Politicians renew calls for to ban far right Neo-Nazi political party the NPD in Germany

Seven years after Germany’s high court refused to ban the neo-Nazi NPD party, a growing number of politicians are advocating a renewed attempt to end their legitimacy.

Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian sister party the CSU, and opposition centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) want the right-wing extremists off the country’s political playing field, daily Bild reported on Monday.

“The NPD follows clearly anti-constitutional goals and must disappear from the political landscape,” Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) told the paper. “I am working on a new case for an NPD ban.”

To strengthen his case, Herrmann encouraged the country’s domestic intelligence agency to disengage its top spies in surveillance of NPD leadership. The 2003 ban request reportedly failed because the constitutional court believed that domestic intelligence agents from the Verfassungsschutz could have influenced the actions of the neo-Nazis under their watch.

“For a successful ban we don’t need the information from (them),” Herrmann told the paper. “There is enough material that proves the NPD is an enemy of the constitution.”

SPD member and Berlin Interior Minister Ehrhart Körting agreed.

"According to my estimation the NPD is an anti-constitutional party that should be banned," he told the paper. "This is open to see. For this I don’t need any (Verfassungsschutz) people."

Meanwhile Interior Minister for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Lorenz Caffier (CDU) told the paper that existing evidence shows the right-wing extremist party to be aggressively attempting to attack Germany democracy and replace it with Nazi ideology.
SPD interior expert Sebastian Edathy also supported the disengagement of intelligence agents to further the case against the neo-Nazi party.
The Local

The NPD
The National Democratic Party of Germany (German: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD), is a pan-German nationalist political party. The party was founded in 1964 as a successor to the German Reich and is often classified as being on the far right of the political spectrum. The party bills itself "Deutschlands stärkste Rechte" (Germany's strongest right-wing party). Udo Voigt has led the Party since 1996.


The mainstream media and the NPD’s political opponents often label the party as a Neo-Nazi organization. The German Federal Agency for Civic Education, or BPB, has criticized the NPD for working with members of organizations which the federal courts later found to be unconstitutional and were disbanded. The party rejects this depiction, calls it an attempt to discredit the NPD's politics and states that the party stands for the interests of the German people and for the German state. The German federal intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, classifies the NPD as a "threat to the constitutional order" because of its platform and philosophy, and the party is under their observation.
In recent years, the Party has focused on broad social issues such as unemployment and economic problems. The Party currently is represented in two of Germany's sixteen state parliaments with no seats at the federal level.
Wikipedia

Russian Government Stats Show Extremist Crimes Up Dramatically Since 2004

head of the MVD's anti-extremism unit has released statistics on the number of extremist crimes in Russia, according to a January 26, 2010 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. General Yuri Kokov
gave the following figures, which show a rapid growth in the number of such crimes over the past five years

According to his statistics, 130 extremist crimes were recorded in 2004, 460 in 2008, and 549 in 2009. As usual, the MVD stats did not distinguish between hate crimes and crimes connected to Islamic extremists, insurgents in Chechnya, or even peaceful opposition demonstrators, whom police are targeting with increasing frequency by abusing anti-extremism legislation. But General Kokov did say that there are 150 neo-fascist groups active in Russia.

General Kokov admitted that his statistics are not 100% reliable. He also added that 549 extremist

crimes do not seem like much compared to the overall crime number for 2009 of 3,000,000. "Nevertheless," he said, "it ought to be pointed out that even one crime connected to the specific and delicate sphere of

inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations can drastically destabilize or even explode the situation, not only in one specific region, but in the entire state... That is the main danger presented by extremist incidents. Sometimes, a typical bar fight or night club brawl can lead to unpredictable consequences, including mass disorders on inter-ethnic or inter-religious grounds. It's enough to remember what happened in

Kondopoga, Salsk, Kalmykiya."

Belarusian Jewish conscientious objector jailed (Russia)

Amnesty International has called on the Belarusian authorities to release a conscientious objector, found guilty by the Minsk District Court of "draft evasion" and sentenced to three months in prison on Monday.Ivan Mikhailau had refused military service because bearing arms contradicts his religious beliefs as an active member of the Messianic Jewish community. He was arrested in the town of Salihorsk, south of the capital, Minsk, on 15 December 2009.

Amnesty International considers Ivan Mikhailau to be a prisoner of conscience, detained for the peaceful expression of his beliefs.

Ivan Mikhailau’s lawyer told Amnesty International that his family intends to appeal against the verdict. His detention since 15 December counts towards his three-month sentence. He remains in the pre-trial detention centre in Zhodino – a town about 50km north east of Minsk - where he has been held since shortly after his arrest.

Military service is compulsory in Belarus for all males between the ages of 18 and 27. Even though the Belarusian Constitution states that citizens have a right to alternative civilian service, no such option is provided for in practice.

The right to refuse military service for reasons of conscience is inherent in the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as laid down in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Belarus is a party.

According to his lawyer, after being summoned to military service in December 2008 Ivan Mikhailau told the Minsk district military that he was unable to carry out military service for religious reasons. Instead he requested to take part in civilian service as an alternative to military service.

In January 2009 the authorities denied his request on the grounds that an alternative civilian service does not exist. Ivan Mikhailau approached the military authorities a second time asking if he could substitute military service with service in the reserves. In June 2009 his request was again denied and the authorities then assigned Ivan Mikhailau to full-time military service.

Amnesty International is calling on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ivan Mikhailau. Furthermore, the organization urges the authorities to ensure that Ivan Mikhailau and other conscientious objectors are either absolved from military service or permitted to wait until an alternative service is in place.

The organization urges the authorities to adopt a law that provides for a genuine civilian alternative to military service and recalls that Belarus is a state party to the ICCPR, and therefore obliged to recognize the right to conscientious objection.

On 3 November 2006, the Human Rights Committee ruled that the prosecution and conviction of two conscientious objectors by the Republic of Korea for their refusal to perform compulsory military service had breached Article 18 of the ICCPR as no civilian alternative was available.

Amnesty International

Russian Neo-Nazi Murder Squads Kill 71 In 2009

Russia's battle against the country's neo-Nazis is reaching boiling point as it emerged they killed 71 people last year. One group recently posted a sickening video message on the internet celebrating a stabbing attack which killed a Ghanaian man in December. Yet members of the country's most prominent ultra-nationalist group deny their tactics are violent.

The Slavic Union spoke to Sky News during their bi-monthly "training" in remote woods just outside Moscow. Dressed in winter camouflage they greet each other with macho hugs as they gather round a campfire and help each other attach red arm bands emblazoned with their adapted swastika.

Rifles and semi-automatic weapons are assembled and they are ready to start flexing their muscles.
These neo-Nazis see themselves as hero warriors fighting for the rights of Russians in Russia.

They begin "practice" fighting with knives and firing at trees - all part of the "non-violent" approach.

Up to 20 of their members are in jail for racially motivated murder and attacks - senseless murder of those whose crime may simply have been not looking Russian enough. Sasha Zorg's upper body is covered in tattoos, one of which is a swastika. He has been in prison twice for shooting two migrant workers.

"I call it my struggle," he tells me. "I'll continue."

The group spend as much time photographing each other with guns as they do training. The man at the centre of many of the poses is the Slavic Union's leader Dmitry Dyomushkin. He's keen to cultivate an image of himself as the respectable face of a Far Right which he sees as a legitimate challenge to the current government.

"Sixty per cent of Russians support our goals," he said.

"But even with this majority we are not allowed to be part of the political process because the government has squeezed out opposition.

"The whole new generation of Russians are nationalists - our influence on young people is very strong."

His quest for a publicly acceptable image is not helped when his followers do a group Nazi salute, hailing the regime which 25 million Russians gave their lives to end.

The chilling face of extremism was revealed when another neo-nazi group calling themselves "the warriors of the white revolution" unveiled their video message of the attack on Ghanaian Solomon Attengo Gwa-jio in St Petersburg. They described the footage as "a new year gift" as they pledged further acts of terror. No one has been arrested for the December attack, during which the victim was stabbed 20 times. It sadly echoes so many other incidents of random racist brutality.

Most are committed by young Russians who seem to inhabit a world of violence where patriotism and nationalism have become - too often fatally - confused.

Moscow-based human rights group SOVA said authorities are finally tackling the problem, though not for the right reasons.

"I think mostly it's not because of the murders themselves but because the potential of riots based on this ethnic hatred," SOVA director Alexander Verkhovsky told Sky News.

He says the situation is reaching boiling point, forcing the authorities to act.

"The authorities would hate to lose control over some district or city," Mr Verkhovsky said.

"And so they try to suppress any activity including violent activity which may turn to such riots."

heres the sky video of the item

thanks to West Midlands Unity for finding this item
origin      Sky News

Gordon Brown and David Cameron advised not to join forces against the BNP

An article appeared in the London Standard today revealing that David Cameron and Gordon Brown have discussed an unprecedented 'pact'to keep BNP leader Nick Giffin from winning the seat in Barking during the general election.

The deal didn't go ahead after Searchlight advised against giving Griffin 'victim status'.

So, both party leaders clearly recognise there is a problem in the area. They wouldn't dream of agreeing to this deal to keep a Green Party, UKIP, Liberal or any other party member from gaining one seat. This implies they realise what a huge PR victory it would be for the BNP, and what an appalling message it would send to our multi-cultural society to give a member of this odious party even the smallest sniff of political credibility and power.

But what are they doing to combat British people's fears and prejudices? Most of us know we are not being over run by Muslims extremists, and we know the problems with the UK economy are nothing to do with immigration.

But what is the government doing to address these fears and reassure the people who are turning to a dangerous, fascist party? As the BNP thugs have not yet been marginalised to appeal to the most die-hard of racists - clearly they are not doing enough.

Poland seeks Swede over Auschwitz sign theft (Poland)

A Polish court has issued a European arrest warrant for a Swede alleged to be behind the theft of the Arbeit Macht Frei sign from Auschwitz.
A court official in the southern city of Krakow said the warrant had been issued for Anders Hogstrom.

The metal sign was stolen in December from above the entrance to the notorious Nazi death camp. It was later recovered, cut into three pieces.

Five Polish men have already been arrested over the theft.

The European arrest warrant obliges any of the 27 EU member states to arrest Mr Hogstrom if he is found and hand him over to Polish police.

The sign, which weighs 40kg (90lb), was half-unscrewed, half-torn from above the death camp's gate.

The 5m (16ft) wrought iron sign - the words on which translate as "Work sets you free" - symbolises for many the atrocities of Nazi Germany.

The theft caused outrage in Israel, Poland and around the world. More than a million people - 90% of them Jews - were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz in occupied Poland during World War II.

Anders Högström

The one-time leader of a Swedish neo-Nazi group has claimed that he organized the theft of a sign from the gates of former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau on behalf of an as-yet unnamed collector.

Anders Högström -- who founded Sweden's virulently anti-immigrant National Socialist Front in 1994 -- told local media that he was hired to collect the sign from the Polish gang that carried out the theft and pass it to a buyer. "I was asked if I wanted to take the sign from one location to another," he said during an interview with the daily Aftonbladet. "We had a person who was willing to pay several millions [of kronor, or hundreds of thousands of dollars] for the sign."

But after discovering that the money from the sale would fund a violent campaign aimed at disrupting Sweden's upcoming parliamentary election, Högström said he decided to inform police about the plot. "That was not something I wanted to be involved in or carry out in any way," said Högström, who quit the far-right movement in 1999

Sweden's security service has confirmed that it is investigating reports of a neo-Nazi plot to bomb the country's parliament and the home of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. It has not confirmed whether this investigation is connected to the Auschwitz robbery.

Sources

BBC News
AOL News

Former SS assassin accused of additional war crimes (Netherlands)

Heinrich Boere, a former member of the Nazi SS, is currently on trial for shooting three innocent civilians in the Netherlands during the German occupation. New evidence suggests he may have been involved in seven additional deaths.

Former SS man Heinrich Boere has never denied the charges against him. As part of a Nazi hit squad in the Netherlands, Boere, now 88 years old, stands accused of having shot and killed three innocent civilians in 1944 in the Netherlands. The "Germanic SS in the Netherlands," as Boere's group was known, was charged with combating anti-Nazi resistance in the country.

"We didn't know the men. The Security Service of the SS gave us the names and we got going," Boere told Spiegel Online in 2007. "They told us they were partisans, terrorists. We thought we were doing the right thing."

Now, though, German historian Stephan Stracke has found evidence Boere may have been involved in more SS missions in the Netherlands than previously known. He claims to have found evidence in Dutch archives that Boere operated as a spy to expose resistance attempts to hide those who were being hunted by the Nazis. On Thursday, co-plaintiffs in the case, currently being tried in Aachen, filed a motion to present new evidence and to levy further charges against Boere.

According to Stracke's research, Boere operated as an SS spy in 1944 and managed to penetrate a Dutch group aiding those trying to escape Nazi persecution. Boere, along with two other SS men, claimed to be victims of Nazi oppression and said they needed a safe house. Two farmers were found to put them up.

Initiative and guilt
The trio informed their SS commander of the resistance cell, providing names of the people involved, their location and information about the structure of the Dutch resistance, the complaint alleges. Boere and his two SS comrades each received 75 guilders for their efforts - equal to roughly 400 euros today.

Not long after the SS trio's undercover operation, the SS staged large-scale raids and arrested 52 people - at least seven of whom subsequently died in concentration camps "due to their inhuman treatment," the lawyers for the co-plaintiffs write in their complaint. The lawyers say that Boere willingly played a role in their deaths.

Detlef Hartmann and Wolfgang Heiermann, lawyers for the co-plaintiffs - representing the families of two of those Boere shot dead in 1944 - say that the new evidence disproves Boere's claim to merely have been following orders. It provides proof of Boere's initiative and thus his guilt as a perpetrator of Nazi war crimes, the lawyers say.

It is unclear what effect the new research may have on the progression of the trial, public prosecutor Andreas Brendel said on Thursday. He did say, however, that it would likely not change Boere's sentence should he be found guilty - he is seen as being too old to send to prison.

Boere's defense attorney, Gordon Christiansen, declined to respond to questions, saying only that he needed more time to study the new evidence.

Volunteer killing squad

Boere was born in 1921 in Aachen on Germany's border with Belgium and the Netherlands. According to the charges levied against him, Boere killed 22-year-old pharmacist Fritz Bicknese on July 14, 1944 and bike-shop owner Teun de Groot on September 3. He also is charged with having murdered a man named Frans-Willem Kusters.

The son of a Dutch father and a German mother, Boere said in 2007 that he had been a "fanatic" member of the SS. As an 18 year old, he volunteered for the SS in 1940 and fought for two years on the Eastern front. In 1942, he returned to occupied the Netherlands where he was assigned to a small SS unit comprised of 15 men.

The unit, called "Feldmeijer", was charged with breaking any signs of resistance in the Netherlands via arbitrary shootings of civilians seen as being anti-German. Whenever there were attacks on German troops or people who collaborated with them, senior SS and police commander Hanns Albin Rauter dispatched his killing squad by issuing the codeword "Silbertanne". At least 54 Dutch citizens are believed to have been murdered by these SS hitmen.
Boere admitted to having committed three of the killings during interrogations as early as 1946. Only recently, Boere repeated his admission to the killings before the Aachen court, once again claiming that he had been under orders.

Afraid of disobeying
The only living witness to one of the shootings, Jacobus Peter Bestemann, gave testimony to the court via a video feed. Bestemann, now 88 and living in Rotterdam, said that members of the SS were afraid of disobeying orders. "That was dangerous," Bestemann said.
In his confession, Boere claimed that Bestemann, too, had fired shots - an allegation Bestemann has denied. He said he only accompanied his comrades and that he never carried a weapon. "Someone must have ordered me to go along," he said. He also says that he doesn't know if Boere fired shots or not. Despite his denials, Bestemann served 13 years in prison in Holland for the murders of two mayors.
Boere has also been convicted of his crimes once before. In October 1949, an Amsterdam court sentenced him for the murders. But by then, Boere was back in Germany and he was never extradited.
Origianl post
NRC

Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal slams Ukraine award to nationalist

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko once commanded such respect that hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Kiev when he lost a fraudulent election.

But the former hero of the Orange Revolution could hardly have sunk any lower. In his bid for re-election this month, he drew just 5 percent of the vote. And now his posthumous honor for a nationalist leader - who was also, according to some, a Nazi collaborator - has led many to say Yushchenko has disgraced himself in his last weeks in office.

On Friday, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human rights group, denounced the Hero of Ukraine award Yushchenko bestowed on Stepan Bandera last week. Bandera was a leader of Ukraine's nationalist movement, which included an insurgent army that sided with Nazi Germany during part of World War II.

The Wiesenthal Center said Bandera's followers were linked to the deaths of thousands of Jews. It also noted that the award came shortly before International Holocaust Memorial Day, which was observed Wednesday.

"It is surely a travesty when such an honor is granted right at the period when the world pauses to remember the victims of the Holocaust on Jan. 27," Mark Weitzman, the Wiesenthal Center's director of government affairs, wrote in a letter to Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States.

The award drew sharp criticism from Russia, as well, where Bandera is viewed as a traitor for fighting against Soviet troops in World War II. Russia's Foreign Ministry called the decision "odious."

In Moscow, the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi said more than 50 of its activists picketed the Ukrainian embassy Friday.

"We have sent him things that he will be need when has retired: a hot water bottle, an enema, valerian, history books, photos of Stepan Bandera and videos featuring recollections from World War II veterans," the group said on its Web site. Valerian is an herb used as a sedative.

Bandera was assassinated by the KGB in 1959 in Munich.
Yushchenko was unrepentant Friday, decreeing further that the groups affiliated with Bandera be recognized as "fighters for Ukrainian independence."
Yushchenko made establishing strong Ukrainian identity, and pulling away from Russia's influence, a focus of his five years in office - at the expense, some say, of addressing corruption and economic problems.
It has been a long fall for a man once revered at home and abroad. After his supporters protested the vote he lost in 2004, Yushchenko won the presidency in a court-ordered rerun. He drew strong support from the West, which saw him as progressive and democratic.
But he squandered his political capital on infighting and he leaves office to an awkward silence from the West and cold denunciations from Moscow.
And, for some Jewish leaders in Ukraine, the award to Bandera was the last straw.
"Six generations of my ancestors lived in Ukraine, and Yushchenko simply crossed out the memory of them," said David Milman, assistant to the chief Rabbi of Ukraine. "This decision has turned many people away from Yushchenko, while earlier we were loyal to him."
Washington Post

Kirov Court Orders Closure of Far-Right Web Site (Russia)

In a rare application of anti-extremism legislation, a district court in Kirov, Russia ordered the closure of a far-right web site, according to a January 27, 2010 article in the Nizhny Novgorod edition of the national

daily "Kommersant." The Leninsky District court handed down its verdict in approval of the local prosecutor's office, which moved to close the web site of the local branch of the Movement Against Illegal

Immigration (DPNI)--Russia's largest far-right group.

The prosecutor's office sent its motion to the court after reviewing a video clip on the organization's site entitled "Day of the Migrant." The prosecutor argued that this video clip called for "violent action

against ethnic and social groups--Vietnamese, Armenians, Azeris, Gypsies, and homeless people." The prosecutor also asked that the clip be placed on the federal list of banned extremist publications.

The Moscow leadership of the DPNI reacted by characterizing itself as an "opposition movement" being unfairly targeted by "corrupt" officials. The DPNI has in the past been linked with anti-migrant riots and other

acts of violence, but unlike most neo-Nazi groups, it is operates legally and often participates in officially approved marches and demonstrations, implying a certain level of official approval and respectability.

ANGER AS POPE SLAMS UK EQUALITY LAW

Pope Benedict XVI has sparked fury among secular and gay rights campaigners after he attacked equality legislation in Britain for running contrary to "natural law" and restricting the freedom of religious communities.
The Pontiff said the effects of some legislation designed to give equality of opportunity had been to impose "unjust limitations" on the freedom of religious communities to act "in accordance with their beliefs".
"Your country is well-known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society," he told the Catholic bishops of England and Wales gathered in Rome.

"Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed."

His remarks have been interpreted as an attack on the Sexual Orientation Regulations which forced Catholic adoption agencies to consider gay couples as potential adoptive parents.

By the time the regulations came into force in January last year, five of the agencies in England and Wales had cut ties with their Roman Catholic dioceses in order to comply with the new laws.

The Government also suffered defeats in the House of Lords last week after the churches voiced concerns that the provisions of the flagship Equality Bill could expose them to legal challenges if they refused to employ sexually active gay people and transsexuals.

The Pope's remarks were made in an address in which he gave the first official confirmation that he will make his first apostolic visit to Britain later this year. No dates or itinerary were given, but the Pope, who will be 83 when he visits, spoke of the "living faith and devotion" among Catholics in England and Wales, highlighting the recent visit of the relics of St Therese and the forthcoming beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

The National Secular Society (NSS) said it would mount a protest campaign against the visit made up of gay groups, victims of clerical abuse, feminists, family planning organisations and pro-abortion groups among others.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "The Pope's criticism that British equality legislation 'violates the natural law' is a coded attack on the legal rights granted to women and gay people. His ill-informed claim that our equality laws undermine religious freedom suggests that he supports the right of churches to discriminate in accordance with their religious ethos."

The Express

UK's OLD SOLDIERS IN CLASH WITH BNP

OLD soldiers have clashed with right-wing extremists after the British National Party used underhand tactics to book a Royal British Legion Club for a rally.
Following a public outcry Conservative MP Andrew Selous, who served in the Territorial Army for 12 years, led a campaign to get the meeting scrapped.
He said ex servicemen who fought against fascism in the Second World War were horrified their premises were to be used by the BNP, particularly when the date clashed with Holocaust Memorial Day.
Now the BNP has hit out at the South Bedfordshire MP accusing him of “acting like a fascist” claiming: “Many of our members are ex servicemen and the British Legion should be more patriotic and less political.”
The BNP says it regularly holds meetings on council and Legion premises.
Deputy chairman and spokesman Simon Darby told The Sunday Express on Friday that a political meeting was held at a Legion club in the north-west but refused to say where.
Mr Selous has written to Legion chairman Peter Cleminson asking him to issue guidance to clubs.
Members of the Leighton Buzzard club say their secretary Eileen Johnson was hoodwinked by BNP activist Shelley Rose into booking the meeting under the name British Heritage. It wasn’t until Mr Selous, a club member, discovered their real identity that he asked them to cancel.Mrs Johnson said: “As soon as I heard, we cancelled them. We don’t want those sort of people here. Our members wouldn’t be at all happy.”
Mr Selous said: “I think it is revealing that the BNP did not book the meeting in their own name. They are not prepared to be honest and upfront about who they are.”
The Express

The English Defence League are not a violent organisation. And for my next joke…

Recently in the UK the extremist group Islam4UK has been banned by the UK’s government. But hypocritically the UK’s government has not made any moves to ban the extremely controversial racist violent organisation the English Defence League “EDL”.

The EDL is a group that claim they wholly oppose the so called Islamifaction of the UK (their beliefs not ours). Yet every time this peaceful protest groups (ha ha ha, no seriously that’s what they claim) show up violence scenes follow.

Here’s two videos following show this so called peaceful protesting by the EDL and its peaceful protesting.
The first shows the EDL members attacking a police officer and the second shows that the EDL although extremely violent have no sense of balance in the real world in more ways than one.

the EDL attack a policeman



and the EDL acting like violent prats

One in four children sent pornography, says survey

One in four children have sent or been sent inappropriate material including pornography via email, according to a survey. The research also found that one in 20 children, aged between six and 15, had communicated with a stranger via webcam and one in 50 have actually met a stranger they first contacted online.

The report, which surveyed 500 children, found that many children are getting away with behaviour online that they wouldn’t get away with in the real world, largely because of their parents’ lack of understanding and awareness of their internet habits and of safety precautions.

More than six out of 10 children (62 per cent) said they lie to parents about what they have been looking at online and over half (53 per cent) delete the history on their web browser so their parents can’t see what they have been looking at.

The survey, by TalkTalk, the broadband provider, also found that and one in nine (11 per cent) have either bullied someone online or been bullied online themselves.

In December, the Government announced that every primary schoolchild in the country will be taught about the dangers of the internet and how to safely surf online.

The “Click Clever, Click Safe’ campaign comes in response to a report by Prof Tanya Byron, the child psychologist and broadcaster, who was asked by the Government to consider how to protect children online. Prof Tanya Byron, who oversaw the TalkTalk research, said: “It’s crucial that parents educate themselves about what’s going on online and what their kids are doing there.”

the Telegraph

Are the Czech Republic Romanies the most discriminated against minority in the EU

The Czech government has protested against a European survey that in early December said Czech Romanies are a minority that is the most discriminated against in the EU. Michael Kocab, Czech minister in charge of human rights and minorities, told journalists that a number of Romany intellectuals live in the Czech Republic, who are able to distinguish and describe discrimination and report on it abroad. The Czech government is trying to solve the problem openly and transparently, which, however, does not mean that it can admit Czech Romanies being [referred to as] the most discriminated against in the EU, Kocab said. According to Kocab, the survey's results reflect the relatively high legal awareness on the part of Czech Romanies, their higher ability to identify discrimination in society in which they are far better integrated than Romanies in other countries. "In view of this, Czech Romanies have a much bigger chance of full-fledged integration in society, though they show a strong feeling of being discriminated against," Kocab said in a press release. He said Romanies in the Czech Republic have good knowledge of the country's anti-discrimination measures and of the organisations providing help and advice in this area. This corresponds to the developed network of NGOs that focus on fighting discrimination in the Czech Republic, he said. The Romanies are aware of the impacts of the social and economic transformation. "However, they consider them a violation of the egalitarianism applied by the previous communist regime. They are able to orient themselves in their rights and demand their observance," Kocab said. He said an improvement in this area also ensues from the report on Czech Romanies' emigration to Canada that the cabinet discussed today.


The cabinet also approved a manual for Czech embassies concerning the Romany issue. It will serve for diplomats to respond basic questions about the Czech Republic's approach to Romany integration, Kocab said. The study was worked out by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) on the basis of interviews with 23,000 immigrants and ethnic minority members. According to it, 64 percent of Romanies in the Czech Republic were discriminated against in the past 12 months, and 42 percent of Czech Romanies fell victim to crime. The Czech government's office for Romany affairs, however, says the situation is in fact not that alarming. The office director Gabriela Hrabanova told CTK previously that the objective situation of Romanies in the Czech Republic is better than in some other states, mainly in east Europe. Residents of Romany settlements in Slovakia and Romania face far worse living conditions, she said. Hrabanova, too, pointed to the relatively large integration of Czech Romanies with the majority society, "At some places they live in total segregation. As a result, they do not meet with discrimination at all," she said. She said most Czech Romanies are in contact with the majority society, therefore they better realise mutual differences. The FRA has examined minority members' experiences with discrimination in nine areas of everyday life - in seeking jobs and at work, in housing, health care and social services, at schools, in cafes, pubs and night clubs, in shops and in banks. It also looked into wehther minority members fell victim to crime. The FRA found the strongest discrimination in terms of access to education and work, but said there are shortcomings in other areas as well.

prague monitor

New service for homophobic hate crime victims in Wales

A partnership between Victim Support and Stonewall Cymru has launched a new service to help victims of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes.
The service has received £50,000 funding from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which Victim Support is using to train staff and volunteers in offering emotional support and practical help to gay and trans people.
This will include advice on personal safety, how to deal with police and the Prosecution Service and support for victims and witnesses during trials.
Gaynor McKeown, Victim Support’s regional manager for Wales, said that support would be tailored to victims' individual needs.
She said: “With more staff and volunteers we will now be able to give a more robust service to victims and witnesses of homophobic and transphobic crimes.

"It’s essential that all victims have someone they can turn to for support, someone who will understand the issues and challenges they may face. Victims and witnesses need easily accessible help and support to suit their needs – that’s why we’ve set up this new service.”

Jenny Porter, community liaison officer at Stonewall Cymru, said: "We at Stonewall Cymru urge victims of homophobic and other hate crimes to take up this offer from Victim Support, receiving focused support and information at such a critical time can make a huge difference to coping with the experience."

Victims of homophobic or transphobic crime can call the helpline on 0845 6 121 900.

Pink News

Billy Bragg Concert to fight fascism for Hope Not Hate

If you are unaware the Hope Not Hate is an excellent organisation in the UK that campaigns against UK’s extreme racist political party the British National Party “BNP”.

The HNH organisation has been very successful with their work and their website is a must view resource for any one seeking information about the BNP or other extreme far right groups in the UK.
The following video is a simple advert for the forthcoming Billy Brag concert in support of the HNH cause.

For tickets and more information please click the link below.
Hope Not Hate

Attention ! please report the following You Tube Race Hate Promoters

Attention ! please report the following You Tube Race Hate Promoters

theGREATAPEHATE

http://www.youtube.com/theGREATAPEHATE

An extreme racist and anti-Semitic hate promoter who has posted a link to another users twitter account in a obvious attempt to generate abuse at that user.

JenkemChimpPimp

http://www.youtube.com/JenkemChimpPimp

A bigoted extreme racist who has been suspended on numerous occasions for extreme racial hatred promotion and abuse.

inevergiveup14O2

http://www.youtube.com/inevergiveup14O2

this user has created a clone channel of another You Tube user with the Id of inevergiveup1402.

What this racist abusive user has done is instead of using the number “0” in their user clone id they have substituted the letter “O” in its place.

Make sure please when reporting this user you report the correct one which is inevergiveup14O2 (“O” being the letter O as on Orange not the number “0” zero).

All these users can be reported by using the tools at the Stop Racism Canada web site
http://www.stopracism.ca/content/cleaning-youtube-and-social-networking-sites

or by using the You Tube Safety tool
http://www.youtube.com/safety_help

Jailed British Godfather Threatened Enemies From Facebook Account

A convicted criminal used Facebook to threaten his enemies while in a maximum security prison for conspiracy to murder, it emerged tonight.
Colin Gunn, an underworld godfather who ordered the killing of a couple, had his social networking site account shut down yesterday, a source said.

The Sunday Times reported the 42-year-old said in one posting: 'I will be home one day and I can't wait to look into certain people's eyes and see the fear of me being there.'

Gunn, from Nottingham, was jailed over the revenge murders of John and Joan Stirland in 2004.

According to the Ministry of Justice, prisoners are prohibited from accessing social networking sites.

But the latest internet breach comes after Jade Braithwaite, jailed for knifing to death Ben Kinsella, 16, used Facebook to taunt his victim's family.

Earlier this month, relatives of victims of violent crime called for the introduction of electronic anti-social behaviour orders, or 'E-Asbos' to stop convicted killers bragging online.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'We are extremely concerned that prisoners are able to update Facebook and other social networking sites either through illicit technology or via outside contacts.

'The Public Order Act 1986 created offences dealing with causing harassment, alarm or distress. We will not hesitate to refer to the police any published material that appears to breach this.

'We recognise that it is deeply distressing for victims and their families and friends and we have made it clear to Facebook that we do not think it acceptable or appropriate for these sites to remain active, something Facebook agrees with.'

He added that serving prisoners do not have access to the internet 'except for educational purposes, when access is closely monitored by staff' and access to social networking sites is prohibited.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said: 'I have sought the assistance of Facebook to have these profiles removed and we will continue to press for removal of these whenever we find them or whenever they are drawn to our attention.

'I am also hoping to meet with Ofcom, Facebook, victims' representatives and other government departments with an interest in this area to identify a solution to what is an issue of considerable concern to myself, victims and their families, and many members of the public.

'We will not hesitate to refer to the police any published material that appears to breach the law.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247422/British-Godfather-taunted-foes-prison-facebook-messages.html#ixzz0eBBcAZu2

Daily Mail

Australia Prime Minister nephew in Ku Klux Klan stunt

The nephew of Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been arrested for offensive behaviour, after dressing up in a Ku Klux Klan costume. Van Thanh Rudd and another man were protesting outside the Australian Open tennis championships, against a recent spate of attack on Indians living in Melbourne. Victoria state police said they fined the pair 234 Australian dollars (210 US dollars) each for offensive behaviour.



BBC News

Russia ranked highest in human rights violations

Russia has the dubious honour of having the largest number of pending complaints filed against it in the European Court of Human Rights in 2009. But some say that the figures are worse than they look

As stated in the official court press release, “as in 2008, 4 States (Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Romania) were the source of almost 56% of the pending applications: in particular 28.1% of the cases were directed against Russia, 11% Turkey, 8.4% Ukraine and 8.2% Romania."

Experts say, however, that the main reason behind Russia’s leadership in this particular category is the size of its population. As Georgy Matyushkin, the country’s representative to the Court of Human Rights pointed out, if the ranking was done by cases per capita, Russia wouldn’t be nearly as high up.

Here’s a video discussing the whole matter.