A paedophile who helped organise British National Party attacks on HOPE not hate leafleters has been sent to prison. Described as “every parent’s worst nightmare”, Darren Francis, 37, pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with an underage girl after becoming infatuated with the troubled teenager.
John Lloyd-Jones, prosecuting at Northampton Crown Court, said she was aged 13 at the time the relationship started, when Francis was in his mid-thirties, therefore 20 years older.
He said: “He had known her since she was 11 so was well aware of her age. She was something of a troubled soul and her parents were finding it very difficult to control her.
“In late 2007, she began absconding and would go to his flat where there was a supply of a drink and drugs, mainly cannabis, although she mentioned there was also cocaine. The defendant would take them as well in the company of these teenagers.
“He made a concerted effort to come between her and her parents and he simply became what we would say is every parents’ worst nightmare.
“In effect, from the age of 13 she fell under his spell, going round to his flat on a virtual daily basis and often she would not come home and, if she did, she was under the influence of drink and drugs.
“In summer 2009, she came to her senses and ended matters but he could not cope with the rejection and began harassing her.”
The girl, who cannot be named, revealed how she had consented to sex with Francis, although she was legally unable to do so as she was under 16.
Judge Charles Wide QC jailed him for four years and three months on two counts of sexual activity with a child and for assaulting her after the relationship ended. He said: “This is not a case of typical exploitation of a young girl as it seems there was some genuine affection from the girl concerned, although it was a wildly, wildly inappropriate relationship.”
Although the BNP denies that Francis was a party member, local antifascists recall how Francis would organise other BNP activists to attack and harass antifascists in Northampton.
Anjona Roy, who coordinates HOPE not hate activities in the town, told Searchlight, “This guy was responsible for harassing HOPE not hate activists, local councillors and a local MP and generally threatened and intimidated people, myself included.
“I’m not surprised that the BNP are denying he was their member, but everyone knows he was one of their number and one of their most regular activists.”
Francis was previously jailed in 2005 for repeated harassment of the former Labour MP for Northampton North, Sally Keeble. He has also served prison sentences for assault, burglary, affray and robbery.
Hope Not Hate
Thursday, 15 July 2010
ANTI-SEMITISM VS. FACEBOOK
“They’re horrible and disgusting,” said Lila Mendelsohn, 16, of the events. After seeing one while browsing Facebook last week, the Los Angeles resident, a rising senior at Hamilton High School and n’siah — president — of her local B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) chapter, reported the event to the Facebook administration but decided more needed to be done. With help from fellow BBYO member Elise Jackson, 17, Mendelsohn created an event titled “One Million Strong Against Kill a Jew Day.” Both girls invited all their Facebook friends to take action against the event and posted a link so that others could report it to Facebook. Within hours, hundreds of Facebook users had clicked that they were “attending” the “One Million Strong” event. By the next morning, the “Kill a Jew Day” event had been deactivated. In contrast, “One Million Strong” currently has over 10,000 listed as “confirmed guests.” Although Mendelsohn and Jackson acknowledge that they have already succeeded at their original goal, they believe that the sentiment behind their event still holds value. “Even though one has been taken down, many more pages and groups have been made,” Mendelsohn said. The “One Million Strong” event is just one of a number of Internet campaigns urging the removal of anti-Semitic content from the Internet or Facebook.
For the past two years, the Jewish Internet Defense Force (JIDF), a pro-Israel advocacy organization that cites a network of over 250,000 supporters, has worked to expose and remove anti-Semitic material online. “Our approach has always been to expose the material, get our network to report it, and call out the companies like Facebook and YouTube for their negligence in dealing with these issues effectively,” wrote JIDF founder David Appletree in an e-mail. The JIDF Web site features “Action Alerts” for various “Kill a Jew Day” events on Facebook and urges visitors to the page to report any existing events as well. Appletree believes that Facebook has failed to take a forceful enough approach toward these matters. “Their ‘enforcement’ of their own rules is inconsistent,” Appletree wrote. “Sometimes, they seem to react quickly; other times, they don’t react at all.” According to Axten, Facebook has a large team of professional investigators who review and respond “as quickly as possible” to reports from the over 400 million people who use Facebook. “The team prioritizes reports for the most serious violations, including those for nudity, pornography and harassment, which are typically handled within 24 hours.” Additionally, Axten said, Facebook disables the accounts of people who “routinely violate our policies.” Appletree believes Facebook should take a more proactive approach and immediately remove offensive material, instead of waiting for reports from users.
Other Facebook events that have sprung up include “Thrill a Jew Day,” as well as the group “We Are Disgusted by the Facebook Event ‘Kill a Jew Day.’ ” Although both the “One Million Strong Against Kill a Jew Day” event and the JIDF urge nonviolent action, other events list suggestions such as “kill a neo-Nazi” or “drown a Flotilla.” Jackson and Mendelsohn have discouraged users from posting counter-threats on their event. “We don’t want people to respond with threats of violence,” Jackson said. “It’s just as bad.” July appears to have marked an increase in Facebook events encouraging anti-Semitic violence. However, as early as last November, Haaretz reported a “Kick a Jew Day” event at a middle school in Naples, Fla., which resulted in the suspension of 10 students who had taken part in the event. “When people aren’t standing up for their rights or what they believe in, it only makes the other people stronger and allows them to step all over them,” Jackson said.
Jewish Journal
Butler threatens legal action over BNP election rules
Eddy Butler, who is challenging Nick Griffin for the British National Party leadership, has threatened legal action over Griffin’s unconstitutional election regulations announced earlier today.
Pointing out that Griffin does not have the power to change the section of the party constitution that governs elections to the chairmanship, he writes on his blog: “Today the current Chairman has seen fit to make up a whole raft of new rules. Some are not harmful, but some are a deliberate and blatant attempt to frustrate the democratic process within the Party. He is already a loser – a bad loser who is trying to save his skin by changing the rules.”
Maintaining his blog is itself one of the actions a leadership challenger is forbidden under the made-up rules but not under the party constitution.
Butler believes that a “spoiler” candidate will be put forward to ensure that no one can obtain the required signatures of 20% of the 4,200 people who have two years’ continuous membership of the party.
Pledging to ignore the new rules, Butler adds: “Mr Griffin is intent on steering his campaign on a deliberate collision course.
“If he attempts to frustrate the democratic process as laid out under the constitution then he will be legally challenged.”
Supporters have already offered to help Butler fund such legal action, which is likely to deepen the splits in the BNP. Whether the party, believed already to be insolvent, can afford more legal costs to fight a case is uncertain.
Hope Not Hate
Pointing out that Griffin does not have the power to change the section of the party constitution that governs elections to the chairmanship, he writes on his blog: “Today the current Chairman has seen fit to make up a whole raft of new rules. Some are not harmful, but some are a deliberate and blatant attempt to frustrate the democratic process within the Party. He is already a loser – a bad loser who is trying to save his skin by changing the rules.”
Maintaining his blog is itself one of the actions a leadership challenger is forbidden under the made-up rules but not under the party constitution.
Butler believes that a “spoiler” candidate will be put forward to ensure that no one can obtain the required signatures of 20% of the 4,200 people who have two years’ continuous membership of the party.
Pledging to ignore the new rules, Butler adds: “Mr Griffin is intent on steering his campaign on a deliberate collision course.
“If he attempts to frustrate the democratic process as laid out under the constitution then he will be legally challenged.”
Supporters have already offered to help Butler fund such legal action, which is likely to deepen the splits in the BNP. Whether the party, believed already to be insolvent, can afford more legal costs to fight a case is uncertain.
Hope Not Hate
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Anti-Semitic Alliance (Germany)
Following an anti-Semitic attack in Hanover, German authorities have identified a new source of anti-Semitic hatred in Germany: young migrants from Muslim families. The ideological alliance has officials concerned.
It was supposed to be a carefree festival in Sahlkamp on the outskirts of the northern German city of Hanover. Billed as an "International Day" to celebrate social diversity and togetherness, the June celebration included performances by a multicultural children's choir called "Happy Rainbow" and the German-Turkish rap duo 3-K. Music from Afghanistan was also on the program.
But then the mood suddenly shifted.
When Hajo Arnds, the organizer of the neighborhood festival, stepped onto the stage at about 6:45 p.m. to announce the next performance, by the Jewish dance group Chaverim, he was greeted with catcalls. "Jews out!" some of the roughly 30 young people standing in front of the stage began shouting. "Gone with the Jews!"
The voices were those of children -- voices full of hate, shouted in unison and amplified by a toy megaphone. Arnds, the organizer, was shocked. He knew many of the children, most of them from Arab immigrant families in the neighborhood.
A social worker, Arnds tried using the tools of his profession -- words -- to save the situation. But his words were met with stones, thrown at the stage by people taking cover in the crowd. One of the stones hit a female Chaverim dancer in the leg, resulting in an angry bruise.
Inflammatory Propaganda and Criminal Violence
Arnds immediately cancelled the dance performance. Still speaking through the microphone, he said that he wasn't sure whether the festival could even continue after this incident. When adults walked to the front of the crowd to confront and talk to the children, they were verbally abused, and some of the teenagers ran away. The Jewish dance group was taken to a safe place, and the festival was allowed to continue. The last performance of the evening was by a duo singing Russian songs. "They're not Jews," one of the young people in front of the stage shouted, "so they can perform here." A criminal complaint was not filed with the police until several days later.
Until now, attacks on Jews, Jewish institutions and Jewish symbols have almost always been committed by right-wing extremist groups. In the first quarter of 2010 alone, the German Interior Ministry documented 183 anti-Semitic offences committed by right-wing radicals, including graffiti, inflammatory propaganda and physical violence.
The stone-throwing incident in Hanover, however, has finally forced the authorities to take a closer look at a group of offenders that, though largely overlooked until now, is no less motivated by anti-Zionist sentiments: adolescents and young adults from an immigrant community who are influenced by Islamist ideas and are prepared to commit acts of violence.
An informal and accidental alliance has been developing for some time between neo-Nazis and some members of a group they would normally despise: Muslim immigrants. The two groups seem to share vaguely similar anti-Semitic ideologies.
Right-wing extremists and Islamists, says Heinz Fromm, the president of the German domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), are united by "a common bogeyman: Israel and the Jews as a whole." While German right-wing extremists cultivate a "more or less obvious racist anti-Semitism," says Fromm, the Islamists are "oriented toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and support "anti-Zionist ideological positions, which can also have anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic overtones." Both extremist movements, says Fromm, "ascribe extraordinary political power to Israel and the Jews, and their goal is to fight this power."
'A Tree, a Noose, a Jew's Neck'
Although the BfV has not separately identified anti-Semitic crimes associated with Islamist groups until now, investigators are paying close attention to the development of anti-Jewish tendencies within the milieu.
Anti-Semitism from the two groups shows itself in different ways in Germany. On the one hand, there are the efforts of extremist right-wing groups, which tend to follow a certain pattern. During a football match in April, for example, supporters of SV Mügeln-Ablass 09, a district-league football club in the eastern state of Saxony, chanted "a tree, a noose, a Jew's neck" and "we're building a subway, from Jerusalem to Auschwitz," until the match was stopped.
According to the German government's response to a parliament inquiry by the Left Party politician Petra Pau, Jewish cemeteries in Germany are defaced, vandalized or destroyed about once every 10 days. Memorial sites are also frequently targeted. Last month, for example, extremists defaced a memorial plaque in the western city of Bochum, a Jewish cemetery in Babenhausen in the state of Hesse and a memorial in Beckum in the Münsterland region.
On the other hand, say BfV officials, Islamist ideologues are creating problems with their anti-Israeli tirades, which are being broadcast on the Internet and television. "You can expect this sort of propaganda to have an impact on certain social groups," says Fromm.
The Israelis' bloody military intervention against a flotilla of aid vessels off the coast of Gaza on May 31, in which nine Turkish activists where shot dead, has triggered a new wave of hate. The Jewish community in Berlin promptly reported "a rapid increase in anti-Semitic propaganda and death threats against Jews on the Internet." This is particularly the case on Facebook where, according to Jewish officials in Berlin, users like Ulubas L. are spreading their message of hate with statements like: "The only good Jew is a dead Jew."
Breeding Ground
TV productions like the Iranian series "Zahra's Blue Eyes," broadcast into the living rooms of immigrant families in Germany, only add to the problem. The program is based on a horror story in which a fictitious Israeli general has doctors remove the eyes of a Palestinian girl so that they can be transplanted into his blind son.
Such propaganda apparently serves as a breeding ground for anti-Jewish sentiments among poorly integrated members of the immigrant community -- sentiments which can quickly explode into violence. In late June, for example, two Israeli tourists made the mistake of conversing in Hebrew at a Berlin nightclub. Another guest, apparently of Palestinian descent, asked them where they were from. When one of the tourists, a 22-year-old man, replied, "from Israel," the man attacked him and his companion.
The situation escalated when a Turkish-born bouncer intervened and attacked the Israelis with pepper spray. The tourists were able to flee and required medical treatment. Law enforcement officials assume that the attack was the result of "anti-Semitic sentiment." The bouncer and the man who attacked the Israelis, whose identity is still unknown, are being investigated for aggravated assault and battery.
The Jewish community in Worms, located in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate, was also the target of a recent attack. In mid-May, unknown assailants tried to set the city's historic synagogue on fire. Forensics experts later identified eight sources of fire at the crime scene. In addition, a Molotov cocktail was thrown through the window of the synagogue's library.
Understanding the Background
The community was lucky; the building did not go up in flames. Nearby, the police found letters claiming responsibility, written in broken German: "As long as you don't leave the Palestinians alone, we won't leave you alone." It is still unclear whether the pamphlets indicate that the perpetrators were Islamists or were left there as a red herring. According to the state's Interior Ministry, the authorities are "working hard to investigate all possible leads."
Meanwhile residents and social workers are trying to understand the background and motives of the adolescents who attacked Jewish dancers with stones at the "International Day" event in Hanover's Sahlkamp neighborhood.
There is no visible evidence of Jewish life in the district, which has about 14,000 residents. According to the police, the stone-throwing incident on June 19 was the first case of anti-Semitic violence in the area. So far, authorities have identified 12 possible suspects. They are between 9 and 19 years old, many are not yet old enough to be prosecuted, and 11 of them have an "Arab immigrant background," according to the public prosecutor's office in the city. No one has said anything yet on the possible motives for the attack. The only comments, so far, came from a little girl, perhaps 10 or 11 years old, who was addressed immediately after the attack by a woman attending the neighborhood festival.
"What's going on here?" the woman asked.
"The Germans say: Foreigners out!" the girl replied. "Why can't we say: Jews out?" Then she ran away.
Speigel
It was supposed to be a carefree festival in Sahlkamp on the outskirts of the northern German city of Hanover. Billed as an "International Day" to celebrate social diversity and togetherness, the June celebration included performances by a multicultural children's choir called "Happy Rainbow" and the German-Turkish rap duo 3-K. Music from Afghanistan was also on the program.
But then the mood suddenly shifted.
When Hajo Arnds, the organizer of the neighborhood festival, stepped onto the stage at about 6:45 p.m. to announce the next performance, by the Jewish dance group Chaverim, he was greeted with catcalls. "Jews out!" some of the roughly 30 young people standing in front of the stage began shouting. "Gone with the Jews!"
The voices were those of children -- voices full of hate, shouted in unison and amplified by a toy megaphone. Arnds, the organizer, was shocked. He knew many of the children, most of them from Arab immigrant families in the neighborhood.
A social worker, Arnds tried using the tools of his profession -- words -- to save the situation. But his words were met with stones, thrown at the stage by people taking cover in the crowd. One of the stones hit a female Chaverim dancer in the leg, resulting in an angry bruise.
Inflammatory Propaganda and Criminal Violence
Arnds immediately cancelled the dance performance. Still speaking through the microphone, he said that he wasn't sure whether the festival could even continue after this incident. When adults walked to the front of the crowd to confront and talk to the children, they were verbally abused, and some of the teenagers ran away. The Jewish dance group was taken to a safe place, and the festival was allowed to continue. The last performance of the evening was by a duo singing Russian songs. "They're not Jews," one of the young people in front of the stage shouted, "so they can perform here." A criminal complaint was not filed with the police until several days later.
Until now, attacks on Jews, Jewish institutions and Jewish symbols have almost always been committed by right-wing extremist groups. In the first quarter of 2010 alone, the German Interior Ministry documented 183 anti-Semitic offences committed by right-wing radicals, including graffiti, inflammatory propaganda and physical violence.
The stone-throwing incident in Hanover, however, has finally forced the authorities to take a closer look at a group of offenders that, though largely overlooked until now, is no less motivated by anti-Zionist sentiments: adolescents and young adults from an immigrant community who are influenced by Islamist ideas and are prepared to commit acts of violence.
An informal and accidental alliance has been developing for some time between neo-Nazis and some members of a group they would normally despise: Muslim immigrants. The two groups seem to share vaguely similar anti-Semitic ideologies.
Right-wing extremists and Islamists, says Heinz Fromm, the president of the German domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), are united by "a common bogeyman: Israel and the Jews as a whole." While German right-wing extremists cultivate a "more or less obvious racist anti-Semitism," says Fromm, the Islamists are "oriented toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and support "anti-Zionist ideological positions, which can also have anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic overtones." Both extremist movements, says Fromm, "ascribe extraordinary political power to Israel and the Jews, and their goal is to fight this power."
'A Tree, a Noose, a Jew's Neck'
Although the BfV has not separately identified anti-Semitic crimes associated with Islamist groups until now, investigators are paying close attention to the development of anti-Jewish tendencies within the milieu.
Anti-Semitism from the two groups shows itself in different ways in Germany. On the one hand, there are the efforts of extremist right-wing groups, which tend to follow a certain pattern. During a football match in April, for example, supporters of SV Mügeln-Ablass 09, a district-league football club in the eastern state of Saxony, chanted "a tree, a noose, a Jew's neck" and "we're building a subway, from Jerusalem to Auschwitz," until the match was stopped.
According to the German government's response to a parliament inquiry by the Left Party politician Petra Pau, Jewish cemeteries in Germany are defaced, vandalized or destroyed about once every 10 days. Memorial sites are also frequently targeted. Last month, for example, extremists defaced a memorial plaque in the western city of Bochum, a Jewish cemetery in Babenhausen in the state of Hesse and a memorial in Beckum in the Münsterland region.
On the other hand, say BfV officials, Islamist ideologues are creating problems with their anti-Israeli tirades, which are being broadcast on the Internet and television. "You can expect this sort of propaganda to have an impact on certain social groups," says Fromm.
The Israelis' bloody military intervention against a flotilla of aid vessels off the coast of Gaza on May 31, in which nine Turkish activists where shot dead, has triggered a new wave of hate. The Jewish community in Berlin promptly reported "a rapid increase in anti-Semitic propaganda and death threats against Jews on the Internet." This is particularly the case on Facebook where, according to Jewish officials in Berlin, users like Ulubas L. are spreading their message of hate with statements like: "The only good Jew is a dead Jew."
Breeding Ground
TV productions like the Iranian series "Zahra's Blue Eyes," broadcast into the living rooms of immigrant families in Germany, only add to the problem. The program is based on a horror story in which a fictitious Israeli general has doctors remove the eyes of a Palestinian girl so that they can be transplanted into his blind son.
Such propaganda apparently serves as a breeding ground for anti-Jewish sentiments among poorly integrated members of the immigrant community -- sentiments which can quickly explode into violence. In late June, for example, two Israeli tourists made the mistake of conversing in Hebrew at a Berlin nightclub. Another guest, apparently of Palestinian descent, asked them where they were from. When one of the tourists, a 22-year-old man, replied, "from Israel," the man attacked him and his companion.
The situation escalated when a Turkish-born bouncer intervened and attacked the Israelis with pepper spray. The tourists were able to flee and required medical treatment. Law enforcement officials assume that the attack was the result of "anti-Semitic sentiment." The bouncer and the man who attacked the Israelis, whose identity is still unknown, are being investigated for aggravated assault and battery.
The Jewish community in Worms, located in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate, was also the target of a recent attack. In mid-May, unknown assailants tried to set the city's historic synagogue on fire. Forensics experts later identified eight sources of fire at the crime scene. In addition, a Molotov cocktail was thrown through the window of the synagogue's library.
Understanding the Background
The community was lucky; the building did not go up in flames. Nearby, the police found letters claiming responsibility, written in broken German: "As long as you don't leave the Palestinians alone, we won't leave you alone." It is still unclear whether the pamphlets indicate that the perpetrators were Islamists or were left there as a red herring. According to the state's Interior Ministry, the authorities are "working hard to investigate all possible leads."
Meanwhile residents and social workers are trying to understand the background and motives of the adolescents who attacked Jewish dancers with stones at the "International Day" event in Hanover's Sahlkamp neighborhood.
There is no visible evidence of Jewish life in the district, which has about 14,000 residents. According to the police, the stone-throwing incident on June 19 was the first case of anti-Semitic violence in the area. So far, authorities have identified 12 possible suspects. They are between 9 and 19 years old, many are not yet old enough to be prosecuted, and 11 of them have an "Arab immigrant background," according to the public prosecutor's office in the city. No one has said anything yet on the possible motives for the attack. The only comments, so far, came from a little girl, perhaps 10 or 11 years old, who was addressed immediately after the attack by a woman attending the neighborhood festival.
"What's going on here?" the woman asked.
"The Germans say: Foreigners out!" the girl replied. "Why can't we say: Jews out?" Then she ran away.
Speigel
BNP election process gerrymandered to exclude challenger
The British National Party has announced rules that will make it near impossible for Eddy Butler to challenge Nick Griffin for the party leadership.
The party’s “elections department”, otherwise known as Clive Jefferson, the rapidly promoted North West regional organiser and part-time member of Griffin’s European constituency staff, has outlined “leadership contest regulations”, which it claims are based on the party’s constitution.
Claiming that the party and individual candidates must be “protected from any attempt to use dishonesty and faction-building to advance one candidate at the expense of another”, the statement continues: “There is a clear dividing line between passionately held opinion and legitimate criticism on the one hand, and character assassination and dishonesty on the other. For the sake of the party, and the ability of the members to make a properly informed choice, everyone must stay on the right side of that line – and understand that a free and fair election can be secured only if anyone who crosses the line thereby loses his or her right to be involved.”
Where the line lies and who is to determine what comments fall on the wrong side of it are not explained, leaving an open door for Jefferson, at the bidding of Griffin and his consigliere Jim Dowson, to exclude Butler.
Turning to the nomination process, the statement, as widely expected, outlaws the use of the unofficial forms on which Butler is collecting signatures. Instead official, individually numbered forms will be sent by post to “all members eligible to nominate and vote in a leadership election”.
Members wishing to nominate anyone must sign the form and have their signature witnessed. This is a transparent attempt to make the process a bit harder for members who might be isolated from other members and might not want to tell potential witnesses among their friends, neighbours and relations that they are members of the racist party.
Those forms must be returned to the party’s so far unnamed “official scrutineer” to be received in the short period from 20 July to 10 August. Ridiculously, a member has to post the form personally “except in the event of sickness or infirmity”, in which case “they may ask their witness to post it for them”.
How the “official scrutineer” will know who posted the form is unclear, leaving yet another means for Jefferson to exclude nominations. And of course any attempt by Butler’s supporters to collect up forms and bring them to the official opening of envelopes, to ensure they are not somehow lost by the BNP’s “scrutineer”, is not permitted.
Although the BNP constitution does not provide for it, because in the event of there being no valid nominations for another candidate the incumbent automatically carries on, the form will also include a box for members to indicate that they wish Griffin to continue as leader. No doubt Griffin will ensure that there are more forms with that box ticked than nominations for Butler.
As widely expected after the closure of the two main anti-Butler attack blogs over the weekend, the regulations deny candidates the right to campaign other than by limited officially sanctioned methods. “Candidates and their supporters shall not produce, maintain, advertise or otherwise utilise, whether for promotion, criticism or report, any official or unofficial campaigning website or social networking facility (Face book, Twitter, etc).”
Candidates are also not allowed to give media interviews or raise money for their campaign.
The rules apply “with immediate effect”. The announcement was posted on the BNP website at 12.26 on 14 July. At the time of writing just over two hours later, Butler’s blog and website, both of which appeal for donations, were still in place, making it possible for Griffin immediately to institute disciplinary action against Butler and to exclude him from the nomination process.
The announcement declares that the basic guideline for the election under version 12.2 of the party constitution is: “A free, fully democratic election process which is fair to all potential candidates, from start to finish, and which protects the British National Party from attempt [sic] to abuse the process”.
The sentence appears in quotes in the announcement, giving the impression that it is taken from the constitution, but in fact it appears nowhere in that document. The rules for the nomination process and the ban on unofficial campaigning are likewise not sanctioned by the constitution, leaving the party open to legal action by Butler if he is thereby prevented from standing against Griffin.
Hope Not Hate
The party’s “elections department”, otherwise known as Clive Jefferson, the rapidly promoted North West regional organiser and part-time member of Griffin’s European constituency staff, has outlined “leadership contest regulations”, which it claims are based on the party’s constitution.
Claiming that the party and individual candidates must be “protected from any attempt to use dishonesty and faction-building to advance one candidate at the expense of another”, the statement continues: “There is a clear dividing line between passionately held opinion and legitimate criticism on the one hand, and character assassination and dishonesty on the other. For the sake of the party, and the ability of the members to make a properly informed choice, everyone must stay on the right side of that line – and understand that a free and fair election can be secured only if anyone who crosses the line thereby loses his or her right to be involved.”
Where the line lies and who is to determine what comments fall on the wrong side of it are not explained, leaving an open door for Jefferson, at the bidding of Griffin and his consigliere Jim Dowson, to exclude Butler.
Turning to the nomination process, the statement, as widely expected, outlaws the use of the unofficial forms on which Butler is collecting signatures. Instead official, individually numbered forms will be sent by post to “all members eligible to nominate and vote in a leadership election”.
Members wishing to nominate anyone must sign the form and have their signature witnessed. This is a transparent attempt to make the process a bit harder for members who might be isolated from other members and might not want to tell potential witnesses among their friends, neighbours and relations that they are members of the racist party.
Those forms must be returned to the party’s so far unnamed “official scrutineer” to be received in the short period from 20 July to 10 August. Ridiculously, a member has to post the form personally “except in the event of sickness or infirmity”, in which case “they may ask their witness to post it for them”.
How the “official scrutineer” will know who posted the form is unclear, leaving yet another means for Jefferson to exclude nominations. And of course any attempt by Butler’s supporters to collect up forms and bring them to the official opening of envelopes, to ensure they are not somehow lost by the BNP’s “scrutineer”, is not permitted.
Although the BNP constitution does not provide for it, because in the event of there being no valid nominations for another candidate the incumbent automatically carries on, the form will also include a box for members to indicate that they wish Griffin to continue as leader. No doubt Griffin will ensure that there are more forms with that box ticked than nominations for Butler.
As widely expected after the closure of the two main anti-Butler attack blogs over the weekend, the regulations deny candidates the right to campaign other than by limited officially sanctioned methods. “Candidates and their supporters shall not produce, maintain, advertise or otherwise utilise, whether for promotion, criticism or report, any official or unofficial campaigning website or social networking facility (Face book, Twitter, etc).”
Candidates are also not allowed to give media interviews or raise money for their campaign.
The rules apply “with immediate effect”. The announcement was posted on the BNP website at 12.26 on 14 July. At the time of writing just over two hours later, Butler’s blog and website, both of which appeal for donations, were still in place, making it possible for Griffin immediately to institute disciplinary action against Butler and to exclude him from the nomination process.
The announcement declares that the basic guideline for the election under version 12.2 of the party constitution is: “A free, fully democratic election process which is fair to all potential candidates, from start to finish, and which protects the British National Party from attempt [sic] to abuse the process”.
The sentence appears in quotes in the announcement, giving the impression that it is taken from the constitution, but in fact it appears nowhere in that document. The rules for the nomination process and the ban on unofficial campaigning are likewise not sanctioned by the constitution, leaving the party open to legal action by Butler if he is thereby prevented from standing against Griffin.
Hope Not Hate
ANTI-RACISM EXHIBITION FOR WORLD CUP FINAL (Poland)
On the day of the World Cup final, a diverse multicultural audience took part in a ‘Let’s kick racism out of the stadiums’ exhibition opening organised by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association in Warsaw’s Home Africa Bar. The event was co-hosted by Stanley Udenkwor, a Nigerian-born Polish citizen, an ex Polonia Warsaw player and an ambassador of the ‘Let’s kick racism out of the stadiums’ campaign. The exhibition presents the multicultural history of Polish football, the participation of ethnic minorities and migrants in the sport today as well as the problem of racism and xenophobia in Polish stadiums. Its other aim is to promote the ‘Let’s kick racism out of the stadiums’ campaign. The exhibition is also going to be shown during the large Polish Woodstock Festival later this summer.
The date for the opening ceremony was not accidental. ‘It’s the final of a World Cup held for the first time in Africa. South Africa is a country whose inhabitants experienced racism through many years of the apartheid. In this context the World Cup has been special. As co-hosts of the forthcoming EURO 2012 Championship, we should learn from the South African experience how to organise a multicultural event full of joy and respect’ says Jacek Purski, a spokesman for the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. - ‘However, not everybody in Poland seems to want this kind of event. For example, on the occasion of the World Cup, a group of neo-fascists hang racist posters in the streets of Sosnowiec, expressing their solidarity with South African apartheid supporters’ adds Dr Rafal Pankowski, a ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association member and coordinator of the East Europe Monitoring Centre.
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-fascist organization which monitors racist incidents and conducts educational campaigns. It coordinates the FARE Eastern European Development Project supported by UEFA in the run up to the EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
Never Again Association
The date for the opening ceremony was not accidental. ‘It’s the final of a World Cup held for the first time in Africa. South Africa is a country whose inhabitants experienced racism through many years of the apartheid. In this context the World Cup has been special. As co-hosts of the forthcoming EURO 2012 Championship, we should learn from the South African experience how to organise a multicultural event full of joy and respect’ says Jacek Purski, a spokesman for the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. - ‘However, not everybody in Poland seems to want this kind of event. For example, on the occasion of the World Cup, a group of neo-fascists hang racist posters in the streets of Sosnowiec, expressing their solidarity with South African apartheid supporters’ adds Dr Rafal Pankowski, a ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association member and coordinator of the East Europe Monitoring Centre.
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-fascist organization which monitors racist incidents and conducts educational campaigns. It coordinates the FARE Eastern European Development Project supported by UEFA in the run up to the EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
Never Again Association
Neo-Nazi in attack on church (New Zeland)
In a rage of hatred towards Christianity, a neo-Nazi and his accomplice smashed nine windows of a Feilding church on Easter Sunday, a court has heard.
Nearly $4000 worth of windows were smashed at the Lutheran Church on King St in the early hours of April 4, by the men who claimed to hate Jesus, the church and Easter.
Daniel Waring, 21, and his co-accused Nicholas Melrose, 18, pleaded guilty to a charge each of intentional damage in Feilding District Court yesterday.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Ricky Lewer said Waring smashed three windows with a wooden baton about 12.20am.
Less than two hours later he returned with Melrose and together they smashed a further six windows.
The pair fled when the church's pastor yelled at them from inside.
He had been cleaning up glass after the first attack.
When questioned, the men told police they were anti-Jesus, anti-Christ and hated Easter.
Waring told a probation officer he was part of the Blood and Honour New Zealand – a neo-Nazi music promotion network and political group – but later denied being a member of the organisation.
Waring's lawyer, Mike Ryan, said he had been depressed, angry, and drunk on the night he attacked the church.
"At the time the defendant's medication wasn't working and some of the side effects included depression and sleeplessness. He had also been evicted from his flat," Mr Ryan said.
Melrose's lawyer, Richard Bedford, said alcohol had been a factor.
"He did it because he thought it was funny at the time, but he said it wasn't that funny once he was sober. He is genuinely remorseful."
He said Melrose moved to Amberley, in Canterbury, after the incident to "move on with his life".
Judge Alistair Garland said the men's actions were unprovoked and mindless vandalism. "It appears it was a hate crime and on the most significant day. You did a substantial amount of damage."
Judge Garland convicted and sentenced Waring to 100 hours' community work and ordered him to pay reparation of $2548. Melrose was convicted and sentenced to 100 hours' community work, two months community detention and ordered to pay $1274.
The damage came to $3822.
Nearly $4000 worth of windows were smashed at the Lutheran Church on King St in the early hours of April 4, by the men who claimed to hate Jesus, the church and Easter.
Daniel Waring, 21, and his co-accused Nicholas Melrose, 18, pleaded guilty to a charge each of intentional damage in Feilding District Court yesterday.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Ricky Lewer said Waring smashed three windows with a wooden baton about 12.20am.
Less than two hours later he returned with Melrose and together they smashed a further six windows.
The pair fled when the church's pastor yelled at them from inside.
He had been cleaning up glass after the first attack.
When questioned, the men told police they were anti-Jesus, anti-Christ and hated Easter.
Waring told a probation officer he was part of the Blood and Honour New Zealand – a neo-Nazi music promotion network and political group – but later denied being a member of the organisation.
Waring's lawyer, Mike Ryan, said he had been depressed, angry, and drunk on the night he attacked the church.
"At the time the defendant's medication wasn't working and some of the side effects included depression and sleeplessness. He had also been evicted from his flat," Mr Ryan said.
Melrose's lawyer, Richard Bedford, said alcohol had been a factor.
"He did it because he thought it was funny at the time, but he said it wasn't that funny once he was sober. He is genuinely remorseful."
He said Melrose moved to Amberley, in Canterbury, after the incident to "move on with his life".
Judge Alistair Garland said the men's actions were unprovoked and mindless vandalism. "It appears it was a hate crime and on the most significant day. You did a substantial amount of damage."
Judge Garland convicted and sentenced Waring to 100 hours' community work and ordered him to pay reparation of $2548. Melrose was convicted and sentenced to 100 hours' community work, two months community detention and ordered to pay $1274.
The damage came to $3822.
Storm as Australian artist Jane Korman dances at Nazi death camp
An Australian artist has defended posting a YouTube video of her family singing and dancing to the tune of I Will Survive at the Auschwitz death camp.
Melbourne artist Jane Korman - who is Jewish - filmed her Holocaust survivor father and her three children dancing outside the infamous camp in Poland.
As many as 1.1 million people were murdered there by the Nazis in World War II.
The video also shows the family dancing at a Polish synagogue, the German concentration camp at Dachau, the Czech concentration camp at Theresienstadt and at a Polish memorial to the victims of the Nazi ghetto.
The video ends with Korman's emotional 89-year-old father Adolk describing his return to Poland with his three grandchildren as "a really historic moment".
Ms Korman told London's The Daily Mail the video was a "celebration of life and survival".
"I wanted to make artwork that creates a fresh interpretation of historical memory," Ms Korman said. "He [her father] is saying 'we're dancing, we should be dancing, we're celebrating our survival and the generations after me. We are affirming our existence'."
But the video - which was also displayed in an Australian art gallery - has been met with anger by some Holocaust survivors and has been picked up and exploited by neo-Nazi websites.
"I don't see how this video is a mark of respect for the millions who didn't survive, nor for those who did," Kamil Cwiok, 86, told The Daily Mail. "It seems to trivialise the horrors that were committed there."
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff said there was a time and place to celebrate survival.
"As human beings, we have a right to celebrate survival, but there is a time and place to do so," he said.
"There is an infinite number of ways to do that, but we need to consider the sensibilities of those for whom places such as Auschwitz will always hold terrible pain and indelible memories . . Auschwitz is one of the world's largest cemeteries."
The artwork was met with mixed reactions on blog sites with some supporting Ms Korman.
New Zelands Daily Telegraph
Melbourne artist Jane Korman - who is Jewish - filmed her Holocaust survivor father and her three children dancing outside the infamous camp in Poland.
As many as 1.1 million people were murdered there by the Nazis in World War II.
The video also shows the family dancing at a Polish synagogue, the German concentration camp at Dachau, the Czech concentration camp at Theresienstadt and at a Polish memorial to the victims of the Nazi ghetto.
The video ends with Korman's emotional 89-year-old father Adolk describing his return to Poland with his three grandchildren as "a really historic moment".
Ms Korman told London's The Daily Mail the video was a "celebration of life and survival".
"I wanted to make artwork that creates a fresh interpretation of historical memory," Ms Korman said. "He [her father] is saying 'we're dancing, we should be dancing, we're celebrating our survival and the generations after me. We are affirming our existence'."
But the video - which was also displayed in an Australian art gallery - has been met with anger by some Holocaust survivors and has been picked up and exploited by neo-Nazi websites.
"I don't see how this video is a mark of respect for the millions who didn't survive, nor for those who did," Kamil Cwiok, 86, told The Daily Mail. "It seems to trivialise the horrors that were committed there."
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff said there was a time and place to celebrate survival.
"As human beings, we have a right to celebrate survival, but there is a time and place to do so," he said.
"There is an infinite number of ways to do that, but we need to consider the sensibilities of those for whom places such as Auschwitz will always hold terrible pain and indelible memories . . Auschwitz is one of the world's largest cemeteries."
The artwork was met with mixed reactions on blog sites with some supporting Ms Korman.
New Zelands Daily Telegraph
BNP MEP’s confirm Palace visit
It seems that common sense has not prevailed and Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons have confirmed that they will be visiting Buckingham Palace on July 22nd.
The invitations which were automatically sent to them due to their MEP’s status has and will obviously cause more controversy, as the last thing we need to see is the BNP trolls goose stepping across the royal lawn.
Yet any kind of counter protest that involves any anti-racists outside the Palace shouting abuse will also be seen as extremely counter productive. And quickly acted on by the authorities.
As we know they will be damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Anyway here’s the item as posted on the BNP website.
BNP.org
The invitations which were automatically sent to them due to their MEP’s status has and will obviously cause more controversy, as the last thing we need to see is the BNP trolls goose stepping across the royal lawn.
Yet any kind of counter protest that involves any anti-racists outside the Palace shouting abuse will also be seen as extremely counter productive. And quickly acted on by the authorities.
As we know they will be damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Anyway here’s the item as posted on the BNP website.
BNP.org
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
French MPs vote to ban Islamic full veil in public
There were 335 votes for the bill and only one against in the 557-seat National Assembly.
It must now be ratified by the Senate in September to become law.
The ban has strong public support but critics point out that only a tiny minority of French Muslims wear the full veil.
Many of the opposition Socialists, who originally wanted the ban limited only to public buildings, abstained from voting after coming under pressure from feminist supporters of the bill.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has backed the ban as part of a wider debate on French identity but critics say the government is pandering to far-right voters.
After the vote, Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said it was a victory for democracy and for French values.
"Values of freedom against all the oppressions which try to humiliate individuals; values of equality between men and women, against those who push for inequality and injustice."
The vote is being closely watched in other countries, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from the French capital Paris.
Spain and Belgium are debating similar legislation, and with such large-scale immigration in the past 20 or 30 years, identity has become a popular theme across Europe, our correspondent says.
'Open-faced democracy'
The bill would make it illegal to wear garments such as the niqab or burka, which incorporate a full-face veil, anywhere in public.
It envisages fines of 150 euros (£119) for women who break the law and 30,000 euros and a one-year jail term for men who force their wives to wear the burka.
The niqab and burka are widely seen in France as threats to women's rights and the secular nature of the state.
"Democracy thrives when it is open-faced," Ms Alliot-Marie told the National Assembly when she presented the bill last week.
She stressed the bill, which makes no reference to Islam or veils, was not aimed at "stigmatising or singling out a religion".
Berengere Poletti, an MP from Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party, said women in full veils wore "a sign of alienation on their faces" and had to be "liberated".
Andre Gerin of the Communist opposition compared the veil to "a walking coffin, a muzzle".
'Fear of foreigners'
The bill is also seen as a touchstone for the Sarkozy administration's policy of integration. It is grappling with disaffected immigrant communities as it seeks to prevent a repeat of the mass unrest of 2005 on run-down French housing estates.
But critics point to government studies showing that many women do not fit the stereotype of marginalised, oppressed women.
There are estimated to be only about 2,000 women wearing the full veil in France though the bill is opposed by many of France's five million Muslims.
Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, a government advisory body, has supported taking steps to discourage women from wearing the full veil but has said a legal ban would stigmatise a vulnerable group.
Jean Glavany, a Socialist MP, said he opposed the ban on the grounds that it was "nothing more than the fear of those who are different, who come from abroad, who aren't like us, who don't share our values".
The Council of State, France's highest administrative body, warned in March that the law could be found unconstitutional.
If the bill passes the Senate in September, it will be sent immediately to France's Constitutional Council watchdog for a ruling.
Another challenge is possible at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where decisions are binding.
In another development, a French businessman, Rachid Nekkaz, said he would set up a 1m-euro fund to help women pay fines imposed under the new law.
A ban in the street would violate constitutional principles, he argued.
BBC News
BNP Leader Nick Griffin threatens to ‘punish’ party opponents (UK)
Writing on Twitter, Griffin said: “If people want a leadership campaign that’s fine, but it’s got to be honest and fair to all candidates. The liars must be asked for evidence by all involved. And no one should be surprised when liars who can’t back up their character assassinations are punished.”
Griffin’s comment is obviously directed at Eddy Butler, who has challenged him to a leadership election and criticised his financial and administrative stewardship of the party. Butler and his supporters particularly condemn Griffin’s close relationship with Jim Dowson, the convicted criminal who effectively owns the BNP, and Patrick Harrington, a political colleague of Griffin since the 1970s who now runs the rival Third Way party. Butler also claims Griffin has made the BNP insolvent because he has “deliberately, avoidably and recklessly” involved the party in unnecessary legal action.
In reality, most of the lies have been about Butler and come from Griffin himself and his supporters, in particular Clive Jefferson, the party’s national elections officer, and Paul Golding, its communications officer, who appears to forget that it was Butler who masterminded his council by-election victory in Swanley, Kent. For Griffin to call for a campaign that is “honest and fair to all candidates” is hypocritical in the extreme.
Perhaps because Griffin has realised that the lies from his camp are counter-productive, or perhaps because of a risk of legal action if the leadership campaign is not run fairly and in accordance with the party’s constitution, two blogs set up to attack Butler were suspended over the weekend.
One carried a notice that it had been “deactivated due to the initiation of the official BNP leadership campaign period”. There is no provision in the BNP constitution for an official leadership campaign period starting on 10 July, the date the notice was posted. Nominations for the leadership open on 20 July and close on 10 August, but this is only the period in which a candidate has to submit nomination forms containing the signatures of at least 20% of the 4,200 party members with two years’ continuous membership and 20% of the 278 elite “voting members”.
Campaigning proper only starts in September after the challenger has surmounted the further hurdle of obtaining the vote of at least 10% of members of the “Founders’ Association” at a meeting held between 11 and 31 August. The Founders’ Association, a separate body in which all party assets are vested, is not defined in the constitution but it is apparently people who were paid-up members before the constitution was adopted in February and have remained members since.
Obtaining the requisite 20% support is of course no easy task, which is why Butler is keen to broaden his appeal among the various party factions from nazis to the more reformist elements. He has attracted the support of a number of influential party activists including Nick Cass in Yorkshire, Richard Edmonds, who helped found the party, Valerie Tyndall – the wife of the BNP’s first leader who still carries a certain amount of clout – and Lawrence Rustem in London.
His most recent coup is to secure the support of Michael Barnbrook, the self-styled BNP “sleazebuster”, who dines out on his failure to win a council by-election in Bexley, southeast London, by just nine votes.
Barnbrook, no relation to the BNP’s London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook, claims to have started the Parliamentary expenses scandal and to be personally responsible for ending the careers of several MPs, but complains that “hardly anybody in the public domain is aware” of this because the party has barely publicised his role.
As well being aggrieved at this perceived personal slight, Barnbrook is concerned about the nasty campaign to stop Butler getting nominations. The attack blog and rumours that members have been refused entry to meetings because they support Butler’s challenge are “blatant intimidation”, writes Barnbrook in a statement on Butler’s blog. “It appears that we can fight for freedom of speech and freedom of expression, so long as it doesn’t extend to a leadership challenge in the British National Party.”
If the BNP has failed to publicise Barnbrook’s “sleazebusting” role to his satisfaction, it can only be because Griffin does not like anyone else to claim more of the limelight than himself. Searchlight, however, is more interested in Barnbrook’s links with Ellis Hammond, a former Police Community Support Officer (PCSO), who last year pleaded guilty to five specimen charges of downloading and possessing a total of 58 indecent images of children, ranging from level 1 to level 5 (the most serious).
Hammond was a member of Bexley BNP branch alongside Barnbrook, a retired police inspector. The police found the images after removing Hammond’s computer while executing a warrant to search his home in Welling for weapons, where they found an arsenal including a CS gas canister, a knuckle duster and eight combat knives, as well as hate material and his BNP membership card. He had lied on his PCSO application form, claiming not to be a member of a proscribed organisation, namely the BNP.
Hammond was sentenced to a three-year community order and his name was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years. He was also banned for life from working with people aged under 18.
Another Bexley BNP colleague of Barnbrook who lied to become a PCSO is David Vanner, who in November 2008 posted on the BNP members’ forum: “Although unfortunately I am unable to leaflet or attend meetings due to my line of work (Michael Barnbrook will sympathise), however I would be more than willing to make a donation to the Bexley branch as I understand it is fairly short of funds.” He lost his job after his BNP membership was revealed.
If Butler does win the leadership, it seems unlikely that his BNP will be any more respectable than the party is now.
Hope Not Hate
'TOO FEW ETHNIC MINORITY OFFICERS' HIRED BY GCHQ (UK)
Britain's secret eavesdropping centre, GCHQ, has been criticised for failing to recruit enough ethnic minority staff to help fight terrorism. An official report, leaked to the Sunday Times, also said black and Asian intelligence officers had complained of discrimination at the complex in Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire. A GCHQ spokesman told the BBC policies and practices were now being improved. Much of GCHQ's work involves monitoring calls and e-mails from terror suspects. But the report, authorised by the head of the civil service, Sir Gus O'Donnell, says a lack of officers with specialist knowledge of languages like Urdu and Arabic is hampering efforts to spot codes and cultural nuances in intercepted conversations. "It is critical to have a diverse staff group who are able to profile and recognise certain behaviour patterns and communications," the document says.
The report recommends better engagement with ethnic minority communities in order to boost recruitment and improve the image of the organisation. "This is critical to good national security intelligence," it adds. The report says GCHQ has tried to improve its equality and diversity, but "the culture of the organisation has not been receptive to this" and it "is seen as a people issue which only applies to some people". It points out that there are no black or Asian senior managers. Several dozen ethnic minority intelligence officers were interviewed during its preparation, and among the complaints recorded was: "I wasn't born here and although I have been security cleared, I am constantly challenged about my loyalty to Britain by my colleagues." Another employee said: "The security officers ask questions which are culturally inappropriate, insensitive and offensive." A third said they felt that ethnic minority employees had to work harder than white colleagues "and for less reward".
Targeted recruitment
The director of communications at GCHQ, Chris Marshall, said the organisation had "long recognised that strict nationality and residency requirements for staff, and the specialist nature of our work, have made it challenging to develop a workforce which represents the diversity of the UK population". He said the organisation had tried to improve things with a targeted recruitment campaign, but a review in 2009 "reflected that GCHQ continued to fall short in meeting our targets". Mr Marshall said that in response to it, GCHQ was "making a number of improvements to our policies and practices", including employing a dedicated diversity officer and focusing recruitment on specific universities with large ethnic minority populations. "GCHQ is regularly recognised as a good employer but we aspire to be the best," he said. "We recognise that recruiting a diverse range of people, treating them in a non-discriminatory way and supporting them to achieve their full potential is key to that aspiration."
BBC News
The report recommends better engagement with ethnic minority communities in order to boost recruitment and improve the image of the organisation. "This is critical to good national security intelligence," it adds. The report says GCHQ has tried to improve its equality and diversity, but "the culture of the organisation has not been receptive to this" and it "is seen as a people issue which only applies to some people". It points out that there are no black or Asian senior managers. Several dozen ethnic minority intelligence officers were interviewed during its preparation, and among the complaints recorded was: "I wasn't born here and although I have been security cleared, I am constantly challenged about my loyalty to Britain by my colleagues." Another employee said: "The security officers ask questions which are culturally inappropriate, insensitive and offensive." A third said they felt that ethnic minority employees had to work harder than white colleagues "and for less reward".
Targeted recruitment
The director of communications at GCHQ, Chris Marshall, said the organisation had "long recognised that strict nationality and residency requirements for staff, and the specialist nature of our work, have made it challenging to develop a workforce which represents the diversity of the UK population". He said the organisation had tried to improve things with a targeted recruitment campaign, but a review in 2009 "reflected that GCHQ continued to fall short in meeting our targets". Mr Marshall said that in response to it, GCHQ was "making a number of improvements to our policies and practices", including employing a dedicated diversity officer and focusing recruitment on specific universities with large ethnic minority populations. "GCHQ is regularly recognised as a good employer but we aspire to be the best," he said. "We recognise that recruiting a diverse range of people, treating them in a non-discriminatory way and supporting them to achieve their full potential is key to that aspiration."
BBC News
ETHNIC MINORITY JOBLESS RATE RISES (Netherlands)
Some 25% of youngsters with a Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese or Antillean background are without a job, according to research by the Forum multicultural research institute in the Volkskrant on Monday. In total, 14% of people with a non-western background are jobless, compared with 5.1% of the native white Dutch, the Forum survey shows. A year ago, the unemployment rate under non-western immigrants was 10%. Forum director Sadik Harcahoui said the higher jobless rate among ethnic minority youth is not necessarily because of discrimination. Ethnic minority youngsters are more likely to have a flexible contract, meaning they are the first to go when things get tough, he points out. And while education levels are improving, they still lag behind their white peers.
Dutch News
Dutch News
Man hurt in racist attack in Rugby bar (UK)
A man was left needing hospital treatment following a violent attack at a Rugby nightspot.
The victim was with a woman in Walkabout in High Street, Rugby, during a night out, when he was approached by two men.
The men made racist comments, before hitting him in the face.
He was taken to hospital where he had stitches in his lip and treatment to his eye.
The incident took place at about 2am on Saturday.
A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated assault.
He was taken into custody and questioned about the incident.
He was later released on police bail, pending further inquiries.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information which would help officers with their inquiries, should contact Rugby police station on 01926 415000.
Information can also be passed onto police, in confidence, via independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
Coventry Telegraph
The victim was with a woman in Walkabout in High Street, Rugby, during a night out, when he was approached by two men.
The men made racist comments, before hitting him in the face.
He was taken to hospital where he had stitches in his lip and treatment to his eye.
The incident took place at about 2am on Saturday.
A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated assault.
He was taken into custody and questioned about the incident.
He was later released on police bail, pending further inquiries.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information which would help officers with their inquiries, should contact Rugby police station on 01926 415000.
Information can also be passed onto police, in confidence, via independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
Coventry Telegraph
Monday, 12 July 2010
Neo-nazism is Europe's hidden terrorist menace
On the fifth anniversary of the 7 July terror attacks in London, the issue of Islamist terrorism and Islamic extremism is back in the media spotlight. While the threat posed by a small number of violent Islamist extremists is very real and the danger of Islamic fundamentalism should not be downplayed or understated, the seriousness of the situation is often exaggerated into a menace of Hitlerian proportions.
In contrast, Hitler's ideological descendants, who have become increasingly emboldened in recent years, constitute a growing, if still minor, threat that largely goes unnoticed and under-reported.
An example of this menace is the Belgian neo-Nazi group Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (Blood, Soil, Honour and Loyalty), whose trial is to start soon. The group, whose members were arrested in 2006, stands accused of planning terror attacks targeting the National Bank and other institutions, plotting the assassination of a number of prominent politicians and conspiring to destabilise the Belgian state. BBET had even apparently managed to infiltrate the Belgian military and had amassed a large cache of guns and explosives.
More worryingly, perhaps, at least in terms of social cohesion, the neo-Nazi group had intended to sow the seeds of discord by carrying out a "false flag" operation to murder the popular Flemish far-right politician Filip Dewinter in the hope that the blame would be pinned on Islamists, stoking further hatred of the country's embattled and marginalised Muslim minority. During the expected outrage that would ensue, they would then seize the opportunity to assassinate the radical Lebanese-Belgian politician and activist Dyab Abou Jahjah.
Had members of an Islamist cell been planning similar outrages, news of their forthcoming trial would have grabbed headlines across Europe and enough columns to support the Karnak temple complex would have been written on the subject. As it stands, the group has elicited little to no attention outside Belgium.
Not that I feel we should deal with neo-Nazi extremism and its violent manifestations with the same level of sensationalism and mass hysteria we reserve for extremist Islam – we need to be vigilant, not vigilante about it. More attention needs to be paid to the fact that it is a growing menace. We need to build greater awareness and better understanding of the socioeconomic and cultural factors feeding this phenomenon, especially since mainstream society is, in certain ways, complicit in the emergence of this troubling current.
Some, dare I say many, will consider my last assertion as an overreaction and will dismiss BBET and other violent far-right groups as little more than the outer reaches of the "lunatic fringe". And at some level, this is true and can equally be applied to violent Islamist groups. But just because they're mad and bad, that does not exclude the possibility that they are the symptoms of a deeper malaise – there is some warped logic to their madness.
Just like their Islamist counterparts, many people who are drawn to neo-Nazi and other far-right ideologies feel disempowered and marginalised, and believe that the way to overcome this is to turn back the clock to an idyllic "pure" past – based on religion, in the case of Islamists, and based on race and, to a lesser extent, religion for neo-Nazis.
And, as unemployment figures rise and government spending falls, this sense of exclusion and frustration will grow.
And minorities will continue to fill the role of convenient scapegoat, as has long been the case with far-right parties, many of which have gained a sheen of respectability in recent years. In fact, time and again, violent neo-Nazi groups and individuals have been linked to these parties. For example, there are reports that the BBET had ties to the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party, as had a teenager who went on a racially motivated murder spree in Antwerp.
However, this does not exonerate the rest of society. The increasingly mainstream vilification and demonisation of Europe's Muslim minority and Islam in general – based on fear, insecurity, ignorance and political expediency, as well as the worry that extremist groups will succeed in their bid to "Islamise" Europe – since the 11 September terror attacks in the US has created fertile ground for the far-right to lay down deeper roots. Some governments have been complicit in this for foreign policy purposes, while some politicians, such as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, have skillfully manipulated the situation to enter the corridors of power.
In a bid to downplay the threat, some will play a macabre numbers game and claim that Islamic terrorism in Europe claims far more lives than far-right violence. Although it is true that there have been no spectacular, large-scale attacks, neo-Nazis are responsible for a regular and growing stream of violence against Muslims, Jews, blacks and other minorities across Europe.
Of course, neo-Nazis have yet to pull off any attack as spectacular as those in Madrid or London. But that doesn't mean they don't want to or don't plan to, as the case of the BBET amply demonstrates. In May 2010, a British neo-Nazi father and son – who, in an worrying echo of a bygone era, had set up a group to overthrow the government because they believed it had been taken over by Jews – planned to poison Jewish, Muslim and black people with ricin.
In addition, neo-nazism seems to be going increasingly global, with groups in different European countries and the US building increasingly strong alliances. Examples of this include Combat 18 and Blood and Honour (of which BBET is a splinter group).
The most troubling threat posed by neo-nazism, and the far right in general, as opposed to Islamism, is that it is an indigenous ideology which once held powerful sway in Europe, even in countries that were not run by Nazi regimes. If we are not careful and do not learn the lessons of history, there is the future possibility that Nazi and fascist totalitarianism may rear its ugly face again.
Khaled Diab for The Guardian
In contrast, Hitler's ideological descendants, who have become increasingly emboldened in recent years, constitute a growing, if still minor, threat that largely goes unnoticed and under-reported.
An example of this menace is the Belgian neo-Nazi group Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (Blood, Soil, Honour and Loyalty), whose trial is to start soon. The group, whose members were arrested in 2006, stands accused of planning terror attacks targeting the National Bank and other institutions, plotting the assassination of a number of prominent politicians and conspiring to destabilise the Belgian state. BBET had even apparently managed to infiltrate the Belgian military and had amassed a large cache of guns and explosives.
More worryingly, perhaps, at least in terms of social cohesion, the neo-Nazi group had intended to sow the seeds of discord by carrying out a "false flag" operation to murder the popular Flemish far-right politician Filip Dewinter in the hope that the blame would be pinned on Islamists, stoking further hatred of the country's embattled and marginalised Muslim minority. During the expected outrage that would ensue, they would then seize the opportunity to assassinate the radical Lebanese-Belgian politician and activist Dyab Abou Jahjah.
Had members of an Islamist cell been planning similar outrages, news of their forthcoming trial would have grabbed headlines across Europe and enough columns to support the Karnak temple complex would have been written on the subject. As it stands, the group has elicited little to no attention outside Belgium.
Not that I feel we should deal with neo-Nazi extremism and its violent manifestations with the same level of sensationalism and mass hysteria we reserve for extremist Islam – we need to be vigilant, not vigilante about it. More attention needs to be paid to the fact that it is a growing menace. We need to build greater awareness and better understanding of the socioeconomic and cultural factors feeding this phenomenon, especially since mainstream society is, in certain ways, complicit in the emergence of this troubling current.
Some, dare I say many, will consider my last assertion as an overreaction and will dismiss BBET and other violent far-right groups as little more than the outer reaches of the "lunatic fringe". And at some level, this is true and can equally be applied to violent Islamist groups. But just because they're mad and bad, that does not exclude the possibility that they are the symptoms of a deeper malaise – there is some warped logic to their madness.
Just like their Islamist counterparts, many people who are drawn to neo-Nazi and other far-right ideologies feel disempowered and marginalised, and believe that the way to overcome this is to turn back the clock to an idyllic "pure" past – based on religion, in the case of Islamists, and based on race and, to a lesser extent, religion for neo-Nazis.
And, as unemployment figures rise and government spending falls, this sense of exclusion and frustration will grow.
And minorities will continue to fill the role of convenient scapegoat, as has long been the case with far-right parties, many of which have gained a sheen of respectability in recent years. In fact, time and again, violent neo-Nazi groups and individuals have been linked to these parties. For example, there are reports that the BBET had ties to the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party, as had a teenager who went on a racially motivated murder spree in Antwerp.
However, this does not exonerate the rest of society. The increasingly mainstream vilification and demonisation of Europe's Muslim minority and Islam in general – based on fear, insecurity, ignorance and political expediency, as well as the worry that extremist groups will succeed in their bid to "Islamise" Europe – since the 11 September terror attacks in the US has created fertile ground for the far-right to lay down deeper roots. Some governments have been complicit in this for foreign policy purposes, while some politicians, such as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, have skillfully manipulated the situation to enter the corridors of power.
In a bid to downplay the threat, some will play a macabre numbers game and claim that Islamic terrorism in Europe claims far more lives than far-right violence. Although it is true that there have been no spectacular, large-scale attacks, neo-Nazis are responsible for a regular and growing stream of violence against Muslims, Jews, blacks and other minorities across Europe.
Of course, neo-Nazis have yet to pull off any attack as spectacular as those in Madrid or London. But that doesn't mean they don't want to or don't plan to, as the case of the BBET amply demonstrates. In May 2010, a British neo-Nazi father and son – who, in an worrying echo of a bygone era, had set up a group to overthrow the government because they believed it had been taken over by Jews – planned to poison Jewish, Muslim and black people with ricin.
In addition, neo-nazism seems to be going increasingly global, with groups in different European countries and the US building increasingly strong alliances. Examples of this include Combat 18 and Blood and Honour (of which BBET is a splinter group).
The most troubling threat posed by neo-nazism, and the far right in general, as opposed to Islamism, is that it is an indigenous ideology which once held powerful sway in Europe, even in countries that were not run by Nazi regimes. If we are not careful and do not learn the lessons of history, there is the future possibility that Nazi and fascist totalitarianism may rear its ugly face again.
Khaled Diab for The Guardian
Russian court to try 13 suspected neo-Nazis for 27 murders
Thirteen suspected neo-Nazis charged with killing 27 people in ethnic-motivated crimes will face trial in Moscow on July 22, a spokesman for Moscow region's military court said on Monday.
"The court has granted a motion to hold the trial behind closed doors but rejected a request for the case to be heard by a jury," Alexander Minchanovsky said.
Investigators believe the defendants are members of the National-Socialist Society, established in 2004 with the aim of turning Russia into a Nazi state. The group had several regional branches, as well as international offices in Belarus, Britain, Canada and France. Russia's Supreme Court banned the National-Socialist Society in February as an "extremist" grouping.
The thirteen, believed by investigators to be members of one gang, operated mainly in the Moscow region and attacked dark-skinned people, including nationals of African and Asian countries, the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.
The paper said one of the men stabbed an anti-Nazi activist 30 times as part of an initiation test.
If the gang members are found guilty of committing even some of the murders, they could face life sentences under Russian law.
Attacks on dark-skinned people from ex-Soviet republics, Asia and Africa have been on the rise in Russia in recent years. The Russian authorities have described the growth of ethnic-motivated attacks as a "national threat" and urged tough measures to combat them.
Several members of skinhead and neo-Nazi groups have already been sentenced to long prison terms.
rian.ru
"The court has granted a motion to hold the trial behind closed doors but rejected a request for the case to be heard by a jury," Alexander Minchanovsky said.
Investigators believe the defendants are members of the National-Socialist Society, established in 2004 with the aim of turning Russia into a Nazi state. The group had several regional branches, as well as international offices in Belarus, Britain, Canada and France. Russia's Supreme Court banned the National-Socialist Society in February as an "extremist" grouping.
The thirteen, believed by investigators to be members of one gang, operated mainly in the Moscow region and attacked dark-skinned people, including nationals of African and Asian countries, the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.
The paper said one of the men stabbed an anti-Nazi activist 30 times as part of an initiation test.
If the gang members are found guilty of committing even some of the murders, they could face life sentences under Russian law.
Attacks on dark-skinned people from ex-Soviet republics, Asia and Africa have been on the rise in Russia in recent years. The Russian authorities have described the growth of ethnic-motivated attacks as a "national threat" and urged tough measures to combat them.
Several members of skinhead and neo-Nazi groups have already been sentenced to long prison terms.
rian.ru
Facebook to launch child safety 'panic button'
The button, aimed at children and teenagers, will report abuse to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) and Facebook.
The application will also appear on their homepage to say that "they are in control online".
The launch follows months of negotiation between Ceop and Facebook, which initially resisted the idea.
Ceop, the government law enforcement agency tasked with tracking down online sex offenders, called for a panic button to be installed on social networking sites last November.
Bebo became the first network to add the button with MySpace following suit, but Facebook resisted the change, saying its own reporting systems were sufficient.
Pressure mounted on Facebook following the rape and murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall by a 33-year-old convicted sex offender, posing as a teenage boy, who she met on Facebook.
Forty-four police chiefs in England, Wales and Scotland, signed a letter backing Ceop's call for a panic button on every Facebook page.
'Reassurance for parents'
The agreement to launch a child safety application is the culmination of months of negotiation between Ceop and Facebook.
Jim Gamble, Ceop's chief executive, said in a statement: "Our dialogue with Facebook about adopting the ClickCeop button is well documented - today however is a good day for child protection.
"By adding this application, Facebook users will have direct access to all the services that sit behind our ClickCeop button which should provide reassurance to every parent with teenagers on the site."
Facebook's head of communications in the UK, Sophy Silver, told BBC News that the new app would integrate reporting into both Facebook and Ceop's systems.
"Both sides are happy of where we have got to," she said.
"We still have the Facebook reporting system and by having a pre-packaged application that users play an active part in, you not only help keep them safe, it makes all of their friends aware too, and acts as a viral awareness campaign.
"Ultimately though, this makes for a safer environment for users and that's the most important part," she added.
In addition to the online reporting application, a new Facebook/Ceop page is being set up, with a range of topics that, it is hoped, will be of interest to teenagers - such as celebrities, music and exams - and will link these subjects to questions about online safety.
BBC News
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Swastika art triggers outcry in Poland
A new art gallery is using the work titled "NaziSexyMouse" by Italian artist Max Papeschi to advertise an exhibition, but a city councillor has tried to take legal action, saying it violates a law banning the display of Nazi symbols.
Vandals have also ripped a gaping hole in the two-storey high poster, forcing the gallery to put up a new one.
"For Poles, the swastika symbolises the suffering and death of more than six million Poles," said councillor Norbert Napieraj.
"Exhibiting this symbol in the city centre is a particularly disgraceful and disgusting act."
Six million Polish citizens, half of them Jewish, died under Nazi Germany's occupation of their country during World War II.
But the public prosecutor's spokeswoman Malgorzata Mikos-Fita told AFP on Friday that no legal action would be taken against the gallery for publicly displaying the poster as "it did not break the law."
Gallery curator Maria Czarnecka said that "we don't have to remove it as it's a work of art. If it were just a swastika, it would be propagating Nazi symbols. The law allows such symbols to be used in academic and artistic contexts."
The Local Germany
SERBIA’S LITTLE BIG ACTIVIST
Fascism and Ageism
“The easiest way to expose youth to fascist ideas is through the Internet, and that is how new promoters of ‘blood and soil’ ideology are actually recruited,” Pocesta said. “However, we should not underestimate the positive effects social networks could have, especially when it comes to young people, who are still in the process of shaping their views, and who use the Internet as a source of information.” He’s worried that the proliferation of violent propaganda via the Internet is seen as a marginal phenomenon in Serbia, because the threat of extremism is far from limited to an inner circle of believers, the boy believes. He accuses “self-styled democrats” of covertly, or perhaps unconsciously, promoting neo-fascist and extreme views, not through “classical forms of fascism” but what he calls “cultural fascism and its various forms, and maybe social Darwinism – which is close to racism – especially in liberal circles.” Pocesta says he was interested in politics from an early age, but his initial inspiration to become an activist came from one of Serbia’s most prominent human rights defenders and former critics of the Slobodan Milosevic regime, Biljana Kovacevic Vuco, who died in April. Her appearance on a TV show more than a year ago “gave me a glimpse into an ugly image of the place I lived in. It was then that I realized that, no matter how small my contribution to society, I wished to do my bit,” he said. That new-found sense of mission only became stronger when he began to follow the TV appearances of prominent activists such as Boris Milicevic (a gay activist), Svetozar Ciplic, and Marko Karadzic of the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights – as well as “those from the other side, like Mladen Obradovic from the Obraz movement. … After searching the Internet and reading a lot on the subject, I began to get more and more focused on human rights issues in my country. “I find it strange that the topic of human rights is pretty low on the scale of things that others my age talk about,” he said. What’s more, he claims that he and other youngsters are often the victims of discrimination themselves on grounds of age, citing the example of his appearance at the public discussion of Serbia’s NATO prospects. “After I finished my speech, in which I explained that Serbia and its political elites incline toward Russia and other totalitarian regimes, a gentleman, who was a respected citizen of Pancevo where the forum took place, said it was extremely inappropriate to bring ‘kids with no elementary school’ in for such a serious debate.” Pocesta says he reminded the man of the career of Hugo Grotius, a 17th-century Dutchman who became an expert in international law after entering university at age 11, and similar cases. Upon which, “the gentleman’s tone went from roughly provocative to quiet and gentle,” he said.
Is the Internet to Blame for Hate Speech?
Pocesta is not alone in being the target of abuses and threats, as the recent experiences of others – including gays and lesbians, talk-show hosts, and Karadzic of the Human Rights Ministry – show. Goran Miletic, a human rights lawyer for the Civil Rights Defenders organization, says the real boom in hard-line nationalist views and hate speech directed against national or other minorities coincided with the rapid growth in Internet use. “The Internet is a good place to find literally anything one could want and, what is even more important, meet like-minded people with whom one can easily exchange ideas, at the same time feeling secure and reaffirming that your attitude is the right one,” Miletic said. “It is there that one makes that unhappy step from reading literature to preparing for ‘action’ against those considered unacceptable for a so-called ‘healthy Serbian society.’ “ Like Pocesta, Miletic believes that declared democrats and liberals can also hold dangerous beliefs, although less openly than people given to extreme or even moderate nationalism. A good example, he said, is the notorious statement by Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas, a member of President Boris Tadic’s Democratic Party, against a planned gay-rights march in the city: “Why should the gays march downtown, when they can love each other between four walls?” “That symbolizes a complete negation of human rights for a part of the society,” Miletic said. “The same goes for the idea that the Roma population should be fenced off with wire, or statements that they should go back to where they came from, which irresistibly recall the events of World War II.” The first step in taking hate speech from words to deeds is usually a threat made on a social network or online forum, Miletic said. “Then, in the absence of an official reaction, and when they realize the judicial system is indifferent to punishing threats and hate speech, these people are emboldened to repeat their conduct, this time in real life. Unfortunately, due to poor work by prosecutors and police, we are unable to see how closely these ‘real life’ attacks against minority groups, journalists, and human rights defenders are related to such activities on the Internet. In my opinion, this connection is much bigger than is assumed.”
Serbian society may be unprepared for the unfettered competition of ideas the Internet offers, says Miljenko Dereta, executive director of Civic Initiatives, one of the biggest NGOs in Serbia. “Deciding which views you are going to represent is a matter of a personal choice, but what we have to worry about more is that today’s ‘ideology offer’ is poor, uninspiring, and politically ineffective, and that there is a huge, wide open space for ideas and ideologies rooted in fascism,” Dereta said. “The only reason such ideas thrive in the virtual world, if at all, is a belief that such a space provides anonymity,” Dereta said. Online anonymity offers “a tantalizing ease of showing yourself to be courageous in advocating ideas from the extreme right. On the other hand, I’ve never found myself on such a web page except when I searched for it, which again proves that it is a matter of one’s personal choice.” He too argues that covert support from political elites, lack of judicial action, as well as the attitude of the Serbian Orthodox Church help to prop up extreme groups. Yet, so far, he believes that their online presence is restricted to relatively small circles of like-minded people, significantly limiting such groups’ influence. Pocesta says he is unfazed by the threats against him and will continue his activism and the writing career he began at the age of 9. In addition to political commentary and miscellany such as a message of condolence to the U.S. Senate after the death of veteran Senator Robert Byrd last month, his blog contains several poems in English touching on subjects from the earthquake in Haiti to his sadness over Yulia Tymoshenko’s loss in Ukraine’s presidential election. Hall of Presidents, his book of biographical sketches of American presidents, appeared last winter with financial support from his family. He says he’s now planning a book about “all forms of fascism, chauvinism, and discrimination.” Asked for more details of his early career, Pocesta instead urges the interviewer to wait, saying, “My memoirs will be published this autumn. There you will see everything about how I began as an activist.”
Tol.org
TURKISH NGO CONDUCTS ALLEGEDLY ILLEGAL POLLS AMONG BULGARIAN MUSLIMS (Turkey)
The organization of Bulgarian immigrants in Turkey, “Bulturk” has been conducting allegedly unauthorized polls in a few Bulgarian towns, the leader of the Bulgarian nationalist party “Ataka” has announced. The poll were conducted among citizens of towns with predominantly Muslim population. One of the questions have been whether they would like the names of their towns to be changed with Turkish ones. On Thursday, the leader of “Ataka”, Volen Siderov, said that he has informed the National State Security Agency about the case and is planning to discuss it with the PM Boyko Borisov as well. “This is a provocation to the Bulgarian identity,” Siderov said and added that the goal of “Bulturk” is to declare that Bulgaria has been a part of the Ottoman Empire and that it will be again joint to Turkey, not through military methods, but through economics. Siderov also said that the Bulgarian Muslims have been asked whether there was a discrimination against people who declare themselves Turkish. He said it was not clear what the poll could be used for. The nationalist leader called upon the Bulgarian party “Movement for Rights and Freedoms” (DPS) to comment on the matter and say their opinion whether the Bulgarian towns of Krumovgrad, Ardino and Momchilgrad should be renamed with Turkish names instead. Siderov also expressed concern whether “Bulturk” has been invited to Bulgaria to make their polls. “Obviously this organizations is acting with Turkey's assistance,” he said. In his words, the goal of the organization is to show that Bulgarian Muslims want to live in towns that have Turkish names. “This is a manifestation of separatism,” Siderov said. According to him, the poll has been conducted in 8 Bulgarian towns with predominantly Turkish population. The questions included whether Bulgaria has given up its assimilation policies and whether Turkish should be an official language in Bulgaria. The “Ataka” leader said that according to information he has, the polls have been conducted for a few days and last night “Bulturk” representatives have come to Bulgaria. He added that his party is ready for civil protests against the organization.
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