A magazine described as a platform for white nationalists plans to hold its annual conference in Charlotte next month, smack on the heels of an NAACP leader's description of the city as a "racist bastion."
American Renaissance, a magazine of the nonprofit New Century Foundation, plans a conference Feb. 4-6 at a site yet to be announced.
According to its website, the group advocates "race realism," a belief that race is "the most prominent and divisive" fault line in society.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks such groups, says at Renaissance conferences "racist 'intellectuals' rub shoulders with Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists."
Magazine editor Jared Taylor on Wednesday dismissed the criticism.
"They clearly have an axe to grind; we have perfectly ordinary people," said Taylor. "But that's their typical fearmongering. Their purpose is to paint us in the blackest language so people will contribute to them."
Taylor says the conference will be "at a first-class venue." But for security reasons, he won't announce it until 48 hours before.
"The last time the venue came under tremendous pressure," he said, "hundreds of telephone calls saying 'How dare you do business with these awful people?' We don't want to expose a hotel to that kind of pressure."
Monday, NAACP President Kojo Nantambu alluded to the conference at a rally to protest Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' decision to use the Martin Luther King holiday as a make-up day for students.
"To show you how wicked Charlotte is," he said, "there's going to be a white supremacists' meeting in Charlotte next month."
Many African-Americans disagreed with Nantambu's characterization of the city.
Taylor said he's unsure whether the event will be open to the media.
Charlotte Observer
Thursday, 20 January 2011
US pastor Terry Jones banned from entering UK
The pastor, who last year planned a Koran-burning protest in the US, had been invited to address right-wing group England Is Ours in Milton Keynes.
The Home Office said Mr Jones could not enter the UK as the government "opposes extremism in all its forms".
Mr Jones told BBC Radio 5 live he would challenge the "unfair" decision and his visit could have been "beneficial".
Mr Jones - who is pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, which has fewer than 50 members - came to prominence last September when he announced plans for his "International Burn a Koran Day" on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
His plan was internationally condemned and sparked many demonstrations around the world before he eventually called off his protest.
'Unacceptable behaviour'
A Home Office spokesman said: "Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour.
"Coming to the UK is a privilege not a right and we are not willing to allow entry to those whose presence is not conducive to the public good.
"The use of exclusion powers is very serious and no decision is taken lightly or as a method of stopping open debate."
Mr Jones said he had not been planning to break any laws while in England.
"The whole object of the exercise is to have a discussion about the
Islamification of the UK and just have dialogue about the problems”
Quote Barry Taylor England Is Ours
Quote Barry Taylor England Is Ours
"I'm not against Muslims, we are not against their religion," he said. "We have, here in the West, freedom of religion and limited freedom of speech which we don't have in their countries.
"What I am against is the radical element. If I came to England we would expect Muslims to rally with us."
He added that the ban was also unfair on a "human basis" because his daughter lived in England and his grandchildren were English.
Mr Jones had accepted an invitation to speak to England Is Ours in February and was due to address a series of demonstrations against the expansion of Islam and the construction of mosques in the UK.
Barry Taylor, secretary of England Is Ours, said he was "very disappointed" by the decision.
"The whole object of the exercise is to have a discussion about the Islamification of the UK and just have dialogue about the problems," he said.
"The idea isn't to cause trouble or kick up a stink. These things do need addressing and people do need to speak about them. We shouldn't be frightened about them."
Sabotage of rights
He said he had expected about 100 people to attend events organised for Mr Jones, including about 30 members of England Is Ours.
"It's quite possible that other members of his outreach may be able to come," Mr Taylor said.
"I understand Pastor Jones is planning some visits to nearby European countries and we will be able to go and visit him there," he added.
A press release issued by Stand Up America - which is organising rallies addressed by Mr Jones - said the UK ban exemplified the sabotage of the basic human rights of freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
In December, Home Secretary Theresa May said she was "actively looking at" whether Mr Jones should be banned from entering the UK after the right-wing English Defence League (EDL) had invited him to share his views on Islam at a rally in Luton in February.
However the EDL later withdrew the invitation to Mr Jones. A spokesman said it was because of his critical views on homosexuality and race.
BBC News
Teens protest against racism in Israel
Members of left-wing youth movement gather in downtown Jerusalem to fight 'public's indifference' to acts of racism
Hundreds of members of the left-wing HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (Working and Studying Youth) movement protested in downtown Jerusalem Wednesday evening against the growing racism in Israel.
The rally was organized by 11th and 12th graders who recently returned from a trip to Poland. "As teenagers who love this country we fear the racism that is seeping into people's hearts and the indifference displayed by the public and its leaders," youth movement member Tal Kedmi said.
"We've decided not to stand by and watch as darkness threatens to take over," she said.
The protestors waved signs reading, "Racism will destroy Israel" and "Jerusalemites are stopping racism".
Protestor Yoav Rimer mentioned the rabbis' letter calling on Jews not to sell or rent apartments to Arabs, violence acts perpetrated by Jewish teens against Arabs and the "discrimination against students of Ethiopian and Sephardic descent" as clear signs that racism is spreading.
YNet News
Hundreds of members of the left-wing HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (Working and Studying Youth) movement protested in downtown Jerusalem Wednesday evening against the growing racism in Israel.
The rally was organized by 11th and 12th graders who recently returned from a trip to Poland. "As teenagers who love this country we fear the racism that is seeping into people's hearts and the indifference displayed by the public and its leaders," youth movement member Tal Kedmi said.
"We've decided not to stand by and watch as darkness threatens to take over," she said.
The protestors waved signs reading, "Racism will destroy Israel" and "Jerusalemites are stopping racism".
Protestor Yoav Rimer mentioned the rabbis' letter calling on Jews not to sell or rent apartments to Arabs, violence acts perpetrated by Jewish teens against Arabs and the "discrimination against students of Ethiopian and Sephardic descent" as clear signs that racism is spreading.
YNet News
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Vandals wreck Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Facebook page on holiday (USA)
The Facebook page for the legendary civil rights leader contained photos that used the N-word and depicted African Americans as slaves and monkeys.
"Sadly, hate groups have never gone away, and the Internet gives them another way to spread venom," said Steve Klein, the spokesman for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, which owns the page.
Klein said the defacing of the fan page was not the first online racial incident to come to the attention of the King Center.
"This happens a lot, but I don't think those hateful words or pictures represent a large group of people in the United States," Klein said.
"I just wish more people spent Monday remembering Dr. King's dream, not spreading online hate."
The racist imagery sent shock waves through the online community. "These devils won't even let the poor man rest in peace in death,"read one post yesterday.
It isn't known who vandalized the page.
NY Daily
Le Pen leaves party leadership with anti-Semitic slur (France)
Le Pen suggested in a weekend farewell speech that Jews cry wolf, unduly claiming to be victims of anti-Semitism, during his comments on the case of a Jewish French journalist who filed an official complaint against the National Front last weekend.
Mickael Szames, a journalist for the French media station France 24, said over the weekend that he was violently pushed out of a private National Front gala and injured by a group of security guards, reportedly because he was Jewish. He filed an official complaint over the attack.
In response, Le Pen, 82, jokingly told journalists that “the person in question thought he could say that he was kicked out because he is Jewish. It didn’t show, either on his (press) card, or on his nose, if I dare say.”
The National Front denied that Szames was beaten and said it would file a complaint against him for slander.
Le Pen's comments in the incident come as no surprise. In his farewell speech Saturday, Le Pen said he had no regrets for calling the Holocaust a “detail” in the history of World War II, nor for other comments that repeatedly cost him fines in court and a reputation as France’s leading political xenophobe.
France’s largest Jewish umbrella group, the CRIF, said in a statement Monday in response to Le Pen’s outburst that “we understand that Jean-Marie Le Pen feels the need to show that he still exists to a small extent, and that he is not foregoing any of his obsessions.”
The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants also said in a statement issued Monday that Holocaust survivors “are shocked but not surprised that Le Pen would once again revert to foul and offensive Jew-baiting in remarks at the close of his notorious political career."
"Until it distances itself from such comments, the National Front party will live in the shadow of these words of hate," the statement said.
New party president Marine Le Pen, 42, refrains from the kind of advertised disdain her father showed for the role of the Jewish community in French society. But like her father, she has taken a firm stance against the spread of Islam in France.
The newly elected leader of the National Front recently compared Muslim prayers in the streets around certain Parisian neighborhoods to the Nazi occupation. She was overwhelmingly elected president of the party over the weekend and is expected to modernize the group into a more powerful political force.
JTA
SHARP FALL IN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS TO CANARY ISLANDS (Spain)
The number of illegal immigrants arriving in the Canary Islands, considered a gateway to Europe from Africa, fell sharply in 2010 to the lowest level since 1997, the Spanish Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. Authorities in the Spanish archipelago recorded the arrival of 196 migrants in 2010, compared to 2,246 in 2009 and 31,678 in 1996. Overall, the numbers embarking on Spanish soil had roughly halved with 3,632 people registered in 2010 against 7,285 the year before. Spanish officials fear many of the thousands of Africans who attempt the perilous journey by boat to Spanish soil die each year of thirst, hunger or exposure. The mass arrival of boats carrying migrants, however, has become rarer in recent years due to the economic downturn in Spain and repatriation agreements Madrid signed with the African countries that were a major source of migrants. The country has also worked with other European nations to boost maritime surveillance.
Expatica
Expatica
'UKIP poised for success as radical right party' (UK)
In the recent Oldham by-election, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) confirmed its status as the fourth largest party in British politics, ahead of the British National Party (BNP). Now, with the local elections looming, experts are warning that UKIP looks set to become a successful radical right party, similar to those seen in countries like Austria, France and Italy, and a 'significant vehicle' for Islamophobia.
"Our research shows that Euroscepticism is not the whole story where UKIP is concerned," say two of its authors — Dr Robert Ford and Dr Matthew Goodwin — experts on voting behaviour at the Universities of Manchester and Nottingham.
"There's no doubt the party's position on Europe is a big factor, but their supporters are increasingly concerned with attitudes more typically associated with the British National Party (BNP). Like far right voters, those who vote UKIP are dissatisfied with the mainstream parties and hostile toward immigration."
The research is the first of its kind to analyse and understand the attitudes and motives of UKIP supporters. At the 2010 general election, UKIP called for an immediate halt on immigration, the ending of multicultural policies and a ban on the niqab and burqa in certain buildings. Its leader, Nigel Farage, has since given a "cautious welcome" to emulation of his party by the French National Front (FN), one of the most successful radical right parties in Europe.
"Our analysis shows while UKIP does mop up 'defectors' from the Tories - upper and middle class voters who largely follow UKIP to lodge their feelings on Europe at European Parliament elections - its appeal in domestic elections is rather different", says Robert Ford, the lead author.
"In domestic elections like Oldham East, UKIP tends to do best amongst disaffected working class voters, who find UKIP's populist attacks on immigrants, Muslims and the political establishment attractive. UKIP appeals to the same kind of voters as the BNP, but may be able to recruit a broader and more sustainable vote base, with UKIP voters outnumbering BNP voters three to one. While many voters who agree with the BNP's political messages, they are turned off by its violent and fascist reputation. UKIP suffers no such legitimacy problems. It is in a position to not only recruit a much broader base of BNP support, but a much more sustainable base."
The research also shows that due, in part, to its more moderate reputation, UKIP has succeeded in securing the votes of important groups like women, who have traditionally rejected the BNP due to its perceived extremism.
"Until now, getting to grips with UKIP has been extremely difficult due to an absence of any real systematic research," Dr Goodwin adds. "This is why the party remains something of a puzzle to many."
The paper; Strategic Eurosceptics and Polite Xenophobes: support for the UK Independence Party in the 2009 European Parliament Elections, looks at data gathered from the YouGov online panel in the week prior to the European Parliament Election, and is also authored by Dr David Cutts at the University of Manchester.
Amongst other methods, the researchers compared the views of more than 4,306 UKIP in a group of 34,000 randomly interviewed in the 2001 census. It builds on their previous pioneering studies of BNP voters.
"Ultimately" adds Dr Goodwin,"our research backs up assertions that UKIP, unlike the BNP, are thought of as a legitimate force in British politics, with access to mainstream media and political elites. Voters who shun the BNP are willing to listen to the same messages when they come from UKIP. UKIP may therefore function as a "polite alternative" for voters worried about immigration and Islam, but repelled by the BNP's public image."
Provided by University of Nottingham
Physorg
"Our research shows that Euroscepticism is not the whole story where UKIP is concerned," say two of its authors — Dr Robert Ford and Dr Matthew Goodwin — experts on voting behaviour at the Universities of Manchester and Nottingham.
"There's no doubt the party's position on Europe is a big factor, but their supporters are increasingly concerned with attitudes more typically associated with the British National Party (BNP). Like far right voters, those who vote UKIP are dissatisfied with the mainstream parties and hostile toward immigration."
The research is the first of its kind to analyse and understand the attitudes and motives of UKIP supporters. At the 2010 general election, UKIP called for an immediate halt on immigration, the ending of multicultural policies and a ban on the niqab and burqa in certain buildings. Its leader, Nigel Farage, has since given a "cautious welcome" to emulation of his party by the French National Front (FN), one of the most successful radical right parties in Europe.
"Our analysis shows while UKIP does mop up 'defectors' from the Tories - upper and middle class voters who largely follow UKIP to lodge their feelings on Europe at European Parliament elections - its appeal in domestic elections is rather different", says Robert Ford, the lead author.
"In domestic elections like Oldham East, UKIP tends to do best amongst disaffected working class voters, who find UKIP's populist attacks on immigrants, Muslims and the political establishment attractive. UKIP appeals to the same kind of voters as the BNP, but may be able to recruit a broader and more sustainable vote base, with UKIP voters outnumbering BNP voters three to one. While many voters who agree with the BNP's political messages, they are turned off by its violent and fascist reputation. UKIP suffers no such legitimacy problems. It is in a position to not only recruit a much broader base of BNP support, but a much more sustainable base."
The research also shows that due, in part, to its more moderate reputation, UKIP has succeeded in securing the votes of important groups like women, who have traditionally rejected the BNP due to its perceived extremism.
"Until now, getting to grips with UKIP has been extremely difficult due to an absence of any real systematic research," Dr Goodwin adds. "This is why the party remains something of a puzzle to many."
The paper; Strategic Eurosceptics and Polite Xenophobes: support for the UK Independence Party in the 2009 European Parliament Elections, looks at data gathered from the YouGov online panel in the week prior to the European Parliament Election, and is also authored by Dr David Cutts at the University of Manchester.
Amongst other methods, the researchers compared the views of more than 4,306 UKIP in a group of 34,000 randomly interviewed in the 2001 census. It builds on their previous pioneering studies of BNP voters.
"Ultimately" adds Dr Goodwin,"our research backs up assertions that UKIP, unlike the BNP, are thought of as a legitimate force in British politics, with access to mainstream media and political elites. Voters who shun the BNP are willing to listen to the same messages when they come from UKIP. UKIP may therefore function as a "polite alternative" for voters worried about immigration and Islam, but repelled by the BNP's public image."
Provided by University of Nottingham
Physorg
GAY COUPLE WINS DISCRIMINATION CASE AGAINST CHRISTIAN HOTELIERS (uk)
Court awards compensation of £1,800 each to gay couple refused a double room at Chymorvah private hotel
Devout Christian hotel owners who refused to allow a gay couple to share a double room acted unlawfully, a judge at Bristol county court ruled today. Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy, who are civil partners, won their landmark claim for discrimination in a case funded and supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The ruling, one of the first made under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, is likely to provide those in partnerships with greater protection from discrimination. The owners of the Chymorvah private hotel in Cornwall, Peter and Hazel Bull, do not allow couples who are not married to share double rooms because they do not believe in sex before marriage.
The Bulls asserted that their refusal to accommodate civil partners in a double room was not to do with sexual orientation but "everything to do with sex". The restriction, the owners said, applied equally to heterosexual couples who are not married. In his ruling, Judge Andrew Rutherford said the hotel had directly discriminated against the couple on the grounds of their sexual orientation and awarded them compensation of £1,800 each. The judge said the right of the defendants to manifest their religion is not absolute and "can be limited to protect the rights and freedoms of the claimants". He described the sexual orientation regulations as a "necessary and proportionate intervention by the state to protect the rights of others".
John Wadham, the legal director of the EHRC, said: "The right of an individual to practise their religion and live out their beliefs is one of the most fundamental rights a person can have, but so is the right not to be turned away by a hotel just because you are gay. "The law works both ways. Hotel owners would similarly not be able to turn away people whose religious beliefs they disagreed with. "When Mr and Mrs Bull chose to open their home as a hotel, their private home became a commercial enterprise. This decision means that community standards, not private ones, must be upheld."
Preddy and Hall said they were pleased with the outcome of the case: "When we booked this hotel we just wanted to do something that thousands of other couples do every weekend – take a relaxing weekend break away. "We checked that the hotel would allow us to bring our dog, but it didn't even cross our minds that in 2008 we would have to check whether we would be welcome ourselves. "We're really pleased that the judge has confirmed what we already know – that in these circumstances our civil partnership has the same status in law as a marriage between a man and a woman, and that regardless of each person's religious beliefs, no one is above the law."
The Guardian
Devout Christian hotel owners who refused to allow a gay couple to share a double room acted unlawfully, a judge at Bristol county court ruled today. Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy, who are civil partners, won their landmark claim for discrimination in a case funded and supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The ruling, one of the first made under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, is likely to provide those in partnerships with greater protection from discrimination. The owners of the Chymorvah private hotel in Cornwall, Peter and Hazel Bull, do not allow couples who are not married to share double rooms because they do not believe in sex before marriage.
The Bulls asserted that their refusal to accommodate civil partners in a double room was not to do with sexual orientation but "everything to do with sex". The restriction, the owners said, applied equally to heterosexual couples who are not married. In his ruling, Judge Andrew Rutherford said the hotel had directly discriminated against the couple on the grounds of their sexual orientation and awarded them compensation of £1,800 each. The judge said the right of the defendants to manifest their religion is not absolute and "can be limited to protect the rights and freedoms of the claimants". He described the sexual orientation regulations as a "necessary and proportionate intervention by the state to protect the rights of others".
John Wadham, the legal director of the EHRC, said: "The right of an individual to practise their religion and live out their beliefs is one of the most fundamental rights a person can have, but so is the right not to be turned away by a hotel just because you are gay. "The law works both ways. Hotel owners would similarly not be able to turn away people whose religious beliefs they disagreed with. "When Mr and Mrs Bull chose to open their home as a hotel, their private home became a commercial enterprise. This decision means that community standards, not private ones, must be upheld."
Preddy and Hall said they were pleased with the outcome of the case: "When we booked this hotel we just wanted to do something that thousands of other couples do every weekend – take a relaxing weekend break away. "We checked that the hotel would allow us to bring our dog, but it didn't even cross our minds that in 2008 we would have to check whether we would be welcome ourselves. "We're really pleased that the judge has confirmed what we already know – that in these circumstances our civil partnership has the same status in law as a marriage between a man and a woman, and that regardless of each person's religious beliefs, no one is above the law."
The Guardian
SWEDISH LESBIAN PASTOR DENIED JOB FOR BEING 'ONE OF THOSE'
The 39-year-old pastor was applying for a temporary position with the diocese in Strängnäs to fill an extended vacancy, which had for the time being been filled by retired pastor in his seventies. While at first responding with enthusiasm upon receiving an application from the woman in June, the vicar subsequently told a fellow diocese employee that he knew the applicant was "one of those." When the employee asked if the vicar was referring to the applicant pastor's sexual orientation, he added that he had promised the diocese leadership that none of "them" would be allowed to join the diocese. He went on to express concerns about having a lesbian pastor and her girlfriend living on parish grounds and about having her instruct confirmation classes. In early August, the pastor emailed another staff member at the diocese to inquire about the status of her application, but received a response that the person was on vacation. In the message, she questioned why the parish would choose to have a retired pastor over a younger unemployed pastor. Shortly thereafter, the vicar emailed the 39-year-old to say that her services were no longer required by the diocese and that the elderly pastor would continue in the position.
Two weeks after receiving the vicar's rejection, the lesbian pastor received a response from the staff member she had originally emailed which referred to the parish's preference for older pastors as a latent form of discrimination. At the time, the applicant pastor assumed the email referred to age discrimination. In September, however, she learned about the vicar's previous statements about her sexual orientation and realised that she had been passed over for the job because she was a lesbian. "This is an important case because it involves exactly the kind of thing that we don't think should be allowed to happen," Vida Paridad, a lawyer with the Örebro Rättighetscenter, an anti-discrimination organisation which helped the pastor with her case, told The Local. "Namely, that someone be denied a job, not because they lack the right skills or competence, but because of their sexual orientation," she explained. According to Paridad, her organisation generally attempts to get the parties involved in discrimination cases to sit down to discuss the matter in order to reach a common understanding.
After the vicar refused repeated attempts for a meeting to discuss the matter, the rights group in turned filed a complaint on her behalf with Sweden's Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen – DO) on behalf of the pastor. While proving workplace discrimination is always hard, Paridad was confident about the lesbian pastor’s case. "It's seldom that you have an independent witness who can testify that discrimination has taken place. But, in this case we have someone who has come forward and that makes this a very strong case," she said. When reached for comment by the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper, the vicar, who now works as a pastor in another parish, refused to comment.
The Local Sweden
Two weeks after receiving the vicar's rejection, the lesbian pastor received a response from the staff member she had originally emailed which referred to the parish's preference for older pastors as a latent form of discrimination. At the time, the applicant pastor assumed the email referred to age discrimination. In September, however, she learned about the vicar's previous statements about her sexual orientation and realised that she had been passed over for the job because she was a lesbian. "This is an important case because it involves exactly the kind of thing that we don't think should be allowed to happen," Vida Paridad, a lawyer with the Örebro Rättighetscenter, an anti-discrimination organisation which helped the pastor with her case, told The Local. "Namely, that someone be denied a job, not because they lack the right skills or competence, but because of their sexual orientation," she explained. According to Paridad, her organisation generally attempts to get the parties involved in discrimination cases to sit down to discuss the matter in order to reach a common understanding.
After the vicar refused repeated attempts for a meeting to discuss the matter, the rights group in turned filed a complaint on her behalf with Sweden's Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen – DO) on behalf of the pastor. While proving workplace discrimination is always hard, Paridad was confident about the lesbian pastor’s case. "It's seldom that you have an independent witness who can testify that discrimination has taken place. But, in this case we have someone who has come forward and that makes this a very strong case," she said. When reached for comment by the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper, the vicar, who now works as a pastor in another parish, refused to comment.
The Local Sweden
Athens far-right city councillor gives Nazi salute at municipal meeting (Greece)
Athens' new Socialist mayor is criticizing a far-right city councillor for giving a Nazi salute during a council meeting.
Mayor Giorgos Kaminis on Tuesday condemned the gesture, which was made at a meeting at Athens City Hall and shown on Greek television and posted on the Internet.
Nikolaos Michaloliakos, leader of the far-right group Chrysi Avgi, which has been linked to violent attacks against immigrants in Athens, was seen giving the salute Monday during a heated exchange with a left-wing city councillor.
The group staged a violent anti-immigrant demonstration over the weekend.
Kaminis and the new city council were voted in on November 7-14 local elections and sworn in on Dec. 29.
Google Hosted News
Mayor Giorgos Kaminis on Tuesday condemned the gesture, which was made at a meeting at Athens City Hall and shown on Greek television and posted on the Internet.
Nikolaos Michaloliakos, leader of the far-right group Chrysi Avgi, which has been linked to violent attacks against immigrants in Athens, was seen giving the salute Monday during a heated exchange with a left-wing city councillor.
The group staged a violent anti-immigrant demonstration over the weekend.
Kaminis and the new city council were voted in on November 7-14 local elections and sworn in on Dec. 29.
Google Hosted News
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Supremacist Group Targets MLK Event (USA)
It was everything the event was speaking out against. A Martin Luther King celebration Monday in Billings was allegedly targeted by a white supremacy group at MSU Billings in Petro Theatre.
The event had just gotten underway when organizer Eran Thompson said someone threw about 100 flyers into the lobby. He said the flyers were promoting a white supremacy group.
Not In Our Town said it was disheartening, but didn't stop the event.
“It's unfortunate they chose Monday to come drop off leaflets and literature. Not in our Town will take a stance against hate and intolerance. We will use this as an opportunity and motivation to go out and inform the community about these events, and they do really happen, and Monday’s a prime example,” said Ali Hashemzadeh.
Campus police said they responded to an incident at Petro Theatre, but wouldn’t give more details. Thompson said the flyers had the logo on them for a group known as the Creativity Movement.
kulr8
The event had just gotten underway when organizer Eran Thompson said someone threw about 100 flyers into the lobby. He said the flyers were promoting a white supremacy group.
Not In Our Town said it was disheartening, but didn't stop the event.
“It's unfortunate they chose Monday to come drop off leaflets and literature. Not in our Town will take a stance against hate and intolerance. We will use this as an opportunity and motivation to go out and inform the community about these events, and they do really happen, and Monday’s a prime example,” said Ali Hashemzadeh.
Campus police said they responded to an incident at Petro Theatre, but wouldn’t give more details. Thompson said the flyers had the logo on them for a group known as the Creativity Movement.
kulr8
Muslim resistance: The struggle within - video (UK)
Documentary maker Masood Khan explores the Muslim community's struggle against extremism. In the first of three videos, he goes to Luton to see how Salafi Muslims are rejecting the extreme rhetoric of al-Muhajiroun.
The Guardian
The Guardian
RACISM IN SERBIA, DEPORTATION OF ROMA REQUESTED
Attacks against the Roma community members has resurfaced as a big problem in Serbia. The situation remains tense in an area near the town of Pozega, home to around 700 Serbs, after they had written neo-nazist slogans aimed against the Roma. Serbian officials have condemned the appearance of the Nazi swastika in different locations around the town. However, this is not the first time that the Roma have become object of attack. A year ago, because of a murder, hundreds of Roma were locked in their homes in the village of Jabuka near Pancevo, after being attacked by their neighbors. In Pozega, slogans containing "Roma, too, out of Serbia" were to be seen in several locations. Citizens have been caught by surprise, as it is said that this area never had such problems. Nevertheless, groups of young people who express such ideas are not scarce. Serbian courts are discussing the possibility of banning some 14 groups of fans and groups who express such extreme ideas.
New Kosova Report
New Kosova Report
President Medvedev calls for crackdown on neo-Nazi groups (Russia)
On Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged his government to crackdown on neo-Nazis in the wake of racial clashes in Moscow that were the worst since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Far-right nationalism has been an ongoing concern in Russia for decades, but has been on the upswing in recent years, gaining membership at a rate that has shocked many Russians.
They’ve held rallies in the capital, bearing swastikas and chanting “Russia is for Russians”.
“All Nazis, independent of where they come from... they simply undermine the cultural foundations of our state,” said the Russian President.
In December of 2010 Moscow authorities were overwhelmed by 7,000 right-wing nationalists who gathered outside the Kremlin and began beating people of non-Slavic appearance.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin joined Medvedev in denouncing the racism calling it “xenophobia”, which is unacceptable in the modern inter-connected world.
Russia is due to host the 2018 soccer World Cup and the latest incidents have raised concerns about the safety and security of non-white visitors to the country.
Argentina Star
Far-right nationalism has been an ongoing concern in Russia for decades, but has been on the upswing in recent years, gaining membership at a rate that has shocked many Russians.
They’ve held rallies in the capital, bearing swastikas and chanting “Russia is for Russians”.
“All Nazis, independent of where they come from... they simply undermine the cultural foundations of our state,” said the Russian President.
In December of 2010 Moscow authorities were overwhelmed by 7,000 right-wing nationalists who gathered outside the Kremlin and began beating people of non-Slavic appearance.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin joined Medvedev in denouncing the racism calling it “xenophobia”, which is unacceptable in the modern inter-connected world.
Russia is due to host the 2018 soccer World Cup and the latest incidents have raised concerns about the safety and security of non-white visitors to the country.
Argentina Star
Thousands of schoolchildren branded 'racist' and 'homophobic' during playground squabbles (UK)
Thousands of children, including those attending nursery school, were involved in racist or homophobic incidents over the past year, figures have disclosed.
Teachers logged more than 10,000 confrontations involving primary school students making racist insults or derogatory comments about homosexuals in 12 months.
A further 20,000 “hate crimes” were recorded against secondary school students such as using the phrases “white trash” or “gaylord” during playground squabbles.
And nursery school staff reported several dozen such bullying incidents involving young children despite most not understanding the meaning of what they were saying.
Experts said the government was attacking childhood. The government has previously said that any sort of bullying was "totally unacceptable and should not be tolerated".
The figures for 2008/09, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, disclosed 29,659 racist incidents were reported by schools to local education authorities in England and Wales.
Of these, 10,436 were at primary schools and 41 were reported at nursery schools. More than 50 incidents involved police. Hundreds of incidents involved “homophobic” insults. Birmingham City Council recorded the highest number, with 1,607 racist incidents, compared with only two each in the Vale of Glamorgan and Hartlepool.
The latest figures are less than the 40,000 annual incidents of racism recorded previously. Schools were placed under a duty by the Government in 2002 to monitor and report all racist incidents to their local authority.
After the introduction of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, which put public bodies under a duty to eliminate discrimination, schools were told they had to monitor the impact of their policies on the educational attainment of pupils of different races.
Racist incident forms were then created that required teachers to name the alleged perpetrator and victim, and spell out what they did and how they were punished. Schools can keep these details on file.
“I feel that childhood itself is under attack,” Adrian Hart, from the Manifesto Club, a civil liberies group, which obtained the figures.
“It’s absolutely the case that these policies misunderstand children quite profoundly."
He added to the Daily Mail: “Racist incident reporting generates the illusion of a problem with racism in Britain’s schools by trawling the everyday world of playground banter, teasing, childish insults – the sort of things that every teacher knows happens out there in the playground.”
Last September The Daily Telegraph disclosed that a serious case review of a student, Henry Webster, attacked with a hammer by racist bullies in 2007 recommended that all schools go far further. Teachers should investigate whether racism may be a factor in every incident of playground bullying, it found.
The Telegraph
Teachers logged more than 10,000 confrontations involving primary school students making racist insults or derogatory comments about homosexuals in 12 months.
A further 20,000 “hate crimes” were recorded against secondary school students such as using the phrases “white trash” or “gaylord” during playground squabbles.
And nursery school staff reported several dozen such bullying incidents involving young children despite most not understanding the meaning of what they were saying.
Experts said the government was attacking childhood. The government has previously said that any sort of bullying was "totally unacceptable and should not be tolerated".
The figures for 2008/09, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, disclosed 29,659 racist incidents were reported by schools to local education authorities in England and Wales.
Of these, 10,436 were at primary schools and 41 were reported at nursery schools. More than 50 incidents involved police. Hundreds of incidents involved “homophobic” insults. Birmingham City Council recorded the highest number, with 1,607 racist incidents, compared with only two each in the Vale of Glamorgan and Hartlepool.
The latest figures are less than the 40,000 annual incidents of racism recorded previously. Schools were placed under a duty by the Government in 2002 to monitor and report all racist incidents to their local authority.
After the introduction of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, which put public bodies under a duty to eliminate discrimination, schools were told they had to monitor the impact of their policies on the educational attainment of pupils of different races.
Racist incident forms were then created that required teachers to name the alleged perpetrator and victim, and spell out what they did and how they were punished. Schools can keep these details on file.
“I feel that childhood itself is under attack,” Adrian Hart, from the Manifesto Club, a civil liberies group, which obtained the figures.
“It’s absolutely the case that these policies misunderstand children quite profoundly."
He added to the Daily Mail: “Racist incident reporting generates the illusion of a problem with racism in Britain’s schools by trawling the everyday world of playground banter, teasing, childish insults – the sort of things that every teacher knows happens out there in the playground.”
Last September The Daily Telegraph disclosed that a serious case review of a student, Henry Webster, attacked with a hammer by racist bullies in 2007 recommended that all schools go far further. Teachers should investigate whether racism may be a factor in every incident of playground bullying, it found.
The Telegraph
Monday, 17 January 2011
German neo-Nazi parties merge amid demonstrations
Berlin Jews joined hundreds of demonstrators to protest a meeting marking the merger of two neo-Nazi parties.
Police estimated fewer than 80 right-wing extremists showed up to the Jan. 15 meeting where the National Democratic Party of Germany and the German People's Party formally announced their merger. Meanwhile, nearly 100 times that number demonstrated in the streets outside the public school where the party meeting was held, in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg.
Berlin's Jewish community and others had criticized the Max-Taut school for allowing the neo-Nazis to meet there. But courts upheld the party's right of assembly. Their right was protected, with about 300 police in the assembly hall. Reportedly, protesters in the hall tried to disrupt the proceedings by clapping at inappropriate moments.
However, the neo-Nazis were obviously not welcomed, either by neighbors or by the school's pupil, Judith Kessler, editor in chief of the Berlin Jewish community's monthly magazine, juedisches berlin, told JTA.
Pupils had put anti-Nazi posters up on the walls of the Max-Taut school, and neighbors had signs in their windows making it clear the ultra-right-wingers were "not wanted here," Kessler said. She said she understood the party had a legal right to meet, but they should have been given "a barn or a field," not a public school, she commented.
She called the turnout "ludicrous."
Both parties blame "foreigners" for Germany's economic and social problems, and relativize the Holocaust, claiming it was not so bad and that the suffering of "Germans" has been ignored. Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany, but both parties come close to that, critics say.
Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit and the newly elected chair of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, both have called for banning the NPD as a threat to democracy.
Meanwhile, the NPD, with an estimated 7,000 members nationwide and 14 representatives in state-level parliaments, mostly in former East Germany, recently announced it would merge with the smaller DVU to form the "NPD - The People's Union." Their goal was to present a stronger force in local elections, of which there are many in 2011.
"The opposition finds this OK," Kessler said, "because it is easier tofight against only one party."
JTA.org
Police estimated fewer than 80 right-wing extremists showed up to the Jan. 15 meeting where the National Democratic Party of Germany and the German People's Party formally announced their merger. Meanwhile, nearly 100 times that number demonstrated in the streets outside the public school where the party meeting was held, in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg.
Berlin's Jewish community and others had criticized the Max-Taut school for allowing the neo-Nazis to meet there. But courts upheld the party's right of assembly. Their right was protected, with about 300 police in the assembly hall. Reportedly, protesters in the hall tried to disrupt the proceedings by clapping at inappropriate moments.
However, the neo-Nazis were obviously not welcomed, either by neighbors or by the school's pupil, Judith Kessler, editor in chief of the Berlin Jewish community's monthly magazine, juedisches berlin, told JTA.
Pupils had put anti-Nazi posters up on the walls of the Max-Taut school, and neighbors had signs in their windows making it clear the ultra-right-wingers were "not wanted here," Kessler said. She said she understood the party had a legal right to meet, but they should have been given "a barn or a field," not a public school, she commented.
She called the turnout "ludicrous."
Both parties blame "foreigners" for Germany's economic and social problems, and relativize the Holocaust, claiming it was not so bad and that the suffering of "Germans" has been ignored. Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany, but both parties come close to that, critics say.
Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit and the newly elected chair of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, both have called for banning the NPD as a threat to democracy.
Meanwhile, the NPD, with an estimated 7,000 members nationwide and 14 representatives in state-level parliaments, mostly in former East Germany, recently announced it would merge with the smaller DVU to form the "NPD - The People's Union." Their goal was to present a stronger force in local elections, of which there are many in 2011.
"The opposition finds this OK," Kessler said, "because it is easier tofight against only one party."
JTA.org
White Supremacist Site MartinLutherKing.org Marks 12th Anniversary (USA)
Where in the www did these kids search?
Google, for starters.
If you enter "Martin Luther King, Jr." as a search term, the site netting the third-highest ranking is martinlutherking(dot)org, which purports to be "A valuable resource for teachers and students alike." Visit the site and you can read the "truth" about King -- communist, wife-beater, plagiarist, sexual deviant and all-around fraud. There are flyers to the same effect that children can download, print and bring to school.
As you have probably guessed, this site is not run by the King Center, the memorial established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King to the advance her husband's legacy (TheKingCenter.org ranks seventh on Google). Rather, MartinLutherKing(dot)org is a spinoff of Stormfront(dot)org, the "white nationalist" online community created in 1995 by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Don Black. Stormfront's Web forum now claims nearly 214,000 participants. Black registered martinlutherking(dot)org on January 14, 1999, later adding MLKing(dot)org and MLKing(dot)com.
A Google spokesman told me, "Our search results are generated objectively and are independent of the beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google. A site's ranking in Google's search results is automatically determined by computer algorithms using hundreds of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query. The only sites we omit from our search results are those we are legally compelled to remove or those maliciously attempting to manipulate our results."
MartinLutherKing(dot)org also ranks third on Yahoo and Bing.
According to sociologist Jessie Daniels of RacismReview, "The decision to register the domain name 'martinlutherking(dot)org' relatively early in the evolution of the web was a shrewd and opportune move for advocates of white supremacy."
While proponents of the King Center message would love to pull the plug, they face multiple obstacles, not least of which is the First Amendment. Unless the Web content contains libel, a credible threat or incitement to imminent lawless action, the law offers little recourse. In a 2008 Atlanta Journal-Constitution interview, King Center CEO Isaac Farris, Jr., cited the "thin line between opinion and slander," adding, "You never authorize a lawyer to do whatever it takes because that could be a black hole."
The law also insulates Internet Service Providers from liability to the same extent telephone companies aren't responsible for crimes committed over their wires. Per the Telecommunications Act of 1996, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."
Providers may prohibit racist or bigoted messages of their own volition, however--such prohibitions don't violate constitutional rights because a commercial provider isn't a government agency. MartinLutherKing(dot)org's ISP, Dallas-based SoftLayer, has a strict acceptable use policy. "We try to be as proactive as possible in eliminating any and all content from our network that breaches the terms of this policy," a SoftLayer spokesperson told me. "But this is not always an easy task. In aggregate we have nearly 80,000 servers under management, and we host millions of domains."
Daniels sees general awareness about the way propaganda works online as a more effective agent of change. "We have to get smarter about racism," she says.
Adds educational psychologist Brendesha Tynes, "We need media literacy programs that foster the development of a critical lens to help children recognize the difference between propaganda and legitimate sites."
Toward that end, the Anti-Defamation League offers a Combating CyberHate Toolkit that suggests steps to counter pernicious sites, including posting videos, counterpoints, or comments that oppose offensive content--for example, constructing counter-MartinLutherKing(dot)org programming on YouTube or Facebook.
And as Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem."
Huffington Post
On Martin Luther King Day we remember the dream.
January 17th 2011 is Martin Luther King Day.
So lets remember the man with the dream.
So lets remember the man with the dream.
FRANCE 24 JOURNALIST ASSAULTED DURING NATIONAL FRONT PARTY CONGRESS
Security personnel from France’s far-right National Front (FN) party assaulted a FRANCE 24 correspondent after after a private cocktail reception Saturday during the party’s congress in the central city of Tours. Political affiars correspondent Mickael Szames, the journalist in question, said eight FN security officers knocked him to the ground and hit him repeatedly for taking pictures at the reception. “They later took my cellphone and demanded I delete the pictures, which were of no journalistic value whatsoever. They confiscated my press card and my watch,” Szames said in a live broadcast from Tours. Szames also said guards used racial slurs and verbally abused him when they took him to a security holding room. “F****** journalist, I’m going to knock your teeth out,” was one threat against him, he said.
Szames was in Tours Saturday to report on the change in the National Front leadership. After 40 years at the helm, Jean-Marie Le Pen handed over the reins to his daughter, Marine. She was elected to replace him with 68 percent of the vote. Szames said he reported the assault to local police immediately after being released by FN security but the police told him “there was not much they could do inside of the FN” congress. Szames filed assault charges against the security personnel later that evening and FRANCE 24 has stopped its direct coverage of the party congress. Alain Vizier, Communications Director for National Front, said the party also threatened to file a law suit against FRANCE 24 and another French network, i-Tele, for reporting on the assault.
France 24
Szames was in Tours Saturday to report on the change in the National Front leadership. After 40 years at the helm, Jean-Marie Le Pen handed over the reins to his daughter, Marine. She was elected to replace him with 68 percent of the vote. Szames said he reported the assault to local police immediately after being released by FN security but the police told him “there was not much they could do inside of the FN” congress. Szames filed assault charges against the security personnel later that evening and FRANCE 24 has stopped its direct coverage of the party congress. Alain Vizier, Communications Director for National Front, said the party also threatened to file a law suit against FRANCE 24 and another French network, i-Tele, for reporting on the assault.
France 24
Sunday, 16 January 2011
France's National Front picks Marine Le Pen as new head
She is succeeding her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the FN in 1972.
On Saturday party sources reported that she had secured two-thirds of votes against rival Bruno Gollnisch in a recent referendum of members.
The anti-immigrant FN has been shunned by France's main parties, but Ms Le Pen has said she wants to break with the party's xenophobic image.
In a combative farewell speech on Saturday Mr Le Pen, 82, insisted that "unceasing immigration" posed a threat to France.
"All my comments were distorted from their true meaning... because I refused to submit to the dictatorship of the thought police," he told cheering supporters at the conference in the central city of Tours.
He added that it was up to FN members to ensure the party's future success under a new leader.
"I entrust you with the destiny of our movement... its unity, its pugnacity," he said.
French TV footage showed Marine Le Pen, 42, crying as she applauded her father.
Although Mr Le Pen's five presidential bids have failed, the FN has steadily grown under his leadership. In recent elections the party has been able to garner about 15% of the vote.
In 2002 he came a shock second in the first round of presidential elections, but lost the second round to incumbent Jacques Chirac.
A recent poll suggested the party could come third in presidential elections to be held in 2012.
BBC News
Leader of Petah Tikva neo-Nazi gang indicted (Israel)
The Central District Attorney's Office on Sunday filed an indictment against 23-year-old Dimitri Bugotich, a leader of a neo-Nazi gang that operated from 2005 to 2007 in Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv.
Bugotich fled the country after his gang was exposed.
From 2005 to 2007, the gang attacked dozens of foreigners, dark-skinned people and religious Jews, and documented the acts as they were happening.
Among the videos shot by the gang, one shows them beating a foreign worker from China, while another shows them pulling the beard of a religious Jew at the new central bus station in Tel Aviv.
The gang, which called itself "Patrol 36" chose a picture of a skull as their symbol, and under this icon they posted their video clips on the Internet.
Bugotich and other gang members were arrested in 2007, but two days after the gang's leader underwent a police investigation and a warrant was issued preventing him from leaving the country, Bugotich fled to Russia.
Israel Police notified Interpol of Bugotich's escape, and earlier this month, after a he was stopped in Kyrgyzstan and underwent a deportation proceeding, he arrived in Israel and was arrested.
Bugotich is charged with eight counts of racially-motivated aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit a crime and incitement to racism.
JPost
FAR RIGHTISTS MEET, THOUSANDS PROTEST IN GERMANY
Far rightists met in two German cities Saturday, triggering angry demonstrations by leftist opponents. In Berlin, 180 delegates of Germany's far-right National Democratic Party-People's Union gathered in a suburban hall to mark the party's January 1 formation through a merger and to adopt common policies, the party said. Two leftist demonstrators were arrested for wearing masks, an offence in Germany, and police investigated damage to the hall door. Several hundred demonstrators shouted noisily outside the venue and there were scuffles with police. In Magdeburg, south-west of Berlin, some 2,500 demonstrators disrupted a parade by 1,000 rightists through the city, sitting on roads till police dragged them away. The rightists were lamenting Sunday's 66th anniversary of the city's destruction in a Second World War air raid. Far rightists claim the bombardment of German cities was a war crime.
DPA
DPA
Racist slurs over jury call (UK)
A jobless labourer has been reprimanded and banned from jury service after making racist remarks about defendants.
Paul Sullivan, 47, made his abusive comments to the jury officer at Southampton Crown Court in a bid to get out of a possible three-week trial. The jury officer reported him and Judge Peter Ralls QC remanded him to the cells for two hours before he was brought back into the dock for contempt of court.
Defence barrister Andy Houston revealed he had been twice sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
“He made the remarks to get out of jury service,” said Mr Houston. “He doesn’t hold those views, and being in the cells has been a sobering experience. He realises the folly of what he has done and apologises.”
Judge Ralls discharged Sullivan but warned him about his future conduct.
Daily Echo
Paul Sullivan, 47, made his abusive comments to the jury officer at Southampton Crown Court in a bid to get out of a possible three-week trial. The jury officer reported him and Judge Peter Ralls QC remanded him to the cells for two hours before he was brought back into the dock for contempt of court.
Defence barrister Andy Houston revealed he had been twice sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
“He made the remarks to get out of jury service,” said Mr Houston. “He doesn’t hold those views, and being in the cells has been a sobering experience. He realises the folly of what he has done and apologises.”
Judge Ralls discharged Sullivan but warned him about his future conduct.
Daily Echo
Law needed to tackle hate speech on Internet (Turkey)
Turkish civil society organizations are demanding a new law regulating hate crimes and hate speech, saying racism and xenophobia are spreading fast on the Internet.
At the beginning of this week, Ankara hosted a meeting of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a body within the Council of Europe (CoE). The meeting brought together national and international experts to discuss the implementation of the ECRI's recommendations to combat discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion or other characteristics, and one of the main topics was discrimination and racism on the Internet.
Turkey, like most countries of the world, is not free of crimes against minorities and disadvantaged groups. Among these, crimes motivated by a victim's background or identity are defined as hate crimes. The Turkish Penal Code (TCK), however, includes no such category, and civil society organizations are fighting to have it added.
Despite the lack of such a category in the TCK, Parliament ratified a bill this week that introduces new regulations for broadcasting. According to amendments to the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) law, broadcasts will not be allowed to instigate hate and broadcasts that discriminate on the basis of race, language, gender, class, sect or religion will not be allowed. However, regulations regarding the Internet are not included for the time being.
Yaman Akdeniz, an associate professor at Bilgi University's school of law, told Sunday's Zaman that Turkey has signed the Convention on Cybercrime but not the additional protocol “concerning the criminalization of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems.”
The additional protocol defines racist and xenophobic material as “any written material, any image or any other representation of ideas or theories, which advocates, promotes or incites hatred, discrimination or violence, against any individual or group of individuals, based on race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin, as well as religion if used as a pretext for any of these factors.”
Even a quick look at the social networking website Facebook is enough to show that there are many groups which spread hatred and even call for the mass killing of certain groups.
The additional protocol asks for its members “to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish [hate crimes] as criminal offences under its domestic law,” but, as Akdeniz, pointed out, this is no easy task. Akdeniz said it is easy to spot criminal material such as child pornography that is posted on the Internet, but not so with hate speech because it includes written material also.
He added that websites such as YouTube and Facebook are trying to implement controls and monitoring mechanisms and that it is possible for users to report discriminatory or racist content, but it is very easy to repost banned material on the digital platform after simply changing the name and/or content just a little.
Akdeniz also underlined that there is a very fine line between hate speech and political discourse, another fact that makes the fight against hate speech and hate crimes very difficult.
In interview with Sunday's Zaman earlier this week, ECRI Chairman Nils Muiznieks said discrimination and hate speech on the Internet is a very important issue they are trying to tackle; however, the general recommendations for fighting hate speech, racism and discrimination are outdated and technologically inadequate.
He said the countries most successful in fighting racism and intolerance on the Internet are those with the best cooperation between NGOs, Internet service providers and authorities; however, the level of cooperation is not at desirable levels everywhere and the fine line between freedom of expression and discrimination is very important.
“You need groups that monitor discrimination on the Internet. You need service providers who are willing to listen and engage in dialogue. And you need authorities to step in and punish the bad guys. It is clear that our own tools used to cope with this are outdated. This is a very rapidly developing field. Until very recently MySpace and Google were not willing to talk to organizations such as the ECRI. But they are now beginning to change a little,” he said.
Öztürk Türkdoğan, chairman of the Human Rights Association (İHD) underlined that there is a serious gap between regulations on hate crimes and hate speech in general but also on the Internet and that the fine line between freedom of expression and hate speech should be drawn very carefully.
“The measure should be the decisions and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR], but the Internet should not be used as a platform for any form of violence,” he told Sunday's Zaman.
Akdeniz also pointed out that the difficulty of tackling the issue should not prevent civil society from fighting against it, saying that some measures can be taken.
“In order to combat hate speech and discrimination, banning entire websites or networks is not the right solution. This is only pretending that some measures have been taken. Closing platforms should not be considered a solution. Racism and discrimination on the Internet is very much related to the level of racism and discrimination within society. To tackle it, we must raise awareness, though this is no easy task. Fighting racism is similar to fighting terrorism, and both need careful handling and a delicate approach,” he said.
Todays Zaman
At the beginning of this week, Ankara hosted a meeting of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a body within the Council of Europe (CoE). The meeting brought together national and international experts to discuss the implementation of the ECRI's recommendations to combat discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion or other characteristics, and one of the main topics was discrimination and racism on the Internet.
Turkey, like most countries of the world, is not free of crimes against minorities and disadvantaged groups. Among these, crimes motivated by a victim's background or identity are defined as hate crimes. The Turkish Penal Code (TCK), however, includes no such category, and civil society organizations are fighting to have it added.
Despite the lack of such a category in the TCK, Parliament ratified a bill this week that introduces new regulations for broadcasting. According to amendments to the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) law, broadcasts will not be allowed to instigate hate and broadcasts that discriminate on the basis of race, language, gender, class, sect or religion will not be allowed. However, regulations regarding the Internet are not included for the time being.
Yaman Akdeniz, an associate professor at Bilgi University's school of law, told Sunday's Zaman that Turkey has signed the Convention on Cybercrime but not the additional protocol “concerning the criminalization of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems.”
The additional protocol defines racist and xenophobic material as “any written material, any image or any other representation of ideas or theories, which advocates, promotes or incites hatred, discrimination or violence, against any individual or group of individuals, based on race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin, as well as religion if used as a pretext for any of these factors.”
Even a quick look at the social networking website Facebook is enough to show that there are many groups which spread hatred and even call for the mass killing of certain groups.
The additional protocol asks for its members “to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish [hate crimes] as criminal offences under its domestic law,” but, as Akdeniz, pointed out, this is no easy task. Akdeniz said it is easy to spot criminal material such as child pornography that is posted on the Internet, but not so with hate speech because it includes written material also.
He added that websites such as YouTube and Facebook are trying to implement controls and monitoring mechanisms and that it is possible for users to report discriminatory or racist content, but it is very easy to repost banned material on the digital platform after simply changing the name and/or content just a little.
Akdeniz also underlined that there is a very fine line between hate speech and political discourse, another fact that makes the fight against hate speech and hate crimes very difficult.
In interview with Sunday's Zaman earlier this week, ECRI Chairman Nils Muiznieks said discrimination and hate speech on the Internet is a very important issue they are trying to tackle; however, the general recommendations for fighting hate speech, racism and discrimination are outdated and technologically inadequate.
He said the countries most successful in fighting racism and intolerance on the Internet are those with the best cooperation between NGOs, Internet service providers and authorities; however, the level of cooperation is not at desirable levels everywhere and the fine line between freedom of expression and discrimination is very important.
“You need groups that monitor discrimination on the Internet. You need service providers who are willing to listen and engage in dialogue. And you need authorities to step in and punish the bad guys. It is clear that our own tools used to cope with this are outdated. This is a very rapidly developing field. Until very recently MySpace and Google were not willing to talk to organizations such as the ECRI. But they are now beginning to change a little,” he said.
Öztürk Türkdoğan, chairman of the Human Rights Association (İHD) underlined that there is a serious gap between regulations on hate crimes and hate speech in general but also on the Internet and that the fine line between freedom of expression and hate speech should be drawn very carefully.
“The measure should be the decisions and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR], but the Internet should not be used as a platform for any form of violence,” he told Sunday's Zaman.
Akdeniz also pointed out that the difficulty of tackling the issue should not prevent civil society from fighting against it, saying that some measures can be taken.
“In order to combat hate speech and discrimination, banning entire websites or networks is not the right solution. This is only pretending that some measures have been taken. Closing platforms should not be considered a solution. Racism and discrimination on the Internet is very much related to the level of racism and discrimination within society. To tackle it, we must raise awareness, though this is no easy task. Fighting racism is similar to fighting terrorism, and both need careful handling and a delicate approach,” he said.
Todays Zaman
Riots break out in Athens at anti-racism rally (Greece)
Riots broke out in Athens on Saturday at a protest against a planned wall between Turkey and Greece, local media reported.
Left-wing demonstrators clashed with right-wing protesters and police in the Agios Panteleimon area, which has a large immigrant population. Around 3,000 left-wing activists wanted to demonstrate against xenophobia and stage a concert, while extreme-right protesters also gathered to demonstrate.
Left-wing protesters threw stones at the police, while right-wing demonstrators chanted anti-immigrant slogans and threw stones to leftist protesters. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at the demonstrators to keep the two groups apart.
Hours before the rally, Greece daily Kathimerini published a call on supporters from residents of Aghios Panteleimonas to congregate in their local square to protest against the anti-racism rally. The residents condemned the organizers of the rally as "sold-out trade unionist traitors."
Greece is currently struggling to contain a wave of illegal immigration. Human rights organizations calculate that there are around 500,000 illegal immigrants currently living in the country.
Channel 6 News
Left-wing demonstrators clashed with right-wing protesters and police in the Agios Panteleimon area, which has a large immigrant population. Around 3,000 left-wing activists wanted to demonstrate against xenophobia and stage a concert, while extreme-right protesters also gathered to demonstrate.
Left-wing protesters threw stones at the police, while right-wing demonstrators chanted anti-immigrant slogans and threw stones to leftist protesters. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at the demonstrators to keep the two groups apart.
Hours before the rally, Greece daily Kathimerini published a call on supporters from residents of Aghios Panteleimonas to congregate in their local square to protest against the anti-racism rally. The residents condemned the organizers of the rally as "sold-out trade unionist traitors."
Greece is currently struggling to contain a wave of illegal immigration. Human rights organizations calculate that there are around 500,000 illegal immigrants currently living in the country.
Channel 6 News
Spelman: 'Balance needed' over travellers' camps (UK)
There should be a "balance" between the settled community and travellers, the environment secretary has said ahead of a meeting on unauthorised camps.
Caroline Spelman spoke before a meeting in her West Midlands constituency by demonstrators protesting against an encampment on green-belt land.
New legislation on travellers' camps will be tabled in Parliament on Monday.
Travellers' Times magazine's Jake Bowers accused protesters of "racism" and said travellers owned the land.
A round-the-clock demonstration has been staged for more than six months in the Warwickshire village of Meriden against a travellers' encampment.
The travellers, who moved on to the site over a Bank Holiday weekend, argue they have nowhere else to go and have a right to the land.
'Need more sites'
Ms Spelman, who attended the conference, said the new legislation introduced by the coalition government would bring "fairness between the settled and travelling communities".
She added it would make provision for more authorised sites, while closing a loophole that allows travellers to apply for and obtain retrospective planning permission after setting up camp.
"I don't think it is an issue of racism," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"There is an issue with planning law, there is a problem and the new government wants to try to address the problem, which is not new.
"There needs to be a balance between the settled community, like the villagers here in Meriden, and the travelling community.
"We need more authorised sites.
"The travelling community should be indeed travelling. The problem with our authorised site is people come and they stay, so it fills up the site."
Jake Bowers, editor of Travellers' Times magazine, asked why travellers had been excluded from the conference.
He told the programme: "Whilst there are some people in that village who are primarily concerned about the environment, the majority of people you speak to, when the mask slips, the real reason they are there is because there are gypsies in their village and they don't like it.
"I don't think anybody would say that moving on to green belt is an ideal solution, but the people on that site would say it is an issue of necessity."
BBC News
Caroline Spelman spoke before a meeting in her West Midlands constituency by demonstrators protesting against an encampment on green-belt land.
New legislation on travellers' camps will be tabled in Parliament on Monday.
Travellers' Times magazine's Jake Bowers accused protesters of "racism" and said travellers owned the land.
A round-the-clock demonstration has been staged for more than six months in the Warwickshire village of Meriden against a travellers' encampment.
The travellers, who moved on to the site over a Bank Holiday weekend, argue they have nowhere else to go and have a right to the land.
'Need more sites'
Ms Spelman, who attended the conference, said the new legislation introduced by the coalition government would bring "fairness between the settled and travelling communities".
She added it would make provision for more authorised sites, while closing a loophole that allows travellers to apply for and obtain retrospective planning permission after setting up camp.
"I don't think it is an issue of racism," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"There is an issue with planning law, there is a problem and the new government wants to try to address the problem, which is not new.
"There needs to be a balance between the settled community, like the villagers here in Meriden, and the travelling community.
"We need more authorised sites.
"The travelling community should be indeed travelling. The problem with our authorised site is people come and they stay, so it fills up the site."
Jake Bowers, editor of Travellers' Times magazine, asked why travellers had been excluded from the conference.
He told the programme: "Whilst there are some people in that village who are primarily concerned about the environment, the majority of people you speak to, when the mask slips, the real reason they are there is because there are gypsies in their village and they don't like it.
"I don't think anybody would say that moving on to green belt is an ideal solution, but the people on that site would say it is an issue of necessity."
BBC News
Saturday, 15 January 2011
St John's Church magazine under fire after anti-Islam article (UK)
An anti-Islamic article aiming to "liven up" a church magazine has sparked outrage after it branded the religion a "threat".
Muriel Clark's controversial piece on "Islamisation" in the monthly Hildenborough Keys has been slammed for urging residents to take a stand against Muslims coming into this country.
The 80-year-old divorcee claimed in her column for the St John's Church publication that young Christian schoolchildren were being brainwashed with Islamic ideology.
Both magazine editor Nick Hawkins – who admitted toning down the original submission because it was "too extreme" – and the Reverend John Chandler this week defended the piece, which was sent out to all homes in Hildenborough.
But residents and the West Kent Muslim Association (WKMA) have called it "unacceptable" and "harmful to the community".
WKMA president Nasir Jamil said: "We strongly condemn these views.
"Islamisation is a very sensitive issue. Her views are a bit extremist and it's a bit out of the blue. It really hurts us.
"How can they publish it, especially to a small community? It creates a bad impression that Muslims are extremists."
Tonbridge Green Party's Steve Dawe said he hoped the article – which sits alongside more benign offerings about coffee mornings and whist drives – was a one-off.
He said: "I hope those responsible indicate this was a mistake, and will never occur again.
"If not, then this is clearly a matter for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who may wish to bring a case on the grounds of incitement to religious hatred."
But the writer, editor and vicar have all stood by the piece.
Mr Hawkins said: "A couple of things were too extreme, so I took them out. But we should be awake to what's going on.
"We wanted to liven things up a bit. I thought it might be a bit thought-provoking."
Mrs Clark, of Bramble Close, said she stood by her views, saying: "This used to be a Christian country."
Mr Chandler said the church magazine should raise serious issues and he did not regret the article being published.
This is Kent
Muriel Clark's controversial piece on "Islamisation" in the monthly Hildenborough Keys has been slammed for urging residents to take a stand against Muslims coming into this country.
The 80-year-old divorcee claimed in her column for the St John's Church publication that young Christian schoolchildren were being brainwashed with Islamic ideology.
Both magazine editor Nick Hawkins – who admitted toning down the original submission because it was "too extreme" – and the Reverend John Chandler this week defended the piece, which was sent out to all homes in Hildenborough.
But residents and the West Kent Muslim Association (WKMA) have called it "unacceptable" and "harmful to the community".
WKMA president Nasir Jamil said: "We strongly condemn these views.
"Islamisation is a very sensitive issue. Her views are a bit extremist and it's a bit out of the blue. It really hurts us.
"How can they publish it, especially to a small community? It creates a bad impression that Muslims are extremists."
Tonbridge Green Party's Steve Dawe said he hoped the article – which sits alongside more benign offerings about coffee mornings and whist drives – was a one-off.
He said: "I hope those responsible indicate this was a mistake, and will never occur again.
"If not, then this is clearly a matter for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who may wish to bring a case on the grounds of incitement to religious hatred."
But the writer, editor and vicar have all stood by the piece.
Mr Hawkins said: "A couple of things were too extreme, so I took them out. But we should be awake to what's going on.
"We wanted to liven things up a bit. I thought it might be a bit thought-provoking."
Mrs Clark, of Bramble Close, said she stood by her views, saying: "This used to be a Christian country."
Mr Chandler said the church magazine should raise serious issues and he did not regret the article being published.
This is Kent
Petition accuses Tutu of anti-Semitism (South Africa)
An online petition has accused Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of anti-Semitism.
The petition was launched by three people, including a former South African Zionist Federation official.
The petition accused Tutu of being a bigot along with defaming Israel and the Jewish people.
In 2010 the renowned apartheid cleric urged the Cape Town Opera to cancel a trip to Israel.
He also supported another petition which called on one South African university to cut ties with the Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
The South African Zionist Federation’s Bev Goldman said Tutu’s views on the Jewish state are unfortunate.
“What we are concerned about is the fact that Archbishop Tutu tends to blame Israel solely for the issues that are happening in the Middle East,” she said.
Attempts to get comment from Tutu or his office have been unsuccessful.
Eye Witness News
The petition was launched by three people, including a former South African Zionist Federation official.
The petition accused Tutu of being a bigot along with defaming Israel and the Jewish people.
In 2010 the renowned apartheid cleric urged the Cape Town Opera to cancel a trip to Israel.
He also supported another petition which called on one South African university to cut ties with the Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
The South African Zionist Federation’s Bev Goldman said Tutu’s views on the Jewish state are unfortunate.
“What we are concerned about is the fact that Archbishop Tutu tends to blame Israel solely for the issues that are happening in the Middle East,” she said.
Attempts to get comment from Tutu or his office have been unsuccessful.
Eye Witness News
Nazi sympathizer and triple murderer Frank Spisak asks Ohio Parole Board to spare his life (USA)
Spisak's plea for mercy will be the first death penalty case before Republican Gov. John Kasich, who took office Monday and will make the final decision on whether to spare Spisak.
About a dozen family members of Spisak's victims showed up at Thursday's Parole Board hearing to say Spisak deserves to die. The board will make a recommendation to Kasich within a week on Spisak's request for clemency.
"He's here asking for mercy, and it's our family's position that he's had mercy for the last 28 years," said Brendan Sheehan, a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge, whose father, Tim Sheehan, a CSU employee, was found shot dead in a university bathroom in August 1982.
Spisak also shot and killed the Rev. Horace Rickerson and 17-year-old CSU student Brian Warford, and tried to kill two others. He said he did it because he was a follower of Hitler and was in a war of survival "of the Aryan people," according to court records.
Aside from his Nazi devotion -- Spisak wore a Hitler-style mustache and gave a Nazi salute during his trial -- Spisak also was sexually confused. He sometimes cross-dressed and called himself Frances Anne Spisak. His lawyers referred to him as Frances on Thursday.
Rickerson and Warford were black, and prosecutors said Sheehan was a potential witness in Rickerson's murder.
His defense lawyers said Spisak murdered the three because he was mentally ill, and they asked the Parole Board to spare his life as an act of mercy.
"We're not making excuses for his behavior," Alan Rossman, Spisak's federal public defender, told the board. "If they kill him, they will be killing an extremely mentally ill individual."
Spisak, 59, is scheduled to be executed by injection on Feb. 17. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his final legal defense one year ago.
State psychiatrists and a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University working with the defense agree that Spisak suffers from a severe bipolar disorder, which is characterized by extreme mood swings.
Daily doses of lithium have leveled Spisak out in prison, yet he still shows signs of delusion and remains fixated on Germany, World War II and the Holocaust, said Dr. Chester Schmidt, of Johns Hopkins.
Despite his death sentence, Spisak hopes to earn a college degree, work at a Holocaust museum and uncover Hitler's written orders to commit genocide, Schmidt told the Parole Board.
"It's completely off the wall," Schmidt said. "It's an expression of disordered thinking."
Spisak's mental illness, prosecutors countered, is simply the latest in a long line of excuses offered to explain the shootings.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason urged the Parole Board to deny clemency "for a Nazi who has never taken full responsibility for his heinous actions."
"Now he blames his alleged bipolar disorder as the reason he committed the crimes," Mason's office wrote in a report to the board. "Spisak has not shown remorse for his murderous spree which left a campus and a city paralyzed with fear."
Although he was evaluated by numerous mental health professionals prior to his 1983 trial, Spisak, who did not the attend Thursday's hearing, wasn't diagnosed as bipolar until 1997. His lawyers said an earlier diagnosis could have prevented the crimes and played a role in his due process -- but they stopped short of claiming a proper diagnosis would have given credence to an insanity defense.
Brendan Sheehan said the jury that convicted Spisak in 1983 was well aware of his mental problems. He said those problems are now simply being labeled as a bipolar disorder.
Both Sheehan's family and relatives of Warford seemed ready for Spisak's execution, nearly three decades after he began killing.
"Those years (in prison) are enough," said Tracy Arnold, Warford's sister. "It's time for justice to truly be served."
Clevland.com
EXTREME-RIGHT TEENS HELD FOR LATVIA JEWISH CEMETERY ATTACK
Latvian police said Thursday they had detained three extreme-right teenagers suspected of involvement in the vandalism of a Jewish cemetery in the Baltic state's capital Riga a month ago. "Together, they formed a skinhead group which may have planned additional racial crimes," Ints Kuzis, the head of the Riga regional state police department, told reporters. The trio, whose names were not released, are aged 19, 16 and 15. Only the 15-year-old is suspected of carrying out the December 8 attack in which 89 tombstones were desecrated with white-painted swastikas.
The swastika, the symbol of Nazi-era Germany, is a favoured motif for today's far right. The other two suspects are believed to have been aware of the crime, police said. Kuzis said the trio spoke Russian among themselves, but did not elaborate. Around 40 percent of Latvia's 2.2 million people claim Russian as their native language. “Judging from the information we've obtained, their plans were huge," police spokeswoman Sigita Pildava told AFP after the press conference, but again declined to give details. Police said the trio had come to their attention last summer not only due to their racism, but also because of an overall hatred of religion. Investigators said they do not suspect them of involvement in an incident five days after the cemetery attack in which a monument to a Latvian labourer who saved dozens of Jews during World War II was also splattered with white paint. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and other top-ranking officials condemned both attacks.
The Jewish cemetery was also vandalized in September 2003, and five teenage perpetrators were sentenced to between six months and three years in prison. Around 85,000 Jews lived in Latvia before World War II, but 70,000 were murdered in the country by Nazi Germany and local collaborators or perished after being deported to camps elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe. Between 200 and 450 Jews survived the war in Latvia itself. Today, Latvia's Jewish community numbers fewer than 10,000.
EJ Press
The swastika, the symbol of Nazi-era Germany, is a favoured motif for today's far right. The other two suspects are believed to have been aware of the crime, police said. Kuzis said the trio spoke Russian among themselves, but did not elaborate. Around 40 percent of Latvia's 2.2 million people claim Russian as their native language. “Judging from the information we've obtained, their plans were huge," police spokeswoman Sigita Pildava told AFP after the press conference, but again declined to give details. Police said the trio had come to their attention last summer not only due to their racism, but also because of an overall hatred of religion. Investigators said they do not suspect them of involvement in an incident five days after the cemetery attack in which a monument to a Latvian labourer who saved dozens of Jews during World War II was also splattered with white paint. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and other top-ranking officials condemned both attacks.
The Jewish cemetery was also vandalized in September 2003, and five teenage perpetrators were sentenced to between six months and three years in prison. Around 85,000 Jews lived in Latvia before World War II, but 70,000 were murdered in the country by Nazi Germany and local collaborators or perished after being deported to camps elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe. Between 200 and 450 Jews survived the war in Latvia itself. Today, Latvia's Jewish community numbers fewer than 10,000.
EJ Press
Friday, 14 January 2011
Florida. teens charged with Facebook bullying of girl (USA)
Two teenage girls have been charged under Florida's law against cyberbullying after authorities say they created a Facebook account in a classmate's name and posted a faked nude photograph of her.
The 16- and 15-year-old high school students were charged Wednesday after a lengthy investigation into two Facebook accounts created in April. They each face a felony charge of aggravated stalking under a 2008 law passed after a student suicide blamed on bullying.
Officials say the accounts included a photo of a nude female doctored to add the victim's head.
Authorities say the victim was ridiculed by classmates after the pages became active.
The teens have been ordered to serve 21 days of home confinement and will be arraigned on the charges Feb. 8.
Bellingham Herald
The 16- and 15-year-old high school students were charged Wednesday after a lengthy investigation into two Facebook accounts created in April. They each face a felony charge of aggravated stalking under a 2008 law passed after a student suicide blamed on bullying.
Officials say the accounts included a photo of a nude female doctored to add the victim's head.
Authorities say the victim was ridiculed by classmates after the pages became active.
The teens have been ordered to serve 21 days of home confinement and will be arraigned on the charges Feb. 8.
Bellingham Herald
ITALIAN LEADERS DECRY LIST OF ‘INFLUENTIAL’ ITALIAN JEWS
Italian leaders expressed anger and solidarity with the Jewish community after a neo-Nazi Internet forum published a list of "influential" Italian Jews on its website. The Italian media Wednesday called the list on the American white supremacist website Stormfront "a blacklist of hate." The list included journalists, businesspeople, politicians, artists and others.
Politicians denounced the Stormfront posting and called for action against online hatred. The list "reminds us of the most shameful page in our history when, based on similar lists, thousands of Italians were expelled from schools, universities and workplaces and were deprived of citizenship and persecuted," Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Province of Rome, said in a statement. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno expressed "shame and anger," and called those who posted the list "ignorant and racist cowards." Italian lawmaker Enrico Gasbarra called for urgent action by the European Union to implement legislation that would "put an end, once and for all, to the possibility of using the Net as a tool of violence and persecution."
According to figures cited by the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center, Italy's leading research center on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, there are 1,200 Italian websites with some form of anti-Semitic content. "It is very difficult to intervene when the sites have their servers in other countries," as Stormfront does, the center's Michele Sarfatti said.
JTA News
Politicians denounced the Stormfront posting and called for action against online hatred. The list "reminds us of the most shameful page in our history when, based on similar lists, thousands of Italians were expelled from schools, universities and workplaces and were deprived of citizenship and persecuted," Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Province of Rome, said in a statement. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno expressed "shame and anger," and called those who posted the list "ignorant and racist cowards." Italian lawmaker Enrico Gasbarra called for urgent action by the European Union to implement legislation that would "put an end, once and for all, to the possibility of using the Net as a tool of violence and persecution."
According to figures cited by the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center, Italy's leading research center on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, there are 1,200 Italian websites with some form of anti-Semitic content. "It is very difficult to intervene when the sites have their servers in other countries," as Stormfront does, the center's Michele Sarfatti said.
JTA News
POWER OUTAGE AT CZECH COURT HALTS TRIAL OF ATTACK ON HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST BY NEO-NAZIS (Czech Rep.)
Yesterday a court in Most had to suspend its hearing into an attack on Czech human rights activist Ondøej Cakl by several neo-Nazis. The attack was committed on 17 November 2008 during an attempted pogrom against Roma residents of the Janov housing estate in the town of Litvínov. František Brávek, a 27-year-old neo-Nazi, has been charged as one of the attackers who brutally beat Cakl and destroyed his video camera. A verdict was not handed down today due to a power failure at the courthouse. On 5 January, the court acquitted another suspected assailant, Martin Loskot, of related charges. Several minutes after the trial commenced, the lights went out in the courtroom; after 10 minutes of interruption, the power could not be restored. "We had to halt the trial for technical reasons. The lights in the courtroom were gradually turning off and then there was no power at all," Judge Benno Eichler said. The trial has been postponed until May.
The judge only managed to hear testimony from Ondøej Cakl today. "While I was filming the crowd of 800, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and slid down with me so that I flew sideways, and then all I could see were parts of the arms and legs that were striking me. I covered my head and did my best to get away. Luckily I succeeded," Cakl told the court. "Based on my memory of the scene of the crime, I am not able to identify the defendant as one of the attackers, but I am able to identify him on the basis of the photographs and video recordings made by the journalists who were present." "When I discovered that those who perpetrated the attack on Natálka had been captured on film standing next to the defendant during the march on Janov, I became concerned that they might commit a Molotov cocktail attack on our office or on my apartment . I concluded police would not be able to protect me, so I left the country," Cakl told the court.
Brávek, who is charged with rioting and could face a two-year sentence, refused to testify, referring the court to the statements he made in the preliminary hearing. After the trial was postponed, he told journalists he had not attacked Cakl, although he did admit to participating in the neo-Nazi march. "I participated in the march, but I was in the crowd. I did not see the incident described here until footage of it was released on the internet," Brávek said in response to journalists' questions. "The court should concern itself with more serious matters. That camera may have cost CZK 30 000 at the time, but today it probably only costs CZK 5 000," he added, trivializing the entire case.
Another defendant, Martin Loskot, was acquitted of all charges in the case by the court on 5 January. Loskot refused to testify in Brávek's case. Klára Kalibová, Cakl's attorney, has commissioned experts in biomechanics and biometrics to produce a professional evaluation of the evidence for the next phase of the trial. "This is a technical tool that facilitates the identification of those who perpetrate crimes," Kalibová told Czech Television. Petr Pánek of the state prosecutor's office in Most has confirmed that such evidence has not yet been considered. "However, it may be considered on appeal," he said.
Jiøí Straus, an expert witness in the field of biomechanics, says an attack of this sort cannot be ruled on without an expert evaluation. Experts are able to use visual images of an incident to precisely identify assailants. "A person's movements are relative and can be analyzed in very brief intervals to determine who was kicking and with what intensity," Straus told Czech Television.
Romea
The judge only managed to hear testimony from Ondøej Cakl today. "While I was filming the crowd of 800, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and slid down with me so that I flew sideways, and then all I could see were parts of the arms and legs that were striking me. I covered my head and did my best to get away. Luckily I succeeded," Cakl told the court. "Based on my memory of the scene of the crime, I am not able to identify the defendant as one of the attackers, but I am able to identify him on the basis of the photographs and video recordings made by the journalists who were present." "When I discovered that those who perpetrated the attack on Natálka had been captured on film standing next to the defendant during the march on Janov, I became concerned that they might commit a Molotov cocktail attack on our office or on my apartment . I concluded police would not be able to protect me, so I left the country," Cakl told the court.
Brávek, who is charged with rioting and could face a two-year sentence, refused to testify, referring the court to the statements he made in the preliminary hearing. After the trial was postponed, he told journalists he had not attacked Cakl, although he did admit to participating in the neo-Nazi march. "I participated in the march, but I was in the crowd. I did not see the incident described here until footage of it was released on the internet," Brávek said in response to journalists' questions. "The court should concern itself with more serious matters. That camera may have cost CZK 30 000 at the time, but today it probably only costs CZK 5 000," he added, trivializing the entire case.
Another defendant, Martin Loskot, was acquitted of all charges in the case by the court on 5 January. Loskot refused to testify in Brávek's case. Klára Kalibová, Cakl's attorney, has commissioned experts in biomechanics and biometrics to produce a professional evaluation of the evidence for the next phase of the trial. "This is a technical tool that facilitates the identification of those who perpetrate crimes," Kalibová told Czech Television. Petr Pánek of the state prosecutor's office in Most has confirmed that such evidence has not yet been considered. "However, it may be considered on appeal," he said.
Jiøí Straus, an expert witness in the field of biomechanics, says an attack of this sort cannot be ruled on without an expert evaluation. Experts are able to use visual images of an incident to precisely identify assailants. "A person's movements are relative and can be analyzed in very brief intervals to determine who was kicking and with what intensity," Straus told Czech Television.
Romea
SWEDEN LOOKS TO COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA
The suicide bombing in Stockholm risks resulting in suspicions being cast against hundreds of thousands of Swedish Muslims, Ullenhag writes in a debate article in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper. He argues that it is unacceptable to blame an entire group for one person’s actions. “We who believe in the Swedish values of openness and tolerance have a responsibility to fight the Islamophobia and prejudice which can follow in the wake of terror,” writes Ullenhag. “We should never allow one individual’s act to result in an entire religion being seen as suspect or having a group saddled with collective guilt.” He points out that "more than 99.9 percent" of Sweden's estimated 400,000 Muslims are not among the list of roughly 200 violent Islamic extremists in the country identified by Swedish security service Säpo. Ullenhag said he shared concerns expressed to him by Muslim students in the days following the December 11th suicide bombing in Stockholm that the blasts would affect perceptions of them and their families.
He also cites a recent study from Sweden's Forum for Living History (Forum för levande historia) which found that tolerance among Swedish youth for Muslim, Jews, and Roma had decreased in recent years. In an effort to counteract potential discrimination against Swedish Muslims that could result from the suicide bombing, Ullenhag is meeting on Thursday with a number of prominent leaders from Sweden’s Muslim community. “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss how the government can deepen its work to combat discrimination and an increasing Islamophobia,” writes Ullenhag. “I want to listen to the experiences of Swedish Muslims and talk about what we can do to reduce polarisation and stop barriers between groups and people from taking root.” Ullenhag further emphasised that Sweden should never abandon its ideals of openness and tolerance in the fight against terrorism. “If a suicide bomber succeeds in creating large divisions and increased intolerance – then terror has won,” he writes.
The Local Sweden
He also cites a recent study from Sweden's Forum for Living History (Forum för levande historia) which found that tolerance among Swedish youth for Muslim, Jews, and Roma had decreased in recent years. In an effort to counteract potential discrimination against Swedish Muslims that could result from the suicide bombing, Ullenhag is meeting on Thursday with a number of prominent leaders from Sweden’s Muslim community. “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss how the government can deepen its work to combat discrimination and an increasing Islamophobia,” writes Ullenhag. “I want to listen to the experiences of Swedish Muslims and talk about what we can do to reduce polarisation and stop barriers between groups and people from taking root.” Ullenhag further emphasised that Sweden should never abandon its ideals of openness and tolerance in the fight against terrorism. “If a suicide bomber succeeds in creating large divisions and increased intolerance – then terror has won,” he writes.
The Local Sweden
IN FRANCE, FAR RIGHT SEIZES ON MUSLIM STREET PRAYERS
A call to prayer goes up from a loudspeaker perched on the hood of a car, and all at once hundreds of Muslim worshippers touch their foreheads to the ground, forming a sea of backs down the road.
The scene is taking place not in downtown Cairo, but on a busy market street in northern Paris, a short walk from the Sacre Coeur basilica. To locals, it's old news: some have been praying on the street, rain or shine, for decades. But for Marine Le Pen -- tipped to take over from her father this weekend as leader of the far-right National Front party -- it is proof that Muslims are taking over France and becoming an occupying force, according to remarks she made last month. Her comments caused a furore as she seized on the street prayers to drive home the idea that Islam is threatening the values of a secular country where anxiety over the role of Muslims in society has deepened in the past few years. More than two thirds of French and German people now consider the integration of Muslims into their societies a failure, pollster IFOP said in a survey published on Jan. 5. In France, where Islam is the second-largest religion after Catholicism, 42 percent saw it as a threat to national identity. "This has become a key political issue," said Frederic Dabi, IFOP's head of research. "Street prayers and the perceived growing influence of Islam are seen as impinging on French values of secularism, communal living."
Controversy over the street prayers has translated into growing confidence within the National Front, some 15 months before a presidential election likely to see a battle for votes between the far right and Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party. National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has said he expects the party to outdo its electoral performance in 2002, when it knocked out the mainstream Socialist candidate in the first round of voting, but then lost to Jacques Chirac. "These fears hang mostly on symbols: minarets in Switzerland, the niqab (full-face veil) in France, even the halal Quick menu," Dabi said, referring to a fast-food chain which recently opened a range of halal-only restaurants in France and Belgium. "The far right is playing on these fears." Le Pen's comments seem to be taking hold. A poll published by TNS Sofres this week, showed that support for National Front ideas has grown by 12 percentage points over the past year.
Mosque-o-phobia
Back on the market road, Friday prayers come to an end as quickly as they begin, with hundreds of worshippers packing up their mats and heading back to work. Many told Reuters that given the choice, they would avoid the cold and rain and pray indoors. The problem is that their warehouse-turned-prayer site, an unofficial mosque called al Fath, is too small to accommodate them all. "It's cold and filthy. Do you think we would be out here praying if we had the choice? The whole neighbourhood comes and prays in the street because there is not enough room inside, that's all," said Mohammed Delmi, 62. Such scenes are replicated at a dozen sites across France where worshippers kneel outside because prayer rooms are too full, according to a report by the centre-left daily Liberation.
"There are simply not enough of them," said Hakim El Karoui, head of the Islamic Culture Institute, which advises the City of Paris on faith issues. "It's no wonder there is an overflow." The problem has grown along with the country's Muslim population, which the French Council of Islamic Faith estimates at between 5-7 million, or 8 percent of the population -- a larger community than in any other European nation. Campaigners in favour of building new mosques said they faced two major difficulties, starting with financing: mosques in France must be funded privately due to restrictions against using public money for religious purposes. The second, pricklier issue is the public, which has grown increasingly intolerant of Islamic symbols. Research by pollster IFOP shows that support for building mosques fell to 20 percent in 2009 from 31 percent in 2000.
"We are walking on egg shells here," said Moussa Niambele, head of a group seeking new prayer space near the al Fath mosque. "There is the minaret issue in Switzerland and they do not want to import such problems to France." In Paris, where the Muslim population is denser than elsewhere in France, there is only one official mosque, La Grande Mosquee de Paris, located by a park on the posh Left Bank, far away from immigrant-heavy neighbourhoods. El Karoui said the problem had grown more acute since the closure of a large mosque in northern Paris two years ago forced more Muslims to pray in converted garages or vacant lots. A project to build two new prayer spaces which would be called "cultural" and "faith" centres lacks 5.9 million euros of private funding and building would not start before 2012. Worshippers were sceptical about the timetable. "You know, we have been praying on this street for years, long before Marine Le Pen made her remarks," said one man. "I am not going to throw away my raincoat quite yet."
Reuters
The scene is taking place not in downtown Cairo, but on a busy market street in northern Paris, a short walk from the Sacre Coeur basilica. To locals, it's old news: some have been praying on the street, rain or shine, for decades. But for Marine Le Pen -- tipped to take over from her father this weekend as leader of the far-right National Front party -- it is proof that Muslims are taking over France and becoming an occupying force, according to remarks she made last month. Her comments caused a furore as she seized on the street prayers to drive home the idea that Islam is threatening the values of a secular country where anxiety over the role of Muslims in society has deepened in the past few years. More than two thirds of French and German people now consider the integration of Muslims into their societies a failure, pollster IFOP said in a survey published on Jan. 5. In France, where Islam is the second-largest religion after Catholicism, 42 percent saw it as a threat to national identity. "This has become a key political issue," said Frederic Dabi, IFOP's head of research. "Street prayers and the perceived growing influence of Islam are seen as impinging on French values of secularism, communal living."
Controversy over the street prayers has translated into growing confidence within the National Front, some 15 months before a presidential election likely to see a battle for votes between the far right and Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party. National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has said he expects the party to outdo its electoral performance in 2002, when it knocked out the mainstream Socialist candidate in the first round of voting, but then lost to Jacques Chirac. "These fears hang mostly on symbols: minarets in Switzerland, the niqab (full-face veil) in France, even the halal Quick menu," Dabi said, referring to a fast-food chain which recently opened a range of halal-only restaurants in France and Belgium. "The far right is playing on these fears." Le Pen's comments seem to be taking hold. A poll published by TNS Sofres this week, showed that support for National Front ideas has grown by 12 percentage points over the past year.
Mosque-o-phobia
Back on the market road, Friday prayers come to an end as quickly as they begin, with hundreds of worshippers packing up their mats and heading back to work. Many told Reuters that given the choice, they would avoid the cold and rain and pray indoors. The problem is that their warehouse-turned-prayer site, an unofficial mosque called al Fath, is too small to accommodate them all. "It's cold and filthy. Do you think we would be out here praying if we had the choice? The whole neighbourhood comes and prays in the street because there is not enough room inside, that's all," said Mohammed Delmi, 62. Such scenes are replicated at a dozen sites across France where worshippers kneel outside because prayer rooms are too full, according to a report by the centre-left daily Liberation.
"There are simply not enough of them," said Hakim El Karoui, head of the Islamic Culture Institute, which advises the City of Paris on faith issues. "It's no wonder there is an overflow." The problem has grown along with the country's Muslim population, which the French Council of Islamic Faith estimates at between 5-7 million, or 8 percent of the population -- a larger community than in any other European nation. Campaigners in favour of building new mosques said they faced two major difficulties, starting with financing: mosques in France must be funded privately due to restrictions against using public money for religious purposes. The second, pricklier issue is the public, which has grown increasingly intolerant of Islamic symbols. Research by pollster IFOP shows that support for building mosques fell to 20 percent in 2009 from 31 percent in 2000.
"We are walking on egg shells here," said Moussa Niambele, head of a group seeking new prayer space near the al Fath mosque. "There is the minaret issue in Switzerland and they do not want to import such problems to France." In Paris, where the Muslim population is denser than elsewhere in France, there is only one official mosque, La Grande Mosquee de Paris, located by a park on the posh Left Bank, far away from immigrant-heavy neighbourhoods. El Karoui said the problem had grown more acute since the closure of a large mosque in northern Paris two years ago forced more Muslims to pray in converted garages or vacant lots. A project to build two new prayer spaces which would be called "cultural" and "faith" centres lacks 5.9 million euros of private funding and building would not start before 2012. Worshippers were sceptical about the timetable. "You know, we have been praying on this street for years, long before Marine Le Pen made her remarks," said one man. "I am not going to throw away my raincoat quite yet."
Reuters
Thursday, 13 January 2011
EDL leader's assault charge dropped
CPS withdraws charge against Stephen Lennon after new evidence emerges
The founder of the English Defence League was told that a charge of assaulting a police officer, during clashes with Islamist protesters, had been dropped.
Stephen Lennon, 27, of Luton, was due to go on trial this afternoon at West London magistrates court, but the Crown Prosecution Service said it had withdrawn the charge after new evidence emerged. However, Lennon may face a charge under the Public Order Act.
Lennon was arrested in west London on Armistice Day last year. He was among EDL demonstrators who clashed with Islamist protesters burning poppies during the two-minute silence.
The Guardian
The founder of the English Defence League was told that a charge of assaulting a police officer, during clashes with Islamist protesters, had been dropped.
Stephen Lennon, 27, of Luton, was due to go on trial this afternoon at West London magistrates court, but the Crown Prosecution Service said it had withdrawn the charge after new evidence emerged. However, Lennon may face a charge under the Public Order Act.
Lennon was arrested in west London on Armistice Day last year. He was among EDL demonstrators who clashed with Islamist protesters burning poppies during the two-minute silence.
The Guardian
Moscow police arrest dozens to avert racist riots
Russian police on Tuesday arrested dozens of people suspected of planning a racist rally near the Kremlin walls, as authorities looked to avert a repeat of last month's riots by ultra-nationalists who objected to the presence of non-Slavs in the country.
The arrests came after jittery police cordoned off part of a public square outside the Kremlin and evacuated a nearby shopping mall.
At least 30 police trucks lined up on Manezh Square in response to internet threats by ultra-nationalists to repeat the Dec. 11 riots, in which 5,000 people chanted "Russia for Russians" and beat dark-skinned passers-by. The riots were a reaction to the killing of a white Russian soccer fan during a fight with people from the south of the country. The violence left more than 30 people wounded and raised doubts about the government's ability to stem a rising tide of xenophobia. Days later, police detained 800 people in the capital and other cities to prevent further violence.
An Associated Press television crew saw at least 20 people taken to police vans Tuesday after a police document check, including one person wearing clothes bearing the initials of a well-known nationalist organization, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Russian news agencies said up to 100 people were detained.
Kremlin critics accuse the authorities of fomenting social disorder to justify a crackdown on the opposition before presidential elections in 2012. Since the unrest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed restricting the movement of nonresidents into big cities and President Dmitry Medvedev has called for mandatory prison sentences for people participating in unauthorized rallies. Moscow's police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said liberal values come a distant second to public order.
Critics, including former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, have said the measures proposed by Putin and Medvedev could cripple attempts to hold peaceful anti-government demonstrations.
Putin and Medvedev have said one of them will run for president in 2012, but they won't compete. It continues to appear that Putin, thought to retain real control over Russia since his eight-year stint as president ended in 2008, will run again.
While ethnic Russians make up four-fifths of Russia's population of 142 million, the country is also home to about 180 ethnic groups. The Caucasus region, with its mountainous terrain and isolated valleys, hosts at least 100 ethnicities including Chechens, who have waged two separatist wars since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
AP reporter David Nowak contributed to this report.
Fox News
The arrests came after jittery police cordoned off part of a public square outside the Kremlin and evacuated a nearby shopping mall.
At least 30 police trucks lined up on Manezh Square in response to internet threats by ultra-nationalists to repeat the Dec. 11 riots, in which 5,000 people chanted "Russia for Russians" and beat dark-skinned passers-by. The riots were a reaction to the killing of a white Russian soccer fan during a fight with people from the south of the country. The violence left more than 30 people wounded and raised doubts about the government's ability to stem a rising tide of xenophobia. Days later, police detained 800 people in the capital and other cities to prevent further violence.
An Associated Press television crew saw at least 20 people taken to police vans Tuesday after a police document check, including one person wearing clothes bearing the initials of a well-known nationalist organization, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Russian news agencies said up to 100 people were detained.
Kremlin critics accuse the authorities of fomenting social disorder to justify a crackdown on the opposition before presidential elections in 2012. Since the unrest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed restricting the movement of nonresidents into big cities and President Dmitry Medvedev has called for mandatory prison sentences for people participating in unauthorized rallies. Moscow's police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said liberal values come a distant second to public order.
Critics, including former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, have said the measures proposed by Putin and Medvedev could cripple attempts to hold peaceful anti-government demonstrations.
Putin and Medvedev have said one of them will run for president in 2012, but they won't compete. It continues to appear that Putin, thought to retain real control over Russia since his eight-year stint as president ended in 2008, will run again.
While ethnic Russians make up four-fifths of Russia's population of 142 million, the country is also home to about 180 ethnic groups. The Caucasus region, with its mountainous terrain and isolated valleys, hosts at least 100 ethnicities including Chechens, who have waged two separatist wars since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
AP reporter David Nowak contributed to this report.
Fox News
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
EDL founder faces police assault trial (UK)
English Defence League founder Stephen Lennon is due to stand trial accused of assaulting a police officer during clashes with Islamic protesters in west London.
Lennon, of Layham Drive, Luton, was arrested by police in Kensington as the nation stopped to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day last year.
Five others associated with his group were also arrested, as members of Muslims Against Crusades, a group which purports to "expose the enemies of Islam", burned remembrance poppies.
Two Muslim protesters were arrested for public order offences.
One officer was taken to hospital with a head injury during the clashes, as about 50 men linked to the EDL were kept separate as they shouted abuse.
Lennon pleaded not guilty during a hearing in November at West London Magistrates' Court to assaulting a police officer.
The trial is due to begin at the same court on Wednesday.
Google Hosted News
Lennon, of Layham Drive, Luton, was arrested by police in Kensington as the nation stopped to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day last year.
Five others associated with his group were also arrested, as members of Muslims Against Crusades, a group which purports to "expose the enemies of Islam", burned remembrance poppies.
Two Muslim protesters were arrested for public order offences.
One officer was taken to hospital with a head injury during the clashes, as about 50 men linked to the EDL were kept separate as they shouted abuse.
Lennon pleaded not guilty during a hearing in November at West London Magistrates' Court to assaulting a police officer.
The trial is due to begin at the same court on Wednesday.
Google Hosted News
NEVER AGAIN' ASSOCIATION WINS EUROPEAN FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS AWARD (Poland)
The annual European Football Supporters Award (EFSA) has been awarded to groups promoting positive attitudes in sports since 2005. The jury is composed of representatives of UEFA, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the City of Brussels, the European Association of Sports Magazines and the 'Sport & Citizenship' association. It is led by Philippe Housiaux, the EFSA's initiator and spokesman. This year the selection was made from among 14 nominations coming from Belgium, France, Scotland, Germany, Poland, Wales, Turkey, Austria, Israel, Holland, Spain and Switzerland. According to the official EFSA statement, the 'NEVER AGAIN' Association has been selected for the award because of its “amazing battle against racism and xenophobia for the past 15 years”. “We are delighted to see so many years' hard work has been appreciated” - said Marcin Kornak, the Chairman of the 'NEVER AGAIN' Association who initiated its 'Let's Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums' campaign. - “Currently we focus on EURO 2012 preparations. We conduct educational activities, we also document racist incidents in Poland, Ukraine and other countries in the region”. The 'NEVER AGAIN' Association is an anti-racist educational and monitoring organization established in Poland in 1996.
It runs the 'Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums' campaign and actively participates in the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. Since 2009, 'NEVER AGAIN' has coordinated the FARE East European Development Project supported by UEFA in the lead up to EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. 'NEVER AGAIN' has set up the East Europe Monitoring Centre documenting racism and xenophobia across the region.
FAREnet
It runs the 'Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums' campaign and actively participates in the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. Since 2009, 'NEVER AGAIN' has coordinated the FARE East European Development Project supported by UEFA in the lead up to EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. 'NEVER AGAIN' has set up the East Europe Monitoring Centre documenting racism and xenophobia across the region.
FAREnet
Jewish-British anti-Muslim event in Toronto draws protests, arrests (UK)
Canadian Kahanists host British-based English Defense League, drawing anti-racist demonstrations.
Dozens of anti-racist activists demonstrated in front of a Zionist community center in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday to protest a public event organized by Jewish and British anti-Muslims. Four protestors were arrested in the fracas, and at least one police officer suffered a broken rib, according to The Globe and Mail.
The local chapter of the Jewish Defense League, an extreme-right organization founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, broadcasted a live speech by English Defense League founder Stephen Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson, drawing the ire of demonstrators.
The two groups on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean have found common cause in nationalist pride and Islamophobic rhetoric. Both groups claim that they do not promote prejudice against others, only pride in their own respective ethnicities, but critics accuse them of spreading hate against Arabs and other Muslims.
One group of demonstrators maintained a vigil across the intersection from the Zionist building, while a separate group of demonstrators marched towards the community center to confront the JDL. Police on foot and on horseback intervened and corralled the protestors, The Globe and Mail reported.
Toronto police said that one of their officers was had been taken to hospital with a broken rib after he was hit with a flagpole. At the end of the demonstration, police noticed that one of their squad cars had been vandalized, its windows smashed.
Anti-Racist Action, which organized the second group of protestors, claim that police responded violently, kicking one demonstrator in the face. Officers confiscated the cameras of activists videotaping the arrests and wiped their memory cards clean, say the ARA.
The EDL website says that the group's aims are to oppose what it calls the application of Sharia law in the U.K. “The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it’s Islam,” Lennon told the BBC in November. “And no one has got the balls to admit it and say it and talk about it. We will."
“The EDL has organized violent street marches that target Arab and Muslim people,” read an open letter signed by the organizers of Tuesday's protest. “They are part of an alarming rise in fascist, racist and neo-Nazi organizing in Europe over the last few years, including attacks on Muslims, immigrants and Roma people.”
“JDL supports the EDL,” says an announcement on the JDL Canadian website. “Now is the time to step forward and stop Political Islam. The British Establishment is following the appeasement policies of Neville Chamberlain," it reads, a reference to the British prime minister who tried to placate Adolf Hitler, implying that Muslims represent a threat of Nazi proportions.
In Israel, the Kach political party established by JDL founder Rabbi Meir Kahane was banned from running for the Knesset in 1992, due to its racist platform, but in recent years Kahane's followers have entered the Knesset under different names, and some of Kahane's proposed policies are now unabashedly espoused by ministers in the current government.
Bernie Farber of the establishment Jewish organization Canadian Jewish Congress, said of the JDL on the CJN website, "As long as they maintain the peace, as long as they do not engage in racist language or hate or violate Canadian law, they have the right to exist."
Farber said he was disappointed that the JDL would support the EDL because of its record of violence. But, he told the National Post, "Islamic fundamentalism is a real threat."
Haartez
Dozens of anti-racist activists demonstrated in front of a Zionist community center in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday to protest a public event organized by Jewish and British anti-Muslims. Four protestors were arrested in the fracas, and at least one police officer suffered a broken rib, according to The Globe and Mail.
The local chapter of the Jewish Defense League, an extreme-right organization founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, broadcasted a live speech by English Defense League founder Stephen Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson, drawing the ire of demonstrators.
The two groups on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean have found common cause in nationalist pride and Islamophobic rhetoric. Both groups claim that they do not promote prejudice against others, only pride in their own respective ethnicities, but critics accuse them of spreading hate against Arabs and other Muslims.
One group of demonstrators maintained a vigil across the intersection from the Zionist building, while a separate group of demonstrators marched towards the community center to confront the JDL. Police on foot and on horseback intervened and corralled the protestors, The Globe and Mail reported.
Toronto police said that one of their officers was had been taken to hospital with a broken rib after he was hit with a flagpole. At the end of the demonstration, police noticed that one of their squad cars had been vandalized, its windows smashed.
Anti-Racist Action, which organized the second group of protestors, claim that police responded violently, kicking one demonstrator in the face. Officers confiscated the cameras of activists videotaping the arrests and wiped their memory cards clean, say the ARA.
The EDL website says that the group's aims are to oppose what it calls the application of Sharia law in the U.K. “The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it’s Islam,” Lennon told the BBC in November. “And no one has got the balls to admit it and say it and talk about it. We will."
“The EDL has organized violent street marches that target Arab and Muslim people,” read an open letter signed by the organizers of Tuesday's protest. “They are part of an alarming rise in fascist, racist and neo-Nazi organizing in Europe over the last few years, including attacks on Muslims, immigrants and Roma people.”
“JDL supports the EDL,” says an announcement on the JDL Canadian website. “Now is the time to step forward and stop Political Islam. The British Establishment is following the appeasement policies of Neville Chamberlain," it reads, a reference to the British prime minister who tried to placate Adolf Hitler, implying that Muslims represent a threat of Nazi proportions.
In Israel, the Kach political party established by JDL founder Rabbi Meir Kahane was banned from running for the Knesset in 1992, due to its racist platform, but in recent years Kahane's followers have entered the Knesset under different names, and some of Kahane's proposed policies are now unabashedly espoused by ministers in the current government.
Bernie Farber of the establishment Jewish organization Canadian Jewish Congress, said of the JDL on the CJN website, "As long as they maintain the peace, as long as they do not engage in racist language or hate or violate Canadian law, they have the right to exist."
Farber said he was disappointed that the JDL would support the EDL because of its record of violence. But, he told the National Post, "Islamic fundamentalism is a real threat."
Haartez
Six months in prison for racist thug (UK)
A racist thug has been jailed after attacking a female security guard.
Richard Cochrane, 31, was being held in a cell when he pushed the woman and hurled racist abuse at her.
Cochrane, of Wheatley Court, Mixenden, was being held in the cells at Calderdale Magistrates Court with his brother, William, after a court appearance on February 11, 2010.
GS4 security guard, Carolina Silviera, was bringing William back to the cell when there was an altercation at the cell door.
At that point Cochrane ran out of the cell towards Miss Silviera and pushed her backwards.
He called her racist names' before saying she was 'going to get her head kicked in'.
Bradford Crown Court heard how the attack had left Miss Silviera apprehensive and lacking confidence in the workplace and socially.
Cochrane initially denied the incident in police interview but later pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault by beating.
He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Judge Peter Benson said: "If it had just been the assault you would have served three months but it seems to me the racially aggravation of this offence merits another three months."
Halifax Courier
Richard Cochrane, 31, was being held in a cell when he pushed the woman and hurled racist abuse at her.
Cochrane, of Wheatley Court, Mixenden, was being held in the cells at Calderdale Magistrates Court with his brother, William, after a court appearance on February 11, 2010.
GS4 security guard, Carolina Silviera, was bringing William back to the cell when there was an altercation at the cell door.
At that point Cochrane ran out of the cell towards Miss Silviera and pushed her backwards.
He called her racist names' before saying she was 'going to get her head kicked in'.
Bradford Crown Court heard how the attack had left Miss Silviera apprehensive and lacking confidence in the workplace and socially.
Cochrane initially denied the incident in police interview but later pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault by beating.
He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Judge Peter Benson said: "If it had just been the assault you would have served three months but it seems to me the racially aggravation of this offence merits another three months."
Halifax Courier
Pupils' reward for anti-racism efforts (UK)
Children from three city schools are being rewarded for their work in tackling racism.
A total of £25,000 was awarded to Lincoln City FC's sport and education trust last year to run a two-year programme funded by Nike's Stand Up Speak Up campaign.
The campaign was launched in 2005 by French football star Thierry Henry following reports of racist incidents in football.
The money was raised by the sale of two interlocked wristbands, one black and one white.
Children from Monks Abbey, St Peter at Gowts and Bishop King primary schools in Lincoln are this week receiving awards for taking part in the project teaching them how discrimination has a negative affect on people's lives.
This is Lincolnshire
A total of £25,000 was awarded to Lincoln City FC's sport and education trust last year to run a two-year programme funded by Nike's Stand Up Speak Up campaign.
The campaign was launched in 2005 by French football star Thierry Henry following reports of racist incidents in football.
The money was raised by the sale of two interlocked wristbands, one black and one white.
Children from Monks Abbey, St Peter at Gowts and Bishop King primary schools in Lincoln are this week receiving awards for taking part in the project teaching them how discrimination has a negative affect on people's lives.
This is Lincolnshire
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Second N.S. brother to be sentenced for hate crime in cross-burning (Canada)
The second of two Nova Scotia brothers convicted of a hate crime for burning a cross on an interracial couple's lawn last winter will be sentenced today.
Justin Rehberg, 20, of Avondale was convicted last fall of inciting racial hatred and criminal harassment.
His 21-year-old brother, Nathan, was sentenced Monday to six months in jail, minus four months credit for time already served.
Prosecutor Darrell Carmichael said Monday he recommends a lesser sentence for the younger Rehberg.
Nathan Rehberg wept in court and apologized for setting a 2.5-metre wooden cross on fire last year outside the Poplar Grove home of Shayne Howe and Michelle Lyon.
Howe, who is black, and Lyon, who is white, testified they awoke in the middle of the night last Feb. 21 to the sight of a blazing cross on their lawn.
Howe said after Monday's sentencing that he accepted Rehberg's apology.
Winnipeg Free Press
Justin Rehberg, 20, of Avondale was convicted last fall of inciting racial hatred and criminal harassment.
His 21-year-old brother, Nathan, was sentenced Monday to six months in jail, minus four months credit for time already served.
Prosecutor Darrell Carmichael said Monday he recommends a lesser sentence for the younger Rehberg.
Nathan Rehberg wept in court and apologized for setting a 2.5-metre wooden cross on fire last year outside the Poplar Grove home of Shayne Howe and Michelle Lyon.
Howe, who is black, and Lyon, who is white, testified they awoke in the middle of the night last Feb. 21 to the sight of a blazing cross on their lawn.
Howe said after Monday's sentencing that he accepted Rehberg's apology.
Winnipeg Free Press
Borough Council wants EDL march in Luton banned (UK)
Luton Borough Council has written to the home secretary asking her to ban a proposed march by the English Defence League (EDL) in the town next month.
The EDL, which says it opposes Islamic extremism, wants to march through Luton on 5 February.
The council also wants Theresa May to extend the banning order to any proposed counter protests by groups such as Unite Against Fascism.
In a statement the council said there was a real risk of disorder.
'Spark tensions'
"We recognise that a banning order on the EDL and counter demonstrators would not prohibit them from holding a static demonstration," the statement said.
"However a march is, in our opinion, provocative and not conducive to the public good at this time and would risk serious disorder."
The council said that any march proposed by the EDL would need to travel through residential areas from the railway station and other access points into the town.
"The presence of high numbers of demonstrators supporting rival and diametrically opposing views is not conducive to the wellbeing of our community and has the potential to spark tensions and community impacts which as a council we have worked so hard to avoid in recent years," the statement went on to say.
The EDL, Unite Against Fascism and the TUC demonstrated in Peterborough on 11 December.
A 28-year-old was arrested and bailed in relation to those protest marches.
BBC News
The EDL, which says it opposes Islamic extremism, wants to march through Luton on 5 February.
The council also wants Theresa May to extend the banning order to any proposed counter protests by groups such as Unite Against Fascism.
In a statement the council said there was a real risk of disorder.
'Spark tensions'
"We recognise that a banning order on the EDL and counter demonstrators would not prohibit them from holding a static demonstration," the statement said.
"However a march is, in our opinion, provocative and not conducive to the public good at this time and would risk serious disorder."
The council said that any march proposed by the EDL would need to travel through residential areas from the railway station and other access points into the town.
"The presence of high numbers of demonstrators supporting rival and diametrically opposing views is not conducive to the wellbeing of our community and has the potential to spark tensions and community impacts which as a council we have worked so hard to avoid in recent years," the statement went on to say.
The EDL, Unite Against Fascism and the TUC demonstrated in Peterborough on 11 December.
A 28-year-old was arrested and bailed in relation to those protest marches.
BBC News
Police hunt racist thugs over attack in Manchester (UK)
Police are hunting a gang of racist thugs who attacked and robbed a door-to-door salesman in Greater Manchester.
The victim, a 20-year-old Asian man, was working on the Limeside Estate, in Oldham, selling digital television products, on the afternoon of Wednesday 5th January when he was assaulted.
He was working around Walkers Road, Oak Road and Firth Avenue but throughout the afternoon, a group of five white men were walking around the estate shouting racial abuse at the victim.
At about 6pm, on Hollins Road, the group approached the victim, grabbed him, racially abused him and demanded his mobile phone and cash.
They pushed him against a wall and patted his body for items. As they tried to grab his mobile the victim resisted and he was punched twice to the head by one of the offenders, who then intimated he had a knife.
The group ran off with the phone.
The main offender in the group was about 5ft 6in tall of medium build with dark hair. He was wearing a lime green hooded top.
Police Constable Andrew Swettenham said: "This was a horrendous experience for this man, who was simply trying to do his job. The abuse that he suffered culminated in an attack where he was robbed.
"Someone on this estate will know who these people are and may even have witnessed this incident."
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9577 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Click Manchester
The victim, a 20-year-old Asian man, was working on the Limeside Estate, in Oldham, selling digital television products, on the afternoon of Wednesday 5th January when he was assaulted.
He was working around Walkers Road, Oak Road and Firth Avenue but throughout the afternoon, a group of five white men were walking around the estate shouting racial abuse at the victim.
At about 6pm, on Hollins Road, the group approached the victim, grabbed him, racially abused him and demanded his mobile phone and cash.
They pushed him against a wall and patted his body for items. As they tried to grab his mobile the victim resisted and he was punched twice to the head by one of the offenders, who then intimated he had a knife.
The group ran off with the phone.
The main offender in the group was about 5ft 6in tall of medium build with dark hair. He was wearing a lime green hooded top.
Police Constable Andrew Swettenham said: "This was a horrendous experience for this man, who was simply trying to do his job. The abuse that he suffered culminated in an attack where he was robbed.
"Someone on this estate will know who these people are and may even have witnessed this incident."
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9577 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Click Manchester
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