Our intention is to inform people of racist, homophobic, religious extreme hate speech perpetrators across social networking internet sites. And we also aim to be a focal point for people to access information and resources to report such perpetrators to appropriate web sites, governmental departments and law enforcement agencies around the world.
We will also post relevant news worthy items and information on Human rights issues, racism, extremist individuals and groups and far right political parties from around the world although predominantly Britain.
Black churches would not be welcome or receive grants from a BNP local or national government if their ministry and place of worship were to be in a “historically white area”, BNP leader Nick Griffin admitted on live TV last night.
Mr Griffin aired his views in a controversial live debate with the leader of the Christian Party and British-born, black pastor Rev George Hargreaves on Revelation and Genesis TV.
Both men are standing against Labour Minister Margaret Hodge for the Barking constituency in the up-coming general election.
The two were debating the motion: “That the election of any BNP MP or leader of a Local Authority will be detrimental to Black and ethnic minority Christians in particular and the wider church in general in Britain."
Mr Griffin revealed that his understanding of Christian heritage was one of "national pride and history", rather than a personal and corporate dedication to Jesus Christ. When asked about his own relationship with God, he stated his relationship was not so much with Jesus, but rather with an ideal of what the Anglican church as the 'state church' should be.
When asked if the BNP would allow black churches to purchase building in certain areas of London, Mr Griffin made it clear that any church composed primarily of ethnic groups would be disallowed in historically white majority areas, and forced to conduct their worship in areas deemed suitable by a white political leadership.
Rev Hargreaves said: “BNP policy is to oppose the community cohesion that would allow non-Christians to hear the Gospel at, say, Christian school assemblies.
“Most alarming for Christians and churches, is their policy on ‘eliminating multiculturalism spending’. Their policy is to overhaul the Charity Commission and debar from having charitable status any organisation that promotes multiculturalism, multi-racism and foreign religions, in fact, only ‘indigenous groups’ are welcome and would receive funding."
The current BNP Mission Statement states: "The British National Party exists to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for a millennia."
Revd Hargreaves added: “This statement means that the BNP does not exist for my future any other Black or ethnic minority Christian. And since in Christ racial division are demolished – “for there is neither Greek nor Jew, but all are one in Christ Jesus”– the BNP does not exist for the wider church.
“Last night’s debate clearly shows that the election of any BNP MP or leader of a local authority will be detrimental to black and ethnic minority Christians in particular and the wider church in general in Britain’."
A German court has sentenced an 88-year-old former member of the Nazi SS to life in prison for the murder of three Dutch civilians in 1944.
Heinrich Boere had told the court in Aachen that he killed a bicycle shop owner, a pharmacist and a member of the resistance as part of a death squad.
But he said he was following orders and would have been shot for not doing so.
Prosecutors said Boere was a willing member of the SS, which he joined after the Netherlands was invaded in 1940.
But correspondents say that there remains some doubt over whether Boere, who uses a wheelchair and lives in a nursing home, will actually go to jail.
A 90-year-old former German infantry commander, Josef Scheungraber, was given a life sentence by a German court in August, but remains free while his appeal is heard.
Boere's lawyer, Gordon Christiansen, has said he will appeal.
'Totally random'
In December, Boere testified that he had shot Fritz Bicknese, a chemist and father of 12; bicycle seller Teun de Groot, who helped Jews go into hiding; and Dutch resistance member Frans Kusters.
He told the state court that he and fellow members of the SS Silbertanne (Silver Pine) death squad had been informed by their superiors that the men were to be killed in retaliation for attacks by the resistance.
"I knew that if I didn't carry out my orders I would be breaking my oath and would be shot myself," he said.
"At no time in 1944 did I act with the feeling that I was committing a crime," he added. "Today, after 65 years, I naturally see things from a different perspective."
But the presiding judge, Gerd Nohl, told the court that all three killings had been carried out "on a totally random basis" and constituted murder.
"These were murders that could hardly be outdone in terms of baseness and cowardice - beyond the respectability of any soldier."
Members of the death squad had worn "civilian clothes, rain coats, and carried out the crimes either early in the morning or late in the evening", and the risk to Boere when he shot the three men had been "zero", he added.
The pensioner looked on impassively as the sentence was handed down.
The top Nazi hunter at the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Efraim Zuroff, welcomed the conviction, saying it was "again another proof that even at this point it is possible to bring Nazi war criminals to justice".
"It also underscores the significance of the renewed activity on the part of the German prosecution," he told the Associated Press.
Extradition
Boere, who was born near Aachen to a Dutch father and German mother, moved to the Netherlands when he was an infant.
He was 18 when he joined the Waffen SS, shortly after the Germans overran his hometown of Maastricht in 1940. After fighting on the Russian front, he ended up back in the Netherlands as part of the Silbertanne squad.
He admitted the killings to the Dutch authorities when he was in captivity after World War II, but managed to escape from his POW camp and returned to Germany, where he has since lived.
In 1949, a tribunal in Amsterdam sentenced him to death in his absence - later commuted to life in prison.
A Dutch extradition request was turned down by the West German government in the early 1980s, after a court ruled that there was a possibility Boere had German citizenship.
Following a request that Boere serve his sentence in Germany, a German appeals court ruled three years ago that the 1949 trial was unfair because he had not been present.
He was eventually indicted in April 2008, but a court then said he was unfit to stand trial, largely because of heart problems. The decision was eventually overruled on appeal last July.
A new law criminalising stirring up homophobic hatred comes into effect today.
The law, which covers England and Wales, will punish offenders with up to seven years in jail or a fine. It brings protections for gay people in line with laws against racial and religious hatred.
Stonewall claimed that a new offence was necessary after it discovered a range of "extreme" websites with anti-gay material. Homophobic song lyrics could also be covered by the law.
Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: "The newly-extended criminal offence of incitement to hatred will go some way towards addressing the hatred and violence directed towards lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in Britain at a time when homophobic attacks are on the increase.
"It sends a strong signal that such behaviour is unacceptable in a civilised society. Just like race, a person's sexual orientation is an intrinsic characteristic for which no citizen should ever feel under threat of verbal or physical violence."
It is unlikely the new law will be used frequently. Similar laws against inciting racial hatred have only been used around 20 times in the 30 years since they came into force.
The legislation will not make it a crime to criticise or tell jokes about homosexuality.
Both religious leaders and comedians had expressed concern that they would be criminalised under it.
While Stonewall and government supporters claimed the initial legislation would not impede freedom of speech, the House of Lords passed an amendment to protect those who criticise homosexuality or urge gays to turn straight from prosecution.
The amendment, tabled by Tory peer and former home secretary under Margaret Thatcher Lord Waddington, allows the "discussion or criticism" of sexual practices.
The issue is likely to come up for debate again if Labour wins the general election. Pink News
A MAN was stabbed in the shoulder with a “cut-throat” blade after trying to stop his friend being attacked by alleged supporters of the English Defence League who had earlier been protesting in Bolton.
A scuffle began outside the Oddfellows Arms in Oldham Road, Middleton, at about 11.30pm on Saturday.
Witnesses said EDL supporters were behaving aggressively and abusing customers.
They were asked to leave by one of the men, who escorted them outside. He was then jumped on and his friend, aged 49, intervened.
After the scuffle had ended and the two men returned inside, the victim realised he had suffered a stab wound to the back of his left shoulder by one of three men. It is believed a cut-throat type blade had been used and it is thought the men had been to the EDL rally in Bolton.
The first man was white, about 5ft 6in tall, in his late teens or early 20s, with a chunky build.
He had short black hair and was wearing a blue EDL T-shirt with “No Surrender Al-Qaeda” and an England badge on the front.
The second man was taller, with dark hair and wearing darkrimmed glasses and a light jacket. The third offender was also wearing a sweatshirt with an EDL logo.
Det Con Wayne Hagan, of Rochdale CID, said: “We need to identify these men and lock them up so they cannot hurt anyone else.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Rochdale CID on 0161 856 8437 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 11
Most lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been verbally abused and a third physically attacked, according to a new survey.
The statistics from Stonewall Scotland suggested most people did not report the incidents to the police.
A quarter of those surveyed said they viewed verbal abuse as part of life as a gay or transgender person.
The findings come just before a new law is introduced which aims to tackle hate crimes against gay or disabled people.
The legislation which will be implemented on Wednesday will take a tougher line on crimes which have been motivated because of the victims' sexuality or gender orientation, or because they have a disability.
Carl Watt, director of Stonewall Scotland, said: "Too many people in Scotland experience hate crimes, and many don't report it because they think it won't make a difference or because it happens on such a regular basis."
Stonewall's survey suggests that 88% of people who experienced verbal abuse did not report it, and 61% of those physically attacked did not inform police.
Carl Watt added: "As this new law tackling hate crime comes into force, we're working with the police to give people the confidence to come forward and report crime."
As part of this process Stonewall Scotland has offered every Scottish police force rainbow flag stickers to show the public the police force is committed to equality for everyone.
No excuse
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "There is no excuse for any form of hate crime; it is simply not acceptable and it will not be tolerated.
"That is exactly why we've got this new legislation coming into force which will rightly put these kind of crimes on the same footing as racist incidents."
Chief Constable Ian Latimer, from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, acknowledged the Stonewall survey and said he noted the concerns highlighted by the people who took part in the questionnaire.
He said: "Forces across Scotland take hate crime very seriously and are proactively developing policy and practice to address discrimination.
"We trust these measures, in addition to the new legislation will give all victims the confidence to report crime and know that they will receive a high quality police response." BBC News
Five people from Greater New Haven have been indicted in connection with an alleged attempt to sell firearms and explosive grenades to a white supremacist group in another state federal officials said in a statement
Kenneth Zrallack, 29, of Ansonia, the leader of the Connecticut White Wolves, a self-described white supremacist group now known as Battalion 14; Alexander Defelice, 32, of Milford, and William R. Bolton, 31, of Stratford, both members of the Connecticut White Wolves/Battalion 14; Edwin T. Westmoreland, 27 of Stratford, who is alleged to have participated in some of the activities of the Connecticut White Wolves/Battalion 14; and David Sutton, 46, of Milford, an associate of Defelice, are charged in the indictment, the statement said. New Haven Register
A paedophile has been recalled to jail after police were alerted to concerns that he had contacted children using the social networking website Facebook.
Alain Hegarty, of Burnham-on-Sea, was jailed in 2005 for sexually abusing a girl aged under 13.
The 62-year-old, formerly of Kingswood, Bristol, was rearrested after his victim's family became concerned that he may have contacted children.
Hegarty was released on licence in 2007 from a two-and-a-half year sentence.
An Avon and Somerset Police spokeswoman said that Hegarty would be held while it was investigated whether he had breached his probation terms.
A relative of the victim told BBC Points West: "We were really shocked that he had a Facebook account.
"It's difficult dredging up things that happened five years ago and the victim is still dealing with the aftermath of what's happened." BBC News
People wearing the uniforms of the outlawed paramilitary Hungarian Guard prevented several Roma residents of Hajduhadhaz (NE) from entering a rally by radical nationalist party Jobbik in the town on Sunday, the head of the local Roma civil organisation told MTI. About ten Roma wanted to go to the rally, where Jobbik's MEP Csanad Szegedi and other local party representatives were to speak, said Zsolt Bator Lakatos. The representatives of the local Roma organisation wanted to ask at the rally what ideas the party had for such a town in which a large number of residents are Roma, he added. The men dressed in Hungarian Guard uniforms stood in their way and told them it was written on the rally posters that the event was closed and "Gypsies can't come", Lakatos said. When the representatives of the Roma organisation tried to get into a Jobbik rally in nearby Hajduboszormeny later, they were not allowed in either, he added. The local elections office will be informed of the matter, Lakatos said. Jobbik said in a statement sent to MTI on Sunday that "Gypsies had participated" at the open-air event in Hajduhadhaz and "members of the New Hungarian Guard Movement only stood around the speakers". The statement said 10-15 "guard members wore the new, legal uniforms". Several police officers in uniform were present in the crowd, it added.
More efforts are needed to combat crimes motivated by hate on the Internet, but care must be taken not to infringe on the freedom of expression, said Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, the director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), at the opening of an expert meeting on combating cyber hate in Warsaw today. "The Internet has become a platform for organized hate groups to recruit followers, command and control, organize attacks, and intimidate and harass opponents," said Lenarcic. He stressed that there needs to be a balance between the right of individuals to freely express and exchange their views and the right to be protected from potential harm emanating from statements inciting intolerance against people based on their race, colour, language, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. "We have to be careful not to advocate an approach which might stifle legitimate activities of social, religious or political groups," Lenarcic said. The ODIHR-organized meeting brings together some 100 experts from the OSCE's 56 participating States to discuss legal issues and practical challenges in combating Internet-inspired hate crimes, review successful examples of prosecuting such crimes and share good practices in addressing the phenomenon. Lenarcic said that the dynamic nature of the Internet requires new approaches to promote tolerance and combat intolerance: "Awareness-raising and education are key tools in the fight against incitement to hate on the Internet." Solutions should include a combination of legal limitations, voluntary regulation of admissible content by internet service providers and independent monitoring and reporting mechanisms such as complaints bureaus or hotlines, he said. Lenarcic also highlighted the need for a co-ordinated approach between Internet service providers, the Internet industry and civil society, leading to real partnership and self-regulation. OSCE participating States have acknowledged that hate crimes can be fuelled by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and other hateful content on the Internet, and have committed themselves to a number of practical measures aimed at addressing cyber hate. OCSE
Four people have been charged with public order offences following a demonstration in Bolton.
Thousands of demonstrators from Unite Against Fascism and the English Defence League gathered in Victoria Square to air their political views on Saturday.
Police arrested 73 protesters. They have now released 34 without charge, issued 13 with fixed penalty notices and 17 remain on bail.
Three people were cautioned, Greater Manchester Police said.
Another man was transferred to West Yorkshire, over an unrelated assault.
Of those arrested, 54 were affiliated to Unite Against Fascism and 17 were affiliated to the English Defence League, police said.
Police have denied claims that they were heavy-handed during the protest.
THE RACIST British National Party have their sights set on Ireland, Sunday World can reveal.
The controversial party have been building links with right-wing extremists across the island and even offered money and training to supporters living here.
A group of Irish BNP activists from the UK have been looking to make contact with the recently formed Irish National Party.
One BNP member even spent a frantic three-day trip to Dublin desperately trying to find the INP leadership this week.
However, we can reveal that since Sunday World exposed INP leaders David Barrett and Ollie Allen as Nazis, the pair have abandoned their planned anti-immigration party.
BNP activist, Paul Ryan, revealed that his party are desperate to get a foothold in Ireland and already have a network of contacts across the country.
While trying to make contact with the INP, Ryan inadvertently revealed his plans to our undercover reporter.
He explained that party Deputy Chairman, Simon Darby, spends much of his time traveling to the North, where former orange man, Jim Dowson, runs the party’s call centre.
“Darby is very interested in getting a group going in Ireland that we can work together with,” Ryan declared.
“I can get loads of people to join you from Irish community as well as our people living in Dublin.”
“In the past the BNP had a problem with Irish people but there is a group of us now who support the party and they are very open to the idea of a similar party in Ireland.”
Ryan offered the party money and advice on security as well as issuing an invitation to attend the BNP’s annual red, white and blue festival, which draws in far right groups from across Europe.
He ranted about the threats posed to Ireland and the UK by Muslims and mass immigration.
“I promise you that I can help you out as a party, financially with fundraising and to give you advice,” he added.
“We are as determined as yourselves. Frank O’Brien (BNP election candidate) from the BNP is good friend of mine and he is of Irish descent, I want to put him in touch with the INP.”
“We are in touch with Swedish groups and want to get a network across Europe of nationalist parties.”
BNP leading member Darby recently commented that he would be “overjoyed if an Irish National Party was set up and we would do all we could to help it.”
His comment came just weeks before the Irish National Party publicly announced their existence.
A leaked email from BNP Solihull Councillor, George Morgan, to the INP pledged support for the group.
“As a fellow nationalist I believe that, regardless of whether we are of Celtic, or Anglo Saxon stock, we face the same basic threats to our heritage, culture, identity and ultimately our future,” the Cllr declared.
“I further believe that as nationalists we must fight these threats on a united front, albeit different peoples but with a common ancestry.
“I would suggest that in the first instance you contact the regional organiser for the West Midlands.”
BNP have links to Irish pro-life group, Youth Defence through their main fundraiser, Jim Dowson.
Dowson runs the BNP’s Belfast call centre and is believed to be bankrolling the BNP, providing hundreds of thousands in funding, according to recently leaked accounts for the party.
The former Orange Man has links to the loyalist murderer Michael Stone and has been described as a “rent-a-cause extremist”.
He formed Precious Life Scotland, later the UK Life League in 1999, and has been in regular contact with Youth Defence since
COUNCILLORS, religious leaders and union representatives have joined together to condemn the British National Party.
A joint statement by 44 people accuses the party, which is contesting Lewisham’s mayoral election, of stirring up race hate.
Along with other mayoral candidates, signatories also include the Bishop of Woolwich the Rt Rev Christopher Chessun and Archdeacon of Lewisham Christine Hardman.
Representatives from Unison, the National Union of Teachers and students’ unions have also signed.
The statement says: "As representatives of many political opinions and parties in Lewisham, we affirm the values of unity, tolerance and mutual respect, which have always helped people from different backgrounds to live together.
"We are deeply concerned at the activity of racist and fascist groups such as the British National Party, which use people’s fears to stir up race hate, which their candidacy in the Lewisham mayoral election will seek to do.
"We also reject their demonisation of Muslims, and their claim to speak for Christians, as an affront to all our religions and beliefs and a danger to the unity of the whole community.
"In the next few months the people of Lewisham will choose their mayor who will lead Lewisham Council in all its policies at the town hall.
"We believe that a high turnout of voters will minimise the impact of candidates on extremist platforms in our borough.
"So we urge the overwhelming majority to turn out and vote, and give a clear signal that messages of race hatred and division are not welcome here."
Chairman of the Lewisham Anti-Racist Action group Councillor Jarman Parmar, who organised the statement, said: "Fascists were stopped in Cable Street in 1936 and at Lewisham in 1977, by myself and many others. They must be stopped today."
Tess Culnane, who has previously run for the National Front and has spoken at a meeting of the far-right British People’s Party, is standing as the BNP candidate.
News Shopper is awaiting a comment from Ms Culnane. News Shopper
A year after the BNP's Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons were elected to the European Parliament on an "antisleaze" ticket, the pair stand accused of exploiting expense allowances.
The Daily Mirror can reveal that much of the party leadership is on the EU payroll, including a personal bodyguard.
Last June Nick Griffin's website claimed the "BNP is going to set a higher standard in politics when our two MEPs-elect, Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons, take their seats in the European Parliament on July 17".
But unlike Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, the Greens and UKIP, they have not even submitted quarterly accounts.
Bnp leader Griffin, who represents Britain's North West region, has filed partial accounts. Brons, elected to represent Yorkshire, has not filed any. There is no obligation to do so but it is common practice to submit accounts in the interests of transparency.
Yesterday Hope not Hate launched a petition calling for an investigation - amid fears the two could be misusing taxpayers' money to fund their general election campaign.
Campaign co-ordinator Nick Lowles said: "There have been thousands of letters to the EU Anti-Fraud Office and the President of the EU.
PROMISE
"There is no legal obligation to submit quarterly accounts but every other UK political party is doing so. We now call on the BNP to prove they are not taking taxpayers for a ride."
In addition to their £84,000-a-year salary, MEPs are entitled to spend £220,000 annually on administrative and constituency support. But it appears the BNP may be using this money to bankroll its leadership.
Griffin's website records that he employs Tina Wingfield and her husband Martin, plus Clive Jefferson, part-time. Andrew Brons also employs Martin Wingfield and the BNP candidate in Morley and Outwood, West Yorks, Chris Beverley.
Also on the EU payroll is Griffin's bodyguard. Others believed to be funded by the taxpayer include Eddy Butler, the party's head of elections.
He lives in Essex, far from Griffin's and Brons' constituencies but close to where Griffin is standing in the general election as candidate for Barking.
Griffin's MEP region includes the Cumbrian towns and villages hit by floods last November. But he failed to visit the stricken areas until last month.
In the days after the devastation, he instead visited his target seat in East London and travelled to Spain as a guest speaker at a rally to commemorate the 1975 death of the fascist dictator General Franco.
Hosted by the tiny far-right National Democratic Party, the event was also attended by Griffin's political mentor Roberto Fiore, the convicted former leader of the terrorist Armed Revolutionary Nuclei, involved in the 1980 bomb massacre at a Bologna rail station.
Griffin did find time to criticise the Government's £1million in aid to Cumbria, saying he would offer "the most appropriate assistance I can".
Seven weeks ago he offered a £1,000 donation to Cumbria. Eddy Butler, who is running Griffin's general election campaign, bizarrely declared "the terrible damage caused by Cumbrian floods was the result of global capitalism".
Griffin's constituents have seen little of him since his election in June.
His most high-profile statements so far have been on foreign affairs.
He condemned the Government for sending aid to earthquake-devastated Haiti and said: "Sending aid to rioting ingrates while our own people die is stinking, elite hypocrisy."
He attended the Copenhagen talks on climate change but called it an "elite scam".
In a Channel 4 interview he described Islam as a "cancer" that should be removed from Europe.
ABANDON
Labour MEP Arlene McCarthy, who also represents the North West, said: "Less than 12 months after he was elected to represent us he is set to abandon the region and is seeking to subsidise his salary by standing to become the MP for Barking.
"Griffin claims to be elected on an anti-sleaze ticket yet there are some question marks over the use of public money which he needs to answer.
"His accounts don't appear to be reviewed or signed off by an independent accountant.
"If BNP staff are now being paid by the European Parliament, are they working for the BNP or are they working for their constituents?" Asked to respond, BNP communications officer Paul Golding, a councillor in Sevenoaks, Kent, said: "I'm very sorry, we don't deal with the Daily Mirror."
Deputy press officer John Walker referred us to the party's website and added: "We don't have to justify ourselves to anyone."
Today the Daily Mirror launches the Hope not Hate campaign for 2010 - our annual celebration of modern, diverse Britain.
Backed by a coalition of celebrities, trade unions and tens of thousands of ordinary people, our campaign to combat racism in politics is now in its fourth year.
Over the coming weeks we will bring you inspiring stories of hope and courage from all over the country.
But first we turn the spotlight on the organisation whose ideas foul Britain - the hate-fuelled British National Party.
On the Europe payroll
JOHN WALKER
Deputy press spokesman. Lives in Wales. Standing in Alyn & Deeside
MARTIN WINGFIELD
Communication officer for leaders. Standing in Workington, Cumbria.
TINA WINGFIELD
Runs Griffin's office. Standing in Salford, Greater Manchester, against Hazel Blears.
CHRIS BEVERLEY
Yorkshire organiser and candidate in Morley & Outwood, top target in Yorks.
CLIVE JEFFERSON
North West organiser. Standing in Copeland, Cumbria, in the election.
Yesterday was International anti-Racism Day. March 21'st was chosen as it was on this day in 1960 that Sixty-Nine people died in the Sharpeville Massacre in Apartheid South Africa.
South Africans have marked the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, a turning point in the nation's liberation struggle.
Sixty-nine people died on 21 March 1960 when police gunned down unarmed people protesting against apartheid laws.
The dead were honoured as part of Human Rights Day, with church services, the laying of wreaths, and a speech by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.
Critics say people in the township still face poor living conditions.
People gathered at the Roman Catholic church in Sharpeville, and laid wreaths at the cemetery on the graves of those killed in the massacre.
Mr Motlanthe spoke to survivors and relatives of the victims at the Garden of Remembrance.
Later addressing a crowd of about 5,000, he said: "We say never, never and never again will a government arrogate itself powers of torture, arbitrary imprisonment of opponents and the killing of demonstrators."
"In the same breath, we state that our democratic government undertakes to never ignore the plight of the poor, those without shelter, those without means to an education and those suffering from abuse and neglect," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
Defining moment
The Sharpeville Massacre is remembered as one of the bloodiest moments of the liberation struggle, the BBC's Karen Allen reports from Johannesburg.
Fifty years ago, South African police opened fire on demonstrators in Sharpeville township, 50km (30 miles) south of Johannesburg. Sixty-nine people died and at least 180 were injured - many shot in the back as they were trying to flee the scene.
They had gathered outside the police station to protest against pass laws, which required all blacks to carry identity documents - known as pass books - at all times.
No police were ever convicted over the killings.
The Sharpeville massacre led to the banning of the African National Congress (ANC) and its rival liberation movement, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and signalled the start of the underground armed resistance in South Africa.
Today, many in the township are disappointed that the ANC has failed to improve their lives since it came to power, our correspondent says.
Many of the shops in Sharpeville have closed down, unemployment persists and there is a sense among some residents that basic public services are inadequate.
"Our lives started changing with Nelson Mandela's release, but people are still financially struggling and finance is still in white people's hands," Abram Mofokeng told Associated Press news agency.
He was 21 when the massacre took place.
In recent weeks the ANC has faced protests from other communities in South Africa, who fear that cronyism and corruption have overshadowed the party's agenda.
A former leader of the British National Party (BNP) in Stoke-on-Trent has criticised his old party as he prepares to fight it in the general election.
Alby Walker said "there's a vein of Holocaust denying within the BNP".
Mr Walker will stand as an independent parliamentary candidate in Stoke-on-Trent Central and face the BNP's national deputy leader, Simon Darby.
Mr Darby said the chances of Mr Walker becoming an independent MP for Stoke-on-Trent "are zero".
Mr Darby said: "It should be obvious to everybody that this is somebody who's a bit disillusioned with the party, as many people within other parties become disillusioned, struck out for themselves and want to become an independent candidate."
Mr Walker told the BBC's Politics Show in the West Midlands: "There's a vein of Holocaust denying within the BNP that I cannot identify myself with.
"They've still got senior members of the BNP who will be candidates in the general election that have Nazi, Nazi-esque sympathies."
Mr Walker had been in the BNP for eight years and was leader of the group of nine BNP councillors on Stoke-on-Trent City Council until he quit in January.
UNESCO and FC Barcelona will launch a campaign against racism within the agreement between the two institutions in November 2007. The starting point of the campaign will kick off at next Wednesday's game 24th at the Nou Camp between Barca and Osasuna, during which a series of messages will be disseminated against racism, explained a statement from UNESCO. Later this year, several events are planned such as a public hearing in which the players of Barcelona will "add their voices to those who reject racism".
A previous cooperative project titled Youth, voices against racism, was conducted in 2008-2009 in collaboration with the European Parliament and the International Coalition of Cities against Racism, youths aged from 15 to 18 participated in the design and preparation of local policies and activities against racism. Many of these proposals are going to be implemented in this new campaign, which launches on the eve of The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, commemorated on March 21. In this framework, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris is now the scene of a youth symposium on racism and racial discrimination, at which is discussed, among other things, how to combat these phenomena. At the end of the symposium the opening of an exhibition of some thirty photographs of Rosa Luxemburg school of Aubervilliers, on the outskirts of Paris, is planned which shows a variety of relationships between people of different backgrounds "when they have gone beyond stereotypes and prejudice". barcelonare porter
Marcus Eilenberg is a Swedish Jew whose family roots in Malmo go back to the 19th century. His paternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors who found shelter in this southern Swedish city in 1945. His wife's parents fled to Sweden from communist Poland in the 1960s. Now the 32-year-old law firm associate feels the welcome for Jews is running out, and he is moving to Israel with his wife and two children in May. He says he knows at least 15 other Jews who are leaving for a similar reason. That reason, he says, is a rise in hate crimes against Jews in Malmo, and a sense that local authorities have little desire to deal with a problem that has exposed a crack in Sweden's image as a bastion of tolerance and a haven for distressed ethnic groups. Anti-Semitic crimes in Sweden have usually been associated with the far right, but Shneur Kesselman, an Orthodox rabbi, says the threat comes from Muslims. "In the past five years I've been here, I think you can count on your hand how many incidents there have been from the extreme right," he said. "In my personal experience it's 99 percent Muslims." Sweden prides itself on having taken in tens of thousands of the world's war refugees, and Malmo, its third largest city, should be a showcase: 7 percent of its 285,000 people were born in the Middle East, according to city statistics, and it has large numbers of from the Balkans, including the Macedonian who heads the city's largest mosque. After the Holocaust, it took in many Jews who survived the World War II Nazi genocide. Bejzat Becirov, the mosque head, said he feels "great sympathy for the Jewish community" and knows what it's going through because "the Muslim community, too, is exposed to Islamophobia." He listed a range of incidents, including an anthrax letter sent to him after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York, and several arson attacks against his mosque.
But Jews are feeling the heat disproportionately. Malmo police say that of 115 hate crimes reported in 2009, 52 were anti-Semitic. Becirov estimated there are about 60,000 Muslims in Malmo, while the number of Jews is about 700 and shrinking — it was twice as big two decades ago, according to Fredrik Sieradzki, a spokesman for the Jewish community. Last year at least 10 of the hate crime complaints were filed by Kesselman, from the Brooklyn-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement, whose black fedora and long beard single him out as he moves around the city. Walking home from the Jewish community center on Malmo's snow-flecked streets, the 31-year-old rabbi recalls some of the worst incidents: a young man who shouted "Heil Hitler" and chased him off a city bus; a car that suddenly reversed and almost hit him on the crosswalk by the opera house. "A typical situation is I'm walking in the streets and a car with Muslim youth between 18 and 30 will roll down the window and yell '(expletive) Jew,' give me the finger and shout something in Arabic," he said. Malmo's Jewish community is mostly secular and long felt safe because few display Jewish symbols that would distinguish them from other Swedes. But things changed after a series of fierce anti-Israel protests and a spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes following Israel's offensive in Gaza last year, which deeply angered Malmo's Arab immigrants. Tempers flared when Jews held a peaceful pro-Israel rally outside City Hall a week after the offensive ended. A bigger crowd waving Palestinian flags threw bottles, eggs and firecrackers. Tensions rose again two months later when Malmo authorities, saying they couldn't guarantee security, forced Sweden and Israel to play their Davis Cup tennis matches in a near-empty stadium as police held off rock-throwing anti-Israel activists outside who wanted to stop the competition completely. Eilenberg said it was a wake-up call — "a degree of hate that none of us — except those who survived the Holocaust — had experienced before."
Jewish groups say anti-Semitic attacks increased in several European countries following the Gaza war, notably the Netherlands and France. Across the narrow Oresund Strait, Jews in Copenhagen say they have also felt a rise in Muslim anti-Semitism but are less worried, said Yitzchok Loewenthal of the Jewish International Organization in the Danish capital. "The fundamental difference is that here in Copenhagen, Jews feel that the police, state and authorities take the issue very seriously and are on top of the situation, while in Malmo the Jewish community feel unsafe because the political will is not there," he said. Malmo's Jews say they feel little support from Mayor Ilmar Reepalu, a left-winger who told a Swedish newspaper in January he thought the anti-Semitism was coming from extreme-right groups. He also drew criticism for suggesting the Malmo Jews should distance themselves from Israeli violence against civilians in Gaza. "Instead they choose to hold a demonstration ... which can send the wrong signals," Reepalu was quoted as saying by Skanska Dagbladet. Jewish leaders sensed a blame-the-victim attitude. Reepalu has since spoken out against anti-Semitism and claims the media twisted his comments. In an interview aired by Danish broadcaster TV2 this month, Reepalu said he was being misrepresented by "the Israeli lobby who aren't interested in what I say and believe." Reepalu didn't respond to repeated requests for an interview with The Associated Press. The city recently appointed an anti-hate crimes coordinator, Bjorn Lagerback, who said Reepalu has sent a letter to the city's 20,000 employees denouncing all attacks against minorities in Malmo, though without specifically mentioning Jews. Asked whether Jews were particularly targeted by hate crimes in Malmo, Lagerback said anti-Semitism had become "more explicit." He added that "we also have discrimination against women who wear a hijab. They are also exposed to various kinds of insults."
Susanne Gosenius, a hate crimes investigator at Malmo's police department, said the rise in anti-Semitic incidents was linked to the Middle East conflict, and immigrants who are "having a hard time distinguishing between Israel and Jews." Malmo is one of several examples of how conflicts related to the Middle East and Islam have been carried into Sweden's streets. There was an alleged plot to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks for his caricature of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body, and an article in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet last year that caused Jewish and Israeli outrage by claiming, without any evidence, that Israeli soldiers harvested organs from dead Palestinians. Daniel Levin said he has felt stronger animosity toward Jews since moving from Stockholm to Malmo to study real estate. "It's not recommended to walk around with a Star of David. That's how bad it is," he said, referring to the symbol many Jews wear on necklaces. Levin was warming up for practice on a frozen dirt field with SK Hakoah, a low-ranking Malmo soccer team with a Jewish history and a few Jews among its players. Hakoah Coach Daniel Krook said that in matches against teams with players and fans from Muslim countries his players have been subjected to anti-Jewish slurs and even pitch invasions. The team asked to be moved to a league outside the city, but local soccer officials refused. This year, Hakoah is in the same league as Palestinska, which plays in the colors of the Palestinian flag. Krook said he expected police protection when the two teams play. But Ali Kabalan, a representative of Palestinska, didn't foresee any trouble and said spectators would be urged to refrain from violence. "Put politics aside," Kabalan said. "It's best for everybody."
Six men were arrested in Bulgaria’s Pazardzhik after they assaulted physically a rally supporting gay rights. Six activists of the youth organization “Lesbians, Gay, Bi- and Transgender in Action” arrived to the city of Pazardzhik from Sofia in order to protest an order to local City Council banning the display of homosexuality in public. The activities arranged large banners on which they started writing articles from the Bulgarian Constitution and the UN Human Rights Charter. No local gay rights activists joined them, Darik Radio reported. However, about 100 local young men most of them with shaved heads and in black clothes staged an anti-rally claiming they had gathered to express their support for the order issued by the City Council. As several of skin heads members attacked the gay rights activists they were immediately knocked down to the ground and arrested by the policemen guarding the rally, who were led personally by the head of the Pazardzhik Police Directorate, Commissar Stoyan Stoyanov. No-one was hurt during the skirmish. However, the anti-rally protestors shouted offensive slogans directed against the gay rights activists such as “No one wants you, losers”, “Out of Pazardzhik”, “Go to Uganda, freaks”. The gay rights organization has attacked the order of the Pazardzhik Municipality before Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection from Discrimination, which is to come up with a ruling on Wednesday.
The Crown Prospection Service should do more to help disabled victims of hate crime, an official has admitted.
Joanna Perry of the CPS's equality and diversity unit said the prosecution service for England and Wales needed to "raise its game" over the issue.
She added that it must secure more successful prosecutions against those who target people with disabilities.
The CPS has issued new guidelines to the police which it says will help increase the number of prosecutions.
The police and prosecution service have had marked success in tackling race, religious and homophobic crime, but admit they have been less successful in combating disabled hate crime - where hostility towards a person is based on their disability.
Ms Perry's comments follow the case of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her disabled daughter Francecca Hardwick, 18, after years of abuse from a gang in Barwell, Leicestershire.
In an interview with the BBC, Ms Perry said: "We know that disabled people probably think enough is not being done in this area.
"We think that the CPS could raise its game and that we could better identify where there is hostility against disabled people - in other words, where there's evidence we can bring to the courts' attention that shows that this crime, for example, was not just a robbery, it was a disability hate crime robbery."
But Ian Kelcey, the chair of the Law Society criminal law committee, warned that many such cases would not make it into court
"A lot of these cases may fall at the first hurdle," he said.
"When people with disabilities realise they've got to go to court, they've got to give evidence, they may feel somewhat disempowered, somewhat reluctant to go to court because of the issue of repercussions."
The police say disabled hate crime is often difficult to define it but that better training has raised awareness.
Chief Constable Steve Otter, from the Association of Chief Police Officers, said agencies needed to work together to tackle the problem.
"There's no doubt we can do more. It's very challenging - we have to make sure our officers are trained properly so they can identify disability and mental health issues.
"We have to make sure that we can get the evidence into court in an admissible way and we have to make sure that we are working really hard to prevent these things from happening in the first place."
A BNP leader is being probed after a chilling death threat against Labour peer Baroness Uddin appeared on his Facebook site.
BNP's deputy leader Roger Phillips, 42, allegedy posted a message saying: "were going to hang you one day. Regards the BNP."
He used the site 15 minutes earlier to urge members of the far-Right party to: "Message this bitch and tell her what we think of her". Bangladesh-born Muslim Lady Uddin, 50, has faced allegations of fiddling £30,000 expenses on a home. But she denied wrong-doing and no charges were brought
It is understood she has received other death threats this month. A Labour source said: "She finds it extremely upsetting and disturbing."
Phillips, 42, BNP deputy organiser for West Wales, is on bail after claims that a film-maker received threatening calls. The BNP and Phillips were not available for comment
The following news item has appeared in the Times newspaper in regard to the protests by the EDL and anti-racist organisations in Bolton.
We at the Stand Up To Hate blog do not condone or support violence, but nether do we support the belief that a racist organisation like the EDL should be un-challenged in its actions.
The rally cry of the anti-racists/anti-fascist around the world has been “No Pasarán” (none shall pass) a cry that had is origin Battle of Verdun between the French and Germany armies in World War I by French General Robert Nivelle and was the rallying call at the Battle of Cable street by the anti-racists/anti-fascist protestors against the British Fascists Oswald Mosley.
Its meaning is simple. The racists/fascist shall not go unchallenged.
Violence unfortunately does occur and often occurs. And it can never be advocated, encouraged or supported. But neither should demonstrations in support of racial hatred be seen as acceptable and go unchallenged.
It’s a very thin and treacherous path to walk between the two. But unfortunately still with all its perils and pit falls it is a path that has to be taken.
Bolton EDL March
Riot police battled to control thousands of rival demonstrators taking part in an ill-tempered city centre protest organised by a controversial right-wing group.
Hundreds of officers, some horse-mounted and armed with batons, separated supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) and members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF).
Two officers were injured following ugly clashes: one fractured a finger, the other was bitten by a police dog. A police helicopter was also dispatched to assist the officers on the ground. There was a total of 67 arrests, 55 of which were UAF supporters and the remaining 12 EDL, police said.
The EDL organised the rally in Bolton, Lancashire, to protest against "radical Muslims" and Sharia law. At its height there were some 2,000 EDL and a further 1,500 UAF protestors.
The main protest took place in front of the town hall, which was boarded up to prevent any damage. Many local pubs and shops closed and taxi firms pulled their drivers off the roads.
Council leaders had met with Home Secretary Alan Johnson earlier this week in a bid to ban the demonstration, but were told there was no power to do so unless it took place on private property.
Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, who is leading the operation for Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said: "Today in Bolton we have seen groups of people, predominantly associated with the UAF, engaging in violent confrontation.
“It is clear to me that a large number have attended with the sole intention of committing disorder and their actions have been wholly unacceptable. Turning their anger onto police officers they acted with, at times, extreme violence and their actions led to injuries to police officers, protesters and members of the public.
“The police are not and should not be the target of such violence and anger and this protest and the actions of some of the protesters is roundly condemned by GMP and by Bolton Council.
“Were it not for the professionalism and bravery of police officers many others would have been seriously injured."
By late afternoon protestors from both groups had been led away from the main town square. Officers frogmarched EDL demonstrators back towards the railway and bus stations, while they continued to chant: “We want our country back.”
UAF members left, chanting: “Whose streets? Our streets.”
Police will now review CCTV of the incident to identify people involved in inciting or committing disorder.
EDL protester Stuart Rogers, 31, from Bolton, draped in the English flag, said he was there “to support England, against the Taliban bombers”, adding: “All my family are in the Army - my dad, and my brother, who has just done 11 months in Afghanistan. Why are our troops out there when they should be at home?”
Among those arrested were UAF joint secretary Weymann Bennett, who organised the protest, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit violent disorder, and Martin Smith, who runs the Love Music Hate Racism campaign.
Second World War veteran Bertie Lois, 89, who protested with the UAF, said: “I fought the Second World War against these Nazis. What did I fight for if we let them? The EDL are the enemy. I would say to them ’you are the guys we fought for, what are you doing?’"
Simon Marsden, 37, also supported the UAF. He said: “Something has got to be done about these fascists who come into our town where there is no problem on the streets.
“They have come in trying to cause conflict. There is no room for them in this day and age.”
Louis Kang-Mascarenhis, a 19-year-old student, added: "I was very surprised by the number of EDL. They need to educate themselves. They are trying to stir up hatred by coming into a town with a large Asian population.”
Two UAF demonstrators were taken to hospital, one with a minor head injury and the other with a minor ear injury, police said. A 19-year-old man received treatment for an ongoing health problem and a 16-year-old girl was treated after suffering a panic attack.
The EDL describes itself as a peaceful, non-political group campaigning against “militant Islam”, but a previous rally in Manchester last year turned violent, resulting in 44 arrests and 10 injuries.
Party denies keeping photographs of its non-white candidates out to pander to the BNP's supporters
The Conservatives have been accused of "pandering to prejudice" by omitting pictures of their non-white election candidates from campaign literature in areas where they are fighting the BNP.
Claims by the Tory leader, David Cameron, to be promoting ethnic diversity were called into question after an entire series of campaign calendars issued in east London – the front line of the fight against the BNP – contained only photographs of their white candidates.
The Conservatives denied that the move amounted to deliberate "airbrushing" of ethnic minority candidates. They insisted that the lack of photographs of their non-white candidates on all campaign calendars dropped through letter boxes was because their list of candidates had not been completed when the material was published. But they could not explain why the names of the non-white candidates, and their phone numbers, did appear, suggesting they had already been signed up to campaign for seats on Barking and Dagenham council. When contacted by the Observer, one Tory council candidate, Wale Oguntona, who is of Nigerian descent, said: "I have been told that all inquiries have to be handled by Simon Jones [the parliamentary candidate]."
On Saturday night Simon Woolley, the national co-ordinator and founder of Operation Black Vote, which campaigns to promote black people in politics, said: "There is a clear intent from the Conservative party to airbrush its candidates out of these leaflets. It is extremely disappointing, given that the Conservative leadership recognises the power of the black vote. This is pandering to prejudice. You can either confront race hatred or pander to it, as they are doing by having only white faces on their material."
Woolley said the party was "covering itself" with the release of pictures that appeared to be cobbled together.
Margaret Mullane, a Labour council candidate, said she had never seen her Tory opponent, Samson Omosule, on the campaign trail. "It would appear they do not want to let the gentleman out. The Labour team has not seen him."
Sadiq Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting and minister of state for transport, said: "If everything is as it appears, this is very worrying. David Cameron talks of open politics and a changed Conservative party, but here it looks as though they are scared of acknowledging their own candidates.
The glossy calendars, bearing pictures of Cameron and Jones on the front, were distributed in wards across Dagenham and Rainham. They are key pieces of campaign literature designed for people to keep on their walls.
The Tories said it was "fiction" to suggest that non-white candidates had been left off deliberately and said there was plenty of material showing these candidates. They forwarded different material to the Observer with photographs of the non-white candidates prominently displayed. But it appeared that these images had been superimposed onto the new material so that they were next to their white colleagues. They were not original, group photos.
Operation Black Vote will publish research this week showing that the black and ethnic minority vote could significantly influence the result in more than 100 parliamentary seats. Cameron has made strenuous efforts to promote the idea of a racially diverse Conservative party, but critics say that in areas where the BNP is a force and there is strong anti-immigrant feeling, parties can be wary of promoting their non-white candidates.
There are fears that in local elections on 6 May the BNP could seize control of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It currently has 12 councillors to Labour's 37 and the Tories' two. In the Barking parliamentary seat, Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, is standing against Labour's Margaret Hodge.
Ian Austin, the communities minister, says in today's Observer that Labour needs to change its tactics to confront the BNP. "The old tactics of bans, pickets and protests no longer work. Legal action over membership rules is counterproductive, too. In the coming election, candidates from mainstream parties will have to take on the BNP at public meetings, win the argument and persuade voters the BNP is wrong."
The Tories have been embroiled in a row about immigration in nearby Romford, where leaflets were distributed claiming the floodgates had been opened to mass immigration. The materialwas said to be "promoted" by Andrew Rosindell, the local MP. Rosindell was quick to distance himself from the material a fortnight ago. He said: "I did not write or approve this flyer." But he later told the Romford Recorder: "I don't think they're inflammatory; it's how people feel." The Guardian
Twelve participants of a neo-Nazi organisation in suburban Paris have been sentenced to prison. The group, Nomad 88, gained public attention in May 2008 when three of its members went on a shooting spree to "purge" the suburbs of immigrants. The sentences, handed down Thursday by the Regional Court in Evry, south of the capital, ranged from two weeks probation to two and a half years for membership of the violent gang, and for arms possession. Two men, one of them the suspected leader of Nomad 88, were each ordered to pay damages of 5,000 euros. Defence lawyer David Dassa-Le Deist welcomed the verdict as "balanced”, while the public prosecutor, Marc de Cathelineau, said it did not judge the men “for their ideological aberration, but for their actions”. The men, who range in age from 20 to 37, had been arrested following their shooting spree at Saint-Michel-sur-Orge in May 2008, which did not leave any casualties. During a house search, weapons as well as extreme-right literature and objects were found, among them some bearing the portrait of Adolf Hitler and the swastika. The group called itself Nomad 88 in reference to “Heil Hitler”, with H being the eighth letter in the alphabet. Its rules stipulated that “to become a member you have to be white, national-socialist or racist”.
According to the Anti Racist Network (ARN), white-supremacist demonstrations are planned for B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Victoria on Sunday. What is traditionally the International Day for the Elimination of Racism, the neo-Nazis have declared White Pride Worldwide Day. ARN, the activist group No One Is Illegal (NOII), and others are preparing a counter-rally to confront white supremacist groups such as Blood and Honour Canada, and Advocates for White Civil Rights. “Several different groups and communities have called for a gathering to let them know they are not welcome and to celebrate our diversity to oppose their hatred and bigotry,” says NOII on its Web site. ARN says it expects hundreds to show up in support of multiculturalism. In Calgary, the neo-Nazi/white pride groups Aryan Guard and White European Bloodlines are also expected to rally. At last year’s event in Calgary, an estimated 500 anti-racists confronted 30 white supremacists, resulting in violence and three arrests. White pride demonstrations have taken place on the day in Calgary and Toronto in recent years, but observers say gatherings have not occurred in British Columbia for some time. Anita Bromberg, national director of Legal Affairs for B’nai Brith Canada, an organization that fights anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry, says members of the Aryan Guard in Ontario seem to have come together and set up in B.C. “It is unfortunate to see that this kind of open display of intolerance would come to the streets of any place in Canada,” said Bromberg. “To watch these guys march down the street if you were, for instance, a holocaust survivor—it's a pretty scary moment.” Bromberg follows and has studied the Web sites of groups such as the Aryan Guard and Storm Front, and says “a quick perusal would suggest that their attitudes are unfortunately very hurtful if not hateful.” Aryan Guard founder Kyle Mckee, who was arrested in Winnipeg last December, is charged with two counts of attempted murder in connection with a November bombing that police say targeted residents of a Calgary apartment.
Movement of Hate
March 21 has been recognized the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination since 1960 after the massacre of demonstrators demanding an end to apartheid in Sharpesville, South Africa. It has only been since 2000 that neo-Nazi and white nationalist organizations have claimed March 21 as White Pride Worldwide Day against what they call multi-racial supremacy. The white pride movement has been growing alongside a burgeoning music business worth more than $3.4 million, according to Interpol and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Ironically, although white power music has been driven underground due to bans throughout Europe, the United States has become a Mecca and haven for the industry due to First Amendment protections. Power music song lyrics fan feelings of anger, blind rage, and violent tendencies, and frequently include exhortations to kill. “In their view they're a victimized group because as more and more immigrants come into Canada they see their white world fading away,” says Bromberg. Just last week a man who had been suspended from his job at an Edmonton car dealership for making racial comments walked into his former place of work and opened fire, killing one man and seriously wounding another before turning the gun on himself. The man, described by his co-workers as a white supremacist, had a swastika tattooed on his body, according to news reports. The planned activities of neo-Nazi groups have spawned a countrywide network of racism-resistance groups who are firmly countering the aggression. The Calgary-based One People’s Project: Hate Has Consequences has declared on its Web site that it plans to confront the racist groups nonviolently should they show up. In the United States, a neo-Nazi group called the Illinois National Socialist Front is planning to march in Chicago on March 21. South Side Chicago Anti-Racist Action is calling for “other groups inside and outside of Chicago to stand with us against fascism,” and join in a counter-rally to confront the group. Bromberg supports the anti-racist groups’ actions, saying the best way to counter white supremacists is to “shine a light on their activities.” “No one is denying them their pride. What we're denying them is the right to be intolerant, because there is no such right in Canada,” Bromberg said. “We've seen how a belief in the supremacy of the white race once led the world into chaos,” she said. “We certainly don't want that intolerance here on our streets.”
China has accused Britain of putting on a political show after a UK review of human rights around the world was highly critical of Beijing.
The report, issued on Wednesday, named China as one of some 20 nations where there was cause for serious concern about human rights.
Burma, Zimbabwe and North Korea were also named as countries of concern.
The report said there had been a marked deterioration in some areas of human rights in China.
China's response was blunt. Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the fact that all the nations singled out were developing countries showed the report was "simply a political show".
He asked why Britain did not talk about itself and other Western nations which, he said, had violated human rights.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had released the report immediately after visiting China.
In Beijing he had raised the case of Gao Zhisheng, one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, who was taken away by police last year and has vanished.
The UK report highlighted as areas of concern China's increasing harassment of defence lawyers and the detention of human rights activists.
Mr Qin was asked several times about Gao Zhisheng's case but he said he had nothing to add.
He then asked reporters to stop asking about the case, saying: "I will not answer you", adding "so I hope you will give up such efforts". BBC News
The UN day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has been on the global calendar for 35 years, but experts say there's a long way to go before it becomes redundant. Not least due to a rise in Islamophobia.
When the twin towers came crashing to the ground on September 11th 2001, little could have prepared Muslim communities across the Western world for the fallout that was to land in their laps. In the immediate aftermath there was a rapid increase in attacks against members of Muslim communities, a rise in vandalism of mosques and a general sense of marginalisation.
And many Muslims would say that feeling of having been pushed away from mainstream society has never gone away. A study on discrimination against Muslims conducted by the Fundamental Rights Agency last year revealed that one in three participants had been at the receiving end of discriminatory behavior in the previous 12 months.
It is such statistics which have ushered the term Islamophobia into the English language, but for all its usage, there is some disagreement about what it actually means, whether it refers to anti-religious or anti-racial sentiment. Are Muslims being discriminated against on race grounds?
Sarah Isal, deputy director of the Runnymede Trust racial equality think tank says yes.
"Islamophobia in the way we mean it is about the very real discrimination faced by a particular group because of the perception of belonging to a particular religion," she said. "So in that sense it is used as a proxy for racism."
Moreover, she told Deutsche Welle, that although Islamic groups are now facing heightened levels of discrimination, they have been the target of racial prejudice for a long time.
Changing identity
What is new however, is that while once upon a time Muslims in the West might have referred to themselves as Asian, and viewed themselves as part of a wider ethnic minority group, they now describe themselves as Muslim.
And in keeping with that pattern of identification, there have been great efforts in recent years to make the Muslim community easily accessible to those outside it. But Islamophobia expert Dr. Chris Allen told Deutsche Welle that such initiatives are not necessarily the best way to promote tolerance.
"People have said if we increase understanding about Islam then people will become more aware and the prejudice will disappear," he said. "But I think that is a naïve approach."
Allen believes that non-mosque-goers don't need to know about Friday prayers, but should understand acceptance as a social phenomenon and learn that discrimination and anti-Muslim sentiment do not have a place in the modern world.
"Let's talk about the problem and not about Islam as the problem," he said. "To address Islamophobia, we don't need to talk on an inter-faith basis, but we need to get Muslims to be seen as 'normal'."
To do that he says it is crucial to look at areas of common ground among all ethnic and religious groups and for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike to stop apportioning and accepting unrealistic blame.
"If someone commits a terrorist attack, let's not apologize because they might have some commonality with someone else elsewhere."
What's 'normal' anyway?
But pushing the notion of 'normal' and making people open their eyes to what they don't want to see is never going to be easy, not in Europe and not across the Atlantic.
Bill Hackwell, an organiser with the US anti-racism A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition told Deutsche Welle that racial discrimination is alive and kicking throughout America, and that the situation has been going from bad to worse, exacerbated by the global recession.
"There has been an attempt to scapegoat the economic crisis on the back of immigrant workers who make up a large part of the workforce," he told Deutsche Welle
People have lost the standard of living they had become accustomed to and this hardship has led to an increase in reactionary groups that whip up anti-immigrant feelings.
But while Hackwell acknowledges this trend as a very real problem, he says xenophobic attitudes are as much about events in the past as anxiety over the future. Even though civil rights were finally won in the states in 1964, the victory was the result of a struggle and not sudden public enlightenment. And that struggle, Hackwell says, is still going on today.
He cites lynchings and unfounded detentions in the south and explosive unemployment and incarceration rates for African Americans as proof of the racial inequality that still rumbles and rages inside the belly of the world's largest democratic power.
"The US likes to talk about democracy, but nothing could be further from the truth if you are a person of colour," he said. "An African American male has more chance of ending up in prison than at college."
Obama the savior?
So has Obama done anything to change that? "Nothing," says Hackwell.
"Just because we now have an African-American president, which in and of itself was a tremendous feat, that is only one person and that doesn't change the very basic direction of the system and the system is very racist. The US is a very racist country."
But looking in to America from the other side of the water, Obama's election is seen as a definite step forward and something for European societies to aspire. Because as it stands there's not a one among them which is anywhere near offering the job of head of state or government to a member of an ethnic minority.
Friday the 19th, two day's before international anti-racism day European human rights and anti-Racism bodies released a statement in regard to racism and xenophobia with an emphasis on the internet.
EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES CALL FOR DECISIVE ACTION AGAINST RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA
In a joint statement ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) strongly condemn manifestations of racism and xenophobia, with a particular focus on the Internet:
"We must remain vigilant in the face of racist behaviour and incidents, including hate crimes and malicious expressions of hate and racist sentiments on the Internet.
"Our organizations are alarmed by patterns and manifestations of racism such as the ever-increasing use of the Internet by racist groups for recruitment, radicalisation, command and control, as well as for the intimidation and harassment of opponents. The Internet has become an important communications channel that links people in 'cyberspace', who then meet and take action in the physical world.
"Social networking sites are now prime locations for the spread of racist and xenophobic views, especially among young people. We must challenge such views, while being careful not to undermine freedom of expression.
"The danger emanating from hate spread through the Internet has long been recognized by the international community and our organizations dedicate serious attention to this issue. Prominent examples include ECRI's General Policy Recommendation N° 6 on Combating the Dissemination of Racist, Xenophobic and Antisemitic Material via the Internet and the upcoming 22 March ODIHR expert meeting on challenges of combating crimes motivated by hate on the Internet.
"At the same time, we strongly believe in the Internet's huge potential to overcome bias and prejudices based on characteristics including race, colour, language, nationality or national origin or religion. This potential should be fully utilized.
"We, the signatories of this statement, believe that:
+ governments should investigate and prosecute criminal threats of violence based on racial, ethnic, religious or other bias and fully use existing domestic and international legal instruments and co-operation channels in this regard;
+ governments should provide training to law enforcement officers and prosecutors on addressing hate crimes motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias on the Internet;
+ governments should reflect on whether national legislation provides an adequate basis to respond to crimes motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias on the Internet;
+ governments should establish or expand educational programmes for children and young people about expressions motivated by racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or other related bias they may encounter on the Internet and include media literacy training in school curricula;
+ effective measures addressing hate on the Internet that do not endanger freedom of speech and expression should be identified and disseminated;
+ civil society should explore ways of utilizing the popularity of social networking sites to combat racism;
+ civil society's efforts to monitor the Internet for manifestations of hate, and efforts to share and publicise the findings should be encouraged and supported;
+ the Internet industry should take an active role in addressing the issue of hate on the Internet and develop and implement effective complaints response mechanisms while respecting freedom of expression."
Ambassador Janez Lenarcic
Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
Morten Kjaerum
Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Nils Muiznieks
Chair of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)
The General assembly of the United Nations declared 21 March the International Day for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. This day was implemented as a reaction to the murder of 70 anti-apartheid demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa, in 1960. Apartheid was a legal system of racial segregation enforced by the government of South Africa between 1948 and 1990. Not even 20 years have passed by since this hard-line institutional racism was abolished and still segregating ideologies based on ‘race’ can be recognised everyday. The winning thought is that there is only one race: the human race!
Each year around 21 March UNITED coordinates the European-wide Action Week Against Racism. Activists, NGO’s, universities, schools, municipalities and a wide variety of different organisations carry out hundreds of activities all around Europe in order to make a change. Through the actions implemented during the annual campaign thousands of people all over Europe actively engage themselves for tolerance, equal rights and celebrate the diversity of Europe. The activities taking place in the Action Week range from very basic poster actions in schools, public and working places, to intercultural youth festivals, street actions, lectures, living libraries, film screenings, conferences, multicultural football games or cleaning the walls from racist graffiti and many, many more.
for activities in your country that you can get involved with please click the link below.
