Cardiff fan sentenced for racist attack in London (UK)

A Cardiff City fan who attacked a fellow Bluebirds supporter in the mistaken belief he was English has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Probation officer Allan Robertson, 48, of Pontypridd, throttled Michael Bitti then punched him in the head.
He wrongly believed Mr Bitti, 42, was a rival Arsenal fan and started a row with him in a London pub toilet.
Robertson was sentenced to nine months, suspended for two years, at Blackfriars Crown Court.

He was also given a 12-month supervision order and banned from football matches for three years.
The married father-of-three had been found guilty of racially aggravated assault at a previous hearing.
Judge Deva Pillay said Robertson attacked insurance underwriter Mr Bitti without warning and without any provocation whatsoever.
"I have no doubt that you attacked him because you thought, wrongly as it turned out, he was an Arsenal supporter," said the judge.

"Having pushed him against the far wall of the toilet and having committed that initial assault you resumed that attack once one of your associates had entered the toilet and blocked the exit door.
"This was a cowardly attack upon an innocent man which resulted in injuries. So traumatised was Mr Bitti that he has not since attended an away game.
"I continue to fail to understand what madness possesses you and many others like you who normally live respectable and responsible lives to lose self control and responsibility, and descend into this kind of anarchical behaviour."
Robertson was also ordered to perform 100 hours unpaid work, and the judge added: "You know what that means, being a probation officer."

'Looking for trouble'
The court heard Robertson had resigned from his job and the case had left him facing financial ruin.
His wife and two of his grown-up daughters were in tears throughout the hearing.
The jury had been told Robertson was "charged up and looking for trouble" when he assaulted Mr Bitti at the Phibbers pub in Islington on 16 February last year.
Following the incident, Robertson went to the Emirates Stadium to watch Cardiff lose 4-0 to Arsenal in an FA Cup replay.
He was photographed at the stadium making obscene gestures and behaving like a thug, the jury was told.
Robertson had travelled to London on a coach of Cardiff fans, including his niece and sister.

Exploded in rage
He drank three cans of lager during the journey and went with a small group to the pub for a drink later in the afternoon.
Robertson was said to have taken offence when he heard Mr Bitti talking to his son about whether trouble would "kick off" in the pub.
He assumed Mr Bitti was a rival, asked him about his comments and exploded in rage.
The court was told Robertson swore and racially abused Mr Bitti for being English, and attacked him in front of his teenage son.

Mr Bitti was badly bruised on his hip and head.

Robertson, who had worked for the probation service for 17 years, said he only pushed Mr Bitti out of his way because he had felt threatened, and denied he had uttered a racial slur.

BBC News

Orange Order 'must distance itself from BNP candidate'

An assembly member has called on the Orange Order to distance itself from a member who is to stand as a BNP candidate in the general election.

Nick Baker, a district master of the Orange Order in Devon, is to contest Torridge and West Devon for the far right party.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland has refused to comment on the issue.
However, Alliance MLA Anna Lo said: "I really think they should distance themselves from Nick Baker."

Describing the BNP as a "xenophobic, bigoted party", Ms Lo added "the Orange Order here should not want to have anything to do with his standing in this party".
"I certainly believe that they need to make it very clear that they have nothing to do with him and they don't support his views, they don't support him standing for the BNP for the next general election and the Orange Order here do not support racism," she said.
The order has said the issue was a matter for the Grand Lodge of England.
Its grand master, Ron Bather, told the Irish News newspaper: "As an institution we try not to interfere with the political views of any of our members.
"We're not a far-right organisation. We have members from all over the world but ore members are entitled to stand for whatever political organisation they so wish.
"It doesn't mean that the institution supports those views in any way."
On its website, the BNP describes Mr Baker as "a family man who is deeply concerned over the implications of economic decline and growing national debt which will burden generations yet to come.
"He is opposed to Britain's participation in the Afghanistan conflict and will campaign for the immediate withdrawal of our forces from that country."

Protester jailed for race attack in Luton (UK)

A 19-year-old man has been jailed for 16 months after he was found guilty of racially aggravated assault during a protest in Bedfordshire.

Kier McElroy hit an Asian man with a banner in a shop doorway in Chapel Street, Luton, on 24 May last year.
Jurors at Luton Crown Court found McElroy guilty of racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm on student Venkateswara Muppalla.
He had earlier admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

However, he denied he was racist.

He also pleaded guilty to a second charge of affray, which resulted from his actions that day when he said he was drunk.
The assaulted Asian man was cornered by a group of people marching in protest over an earlier demonstration by a group of Muslims at a parade by the Royal Anglian Regiment in Luton.

BBC News
 
The Times newspaper wrote a great item about this event in 2009. Inluding EDL's Paul Ray's involvment.
The item can be found Here

‘Racist’ London BNP chief threatened with suspension

The BNP's London campaign chief was today facing suspension as a councillor after launching a racist “tirade” against Nigerian church-goers.

Bob Bailey, 44, took an “antagonistic and offensive” tone when a black pastor applied for planning permission to convert Barking offices into a church.
A meeting in Barking town hall was in uproar when Mr Bailey said: “We don't want any more Nigerian churches in the borough.” The public gallery was packed with members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
He said he had visited the premises and told the planning committee meeting last July: “These people eat off the ground.” He added: “We don't want the amount of black children.” A rival councillor called him a “racist pig”.
Barking and Dagenham council's standards committee was meeting today to decide whether to suspend the leader of the 12-strong BNP opposition for up to six months.
A preliminary report by the council's monitoring officer found that Mr Bailey, a former Royal Marine, had brought the authority into disrepute, failed to treat others with respect and may have breached equality laws.

Mr Bailey, who was said by a doctor last year to have a “possible personality disorder” when he claimed that he was banned from driving because of “conspiracy against the indigenous people”, is responsible for the BNP's London campaign in the general election and borough elections.
Barking is the BNP's number one target seat as its national leader Nick Griffin is standing against the sitting Labour MP, Margaret Hodge.
The church, whose 400-strong congregation is predominantly Nigerian, was granted permission to convert offices into a place of worship, despite Mr Bailey voting against.
He was said to have breached planning laws by “closing his mind” and being “biased” against the application. He claimed there were already more than 20 Nigerian churches in the borough — the most in London and more than any other denomination.
The council report said: “Mr Bailey made a series of comments expressed in a derogatory tone. The comments were intended to, and did in fact, cause offence on racial grounds.”
Pastor Thomas Aderounmu, 55, of the Redeemed Church, said today the remarks would encourage ethnic minorities to vote against the BNP in May.
He said: “It was just derogatory statements. He was very specific on Nigeria. I don't know what Nigerians have done to him. It was very personal. Their actions will work against them.”

This Is London

'Orange Order in BNP link'

A LEADING member of the Orange Order is to stand for the BNP in the forthcoming election, it is reported.

Nick Blake, a district master of a Lodge in Devon, England, has been selected as a candidate for the far-right extremist party.
The news comes in the aftermath of the Grand Lodge in Ireland issuing a statement this week vocing its opposition to a planned visit to the UK by Pope Benedict XVI in September.
According to the Irish News, a spokesman for the Grand Lodge refused to comment on the development.
"It's a matter for the grand lodge of England and not a matter for the grand lodge of Ireland at all," he said.

"People stand for all sorts of political parties."
However, English Grand Master Ron Bather declined to disassociate himself from the Orangeman's political role.
"As an institution we try not to interfere with the political views of any of our members.

"We're not a far-right organisation. We have members from all over the world but our members are entitled to stand for whatever political organisation they so wish.

"It doesn't mean that the institution supports those views in any way."
Alliance MLA Anna Lo urged the Orange Order to take action against Mr Blake.
newsletter

MPs join forces in bid to fight the BNP at the polls

Three of Portsmouth's leading politicians have agreed to unite against the BNP at the general election.

While Mike Hancock, Sarah McCarthy-Fry and Flick Drummond may sit on opposing sides of the democratic divide, all have pledged to include anti-fascist messages on their election leaflets and communications.
The pact was made last night at a meeting of Portsmouth Unite Against Fascism at which 130 people pledged their opposition to BNP candidate Geoff Crompton, who will stand in Portsmouth South at the next election.
It was estimated by organiser Simon Magorian as the biggest ever Portsmouth anti-fascist rally.

He said: 'People of all ages and political opinions came. 'They know we can stop the fascists. I was at the Anti-Nazi League Portsmouth launch in 1977. This was bigger. It was the biggest ever.'
Mr Hancock and Ms McCarthy-Fry spoke, along with UAF national secretary Weyman Bennett and local group leaders.
Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Portsmouth South Flick Drummond was in the audience, while Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, sent apologies.
Ms McCarthy-Fry, Labour MP for Portsmouth North, said: 'We have weeks to debate party politics, but we're all united against the BNP.
'They pretend not to be racists, but very quickly their concern about crime turns into blaming it on asylum seekers.'
Mr Hancock, the Lib Dem Portsmouth South MP agreed: 'Its manifesto is about dividing communities. We stand together against them. We love our city - it's all about its diverse community.
'We will stand up for that, and for each other in the face of these bullies. We will all include clear messages on our communication that we oppose these fascists.'
Weyman Bennett said: 'The BNP is a fascist party attempting to win respectability. But we've already won an important battle.
'Its policies are racist but they fear to admit it in public. That's because people don't want to be associated with racism. Together, we can build on that.'
Lizzie Hug, 18, an art student from Portsmouth, said: 'The rise of the BNP scares me. Racist graffitti is springing up. We have to stand up against it. The UAF can make a difference and it's important people stand up to be counted.'
Paul Smitherman, 58, of Esslemont Road, Southsea, said: 'People here in Portsmouth look at who you are, not what colour your skin is. The BNP isn't a democratic party because they want to take away rights of people on the basis of what they look like. We have to take them on and show them their ideas are rubbish.
portsmouth

Cops fined over racist remarks (Sweden)

Two police officers have each been docked five days' wages for racist slurs made during disturbances in Malmö's Rosengård district in December 2008.
The comments came to light when a police video was presented as evidence in a court case against one of the alleged ring leaders for the unrest.

In the film sequence, officers make a number of racist and threatening comments

“You little monkey son of a bitch. Should I make him sterile when I catch him?" said one police officer on the tape.
"Yeah, he’s going to get beaten so badly that he won’t be able to stand on his own two legs," answered a colleague.
The police disciplinary measure follows an internal investigation after criminal charges against the officer were dropped last summer.
"Your statements are totally unacceptable and are in serious contravention of the values that should run through all police work," the disciplinary committee told the officers.
One of the officers was initially suspected of having committed agitation against ethnic groups (hets mot folkgrupp) in connection with police efforts to quell disturbances in which a number of people with immigrant backgrounds were involved.

The investigation revealed that the radio traffic was being monitored by the head of the unit, who was sitting at the front of the van.

The officer in question sat furthest back. There was limited communication due to the disturbances. On that occasion, police were using a new radio system with encrypted transmissions.

The unit head said the officer's statement was not heard by anyone outside of the van.
The Local Sweden

Lesbian Holocaust memorial plan upsets historians (Germany)

Holocaust scholars on Thursday attacked a bid to include images of kissing lesbians in a monument dedicated to the thousands of homosexuals persecuted by the Nazis, saying it distorted history.

The monument was erected in May 2008 opposite the city's large memorial to the six million Jewish Holocaust victims.

It is currently comprised of a concrete slab with a window through which viewers can watch a video of a "never-ending" kiss between two men.
Under the original plans, the video is to change every two years to feature two women locked in an embrace, meaning the switch is due in May.
But Alexander Zinn, a board member of the foundation that maintains the former Nazi concentration camps near Berlin, said such a move would distort history as there were no known Holocaust victims targeted for being lesbian.
"Historical truth must remain the focus," Zinn told AFP.
He has banded together with other Holocaust experts and fired off a letter of protest to Culture Minister Michael Neumann and Berlin's openly gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit.
Neumann defended the plans as true to the original concept of the memorial in addressing present-day discrimination against lesbians and gays as well as the plight of homosexuals at the hands of the Nazis.

"The option of using a lesbian film motif in the memorial is in no way meant to put on the same level the persecution of homosexual men and women under the Nazi regime," he said in a statement.

"Research shows that the persecution of lesbian women by the Nazi regime was not comparable to that of homosexual men. This is also clearly explained in a plaque on the memorial."
It is estimated that the Nazis sent between 5,000 and 15,000 gay men to concentration camps together with Jews, political opponents, gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses and others considered undesirable.
Once there, few were killed right away. Rather, they were held under degrading conditions, and subjected to hunger, disease, abuse and exhaustion. Very few returned.
A jury is to take a decision about the next video used at the memorial in the coming weeks.
The Local Germay

Union urges papers to ban BNP adverts

Newspapers warned of consequences of accepting political ads in the election

Editors of local newspapers in London boroughs targeted by the BNP have been called on to reject political advertising by the far-right party.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bectu, the media and entertainment union, and the campaign group, Expose the BNP, have written to local newspapers in Barking and Dagenham, Romford and Havering urging them to resist pressure from the BNP.
The party is fielding 154 candidates at the general election.
In 2008, Archant London, one of the country's biggest media groups, caused outrage after it printed BNP adverts for the Greater London Authority elections in its London newspapers, including the Ham & High and Hackney Gazette.

Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the NUJ, said: "Newspapers should not take money from an organisation that advocates racist policies that would directly discriminate against the communities they serve.
"Publishing ads from far-right organisations seriously threatens the reputation of a company's titles and journalists."
Alexandra Fawcett, a media lawyer at Mishcon de Reya, said: "Newspapers are entitled to publish or reject adverts as they see fit.
"In deciding whether to run the BNP's adverts, each paper will weigh the financial benefit of publishing against the likely reputational damage of associating their brand with an organisation like the BNP.
"As a private company, a paper's decision isn't open to challenge under the Human Rights Act even though refusing to run the adverts might impact on the BNP's right to free speech."
Mary Brodbin, of Expose the BNP, observed: "The BNP is not a normal, respectable or legitimate political party –- it is an organisation that aims to disenfranchise a significant section of British society, and it encourages violence to achieve those ends.
"No newspaper can afford to be associated with the BNP and its methods."
A spokesman at the Board of Deputies praised the campaign and said: "The BNP are entitled to peddle their twisted ideology just as newspaper editors and the NUJ are entitled to contribute to the fight against them by seeking to curtail their advertising campaigns.
"The NUJ is to be congratulated for its principled stance."
The Board is urging communities to "support any party of their choice which stands opposed to the destructive politics of hatred, to vote for freedom not fear, partnerships not prejudice, and hope not hate".
A spokesman for the BNP said that the appeal was "disgraceful" and an "outrageous" attempt to "silence free speech".

the jc

BNP barred from election debate (UK)

The British National Party has sensationally been barred from attending an election debate this evening.

A row had broken out locally after Hastings MP Michael Foster refused to share the stage with his BNP rival Nick Prince at the hustings at the Crown House, Marina, St Leonards.
This led to Tory hopeful Amber Rudd and Lib Dem candidate Nick Perry also pulling out of the event.

This would have left just representatives of the BNP, United Kingdon Independence Party and the English Democrats.
However, the organiser of the event confirmed to the Observer this afternoon that the BNP candidate had had his invitation taken away.
Brett McLean arranged the debate in his role as head of the local Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and described Mr Foster's stance as "a nail in the coffin for democracy".
However, he has been left facing an embarrassing climb-down after the national heads of the FSB ordered him to exclude the far-right party.
He explained to the Observer: "I was told that the FSB wants nothing at all to do with the British National Party."
The Observer was unable to contact Mr Foster to ask whether he would now reconsider appearing.
However, the MP had previously said he would turn up to the hustings - which gets underway at 6pm - and leave if the BNP were present.
Anti-fascists have also planned a series of demonstrations outside the venue and everyone going in will have to agree to be searched.
Bexhill Observer

Suspect in hate crime attack turns himself in (Oregon, USA)

A second suspect in an alleged hate crime attack against a Jewish man in Eugene, Ore., has turned himself in.

The suspect was charged Wednesday with second-degree assault in connection with the attack.
Police first made an arrest in the case Monday.

The Jewish man, 33, was attacked twice an hour apart on Saturday night near the University of Oregon campus, according to the Oregonian newspaper. Two men punched and kicked him and, during the second assault, shouted anti-Semitic slurs.

Eugene Police Sgt. Kris Martes told KVAL News that the assault is considered a hate crime.
"The purpose and the motivation behind the crime, according to the victim, is his religious orientation," Martes said.

The alleged attackers, all transients, reportedly knew each other


JTA

FACEBOOK GROUP AGAINST ROMANES LANGUAGE IN CZECH SCHOOLS: 40 000 STRONG

group that disagrees with the decision to introduce Romanes language instruction in the Czech schools has started up on the social networking site Facebook. By Monday afternoon it had more than 40 000 fans, Lidové noviny (LN) reported yesterday. Last week the paper reported on the Czech Education Ministry’s intention to introduce Romanes as an elective subject at schools. Shortly thereafter, a group entitled “Petition against teaching Romanes at Czech schools” was created on the internet. The instruction in Romanes would be an elective subject. Strong racist and xenophobic comments on the idea are cropping up on the internet. LN reports that police may investigate the Facebook group. Detectives normally follow all such groups and their web pages. "If the content published is illegal, people who contribute to the pages could face prosecution,” police spokesperson Pavla Kopecká said. LN reports the group includes mostly high school students and youth. According to Gabriela Hrabaòová, director of the Czech Government Council for Roma Community Affairs, it is evident that there is a need to perform Roma outreach in the schools. "This group corresponds to the society-wide anti-Roma mood. The general awareness about the Roma could be changed if teachers were to speak about Roma culture and history with children in schools,” Hrabaòová said. The Czech Education Ministry has long planned to get more Romani children into elementary schools. Currently, these children often end up in former “special schools”, which are intended for children with light mental disability. Moreover, the ministry wants teachers themselves to focus on Roma culture and history, for example, during civics or history lessons. In many cases, school would be the first place children could learn information about the Roma that would be neither racist nor xenophobic. The Czech Government agrees with the ministry’s intentions and has recently approved a National Action Plan which counts on regular schools including more disabled children, as well as more Romani children, into mainstream education. Romanes language instruction would only be attended by children who have a genuine interest in it. LN reports that under no circumstances would it be introduced across the board as an obligatory subject, as most of the Facebook group members believe.

JEWISH SCHOOL IN BULGARIA VANDALIZED

Anti-Semitic graffiti was spray painted on the walls of a Jewish school in the capital of Bulgaria. A Star of David equated with a Nazi swastika and the words "stop occupation" were spray painted on the wall of the Dimcho Debeljanov Jewish School, the only Jewish school in Sofia. The vandalism occurred on Sunday, according to the European Jewish Press. It is apparently linked to current events in Israel. “This act of vandalism has been made a week before the Jewish holiday of Pesach and the Christian Easter. At a time when all people, without difference in ethnicity or religion, should open their hearts for the good, these vandals have sown hate; hate which verges on terrorism… We appeal to citizens and to civil society to react definitely against such acts and to remember that whoever sows hate today reaps storms tomorrow,” read an official statement from Shalom, which represents the Jewish community of Bulgaria. There are about 5,000 Jews living in Bulgaria. “Bulgaria is justifiably proud of its friendly and protective relations with its Jewish community. World ORT trusts that this outstanding tradition will be translated into constructive efforts to ensure that the ugly upsurge in anti-Semitism seen in so many parts of the world does not manifest itself in your beautiful country,” World ORT, which supports the school, said in a letter sent to Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education.


JTA

THOUSANDS SET TO PROTEST AUSTRIAN FAR-RIGHT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

Up to 5,000 protesters were expected at a demonstration against Austrian far-right presidential hopeful Barbara Rosenkranz in Vienna on Thursday, organizers said. Rosenkranz's nomination has sparked an outcry across the country, as media and politicians of various parties have condemned the Freedom Party politician for her criticism of the law that bans revisionist propaganda and neo-Nazi activities. Although Rosenkranz has retracted the comments and made clear she does not doubt the existence of gas chambers in Hitler's concentration camps, she remains a controversial figure ahead of the April 25 election. The demonstration in front of the Hofburg presidential office was organized largely with the help of a social network group on the internet that has attracted over 88,000 members. Support comes also from various leftist organizations and parties, former centre-right Vice Chancellor Erhard Busek, and by Jewish and Muslim groups. 'We don't want such a racist politician to enter the Hofburg,' said Wolfgang Moitzi, the head of the Social Democrat's youth organization and an organizer of the event. According to the latest polls, current President Heinz Fischer of the Social Democrats is expected to win a second term in this largely ceremonial office, with 81 per cent of the votes. Last week's poll by News magazine saw Rosenkranz at 19 per cent. No other major parties fielded candidates, owing to Fischer's popularity and the fact that a challenger has so far never defeated an incumbent in a presidential election.


dpa

Neo-Nazi's estranged wife admits kicking police (New Zeland)

The estranged wife of convicted murderer Hayden McKenzie has been sentenced to community work after she admitted spitting into a police officer's mouth and kicking two officers in the groin.

Kylie Jade McKenzie, 28, of Westport, admitted in Westport District Court obstructing police, resisting police, and three charges of assaulting police.

Prosecuting, Sergeant Mark Harris said McKenzie, a solo mother, had been at the Cosmopolitan Hotel on New Year's Eve drinking with her family.

Her family had left the bar and taken their glasses of alcohol onto the street.

After a scuffle, police had arrested McKenzie's brother and she became aggressive.

She tried to pull police from her brother to stop them handcuffing him. She then spat directly into a police officer's mouth and continued to shout abuse. After attempting to run from police, she kicked two officers in the groin.

Defending, Doug Taffs said his client had been under an enormous amount of stress.

She had "lost the plot (and) everything snapped" when she saw police arrest her brother.

Her husband was in prison for his involvement in two murders: Korean backpacker Jae Hyeon Kim in 2003 and Westport man James Bambrough in 1999.
During the period when both murders occurred, he was a member of a violent neo-Nazi gang.

His client had been desperately in love with Hayden McKenzie and felt badly let down, although she had since filed for divorce.
Mr Taffs said McKenzie had helped police with their inquiries into her husband's involvement in the murders and had faced threats as a result.
Judge Emma Smith acknowledged the stresses McKenzie had faced in her life.

However, that did not justify her behaviour.

"I cannot abide spitting, it's designed to cause distress and it did," Ms Smith said.
McKenzie pleaded guilty to all charges and Judge Smith convicted her on three charges of assault and sentenced her to 80 hours of community work. She was convicted and discharged for obstructing and resisting police.
NZ Herald

Top Migration Agency Official Denies Racism is a Problem in Russia

'No grounds for concern' over racist attacks in Russia - migration service Interfax states
Moscow, 20 March: The Federal Migration Service (FMS) does not agree with the opinion that the level of xenophobia and attacks because of ethnic intolerance have taken on menacing proportions.

"To say that in Russia foreign citizens are being victimized en masse is stupid. There are isolated incidents. There are no grounds for concern," the deputy head of the international and public relations directorate of the FMS, Konstantin Poltoranin, told Interfax today.
He reported that crimes due to aggressive xenophobia are committed in some Russian regions.

"Such attacks are an echo of various ill-conceived populist statements which some of our politicians and officials make," Poltoranin said.
According to him, xenophobic crimes harm the image of the country and are interpreted negatively in neighbouring countries. Poltoranin also said that a new subdivision will be created in the FMS
which will work on issues of increasing tolerance.
"The decision has been taking on creating a directorate in the FMS which will work on issues of tolerance and the integration of foreign citizens. This directorate will cooperate closely with Russian state
structures and will work with ethnic diasporas and public organizations, including human rights activists," Poltoranin said.
Director of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau Aleksandr Brod told Interfax today that from January to mid-March, 31 xenophobic attacks were recorded in Russia; as a result 10 people were killed and 28 were
injured.
Citing the results of monitoring, Brod reported that most aggressive xenophobic attacks this year have been recorded in Moscow and Moscow Region, Altay Territory, Vladivostok, Nizhniy Novgorod and KaliningradRegions and St Petersburg.
In Russia this year, Kyrgyz nationals, Koreans, Russians, Uzbeks and people from Africa have most often been the target of attacks by radical nationalists.
Rights activists have said that activists of radical nationalist organizations who attack people from the Caucasus and Central Asia, representatives of youth subcultures and sexual minorities, number tens of thousands in Russia.
At the end of January 2010 the Sova centre, which also monitors xenophobia, distributed a report which noted that the number of xenophobic attacks in the Russian Federation has begun to decrease in
recent years.
"The year 2009 was the first in more than the six-year history of our monitoring when the number of incidents connected with racist and neo-Nazi violence has substantially decreased, although its level remains frighteningly high," it says in the Sova report.
It notes that in 2008 and 2009 the law-enforcement agencies eliminated the largest and most aggressive ultra-right-wing groups in Moscow Region.
UCSJ

Birmingham barrister set to stand as BNP election candidate

A BIRMINGHAM barrister is set to stand in the General Election as a BNP candidate, according to the party’s website.

Robert Grierson will contest Sutton Coldfield – which is held by Conservative Andrew Mitchell with a majority of more than 12,000.

Mr Grierson has been a barrister for 18 years specialising in tax, trust, wills and estates work.

He is currently a door tenant at St Philip Chambers in Birmingham city centre, which means he works with the Chambers but is not a member.

James Burbidge QC, head of the Chambers, said he was previously unaware of his involvement with the BNP.

“Mr Grierson’s political persuasions, his beliefs and his association with the British National Party were not known to Chambers when he applied for and was accepted for a door tenancy,” Mr Burbidge said.

“As is well known across the Midlands and in the wider legal community, St Philips Chambers operate a strict non-discriminatory policy towards its members, staff, lay and professional clients and members of the public alike.”

Mr Grierson and the BNP were unavailable for comment but he told the BNP website he believed he had a chance of making an impact on May 6.
“I am certain I can provide an effective challenge to the sitting Tory MP in Sutton Coldfield,” he said.

According to the website, Mr Grierson was born in Witton and educated at King Edward’s School before attending Downing College Cambridge, the same as BNP leader Nick Griffin.

MP Tom Watson (Lab, West Bromwich East) said the revelation that a barrister was standing in the West Midlands for the BNP would trouble many in the business community.

He said: “I’m sure no self-respecting business would want to use the services of a barrister standing for a party which holds such extreme views.”

birminghammail

Democratic Forum (MDF) PM candidate Bokros warns of far-right radicalism (Hungary)

Lajos Bokros, prime minister-candidate of the conservative Democratic Forum (MDF), said in a press interview that the checks and balances of Hungary's democratic system are out of kilter and far-right radicalism has become a huge problem in Hungary.

Interviewed by news portal hvg.hu, Bokros said he shared the opinion of Democratic Forum members of parliament who voted for a recent amendment to the Penal Code, making Holocaust denial punishable by the law.
"Hungary cannot allow itself to interpret freedom of speech without any limits because this would violate the human rights of others and upset the sound checks and balances," he said.
"Hungary is not the United States. Perhaps in 100 to 150 years it will become that. Then this law can be repealed," he said.
An economic reformer, Lajos Bokros was finance minister in Gyula Horn's socialist-liberal government in 1995-1996. He is famed for his eponymous austerity package, which successfully dug Hungary out of its economic hole in the mid-nineties.

Politics HU

Gay-hate imam to speak at Swedish conference

An organisation for young Muslims in Sweden has outraged the country's largest gay rights group by inviting an imam in favour of executing homosexuals to speak at its April conference.
US-born preacher Sheikh Abdullah Hakim Quick, who has described Jews as "filthy" and advocates the execution of homosexuals, is scheduled to speak at the Sveriges Unga Muslimer ('Sweden's Young Muslims') conference this Easter weekend.

The Muslim group has claimed it was unaware of Hakim Quick's extreme views when the booking was made but said it would not remove him from the roster as this would disrupt the conference schedule.

"That's no excuse, it just shows a complete lack of responsibility," said Sören Juvas, chairperson of Swedish gay rights group RFSL.
Juvas expressed fury that the hateful preacher was to receive a platform in Sweden on which to air his extreme views.
"I was previously under the impression that this organisation respected principles of equal rights for everybody but now it seems they couldn't care less about the values they claim to stand for," he told The Local.
"If the roles were reversed and we had found out that one of our speakers was Islamophobic then we would have immediately retracted the invitation."
Mohammed Kharraki, vice chairperson of Sveriges Unga Muslimer, did not return The Local's calls on Wednesday.
In a statement released on its website on Wednesday afternoon, however, the organisation defended its decision to allow Hakim Quick to speak and claimed it was the victim of a smear campaign launched by Liberal Party politician Philip Wendahl.
Wendahl called last week, in an article published by opinion website Newsmill, for the Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs (Ungdomsstyrelsen) to withhold 1.5 million kronor ($200,000) in funding earmarked for Sweden's largest Muslim youth group in 2010.
Dismissing Wendahl as a politician with an alleged anti-Muslim agenda, the group said its guest speaker had been widely misrepresented.
"When we made contact with the speaker himself he claimed not to possess these opinions and said he was the victim of hate propaganda from anti-Muslim forces," said Sveriges Unga Muslimer.

But a 2004 decision by the Broadcasting Standards Authority of New Zealand tells a different story. Responding to a complaint from a viewer, the authority issued a reprimand to an Auckland television station for broadcasting hateful comments made by Hakim Quick in a lecture shown on the Voice of Islam programme.
The Broadcasting Standards Authority noted that Hakim Quick blamed the spread of AIDS on the “filthy practices” of homosexuals, whom he described as "sick" and "not natural". He added that homosexuals were dropping dead from AIDS and “they want to take us all down with them”. He further stated that the Islamic position on homosexuality was "death".
"Muslims are going to have to take a stand [against homosexuals] and it's not enough to call names," said the imam.
The Local se

Police in Australia investigated over 'racist' e-mail

Up to 100 police officers are being investigated in the Australian state of Victoria for sharing a racist e-mail.

The message reportedly shows a non-white man being tortured. Officers being investigated could face dismissal for circulating it on police computers.
The Victoria police force has been criticised for failing to respond adequately to a series of attacks against Indian students in Melbourne.

Earlier this month the police chief admitted some officers were racist.

Computer experts tracking the e-mail found that several had added racist comments before forwarding it on to colleagues, the Melbourne newspaper The Age reports.

It was one of a series of e-mails that were either racist or pornographic in nature, according to the Victoria Police chief Simon Overland.
"It's offensive and my view is that it would cause significant concern and alarm in the community if the nature of the material was made public," he said.
Earlier this month, Mr Overland was forced to concede there were racial bigots within the ranks of his force.

This followed a damning report that accused police officers of taunting and beating up an African youth.

BBC News

No increase in asylum claims to developed nations

The total number of asylum applications to industrialized countries in 2009 saw virtually no change from 2008. The UN says this is proof that wealthier countries as a whole are not being swamped.

The issue of asylum seekers remains an attention-getting topic for many European citizens, and it remains high on the agenda of some European political parties who see it as a problem that must be solved. But annual figures from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) show that the total number of asylum applicants to industrialized countries for 2009 – 377,000 – is virtually the same number as for 2008.

Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, told Deutsche Welle that the figures were proof that wealthier countries were not being swamped by asylum claims.

"Our statistics show that this is not the case," said Fleming. "The notion that there is a flood of asylum seekers into richer countries is a myth."

Change in origins and destinations
Although the number has remained relatively stable, there is a change in both where the applicants are coming from and where they are trying to go.
Afghanistan is now at the top of the list of source countries for asylum seekers, with over 26,000 applicants to industrialized countries in 2009 – 45 percent more than 2008. Iraq comes in second, with 24,000 applicants.

The UNHCR says the statistics reflect continued violence and instability in those countries.

United States remains the number one destination country for people seeking asylum. But proportionally, some countries saw an increase in the number of asylum seekers making applications there. Germany saw a 25 percent increase in the number of asylum applications received in 2009 compared to the year before. Nordic countries received 13 percent more applications than in 2008.

But the UK's numbers dropped five percent, and Greece, which traditionally has a very low acceptance rate for refugees, saw a drop of 20 percent.

Developing countries have largest burden

Fleming says it is important to bear in mind that poorer countries continue to bear the brunt of housing refugees and asylum seekers.

"When you look at the statistics, there are 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and one million in Iran," said Fleming. "Compare that number to the 26,800 requesting refugee status in industrialized countries."

The UNHCR says it hopes the latest figures will take the heat out of Europe's extremely politicized asylum debate, and encourage industrialized countries to show greater generosity to those in need.

DE World

Is Facebook tagging a breach of privacy? EU court battle looms for social networking giant

European regulators are investigating whether posting photos, videos and other information about people on websites such as Facebook without their consent is a breach of privacy laws.

The Swiss and German probes go to the heart of a debate that has gained momentum in Europe amid high-profile privacy cases - to what extent are social networking platforms responsible for the content their members upload?
The investigation set the stage for a fresh battle between U.S. internet giants and European authorities a month after an Italian court held three Google executives criminally responsible for a user-posted video.
Any changes resulting from the investigations could drastically alter the way Facebook, Google's YouTube and others operate, shifting the responsibility for ensuring personal privacy from users to the company.


Swiss and German data protection commissioners are demanding that Facebook explain its practice of allowing users to upload email addresses, photographs and other personal details about people who haven't signed up to the site.

'The way it's organised at the moment, they simply allow anyone who wants to use this service to say they have the consent of their friends or acquaintances,' Swiss commissioner Hanspeter Thuer said.

To conform with Switzerland's strict privacy law, Facebook could be required to contact people whose information has been posted online and ask them whether they agree to its being stored there

dailymail

Cyber spy breakthrough could net Facebook predators

BREAKTHROUGH in cyber crime prevention could identify potential paedophiles – from the way they use a keyboard.

Newcastle University is investigating ways to use technology which can determine a typist’s age, sex and culture within 10 keystrokes by monitoring their speed and rhythm.

The research has been carried out in the US by the university’s associate professor Roy Maxion, and former Northumbria Police detective chief inspector Phil Butler believes it could be useful in tracking down fraudsters and paedophiles. The murder of Darlington teenager Ashleigh Hall last year by a predator she met on Facebook has raised fresh calls for extra security to protect young people on the internet.

Mr Butler, who heads up the university’s CyberCrime and Computer Security department, said: “We’re looking at the application of the research, particularly in relation to internet grooming.

“If children are talking to each other on Windows Live or MSN Messenger, Microsoft might be able to see if there’s an adult on there.”

The department, which was formed last summer, also believes the new technology could be used to prevent fraud at devices such as cash machines

For more on this story journal live

ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS RISING IN SCANDINAVIA

Anti-Semitic attacks by Muslim extremists reportedly are on the rise in Scandinavia. Jewish communities across the region have lodged complaints about the rise in attacks and the lack of official intervention, according to a report in Die Presse, an Austrian Internet publication, published on March 16. Fredrik Sieradzk of the Jewish community in Malmo, Sweden, told die Presse that Jews are being "harassed and physically attacked." He said the perpetrators are "people from the Middle East," but was quick to add that only a small number of Malmo's 40,000 Muslims "exhibit hatred of Jews." In Norway, pupils have had yellow stars pasted to their backs by bullying classmates, some of whom have said that "all Jews should be shot." Teachers reportedly often don't react. In Copenhagen, Jewish pupils hide their Stars of David and remove their yarmulkes on the way home from school, particularly if their routes take them through neighborhoods with many Muslim residents, according to reports. The blogosphere is buzzing with reactions to a report on Norway's state-run TV on March 18 in which Jewish parents, their faces hidden from the camera, reported moving their children out of schools where they were being bullied, only to find the same problem cropping up again in new schools. Teachers said some Muslim pupils openly deny the Holocaust and complain when the subject of anti-Semitism comes up. One pupil who reported that a classmate had threatened to kill him because he was a "Jewish pig" was told by his teacher that "this could happen to anyone." Norwegian Education Minister Kristin Halvorsen has rejected charges that her highly critical stance toward Israel has encouraged an atmosphere in which Jewish pupils are victimized. She told Die Presse that "one's views on Israeli politics have nothing to do with harassment of Jews." The Swedish newspaper Skanska Dagblade reported that attacks on Jews in Malmo totaled 79 in 2009, about twice as many as the previous year, according to police statistics. Some 30 Jewish families have emigrated from Malmo to Israel in the past year, specifically to escape from harassment, Sieradzk told Die Presse. Jewish communities in Sweden number a total of about 20,000 members. Only a few thousand Jews live in Norway and Denmark.

JTA

MUSLIMS QUIETLY TAKE WILDERS' ABUSE (Netherlands)

Day in and day out, Dutch Muslims are told their religion is "a fascist ideology" and "a threat to Dutch society". They hear their "so-called prophet Muhammad" is "a barbarian, a mass murderer and a paedophile", or words to that effect. The indignities come from a member of parliament: Geert Wilders. After leaving the right-wing liberal VVD party in 2006 and setting up his own Party for Freedom (PVV), Wilders has made criticism of Islam his one main issue. He is being heard by native Dutch people who fear the country of 16 million is suffering under the burden of its estimated one million Muslim citizens. Wilders obtained 5 of the 25 Dutch seats in European parliament last year. His PVV did very well in the two municipalities in which it participated in recent local elections. Some polls have predicted his party could become the biggest in parliament after the upcoming national election. One wonders why the Muslims he is targeting are not standing up against his attacks and letting themselves be heard. When asked this question, Islam expert Mohammed Cheppih immediately countered it: "Aren't we all Dutch?," he asked. "Society as a whole should stand up to Wilders. Wilders is destroying the Netherlands. We should all ignore him."

Counterproductive?
Farid Azarkan, the director of an interest group of Moroccan-Dutch people, SMN, agreed. "Where are all the reasonable Dutch people who say: 'This is not how we treat each other here'?" Ideally, non-Muslims would support their Muslim compatriots en masse, Azarkan ventured. "Suppose that all the women in Almere [the one city where Wilders' PVV won the most council seats in the local election] would don a headscarf." Azarkan chuckled at the idea of such a form of protest against the PVV's proposed headscarf ban in municipal buildings there: "But that is not realistic." Azarkan has thought about instigating large-scale protest, but believes it would ultimately be counterproductive. "Imagine we would organise a mass demonstration, say, on the Malieveld in The Hague," he said, referring to a meadow near buildings housing the national government. "It would suddenly be filled with thousands of headscarves. People who don't fear Islam wouldn't be bothered by it. But those are not the people we need to convince. The people who support Wilders however, will go ’Yuk, there they are'." The fear of rubbing native Dutch people the wrong way by lashing out at Wilders is one argument why Muslims aren't organising themselves. Another is that a movement would be hard to establish because there is no single Muslim community in the Netherlands. Moroccans, Turks, Somalis, Surinamese, Iranians and Iraqis in the Netherlands all have their own religious lives and communities. They are impossible to mobilise, according to Azarkan.

Faith in democracy
A unifying, Dutch Islam has yet to develop, said Loubna el Morabet, who is a PhD researcher in social science at Leiden University. "This is an ongoing process. Muslims in the Netherlands are already very Dutch," she said. "I have done research in the Netherlands and England and learnt that Muslim students here have adopted the Dutch mentality. This is their country." Arkazan offered the example of the lack of success of Muslim parties as an argument why any fear of Muslims "taking over" the Netherlands is "a joke". In this month's municipal elections, Islamic parties failed to obtain a single council seat anywhere but in The Hague. "Obviously, Muslims vote for a party that suits them, they don't vote for a religion," said Arkazan. "We call that integration." Many Muslims and non-Muslims in the Netherlands are uncomfortable with the things the PVV has been saying. The party has suggested Muslims who don't adjust to the dominant Dutch culture should be deported. It has also talked about shooting criminals of Moroccan descent in the knees. But for most who disagree with him, their faith in democracy is larger than their fear of Wilders. "Of course I feel threatened when I hear Wilders speaking," said Loubna el Morabet. "But if I take a step back, I realise he will never be able to carry out his ideas. Taxing headscarves is nonsense and halting immigration from Islamic countries is discrimination. The principle of equality is deeply embedded in Dutch law."

Compromises
Even if he wins the upcoming national election, many Muslims don't believe he can change Dutch, let alone European, laws that protect them. "And you can't rule a country ranting and raving," Farid Azarkan said about Wilders' politics. Several Muslims interviewed said they would welcome a large PVV after the June election. If Wilders were to be forced to take responsibility and make compromises, his rank and file would realise he can't deliver, they said. The Netherlands is always ruled by coalition governments and if Wilders were to form one "he would need to have clear ideas about other issues than just Muslims," said El Morabet. "What does he really want for our country? The only statements he yells are anti-Islam, everything else is hazy." Cheppih, however, disagreed. "It is extremely frustrating that other parties don't preclude governing with Wilders. It would be a clear sign if other parties would say: 'We don't want to cooperate with the PVV'. The party is empty and has hardly taken positions on anything." Cheppih encouraged other political parties to rule out any coalition with the PVV after the election. "Society as a whole should hit back hard: we do not accept this! Make that clear. Otherwise, things could escalate. The fear he sows is imaginary, but he is being heard. The higher the minarets, the more frightened the people."

Personal encounters
This fear of Islam is fuelled by the media hype surrounding Wilders, said El Morabet. "I think it is ridiculous that media pay so much attention to a party that has garnered a handful of seats in the municipal elections. [Left-wing liberal party] D66 was the real winner of the local elections and that happens to be the one party that tells Wilders: 'You are shutting people out, you discriminate'. That gets relatively little attention." To counter the anxiety some native Dutch feel for Islam, Farid Azarkan thinks, Muslims need to try to remove this through personal encounters. "You have to reach out to people. A minority happens to be xenophobe. I don't believe you can sway all of them. They have to notice out on the streets that you may be Muslim, but apart from that, you are all right.”

NRC

Its Official Still Senior Members of the BNP with Nazi Leanings

Highly respected & popular BNP councillor Alby Walker has voiced his concerns that there are still senior members of the BNP with neo-Nazi leanings and are holocaust deniers.

He reveals in this all too brief an interview why he has chosen to leave the party and stand as an independent candidate against the far-right party's deputy leader, Simon Darby, in the General Election in Stoke-on-Trent.



Please support the You Tube user and his channel BNPInfo

BNP Leader Nick Griffin failed his wife & kids - Jackie Griffin speaks out

Here’s a incite into to the Leader of the BNP’s Nick Griffin from his wife Jackie Griffin.

She states during the interview that,

'My mother thinks he could do with a damned good slap and get out there and do something. We have had four kids. I've worked all my life. I've always worked. I've had children and gone back to work. She'd have been a lot happier if he'd been able to provide.'

Nick Griffin couldn't get work with a Cambridge law degree entirely because he chose not to.

'His parents taught him that the sun rose and set in his arse'

And he dossed around for 20 years while she supported the family and went out to work and paid the bills with four kids to feed.

Until he became leader of the BNP, and his racist beliefs started paying the bills.

Yet he now fails to mention to the unemployed people that he has often labelled as scroungers and parasites and stated that they should “starve or work”, that in his past that was the furthest thing from his mind.

Pot calling the kettle black we should say or rather in Mr Griffins case “calling it white”.

Introducing Jackie Griffin the wife of the king of hypocrisy interviewed by Dominic Carman.


Please support the You Tube user and his channel  dominiccarman

'Safety' fear shuts down Ann Coulter in Ottawa (Canada)

Hundreds of screaming students succeeded in what few thought possible Tuesday night – silencing incendiary right-winger Ann Coulter.

Organizers for the American's tour of Canada scrubbed her much-anticipated speech at the University of Ottawa when students crowded the entrance before her arrival.
A spokesman for the organizers said about 2,000 "threatening" students posed a security threat to the darling of the American right, and she was advised against appearing.
"It would be physically dangerous for Ann Coulter to proceed with this event," said conservative political activist Ezra Levant.
Protest organizer Mike Fancie was happy the speech was halted.

"What Ann Coulter is practising is not free speech, it's hate speech," he said. "She's targeted the Jews, she's targeted the Muslims, she's targeted Canadians, homosexuals, women, almost everybody you could imagine."
Levant's announcement was greeted with shouts of "Shame" and "We want Ann" from about 100 who had managed to get into the hall. Outside students celebrated: "Nananana, nanana, Goodbye Ann Coulter."

About 10 Ottawa police cruisers were called to the scene, but there was no violence.
Even before the protesters arrived, there were signs the evening would not go smoothly.

A crush of bodies greeted organizers about 90 minutes before Coulter's 8:15 p.m. speaking time as about 1,000 showed up for the 400-seat hall. At about 7:30 a fire alarm was triggered.
Then hundreds of protesters arrived, mostly students carrying signs and chanting. There was no accurate head account, but one student said the protesters accounted for about several hundred while one event organizer estimated 2,000.

"Ann Coulter should go back to where she came from because we don't want her back here," shouted Ellen Ocran, a University of Ottawa student in a shouting match with a Coulter backer.

Levant blamed the bedlam on university academic vice-president Francois Houle, who wrote Coulter to warn her that Canadian laws make provisions for hate speech.

"Promoting hatred against any identifiable group would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges," he wrote in the letter, which Coulter leaked to the media.

The university has refused to comment since, but Levant said Houle's not-too-subtle advice to Coulter emboldened students to block her appearance.
"This is an embarrassing day for the University of Ottawa and their student body ... who chose to silence her through threats and intimidation," Levant said inside Marion Hall.

Coulter is a best-selling author and syndicated columnist who has been called one of the leaders of the angry right wing in the United States and who embraces the outrage she triggers, although she has often dismissed the ensuing controversy by suggesting she was trying to be humorous.
Coulter was in the middle of a three-city tour of Canada which began at the University of Western Ontario in London on Monday and ends in Calgary on Thursday.
The event in London went without incident, but not without controversy. When answering questions from students, Coulter told a 17-year-old Muslim student to "take a camel" instead of a the flying carpet she has previously suggested Muslims use for transportation.
And earlier on Tuesday, she protested, with a bemused smile, that she was the real victim.

"I've been a victim of a hate crime," she said in a CTV interview of Houle's letter. "I think he's accusing me of criminal proclivities."
If publicity was the goal of Coulter's Canadian tour, the trip has already been a smashing success.
She even got a mention in the House of Commons, with New Democrat MP Olivia Chow accusing the government of hypocrisy in allowing her into the country, after having given the boot to an ideological opposite.
Chow said the decision last year to bar British MP George Galloway, who has expressed pro-Palestinian views, shows the Tories have a double-standard on freedom of speech.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney defended keeping Galloway out by noting his financial help to a terrorist group, Hamas.

"Hogwash," responded Chow.

"George Galloway has no criminal record. He can travel the United States, all over the world. What the minister is doing ... people he agrees with, fine come; people he doesn't agree with, you can't come."

the Star

PRIME MINISTER DISPUTES CONTROVERSIAL STUDY (Estonia)

Is Estonia becoming more socially stratified and xenophobic? That’s what the controversial Estonian Human Development Report 2009, published by the Estonian Cooperation Assembly, says. The report shows that the intolerance against minorities is growing among Estonians, the salaries of ethnic Russians are 10-15 percent less than Estonians, and the country is subject to increasing poverty and social stratification. The report raised eyebrows when it was presented at the National Library of Estonia on Monday. Estonia’s Prime Minister Andrus Ansip was in attendance, and he began disputing the results in front of attendees, saying that the report’s finding that Estonia has the most unequal income distribution in the European Union is “a lie” and that there are no statistics indicating that. “On the contrary,” Ansip said. “As the poverty issue is quite real in the EU, then a statistical fact repeatedly stressed … is that over the past ten years, the unevenness of income distribution in the EU declined the most rapidly in Estonia.” According to Statistics Estonia from 2000 to 2007 differences in incomes decreased in Estonia, but during the same period the relative poverty rate increased, primarily among those above age 50.

Xenophobia ignored
As has occurred in other European countries, the economic crisis has increased ethnic tensions in Estonia. The report shows that since 1999 intolerance has grown towards people of different race by 9 percent to 24 percent, toward Jews by 11 percent to 22 percent, toward immigrants by 10 percent to 31 percent and Muslims by 11 percent to 33 percent. Ansip did not dispute these figures, and his conservative administration has done little to address race/ethnicity issues in Estonia, focusing instead on streamlining the budget for eurozone entry and dealing with the economic crisis. The report puts a lot of responsibility on the media for increasing negative attitude towards those groups. “During the past few years, in the opinion of many people, there has been too much discussion on topics related to the Holocaust, which has increased repelling attitudes instead of understanding,” the report noted. The events of 9/11 gave Muslims a lot of negative attention, and the Bronze Soldier incident strained tensions between ethnic Russians and ethnic Estonians.
balticreports

FAR-RIGHT PARADE LAMBASTED (Lithuania)

Latvia isn’t the only Baltic state with a controversial parade this month. More than a week after far-right organizations held a parade to mark Lithuania’s independence March 11, foreign officials have begun speaking out against it. The parade features skinheads and those on the far-right of the political spectrum. Participants chant songs and mantras about “Lithuania for Lithuanians” and similar themes. Police monitor the event, but no political or police action has ever been taken to ban the march, which is offensive to many, especially now that the country is part of the European Union. Steinar Gil, the Norwegian ambassador to Lithuania, was first to speak out about the parade. “These people were shouting – ‘Lithuania for Lithuanians.’ Two years ago they were shouting ‘Juden raus’ (Jews out). We know the history of Lithuania during the World War II … my question is, how many parliamentarians have spoken up against this kind of demonstration? How many officials in Lithuania have spoken up against this kind of manifestation?” Gil asked parliamentarians during a session in the Seimas. Gil was particularly damning in his comparison between the tolerance for the March 11 parade and the lengthy efforts some parliamentarians are going to to ban the Baltic Pride gay parade. “All foreigners in Lithuania noticed this, we’re aware of this and I must say we are quite shocked. The gay parade is not about likes or dislikes, it is not about tolerance, it is about respect and it is about rights. Whether we like it or not, we have to respect human rights,” Gil said. Although the U.S. praised Vilnius for allowing the Baltic Pride parade this year, it has not issued a statement on the far-right parade.

Rise of far-right?
Efraim Zuroff, head of the Jerusalem-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, also spoke out against the parade. “Such neo-Nazi demonstrations have no place in European society, which has experienced unprecedented losses to the Nazis and their local collaborators’ hands. The fact that no public figure dared to speak out against the lack of tolerance is characterized by a demonstration that clearly shows the weak foundations of Lithuanian democracy. Ambassador Gil’s criticism should serve as a horrible warning Lithuanian society,” Zuroff told the press. Indeed, some Western European political analysts are wary about the potential for a far-right political movement to take power in the Baltic states, especially given the economic crisis. David Stevenson, a professor of international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told The Guardian newspaper that he is worried about the Baltic states. “Even more worrying, though, is what will happen in other parts of Europe … areas of concern are Hungary and the Baltic states,” Stevenson said. The interview was for an article about the election of the whites-only British National Party to the European Parliament. However, unlike in the U.K. while the right-wing has usually done well in the post-Soviet Baltic state democracies, the far-right has not seen electoral success.

Latvia criticized, too
Zuroff has been a vocal critic of the annual Latvian Legion march in Riga, too, and is irked that the Latvian foreign ministry is dismissive of his criticism. “It is countries like Latvia, which attempt to cover up the complicity of their nationals in the crimes of the Holocaust, which are seeking to rewrite European history by creating false symmetries between communist and Nazi crimes,” Zuroff said in a statement to the press Monday. “The time has come for Latvia and its Baltic neighbors to stop trying to deflect and/or minimize local participation in the mass murder of the Jews during World War II.”

balticreport

IMMIGRANT SCHOOL CHILDREN FEAR WILDERS COULD DEPORT THEM (Netherlands)

A boy with short cropped brown hair raised his hand to ask teacher Mohammed Kaaouass a question about the anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders. "Sir, why is Wilders only taking on Moroccans. Why aren’t French people being kicked out of the country?" The student was a member of a class of 10 to 12-year-old boys at the Islamic primary school Al-Iman discussing the populist politician on a recent Friday morning, little over a week after Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) had become the biggest party in the municipal government in their city, Almere. The headscarf-clad girls in the class had just left for physical education, which is taught separately to boys and girls. Geert Wilders' PVV won 20 percent of the votes in this city of 188,000. As in the upcoming national elections, the PVV ran on an anti-immigration platform and has announced it wants to tax or ban headscarfs and deport criminal youths who hold passports from other countries. Wilders is currently being prosecuted in the Netherlands for hate speech and inciting discrimination after he compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf and made a controversial video that juxtaposed Koranic verses with images of Islamic terrorism. Kaaouass teaches religion, but after the local election he decided to talk to his students about politics. "That Wilders has become big," Kaaouass said, "has to do with us."

Set an example
The teacher went on to tell them about society in 1985, when he moved to the Dutch town of Zeist. "If the milkman came by and people were not home, he would leave the milk at the door. Then we, Moroccan boys, would come to deliver newspapers and we saw that milk by the door," Kaaouass said as he acted out walking up to a house and seeing something at the front door. "Hey, something to drink," he said with amazement and picked up the imaginary bottle. The boys laughed. "So what do you think?" the teacher asked. "Is the news in the papers about loitering youth and robberies true?" In a high school nearby, teacher Joël de Bruijne talked to his class of 20 about a similar subject. De Bruijne usually teaches PE at Echnaton high school, but also holds sessions twice a week to discuss topics such topics as manners, choices, and respect as well as current issues like Wilders' anti-Islam video Fitna, a possible headscarf ban and the local elections. During Monday's class, he explained how the Labour party had replaced its leader Wouter Bos by Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen and that Wilders has accused Cohen of being too soft on immigrants. "He calls him a 'multi-cultural bleeding heart' because he drinks tea with people of all cultures," De Bruijne said. The rise of Wilders is an issue for children of all creeds at different schools in Almere. Their teachers are busy clarifying and comforting. But how can they explain that Wilders is allowed to say things that would not be tolerated in school? De Bruijne recalled his own classes at the teachers' training college to explain how hard it is for teachers to deal with the turbulent political situation in the Netherlands. "We learnt that we could disapprove of behaviour, but never of an individual," he said. While De Bruijne believes politicians especially should set an example. "Wilders stigmatises whole groups of the population".
Freedom of speech
On the day of the elections he bumped into two boys in the corridor. They had been expelled from their class after they had said "Moroccan scum" should leave the country. They felt they had every right to say this, as Wilders does the same, De Bruijne said. He was struck by the incident, because the boys are right: they should be allowed to quote a politician. But Wilders' remarks go against school rules. Having respect for one another is something the school, with children from all parts of the world, holds high. Moroccan scum, and other derogatory terms used by Wilders, are not in line with that policy, according to De Bruijne. "Fortunately, I can tell them that Wilders has yet to account for his remarks, because the case against him is in court." Children at the Al-Imam school were playing a game of tag with the boys chasing the girls during recess, supervised by Harry van der Bijl. In his ten years at the Islamic school he had seen the response to 9/11, the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim radical and, recently, the rise of the PVV. "As a teacher, I try not to take sides," he said. He has attempted to explain to his students that it is a good thing that Wilders can say what he does, as this proves the existence of freedom of speech. And why it is a good thing he was able to establish a political party that people can vote for. All this means there is a democracy in the Netherlands, he has told them. "But the way he attacks Muslims is something I can't defend to the class," Van der Bijl said. Fellow teacher Fatiha Bousandrous added she can't explain to her class why their mothers may be forbidden to wear a veil. "I am their teacher, but I do not understand it either," she said. Bousandrous wears a headscarf herself.
Do the math
Her students were upset the day after the election, she said. She gave them a day to calm down and then took the time to tell them they need not be afraid: we live in a democratic country. If Wilders calls for something to happen, that won't make it a reality, she told her class. A headscarf ban can only happen if other parties want it as well. The PVV may be the biggest party in Almere, but not a single other party in the local council has been willing to support its proposed headscarf ban. Fatma Batuk, who was dropping her 10-year-old son off at the school, said she had been telling him similar things. Recently her son weighed the pros and cons of emigrating to either Turkey or Belgium, as he was sure his family would be forced to leave, she said. Some of the students at Echnaton were also convinced the dark-skinned students would disappear, teacher De Bruijne said. He started his first tutoring class after the election with a bit of math. The election in Almere had a turnout of 60 percent and 20 percent of those people voted for the PVV. How big a part of the city is that, he asked. Only 12 percent. Did his students consider that a lot, he asked them. He then showed them videos of people explaining why they voted for the PVV. They said it was because of immigrants, but also said toughness on crime, a lack of faith in established parties and bankers' bonuses as reasons to support Wilders. "I try to put the outcome in perspective," De Bruijne said. In Mohammed Kaaouass' class at Al-Imam primary school, a boy with braces raised his hand to answer the question whether there was any truth to the negative news about Moroccan boys. "Sir, I kind of disagree with you. There are Moroccans who do well, aren't there?"
The NRC

LEFTIST EXTREMISTS CLAIM GREECE ATTACKS

A Greek extremist group on Monday claimed responsibility for three bomb attacks last weekend that caused damage to the offices of a neo-Nazi movement, the home of a Pakistani and migration offices. The group, the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, said in a message posted on the left-leaning Indymedia website the attacks were a contribution to the ongoing debate in the country on immigration. It said Greece, which has become a major entry point for clandestine migrants, was an "off-putting example" of exploitation and lack of assistance. While denouncing widespread "racism", Conspiracy also said the Pakistani targeted was cooperating with Greek authorities. In the latest blast to rock the Greek capital a home-made bomb exploded outside a building housing immigration offices Saturday causing some damage but no one was hurt. Earlier Saturday, a bomb exploded outside the home of the Pakistani, the chairman of the Greek-Pakistan friendship association according to media reports, without injuring anyone. The Pakistani community in Greece numbers several thousand members, most of whom live in the greater Athens area. Early Friday the headquarters of neo-Nazi group Chryssy Avghi had been targeted. Chryssi Avghi members, who have held a number of rallies in central Athens for the last months, have been denounced by the left for attacking immigrants and anti-racist militants. Muslim migrants in Greece have faced increasing hostility from far-right militants, and the Pakistani community has frequently denounced attacks on its members by Greek youths. Last month a gang of mostly teenagers set fire to a house in Sparta, southern Greece as a group of Bangladeshi migrants slept inside. In May last year, five Bangladeshi migrants were injured after unknown assailants tried to burn down a makeshift mosque in Athens. Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire last claimed responsibility for a bomb attack outside the Greek parliament on January 9. Seven Conspiracy members have been arrested since police uncovered a cache used by the group in an Athens suburb in September last year. The group is suspected of having carried out a string of bomb and firebomb attacks in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki since 2008, but no life was lost.

sify

PRO-ISRAEL GROUP BARRED FROM DISPLAYING FLAGS (Germany)

The German city of Kassel barred a pro-Israel group from displaying Israeli flags at an information stand, allegedly because it might upset passersby. A member of the interfaith group Bündnis gegen Antisemitismus, the Association Against Anti-Semitism, told the Nordhessische.de news service that when she applied for official permission at the Public Order office to set up the stand over the weekend, she was asked for further details. The member, whose name was given as Dorothee H., told the officer that the group would be distributing flyers and might display flags. She was then told that Israeli flags would not be permitted, as passersby could "feel threatened." In January 2009, people displaying Israeli flags in several German cities, including Kassel, were attacked by anti-Israel demonstrators during Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza. "I told him that I could not understand this, and that we were not at all dangerous," Dorothee H. said, according to the report. The officer then "made clear to me that my application would only be accepted if we adhered to this requirement." Jonas Dörge, a spokesperson for the pro-Israel group, said he could not understand how the display of an Israeli flag could be seen as a disturbance of the peace. Hans-Jürgen Schweinsberg, a spokesperson for the city of Kassel, told the news agency that if someone in the office of Public Order said the flag could be threatening, this was a personal opinion and bore no legal weight. Flags are routinely barred from information stands but allowed at gatherings, he said. Critics had noted that demonstrators for the Iranian pro-democracy movement had no trouble displaying a large Iranian flag recently in Kassel. Last year, the police chief in the city of Duisburg apologized for removing Israeli flags from an apartment window overlooking a massive anti-Israel demonstration. In his statement, Rolf Cebin said he "deeply regret[ted] that feelings were hurt, particularly those of our Jewish fellow citizens." Efraim Zuroff, Israel director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called the police act "a clear violation of free expression" and a potential encouragement to "aggressive and violent behavior by those opposing Israeli policies."
JTA

Pledge Your Support To Stop The Use Of The 'R' Word

The words 'Retard' and 'Retarded' are often used as offensive terms; but how often do we stop and think what they mean? Do we stop and think who may be offended, hurt or upset by the use of these words?

Most decent people wouldn't use offensive racial terms, or words that are derogatory to the GLBT community. But all too often it the 'R' word is either used casually as an insult or as a form of hate speech against people with learning difficulties or mental health problems.

It is time we stopped accepting hate speech in any guise. Accepting this behaviour, or turning a blind eye to it, opens the gates to more discrimination and hatred - and the prejudice can soon spiral out of control.

The Ladder of Prejudice demonstrates:

The First Rung: Speech (hate speech, name calling)
The Second Rung: Avoidance (crossing the road to avoid 'them', isolating 'them')
The Third Rung: Discrimination (we have no common ground - why not make 'them' second class citizens?)
The Fourth Rung: Physical Attack (the law states 'they' are worth less than me, so I can act towards 'them' as I please)
The Fifth Rung: Extermination ('they' serve no purpose in society - why keep 'them' around?)

(Identified by Tolerance.org)

We have seen this pattern established many times by racial discrimination, or discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.

As part of their work to promote the rights and views of disabled people worldwide, the Special Olympics have launched a campaign to challenge the use of the 'R' word in our societies. This is not political correctness gone mad - this is treating other human beings with the respect we would demand for ourselves. Don't allow anyone to take the first step on the ladder of prejudice unchallenged.

Please pledge your support for this worthwhile campaign.