The British National Party (BNP) is to hold its annual conference in South Derbyshire – a move which has dismayed opponents.
A letter from the party’s leader, Nick Griffin, to ‘fellow patriots’, says the event will be held from December 10 to 12 ‘at a first class venue’.
Today, critics condemned the announcement as unfortunate.
The event, unlike its predecessors, ‘is going to be a spectacular combination of political speeches, audio-visual displays, training, policy debates, stalls and entertainment, all within a four-star venue complete with restaurant, bar and a whole range of suitable accommodation to fit your needs’.
Mr Griffin, a Euro MP for the UK’s North West constituency, says the gathering, under the banner ‘Moving Forward Together’, will open at 3pm on the Friday before a black tie gala dinner with entertainment and an address by the leader himself.
The following day will involve political discussion groups, workshops, training seminars and formal meetings between BNP groups, including the Crusaders.
A carvery lunch will be followed by a rally featuring political speeches from senior officers, audio-visual presentations and departmental reports.
Saturday evening will see the ‘Christmas Grand Ball’, an event including a three-course meal, entertainment, music and refreshments.
The following day will start with a church service and be followed by a two-course lunch and a ‘finishing display’ involving a BNP Veterans’ Parade, leadership Question Time, audio-visual British history presentation and a ‘keynoteaddress’ from Mr Griffin.
Policy and constitutional amendment debates will be held during the weekend.
Geoff Dickens, the BNP’s East Midlands organiser, said the party had chosen South Derbyshire because it was ‘a central location’, but declined to name the venue ‘because it was usually threatened by the Left’.
Kevin Richards, the leader of the Labour opposition on South Derbyshire District Council, said: “It’s very unfortunate that they’ve chosen South Derbyshire because wherever they’ve been before in the county it’s always caused problems and attracted protests.”
Burton Mail
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Germany's neighbours from hell
It's hard to escape the menacing ideology that prevails in Jamel – a tiny hamlet of 10 crumbling red brick Prussian-era farm houses set among the remote fields and beech woods of east German Mecklenburg. "Braunau am Inn 855 kilometres" proclaims a home-made signpost at the village entrance pointing in the direction of Adolf Hitler's birthplace.
At a sandy crossroads between the houses, a huge stone carries the slogan: "Jamel Village Community: Free, Social and National" – the choice of adjectives is as close to the term "National Socialist" as one can legally get in a country where the swastika and Nazi slogans remain outlawed.
Jamel, a village of some 40 inhabitants a few kilometres inland from the Baltic port city of Wismar, is almost a pure neo-Nazi stronghold. Seven of its 10 houses are occupied by families whose members either belong to Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) or support the movement unequivocally.
Horst and Birgit Lohmeyer are the exception in Jamel. Six years ago, the couple moved from Hamburg to their secluded house on the edge of the village, hoping for a life of rural bliss. Their expectations were soon shattered. "A few months after we arrived, the far right started driving out the locals and buying up the houses en masse," said Mrs Lohmeyer. "They want to turn this place into a Nazi-only village."
The Lohmeyers are determined to resist. "You have to have strong nerves to live here," said Mr Lohmeyer. Every summer the couple organises an anti-Nazi rock festival in their large garden as a show of resistance against the rise of the far right in eastern Germany. But this summer the event was marred by a nasty incident caused by a gang of drunken neo-Nazis who attacked one of the festival-goers and broke his nose. "We are not going to give in to these people – why should we?" asks Mr Lohmeyer. Yet it is difficult to see how the far right's dominance of life in Jamel can be curbed.
Twenty years after Germany's reunification, the village has become a disturbing symbol of democracy's failure in eastern Germany, a region that prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 had known nothing but totalitarian rule for more than half a century. Two decades on, the neo-Nazi NPD has entered parliament in the east German states of Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.The party's political gains have been followed by new figures published last month which puts the number of deaths caused by right-wing violence since 1990 at 137 – three times the official estimate. There were 891 far right assaults in Germany last year.
Yet if anything, the current political climate in Germany appears to encourage the doctrine of the far right. The country's best-selling book, entitled Germany Writes Itself Off, is a xenophobic diatribe by a former German central bank member, Thilo Sarrazin, who is convinced that Muslim immigrants are either criminals or sponging off the welfare state.
Leading members of the country's ruling conservative party called last week for a ban on immigration by Turks and Arabs and only last Saturday, the Chancellor Amadeu Antonio Foundation told a meeting of young members of her party that Germany's attempt to create a multicultural society had "utterly failed". An opinion poll published last week found that more than a third of Germans thought their country was "overrun by foreigners". Every fifth person polled said they wanted to see a strong leader, or a Führer, in control of the country.
The unemployment-wracked state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern appears to be a breeding ground for such views. The state's regional government has become so concerned about neo-Nazi attempts to infiltrate kindergartens and other youth organisations that it has ordered teachers to sign a declaration pledging their commitment to democracy.
The man behind Jamel's transformation into a model neo-Nazi village is a local demolition contractor and NPD politician called Sven Krüger, who was elected a local councillor in the region of north-west Mecklenburg in 2009. Mr Krüger, who has a string of convictions, makes little secret of his political beliefs. His demolition company logo shows a sledgehammer shattering what appears to be a Star of David. Mr Krüger and his supporters usually celebrate Hitler's birthday and the summer solstice by holding a large party at which banned Nazi-era songs are sung. A neo-Nazi wedding held on his premises in the summer attracted more than 400 far right supporters. In August state prosecutors searched his premises and confiscated photographs of German Jewish community members that appeared to have been used as targets for shooting practice.
The NPD swept into the parliament in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2006 after mounting a virulently anti-foreigner campaign. With fresh elections in the states scheduled for next year, the established parties fear that the far right has got its feet so firmly wedged under the table that it has become a permanent fixture.
"The NPD may not be recruiting huge numbers of new supporters, but they have become an unwelcome political fact that we have to deal with," admits Ute Lindenau, the mayor of the eastern village of Lübtheen, where the far right has gained a major foothold. Mrs Lindenau's village is home to the state's NPD leader, 56-year-old Udo Pastörs. The west German jeweller moved to Lübtheen soon after reunification in 1990. He describes Adolf Hitler as a "phenomenon" and in an interview with The Independent earlier this year, said he was "disgusted by the rubbish I see in the immigrant quarters of Britain", adding: "We want to make sure we don't have a multi-cultural society like that in Germany."
The NPD, Mrs Lindenau says, has cleaned up its skinhead image – polite activists show up regularly at village festivals in the region. "Last month a whole gang of them appeared dressed in orange T-shirts – that's the same colour used by Merkel's conservatives," she said. "The locals had no idea that the leaflets they were handing out were from a far-right party."
In an attempt to counter the NPD's infiltration, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has enlisted the help of Berlin's anti-racist Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which runs training courses for teachers in the state and offers citizens advice. "Racism is an everyday issue around here. Nobody explained democracy to these people," said Anne-Rose Wergin, who runs one of the courses in the town of Ludwigslust. "For most people round here it's something that happens in far-away Berlin."
Rise of a racist party
* From its foundations in 1964, the NPD (whose name translates as National Democratic Party of Germany) has been associated with neo-Nazism, an image it has always rejected. But there is little doubt that it is on the extreme right, and many experts insist that it is a neo-Nazi grouping. Its tactics remain utterly racist: when Barack Obama won the presidency, for instance, it declared that Africa had taken over the White House.
Attempts to ban it have, nonetheless, never succeeded; the most concerted, from 2001-2003, failed after the court discovered that some of the party's inner circle were undercover government agents, and threw out the case.
Despite that victory, the NPD has failed to increase its share of the vote since, and holds no seats at a federal level. Efforts to gain greater popularity have not been helped by financial troubles, partly thanks to former treasurer Erwin Kemna, who was jailed for embezzling nearly $1m in party money in 2008. Even if it is a national failure, the NPD is still represented in two regional parliaments. Its strength in the east is undoubted.
The Independant
Wilders denounces English Defence League demo (Netherlands)
A scheduled demonstration in Amsterdam by the far right English Defence League in support of anti-Islam campaiger Geert Wilders should be cancelled if there is any threat of trouble, the MP says in Monday’s Telegraaf.
The EDL has applied to hold a demonstration in the city on October 30, as have a number of anti-racist organisations.
Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan and the police are currently discussing how to deal with the demonstrations because of fears they will deteriorate into violence.
‘This demonstration means nothing to me. It is nothing to do with me, nor is the EDL,’ Wilders said. ‘I only know the group from the newspapers and I have never had any contact with them.’
Dutch News
The EDL has applied to hold a demonstration in the city on October 30, as have a number of anti-racist organisations.
Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan and the police are currently discussing how to deal with the demonstrations because of fears they will deteriorate into violence.
‘This demonstration means nothing to me. It is nothing to do with me, nor is the EDL,’ Wilders said. ‘I only know the group from the newspapers and I have never had any contact with them.’
Dutch News
The German right moves to the centre
Germany's torrid debates over immigration, Islam and integration may not demonstrate the collapse of "multiculturalism," as Chancellor Angela Merkel declared on the weekend, so much as they are evidence of a frightening new surge in Neo-Nazi extremism.
Opinions once limited to Germany's extreme far-right are now spreading in mainstream politics, according to a survey released last week by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a left-of-centre think tank linked to Germany's opposition Social Democrats.
Thirteen per cent of Germans want a new "fuhrer" to lead the country, an attitudinal survey of 2,411 Germans shows.
At the same time, one third of Germans would like to send the country's seven million foreign workers home to protect German jobs and 17.2% agreed with the anti-Semitic statement, "Even today, Jews have too much influence."
The study, which focused on measuring the prevalence of six characteristic right-wing extremist views in German society, said it detected "a rise in decidedly anti-democratic and racist attitudes in 2010."
- 35.6% of Germans agreed with the statement, "Germany is in serious danger of being overrun by foreigners;"
- 53.7% said they could "fully understand why some people find Arabs unpleasant;"
- 58.4% said the practice of Islam should be restricted in Germany, even though the constitution guarantees freedom of religion;
- And 10.7% believe, "If it hadn't been for the Holocaust, Hitler would be viewed as a great statesman today."
The study, which mirrored a similar survey done in 2003, concluded that attitudes in favour of dictatorship, xenophobia and anti-Semitism are all on the increase in Germany.
The study says extremist attitudes no longer exist just on the fringes of German politics. They have crept into the political centre and are found "in all social groups and in all age groups, regardless of employment status, educational level or gender," the study said.
More than half the people who said the practice of Islam should be restricted in Germany, traditionally identify themselves as centrist or left wing.
"In the past the base for extreme-right views in Germany, though present, was more latent in nature. Now these views are being expressed more frequently," said Oliver Decker, a psychologist at the University of Leipzig, one of the authors of the report.
"The economic crisis seems to have allowed aggression to come to the surface. Among those looking for a valve, foreigners in general and Muslims in particular fill that role."
In Germany, as elsewhere in Europe, extremists appear to be benefitting from the failures of mainstream politicians in a time of economic gloom, unemployment and budget cuts.
Europe has a long history of turning towards extremists during times of economic hardship and the current crisis is no exception, with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim policies surfacing as a continent-wide backlash against ethnic minorities.
Extremists on the far-right have made recent electoral breakthroughs in the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, France and Italy.
France has banned the burka and launched a campaign to deport illegally settled gypsies (Roma), while the new government in the Netherlands relies on the support of the Dutch Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, who has called for banning the construction of new mosques in the Netherlands and urged taxing women who wear the burka.
In Austria, far-right leader, Heinz-Christian Strache's Freedom Party more than doubled its support, winning 27% of the vote in Vienna's recent local elections.
Last month in Sweden, the country with Europe's most liberal immigration policies, a party with neo-Nazi roots, the Sweden Democrats, entered parliament for the first time, winning 20 seats in September's parliamentary elections.
But it is in Germany, with its lingering legacy of horror and hate from the Second World War, that the loudest alarms should be sounding.
While Muslims appear to be the latest victims of German racism, older more vicious strains of xenophobia still persist. The survey found 14.9% of Germans agreed with the statement "There is something special about Jews, something peculiar, and they just don't really fit in with us."
When the survey asked if, "We should have a leader in Germany who leads with a forceful hand for the good of everyone," it deliberately used the word "fuhrer" to link the idea with Hitler.
That didn't deter the 13.2% who supported the statement outright or another 15.9% who agreed with some aspects of the idea.
National Post
Opinions once limited to Germany's extreme far-right are now spreading in mainstream politics, according to a survey released last week by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a left-of-centre think tank linked to Germany's opposition Social Democrats.
Thirteen per cent of Germans want a new "fuhrer" to lead the country, an attitudinal survey of 2,411 Germans shows.
At the same time, one third of Germans would like to send the country's seven million foreign workers home to protect German jobs and 17.2% agreed with the anti-Semitic statement, "Even today, Jews have too much influence."
The study, which focused on measuring the prevalence of six characteristic right-wing extremist views in German society, said it detected "a rise in decidedly anti-democratic and racist attitudes in 2010."
- 35.6% of Germans agreed with the statement, "Germany is in serious danger of being overrun by foreigners;"
- 53.7% said they could "fully understand why some people find Arabs unpleasant;"
- 58.4% said the practice of Islam should be restricted in Germany, even though the constitution guarantees freedom of religion;
- And 10.7% believe, "If it hadn't been for the Holocaust, Hitler would be viewed as a great statesman today."
The study, which mirrored a similar survey done in 2003, concluded that attitudes in favour of dictatorship, xenophobia and anti-Semitism are all on the increase in Germany.
The study says extremist attitudes no longer exist just on the fringes of German politics. They have crept into the political centre and are found "in all social groups and in all age groups, regardless of employment status, educational level or gender," the study said.
More than half the people who said the practice of Islam should be restricted in Germany, traditionally identify themselves as centrist or left wing.
"In the past the base for extreme-right views in Germany, though present, was more latent in nature. Now these views are being expressed more frequently," said Oliver Decker, a psychologist at the University of Leipzig, one of the authors of the report.
"The economic crisis seems to have allowed aggression to come to the surface. Among those looking for a valve, foreigners in general and Muslims in particular fill that role."
In Germany, as elsewhere in Europe, extremists appear to be benefitting from the failures of mainstream politicians in a time of economic gloom, unemployment and budget cuts.
Europe has a long history of turning towards extremists during times of economic hardship and the current crisis is no exception, with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim policies surfacing as a continent-wide backlash against ethnic minorities.
Extremists on the far-right have made recent electoral breakthroughs in the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, France and Italy.
France has banned the burka and launched a campaign to deport illegally settled gypsies (Roma), while the new government in the Netherlands relies on the support of the Dutch Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, who has called for banning the construction of new mosques in the Netherlands and urged taxing women who wear the burka.
In Austria, far-right leader, Heinz-Christian Strache's Freedom Party more than doubled its support, winning 27% of the vote in Vienna's recent local elections.
Last month in Sweden, the country with Europe's most liberal immigration policies, a party with neo-Nazi roots, the Sweden Democrats, entered parliament for the first time, winning 20 seats in September's parliamentary elections.
But it is in Germany, with its lingering legacy of horror and hate from the Second World War, that the loudest alarms should be sounding.
While Muslims appear to be the latest victims of German racism, older more vicious strains of xenophobia still persist. The survey found 14.9% of Germans agreed with the statement "There is something special about Jews, something peculiar, and they just don't really fit in with us."
When the survey asked if, "We should have a leader in Germany who leads with a forceful hand for the good of everyone," it deliberately used the word "fuhrer" to link the idea with Hitler.
That didn't deter the 13.2% who supported the statement outright or another 15.9% who agreed with some aspects of the idea.
National Post
Neo-Nazi running for office in Riverside County (USA)
Political newcomer Jeff Hall has run a discreet campaign trying to unseat an incumbent on an obscure Riverside County water board. He hasn't posted any signs, didn't show up to a candidates forum and lists no occupation on the November ballot.
But Hall is well-known as a white supremacist.
As California director of the National Socialist Movement — the nation's largest neo-Nazi group — Hall has helped lead demonstrations in Riverside and Los Angeles, where white supremacists waved swastika flags, chanted "white power" and gave stiff-armed Nazi salutes surrounded by hundreds of counterprotesters.
Hall's bid for a seat on the board of directors of the Western Municipal Water District has drawn outcry from community groups dismayed that a neo-Nazi who has held racist rallies at a day laborer center and a synagogue wants to administer their water — or at least gain publicity in the quest to do so.
"It looks like he's hoping to get a certain percentage of the vote as an anonymous anti-incumbent and then claim that some percentage of the electorate support the Nazis," said Kevin Akin, a member of Temple Beth El in Riverside, where Hall and other neo-Nazis have demonstrated. "He apparently intended to do nothing, just to be a stealth candidate."
Not so, said Hall, a 31-year-old plumber who in a phone interview Monday called for water conservation and affirmed his belief that all non-whites should be deported.
"I want a white nation," he said. "I don't hide what I am, and I don't water that down."
Hall has been campaigning by handing out business cards, he said, but turned down an invitation to a candidates forum because it was sponsored by the League of Women Voters and a Latino community group.
He is not the only known white supremacist running for office in Southern California this fall.
Dan Schruender, a member of the Aryan Nations, known for distributing racist fliers in Rialto, is seeking a seat on that city's school board.
Neo-Nazis have periodically sought a platform for their views by running for local office, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
"We see this from time to time. They push things like school boards — local elections that kind of slip under the radar," Levin said. "It gives them publicity, it gives them a foothold and it gives them an anchor to spew their bigoted opinions in other forums."
Hate group experts say Hall's bid for the water board is a reminder to be careful when deciding whom to vote for, because some candidates' beliefs lie well outside the norm.
The platform of the National Socialist Movement, for instance, advocates limiting citizenship to those of "pure White blood" and deporting people of color.
It is the largest such group in the nation and has been expanding its activity in California over the last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Even with its growth, it's still quite small, said Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research for the ADL.
"We're talking about a couple dozen people in the most populous state in the country," he said.
LA Times
Lincolnshire's hate crime victims get charity support (UK)
A charity has been set up in Lincolnshire to help people who have been victims of hate crime.
The new service, called Just Lincolnshire, hopes more people will report such incidents to the police.
In addition to plans to raise awareness, the charity also wants to carry out or commission research into equality and diversity issues.
BBC News
Leader of Russia's bid for World Cup 2018 aims swipe at England (UK)
• Russian suggests English football has racism problem
• Comments could fall foul of Fifa's bidding rules
Sorokin's comments were made in an interview with the Russian newspaper, Sport Express, and could contravene Fifa's rules which do not allow bid nations to criticise their rivals. He also accused the British media of running a campaign to besmirch Russia's reputation and suggested that English football has a problem dealing with racism.
"We do not enter into squabbles," he said. "It's no secret, for example, that London [has] the highest crime rate when compared with other European cities, and the highest level of alcohol consumption among young people."
Sorokin also took aim at the West Bromwich Albion forward, Peter Odemwingie. The former Lokomotiv Moscow player was the subject of a poster featuring a banana and the message "Thanks West Bromwich Albion" when he joined Roberto Di Matteo's side in the summer but Sorokin said he was merely using the incident for publicity.
He also insisted the burning of a US flag at Old Trafford, in a protest by Manchester United supporters against the club's American owners, the Glazers, on the same day as the Lokomotiv fans displayed the banana banner amounted to "inciting racial hatred".
"We were aware [of the flag burning] but did not focus on this," he said. "We could start a conversation about the lack of tolerance and inciting ethnic hatred by English fans but do not behave like the aunt in the kitchen criticising our neighbours. The [banana] banner was not racist. It was directed against a particular player who got very good money, lived very well here but for some reason did not seem to want to play well.
"Racism is a common problem, not just in Russia. All soccer countries have had this, including Britain. Naturally we must fight this and in the Russian Football Union we have a programme to combat all forms of racism."
When asked why Odemwingie had complained about the banner, Sorokin said: "Maybe he simply wants to become more popular. In any case I am sorry that this is happening."
Sorokin feels the British media placed such focus on the Odemwingie story to deflect attention away from the resignation of Lord Triesman as the chairman of England's bid.
"We realised that this would happen, just after the publication of the article about Lord Triesman," he added. "Because when the British – I mean the journalists rather than their bid – realised what they had done, they needed a way to divert attention away from this unpleasant story. And they did this by looking for negatives about a competitor."
The Guardian
• Comments could fall foul of Fifa's bidding rules
Sorokin's comments were made in an interview with the Russian newspaper, Sport Express, and could contravene Fifa's rules which do not allow bid nations to criticise their rivals. He also accused the British media of running a campaign to besmirch Russia's reputation and suggested that English football has a problem dealing with racism.
"We do not enter into squabbles," he said. "It's no secret, for example, that London [has] the highest crime rate when compared with other European cities, and the highest level of alcohol consumption among young people."
Sorokin also took aim at the West Bromwich Albion forward, Peter Odemwingie. The former Lokomotiv Moscow player was the subject of a poster featuring a banana and the message "Thanks West Bromwich Albion" when he joined Roberto Di Matteo's side in the summer but Sorokin said he was merely using the incident for publicity.
He also insisted the burning of a US flag at Old Trafford, in a protest by Manchester United supporters against the club's American owners, the Glazers, on the same day as the Lokomotiv fans displayed the banana banner amounted to "inciting racial hatred".
"We were aware [of the flag burning] but did not focus on this," he said. "We could start a conversation about the lack of tolerance and inciting ethnic hatred by English fans but do not behave like the aunt in the kitchen criticising our neighbours. The [banana] banner was not racist. It was directed against a particular player who got very good money, lived very well here but for some reason did not seem to want to play well.
"Racism is a common problem, not just in Russia. All soccer countries have had this, including Britain. Naturally we must fight this and in the Russian Football Union we have a programme to combat all forms of racism."
When asked why Odemwingie had complained about the banner, Sorokin said: "Maybe he simply wants to become more popular. In any case I am sorry that this is happening."
Sorokin feels the British media placed such focus on the Odemwingie story to deflect attention away from the resignation of Lord Triesman as the chairman of England's bid.
"We realised that this would happen, just after the publication of the article about Lord Triesman," he added. "Because when the British – I mean the journalists rather than their bid – realised what they had done, they needed a way to divert attention away from this unpleasant story. And they did this by looking for negatives about a competitor."
The Guardian
'Don't blame racism for your problems': Archbishop John Sentamu urges young black men to work hard for success (UK)
Dr John Sentamu warned that prisons, mental health units and young offender institutions held too many black people.
He told a new generation: ‘Your future success does not lie in guns, gangs and knives or in the worship of celebrities.’
Instead, they should ‘work hard’ and ‘stay focused’, he said.
The Ugandan-born Archbishop, second in the hierarchy of the Church of England, also criticised African nations for too readily trying to blame their former ‘colonial masters’ for their difficulties.
He pointed to African corruption and lack of democracy and warned that nations were squandering their opportunities.
Dr Sentamu has become a major figure in race relations in Britain over the past decade.
He was a highly influential member of Sir William Macpherson’s tribunal that reported into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1998 and condemned police for ‘institutional racism’. He also headed the inquiry into the killing of Damilola Taylor on a South London estate.
And he has regularly reminded police forces about the number of times that officers have stopped him and searched him.
Dr Sentamu, who marked Black History Month with his interview, added: ‘Today our prisons and mental health units are disproportionately full of men and women from minority ethnic backgrounds.
But he told young people that they should fight prejudice and bias by challenging injustice.
‘Work hard at your education, stay focused and don’t sit around waiting for success to be delivered to you on a plate, because it won’t be. Don’t blame someone else, for you have the energy, potential and creativity so use it for the good of humankind. Don’t waste it.
‘Your future success does not lie in guns, gangs and knives or in the worship of celebrities but in the pursuit of study and hard work and in valuing who you are under God.’
The Archbishop said African nations had to cope with trade tariffs loaded in favour of Western countries and multinational companies that plundered resources from failed states.
But he added: ‘We cannot lay all the blame of Africa’s ills at the feet of Europe and the colonial masters.’
‘The high number of African nations that have rewritten their constitutions in order to stay in power indefinitely is staggering.
‘This cannot be healthy for democracy nor for the nation’s poor.
‘Europe may have underdeveloped Africa but I believe we’ve had the opportunity since to shape our future and destiny and are in danger of squandering these opportunities.’
Daily Mail
Monday, 18 October 2010
BBC 'racism' is clear through sports coverage (UK)
On Tuesday, October 12, Northern Ireland played the Faroe Islands in a Euro 2012 qualifying match, with an early kick-off at 4pm.
The match finished 10 minutes prior to the start of the main national news on BBC1 at 6pm, but there was no mention of the match in the 30-minute bulletin.
If the match had involved England, instead of Northern Ireland, would the match have got a mention on the national news?
Then the next day, Northern Ireland won eight medals (three gold, two silver, and three bronze) at the Commonwealth Games, but it did not merit a mention in the main national news which started at 6pm on BBC1.
If it had been England's best-ever day at a Commonwealth Games, would it have got a mention on the national news?
These are just two examples of the institutional racism that exists at the BBC. What is the BBC going to do about it?
Belfast Telegraph
The match finished 10 minutes prior to the start of the main national news on BBC1 at 6pm, but there was no mention of the match in the 30-minute bulletin.
If the match had involved England, instead of Northern Ireland, would the match have got a mention on the national news?
Then the next day, Northern Ireland won eight medals (three gold, two silver, and three bronze) at the Commonwealth Games, but it did not merit a mention in the main national news which started at 6pm on BBC1.
If it had been England's best-ever day at a Commonwealth Games, would it have got a mention on the national news?
These are just two examples of the institutional racism that exists at the BBC. What is the BBC going to do about it?
Belfast Telegraph
Glentoran fan is target for BNP (Northern Ireland)
A Glentoran fan who stood up to the BNP is now being targeted by the far-right party.
Graeme Moore — treasurer of Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters’ Club — said last week that Glentoran fans did not want to be associated with the BNP after members canvassed for support outside the Oval last weekend.
Now senior members of Nick Griffin’s BNP have launched an online campaign urging their followers to contact Graeme.
The BNP’s new Northern Ireland organiser Steve Moore from Larne posted a photo of Graeme on his Facebook page.
Above the picture he’s written: “This is Graeme Moore, the guy who thinks he represents the views of all Glentoran supporters about the BNP presence at the Oval.
“Perhaps you would like to make your views felt to him!”
Steve Moore also included a link to Graeme’s Facebook page so BNP supporters can contact him.
Another BNP follower, Jim White, has posted the number of Glentoran Supporters’ Club on Steve Moore’s Facebook profile.
Last week Sunday Life revealed how Steve Moore masterminded a BNP leaflet drop in his home town of Larne.
Graeme did not want to talk about how he felt about being targeted — and would only comment: “I’m disappointed at this latest development.”
After BNP supporters turned up at the Oval last week Graeme told a reporter: “I noticed the BNP presence and I have to say that I was a little puzzled. In the run up to elections we sometimes get mainstream parties outside the ground but this was very unusual.
“I wasn’t interested in what they were doing so I didn't go any closer to see what exactly they were doing.
“They were outside the ground so there is nothing the club can do but it’s not something the supporters want to have to see.”
A small group of BNP supporters gathered outside the Glentoran versus Glenavon football game with placards demanding the withdrawal of British soldiers from the Middle East as well as handing out flyers and a petition.
East Belfast DUP MLA Robin Newton described the presence of the BNP at the football game as uninvited and unwelcome.
Belfast Telegraph
Graeme Moore — treasurer of Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters’ Club — said last week that Glentoran fans did not want to be associated with the BNP after members canvassed for support outside the Oval last weekend.
Now senior members of Nick Griffin’s BNP have launched an online campaign urging their followers to contact Graeme.
The BNP’s new Northern Ireland organiser Steve Moore from Larne posted a photo of Graeme on his Facebook page.
Above the picture he’s written: “This is Graeme Moore, the guy who thinks he represents the views of all Glentoran supporters about the BNP presence at the Oval.
“Perhaps you would like to make your views felt to him!”
Steve Moore also included a link to Graeme’s Facebook page so BNP supporters can contact him.
Another BNP follower, Jim White, has posted the number of Glentoran Supporters’ Club on Steve Moore’s Facebook profile.
Last week Sunday Life revealed how Steve Moore masterminded a BNP leaflet drop in his home town of Larne.
Graeme did not want to talk about how he felt about being targeted — and would only comment: “I’m disappointed at this latest development.”
After BNP supporters turned up at the Oval last week Graeme told a reporter: “I noticed the BNP presence and I have to say that I was a little puzzled. In the run up to elections we sometimes get mainstream parties outside the ground but this was very unusual.
“I wasn’t interested in what they were doing so I didn't go any closer to see what exactly they were doing.
“They were outside the ground so there is nothing the club can do but it’s not something the supporters want to have to see.”
A small group of BNP supporters gathered outside the Glentoran versus Glenavon football game with placards demanding the withdrawal of British soldiers from the Middle East as well as handing out flyers and a petition.
East Belfast DUP MLA Robin Newton described the presence of the BNP at the football game as uninvited and unwelcome.
Belfast Telegraph
'Racist' UK policies blamed for deaths of 77 asylum seekers and migrants
Racist asylum and immigration policies in the UK have led to the deaths of 77 asylum seekers and migrants over the past four years, according to a report for the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).
More than a third (28) of the deaths reported by the IRR are people suspected or known to have taken their own lives after their asylum claims had been turned down. Seven are said to have died after being denied health care for "preventable medical problems", seven are said to have died in prison custody, and 15 are said to have died during desperate and "highly risky" attempts to enter the country.
The report, which chronicles the often invisible lives and deaths of asylum seekers as they struggle to gain status in Britain, comes less than a week after the death of Jimmy Mubenga, 46, who died while being deported to Angola, and includes his death.
Witnesses have told the Guardian that the father of five collapsed after being restrained by security guards and complaining of breathing problems.
Not all the deaths in the report, which the IRR said was likely to be an underestimate, could be independently verified, although some have been extensively reported.
The IRR said the 77 deaths, most of which happened in the UK, were a consequence of "direct racism or indirect racism stemming from" asylum and immigration policies.
Among the seven that the IRR claims died in prison custody are Abdullah Hagar Idris, 18, a Sudanese asylum seeker found hanged in his cell on Christmas Day 2007, after being told wrongly he was to be deported, and Aleksey Baranovsky, 33, a Ukrainian national on suicide watch who bled to death in a cell at Rye Hill, Warwickshire in June 2006.
In June, an inquest jury said failings by the Prison Service and Essex social services contributed to Idris's death and criticised the way the prison gave him news of his deportation. Last year, a coroner condemned the "appalling and unacceptable conditions" and treatment at the GSL-run prison where Baranovsky died.
Baranovsky, who feared he would be killed by the Russian mafia if sent home, repeatedly harmed himself in protest against his pending deportation after serving a seven-year sentence for burglary.
The report, Driven to Desperate Measures, published today says the number of deaths of asylum seekers in the community has increased and now averages one a month.
However, it also says that, due to the difficulty of obtaining figures, this is likely to be an underestimate.
Over the four-year period, it recorded one death as having taken place during deportation – that of Mubenga, who died last week as he was being deported to Luanda, escorted by three guards from G4S, a private security company.
Those said by IRR to have died as a result of being denied access to medical treatment include Ama Sumani, a Ghanaian woman who died in March 2008, following deportation from Britain while undergoing treatment for terminal cancer.
Her deportation was described as "atrocious barbarism" by the Lancet medical journal.
It also lists Mohammed Ahmedi, 18, an asylum seeker with a heart condition who died as doctors tried to establish whether he was entitled to treatment on the NHS. Gloucester Royal hospital, where Ahmedi died in February 2008 after being treated there, has said treatment was not withheld.
The 77 deaths include seven who died on the streets in attacks "at the hands of racists", four after deportation back to a country where they feared for their safety, two as a result of becoming "destitute and unable to access services", and four as a result of often dangerous work in the "black economy", the report said.
It said that "hundreds if not thousands" of people had perished making desperate journeys to the UK, as stowaways on planes, lorries and ships.
Harmit Athwal, a researcher at IRR and the report's author, said: "Racism percolates right through the immigration-asylum system – from forcing people to risk life and limb to enter, forcing them to live destitute on the street, prey to violent racist attack. That 28 people died at their own hand, preferring this to being returned, when their asylum application failed, to the country they fled, is a terrible indictment of British justice.
"Asylum seekers are demonised by the mass media as illegals and scroungers and to appease popular racism, governments across Europe, in addition to making access to refugee status much more difficult, have decided to accelerate the deportation of the many who have 'failed'.
"Such forced deportations of those terrified of being returned to the countries they have fled – often areas in which we are involved and at war – will inevitably lead to more deaths."
The fate of Osman Rasul
Last July, Osman Rasul perched himself on railings at the top of a seven-storey tower block in Nottingham, and, ignoring efforts of police officers to talk him down, placed his hand on his heart, looked up to the sky, and jumped to his death.
Rasul was an Iraqi Kurd aged 27, who had been classified by the local refugee centre as a "destitute asylum seeker", having lost the legal aid to pursue his application to remain in the UK after the charity helping him, Refugee and Migrant Justice, went into administration. His relationship with the mother of his two children had broken down.
He arrived in 2001 claiming he was in danger from the political factions running northern Iraq. After being refused permission to stay, he was preparing a fresh claim. He was not allowed to work, and got food parcels and £10 a month from the Nottingham Refugee Forum.
On a trip to Croydon to confront Home Office immigration officers, he was turned away and told to find a solicitor. It was the last straw, said his friends, who described him as a "warm, kind, respectful man". One, Corin Faife, spoke of an "unbearable strain" Rasul had felt.
Writing in an online magazine, Ceasefire, Faife said: "Living with Osman I saw first hand the spirit-crushing inhumanity of the British asylum system, and how unremittingly bleak life can be for those who are left in limbo. Prohibited from working, with no access to housing or financial support after his first claim was rejected, and still awaiting further documents to make a fresh claim, he was left destitute, forced to rely on the charity of others to his continual chagrin."
His friend's mental health, which had shown signs of fragility, started to decline before his trip to London, at which point, "the light at the end of the tunnel, which had kept him going for so long, flickered out".
A website was set up to raise money to repatriate Rasul's body and to promote awareness of the "struggles which he and so many others like him face". His body was sent to his family in Iraq and a funeral held on 6 August.
The Guardian
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Eto'o silences racist chants to send Inter joint top (Italy)
Samuel Eto'o rammed the racist chants of his detractors back down their throats as he scored the only goal in Inter Milan's 1-0 victory at Cagliari that sent them joint top of Serie A on Sunday.
The match in Sardinia was briefly held up after just three minutes as Eto'o suffered racist taunts from the home side's 'ultra' fans.
Following a stadium announcement reminding those fans that the game could be abandoned if they continued, the match resumed with Eto'o proving the hero.
He even brushed off the chants by mimicking a monkey after scoring.
Eto'o now has 12 goals in 11 games this season but coach Rafael Benitez insists his team is not over-reliant on the hitman ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash against Tottenham.
"He's in great form and that's a good thing for us but we can score in a variety of different ways," said the Spaniard.
"Obviously the better you play, the easier it is to win but it's important to win to give us confidence.
"We made one or two mistakes and (Cagliari) could have been dangerous.
"Now we'll think about Tottenham. It will be tough, they have speed and ability. We'll have to play a great match."
Inter are now level on points and goal difference with city rivals AC Milan, who beat Chievo 3-1 on Saturday, but trail them on goals scored.
However, Lazio can reclaim the summit if they win away to Bari in Sunday's late match.
Cagliari had the first clear chance when Belgium international Radja Nainggolan teed up Andrea Cossu, whose precise finish flashed wide.
Inter's Brazilian full-back Maicon tried his luck from distance but also missed the far post.
Philippe Coutinho then cut in from the left and played a one-two with Eto'o before shooting too close to goalkeeper Michael Agazzi.
When the Inter breakthrough came it was thanks to Eto'o's brilliance on 39 minutes.
Alessandro Agostini failed to clear his lines properly and the ball spun into the air off Wesley Sneijder.
Eto'o plucked the ball out of the air with a piece of sublime control using his right foot, then shifted onto his left, leaving Davide Astori bamboozled, and finished crisply inside the post.
To celebrate, the Cameroon forward mocked those who had abused him by imitating a monkey.
Cagliari had a double chance to hit back five minutes after the restart but Nene took an age to shoot and when he did Julio Cesar parried, jumping up to then push Alessandro Matri's follow-up around the post.
At the other end, Agazzi dived to his left to tip over a curling Eto'o effort.
Inter had a let-off 14 minutes from time when Robert Acquafresca's cross deflected off Cristian Chivu and came back off the bar, with Daniele Conti able only to prod the rebound into Julio Cesar's grateful arms.
Conti had another chance to snatch a share of the spoils but when teed up by Cossu, he volleyed high over the bar.
Juventus and Palermo both moved to three points from the summit after knocking in four goals each.
Alberto Aquilani, a Felipe Melo penalty, Fabio Quagliarella and Alessandro Del Piero scored in Juve's 4-0 defeat of Lecce sending them fifth.
Javier Pastore, Mauricio Pinilla and Slovenian pair Josip Ilicic and Armin Bacinovic netted for the Sicilians in their 4-1 success against Bologna to go sixth.
Fourth-placed Napoli missed the chance to join the Milan neighbours at the top as they drew 1-1 at Catania while Fiorentina went bottom following their 2-1 reverse at Sampdoria.
Alexandre Pato scored a brace and Robinho notched his first goal for Milan in their win on Saturday, while Roma earned only their second success of the season as Marco Borriello netted in their 2-1 win over his former club Genoa.
Google Hosted News
The match in Sardinia was briefly held up after just three minutes as Eto'o suffered racist taunts from the home side's 'ultra' fans.
Following a stadium announcement reminding those fans that the game could be abandoned if they continued, the match resumed with Eto'o proving the hero.
He even brushed off the chants by mimicking a monkey after scoring.
Eto'o now has 12 goals in 11 games this season but coach Rafael Benitez insists his team is not over-reliant on the hitman ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash against Tottenham.
"He's in great form and that's a good thing for us but we can score in a variety of different ways," said the Spaniard.
"Obviously the better you play, the easier it is to win but it's important to win to give us confidence.
"We made one or two mistakes and (Cagliari) could have been dangerous.
"Now we'll think about Tottenham. It will be tough, they have speed and ability. We'll have to play a great match."
However, Lazio can reclaim the summit if they win away to Bari in Sunday's late match.
Cagliari had the first clear chance when Belgium international Radja Nainggolan teed up Andrea Cossu, whose precise finish flashed wide.
Inter's Brazilian full-back Maicon tried his luck from distance but also missed the far post.
Philippe Coutinho then cut in from the left and played a one-two with Eto'o before shooting too close to goalkeeper Michael Agazzi.
When the Inter breakthrough came it was thanks to Eto'o's brilliance on 39 minutes.
Alessandro Agostini failed to clear his lines properly and the ball spun into the air off Wesley Sneijder.
Eto'o plucked the ball out of the air with a piece of sublime control using his right foot, then shifted onto his left, leaving Davide Astori bamboozled, and finished crisply inside the post.
To celebrate, the Cameroon forward mocked those who had abused him by imitating a monkey.
Cagliari had a double chance to hit back five minutes after the restart but Nene took an age to shoot and when he did Julio Cesar parried, jumping up to then push Alessandro Matri's follow-up around the post.
At the other end, Agazzi dived to his left to tip over a curling Eto'o effort.
Inter had a let-off 14 minutes from time when Robert Acquafresca's cross deflected off Cristian Chivu and came back off the bar, with Daniele Conti able only to prod the rebound into Julio Cesar's grateful arms.
Conti had another chance to snatch a share of the spoils but when teed up by Cossu, he volleyed high over the bar.
Juventus and Palermo both moved to three points from the summit after knocking in four goals each.
Alberto Aquilani, a Felipe Melo penalty, Fabio Quagliarella and Alessandro Del Piero scored in Juve's 4-0 defeat of Lecce sending them fifth.
Javier Pastore, Mauricio Pinilla and Slovenian pair Josip Ilicic and Armin Bacinovic netted for the Sicilians in their 4-1 success against Bologna to go sixth.
Fourth-placed Napoli missed the chance to join the Milan neighbours at the top as they drew 1-1 at Catania while Fiorentina went bottom following their 2-1 reverse at Sampdoria.
Alexandre Pato scored a brace and Robinho notched his first goal for Milan in their win on Saturday, while Roma earned only their second success of the season as Marco Borriello netted in their 2-1 win over his former club Genoa.
Google Hosted News
FAR-RIGHT MOVEMENT OFFICIAL ARRESTED (Serbia)
Milovanoviæ was arrested under suspicion of participating in violence during gay Pride Parade on October 10, police announced. The suspect is charged with violent behavior at a public gathering. Police also searched Milovanoviæ’s book publishing company Narodno delo and found large amounts of stickers and posters saying “We are waiting for you” and “No parading”. Criminal charges were filed and a Higher Court in Belgrade judge remanded the suspect in custody for 30 days. Obraz President Mladen Obradoviæ was arrested on October 10.
B92
BLACK PEOPLE ARE 26 TIMES MORE LIKELY THAN WHITES TO FACE STOP AND SEARCH (uk)
Analysis of government data shows shocking discrepancy in stop and search figures for England and Wales
Black people are 26 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police in England and Wales, the most glaring example of "racial profiling" researchers have seen, according to an international report. The analysis of government data has brought claims of discrimination from campaigners who say the findings corroborate concerns that black and Asian Britons are being unfairly targeted. The US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who arrives in London today to launch a campaign aimed at curbing what he says is stop-and-search discrimination, described the figures as "astonishing". The figures relate to stop-and-searches under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which was introduced to deal with football hooligans and the threat of serious violence. It allows police to search anyone in a designated area without specific grounds for suspicion. Analysis by the London School of Economics and the Open Society Justice Initiative found that there are 41.6 Section 60 searches for every 1,000 black people, compared with 1.6 for every 1,000 white people – making black people 26.6 times more likely to be stopped and searched. Asians were 6.3 times more likely to be stopped than whites, according to the analysis of Ministry of Justice figures for 2008-09.
The data reveal a marked escalation in relative searches of ethnic minorities in England and Wales. In the previous year blacks were 10.7 times more likely to be stopped than whites, and Asians 2.2 times more likely. Ben Bowling, professor of criminal justice at King's College London, said: "The police are making greater use of a power that was only ever meant to be used in exceptional circumstances and lacks effective safeguards. This leaves room for increased stereotyping which is likely to alienate those communities which are most affected". His concerns are exacerbated by new draft Home Office guidance which will allow police to stop and search on the basis of ethnic origin under Section 60, a development which critics say raises the prospect of a return to the contentious "sus" laws of the 1980s. Tomorrow a new campaign group called Stopwatch will ask the government to abandon the use of stop-and-search powers that do not require reasonable suspicion, such as Section 60 powers. Researchers at the Open Society Justice Initiative, part of the Open Society Foundation supported by billionaire financier George Soros, said the British figures provided the widest "race gap" in stop-and-search that they had found internationally. The previous highest use of stop-and-search powers against ethnic groups was on the Moscow Metro, where non-Slavs are 21.8 times more likely to be stopped by Russian police than Slavs. A study on the Paris Metro found passengers of Arab appearance were more than seven times more likely to be stopped. The practice has caused disquiet in New York where blacks and Hispanics are nine times more likely to be stopped than white New Yorkers.
Dr Rebekah Delsol of the Open Society Justice Initiative said that even factoring in slight differences in methodology and data gathering, the international comparison revealed "staggeringly high" levels of what she claimed was racial profiling among British police using Section 60. Dr Michael Shiner, of the Mannheim Centre for Criminology at LSE, said additional safeguards are necessary and the government should provide explicit guidance so that everyone is clear where action is needed. "What is interesting is the rapidness of the change," he said. "Year-on-year you would ordinarily not see much of a difference, but this is a staggering increase of disproportionality at a time when there is a massive increase in the use of Section 60." Shiner and Bowling said the use of the stop-and-search power would increase tension and damage confidence in the police. Use of Section 60 has risen more than 300% between 2005 and last year amid concerns among campaigners that it is being abused as a "catch-all" power in response to low-level disorder. In 1997/98 there were 7,970 stop-and-searches, increasing to 53,250 in 2007/08 and 149,955 in 2008/09. Between 2005/06 and 2008/09 the LSE found the number of Section 60 searches of black people rose by more than 650%.
In July, home secretary Theresa May announced that police use of Section 44 counter-terrorism stop-and-search powers, which allowed officers to act without reasonable suspicion, was to be curtailed immediately following a decision from the European Court of Human Rights. However, campaigners say that Section 60 should also be repealed. Other stop-and-search powers, Section One of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, require officers to have reasonable suspicion for a stop search. Under Section One, black people are seven times more likely to be stopped than white people. The figures coincide with plans to weaken the way stop-and-searches are recorded by police forces. Draft Home Office documents, seen by the Observer, reveal that future recording will be so heavily weakened that repeat stops of the same person will no longer be recorded. They also open the way for officers to search someone under Section 60 on the basis of ethnicity. Although Home Office guidance states care must be taken not to discriminate against ethnic minority groups, it says there are times when officers should "take account of an individual's ethnic origin in selecting persons and vehicles to be stopped". Delsol added: "The revisions still open the way for ethnic profiling and the stopping of large numbers of innocent people from ethnic minority backgrounds just because they happen to be in an area defined for a Section 60 search zone." A spokesman for the Home Office said that under their new proposals ethnicity could not be used as the sole basis for stopping anyone under Section 60, with the new guidance "intended to protect civil liberties".
The 'suspect'
Leemore Marrett Jr was walking to his tap-dancing lesson when he noticed the police watching him. "I was wearing smart trousers and a white shirt because I was going to the theatre in the evening and these police officers were looking at me. "The next moment they all jumped out of their vehicle, about six or seven of them. They were hurling abuse at me: "What are you looking at? What are you looking at?" I was in shock at their behaviour. I asked them about section 61, introduced after Stephen Lawrence, which means they have to say why they are stopping me. "They just said, 'Get in the van'. I didn't swear, I didn't struggle, they dragged me down to the police station, where I was held for two hours until my tutor got me out." That was Marrett's first experience of stop-and-search, six years ago in Plumstead, south London, when he was 18 and studying at a performing arts school. There have been many more instances since. In the past two months he has been stopped four times by officers while driving his Volkswagen Golf. He says his black friends are routinely stopped, but his white friends never are. Marrett warns of a generation of black people that distrusts the police. "Being stopped has a negative impact, especially when you are innocent and going about your business. "Often they don't even give you a reason. It only takes one bad experience for everyone to start keeping their distance from the police," says Marrett, who works at the Second Wave youth arts organisation in Deptford, east London, and meets many teenagers who have been affected by stop-and-search. "I thought sus [controversial police powers once used to routinely stop black men] was eradicated in the Eighties. Evidently not."
The Guardian
Black people are 26 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police in England and Wales, the most glaring example of "racial profiling" researchers have seen, according to an international report. The analysis of government data has brought claims of discrimination from campaigners who say the findings corroborate concerns that black and Asian Britons are being unfairly targeted. The US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who arrives in London today to launch a campaign aimed at curbing what he says is stop-and-search discrimination, described the figures as "astonishing". The figures relate to stop-and-searches under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which was introduced to deal with football hooligans and the threat of serious violence. It allows police to search anyone in a designated area without specific grounds for suspicion. Analysis by the London School of Economics and the Open Society Justice Initiative found that there are 41.6 Section 60 searches for every 1,000 black people, compared with 1.6 for every 1,000 white people – making black people 26.6 times more likely to be stopped and searched. Asians were 6.3 times more likely to be stopped than whites, according to the analysis of Ministry of Justice figures for 2008-09.
The data reveal a marked escalation in relative searches of ethnic minorities in England and Wales. In the previous year blacks were 10.7 times more likely to be stopped than whites, and Asians 2.2 times more likely. Ben Bowling, professor of criminal justice at King's College London, said: "The police are making greater use of a power that was only ever meant to be used in exceptional circumstances and lacks effective safeguards. This leaves room for increased stereotyping which is likely to alienate those communities which are most affected". His concerns are exacerbated by new draft Home Office guidance which will allow police to stop and search on the basis of ethnic origin under Section 60, a development which critics say raises the prospect of a return to the contentious "sus" laws of the 1980s. Tomorrow a new campaign group called Stopwatch will ask the government to abandon the use of stop-and-search powers that do not require reasonable suspicion, such as Section 60 powers. Researchers at the Open Society Justice Initiative, part of the Open Society Foundation supported by billionaire financier George Soros, said the British figures provided the widest "race gap" in stop-and-search that they had found internationally. The previous highest use of stop-and-search powers against ethnic groups was on the Moscow Metro, where non-Slavs are 21.8 times more likely to be stopped by Russian police than Slavs. A study on the Paris Metro found passengers of Arab appearance were more than seven times more likely to be stopped. The practice has caused disquiet in New York where blacks and Hispanics are nine times more likely to be stopped than white New Yorkers.
Dr Rebekah Delsol of the Open Society Justice Initiative said that even factoring in slight differences in methodology and data gathering, the international comparison revealed "staggeringly high" levels of what she claimed was racial profiling among British police using Section 60. Dr Michael Shiner, of the Mannheim Centre for Criminology at LSE, said additional safeguards are necessary and the government should provide explicit guidance so that everyone is clear where action is needed. "What is interesting is the rapidness of the change," he said. "Year-on-year you would ordinarily not see much of a difference, but this is a staggering increase of disproportionality at a time when there is a massive increase in the use of Section 60." Shiner and Bowling said the use of the stop-and-search power would increase tension and damage confidence in the police. Use of Section 60 has risen more than 300% between 2005 and last year amid concerns among campaigners that it is being abused as a "catch-all" power in response to low-level disorder. In 1997/98 there were 7,970 stop-and-searches, increasing to 53,250 in 2007/08 and 149,955 in 2008/09. Between 2005/06 and 2008/09 the LSE found the number of Section 60 searches of black people rose by more than 650%.
In July, home secretary Theresa May announced that police use of Section 44 counter-terrorism stop-and-search powers, which allowed officers to act without reasonable suspicion, was to be curtailed immediately following a decision from the European Court of Human Rights. However, campaigners say that Section 60 should also be repealed. Other stop-and-search powers, Section One of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, require officers to have reasonable suspicion for a stop search. Under Section One, black people are seven times more likely to be stopped than white people. The figures coincide with plans to weaken the way stop-and-searches are recorded by police forces. Draft Home Office documents, seen by the Observer, reveal that future recording will be so heavily weakened that repeat stops of the same person will no longer be recorded. They also open the way for officers to search someone under Section 60 on the basis of ethnicity. Although Home Office guidance states care must be taken not to discriminate against ethnic minority groups, it says there are times when officers should "take account of an individual's ethnic origin in selecting persons and vehicles to be stopped". Delsol added: "The revisions still open the way for ethnic profiling and the stopping of large numbers of innocent people from ethnic minority backgrounds just because they happen to be in an area defined for a Section 60 search zone." A spokesman for the Home Office said that under their new proposals ethnicity could not be used as the sole basis for stopping anyone under Section 60, with the new guidance "intended to protect civil liberties".
The 'suspect'
Leemore Marrett Jr was walking to his tap-dancing lesson when he noticed the police watching him. "I was wearing smart trousers and a white shirt because I was going to the theatre in the evening and these police officers were looking at me. "The next moment they all jumped out of their vehicle, about six or seven of them. They were hurling abuse at me: "What are you looking at? What are you looking at?" I was in shock at their behaviour. I asked them about section 61, introduced after Stephen Lawrence, which means they have to say why they are stopping me. "They just said, 'Get in the van'. I didn't swear, I didn't struggle, they dragged me down to the police station, where I was held for two hours until my tutor got me out." That was Marrett's first experience of stop-and-search, six years ago in Plumstead, south London, when he was 18 and studying at a performing arts school. There have been many more instances since. In the past two months he has been stopped four times by officers while driving his Volkswagen Golf. He says his black friends are routinely stopped, but his white friends never are. Marrett warns of a generation of black people that distrusts the police. "Being stopped has a negative impact, especially when you are innocent and going about your business. "Often they don't even give you a reason. It only takes one bad experience for everyone to start keeping their distance from the police," says Marrett, who works at the Second Wave youth arts organisation in Deptford, east London, and meets many teenagers who have been affected by stop-and-search. "I thought sus [controversial police powers once used to routinely stop black men] was eradicated in the Eighties. Evidently not."
The Guardian
Merkel says German multiculturalism has failed
Speaking to a meeting of young members of her Christian Democrats (CDU), Merkel said allowing people of different cultural backgrounds to live side by side without integrating had not worked in a country that is home to some four million Muslims.
"This (multicultural) approach has failed, utterly failed," Merkel told the meeting in Potsdam, south of Berlin.
Merkel faces pressure from within her CDU to take a tougher line on immigrants who don't show a willingness to adapt to German society and her comments appeared intended to pacify her critics.
She said too little had been required of immigrants in the past and repeated her usual line that they should learn German in order to get by in school and have opportunities on the labor market.
The debate over foreigners in Germany has shifted since former central banker Thilo Sarrazin published a book accusing Muslim immigrants of lowering the intelligence of German society.
Sarrazin was censured for his views and dismissed from the Bundesbank, but his book proved highly popular and polls showed a majority of Germans agreed with the thrust of his arguments.
Merkel has tried to accommodate both sides of the debate, talking tough on integration but also telling Germans that they must accept that mosques have become part of their landscape.
She said on Saturday that the education of unemployed Germans should take priority over recruiting workers from abroad, while noting Germany could not get by without skilled foreign workers.
In a weekend newspaper interivew, her Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) raised the possibility of lowering barriers to entry for some foreign workers in order to fight the lack of skilled workers in Europe's largest economy.
"For a few years, more people have been leaving our country than entering it," she told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. "Wherever it is possible, we must lower the entry hurdles for those who bring the country forward."
The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) says Germany lacks about 400,000 skilled workers.
Yet Horst Seehofer, chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's sister party, has rejected any relaxation of immigration laws and said last week there was no room in Germany for more people from "alien cultures."
Reuters
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Wilders Dutch hate speech case 'should be dropped' (Netherlands)
Dutch prosecutors have recommended acquitting leading anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders on all five charges of hate speech.
The trial will continue next week and judges may still disagree with the prosecution and convict Mr Wilders.
Prosecutors were obliged to look at the case again after an appeals court decision last year.
The trial of Mr Wilders, who compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf, has gripped the Netherlands.
His Freedom Party's support is crucial to the country's new coalition government.
'Sowing hatred'
Prosecutors had initially declined to press charges against Mr Wilders in June 2008.
But they were ordered to do so in January 2009 by the appeals court, which ruled that there was significant evidence that the politician had sought to "sow hatred".
Prosecutors Birgit van Roessel and Paul Velleman reached their conclusions on Friday after studying interviews with, and articles by, Mr Wilders as well as his anti-Koran film Fitna.
"Criticism [of religion] is allowed," Ms van Roessel told the Amsterdam district court.
"It would be hurtful to many Muslims when Wilders calls for a ban on the Koran but the feelings of this group can play no role in determining the facts of the case."
Mr Velleman told the court that most of the politician's remarks seemed to have targeted Islam as an ideology rather than singling out Muslims for abuse.
Mr Wilders is accused of inciting hatred against Muslims and inciting hatred against Moroccans specifically as well as non-Western immigrants.
Since receiving death threats, Mr Wilders enjoys 24-hour state protection.
A week ago, a centre-right coalition was formed in the Netherlands between the Liberal and Christian Democrat parties, to rule as a minority government dependent on the support of the Freedom Party in parliament.
While the party of Mr Wilders will remain outside government, the new coalition says it plans to ban the full Islamic veil in the Netherlands.
BBC News
The new anti-Semitism (Germany)
Pedants never tire of pointing out that the term anti-Semitism should not solely apply to prejudice against Jews, but also other Semitic peoples like the Arabs.
For once, I’m for backing such Semitic semantics in light of the increasingly acrid debate about the integration of Arab and Turkish immigrants in Germany. In recent weeks, it’s become rather apparent that bigotry towards Muslims is Europe’s new anti-Semitism.
Last weekend, Horst Seehofer, the conservative state premier of Bavaria, sparked outrage by calling for an end to immigration from Islamic countries. Many German observers chalked up his comments as a ham-fisted attempt to bolster support for his Christian Social Union party by pandering to crass xenophobia.
But Seehofer’s remarks followed several of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives expressing unease over German President Christian Wulff’s recent statement that Islam was as much a part of German society as Christianity and Judaism. One Bavarian politician even said there could be no religious equality for Islam in Germany.
Of course, anyone who thinks Muslim influence on European culture was rolled back with the Turks at the gates of Vienna in 1683 should try living without the benefits of algebra for a day.
But the contentious national discussion started over the summer by the centre-left Social Democrat Thilo Sarrazin – who claimed in an inflammatory book that Muslim immigrants would be Germany’s downfall – should not be dismissed lightly as harmless populism by insecure politicians.
Just as the statistic-loving former Bundesbank board member Sarrazin wrongly reduced entire groups of people to numbers, Seehofer has maligned individual Turks and Arabs by damning them collectively.
And such publicly professed prejudice has consequences.
Two studies published this week showed German youths held widespread biases against Turks and that xenophobia in Germany was spreading.
Tragically it took something as horrific as the Holocaust to ensure Jews equal treatment in Western democracies like Britain and the United States, where anti-Jewish attitudes were rife prior to World War II. No-one should forget that it was only the incomparable crimes of Nazi Germany committed against Europe’s Jewry that made it no longer socially acceptable to express anti-Semitic sentiments openly.
But unlike many nations, Germans have unflinchingly confronted the darker parts of their past in order to learn from it. Accordingly, Germany must now not allow an entire group of people be discriminated against because of their religion or heritage.
Many German conservatives have recently mentioned the country’s “Christian-Judeo” traditions – something that would normally be expressed in English as being Judeo-Christian. But it’s not just the chronological order of the three monotheistic faiths Judaism, Christianity and Islam that makes it easy to include the Jews while excluding Muslims.
It’s also the Holocaust. People who these days deny the huge cultural contribution of Jews to German society are beyond the pale – and rightfully so. But it doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to apply the ugly rhetoric currently being directed towards Muslims to Germany’s Jewish population before the war.
Let me be painfully clear here – I am in no way equating the persecution Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis with the anti-Muslim sentiment now simmering in modern, democratic Germany.
However, just as it was once acceptable to badmouth Jews and scapegoat them for society’s ills – in Germany as well as Western democracies like America and Britain – millions of law-abiding, well-integrated Muslims are now being targeted unfairly.
It would be easy to say this new anti-Semitism started on September 12, 2001, but Europe’s immigration issues have little to do with overblown fearmongering about Osama bin Laden’s “Islamofascists” plotting world domination. Germany’s Muslim integration problems are of a longer festering sort caused first and foremost by the country’s denial for decades that immigrants from Turkey and elsewhere were here to stay.
There is no point disputing that Arabs and Turks could be better integrated in German society, but labelling them all as unwanted troublemakers simply because of their faith contravenes the core tenets of liberal Western democracy.
No matter your race, creed or colour, if you adhere to the principles of the constitution – the Basic Law in Germany’s case – you should be welcome. Anything else is bigotry, plain and simple.
The Local Germany
Jewish community mulls meeting with neo-nazi tagger (Canada)
Members of Calgary’s Jewish community will meet to decide whether they want a face-to-face conference with the neo-nazi who went on a racist vandalism spree.
The teen’s sentencing hearing was adjourned Friday so community leaders could discuss the possibility of such a gathering.
Adam Singer, president of the Calgary Jewish Community Council, said there are potential pros and cons to such a process.
“We need to give this serious consideration,” Singer said, after meeting with Crown prosecutors Jenny Rees and Karuna Ramakrishnan on the idea of holding a community conference with the teen.
“There could be an upside and there could be a downside.”
Youth court Judge Todd LaRochelle suggested such a get-together could be helpful for the offender, who went on an anti-Semitic spray-painting spree last Nov. 14.
“It might be beneficial for (him) to someday walk in someone else’s shoes,” LaRochelle said, before adjourning the case to Dec. 9.
Defence counsel Jim Lutz said his client was open to the idea of a community conference, a procedure under the Youth Criminal Justice Act which joins offenders with victims.
The teen earlier pleaded guilty to charges of mischief to property and promoting hatred against an identifiable group.
He had his now ex-girlfriend drive him around the city’s southwest where he targeted Jewish facilities, including the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Synagogue and areas around the Jewish Community Centre.
He drew swastikas and wrote racist comments including “kill Jews,” and profane words on communal mailboxes, a nearby fence and a second place of worship, the House of Jacob Synagogue.
The teen, a known Aryan Nations associate, a well-known, neo-nazi group, can’t be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
He remains at liberty pending sentencing.
Calgary Sun
The teen’s sentencing hearing was adjourned Friday so community leaders could discuss the possibility of such a gathering.
Adam Singer, president of the Calgary Jewish Community Council, said there are potential pros and cons to such a process.
“We need to give this serious consideration,” Singer said, after meeting with Crown prosecutors Jenny Rees and Karuna Ramakrishnan on the idea of holding a community conference with the teen.
“There could be an upside and there could be a downside.”
Youth court Judge Todd LaRochelle suggested such a get-together could be helpful for the offender, who went on an anti-Semitic spray-painting spree last Nov. 14.
“It might be beneficial for (him) to someday walk in someone else’s shoes,” LaRochelle said, before adjourning the case to Dec. 9.
Defence counsel Jim Lutz said his client was open to the idea of a community conference, a procedure under the Youth Criminal Justice Act which joins offenders with victims.
The teen earlier pleaded guilty to charges of mischief to property and promoting hatred against an identifiable group.
He had his now ex-girlfriend drive him around the city’s southwest where he targeted Jewish facilities, including the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Synagogue and areas around the Jewish Community Centre.
He drew swastikas and wrote racist comments including “kill Jews,” and profane words on communal mailboxes, a nearby fence and a second place of worship, the House of Jacob Synagogue.
The teen, a known Aryan Nations associate, a well-known, neo-nazi group, can’t be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
He remains at liberty pending sentencing.
Calgary Sun
A whirlwind of hatred against the disabled (UK)
Just how far are we, as a society, prepared to let violent crime against the disabled spiral upwards?
The details are sickening. For three days a gang of 18-year-olds tortured a younger autistic boy. They kicked him, stamped on his head, scraped his skin with sandpaper, pelted him with dog shit, forced him to drink alcohol until he passed out and stuck tape to his genitals.
The thugs laughed as they filmed themselves abusing their terrified victim, who can be heard whimpering for mercy. The ordeal only ended when his aunt saw a trainer print on his face. And why did they carry out these vile assaults? Simply because they were bored, they told a court this week.
Apparently Jonathan Geake, the so-called judge in the case, sympathised with their predicament. The three assailants were given just 80 hours' unpaid community work and a three-month curfew. No signing of the sex offenders register, despite the sexual overtones to the attack. No jail sentence. No justice.
Mencap is now leading a campaign to persuade the attorney general to review this shocking case. But tragically it is not an isolated event. It is just the latest horror story in an epidemic of hate crimes against people with disabilities.
The statistics should shame us all. Nine out of 10 people with learning difficulties have suffered bullying or harassment – indeed, even as the thugs from Eccles were being convicted this week, cases emerged of a disabled woman being bottled as she arrived at her home in Essex and a Yorkshire woman tipped from her wheelchair and mugged. And there is at least one trial going on over the killing of a disabled person, with another looming.
Three years ago there was outrage after the death of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her disabled daughter after years of abuse. Politicians, police and council chiefs all said never again – then said it again after the death of David Askew earlier this year after similar harassment. Yet a recent report found evidence of 68 violent deaths of disabled people and more than 500 potential disability hate crimes over the past three years.
There is no official data on hate crimes against the disabled, since the government does not think it is worth publishing. One helpline has fielded a near-doubling in the number of calls from disabled victims this year, but there have been just 576 prosecutions over the last two years, compared with 11,264 for racial and religious crimes over the last year alone.
We need to wake up to this whirlwind of hate, driven by fear of difference and a symptom of a society that fails to embrace those with disabilities. Communities must look out for those in need of help. Teachers must stop tolerating hateful language and bullying. Police and council officials must tackle the low-level abuse that devastates life for so many – and, as in the Pilkington and Askew cases, can end up with a funeral.
We recognise the need to confront racist and homophobic abuse, but tolerate it against people with disabilities. Indeed, just as judges once told rape victims to cross their legs, teachers tell disabled pupils to toughen up, police tell people in wheelchairs that being abused is a fact of life, and local authorities move those who are harassed rather than their assailants. And in court, the evidence of people with learning difficulties is ignored: nearly three times as many prosecutions for disability hate crimes fail as compared with all other crimes.
In Manchester this weekend there are three sadistic young men swaggering around, no doubt still laughing, not least at how they escaped jail. And in another part of Britain their scarred victim is trying to rebuild his life, having being forced to move home as punishment for being tortured. Is this really the kind of country we want to live in?
Ian Birrell The Guardian
The author is the father of a child with profound learning difficulties
The thugs laughed as they filmed themselves abusing their terrified victim, who can be heard whimpering for mercy. The ordeal only ended when his aunt saw a trainer print on his face. And why did they carry out these vile assaults? Simply because they were bored, they told a court this week.
Apparently Jonathan Geake, the so-called judge in the case, sympathised with their predicament. The three assailants were given just 80 hours' unpaid community work and a three-month curfew. No signing of the sex offenders register, despite the sexual overtones to the attack. No jail sentence. No justice.
Mencap is now leading a campaign to persuade the attorney general to review this shocking case. But tragically it is not an isolated event. It is just the latest horror story in an epidemic of hate crimes against people with disabilities.
The statistics should shame us all. Nine out of 10 people with learning difficulties have suffered bullying or harassment – indeed, even as the thugs from Eccles were being convicted this week, cases emerged of a disabled woman being bottled as she arrived at her home in Essex and a Yorkshire woman tipped from her wheelchair and mugged. And there is at least one trial going on over the killing of a disabled person, with another looming.
Three years ago there was outrage after the death of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her disabled daughter after years of abuse. Politicians, police and council chiefs all said never again – then said it again after the death of David Askew earlier this year after similar harassment. Yet a recent report found evidence of 68 violent deaths of disabled people and more than 500 potential disability hate crimes over the past three years.
There is no official data on hate crimes against the disabled, since the government does not think it is worth publishing. One helpline has fielded a near-doubling in the number of calls from disabled victims this year, but there have been just 576 prosecutions over the last two years, compared with 11,264 for racial and religious crimes over the last year alone.
We need to wake up to this whirlwind of hate, driven by fear of difference and a symptom of a society that fails to embrace those with disabilities. Communities must look out for those in need of help. Teachers must stop tolerating hateful language and bullying. Police and council officials must tackle the low-level abuse that devastates life for so many – and, as in the Pilkington and Askew cases, can end up with a funeral.
We recognise the need to confront racist and homophobic abuse, but tolerate it against people with disabilities. Indeed, just as judges once told rape victims to cross their legs, teachers tell disabled pupils to toughen up, police tell people in wheelchairs that being abused is a fact of life, and local authorities move those who are harassed rather than their assailants. And in court, the evidence of people with learning difficulties is ignored: nearly three times as many prosecutions for disability hate crimes fail as compared with all other crimes.
In Manchester this weekend there are three sadistic young men swaggering around, no doubt still laughing, not least at how they escaped jail. And in another part of Britain their scarred victim is trying to rebuild his life, having being forced to move home as punishment for being tortured. Is this really the kind of country we want to live in?
Ian Birrell The Guardian
The author is the father of a child with profound learning difficulties
Protester cleared of assaulting policeman (UK)
An English Defence League activist has been acquitted of assaulting a police officer at the organisation’s Bolton protest earlier this year.
Amanda Rutland was accused of “lashing out” at a police dog and its handler as officers tried to disperse the crowds in Le Mans Crescent on March 20.
The mum-of-four, aged 36, walked free from court yesterday after Bolton Magistrates found her not guilty of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour and assaulting PC Simon Ritchie.
The court heard that Rutland, of West Turville, Buckinghamshire, was bitten on the arm by a police dog during the protest and was later approached by PC Ritchie.
PC Ritchie claimed Rutland was aggressive, shouted at him, tried to headbutt him and scratched his face.
She said she had not kicked the dog and denied assaulting him. Magistrates said they had seen no evidence of Rutland being violent or abusive.
Her husband, Ben, told the court that PC Ritchie had demanded his wife came with him for medical attention and, when she refused, stopped her walking away by grabbing her wounded arm “right in the middle of the bandage”.
Speaking outside court, Mrs Rutland said: “I’ve been vindicated.”
This is Lancaster
Amanda Rutland was accused of “lashing out” at a police dog and its handler as officers tried to disperse the crowds in Le Mans Crescent on March 20.
The mum-of-four, aged 36, walked free from court yesterday after Bolton Magistrates found her not guilty of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour and assaulting PC Simon Ritchie.
The court heard that Rutland, of West Turville, Buckinghamshire, was bitten on the arm by a police dog during the protest and was later approached by PC Ritchie.
PC Ritchie claimed Rutland was aggressive, shouted at him, tried to headbutt him and scratched his face.
She said she had not kicked the dog and denied assaulting him. Magistrates said they had seen no evidence of Rutland being violent or abusive.
Her husband, Ben, told the court that PC Ritchie had demanded his wife came with him for medical attention and, when she refused, stopped her walking away by grabbing her wounded arm “right in the middle of the bandage”.
Speaking outside court, Mrs Rutland said: “I’ve been vindicated.”
This is Lancaster
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