (black head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission) ever hope to destroy us? I’ll tell you how, by destroying the British National Party.

“The only bulwark against tyranny is the BNP – you people have joined, given, you’ve campaigned, you’ve leafleted.

“We are the frontline. We are the thin red line against total destruction, annihilation and oblivion. We are the people who are standing in guard.”

He then babbles on about the film Zulu, which he thinks is called Rourke’s Drift, and likens the BNP to the British soldiers who repelled wave after wave of Zulu warriors during the Boer War.

He then slags off the British people who he says have run away because they are too scared to join the BNP in case they lose their job or get into trouble.

He then says of the BNP: “We will turn this country round.”

“People like (Trevor) Phillips and (Jack) Straw have mistaken us for being soft. There’s nothing soft about Blackburn and if Trevor Phillips and any of his cronies came here they would soon find out.”

He says he has helped turn the party around from being an amateurish party with no offices to having five UK offices, two MEP’s and are now bigger than UKIP.

“This party is going places – think what we have achieved,” says BNP Jim.

He talks about the leaked BNP list and tells anyone in the audience that if they weren’t on it, why weren’t they on it.

“When the list came out they thought we’d all run and hide. I was manning the phones that week and all week we got people in their 70s phoning saying ‘sign me up’ – they were joining in their 100s.”

The speech was part of a fundraiser in Blackburn which took place just before the election.

Boasted
But sadly for Jim the election was an unmitigated disaster.

The party hoped to get four MP’s elected to Westminster but failed to secure a single seat.

They had boasted about taking control of Barking and Dagenham council but were wiped out 51-0 by Labour.
Furthermore BNP sources are blaming Jim Dowson.

As revealed last week he, and the Belfast office, were being held responsible for the election blunder. Anti-fascist magazine Searchlight ran a ‘Hope not Hate’ campaign against the BNP during the election and Irish correspondent Matthew Collins hailed it a total success.

“Jim Dowson and his operation of shadow companies has as good as bought the BNP,” says Matthew.

“From our point of view, he’s the best thing to ever happen to the BNP.

“We’ve already begun to drive his party out of our council chambers and I’m sure the people of Northern Ireland will follow suit and chose hope over hate.”

Hope Not Hate

FJCR CONCERNED ABOUT INCREASE IN ANTI-SEMITISM IN ULYANOVSK (Russia)

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR) has said there has been a recent increase in anti-Semitism in Ulyanovsk. "One of the recent manifestations of organized fascism in Ulyanovsk was the appearance of the words "Jews Must Die" and swastika in several districts of the city on April 20," the FJCR said in a statement sent to Interfax-Religion on Monday. At a rally devoted to May 1 organized by the Communist Party, "anti-Semitic leaflets were openly distributed and unknown individuals raided the Ulyanovsk Jewish Community Center building on May 9," the document says. On May 10, the Jewish Community Center was attacked again by a group of people, who threw stones at its windows, the FJCR said in its statement. The Anti-Extremism Center of the Ulyanovsk region's Interior Affairs Department is currently investigating these incidents. The statement quotes Valery Rogatsky, deputy head of the Ulyanovsk Jewish Community, as saying that "these sad events are most likely organized, not spontaneous." The FJCR also said anti-Semitic attacks have happened in Ulyanovsk before (specifically, the Ulyanovsk Jewish Community Center and the synagogue were attacked two years ago). Over ten people acting on behalf of the Russian National Union took part in the attack. The attackers painted swastika on the walls of the building, threw Russian National Union newspapers at the synagogue, and shouted threats at Jewish people.


Interfax

Racist march due on day of music and rugby in Cardiff (Wales, UK)

Saturday 5th June is gearing up to be a busy day in Cardiff, with Wales hosting South Africa at the Millennium Stadium and the Stereophonics preparing to rock the Cardiff City Stadium.

Resources are bound to be stretched and many fans will be arriving by train to the city centre, and could be greeted by a march by the Welsh & English Defence League (WDL/EDL).

The group is due to be marching at lunchtime in the city centre and massing outside Cardiff Central Station. A rival march has been setup by campaign group Unite Against Fascism and will be marching through the city centre at the same time in opposition to the protest.

Unite Against Fascism are arranging a rival march and are calling on Cardiff City fans to support them. A leaflet from the group states: "Cardiff City fans have been linked with the WDL/EDL. Bluesbirds vs the Nazis has been set up to show that the majority of CCFC fans are opposed to racism and facism."

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS union, said: "The WDL/EDL hold their demos to intimidate and divide us. As a Cardiff City fan, I call on everyone to unite and protest against the WDL/EDL's attempts to whip up racism."

The Unite Against Facism protesters are due to meet at 11 AM at Roald Dahl Plas on Saturday 5th June 2010 and march through Butetown and the city centre, finishing at City Hall with a rally at 1 PM.

Islamophobia Watch

NY teen faces sentencing in hate crime stabbing (USA)

A Long Island teenager convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant could be ordered to spend more than two decades behind bars when he is sentenced on Wednesday.


Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Megan O'Donnell said she will ask for the maximum 25 years when Jeffrey Conroy is sentenced for his role in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero. The minimum sentence is eight years.

The killing shone a spotlight on race relations on Long Island and led to a U.S. Justice Department probe of bias attacks against Hispanics and the police response to such crimes.

Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the stabbing death but the only one to go to trial. Prosecutors contend Conroy was the one who inflicted the blow that killed Lucero during a midnight confrontation near the Patchogue train station. Lucero and a friend were walking to an acquaintance's home when they were attacked.

"I am just hoping for the best," Joselo Lucero, the victim's brother, said Tuesday after a court hearing where one of the other suspects pleaded guilty for his role in the killing. Christopher Overton, whom Conroy claimed on the witness stand was the actual killer, pleaded guilty to gang assault, conspiracy and attempted assault as a hate crime. He was the fifth defendant to enter a guilty plea.

Jose Lucero and his sister Isabel were expected to make victim's impact statements at the sentencing hearing before state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle. The victim's mother, Rosario Lucero, also was expected to attend the sentencing.

Jose Lucero said he did not intend to ask for the maximum sentence for Conroy. "Whatever the judge decides," he said. "I just want him to send the right message."

Conroy was acquitted of two counts of murder, including one count as a hate crime, but he was convicted of three counts of attempted assault in an attack on Lucero's friend, as well as two other Hispanic men before the stabbing.

The killing focused national attentionon Long Island's Suffolk County, which has seen an influx of immigrants from Central and South America in the past decade. In a September 2009 report, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented repeated attacks on Hispanics since 2000.

Conroy had made statements to police following his arrest that he was the one responsible for stabbing Lucero, but he testified in his own defense at trial that Overton had been the actual stabber. Conroy explained that Overton, whom he had just met that night, confided that he already had pleaded guilty to burglary in a case where a man was killed and could not afford further trouble with the police.

Jurors said after the trial that they did not believe Conroy's claims.

Lucero, 37, was walking with a friend when the teenagers confronted them. Prosecutors say the teens were walking around town looking for targets, began yelling ethnic slurs and approached the two men. One of the teens punched Lucero in the face. Lucero and his friend swung their belts in self-defense and began to chase the teens.

Prosecutors said Lucero hit Conroy in the head with the belt and that the teen lost his temper, opened the folding knife and lunged at Lucero's chest