Murky wave of anti-Israel zeal, demonization of Jews growing at alarming rate in Italy
By Giulio MeottiGiulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism
The first months of 2011 have confirmed Italy’s status as one of Iran’s biggest European trade partners, all while the ayatollahs pursue the means to perpetuate a second Holocaust. Rome is doing business as usual with the greatest totalitarian threat to international peace and security since the defeats of Soviet communism and Nazi fascism, providing a lifeline to an Iranian regime that is cruel at home, sponsors terror abroad and preaches anti-Jewish revolt. Meanwhile, a murky wave of anti-Israel zeal is also growing at an alarming rate in Italy. “The old anti-Jewish libels are now aimed at the State of Israel”, says Stefano Gatti, one of the top researchers at the Center for Documentation in Milan. Pro-Palestinian activists are threatening to “ignite” Milan, the financial capital of Italy where an Israeli exhibit is going displayed in a central square. Meanwhile, the city of Turin hosted a “cultural festival” where the image of Shimon Peres was used as a shoe-throwing target. For one euro, Italian students had the chance to hit the face of Israel’s president, who was fitted with a Nazi-style Jewish nose.
An Israeli student at the University of Genoa has been harassed and threatened with death by Arab students. Muslim students shouted at him “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) and “Itbach el Yahud” (slaughter the Jews.) Another Israeli student at the University of Turin, Amit Peer, confessed that “the Jews here are hiding their own identity because they risk becoming a target.” Meanwhile, demonization of the Jews is spreading in the liberal media. Leftist newspaper “Il Manifesto” published a caricature of a Jewish candidate for parliament, Fiamma Nirenstein, with Fascist insignia, a campaign button and a Star of David. The cartoon “Electoral Monsters” was dubbed “Fiamma Frankenstein.” L’Unità, the official newspaper of the leftist Democratic Party, published an interview with anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes, where she claimed that Israel is a world leader in organ trafficking. The accusation resembled that of the Middle Ages blood libel whereby Jews were accused of kidnapping Christian and Muslim children before Passover in order to murder them and use their blood for matza.
Lists of boycotted Israeli products
Ucoii, the largest Islamic organization in Italy, published an ad in many mainstream newspapers entitled “Nazi Bloodshed Yesterday, Israeli Bloodshed Today.” An Italian court ruled that the Nazification of Israel came under “freedom of expression” and was not a case of incitement to hatred. In 2009, Italy sent the largest European delegation of artists to an Iranian cartoonist festival on the Holocaust. The cartoons presented the Holocaust as an invention of Jews with hooked noses typical of Nazi propaganda. Pisa, Rome and Bologna are among the most prestigious Italian universities that annually host anti-Zionist conferences and pro-Intifada speakers. Israeli attaché Shai Cohen was prevented from speaking at Pisa University after a violent attack by students, who called out “butcher, fascist, assassin.” The Israeli ambassador, Ehud Gol, fled Florence University after a similar “protest.” Meanwhile, the Riccione city council sponsored a meeting against “the militarism of Israel,” explaining that “Israeli governments don’t represent the Jewish people.” The Coop and Conad, two of the largest supermarket chains in Italy, for some weeks last year removed Israeli products from their shelves in the name of a boycott of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. Lists of boycotted Israeli products have been launched also by local Christian communities and leftist groups, targeting L’Oreal, Ahava and other firms. Flaica, a trade union with 8,000 members working in large-scale retail, promoted the boycott of “all Rome shops managed by Jews” and drew up lists of Jewish-owned shops to be avoided, because of “what is happening in Gaza.” In Rome, a new pro-Hamas Freedom Flotilla has just been presented in the official buildings of the Professional Order of the Journalists, a body financed by the Italian government. Some members of Turkish terror group IHH were also on hand.
Anti-Semitism becoming fashionable
The Foreign Press Association in Rome, a state-funded institution, suspended two journalists, both Jews: Yedioth Ahronoth correspondent Menachem Gantz and French journalist Ariel Dumont. Iranian journalist Masoumi Nejad, who has been arrested for a arms trading involving Italy and Iran, has never been expelled by the association. Anti-Semitism is becoming fashionable also among the “chattering classes”, intellectuals and academicians. Actress Sabina Guzzanti attacked the “Jewish race” in a primetime television program. Literary guru Alberto Asor Rosa wrote in a book on the transformation of the Jews from “a persecuted race” to “a warrior persecutor race.” Renowned leftist philosopher Gianni Vattimo declared that he had “re-evaluated” “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and now felt they largely reflect the truth about the Jews. The slandering of Israel is also growing among the most important Catholic journalists. Vittorio Messori, who conducted the first book-length interview with Pope John Paul II, recently wrote an editorial for the Italian daily “Il Corriere della sera” where he stated: “All governments of all Muslim nations are under the tsunami of the violent intrusion of Zionism that has come to put its capital in Jerusalem.”
The growing anti-Semitism is also evident by the security around the largest synagogue in Rome, one of the oldest in the world. The Jewish temple looks like a military outpost: Private guards everywhere, metal detectors and policemen at every corner. The Jewish school looks like a “sterilized area” protected by policemen, bodyguards and cameras. All school windows are plumbed with iron grates. I saw the same in the Jewish homes of Hebron and in the schools of Sderot. Pro-Palestinian groups just recently marched into the ghetto, shouting “Fascist” and “Assassins” to the Jews, some of them Holocaust survivors. It was here, on 16 October 1943, that 1,200 Jews were deported to Auschwitz; none of the 200 Jewish children came back home. It was here, on 9 October 1982, that an Arab terrorist opened fire on Jews; a two-year old baby, Stefano Taché, became the first Italian victim of anti-Jewish violence since the war. Not far from the ghetto, in the lower part of the Titus Gate, named after the Roman emperor who destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem, someone wrote in Hebrew: “Am Yisrael Chai.” The people of Israel not only had not been destroyed, but defiantly remained alive. It's comforting to know that there is still someone with the courage to write it.
YNetNews
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
BNP lose another councillor (Hope Not Hate, UK)
The BNP last night lost another councillor when Amber Valley member Cliff Roper resigned from the party whip and became an Independent.
In his resignation statement he said:
"It is with sadness that I have this evening resigned the British National Party whip on Amber Valley Borough Council. I will now sit as an Independent Member of the Council, though I retain my membership of the British National Party and, of course, my nationalist views.
This change will make no difference to the way I assist and deal with enquiries from my constituents, but is a symbolic protest at recent events within the British National Party, both at a national and local level."
Hope Not Hate
In his resignation statement he said:
"It is with sadness that I have this evening resigned the British National Party whip on Amber Valley Borough Council. I will now sit as an Independent Member of the Council, though I retain my membership of the British National Party and, of course, my nationalist views.
This change will make no difference to the way I assist and deal with enquiries from my constituents, but is a symbolic protest at recent events within the British National Party, both at a national and local level."
Hope Not Hate
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
White supremacist cries rape (Canada)
A wannabe white supremacist, who was placed in a Calgary Remand Centre cell with two members of visible minorities, said Monday he was raped by them.
The complainant, who can’t be identified, said he shaved his head after being sent to the northwest Calgary jail to get rid of two Nazi symbols carved into his hair.
But he testified at least one of his alleged attackers saw the symbols and other minority inmates made threatening comments about them.
And he rejected suggestions by lawyers for Ali Sanghar and Samar Sigar he consented to having sex with the two men in their cell on May 30, 2010.
Both Sanghar, 31, and Sigar, 19, face charges of sexual assault with a weapon.
The witness told Crown prosecutor Bev Bauer he awoke in the middle of the night to find a towel placed over his face and Sigar, who is black, holding a weapon on him,
“He pointed something at the back of my neck, which I thought was a knife,” said the witness.
“He told me he was in there for murder and he could either rape me or murder me, and he chose to rape me,” he said.
“I didn’t want to die so I just took it.”
During the attack Sanghar, who is of middle-eastern origin and required a Farsi interpreter in court, woke up and assaulted him as well, the complainant testified.
“I guess he wanted to join in so the black guy held my arms while the Iraqi, Middle Eastern guy took his turn,” the man said.
He said he was trying at the time to get membership in the white supremacist group Western European Bloodlines, but never joined.
He admitted being a racist at the time, but said his decision to have a friend carve Nazi symbols into his hair was more of a drunken lark than anything else.
Both defence lawyers Alan Fay and David Andrews suggested the complainant was making up the rape claim after agreeing to have sex with his new cellmates.
“You consented because you knew that if you didn’t do something you would continue to remain vulnerable because of your beliefs about persons of different races, isn’t that correct?” Andrews said.
“No that is not,” the witness replied.
Fay went one step further, saying the man agreed to have sex with Sigar and make it look like rape so other non-whites would be pacified.
The trial continues Tuesday.
Calgary Sun
The complainant, who can’t be identified, said he shaved his head after being sent to the northwest Calgary jail to get rid of two Nazi symbols carved into his hair.
But he testified at least one of his alleged attackers saw the symbols and other minority inmates made threatening comments about them.
And he rejected suggestions by lawyers for Ali Sanghar and Samar Sigar he consented to having sex with the two men in their cell on May 30, 2010.
Both Sanghar, 31, and Sigar, 19, face charges of sexual assault with a weapon.
The witness told Crown prosecutor Bev Bauer he awoke in the middle of the night to find a towel placed over his face and Sigar, who is black, holding a weapon on him,
“He pointed something at the back of my neck, which I thought was a knife,” said the witness.
“He told me he was in there for murder and he could either rape me or murder me, and he chose to rape me,” he said.
“I didn’t want to die so I just took it.”
During the attack Sanghar, who is of middle-eastern origin and required a Farsi interpreter in court, woke up and assaulted him as well, the complainant testified.
“I guess he wanted to join in so the black guy held my arms while the Iraqi, Middle Eastern guy took his turn,” the man said.
He said he was trying at the time to get membership in the white supremacist group Western European Bloodlines, but never joined.
He admitted being a racist at the time, but said his decision to have a friend carve Nazi symbols into his hair was more of a drunken lark than anything else.
Both defence lawyers Alan Fay and David Andrews suggested the complainant was making up the rape claim after agreeing to have sex with his new cellmates.
“You consented because you knew that if you didn’t do something you would continue to remain vulnerable because of your beliefs about persons of different races, isn’t that correct?” Andrews said.
“No that is not,” the witness replied.
Fay went one step further, saying the man agreed to have sex with Sigar and make it look like rape so other non-whites would be pacified.
The trial continues Tuesday.
Calgary Sun
Church beatifies Nazi-victim priest (Germany)
The Catholic Church has beatified the venerated priest Alois Andritzki, who was murdered by the Nazis at the Dachau concentration camp. Andritzki has long been revered by Sorbs, a minority ethnicity in eastern Germany.
German Priest Alois Andritzki, who died at Nazi hands in Dachau, has been bestowed the title "Blessed" by the Catholic Church.
Andritzki, who was arrested by the National Socialists in 1941 for criticizing the regime and later murdered by lethal injection, was beatified Monday at the Dresden Cathedral in a bilingual ceremony in German and Sorbian, the language of the eastern German Slavic minority to which he belonged.
Roman Cardinal Angelo Amato read the papal declaration of Andritzki's beatification at a ceremony which drew an estimated 11,000 people, many of them in traditional Sorbian dress.
Dresden's Bishop Joachim Reinelt praised Andritzki in his sermon, saying the priest had showed a "bright face" even through the "most awful beastly work" at the Dachau concentration camp.
Saxony State Premier Stanislaw Tillich, who spoke at the ceremony in Sorbian, said Andritzki had "unshakably stood by his faith during the time of the inhuman Nazi dictatorship."
Pope Benedict XVI, who approved Andritzki's beatification in December, honored the priest on Sunday during his noon prayer St. Peter's Square. Benedict said Andritzki remained an attestor to the faith even in times of great suffering.
Andritzki has long been revered by eastern Germany's Catholic Sorbs. Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process.
DW-World
German Priest Alois Andritzki, who died at Nazi hands in Dachau, has been bestowed the title "Blessed" by the Catholic Church.
Andritzki, who was arrested by the National Socialists in 1941 for criticizing the regime and later murdered by lethal injection, was beatified Monday at the Dresden Cathedral in a bilingual ceremony in German and Sorbian, the language of the eastern German Slavic minority to which he belonged.
Roman Cardinal Angelo Amato read the papal declaration of Andritzki's beatification at a ceremony which drew an estimated 11,000 people, many of them in traditional Sorbian dress.
Dresden's Bishop Joachim Reinelt praised Andritzki in his sermon, saying the priest had showed a "bright face" even through the "most awful beastly work" at the Dachau concentration camp.
Saxony State Premier Stanislaw Tillich, who spoke at the ceremony in Sorbian, said Andritzki had "unshakably stood by his faith during the time of the inhuman Nazi dictatorship."
Pope Benedict XVI, who approved Andritzki's beatification in December, honored the priest on Sunday during his noon prayer St. Peter's Square. Benedict said Andritzki remained an attestor to the faith even in times of great suffering.
Andritzki has long been revered by eastern Germany's Catholic Sorbs. Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process.
DW-World
Derby music festival clashes with plan for English Defence League march (UK)
A Derby music promoter is planning a multiculturalism music festival on the same day as an English Defence League (EDL) march in the city.
The Love Music Hate Racism festival will feature music at seven different venues in the city on the same day as it aims to celebrate different cultures. The festival website describes the aim of the event as "living testimony to the fact that cultures can and do mix. " before adding that music "unites us and gives us strength, and offers a vibrant celebration of our multicultural and multiracial society. Racism seeks only to divide and weaken us. Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) was set up in 2002 in response to rising levels of racism and electoral successes for the Nazi British National Party (BNP)."
Approximately 300 people have already indicated on the EDL's Facebook page that they will attend the Derby march on 9 July.
A Derbyshire Police spokesman said it was aware of the march but had not been officially contacted by the EDL.
Supt Gary Parkin told the BBC: "We will continue to look at the intelligence arrangements and make sure we have an appropriate policing response to make sure the policing of Derby is as safe as possible.
"We will facilitate lawful protest - but I would be very unhappy if I had to put a policing response and put a lot of police on the streets."
While the EDL, has for now refused to comment further on the subject, the festival spokesman Baby J said he hoped the police would step in and control the demonstration because the EDL "do not represent the city".
"We live in a very multicultural city and we get along very well and work alongside people or all different faiths and colour - and this is something we want to celebrate."
IBTimes
The Love Music Hate Racism festival will feature music at seven different venues in the city on the same day as it aims to celebrate different cultures. The festival website describes the aim of the event as "living testimony to the fact that cultures can and do mix. " before adding that music "unites us and gives us strength, and offers a vibrant celebration of our multicultural and multiracial society. Racism seeks only to divide and weaken us. Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) was set up in 2002 in response to rising levels of racism and electoral successes for the Nazi British National Party (BNP)."
Approximately 300 people have already indicated on the EDL's Facebook page that they will attend the Derby march on 9 July.
A Derbyshire Police spokesman said it was aware of the march but had not been officially contacted by the EDL.
Supt Gary Parkin told the BBC: "We will continue to look at the intelligence arrangements and make sure we have an appropriate policing response to make sure the policing of Derby is as safe as possible.
"We will facilitate lawful protest - but I would be very unhappy if I had to put a policing response and put a lot of police on the streets."
While the EDL, has for now refused to comment further on the subject, the festival spokesman Baby J said he hoped the police would step in and control the demonstration because the EDL "do not represent the city".
"We live in a very multicultural city and we get along very well and work alongside people or all different faiths and colour - and this is something we want to celebrate."
IBTimes
Monday, 13 June 2011
SOCIAL MEDIA'S INFLUENCE ON ‘HATE CRIME' (Turkey)
Whilst the rise of the Internet and social networking websites has, in many ways, presented many positives for society, particularly in terms of freedom of speech and communication, it has also created a platform on which abusive and threatening opinions can be more easily voiced, in particular against certain individuals or groups of people, which is often referred to as hate speech. Despite hate speech being restricted to the act of verbal abuse, some experts are worried by its tendency to develop into something more serious, falling under the bracket of hate crime. A hate crime is a criminal offense motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a victim's race, ethnic origin, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation or disability. This kind of crime may include robberies, threats, harassment, intimidation or actual acts of physical violence such as physical assault, sexual assault, rape, torture, attempted murder or murder. Hate crimes are unique as they have a social undertone in their aim. They are intent on sending a message to entire groups or individuals, as well as to their families and other supporters, that they are unwelcome in particular communities. What sets hate crimes apart from other acts of violence is the psychological damage that they leave behind. Although any type of victimization carries with it psychological consequences, certain types of emotional reactions are more frequent among survivors of hate crimes. These feelings include depression, anxiety, fear, stress and anger.
The Internet and social media networks are not under any sort of inspection against racist ideas, hate or abusive speech in the name of freedom of surfing the Web. The news that features on media outlets are getting onto social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, where hate speeches are added and uploaded. Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was fatally shot in front of the headquarters of the bilingual Armenian weekly Agos in 2007, was one of the biggest victims of hate crime in Turkey as he was killed only because of his "Armenian" identity. Forty-eight Roma from 13 families were forced to leave Selendi in Manisa, where they had lived for many years, after clashes erupted between the district's Roma population and other locals. These two examples show how serious these hate crimes can be. An organization named the Association for Social Change (ASC) is currently the only association that solely deals with every aspect of hate crime. Their slogan is "Hate Crimes Kill."
In an interview with Cihan new agency, ASC's secretary-general, Fikret Levent ªensever, stated that there are various organizations that are working against hate crimes, such as the International Hrant Dink Foundation. ªensever said that hate speech on online community and social networking websites strongly influences hate crimes. "We have to differentiate hate crime and hate speech first. Hate crimes are physical crimes against individuals or groups of people, based on many aspects, such as ethnic origin, religious belief and so on. Hate speech is normally only in the form of verbal attacks; however, they can sometimes lead to hate crimes, too." Currently there is no legislation about hate crimes in the Turkish Constitution. Though there are some articles in the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), as they do not directly cover hate crime or hate speech, criminal cases on such issues are not solved as they are in European countries and criminals generally get away with what they have done.
Hate speech does not only declare one's hate or anger, but also sets a premise for hate crime. ªensever stated that the Turkish government should take immediate action in creating legislation on hate crime and inform and train judicators, attorneys, police officers and civil societies. ªensever told Cihan news agency, the government in the United Kingdom trains media personnel on discrimination issues to prevent any sort of racism or hate crimes, and they also provide booklets and newsletters concerning hate crime. ªensever said the ASC was founded on Feb. 26, 2009 by activists in order to carry out various campaigns on social, cultural and environmental issues, and to support such efforts through projects and campaigns. He also mentioned that there were not many organizations that are dealing with hate crime in Turkey. "In Western countries, especially in the United States, the government produces reports on hate crime every year. However, this is not the case in our country. So far there have been no reports on hate crimes in Turkey, so we do not know which segments of society are victims of hate speech," he said.
Chan News Agency
The Internet and social media networks are not under any sort of inspection against racist ideas, hate or abusive speech in the name of freedom of surfing the Web. The news that features on media outlets are getting onto social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, where hate speeches are added and uploaded. Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was fatally shot in front of the headquarters of the bilingual Armenian weekly Agos in 2007, was one of the biggest victims of hate crime in Turkey as he was killed only because of his "Armenian" identity. Forty-eight Roma from 13 families were forced to leave Selendi in Manisa, where they had lived for many years, after clashes erupted between the district's Roma population and other locals. These two examples show how serious these hate crimes can be. An organization named the Association for Social Change (ASC) is currently the only association that solely deals with every aspect of hate crime. Their slogan is "Hate Crimes Kill."
In an interview with Cihan new agency, ASC's secretary-general, Fikret Levent ªensever, stated that there are various organizations that are working against hate crimes, such as the International Hrant Dink Foundation. ªensever said that hate speech on online community and social networking websites strongly influences hate crimes. "We have to differentiate hate crime and hate speech first. Hate crimes are physical crimes against individuals or groups of people, based on many aspects, such as ethnic origin, religious belief and so on. Hate speech is normally only in the form of verbal attacks; however, they can sometimes lead to hate crimes, too." Currently there is no legislation about hate crimes in the Turkish Constitution. Though there are some articles in the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), as they do not directly cover hate crime or hate speech, criminal cases on such issues are not solved as they are in European countries and criminals generally get away with what they have done.
Hate speech does not only declare one's hate or anger, but also sets a premise for hate crime. ªensever stated that the Turkish government should take immediate action in creating legislation on hate crime and inform and train judicators, attorneys, police officers and civil societies. ªensever told Cihan news agency, the government in the United Kingdom trains media personnel on discrimination issues to prevent any sort of racism or hate crimes, and they also provide booklets and newsletters concerning hate crime. ªensever said the ASC was founded on Feb. 26, 2009 by activists in order to carry out various campaigns on social, cultural and environmental issues, and to support such efforts through projects and campaigns. He also mentioned that there were not many organizations that are dealing with hate crime in Turkey. "In Western countries, especially in the United States, the government produces reports on hate crime every year. However, this is not the case in our country. So far there have been no reports on hate crimes in Turkey, so we do not know which segments of society are victims of hate speech," he said.
Chan News Agency
Reprisals feared following murder of Russian extremist
The authorities in Russia are on alert for a violent far-right reaction to the murder of Yuri Budanov, a notorious former colonel who became an icon for extreme nationalists.
Mr Budanov was shot four times in the head in central Moscow on Friday, in an attack that far-right groups immediately blamed on Chechens.
The police claimed the killing could be a “provocation” intended to ignite smouldering ethnic tension in Russia.
Mr Budanov was convicted in 2003 of having brutally murdered teenager Elza Kungayeva during a tour of duty in war-torn Chechnya, after being cleared of the killing in a previous trial.
He was granted early release from jail in 2009 due to good behaviour, to the fury of Ms Kungayeva’s family and many others, who saw him as the embodiment of the brutal methods used by the Kremlin to crush Chechnya’s rebels.
He was hailed as a hero, however, by some soldiers and officials and by ultra-nationalist groups that have grown in number and prominence in recent years, and which often target people from the mostly-Muslim Caucasus republics.
Extra patrols and riot police were deployed around Moscow after Mr Budanov was gunned down.
Investigators sought to prevent potential reprisals against people from the Caucasus by saying that eyewitnesses had described the getaway driver as being of typically Slavic appearance.
Heightened security measures were put in place around Manezh Square next to the Kremlin where, six months ago, thousands of nationalists rioted in a furious response to the alleged murder of a football fan by a youth from the Caucasus.
A number of well-known leaders of nationalist and football fan groups gathered again on the square following Mr Budanov’s murder.
The police prevented large crowds from forming, and the security services were on guard for potential trouble during yesterday’s annual Russia Day events.
Football fans and soldiers were among those who placed flowers and other tributes at the place where Mr Budanov was killed.
Many of these people are expected to attend his funeral this week.
Last month, an ultra-nationalist was convicted of the murder in 2009 of lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who was campaigning against Mr Budanov’s early release from jail.
Irish Times
Mr Budanov was shot four times in the head in central Moscow on Friday, in an attack that far-right groups immediately blamed on Chechens.
The police claimed the killing could be a “provocation” intended to ignite smouldering ethnic tension in Russia.
Mr Budanov was convicted in 2003 of having brutally murdered teenager Elza Kungayeva during a tour of duty in war-torn Chechnya, after being cleared of the killing in a previous trial.
He was granted early release from jail in 2009 due to good behaviour, to the fury of Ms Kungayeva’s family and many others, who saw him as the embodiment of the brutal methods used by the Kremlin to crush Chechnya’s rebels.
He was hailed as a hero, however, by some soldiers and officials and by ultra-nationalist groups that have grown in number and prominence in recent years, and which often target people from the mostly-Muslim Caucasus republics.
Extra patrols and riot police were deployed around Moscow after Mr Budanov was gunned down.
Investigators sought to prevent potential reprisals against people from the Caucasus by saying that eyewitnesses had described the getaway driver as being of typically Slavic appearance.
Heightened security measures were put in place around Manezh Square next to the Kremlin where, six months ago, thousands of nationalists rioted in a furious response to the alleged murder of a football fan by a youth from the Caucasus.
A number of well-known leaders of nationalist and football fan groups gathered again on the square following Mr Budanov’s murder.
The police prevented large crowds from forming, and the security services were on guard for potential trouble during yesterday’s annual Russia Day events.
Football fans and soldiers were among those who placed flowers and other tributes at the place where Mr Budanov was killed.
Many of these people are expected to attend his funeral this week.
Last month, an ultra-nationalist was convicted of the murder in 2009 of lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who was campaigning against Mr Budanov’s early release from jail.
Irish Times
Far-right demo leader ‘treated like caged animal’ says: We’ll be back in thousands (uk)
The leader of the far-right English Defence League has vowed to stage a large national protest in Dewsbury after complaining that supporters were treated like “caged animals” at a demonstration in the town on Saturday.
A protest by 400 EDL supporters passed off without serious incident but leader Tommy Robinson was angered that the protesters were contained within high steel barriers.
He said the EDL should have been allowed to protest at Dewsbury Town Hall, rather than a tightly cordoned area of the railway station car park.
Mr Robinson said Saturday’s protest was a regional demonstration but the next one in would be national and “the EDL bandwagon will be coming back to Dewsbury in our thousands.”
Many of the EDL protesters were from outside West Yorkshire, including members from Merseyside, Teeside, Burnley, Bolton, Leicester and Mansfield.
A nearby counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism attracted about 50 people at its height.
A large police operation ensured that the day passed off relatively peacefully, although traders in the town said they were thousands of pounds out of pocket because many shoppers stayed away.
Kirklees Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent John Robins said: “On duty in West Yorkshire in relation to this operation there has been around 700 police officers in total but I stress they have not all been at Dewsbury. They have been around West Yorkshire in support of this operation.”
Six men were arrested by West Yorkshire Police and British Transport Police.
They were: A 31-year-old from Batley, for possessing an offensive weapon; a 44-year-old from Barnsley, a 39-year-old from Merseyside and a 41-year-old from Cleckheaton, all for public order offences; a 16-year-old from Bradford for criminal damage; and an 18-year-old from Preston for trespass on railway property.
Yorkshire Post
A protest by 400 EDL supporters passed off without serious incident but leader Tommy Robinson was angered that the protesters were contained within high steel barriers.
He said the EDL should have been allowed to protest at Dewsbury Town Hall, rather than a tightly cordoned area of the railway station car park.
Mr Robinson said Saturday’s protest was a regional demonstration but the next one in would be national and “the EDL bandwagon will be coming back to Dewsbury in our thousands.”
Many of the EDL protesters were from outside West Yorkshire, including members from Merseyside, Teeside, Burnley, Bolton, Leicester and Mansfield.
A nearby counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism attracted about 50 people at its height.
A large police operation ensured that the day passed off relatively peacefully, although traders in the town said they were thousands of pounds out of pocket because many shoppers stayed away.
Kirklees Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent John Robins said: “On duty in West Yorkshire in relation to this operation there has been around 700 police officers in total but I stress they have not all been at Dewsbury. They have been around West Yorkshire in support of this operation.”
Six men were arrested by West Yorkshire Police and British Transport Police.
They were: A 31-year-old from Batley, for possessing an offensive weapon; a 44-year-old from Barnsley, a 39-year-old from Merseyside and a 41-year-old from Cleckheaton, all for public order offences; a 16-year-old from Bradford for criminal damage; and an 18-year-old from Preston for trespass on railway property.
Yorkshire Post
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Turkey PM warns of Dutch radicalism (Netherlands)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is worried by the “radical” turn Dutch politics is taking. "In politics I strongly oppose radicalism. The right way is a middle course”, Mr Erdogan told Dutch media on the eve of Sunday's general elections in Turkey. “Radicalism only causes problems, for people and the country”, he went on to say, without mentioning Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders. “Our party, as you know, steers a middle course in politics. We are neither left nor right wing. We are far removed from the extremes. We are far removed from the radicals. We only work with those who are close to everybody. “ “Erdogan is the worst kind of Islamist”, Mr Wilders says in a reaction. “If he wins the elections, Turkey will turn its back on Europe for good. We don’t want them in the EU anyway, but with him even normal relations will become more complicated. He is, therefore, a dangerous man who is a radical Islamist himself.” "Erdogan is the worst kind of Islamist”, Mr Wilders says in a reaction. “If he wins the elections, Turkey will turn its back on Europe for good. We don’t want them in the EU anyway, but with him even normal relations will become more complicated. He is, therefore, a dangerous man who is a radical Islamist himself.”
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Muslims call for action against hate crimes (UK)
Islamophobic attacks have been on the rise, with an increase in assaults, vandalised mosques and desecrated graves
Britain's largest mainstream Muslim organisation will today call for "robust action" to combat Islamophobic attacks amid fears of growing violence and under-reporting of hate crimes.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) will challenge the "ethnic profiling" of members of its community, claiming that minorities are 42 times more likely to be targeted under the Terrorism Act.
MCB secretary-general Farooq Murad will tell the council's AGM in Birmingham that there must be more monitoring of anti-Muslim crimes in response to incidents including violent assaults, death threats and the desecration of graves. He will also complain that not enough is being done to encourage communities to report crimes to the police.
The calls, supported by leading academics, a counter-terrorist think-tank and Muslim groups, come as the Metropolitan Police confirmed a total of 762 Islamophobic offences in London since April 2009, including 333 in 2010/11 and 57 since this April. A spokesman said the Met was aware of "significant" under-reporting of hate crime, and acknowledged "missed opportunities" to keep victims safe.
Despite rising concerns about the impact of hate crime on all communities, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said that data on such offences are not collated centrally as this would be an "overly bureaucratic process for local forces". Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris, who leads the police on hate crime, was unavailable for comment.
In his speech, Mr Murad is expected to warn that attacks are increasing. "Islamophobic attacks, on persons and properties, are committed by a tiny minority, but the number of incidents is increasing. Robust action is necessary and this means we must have a systematic manner of recording, monitoring and analysing such attacks. Only a small number of police forces record anti-Muslim hate crimes."
He will claim that figures collated from only two police forces indicate 1,200 Anti-Muslim crimes in 2010, as opposed to 546 anti-Semitic crimes from all the police forces in the UK.
Muslims from across the country have reported attacks on imams and mosque staff, including petrol bombings and bricks thrown through windows, pigs' heads being fixed prominently to entrances and minarets, vandalism and abusive messages.
Mr Murad will tell the gathering at the Bordesley Centre: "It is not a piece of cloth on someone's head or face, the shape of someone's dress, a harmless concrete pillar on a religious building or even not speaking a common language that creates alienation."
Dr Robert Lambert, co-director of
the European Muslim Research Centre and research fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Exeter University, said a decade of research will report before the 10th anniversary of 11 September.
His report will provide comprehensive figures on attacks on mosques, Islamic organisations and Muslim institutions, while avoiding confusion over race-related or random attacks.
Dr Lambert, a former counter-terrorism police officer, said problems over data collection stemmed from a lack of political will, rather than from the police efforts – and that the onus was on Muslim communities to emulate the "outstanding" data collection around anti-Semitic crimes conducted by the Community Security Trust.
He added: "When I was working in the police, some of the notable spikes in incidents came after terrorist events such as 9/11 and 7/7. We have more than 50 incidences of fire-bomb attacks and we have yet to reach the 10-year anniversary. But no leading politician has seen fit to stand shoulder to shoulder with mosque leaders. That is quite something."
Ghaffar Hussain of the counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam said: "Anti-Muslim bigotry is very real. It does exist. There are sections of our society who are deeply suspicious of Muslims, even of Muslims building mosques, and are threatened by the idea of Islamification across Europe."
Some 40 to 60 per cent of the mosques, Islamic centres and Muslim organisations in the UK have suffered at least one attack since 9/11.
Taji Mustafa, spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, said: "Xenophobic attacks on Muslims have increased under successive governments. In a manipulative alliance with some sections of the media, they have demonised Islam as part of their foreign policy propaganda."
Continued at the Independent.
Britain's largest mainstream Muslim organisation will today call for "robust action" to combat Islamophobic attacks amid fears of growing violence and under-reporting of hate crimes.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) will challenge the "ethnic profiling" of members of its community, claiming that minorities are 42 times more likely to be targeted under the Terrorism Act.
MCB secretary-general Farooq Murad will tell the council's AGM in Birmingham that there must be more monitoring of anti-Muslim crimes in response to incidents including violent assaults, death threats and the desecration of graves. He will also complain that not enough is being done to encourage communities to report crimes to the police.
The calls, supported by leading academics, a counter-terrorist think-tank and Muslim groups, come as the Metropolitan Police confirmed a total of 762 Islamophobic offences in London since April 2009, including 333 in 2010/11 and 57 since this April. A spokesman said the Met was aware of "significant" under-reporting of hate crime, and acknowledged "missed opportunities" to keep victims safe.
Despite rising concerns about the impact of hate crime on all communities, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said that data on such offences are not collated centrally as this would be an "overly bureaucratic process for local forces". Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris, who leads the police on hate crime, was unavailable for comment.
In his speech, Mr Murad is expected to warn that attacks are increasing. "Islamophobic attacks, on persons and properties, are committed by a tiny minority, but the number of incidents is increasing. Robust action is necessary and this means we must have a systematic manner of recording, monitoring and analysing such attacks. Only a small number of police forces record anti-Muslim hate crimes."
He will claim that figures collated from only two police forces indicate 1,200 Anti-Muslim crimes in 2010, as opposed to 546 anti-Semitic crimes from all the police forces in the UK.
Muslims from across the country have reported attacks on imams and mosque staff, including petrol bombings and bricks thrown through windows, pigs' heads being fixed prominently to entrances and minarets, vandalism and abusive messages.
Mr Murad will tell the gathering at the Bordesley Centre: "It is not a piece of cloth on someone's head or face, the shape of someone's dress, a harmless concrete pillar on a religious building or even not speaking a common language that creates alienation."
Dr Robert Lambert, co-director of
the European Muslim Research Centre and research fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Exeter University, said a decade of research will report before the 10th anniversary of 11 September.
His report will provide comprehensive figures on attacks on mosques, Islamic organisations and Muslim institutions, while avoiding confusion over race-related or random attacks.
Dr Lambert, a former counter-terrorism police officer, said problems over data collection stemmed from a lack of political will, rather than from the police efforts – and that the onus was on Muslim communities to emulate the "outstanding" data collection around anti-Semitic crimes conducted by the Community Security Trust.
He added: "When I was working in the police, some of the notable spikes in incidents came after terrorist events such as 9/11 and 7/7. We have more than 50 incidences of fire-bomb attacks and we have yet to reach the 10-year anniversary. But no leading politician has seen fit to stand shoulder to shoulder with mosque leaders. That is quite something."
Ghaffar Hussain of the counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam said: "Anti-Muslim bigotry is very real. It does exist. There are sections of our society who are deeply suspicious of Muslims, even of Muslims building mosques, and are threatened by the idea of Islamification across Europe."
Some 40 to 60 per cent of the mosques, Islamic centres and Muslim organisations in the UK have suffered at least one attack since 9/11.
Taji Mustafa, spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, said: "Xenophobic attacks on Muslims have increased under successive governments. In a manipulative alliance with some sections of the media, they have demonised Islam as part of their foreign policy propaganda."
Continued at the Independent.
Saturday, 11 June 2011
March Against Neo-Nazi's in Sofia on June 12 (Bulgaria)
People Against Racism will stage an "anti neo-Nazi march" on June 12 at the Sveta Nedelya Square in Sofia, media reports have said.
The organisers said that they will commemorate the one year anniversary since the foundation of the People Against Racism, but also to mark the anniversary of the "tram attack" in which several youths were attacked and beaten by suspected skinheads. Six men were arrested following an assault aboard tram 20 in Sofia on June 6 2010. Reportedly, the six are said to be members of far-right extremist groups. Other reports have them linked to Sofia-based football "firms", hooligan supporter groups. The authorities named the six perpetrators – Dimitar Lazarov, Vassil Pavlov, Matei Penev, Emil Alexiev, Rossen Kunev and Mario Abdal Gamal.
The latter's name has also been reported as Mario el Makoussi in other media. On the day of the attack, the masked men burst into the tram, allegedly armed with metal rods, and proceeded to attack four youths in the vehicle.
The victims were supporters of asylum seekers' rights in Bulgaria. People Against Racism say that neo-Nazi attacks in Sofia are increasing. Traditionally, they are aimed at Roma and people of darker skin complexion, as well as homosexuals, but they can sometimes happen randomly and against anyone they perceive as strange. The anti-Nazi march in Sofia on June 12 is not politically motivated, the organisers said.
The Sofia Echo
The organisers said that they will commemorate the one year anniversary since the foundation of the People Against Racism, but also to mark the anniversary of the "tram attack" in which several youths were attacked and beaten by suspected skinheads. Six men were arrested following an assault aboard tram 20 in Sofia on June 6 2010. Reportedly, the six are said to be members of far-right extremist groups. Other reports have them linked to Sofia-based football "firms", hooligan supporter groups. The authorities named the six perpetrators – Dimitar Lazarov, Vassil Pavlov, Matei Penev, Emil Alexiev, Rossen Kunev and Mario Abdal Gamal.
The latter's name has also been reported as Mario el Makoussi in other media. On the day of the attack, the masked men burst into the tram, allegedly armed with metal rods, and proceeded to attack four youths in the vehicle.
The victims were supporters of asylum seekers' rights in Bulgaria. People Against Racism say that neo-Nazi attacks in Sofia are increasing. Traditionally, they are aimed at Roma and people of darker skin complexion, as well as homosexuals, but they can sometimes happen randomly and against anyone they perceive as strange. The anti-Nazi march in Sofia on June 12 is not politically motivated, the organisers said.
The Sofia Echo
NGOs RISE AGAINST XENOPHOBES VOWING TO MAR SOFIA GAY PARADE (Bulgaria)
Bulgarian NGOs have demanded that the Bulgarian capital Sofia's municipality ban the nationalistic rally scheduled at the same time and place as the upcoming "Sofia Pride" gay parade on June 18.
The Sofia Pride Foundation, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the AnarchoResistance group, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender's youth "Action" organization, People against Racism and the Bilitis Resource Center have sent a letter to Sofia's Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and the head of the Sofia Department of the Interior, pointing out that the nationalistic rally will be dangerous for the public order and should be banned. The NGOs have refuted a statement made earlier by Sofia's Deputy Mayor responsible for security, Ivan Sotirov, who claimed that the municipality cannot ban any parades but only advise about changing their routes.
The rally will be aggressive and threatening the peaceful citizens, the NGOs have pointed out. "Sofia Pride", Bulgaria's first ever gay parade, took place for the first time in 2008 and was marred by hooligans, with more than 60 people ending up arrested by the police for trying to attack and harass the participants, some of them throwing Molotov cocktails. The 2009 gay parade, passing very quickly and under enhanced security measures, gathered around 300 people. Bulgaria's 3rd annual gay parade went without violent incidents largely thanks to the decisive actions of the 300 riot police officers guarding the rally.
Novinite
The Sofia Pride Foundation, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the AnarchoResistance group, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender's youth "Action" organization, People against Racism and the Bilitis Resource Center have sent a letter to Sofia's Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and the head of the Sofia Department of the Interior, pointing out that the nationalistic rally will be dangerous for the public order and should be banned. The NGOs have refuted a statement made earlier by Sofia's Deputy Mayor responsible for security, Ivan Sotirov, who claimed that the municipality cannot ban any parades but only advise about changing their routes.
The rally will be aggressive and threatening the peaceful citizens, the NGOs have pointed out. "Sofia Pride", Bulgaria's first ever gay parade, took place for the first time in 2008 and was marred by hooligans, with more than 60 people ending up arrested by the police for trying to attack and harass the participants, some of them throwing Molotov cocktails. The 2009 gay parade, passing very quickly and under enhanced security measures, gathered around 300 people. Bulgaria's 3rd annual gay parade went without violent incidents largely thanks to the decisive actions of the 300 riot police officers guarding the rally.
Novinite
Police gearing up for city protest by far right group (UK)
Police have moved to reassure residents over a planned protest by the far right group the English Defence League.
Members of the Portsmouth and south east branch are planning a march in the city next month.
They say they will peacefully protest against Islamic extremism and Sharia law, which they are against.
A wreath will then be laid in Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square in memory of servicemen and women who have lost their lives.
The march is due to take place on July 16 but the group says that date could change and it has refused to reveal the route.
The group has informed police who are now planning for an estimated 1,000 people expected to come to Portsmouth for the march.
Officers from Safer Neighbourhoods Teams are speaking to locals to allay any concerns about the planned protest.
Superintendent Rick Burrows, who is planning Operation Buscot, said: ‘We are engaging with organisers to establish details and have begun the planning process to provide a policing operation.
‘This will facilitate the group’s right to peaceful and lawful protest, while minimising the impact to people and ensuring that the interests of all members of the local community are protected.
‘Officers from the Safer Neighbourhoods teams in Portsmouth are engaging with members of the local community to address any concerns they may have. It is very early in the planning process at this time.’
The rally comes eight months after up to 100 people were involved in a protest outside the Jami Mosque in Victoria Road North, Southsea. It started after Muslim extremists from outside Portsmouth burned poppies in London during the Armistice Day two-minute silence. Peace campaigners gathered outside the mosque in support of the Muslim community.
An English Defence League spokesman said: ‘This is not a national demo but a local one that will be protesting at situations relevant to that area.
‘The English Defence League will be peacefully protesting at this event against Islamic extremism.’
Portsmouth News
Members of the Portsmouth and south east branch are planning a march in the city next month.
They say they will peacefully protest against Islamic extremism and Sharia law, which they are against.
A wreath will then be laid in Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square in memory of servicemen and women who have lost their lives.
The march is due to take place on July 16 but the group says that date could change and it has refused to reveal the route.
The group has informed police who are now planning for an estimated 1,000 people expected to come to Portsmouth for the march.
Officers from Safer Neighbourhoods Teams are speaking to locals to allay any concerns about the planned protest.
Superintendent Rick Burrows, who is planning Operation Buscot, said: ‘We are engaging with organisers to establish details and have begun the planning process to provide a policing operation.
‘This will facilitate the group’s right to peaceful and lawful protest, while minimising the impact to people and ensuring that the interests of all members of the local community are protected.
‘Officers from the Safer Neighbourhoods teams in Portsmouth are engaging with members of the local community to address any concerns they may have. It is very early in the planning process at this time.’
The rally comes eight months after up to 100 people were involved in a protest outside the Jami Mosque in Victoria Road North, Southsea. It started after Muslim extremists from outside Portsmouth burned poppies in London during the Armistice Day two-minute silence. Peace campaigners gathered outside the mosque in support of the Muslim community.
An English Defence League spokesman said: ‘This is not a national demo but a local one that will be protesting at situations relevant to that area.
‘The English Defence League will be peacefully protesting at this event against Islamic extremism.’
Portsmouth News
More Breaking News (UK)
Admin comment; Following on to the previous item.
What happens when you challenge Nick Griffin in the so called democratic BNP.
More Breaking News.
Word is that Nick Griffin has moved to suspend his leadership challenger and fellow MEP Andrew Brons. Not for standing as candidate you understand, but for organising a factional meeting in Wigan last night.
See last blog post ... BNP MEP Andrew Brons, another former chair of the NF like Griffin, has decided he will stand against Nick Griffin for the leadership ...
What happens when you challenge Nick Griffin in the so called democratic BNP.
More Breaking News.
Word is that Nick Griffin has moved to suspend his leadership challenger and fellow MEP Andrew Brons. Not for standing as candidate you understand, but for organising a factional meeting in Wigan last night.
See last blog post ... BNP MEP Andrew Brons, another former chair of the NF like Griffin, has decided he will stand against Nick Griffin for the leadership ...
Breaking News-Game on! (UK)
This could be a major setback for Griffin. Although Brons has little chance of winning (due to the way the party's electoral processes have been stitched up), the BNP's lie and smear machine that it unleashes against dissenters will struggle against the popular Yorks and Humberside MEP.
Brons's supporters have already clashed with Griffin after Griffin turned on Brons during a Q&A session held for BNP members at the European parliament.
Brons and Griffin fell out previously in the 80's for control of the National Front. It seems history has a habit of repeating itself.
Nick Lowles at Hope Not Hate
Friday, 10 June 2011
Islington racist jailed for slashing Asian teen’s face with a knife (UK)
An Islington man who pinned a 15-year-old Asian boy to the floor and sliced open his cheek in an “appalling” racist attack has been jailed for eight years.
Jerry Monerville, 47, of Claremont Square, off Pentonville Road, pounced on the teenager and beat him to the ground with the help of accomplice Shane Doyle, 26.
The vile pair then slashed his face twice with a knife, and when the boy asked why they had attacked him they spat back: “It’s cos you’re a f***ing Paki”.
Monerville and Doyle ambushed the teenager from behind as he sat alone in Weavers Field Park, Bethnal Green, at around 11pm on November 21, last year.
Prosecutor Helen Owens said the boy heard voices behind him saying “Are you on it? Let’s do it!”, before he was confronted by Monerville and punched in the face, kicked and headbutted.
“Jerry Monerville was sitting on top of him,” said the prosecutor.
“He had the knife in his hand.
“He told the victim he was going to kill him.
“He then drew the knife across the victim’s face twice, causing cuts both times.
“After the victim was cut Shane Doyle kicked him twice in the face.
“He asked why they were doing this and one of them replied: ‘It’s cos you’re a f***ing Paki’.”
Miss Owens said the two men then searched the teenager’s pockets and took his mobile phone before they attempted to flee the scene.
But a passer-by who heard the boy’s screams called the police and the two men were arrested in the park.
Officers recovered the knife used in the attack and found Monerville was also carrying a stungun.
Both men pleaded guilty to robbery and causing grievous bodily harm, but claimed they were drunk at the time of the incident.
Jailing Monerville for eight years and Doyle, of Epping Close, Isle of Dogs, for seven years at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Judge Neil Sanders said: “The facts of this case are appalling.
“To exasperate everything he was repeatedly called a ‘Paki’ and it is absolutely plain that there were racial overtones to what was being done to him.
“It must have been a terrifying experience for the victim.”
Islington Gazette
Jerry Monerville, 47, of Claremont Square, off Pentonville Road, pounced on the teenager and beat him to the ground with the help of accomplice Shane Doyle, 26.
The vile pair then slashed his face twice with a knife, and when the boy asked why they had attacked him they spat back: “It’s cos you’re a f***ing Paki”.
Monerville and Doyle ambushed the teenager from behind as he sat alone in Weavers Field Park, Bethnal Green, at around 11pm on November 21, last year.
Prosecutor Helen Owens said the boy heard voices behind him saying “Are you on it? Let’s do it!”, before he was confronted by Monerville and punched in the face, kicked and headbutted.
“Jerry Monerville was sitting on top of him,” said the prosecutor.
“He had the knife in his hand.
“He told the victim he was going to kill him.
“He then drew the knife across the victim’s face twice, causing cuts both times.
“After the victim was cut Shane Doyle kicked him twice in the face.
“He asked why they were doing this and one of them replied: ‘It’s cos you’re a f***ing Paki’.”
Miss Owens said the two men then searched the teenager’s pockets and took his mobile phone before they attempted to flee the scene.
But a passer-by who heard the boy’s screams called the police and the two men were arrested in the park.
Officers recovered the knife used in the attack and found Monerville was also carrying a stungun.
Both men pleaded guilty to robbery and causing grievous bodily harm, but claimed they were drunk at the time of the incident.
Jailing Monerville for eight years and Doyle, of Epping Close, Isle of Dogs, for seven years at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Judge Neil Sanders said: “The facts of this case are appalling.
“To exasperate everything he was repeatedly called a ‘Paki’ and it is absolutely plain that there were racial overtones to what was being done to him.
“It must have been a terrifying experience for the victim.”
Islington Gazette
MEMORIAL ACTIVIST BEATEN OUTSIDE HOME (Russia)
A human rights worker was hospitalized after being beaten up in his apartment building, an attack his employer said was linked to his work. Bakhrom Khamroyev, a member of leading human rights group Memorial, was walking into the building in southeast Moscow on Monday when a group of strangers attacked him, spraying gas in his face and beating him on the head and legs. Memorial chief Oleg Orlov said Tuesday that the attack was aimed at disrupting Khamroyev's upcoming trip to Murmansk, where he had arranged a meeting with an Uzbek citizen threatened with extradition for purportedly taking part in Islamist militant activities, RIA-Novosti reported. "Memorial believes the attack on Bakhrom Khamroyev was planned in advance and prepared as a trap," Memorial said in a statement. "In December last year, an attack was carried out on Khamroyev. A criminal case was opened, but until today no one has been called to take responsibility." Orlov said Khamroyev was attacked by security forces in December when he was working on a similar case involving the arrest of suspected militants from Central Asia. The head of Amnesty International's Russia division, Sergei Nikitin, called on authorities to find and punish those responsible for the beating. "We hope a serious investigation will be carried out and that the guilty are punished," he said. Police said Tuesday that they were looking for the attackers.
Moscow Times
Moscow Times
Austrian far-right in fresh push for EU respectability
Buoyed by their recent success in the polls, the Austrian and French far right have made a fresh push for respectability in the European Parliament. A blurring of the 'softer' far right with eurosceptic parties may be in the offing.
Austria's Freedom Party in particular called on the eurosceptic alliance in the chamber, the Europe of Freedom and Democracy grouping led by Britain's Ukip and Italy's Northern League, to let their two MEPs join.
FPO Party leader and MEP Heinz-Christian Strache alongside French Front National chief Marine Le Pen in the parliament in Strasbourg announced deeper co-operation between their two far-right parties at a Wednesday press conference.
Speaking to reporters, the Austrian also said that he wanted his deputies in the EFD but was being blocked by two MEPs in the grouping reluctant to embrace the party.
The two party leaders were hoping to put themselves across as serious statesman and distance themselves from the impression of far-right politicians as consorting with skinheaded and heavily tattooed bully boys.
According to a March poll in Le Parisien, Le Pen, who has something of a softer image from her father whom she succeeded as leader in January, would gain an unprecedented first-round victory if a presidential election were held today.
Meanwhile, a May survey found that were an election to happen now, the FPO would top the polls, with 29 percent of votes to the second-placed Social Democrat's 28 percent. A second far-right party, the Alliance for Austria (BZO) would be awarded an additional 13 percent, putting far-right politics by far the most popular option in the land.
Strache, whose MEPs are classed as 'non-inscrit', the parliamentary term for unattached deputies but something of a short-hand for extremists as most of the non-inscrit politicians come from far-right parties, wants to leave this reputation behind.
He declared he has no interest in joining with the Greater Romania party, the UK's British National Party (BNP) or Bulgaria's Ataka, three groups that in the demi-monde of the far-right are seen as the extremists.
Asked whether Le Pen is looking to form a parliamentary fraction with the FPO, she held back from a full endorsement, saying "Deeper relations and work on different fronts ... does not necessarily revolve around the European Parliament."
In an interview with Dutch radio on 1 June, Le Pen also sought to distance herself from Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, saying he reads the Koran literally.
Strache this week also met with Belgium's Flemish nationalists of the Vlaams Belang and the Northern League to press his case.
According to Francesco Speroni, Northern League deputy and co-chair of the EFD, his party is in favour of the FPO joining, but MEPs from Greece's Laos and Denmark's People's Party are opposed.
The FPO has been campaigning for months to kick Greece out of the eurozone.
Ukip for its part said that they have no contact with Strache's party and have no comment on their joining.
"Everybody is free to desire to be a member of the EFD," EFD spokesman Herman Kelly, a member of Ukip, told EUobserver. "But we have no control over that. The EFD has had no contact with Strache. Ukip has had no contact with Strache. Why would we have an opinion about someone we have never met with?"
In the wake of the economic crisis, both euroscepticism and the far right have been two of the only political forces to increase their support in polls. While the centre-right has benefited electorally at the expense of the centre-left, it has been largely on the back of record abstention.
EUobserver.com
Austria's Freedom Party in particular called on the eurosceptic alliance in the chamber, the Europe of Freedom and Democracy grouping led by Britain's Ukip and Italy's Northern League, to let their two MEPs join.
FPO Party leader and MEP Heinz-Christian Strache alongside French Front National chief Marine Le Pen in the parliament in Strasbourg announced deeper co-operation between their two far-right parties at a Wednesday press conference.
Speaking to reporters, the Austrian also said that he wanted his deputies in the EFD but was being blocked by two MEPs in the grouping reluctant to embrace the party.
The two party leaders were hoping to put themselves across as serious statesman and distance themselves from the impression of far-right politicians as consorting with skinheaded and heavily tattooed bully boys.
According to a March poll in Le Parisien, Le Pen, who has something of a softer image from her father whom she succeeded as leader in January, would gain an unprecedented first-round victory if a presidential election were held today.
Meanwhile, a May survey found that were an election to happen now, the FPO would top the polls, with 29 percent of votes to the second-placed Social Democrat's 28 percent. A second far-right party, the Alliance for Austria (BZO) would be awarded an additional 13 percent, putting far-right politics by far the most popular option in the land.
Strache, whose MEPs are classed as 'non-inscrit', the parliamentary term for unattached deputies but something of a short-hand for extremists as most of the non-inscrit politicians come from far-right parties, wants to leave this reputation behind.
He declared he has no interest in joining with the Greater Romania party, the UK's British National Party (BNP) or Bulgaria's Ataka, three groups that in the demi-monde of the far-right are seen as the extremists.
Asked whether Le Pen is looking to form a parliamentary fraction with the FPO, she held back from a full endorsement, saying "Deeper relations and work on different fronts ... does not necessarily revolve around the European Parliament."
In an interview with Dutch radio on 1 June, Le Pen also sought to distance herself from Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, saying he reads the Koran literally.
Strache this week also met with Belgium's Flemish nationalists of the Vlaams Belang and the Northern League to press his case.
According to Francesco Speroni, Northern League deputy and co-chair of the EFD, his party is in favour of the FPO joining, but MEPs from Greece's Laos and Denmark's People's Party are opposed.
The FPO has been campaigning for months to kick Greece out of the eurozone.
Ukip for its part said that they have no contact with Strache's party and have no comment on their joining.
"Everybody is free to desire to be a member of the EFD," EFD spokesman Herman Kelly, a member of Ukip, told EUobserver. "But we have no control over that. The EFD has had no contact with Strache. Ukip has had no contact with Strache. Why would we have an opinion about someone we have never met with?"
In the wake of the economic crisis, both euroscepticism and the far right have been two of the only political forces to increase their support in polls. While the centre-right has benefited electorally at the expense of the centre-left, it has been largely on the back of record abstention.
EUobserver.com
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Lincoln yob denies being racist 'because he has a friend called nig-nog' (UK)
Neil Mitchell, 42, of Woodland Avenue in Skellingthorpe, has been found guilty of racially aggravated threatening behaviour and racially aggravated criminal damage.
Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard that Mitchell went to Caldo Pizza in Woodfield Avenue, Birchwood on Thursday, January 6 after he was given the wrong kebab by staff.
Mitchell slammed the chicken kebab on the counter before swearing at owner Hamid Banki.
The court heard he asked staff "Can't you understand English" and called them "f***ing foreigners" and "pakis" before picking up a pizza shovel and brandishing it at them.
A bowl was damaged during the altercation.
But in an interview with police, Mitchell claimed he was not a racist because he "had lots of paki and coloured friends" and a friend in his phone called "nig nog".
At an earlier hearing, Mitchell pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour and causing criminal damage but denied they were racially aggravated.
Lois Colley, prosecuting, asked Mitchell: "On a number of occasions during your police interview you mimicked the accents of staff at the shop. Do you find that offensive?"
Wearing a dark suit and standing defiantly in the dock Mitchell replied: "No. Is it offensive for a northerner to mimic a southerner?"
Ms Colley then put to Mitchell: "You said in interview you had lots of "paki" and "coloured" friends and that you had a friend in your phone called 'nig nog' ".
Mitchell replied: "Nig nog is a white guy, it was a name he had from the Army.
"He got the name because he was always dirty and would wear paint on his face."
Referring to the incident at Caldo Pizza, Mitchell then told magistrates: "I hadn't slept for three nights because my father is ill with Parkinson's disease.
"They had got my order wrong again, so I went back to demand my money back, and petrol money as well.
"The chef started getting a bit cocky and it escalated from there.
"I said 'Can't you understand English?', but it wasn't a racist remark.
"I grew up in the ghetto where life was tough. Where I came from, things were different and you could have a bit of banter.
"I never used racist words, I can't understand why they thought I did."
Richard Marshall, in mitigation, said: "Mr Mitchell comes from a different background, but it is clear he didn't use overtly racist language."
Adjourning sentencing for further reports, chairman of the bench Robert Cox said: "You have accepted threatening behaviour and criminal damage offences but we have come to the conclusion they were racially aggravated.
"Mr Mitchell's use of words in both interview and the witness box demonstrates an underlying hostility to racial minorities."
Sentencing was adjourned until Friday July 8 awaiting further reports.
This is Lincolnshire
Vancouver man convicted in racist hate-crime attack at sports bar (Canada)
He’s one of three who yelled ‘White Power!’ and assaulted black man
A longtime white supremacist was convicted in federal court Wednesday for his role in a racially motivated hate-crime attack on a black man in a downtown Vancouver sports bar in January 2010.
Zachary Beck, 32, of Vancouver was convicted in a three-day bench trial of conspiracy to violate civil rights, interference with a federally protected right and witness tampering, according to a bulletin from U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan handed down the verdict in Tacoma.
The bulletin and The Columbian’s files say Beck was in the former bar at 115 E. Seventh St. when he saw the black man socializing with white friends and told the bartender, twice, that the lone black man “had to leave” or there would be trouble.
The black man, whose name hasn’t been released, stayed and Beck went outside and discussed attacking him with Kory Boyd, a Vancouver skinhead and self-described white supremacist, and a third man, Lawrence Silk.
Yelling “White Power!” “You’re dead!” and racist slurs, the three went inside and attacked the black man, shouting that he shouldn’t be kissing white women and threatening to stab him.
The African-American man defended himself by blocking Beck’s punch and grabbing him in a headlock. Meanwhile, Boyd and Silk threw bottles at the black man — and a friend of the victim intervened.
When the black man released Beck, the attackers fled, shouting more racial slurs and threatening to return.
The black man followed them out of the bar and pursued them while calling 911.
The victim suffered injuries including a cut arm, bruising on his forearms and a sore chin, officials said.
Vancouver police apprehended Silk and investigated, as did the FBI. Federal authorities arrested and charged Beck and Boyd in August 2010.
Beck was accused of witness tampering for asking a former girlfriend to provide an alibi for the night of the attack, according to Columbian files.
“There is no haven for hate crimes,” Durkan said in the bulletin issued after Beck’s conviction Wednesday. “I applaud the Vancouver residents that stood up for fairness and tried to stop Beck and his co-conspirators that night. Both the FBI and the Vancouver Police Department are to be commended for their work.”
Wednesday’s bulletin adds that Silk and Boyd “have already been convicted for their roles. Silk pleaded guilty to Washington State charges of malicious harassment and received a two-year sentence. Boyd pleaded guilty to a federal hate-crime charge and was sentenced in January 2011 to 34 months’ imprisonment.”
All three of the attackers have associated with white-supremacist groups, the bulletin said.
In 2003, Beck ran unsuccessfully for the city council in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, “under the Aryan Nations banner,” Wednesday’s bulletin said.
That same year, Beck was charged with punching a man in a parking lot after asking if he was Mexican, according to The Columbian’s files.
The Colombian
A longtime white supremacist was convicted in federal court Wednesday for his role in a racially motivated hate-crime attack on a black man in a downtown Vancouver sports bar in January 2010.
Zachary Beck, 32, of Vancouver was convicted in a three-day bench trial of conspiracy to violate civil rights, interference with a federally protected right and witness tampering, according to a bulletin from U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan handed down the verdict in Tacoma.
The bulletin and The Columbian’s files say Beck was in the former bar at 115 E. Seventh St. when he saw the black man socializing with white friends and told the bartender, twice, that the lone black man “had to leave” or there would be trouble.
The black man, whose name hasn’t been released, stayed and Beck went outside and discussed attacking him with Kory Boyd, a Vancouver skinhead and self-described white supremacist, and a third man, Lawrence Silk.
Yelling “White Power!” “You’re dead!” and racist slurs, the three went inside and attacked the black man, shouting that he shouldn’t be kissing white women and threatening to stab him.
The African-American man defended himself by blocking Beck’s punch and grabbing him in a headlock. Meanwhile, Boyd and Silk threw bottles at the black man — and a friend of the victim intervened.
When the black man released Beck, the attackers fled, shouting more racial slurs and threatening to return.
The black man followed them out of the bar and pursued them while calling 911.
The victim suffered injuries including a cut arm, bruising on his forearms and a sore chin, officials said.
Vancouver police apprehended Silk and investigated, as did the FBI. Federal authorities arrested and charged Beck and Boyd in August 2010.
Beck was accused of witness tampering for asking a former girlfriend to provide an alibi for the night of the attack, according to Columbian files.
“There is no haven for hate crimes,” Durkan said in the bulletin issued after Beck’s conviction Wednesday. “I applaud the Vancouver residents that stood up for fairness and tried to stop Beck and his co-conspirators that night. Both the FBI and the Vancouver Police Department are to be commended for their work.”
Wednesday’s bulletin adds that Silk and Boyd “have already been convicted for their roles. Silk pleaded guilty to Washington State charges of malicious harassment and received a two-year sentence. Boyd pleaded guilty to a federal hate-crime charge and was sentenced in January 2011 to 34 months’ imprisonment.”
All three of the attackers have associated with white-supremacist groups, the bulletin said.
In 2003, Beck ran unsuccessfully for the city council in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, “under the Aryan Nations banner,” Wednesday’s bulletin said.
That same year, Beck was charged with punching a man in a parking lot after asking if he was Mexican, according to The Columbian’s files.
The Colombian
RECTOR AT MUSLIM UNIVERSITY IN RUSSIA IS SHOT TO DEATH
Gunmen on Tuesday killed the rector of a Muslim university in southern Russia who had been leading a government-sponsored effort to counter violence in the region by reviving the local traditions of Sufi Islam that he said were less likely to inspire suicide bombers. The rector, Maksud I. Sadikov, of the Islamic University of the North Caucasus, was shot to death in a car in Makhachkala, the capital of the Dagestan region, Russian prosecutors said. Mr. Sadikov’s bodyguard was also killed, they said. The prosecutors had not arrested or identified any potential suspects by late Tuesday, and no group immediately stepped forward to take responsibility for the attack. Mr. Sadikov was a proponent of the idea that state support for Sufism could diminish the threat of terrorism in Russia. Sufism was once widespread in the North Caucasus but faded after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the arrival of proselytizers from Middle East who sought to spread Sunni Islam. In an interview about his work in February, Mr. Sadikov said that no Sufi had committed a suicide bombing in Russia. “One of the best methods to resist the ideology of extremism is a good religious education,” Mr. Sadikov said. He said a moderate Islamic education was an “anti-venom” against terrorism.
The effort, and the government financing it received, had put him at odds with militants in the Islamic insurgency in Russia that began in Chechnya in the 1990s and has spread to other regions, including Dagestan. His university, a sprawling complex beside a mosque in Makhachkala, was involved in one of the few nonmilitary approaches that the Russian government has attempted to resolve the long-running rebellion. President Dmitri A. Medvedev has also tried to use economic aid to ease unemployment in the area. Militants have sent dozens of suicide bombers into central Russian cities, including Moscow, over the past decade. In the past 18 months, 76 people have died in attacks on the Moscow subway system and at its main airport. Those attacks led the police to put additional metal detectors in public spaces. Mr. Sadikov said his strategy was to prevent radical Islamic ideas from taking root in young men. In southern Russia, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, most suicide bombers are adherents of fundamentalist Sunni sects, including the Salafi tradition that is the state religion in Saudi Arabia. The Russian government latched onto Mr. Sadikov’s observations and threw official support behind other forms of Islam.
The United States tried a similar tactic in Iraq by introducing moderate imams at the prisons where insurgents were being held. Mr. Sadikov’s university was intended to educate elementary school teachers for a pilot project to teach Sufi Islam in public schools. This year, 1,300 students were enrolled, making it the largest effort of its kind in the North Caucasus. His university taught what he characterized as pacifist Sufi practices, like performing a ritual whirling dance or taking pilgrimages to holy sites. Critics countered that the Sufi monopoly of formal religious education in the North Caucasus only served to further alienate fundamentalist Sunni believers by compelling them to worship at home. The state’s support also made the university a target. In the February interview, Mr. Sadikov said that he was keenly aware of the dangers inherent in his project. “The radicals are saying, ‘You need to punish the impure Muslims,’ ” Mr. Sadikov said.
International Herald Tribune
The effort, and the government financing it received, had put him at odds with militants in the Islamic insurgency in Russia that began in Chechnya in the 1990s and has spread to other regions, including Dagestan. His university, a sprawling complex beside a mosque in Makhachkala, was involved in one of the few nonmilitary approaches that the Russian government has attempted to resolve the long-running rebellion. President Dmitri A. Medvedev has also tried to use economic aid to ease unemployment in the area. Militants have sent dozens of suicide bombers into central Russian cities, including Moscow, over the past decade. In the past 18 months, 76 people have died in attacks on the Moscow subway system and at its main airport. Those attacks led the police to put additional metal detectors in public spaces. Mr. Sadikov said his strategy was to prevent radical Islamic ideas from taking root in young men. In southern Russia, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, most suicide bombers are adherents of fundamentalist Sunni sects, including the Salafi tradition that is the state religion in Saudi Arabia. The Russian government latched onto Mr. Sadikov’s observations and threw official support behind other forms of Islam.
The United States tried a similar tactic in Iraq by introducing moderate imams at the prisons where insurgents were being held. Mr. Sadikov’s university was intended to educate elementary school teachers for a pilot project to teach Sufi Islam in public schools. This year, 1,300 students were enrolled, making it the largest effort of its kind in the North Caucasus. His university taught what he characterized as pacifist Sufi practices, like performing a ritual whirling dance or taking pilgrimages to holy sites. Critics countered that the Sufi monopoly of formal religious education in the North Caucasus only served to further alienate fundamentalist Sunni believers by compelling them to worship at home. The state’s support also made the university a target. In the February interview, Mr. Sadikov said that he was keenly aware of the dangers inherent in his project. “The radicals are saying, ‘You need to punish the impure Muslims,’ ” Mr. Sadikov said.
International Herald Tribune
Second protest for day of English Defence League demonstration in Dewsbury (UK)
An anti-fascist organisation will lead a counter-protest to the English Defence League’s demonstration in Dewsbury this weekend.
But police have ruled that neither group will be allowed to hold events in the heart of the town centre.
The EDL had originally planned to hold speeches outside Dewsbury Town Hall on Saturday afternoon.
Now its demonstration will be limited to the car park outside the town’s train station between 2pm and 3pm.
Chf Supt John Robins said: “After discussions with local businesses, the council, the community and the EDL organiser, we have decided that the venue of the planned EDL peaceful static protest should now be on the public car park outside the railway station.
“This decision was made to ensure that any possible disruption to people visiting and working in Dewsbury on Saturday is kept to an absolute minimum.”
Kirklees Unite Against Fascism is planning an event of its own from noon on Saturday to celebrate the “unity of multicultural Dewsbury”.
Chf Supt Robins said: “We are speaking with the organiser, but it is likely that this counter-protest will be on Wellington Road East, further along the ring road.
“As we have stated previously, our main aim is to ensure it is ‘business as usual’ for the traders, businesses and the people of Dewsbury on Saturday.”
Dewsbury Reporter
But police have ruled that neither group will be allowed to hold events in the heart of the town centre.
The EDL had originally planned to hold speeches outside Dewsbury Town Hall on Saturday afternoon.
Now its demonstration will be limited to the car park outside the town’s train station between 2pm and 3pm.
Chf Supt John Robins said: “After discussions with local businesses, the council, the community and the EDL organiser, we have decided that the venue of the planned EDL peaceful static protest should now be on the public car park outside the railway station.
“This decision was made to ensure that any possible disruption to people visiting and working in Dewsbury on Saturday is kept to an absolute minimum.”
Kirklees Unite Against Fascism is planning an event of its own from noon on Saturday to celebrate the “unity of multicultural Dewsbury”.
Chf Supt Robins said: “We are speaking with the organiser, but it is likely that this counter-protest will be on Wellington Road East, further along the ring road.
“As we have stated previously, our main aim is to ensure it is ‘business as usual’ for the traders, businesses and the people of Dewsbury on Saturday.”
Dewsbury Reporter
Former BNP Councillor Paul Golding heads Britain First nationalist movement (UK)
Paul Golding, who stepped down as a Sevenoaks District councillor for the Swanley St Mary’s ward in February, is now director of Britain First.
Mr Golding, whose latest venture is run from a Swanley postal address, told News Shopper he left his position as councillor because he had moved out of the area.
Mr Golding said in February: “I’ve moved out of the area. I didn’t think it was morally justified to keep getting the allowance. It’s as simple as that, no drama involved.”
In a campaign for Britain First, Mr Golding makes a swipe at other nationalist parties, asking: “Are you, like me, fed up of enduring the constant bickering, moaning, whinging and name-calling that is at present consuming what is left of the British patriotic movement?”
Mr Golding also accuses other parties of creating: “a constant stream of self inflicted media scandals and embarrassing gaffes that make all of us look ridiculous”.
The group also uses slogans including “if voting changed anything, it would be illegal” and “the voice of the silent majority”.
Mr Golding, who calls the movement “a modern political phenomenon” also says: “Now it is time for all patriots of stout heart to join forces, so that we can, once again, achieve progress and make an impact against the despicable traitors ruining our once green and pleasant land.
“We want our country back and we shall not rest until our land is free.”
Labour Councillor John Underwood, who still represents the Swanley St Mary’s ward for Sevenoaks District Council, said: “He can do what he likes as far as I’m concerned.
“I’m just glad he’s gone and out of my way.”
Paul Golding’s timeline of gaffes
February 2009 - Paul Golding is elected, beating Labour candidate Michael Hogg by 408 votes to 332.
August 2009 - He attends a BNP Red White and Blue family festival in Derbyshire - where an undercover News of the World reporter records a 12-year-old burning a gollywog. Mr Golding condemned these actions.
August 2009 - As part of the BNP’s anti-media campaign, Operation Fightback, he made a video to prove that a woman convicted of intimidating an Asian mother was not a BNP member. Later investigations confirmed that Helen Forster was a member, but had registered under a different name.
September 2009 - St Mary’s constituents accuse Mr Golding of “doing nothing” for them since his election.
October 2009 - The BNP threatens to boycott three News Shopper advertisers unless they pull their adverts, calling the paper “a particularly venomous anti-British left-wing propaganda outlet”.
February 2011 - Steps down as a Sevenoaks District Councillor.
News Shopper
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Murder suspect also facing sex assault charge (Canada)
 |
| Robert David Reitmeier |
Robert David Reitmeier, 24, is accused of sexual assault and unlawful confinement of a woman at a party in the city on April 29, 2009.
He also is charged with failing to comply with probation conditions.
Crown prosecutor Karuna Ramakrishnan, assigned to the sexual assault case, said following the appearance in provincial court that Reitmeier and the alleged victim did not know each other, but were “beyond casual acquaintances.”
The victim cannot be named because of a court-ordered ban.
Ramakrishnan said Reitmeier was not charged until April 29, when he was allegedly identified through a DNA match from the assault two years earlier.
Lawyer Nick D’Souza, who appeared in court for Reitmeier on Tuesday, said he has virtually no information on the 2009 charges as he has not yet received any Crown disclosure.
Reitmeier and Tyler William Sturrup, 26, suspected leaders of the WEB, or Western European Bloodline white pride group, were arrested May 31 in connection with the killing of Mark Mariani of Calgary in October 2010.
Mariani, a 47-year-old who was attacked by a group of men in an alley in the 1500 block of 16th Avenue N.W., was believed to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Police investigators said although the two suspects are white supremacists, there’s no indication that affiliation had any connection to the crime.
Although police wouldn’t disclose a motive for the killing of Mariani, Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus of the homicide unit said last week it appeared unprovoked.
Police said Sturrup, 26, was arrested in Edmonton, and Reitmeier, 24, in Calgary last week.
The WEB is one of two known white supremacist groups in Calgary since the disbanding of the Aryan Guard.
Calgary Herald
Women give neo-Nazi scene a face-lift (Germany)
Men make up the majority of neo-Nazis, but emancipation has also forged new territory for women in right-extremist circles in Germany. A new book sheds light on female neo-Nazis
Women want to have their say. That slogan from the 1960's women liberation movement still echoes through to today. And it's a rallying cry that leaders from Germany's National Democratic Party, the NPD, have picked up on.
The NPD, which is not prohibited in Germany, uses women to lure people into the right-extremist movement, maintain authors Andrea Röpke and Andreas Speit. Their new book "Mädelsache! Frauen in der Neo-Nazi-Szene" ("Girls' Business: Women in the Neo-Nazi Scene") illuminates how women are used as ambassadors for the movement.
A mother of several children wins the hearts of people much more easily than a young man with tattoos chanting xenophobic slogans, said author Speit. "Many people think 'If women are part of it, it can't be so bad,'" he observed.
The strategy seems to work, as regional elections in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt this past March showed. NPD women reaped an impressive number of votes.
Wolves in sheeps' clothing
Röpke and Speit's book looks at the various right-extremist groups in Germany. It's a heterogeneous movement that includes a right-wing women's organization, as well as numerous rightist enclaves such as the National Women's Circle - an association linked to the NPD.
Other smaller groups or associations do not appear to be right-extremist at first glance. On the contrary, one could almost take them to be "granola heads" - save the environment hippies donned in handmade clothing or dirndl-like dresses, living cozily amongst their kind in rural communities.
But at second-glance, say the authors, one notices the Prussian rigidity with which the mothers raise their children. It's a harsh approach that glorifies discipline and German tradition. This breed refuses to use English words that have long found their way into colloquial German. "T-shirt" thus becomes "T-Hemd," "Weltnetz" (World Web) is used rather than "Internet," "Gemüsetorte" (Vegetable Cake) rather than "Pizza."
The danger of underestimation
That all may sound so "yesterday," but authors Röpke and Speit stress that one should not underestimate the power and reach of women within the right-extremist movement. They have a stabilizing function within their groups; they are particularly loyal in toeing the NPD party line; and they have a major impact on how children and youth are raised.
They also don't stay within their own extremist enclaves, but are often employed as social workers or caregivers in pre-schools or daycare centers. There, they can easily recruit members for the movement - one with no shortage of young people, Speit said.
The book "Mädelsache" illuminates just how underestimated these right-extremist women are, especially in their ability to appeal to mainstream society far better than men. But as moderate as the women may appear, the authors make clear their connections to organizations touting non-democratic, racist beliefs.
DW-World
The NPD, which is not prohibited in Germany, uses women to lure people into the right-extremist movement, maintain authors Andrea Röpke and Andreas Speit. Their new book "Mädelsache! Frauen in der Neo-Nazi-Szene" ("Girls' Business: Women in the Neo-Nazi Scene") illuminates how women are used as ambassadors for the movement.
A mother of several children wins the hearts of people much more easily than a young man with tattoos chanting xenophobic slogans, said author Speit. "Many people think 'If women are part of it, it can't be so bad,'" he observed.
The strategy seems to work, as regional elections in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt this past March showed. NPD women reaped an impressive number of votes.
Wolves in sheeps' clothing
Röpke and Speit's book looks at the various right-extremist groups in Germany. It's a heterogeneous movement that includes a right-wing women's organization, as well as numerous rightist enclaves such as the National Women's Circle - an association linked to the NPD.
Other smaller groups or associations do not appear to be right-extremist at first glance. On the contrary, one could almost take them to be "granola heads" - save the environment hippies donned in handmade clothing or dirndl-like dresses, living cozily amongst their kind in rural communities.
But at second-glance, say the authors, one notices the Prussian rigidity with which the mothers raise their children. It's a harsh approach that glorifies discipline and German tradition. This breed refuses to use English words that have long found their way into colloquial German. "T-shirt" thus becomes "T-Hemd," "Weltnetz" (World Web) is used rather than "Internet," "Gemüsetorte" (Vegetable Cake) rather than "Pizza."
The danger of underestimation
That all may sound so "yesterday," but authors Röpke and Speit stress that one should not underestimate the power and reach of women within the right-extremist movement. They have a stabilizing function within their groups; they are particularly loyal in toeing the NPD party line; and they have a major impact on how children and youth are raised.
They also don't stay within their own extremist enclaves, but are often employed as social workers or caregivers in pre-schools or daycare centers. There, they can easily recruit members for the movement - one with no shortage of young people, Speit said.
The book "Mädelsache" illuminates just how underestimated these right-extremist women are, especially in their ability to appeal to mainstream society far better than men. But as moderate as the women may appear, the authors make clear their connections to organizations touting non-democratic, racist beliefs.
DW-World
Plea to ignore West Yorkshire EDL demonstration (UK)
Residents in Dewsbury are being urged to ignore a planned demonstration by the controversial English Defence League (EDL) this Saturday.
Around 500 supporters of the group are expected to rally outside Dewsbury Town Hall from 2pm.
In the past, EDL demos, such as one held in Leeds in 2009 have flared into violence with clashes between the EDL and rival anti-racism campaigners who have turned out to protest.
Today, bosses at Kirklees Council urged residents to show the town’s multi-cultural communities could live in harmony.
A spokesman said: “The prime concern is the safety and well being of our local people and local communities.
“We are committed to ensuring that our residents can enjoy their public spaces.
“We of course recognise the right of all citizens to peaceful demonstration and will respond to the planned EDL demonstration to ensure that this right is protected in a way that also respects the needs and views of our residents.
“We would urge our communities to ignore the demonstrators and prove that Dewsbury is truly a place where different communities can thrive together without conflict.”
Officers from eight forces were drafted in to police the EDL demo in Leeds in October 2009, leaving taxpayers with a £345,000 bill.
West Yorkshire Police says it aims to contain the demo.
Chief Superintendent John Robinson said: “We will facilitate a peaceful protest. Between now and then we are preparing to make sure that the event goes peacefully.
“Clearly the message to the EDL is that we will treat you fairly but firmly to ensure it is a peaceful protest.”
Yorkshire Evening Post
Around 500 supporters of the group are expected to rally outside Dewsbury Town Hall from 2pm.
In the past, EDL demos, such as one held in Leeds in 2009 have flared into violence with clashes between the EDL and rival anti-racism campaigners who have turned out to protest.
Today, bosses at Kirklees Council urged residents to show the town’s multi-cultural communities could live in harmony.
A spokesman said: “The prime concern is the safety and well being of our local people and local communities.
“We are committed to ensuring that our residents can enjoy their public spaces.
“We of course recognise the right of all citizens to peaceful demonstration and will respond to the planned EDL demonstration to ensure that this right is protected in a way that also respects the needs and views of our residents.
“We would urge our communities to ignore the demonstrators and prove that Dewsbury is truly a place where different communities can thrive together without conflict.”
Officers from eight forces were drafted in to police the EDL demo in Leeds in October 2009, leaving taxpayers with a £345,000 bill.
West Yorkshire Police says it aims to contain the demo.
Chief Superintendent John Robinson said: “We will facilitate a peaceful protest. Between now and then we are preparing to make sure that the event goes peacefully.
“Clearly the message to the EDL is that we will treat you fairly but firmly to ensure it is a peaceful protest.”
Yorkshire Evening Post
Hustles in Brussels, BNP style. (UK)
Following onto the previous post here's the two part video footage of what happened in Brussels when Nick Griffin gate crashed a meeting held by fellow BNP MEP Andrew Brons.
BNP fight club (Hope Not Hate, UK)
The bitter confrontation happened in Brussels a couple of weeks ago when a group of BNP members on a trip to the European Parliament at the tax payers expense, were being treated to a Q&A session by Yorks & Humberside MEP Andrew Brons, when in popped the uninvited Nick Griffin to launch a quite extraordinary attack on the people there.
Most of his vitriol was directed at Michael Barnbrook, the BNP's self seeking "sleaze buster" who never quite seemed capable of turning his attentions onto his own party leader, until recently. Described as a "show pony", Barnbrook was given the full "hairdryer" treatment by Griffin, while last year's beaten leadership challenger, Eddy Butler, was accused of being a liar. For his own efforts, Griffin even accused Brons of publishing a website "full of lies".
News of Griffin's decision to hold his EGM on June 26th (as exclusively revealed here), also came as somewhat as a shock to Brons, as he was initialy scheduled to speak to party rebels in the North East on that day, on the very subject of a need to call and EGM...
Hope Not Hate
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Death of reputed Aryan leader stumps police (USA)
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| Frank E Roch Jr |
When police found a heavily-tattooed, dying man slumped in a pickup truck crashed along U.S. 59 in mid-May, he had so many different identification cards they reportedly didn't know his name.
It would be many hours before police would realize he was the top general of one of the state's most notorious underworld organizations.
Questions still surround the death of Frank E. Roch Jr., the alleged leader of the of largest faction of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a powerful white-supremacist prison gang.
"It was widely understood, at least in law enforcement circles, he was the general of generals," said John Bales, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.
Roch, a 54-year-old Baytown resident who went by "Pancho," commanded an estimated 1,500 members in and outside of prisons, and had influence over many more associates and supporters, officials said. Exact numbers are unknown.
A funeral was held May 25 and his remains were cremated. But it is still not clear why he died the night of May 19, officials said.
"It is an open case," Houston Police spokesman Kese Smith said. "Witnesses reported seeing the vehicle swerve and strike a concrete barrier."
Harris County medical examiners have not yet determined the cause of his death.
Roch's criminal history went back decades. He was last in prison in 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Road map of his life
A different look
A photo on a funeral home's memorial web site shows a far-different looking Roch than the man with the shaved head in a prison mug shot.
His thick, blondish-gray hair and handle bar moustache are grown out.
His shirt covers the maze of elaborate tattoos inked over his entire torso and arms.
The tattoos form a road map of his life and offer possible clues to his death.
Across his chest was the world "loyalty,“ according to a photo taken while he was in custody.
In the middle of his torso was a tattoo of the gang's shield, including a swastika, and a star denoting his rank of general and chairman.
On his arm, where members are known to have tattoos of vices, is what looks like a hypodermic needle.
"Everybody knows who this guy was," said a state law enforcement officer who requested his name not be published. "His loss has created a major disturbance in this gang."
The officer could tick off a list of Roch's crimes, but respected his tenaciousness as an adversary. He was one of the few prison-gang members that wouldn't give up anything during interrogations.
"He could play mind games," the officer recalled. "I would say he was a high IQ guy, very high IQ."
Blind obedience
Federal indictments unleashed in recent years against members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas describe the gang as promoting white supremacy and being involved in murders, assaults, robberies and extortion.
"Members are required to sign a blind faith commitment in which they agree to do anything directed or requested by their superiors without question," notes an indictment. "Failure to comply may result in severe beatings, known as beat-downs or deaths."
The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas has members in and outside the state. It is divided into two factions, law-enforcement officials said. Roch was the chairman of the larger organization, and led with the assistance of four lower-ranking generals.
Houston Chronicle
Constitutional Court bans neo-Nazi group (Serbia)
The Constitutional Court of Serbia has determined that Nacionalni stroj is a secret association whose work is banned in accordance with the Constitution.
The organization is not allowed to work, promote and spread its ideas and goals.
The Constitutional Court’s decision also does not allow Nacionalni stroj to be registered in a “registry run by competent organs, associations and political parties”.
The court has also determined that the state and other bodies and organizations are obliged to take necessary measures in order to implement the decision.
The Constitutional Court started the discussion at a closed session on May 19, 2011.
The motion to ban the extreme-right organization was filed in October 2008, with an explanation that it was a “secret political organization” which incites national and religious hatred which is banned by the Serbian Constitution.
The prosecutor said that basis for the decision to ban Nacionalni stroj was also a fact that several members of the organization had been convicted of inciting racial and national hatred at the University in Novi Sad.
This is only beginning, minister says
Justice Minister Snežana Malović told B92 that the Constitutional Court’s decision to ban Nacionalni stroj was a clear message that Serbia would not tolerate organizations that promote racial, religious and national hatred and intolerance.
“Banning racial, religious and national hatred and intolerance is a European heritage. Nazi ideology that promotes such action is unacceptable in a democratic society such as ours and it cannot be tied to our historical and cultural heritage,” she pointed out.
Malović stressed that there must be no second-rate citizens and any discrimination whatsoever in the name of the past and the victims of Nazism, but also in the name of the future.
“Serbia will stop organizations that promote such ideologies with legal, political and democratic means,” the justice minister explained.
She believes that this is only a beginning and that the state will not allow far-right organizations to continue promoting Nazi ideas by changing their name.
Malović also stressed that society and all those involved in the political life needed to take their stand regarding the hate ideology and clearly show who neo-Nazis were.
B92.Net
The organization is not allowed to work, promote and spread its ideas and goals.
The Constitutional Court’s decision also does not allow Nacionalni stroj to be registered in a “registry run by competent organs, associations and political parties”.
The court has also determined that the state and other bodies and organizations are obliged to take necessary measures in order to implement the decision.
The Constitutional Court started the discussion at a closed session on May 19, 2011.
The motion to ban the extreme-right organization was filed in October 2008, with an explanation that it was a “secret political organization” which incites national and religious hatred which is banned by the Serbian Constitution.
The prosecutor said that basis for the decision to ban Nacionalni stroj was also a fact that several members of the organization had been convicted of inciting racial and national hatred at the University in Novi Sad.
This is only beginning, minister says
Justice Minister Snežana Malović told B92 that the Constitutional Court’s decision to ban Nacionalni stroj was a clear message that Serbia would not tolerate organizations that promote racial, religious and national hatred and intolerance.
“Banning racial, religious and national hatred and intolerance is a European heritage. Nazi ideology that promotes such action is unacceptable in a democratic society such as ours and it cannot be tied to our historical and cultural heritage,” she pointed out.
Malović stressed that there must be no second-rate citizens and any discrimination whatsoever in the name of the past and the victims of Nazism, but also in the name of the future.
“Serbia will stop organizations that promote such ideologies with legal, political and democratic means,” the justice minister explained.
She believes that this is only a beginning and that the state will not allow far-right organizations to continue promoting Nazi ideas by changing their name.
Malović also stressed that society and all those involved in the political life needed to take their stand regarding the hate ideology and clearly show who neo-Nazis were.
B92.Net
Moscow police arrest neo-Nazi woman for race-hate murder
Moscow police said on Friday they have arrested a female skinhead accused of committing a race-hate murder four years ago.
According to investigators, Darya Tikhanova, a member of a radical neo-Nazi movement, took part in an attack on two Dagestani men on a commuter train in the Moscow suburbs in June 2007.
Tikhanova, 21, hit one of the men on the head with an empty glass bottle, while six other skinheads knifed the victims.
One of the Dagestani men died at the scene but the second survived the attack.
Tikhanova, who was arrested on Wednesday after more than three years on the run, faces life in prison if convicted.
Racially motivated crimes have become a problem in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Routine attacks by skinheads and gangs of youths on foreigners and people with non-Slavic features are a regular occurrence in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as the city of Voronezh, which hosts many foreign university students, particularly from Africa.
RiaNovosti
According to investigators, Darya Tikhanova, a member of a radical neo-Nazi movement, took part in an attack on two Dagestani men on a commuter train in the Moscow suburbs in June 2007.
Tikhanova, 21, hit one of the men on the head with an empty glass bottle, while six other skinheads knifed the victims.
One of the Dagestani men died at the scene but the second survived the attack.
Tikhanova, who was arrested on Wednesday after more than three years on the run, faces life in prison if convicted.
Racially motivated crimes have become a problem in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Routine attacks by skinheads and gangs of youths on foreigners and people with non-Slavic features are a regular occurrence in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as the city of Voronezh, which hosts many foreign university students, particularly from Africa.
RiaNovosti
"NEVER AGAIN' FOUNDER RECEIVES DISTINCTION FROM POLISH PRESIDENT (Poland)
On 4 June, the Polish Freedom Day, President Bronislaw Komorowski awarded a high-level state distinction, the Officer’s Cross of the Order Polonia Restituta, to Marcin Kornak, the founder and chairman of the anti-racist ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. ‘Poland really needs your activity. Thank you!’ said President Komorowski congratulating the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ leader. The President met with a group of civil society activists including Jerzy Owsiak, the founder of the charity WOSP and organizer of the annual Polish Woodstock rock festival. A delegation of five ‘NEVER AGAIN’ members was present during the meeting, too. Marcin Kornak is a co-founder and chairman of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association as well as the editor-in-chief of the anti-fascist ‘NEVER AGAIN’ magazine. He has initiated the campaigns ‘Music Against Racism’ and ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums’. He is the principal author of the ‘Brown Book 1987-2009’ and ‘Brown Book 2009-2010’ (published with the support of the EVZ Foundation), which contain results of hate crime monitoring conducted by ‘NEVER AGAIN’.
Born in 1968, Marcin Kornak has used a wheel chair since the age of 15. He is renowned as a poet and author of lyrics for several independent rock bands. After the ceremony, during a reception in the presidential garden, Prime Minister Donald Tusk received copies of the ‘Brown Book’ from ‘NEVER AGAIN’ members and discussed the problem of racism in Polish football with them. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an anti-racist educational and monitoring organization established in Poland in 1996. In 2011, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association received the Honorary Medal of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising awarded by the Association of Jewish Ex-Combatants and Victims of World War II as well as the European Football Supporters Award. 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.
Never Again Association
Born in 1968, Marcin Kornak has used a wheel chair since the age of 15. He is renowned as a poet and author of lyrics for several independent rock bands. After the ceremony, during a reception in the presidential garden, Prime Minister Donald Tusk received copies of the ‘Brown Book’ from ‘NEVER AGAIN’ members and discussed the problem of racism in Polish football with them. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an anti-racist educational and monitoring organization established in Poland in 1996. In 2011, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association received the Honorary Medal of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising awarded by the Association of Jewish Ex-Combatants and Victims of World War II as well as the European Football Supporters Award. 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.
Never Again Association
Spain’s high court overturns conviction on Nazi propaganda
Spain's Jewish community has slammed a ruling by the country's Supreme Court that overturns the conviction of four people connected to a Barcelona bookstore that sold Nazi literature.
The four connected to the now defunct bookshop, Kalki, had been found guilty by a lower court of fostering xenophobia and anti-Semitism through the selling of Nazi literature. The acquittals include a publisher in the nearby town of Molins de Rei.
In 2009, the four were each sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail after being found guilty of selling publications that justified the Holocaust and praised the Nazi regime.
In the Supreme Court's ruling, Justice Miguel Colmenero wrote that the selling of Nazi propaganda that promotes genocide is only a crime when there exists a danger that it could create a climate of hostility that would incite violence.
"Jews in Spain view with extreme concern the fact that the Spanish judiciary, so sensitive in certain situations, does not consider as criminal conduct the sale of books denying the Holocaust and promoting racism, in spite of standing criminal legislation to the contrary," the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain said in a statement.
The Israeli Embassy in Madrid in a statement said that Israel was "sad and concerned" to hear of the acquittals, "allowing for the circulation of books that incite hate and deny the Holocaust."
Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, called the ruling "a grievous blow" to Spain's "laudatory efforts to confont its historical fascist past."
"The court has insulted the memory of all Nazi victims -- Jew and non-Jew," Steinberg said in a statement.
Jta
The four connected to the now defunct bookshop, Kalki, had been found guilty by a lower court of fostering xenophobia and anti-Semitism through the selling of Nazi literature. The acquittals include a publisher in the nearby town of Molins de Rei.
In 2009, the four were each sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail after being found guilty of selling publications that justified the Holocaust and praised the Nazi regime.
In the Supreme Court's ruling, Justice Miguel Colmenero wrote that the selling of Nazi propaganda that promotes genocide is only a crime when there exists a danger that it could create a climate of hostility that would incite violence.
"Jews in Spain view with extreme concern the fact that the Spanish judiciary, so sensitive in certain situations, does not consider as criminal conduct the sale of books denying the Holocaust and promoting racism, in spite of standing criminal legislation to the contrary," the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain said in a statement.
The Israeli Embassy in Madrid in a statement said that Israel was "sad and concerned" to hear of the acquittals, "allowing for the circulation of books that incite hate and deny the Holocaust."
Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, called the ruling "a grievous blow" to Spain's "laudatory efforts to confont its historical fascist past."
"The court has insulted the memory of all Nazi victims -- Jew and non-Jew," Steinberg said in a statement.
Jta
Racist put ham into Muslims’ shoes (UK)
A racist stuffed HAM into Muslims' shoes left outside a mosque as they prayed barefoot inside.
Drunken Jamie Knowlson, 30, also draped slices of the pig meat - which Muslims are barred from eating on religious grounds - on railings around the building.
As he left, the lout shouted "the next visit will be harder" and "bad meat", a court heard.
Knowlson targeted the Al-Baseera mosque in St Judes, Bristol, which around 2,000 Somali Muslims use each week.
When arrested nearby, he told police his sacrilegious attack was a drunken joke. Knowlson later admitted he knew his mindless stunt would cause offence and returned to apologise.
He faced up to two years' jail, but was given a suspended six-month prison sentence because he had said sorry.
Knowlson pleaded guilty to causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment.
Judge Carol Hagen told him: "It is difficult to imagine a more offensive incident."
Knowlson, of Kingswood, Bristol, was also sentenced to 150 hours' unpaid work. A second man faces trial.
After the Bristol Crown Court case, Mubarak Mohamud, imam at the Al-Baseera mosque, said: "Our initial reaction was shock and bewilderment. But we teach tolerance."
The Sun
Drunken Jamie Knowlson, 30, also draped slices of the pig meat - which Muslims are barred from eating on religious grounds - on railings around the building.
As he left, the lout shouted "the next visit will be harder" and "bad meat", a court heard.
Knowlson targeted the Al-Baseera mosque in St Judes, Bristol, which around 2,000 Somali Muslims use each week.
When arrested nearby, he told police his sacrilegious attack was a drunken joke. Knowlson later admitted he knew his mindless stunt would cause offence and returned to apologise.
He faced up to two years' jail, but was given a suspended six-month prison sentence because he had said sorry.
Knowlson pleaded guilty to causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment.
Judge Carol Hagen told him: "It is difficult to imagine a more offensive incident."
Knowlson, of Kingswood, Bristol, was also sentenced to 150 hours' unpaid work. A second man faces trial.
After the Bristol Crown Court case, Mubarak Mohamud, imam at the Al-Baseera mosque, said: "Our initial reaction was shock and bewilderment. But we teach tolerance."
The Sun
Police prepare for EDL (UK)
A Kirklees police chief claims it will be ‘business as usual’ in Dewsbury next weekend, despite a planned demonstration.
As we reported two weeks ago, the far-right English Defence League is planning action in the town on Saturday June 11.
A member of the Dewsbury division of the group said it was expecting hundreds of people to visit Dewsbury for the demonstration outside the town hall.
But this week Chief Supt John Robins, Divisional Commander of Kirklees Police said officers were prepared and working with organisers.
“We have received notification from local EDL members that they intend to hold a static demonstration outside Dewsbury Town Hall on the afternoon of Saturday June 11.”
He added: “West Yorkshire Police has a great deal of experience in policing these kinds of events and we are working with the council and communities to put plans in place.
My aim is to ensure it is business as usual for the traders, businesses and the people of Dewsbury on the day.”
Dewsbury Reporter
As we reported two weeks ago, the far-right English Defence League is planning action in the town on Saturday June 11.
A member of the Dewsbury division of the group said it was expecting hundreds of people to visit Dewsbury for the demonstration outside the town hall.
But this week Chief Supt John Robins, Divisional Commander of Kirklees Police said officers were prepared and working with organisers.
“We have received notification from local EDL members that they intend to hold a static demonstration outside Dewsbury Town Hall on the afternoon of Saturday June 11.”
He added: “West Yorkshire Police has a great deal of experience in policing these kinds of events and we are working with the council and communities to put plans in place.
My aim is to ensure it is business as usual for the traders, businesses and the people of Dewsbury on the day.”
Dewsbury Reporter
Monday, 6 June 2011
Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati quits Twitter over race hate abuse (UK)
The actress, who plays Sunita Alahan in the ITV soap, has received race hate messages over the last two weeks.
Last week she posted a message on the site saying: "Surprised at the racial abuse and desire to try and hurt people for no reason. I think I'm giving twitter a wee rest..gobsmacked."
But the 44-year-old has now apparently decided to quit the site altogether, telling her 18,467 followers: "Thanks for the banter I've enjoyed my time on twitter. Over and out."
Shobna, who is of indian descent, has campaigned against racism and intolerance and used Twitter to spread information about her campaigns.
She set up an account in support of the Sophie Charity, in honour of Sophie Lancaster, 20, who was murdered in Bacup in 2007.
Steve Huison, who played Eddie Windass in the Street, posted a message saying: "Absolutely disgusted to see that my lovely friend Shobna has been driven off Twitter because of racists. Shame on them."
Julie Hesmondhalgh, 41, who plays Hayley Cropper, in the soap has also received abuse via Twitter.
Julie Tweeted: "Those who just use this to bandy their own hatred and desperation really need to look at themselves."
Manchester Evening News
Muslim women's group launches 'jihad against violence' (UK)
Inspire's campaign aims to combat all forms of violence but with an emphasis on crimes justified in the name of Islam
A British Muslim women's group has launched a "jihad against violence", in a bid to reclaim the term jihad from extremists.
The campaign, launched by Inspire at City Hall in central London on Sunday, aims to combat all forms of violence but with an emphasis on crimes, including terrorism, domestic abuse and female genital mutilation, that some perpetrators attempt to justify in the name of Islam.
Although jihad means a struggle in the way of God, it has been hijacked by extremists, who have attempted to use it to justify holy war, the group says.
"People think 'jihad against violence' is a contradictory statement but our jihad is for peace," said Inspire's director, Sara Khan. "Islam has become synonymous with all things violent and the repression of women. We thought we couldn't sit back and stay silent while our religion is being used to carry out acts of violence." Khan has previously advised the government on tackling radicalisation and was critical of the government's Prevent programme for combating extremism for not including enough input from women.
Inspire intends to make information refuting the arguments of those who purport to use the Qur'an to justify terrorism and domestic violence against women and children more widely available – information it says is lacking in many Islamic bookshops. It also wants to put pressure on Muslim leaders to confront what Khan says are currently "taboo" subjects and is encouraging organisations and individuals to sign up to the declaration of jihad against violence on its website.
The Guardian
A British Muslim women's group has launched a "jihad against violence", in a bid to reclaim the term jihad from extremists.
The campaign, launched by Inspire at City Hall in central London on Sunday, aims to combat all forms of violence but with an emphasis on crimes, including terrorism, domestic abuse and female genital mutilation, that some perpetrators attempt to justify in the name of Islam.
Although jihad means a struggle in the way of God, it has been hijacked by extremists, who have attempted to use it to justify holy war, the group says.
"People think 'jihad against violence' is a contradictory statement but our jihad is for peace," said Inspire's director, Sara Khan. "Islam has become synonymous with all things violent and the repression of women. We thought we couldn't sit back and stay silent while our religion is being used to carry out acts of violence." Khan has previously advised the government on tackling radicalisation and was critical of the government's Prevent programme for combating extremism for not including enough input from women.
Inspire intends to make information refuting the arguments of those who purport to use the Qur'an to justify terrorism and domestic violence against women and children more widely available – information it says is lacking in many Islamic bookshops. It also wants to put pressure on Muslim leaders to confront what Khan says are currently "taboo" subjects and is encouraging organisations and individuals to sign up to the declaration of jihad against violence on its website.
The Guardian
Neo-Nazi pleads guilty for role in murder scheme (USA)
A Pasadena, Texas, member of a neo-Nazi group on Thursday pleaded guilty to charges related to a homicide that took place in Atascosa County, Texas, in May 2008, according to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
Frank Lavelle Urbish Jr., 39, aka “Thumper,” pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. Specifically, Urbish accepted responsibility for his role in the murder of Mark Davis Byrd Sr.
According to information presented in court, Urbish was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT), a powerful race-based, statewide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas and the United States.
The ABT enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise. Members, and oftentimes associates, are required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”
According to court documents, Byrd, an ABT prospect member, was murdered by Jim Flint McIntyre, 43, aka “Q-Ball,” of Houston, and Michael Dewayne Smith, 30, aka “Bucky,” of Houston, for allegedly stealing drugs he was ordered to deliver to a customer on behalf of the ABT.
According to court documents, Byrd was murdered as a result of a “discipline” ordered by Urbish. Byrd’s body was discovered in Atascosa County on May 4, 2008.
Smith, an ABT member, pleaded guilty on May 11, 2011, to murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the racketeering-related death of Byrd. McIntyre, a fellow ABT gang member, pleaded guilty to the same charges on February 11, 2011.
At sentencing, Urbish, Smith and McIntyre all face life in prison. Sentencing for Urbish is scheduled for Sept. 7, 2011. Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 17, 2011, and McIntyre is scheduled to be sentenced on Ocober 19, 2011.
Examiner
Frank Lavelle Urbish Jr., 39, aka “Thumper,” pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. Specifically, Urbish accepted responsibility for his role in the murder of Mark Davis Byrd Sr.
According to information presented in court, Urbish was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT), a powerful race-based, statewide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas and the United States.
The ABT enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise. Members, and oftentimes associates, are required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”
According to court documents, Byrd, an ABT prospect member, was murdered by Jim Flint McIntyre, 43, aka “Q-Ball,” of Houston, and Michael Dewayne Smith, 30, aka “Bucky,” of Houston, for allegedly stealing drugs he was ordered to deliver to a customer on behalf of the ABT.
According to court documents, Byrd was murdered as a result of a “discipline” ordered by Urbish. Byrd’s body was discovered in Atascosa County on May 4, 2008.
Smith, an ABT member, pleaded guilty on May 11, 2011, to murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the racketeering-related death of Byrd. McIntyre, a fellow ABT gang member, pleaded guilty to the same charges on February 11, 2011.
At sentencing, Urbish, Smith and McIntyre all face life in prison. Sentencing for Urbish is scheduled for Sept. 7, 2011. Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 17, 2011, and McIntyre is scheduled to be sentenced on Ocober 19, 2011.
Examiner
EDL supporter attacked police horse at Blackburn demo (UK)
AN English Defence League supporter violently attacked a police horse during demonstrations in Blackburn.
The town’s magistrates heard Robert Gavin Tromans punched the animal eight times about the neck as police formed a mounted cordon to control a crowd in Northgate.
Tromans, 29, of Beverley Road, West Bromwich, pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour. He was ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work and pay £85 costs.
Peter Wilde, prosecuting, said the mounted officer described the crowd as ‘volatile and angry’.
Tromans tried to push through the cordon of mounted officers and PC Palmer Davies pushed him back. He grabbed her by the wrist and tried to pull her down.
Mr Wilde said: “She was able to release his grip and he then started punching her horse about the neck with a clenched fist.
“He landed about eight blows.”
Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said Tromans, a former soldier, was a supporter of the EDL but not a member and had attended the rally with an organised coach party. He was making his way back to the coach when the police blocked the way with the mounted cordon.
He said: “He found himself being pushed against the horse and the horse was pushing back.
“He says the horse stood on his foot and he showed the bruises it caused to an officer when he was being interviewed after his arrest. In these circumstances he became annoyed and there was an exchange of words with the officer.
“His intention was to get back to his coach and not to cause any trouble.”
The EDL protest in Blackburn on April 2 saw 2,000 people take part in Northgate outside King George’s Hall. A separate counter demo took place at Sudell Cross.
• A 48 year old man took a swing at a police officer on duty at the English Defence League rally in Blackburn in April.
Blackburn magistrates heard Patrick Joseph Doyle caught the officer on the temple and knocked his helmet off.
And the officer had to follow Doyle into a hostile crowd in order to execute an arrest.
Doyle, of Cobourg Close, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer in the execution of his duty. He was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months, made subject to community supervision for 12 months and ordered to pay £85 costs
Lancashire telegraph
The town’s magistrates heard Robert Gavin Tromans punched the animal eight times about the neck as police formed a mounted cordon to control a crowd in Northgate.
Tromans, 29, of Beverley Road, West Bromwich, pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour. He was ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work and pay £85 costs.
Peter Wilde, prosecuting, said the mounted officer described the crowd as ‘volatile and angry’.
Tromans tried to push through the cordon of mounted officers and PC Palmer Davies pushed him back. He grabbed her by the wrist and tried to pull her down.
Mr Wilde said: “She was able to release his grip and he then started punching her horse about the neck with a clenched fist.
“He landed about eight blows.”
Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said Tromans, a former soldier, was a supporter of the EDL but not a member and had attended the rally with an organised coach party. He was making his way back to the coach when the police blocked the way with the mounted cordon.
He said: “He found himself being pushed against the horse and the horse was pushing back.
“He says the horse stood on his foot and he showed the bruises it caused to an officer when he was being interviewed after his arrest. In these circumstances he became annoyed and there was an exchange of words with the officer.
“His intention was to get back to his coach and not to cause any trouble.”
The EDL protest in Blackburn on April 2 saw 2,000 people take part in Northgate outside King George’s Hall. A separate counter demo took place at Sudell Cross.
• A 48 year old man took a swing at a police officer on duty at the English Defence League rally in Blackburn in April.
Blackburn magistrates heard Patrick Joseph Doyle caught the officer on the temple and knocked his helmet off.
And the officer had to follow Doyle into a hostile crowd in order to execute an arrest.
Doyle, of Cobourg Close, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer in the execution of his duty. He was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months, made subject to community supervision for 12 months and ordered to pay £85 costs
Lancashire telegraph
French Sociologist: Smurfs Are Sexist Racist Stalinist Nazis
The Smurfs are icons of the animated universe. They have a full-length feature film set for release in mid-Summer. And it can be expected that there will be many attempting to capitalize on what will most likely be a successful cinematic run. But to be attacked by a French sociologist as racists and socialists and Nazis?
"The Smurfs," an animated feature film starring the tiny blue characters that dominated American television during the 1980's, is set for a late July release. There are already two trailers getting heavy play on the Internet and an occasional rotation on television. And as with any highly anticipated movie, there is the foreknowledge that there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals and groups looking for a hook or tie-in to the characters or the movie in order to make a few dollars. Some of those "tie-ins" will be in the form of attacks, perhaps the raising of controversial subjects. But a new book by French sociologist Antoine Bueno seems to have covered every extreme in describing the little blue characters, noting that the characters and the storyline reflects socialism and Nazism, racism and sexism.
According to Bueno, the Smurfs represent various evils of the world. He all but calls them little blue sexist racist Stalinist Nazis. In Le Petit Livre Bleu ("The Little Blue Book"), Bueno explains how the Smurfs exhibit certain characteristics indicative of some of the more unsavory beliefs and political movements the world has ever known (and still experiences in some degree in some areas). Of course the book has caused a bit of a stir amongst Smurfs fans, many of whom are angry at Bueno's depiction of cartoons beloved by millions of children.
But Bueno, who is a lecturer at the Sciences Po political sciences school in Paris, says that their anger is based on misunderstanding. He actually "loves" the Smurfs. He explains that his book is only a reflection of what the Smurfs were representative of -- society in the 1950s, the era in which they were created.
According to Gawker, he identifies several issues in his book. Among them:
Anti-Semitism: Bueno describes the evil wizard Gargamel as the stereotyped Jew: "ugly, dirty, with a hooked nose (who) is fascinated by gold."
Socialism: The Smurfs owned no property and did a lot of activities together.
Stalinism: Bueno notes that this was embodied in controlling Papa Smurf, who wore a red cap and red pants.
Sexism: Smurfette was the only girl Smurf.
Nazism: Bueno notes that Smurfette's blonde hair points to Nazi leanings. He also posits the Smurfs relationship with Gargamel and his "maybe-Jewish cat, Azrael."
Racism: Apparently the creator of the Smurfs, Belgian cartoonist Peyo, originally came up with The Black Smurfs. The tiny guys became black after one of them gets bitten by a black fly that changed his skin color to jet black. The village somehow eventually all became black Smurfs and degenerated into what Bueno described as "reduced to the state of primitives who jump around and cry: 'Gnap! Gnap!' [Gnash! Gnash!] They lose all trace of intelligence and become completely moronic."
Smurf fans are up in arms about the mostly derogatory depictions and interpretations of Bueno. According to Gawker, he fears for his life after reading some of the comments about himself and his book on the Internet.
It is uncertain if Bueno plans to add an updated chapter to include views on the sociological aspects of the film once "The Smurfs" movie is released.
HULIQ
"The Smurfs," an animated feature film starring the tiny blue characters that dominated American television during the 1980's, is set for a late July release. There are already two trailers getting heavy play on the Internet and an occasional rotation on television. And as with any highly anticipated movie, there is the foreknowledge that there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals and groups looking for a hook or tie-in to the characters or the movie in order to make a few dollars. Some of those "tie-ins" will be in the form of attacks, perhaps the raising of controversial subjects. But a new book by French sociologist Antoine Bueno seems to have covered every extreme in describing the little blue characters, noting that the characters and the storyline reflects socialism and Nazism, racism and sexism.
According to Bueno, the Smurfs represent various evils of the world. He all but calls them little blue sexist racist Stalinist Nazis. In Le Petit Livre Bleu ("The Little Blue Book"), Bueno explains how the Smurfs exhibit certain characteristics indicative of some of the more unsavory beliefs and political movements the world has ever known (and still experiences in some degree in some areas). Of course the book has caused a bit of a stir amongst Smurfs fans, many of whom are angry at Bueno's depiction of cartoons beloved by millions of children.
But Bueno, who is a lecturer at the Sciences Po political sciences school in Paris, says that their anger is based on misunderstanding. He actually "loves" the Smurfs. He explains that his book is only a reflection of what the Smurfs were representative of -- society in the 1950s, the era in which they were created.
According to Gawker, he identifies several issues in his book. Among them:
Anti-Semitism: Bueno describes the evil wizard Gargamel as the stereotyped Jew: "ugly, dirty, with a hooked nose (who) is fascinated by gold."
Socialism: The Smurfs owned no property and did a lot of activities together.
Stalinism: Bueno notes that this was embodied in controlling Papa Smurf, who wore a red cap and red pants.
Sexism: Smurfette was the only girl Smurf.
Nazism: Bueno notes that Smurfette's blonde hair points to Nazi leanings. He also posits the Smurfs relationship with Gargamel and his "maybe-Jewish cat, Azrael."
Racism: Apparently the creator of the Smurfs, Belgian cartoonist Peyo, originally came up with The Black Smurfs. The tiny guys became black after one of them gets bitten by a black fly that changed his skin color to jet black. The village somehow eventually all became black Smurfs and degenerated into what Bueno described as "reduced to the state of primitives who jump around and cry: 'Gnap! Gnap!' [Gnash! Gnash!] They lose all trace of intelligence and become completely moronic."
Smurf fans are up in arms about the mostly derogatory depictions and interpretations of Bueno. According to Gawker, he fears for his life after reading some of the comments about himself and his book on the Internet.
It is uncertain if Bueno plans to add an updated chapter to include views on the sociological aspects of the film once "The Smurfs" movie is released.
HULIQ
POLICE IN BRATISLAVA DISPERSE AGGRESSIVE NEO-NAZIS (Slovakia)
Approximately 50 aggressive neo-Nazis attempted to attack the second annual Rainbow Parade in support of gay and lesbian rights yesterday in Bratislava. About 1 500 people participated in the parade. The event started at 13:00 on Hviezdoslavova námìstí, where the first 400 people gathered. The site resembled an impregnable fortress, as barriers had been erected on every side and police officers, including riot units, defended the peaceful gathering from neo-Nazis. A small group of extremists attempted to protest directly on the square. Right-wing radicals wearing "Slovenská pospolitost" ("Slovak Solidarity") t-shirts and dark-colored clothing held a banner reading "For the traditional family, against deviation" and featuring the logo of the People's Party - Our Slovakia (Lidová strana - Naše Slovensko).
Rainbow Parade participants held banners reading "Hate is not a family value" or "I'm the pink sheep of the family." Slogans such as "End homophobia in Slovakia!" resounded from the loudspeakers. The march left the square and headed through the Old Town across the New Bridge (Nový most) to the Petržalka quarter. The numbers of participants gradually increased and separated into two parts on the Tyršov embankment. The first got on buses to go to after-parties in various parts of the city, while the second headed for a boat where a party was also taking place. As the march proceeded beneath the New Bridge, an approximately 50-member group of neo-Nazis attempted to attack the peaceful march with smoke bombs, but police immediately dispersed them. Bratislava Police detained at least 42 people, including 26 of those who did their best to disturb the march beneath the New Bridge.
People from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and other European countries participated in the march. Many were wrapped in enormous rainbow flags. During the program, singer Aneta Langerová also performed. She admitted Slovakia is much more conservative and prudish in this area than the Czech Republic. "Some of that may have to do with the fact that there are still not many laws about human rights for homosexuals. I believe those are basic things which should have been instituted a long time ago and which we do have in Bohemia. We are probably ahead of Slovakia in that respect, and that was even more a reason to come here," Langerová said after her performance. She recently admitted to being in a relationship with a woman herself. The embassies of the Netherlands, Norway and the USA sent representatives to the event. Mayor Ftáènik, Slovak government politicians, Slovak MEP Monika Flašíková-Beòová and her husband Fedor Flašík, Austrian MEP Ulrike Lunacek and Netherlands MEP Marije Cornelissen greeted the marchers.
Last year, during the first-ever Slovak Rainbow Parade, neo-Nazis organized a counter-action on the day of the march and attacked its participants. Organizers had to change their entire program, canceling their planned march through the center of Bratislava and changing the route to pass through a different part of the city. Right-wing radicals shouted abusive slogans at the approximately 500-strong march and threw smoke bombs and stones into the crowd.
Romea
Rainbow Parade participants held banners reading "Hate is not a family value" or "I'm the pink sheep of the family." Slogans such as "End homophobia in Slovakia!" resounded from the loudspeakers. The march left the square and headed through the Old Town across the New Bridge (Nový most) to the Petržalka quarter. The numbers of participants gradually increased and separated into two parts on the Tyršov embankment. The first got on buses to go to after-parties in various parts of the city, while the second headed for a boat where a party was also taking place. As the march proceeded beneath the New Bridge, an approximately 50-member group of neo-Nazis attempted to attack the peaceful march with smoke bombs, but police immediately dispersed them. Bratislava Police detained at least 42 people, including 26 of those who did their best to disturb the march beneath the New Bridge.
People from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and other European countries participated in the march. Many were wrapped in enormous rainbow flags. During the program, singer Aneta Langerová also performed. She admitted Slovakia is much more conservative and prudish in this area than the Czech Republic. "Some of that may have to do with the fact that there are still not many laws about human rights for homosexuals. I believe those are basic things which should have been instituted a long time ago and which we do have in Bohemia. We are probably ahead of Slovakia in that respect, and that was even more a reason to come here," Langerová said after her performance. She recently admitted to being in a relationship with a woman herself. The embassies of the Netherlands, Norway and the USA sent representatives to the event. Mayor Ftáènik, Slovak government politicians, Slovak MEP Monika Flašíková-Beòová and her husband Fedor Flašík, Austrian MEP Ulrike Lunacek and Netherlands MEP Marije Cornelissen greeted the marchers.
Last year, during the first-ever Slovak Rainbow Parade, neo-Nazis organized a counter-action on the day of the march and attacked its participants. Organizers had to change their entire program, canceling their planned march through the center of Bratislava and changing the route to pass through a different part of the city. Right-wing radicals shouted abusive slogans at the approximately 500-strong march and threw smoke bombs and stones into the crowd.
Romea
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