MICHELLE OBAMA WALKS INTO RACE ROW ON SPANISH HOLIDAY

Michelle Obama and her youngest daughter, Sasha, seven, have arrived in Spain for a short holiday as US officials scrambled to defuse embarassing allegations of institutional racism against their host country. Hours before the first African-American first lady of the US and her daughter were settling into the luxurious Villa Padierna hotel on the outskirts of Marbella, the US state department removed a warning about police racism in Spain from one of its websites. "We have received isolated reports that racial prejudice may have contributed to the arrest or detention of some African-Americans travelling in Spain," the bureau of consular affairs had warned on its travel advice website. "Recently, two African-American US government employees were questioned by police in Barcelona for no apparent reason. One was detained and suffered physical injuries in the process." The warning disappeared yesterday, but was still accessible in the page's internet cache. Sources at the Villa Padierna hotel said that Michelle Obama had told them she had come to Spain to rest and relax. President Barack Obama, who turns 49 today, is not expected in Spain. His elder daughter Malia, 10, is at a summer camp. Secret service personnel working for the White House have already scouted several spots that the Obama's might visit, including the Alhambra palace complex at Granada. Michelle Obama is expected to see King Juan Carlos and other members of Spain's royal family, who are holidaying in Majorca.


Guardian

Neo-Nazi arrested over U.S. synagogue vandalism was adopted by Jews

Police arrest 22-year-old Ian Jacob Baron for allegedly spray-painting 'death 2 Zionists' and 'work will set u free' all over Maryland synagogue walls.

Washington police said Thursday a 22-year-old man arrested for allegedly vandalizing a Maryland synagogue earlier this week was adopted in the past by Jewish parents, The Washington Post reported.

Earlier this week, anti-Semitic phrases such as “death 2 Zionists" and "work will set u free," (after the infamous Auschwitz death camp sign reading "Arbeit Macht Frei"), were spray-painted through out the grounds of the B’nai Shalom Synagogue of Olney near Washington D.C.

Ian Jacob Baron, who at first denied the allegations and then admitted he was behind the crime, was known to the police as homeless and used to hang out in a shack which stated at the entrance that it was for "White Only!," police officers told the Washington Post.

According to the D.C. police, Baron was associated with several radical U.S. groups, and was convicted in the past in relation to crimes of a similar nature, defacing two private properties in the area, painting a swastika on a tree, and painting two mailboxes and painting a partial swastika on a driveway.

Haaretz

Rise in anti-Semitic incidents concerns community leaders

Anti-Semitic incidents have increased in Greater Manchester, a new report shows.

There were 89 incidents reported to the Community Security Trust across the region in the first six months of 2010, compared to just 57 two years ago.

The figures represent a 56 per cent rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the two years.

However, the numbers of incidents fell dramatically since this time last year, when anti-Jewish sentiment increased amid a number of high profile international events, like the Gaza conflict in January of that year.

The body classifies as an anti-semitic incident any malicious act aimed at Jewish people, organisations or property, where there is evidence that the act has anti-semitic motivation or content, or the victim was targeted because they are (or are believed to be) Jewish.

The CST believe the increase is down to ‘changing’ demography in Prestwich and in north Manchester - due to a more visible Jewish community and those more willing to report anti-Semitism.

Mark Gardner, CST director of communications said: "After much analysis, we believe that the relative rise of incidents in Greater Manchester is mainly due to the changing demography of the visibly Jewish community (mainly in Prestwich); and also that community’s good links with CST’s local staff and volunteers."

And Lucille Cohen, president of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, said: "I am very disturbed by the rise compared to 2008 and would hope that Bury Council’s efforts in social cohesion promote a more tolerant society."

In February, a mother and son were convicted of carrying out a series of racist attacks on Jewish people by driving past shouting abuse and spraying them with liquid

Manchester Evening News

ROMA CONDEMN INTOLERANCE IN EUROPE AT AUSCHWITZ (Poland)

Roma leaders condemned intolerance against their community across Europe Monday at the WWII Nazi German Auschwitz death camp where they marked 66 years since the massacre of nearly 3,000 Roma. "Roma are still the victims of intolerance, even brutal aggression and instead there is talk of the divisions and conflicts between Sinti and Roma," Roman Kwiatkowski, head of the Roma Association of Poland said at the ceremonies, as quoted by the Polish PAP news agency. Sinti are part of the Roma people, known also as gypsies, but with their own specific dialect. "To all those who say this, I answer clearly at this place: we are a single, great people, especially on this day, International Remembrance Day of Roma Victims of the Holocaust," Kwiatkowski said. "We are deprived of our rights ... The discrimination and persecution of Sinti and Roma must forever disappear from the life of the peoples of Europe," said Romani Rose, leader of Germany's Roma and Sinti. Some 500 Roma from several countries gathered Monday at the foot of a monument commemorating the death of the last group of Roma, nearly 3,000 women, children and elderly people, who were gassed by the Nazis at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on the night of August 2-3, 1944.

Nearly all of the 23,000 Roma and Sinti imprisoned at the "Zigeunerlager" at Auschwitz-Birkenau were killed by the Nazis between 1941-44. Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most notorious of Nazi Germany's WWII death camps is located in the southern Polish town of Oswiecim, which like all of Poland was under German occupation during the Second World War. The Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Monday it had brought together some 80 Roma and non-Roma youth activists from several European countries for four days at the former Auschwitz camp for education about the Nazi's WWII genocide against the Roma. Between 1940-45 Nazi Germany killed some 1.5 million people, including 1.2 million European Jews, at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Other victims included Poles, Roma, and Soviet prisoners of war.

AFP

SWASTIKAS ON FRONTAGES OF KOSHER STORES IN PARIS (France)

Swastikas were discovered on Thursday on the frontages and windows of a dozen kosher stores in Paris, the Union of Jewish Students in France (UEJF) announced. “We see it as a new demonstration of anti-Semitic hatred,” the union said. A police source said four nazi swastikas were traced with a black marker on two shops, on the wall of a Jewish school and on a nearby building of the Boulevard Voltaire, in Paris’s 11th district. "I make a point of expressing my emotion and my indignation following the discovery of swastikas on frontages of the Voltaire boulevard", said the city’s mayor Bertrand Delanoe, in an official statement. "Such acts, which recall the darkest hours of our history, should not remain unpunished. In the name of Paris, I repeat my determination to fight without a break against anti-semitism, and to defend the values of tolerance and of respect which found the identity of our City," he added.


EJ Press

Staten Island Teen Christian Vazquez Attacked in Apparent Anti-Mexican Hate Crime USA

Staten Island has seen a string of recent bias attacks targeting Mexican immigrants, despite stepped up police patrols, and now the latest victim is speaking out. Eighteen-year-old Christian Vazquez, who was assaulted early Saturday morning while heading home from his job as a restaurant busboy, became a victim despite spending the past five years working with a youth anti-violence group that's trained to help others combat bias.

He admits he was terrified by his ordeal.

Vazquez says his attackers kicked and punched him to the ground leaving his eye swollen and his body covered in bruises. His assailants reportedly yelled anti-Mexican epithets during the attack, reports the New York Daily News.

Vazquez told the newspaper his main concern is bringing the perpetrators to justice so that this type of senseless violence doesn't take a life.

"What happened to me could happen to a mother, could happen to a father," he told the newspaper, "and maybe the next victim could end up dead."

Police have tracked down one of his alleged attackers, says the paper.

Ironically enough, the 15-year-old whose name has not been released is also an immigrant, from Liberia. He was being held after appearing at a hearing in Staten Island Family Court.

Vazquez's message to his attackers is bold.

"If you've got a conscience, just come out and say you did it," Vazquez said.

According to the New York Daily News, the attack on Christian Vazquez was the 11th hate crime in the borough of Staten Island since April.

CBS News

Crafton man sentenced to prison on gun charges (USA)

A self-proclaimed white supremacist who praised the killings of three Pittsburgh police officers and encouraged more of the same was sentenced to 30 months in prison Tuesday on federal firearms charges.

Hardy Lloyd, 32, of Crafton pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in April. He was arrested in May 2009 after state probation officers received a tip from an FBI agent who saw a photograph of Mr. Lloyd posted on his blog in which he was holding a rifle.

During a May 27, 2009, search of his home, probation officers found 10 weapons. Mr. Lloyd was prohibited from having firearms because he was on probation from a 2004 case, in which he was accused of killing a female acquaintance, Lori Hann.

Although he was found to have acted in self-defense, Mr. Lloyd was found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm. He was sentenced to 111/2 to 23 months in jail to be followed by three years probation.

Mr. Lloyd's therapist, Anthony Mastroianni, who has been treating him for 10 years, told the court Tuesday his patient has Asperger's syndrome. He believes Mr. Lloyd has made significant progress in his treatment over the past year and is now functioning at about the age level of a 10th-grader.

Defense attorney John Knorr asked the judge to recommend Mr. Lloyd be imprisoned in a facility close to Pittsburgh so he could continue treatment with Mr. Matroianni.

He faced an advisory guideline range sentence of 24 to 30 months.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Picking told the judge that she believed Mr. Lloyd is a danger to himself and others.

"He exhorted others to commit acts of violence," she said, referring to his blog. "Others have tried throughout his entire life to rehabilitate him, and all have failed."

Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond called the guns found at Mr. Lloyd's home "a small arsenal."

"He has made expressions that indicate a potentially violent character," the judge said. "Whether these accurately reflect his inner nature and whether he would act out those statements ... I believe he is a potential danger to himself and others."

In addition to his prison term, Judge Diamond also ordered Mr. Lloyd to serve three years on supervised release. During that time, as part of the plea agreement, Mr. Lloyd is not permitted to run any type of website.

Post Gazzette

Muslim leader calls for Bradford emo to be halted (UK)

A peace organisation has urged Bradford’s Muslim community not to retaliate should the English Defence  League (EDL) march in the city.

Dr Mohammed Iqbal, president of the Bradford branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, has backed the Telegraph & Argus campaign for the Home Secretary Theresa May to ban the planned Bank Holiday demonstration by the EDL.

Thousands of members of the group plan to swamp the city centre with supporters in what it has called “The Big One” on August 28.

Dr Iqbal said: “Ideally, I would like to think that the Home Secretary should step in and stop the march – that would be the best thing for all of us.

“I have had a discussion with all the political figures about this and the last thing we want is trouble.”

He added: “If it is not stopped at that level, then it must not be used as an excuse for violence and disorder. If it is, then they (The EDL) will win and that would be a tragedy for all of us.”

Dr Iqbal said he believed the march had been planned for “inflammatory” purposes and urged Muslims in Bradford not to “fall into the trap” set by the EDL.

Already, the umbrella organisation Bradford Together has collected more than 7,000 signatures in support of the ban.

Supporters include the Unite union, Bradford Chamber of Trade, Bradford University, Bradford Council for Mosques, MPs, councillors and members of the public.

The EDL says it is opposed to “Islamification”. It has held demonstrations in Leeds, Luton, Birmingham, Bolton and Dudley in recent years.

T&A readers can backthe ban by signing our petition calling for the Home Secretary to outlaw the march planned for Saturday, August 28.


Telegraph and Argus

Move to revoke licence of neo-Nazi chimney sweep (Germany)

As a chimney sweep and part-time soccer coach, Lutz Battke is a familiar face in the eastern German town of Laucha, near Erfurt.

The 52-year-old is a town councillor for the neo-Nazi NPD party and is under investigation after a 17-year-old Israeli player on his soccer team was beaten last April by a young man, allegedly a fellow team member, shouting “Judenschwein” (Jewish pig).

Because the football club, BSC 99, has declined to dismiss him, state authorities are determined to revoke his chimney sweep licence.

Extremism experts as well as some locals have expressed concern about whether Mr Battke, one of two NPD councillors, is well placed as coach to recruit new members. “Sports clubs are like an extension of home for young people,” said Gisela Goblirsch, who owns a youth club in Laucha. “The man doesn’t just switch off his own views and attitudes.”

With 13.5 per cent support in Laucha, the NPD polled its highest state-wide result here in local elections. The town is in the state of Saxony Anhalt which, surveys show, has one of Germany’s highest concentration of neo-Nazis. The April attack has made authorities in Saxony-Anhalt step up a two-year campaign against Mr Battke. Attempts to have him banned from working as a chimney sweep have so far failed, after several courts ruled that Mr Battke fulfilled his job obligations adequately.

After their latest court defeat yesterday, state economics minister Reiner Haseloff said the state would appeal once more.

“As a chimney sweep, the man has permission to enter apartments, with police help,” said Mr Haseloff. “Apartments in which perhaps migrants live. That’s something that would make me feel threatened.”

Over at BSC 99, team president Steffen Reisbach has said his hands are tied. Sport regulations stipulate he can dismiss his trainer only if, for instance, allegations of sexual abuse were made. “If we got rid of the Nazis in the football clubs here in the region,” he told a local paper, “many would just close down.”

Irish Times

Cyprus problem is fuelling racism

In Nicosia last week, marchers from the ultra-nationalist youth group ELAM (Greek popular front) attacked  two Asian bystanders. A Nigerian man was beaten and forced into the path of a moving car.

This incident takes its place in the recent litany of violence against foreign workers, students or, in the most notorious case, a 15-year-old Afro-Cypriot assaulted by 40 of her classmates while their teachers stood by. Earlier this year, the Palestinian community centre in Larnaca was vandalised, while the headquarters of the anti-racist organisation KISA are regularly graffitied with swastikas.

It is typical for another reason – the general absence of public sympathy. The teachers' union obstructed punishment of the schoolgirl's attackers, and the Cypriot police are so unwilling to even record racially aggravated assaults that many non-white migrants no longer bother. Listening to opinions on TV phone-ins and talk radio, it becomes clear that the attitude of wider society is that "i xeni" (foreigners) should not be here in the first place, and so deserve whatever they get.

There is an irony here, given the number of Cypriots who emigrated in the 60s and 70s to seek a better life abroad. Indeed, some estimates put the number of diaspora Cypriots as being greater than the remaining population of the island. As Denis MacShane remarked last week, Cypriots have become a formidable enough voting block in London that they may prove a significant obstacle to David Cameron's desire for closer ties with Turkey.

Of course, Cyprus is not alone in struggling to cope with rising immigration. Indeed, due to geographical proximity to both Africa and Asia, and to the porous Green Line, Cyprus has one of the highest rates of migration – both legal and illegal – in Europe.

Nonetheless, there is something uniquely callous in the Cypriot attitude to asylum seekers, economic migrants and, to put it most simply, non-whites of all kinds. It is more striking given the low crime and unemployment rates, the high GDP per capita compared with all neighbouring nations, and the island's long history of welcoming outsiders (such as refugees from the Armenian genocide in 1915).

The major source of such disregard for people outside one's own ethnic group is the Cyprus problem, and no solution currently on the table would address this. Whether one chooses to date the situation to the invasion by Turkey in 1974, the coup by junta-supported Greek Cypriots the same year, the bombings by Turkey in 1964, the attempt by Greek Cypriots to tear up the constitution in 1963, or simply to the British colonial strategy of divide and rule, the fact is that Cypriots have been split along ethnic lines far beyond living memory. The sandbags and barbed wire of the Green Line that runs through the middle of Nicosia are only the most potent reminder of this.

Since 1974, the international conversation about Cyprus has been of "bi-communal solutions". Both sides have formally committed to separate administrations for Greek and Turkish Cypriots plus a central assembly where representatives of the two sides will meet in equal numbers. Another possible solution, talked of with increasing frequency, is of a permanent partition into two states. External parties – the UN, EU, UK, Greece and Turkey – allow no other possibilities to be discussed.

Allowing only two ethnicities into the national conversation encourages zero-sum thinking, where "we" can only win if "they" lose. Both sides try hard to portray themselves as the only victims of the conflict, often in toe-curlingly exaggerated language.

Like all victim complexes, the Cypriot version leaves little room for nuanced understanding of a newly multicultural country. Faced in the 1950s with the need to formally assign minorities to one of the two permitted groups, Cypriot authorities decided the question along religious lines, with the mostly Muslim Roma becoming "Turkish" and the Catholic Maronites "Greek". How might they deal with today's growing Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish populations? Why should their descendants be forced to become "Greek" or "Turkish"?

Without external pressure to admit that the biggest injustices on the island these days are practiced against non-indigenous populations, Cypriots will continue to assume a pose of self-righteous victimhood.

The Guardian

BNP vote collapses (UK)

The British National Party percentage vote nearly halved in the space of two months in a ward in  Wolverhampton, thanks to 23 trade union volunteers who campaigned against the fascist party.

In a five-way fight the BNP candidate, Stewart Gardner, took just 131 votes, amounting to 6.6% in a by-election on 29 July. Anti-fascists delivered a glossy local leaflet to the ward’s 4,800 homes giving the trade union alternative to the BNP.

The result was that 78% of the 589 people who voted BNP in May did not do so last month.

The local Trade Union Council has run a campaign against the BNP, leafleting every home, in every election since the party started fielding candidates five years ago. The BNP has never won a seat and has not even improved on the result it obtained the first time it stood.

Hope Not Hate

‘DISCRIMINATION EVERYWHERE’ AS MIGRANTS LAUNCH NETWORK FOR EQUALITY (Malta)

Arononon Touray was looking at his friend cycling on the Hal Far road leading towards Birzebbuga when, without warning, a pick-up truck pulled up next to the cyclist. A group of young men got out of the pick-up, approached his friend, shoved him to the ground, laughing heartily as they did so, then sped away moments later as if they had done nothing out of the ordinary. It was this and other similar incidents of discrimination that prompted Mr Touray and other migrants in Malta to join forces and form a ‘network’ to fight for their rights. Migrant communities, which include Somalis, Eritreans, Sudanese and Ivorians, have been meeting for the past four months to discuss their most pressing issues before yesterday’s launch of the network for equality, Mr Touray explained. Besides sending a letter to Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici calling him to address some of the most pertinent issues in their quest for equality, the migrants’ network also said that they are in the process of writing to Cecilia Malmstrom, the EU’s Commissioner for Home Affairs, to highlight the plight of migrants in Malta.

Speaking on behalf of the group at yesterday’s launch in the Common Room of the university, Mr Touray said that “migrants are still heavily discriminated against in Malta, simply because we have a different skin colour. “In the time we have spent living here, we have met countless persons who were kind to us and treated us as equals. “However, others are treating us like second class citizens. On several occasions we have been subjected to verbal abuse, refused the right to board a bus, denied the right to rent an apartment and have had to work in appalling conditions, simply because of our skin colour. “To compound matters, we have to deal with attacks from those who cannot control their racial hatred towards us and several of us have been beaten up, the most tragic one being Suleiman Abubaker, who lost his life in Paceville after allegedly being beaten by a bouncer and passers-by,” said Mr Touray. A few months later another friend of Mr Touray’s committed suicide because he could no longer tolerate the constant hardship he endured throughout his difficult life.

In the letter to Dr Mifsud Bonnici, the migrants outlined some of the struggles they have had to face on a day-to-day basis, and put forward a set of proposals for the government to consider “if it really wants the migrant community in Malta to achieve total equality”. Supported by 12 NGOs, which include the General Workers Union, Moviment Graffiti, Friends of the Earth, and 26 university academics among whom are Alternattiva Demokratika leader Michael Brigulio, Head of Sociology Department Mark-Anthony Falzon and philosopher Joseph Friggieri, the letter highlights six main issues that the migrants’ network feels the government should tackle immediately. These include clamping down on discrimination, stepping up the asylum application process that would grant migrants the right to move to other EU countries, and more assistance to migrants to help them find adequate accommodation and employment. “We urge the Maltese government to reopen the debate in the European Parliament to discuss the granting of rights to travel, live and work in EU countries for people with protection, since Malta was the only country which opposed this proposal in December 2008. We believe that granting such rights could help tackle some of the negative effects of the Dublin Regulation as it would, at least, make it possible for some people to go and live in other EU countries,” added Mr Touray, quoting from the letter address to Dr Mifsud Bonnici.

Unemployment rights and ‘miserable open centre conditions’

For Alidu Osman, another spokesperson of the migrants’ network, a further pressing social issue that needs changing is the migrants’ right to unemployment benefits. “We think that people who have been working and who have paid at least 50 National Insurance contributions over a period of two years or less should be given the right, as the Maltese are, to receive unemployment benefits,” he said. Around this time last year, migrants protested, albeit peacefully, that they could no longer endure living conditions in the Marsa and Hal Far open centres. When asked whether last year’s protests had reaped rewards, Mr Osman replied: “Conditions did improve, albeit for a short while, but now the situation has returned to the way it was before the protests, and life is now again as miserable as it was before. “To add insult to injury, a fire in one of the hangars at Hal Far last May has further worsened living conditions. The government has to realise that putting scores of migrants in a desolate aircraft hangar is simply not a feasible long term option,” he said. It was also wrong and unjust to divide migrants into two groups, commented Mr Osman, when asked to give his views on the recent group of migrants who were sent back to Libya while some of those who had travelled with them on the same boat were allowed to stay in Malta.

“Most of us have done our utmost to escape from countries torn by civil war and unrest. For the majority, the only option was to make our way to Libya and escape from there. The group of migrants who are now back in Libya are probably doomed to a life of more struggle and hardship,” said Mr Osman. Taking into consideration such factors, it is no wonder that migrants do everything to escape from Malta, at times even illegally, Moviment Graffiti spokesperson André Callus said yesterday. “Many of those who are caught attempting to flee from Malta with invalid documentation are sent back and when charged and arraigned in court with the offence, are given a minimum six-month jail term. This, all the NGOs feel, is a gross injustice, since it is often the case that suspended sentences are handed down by magistrates to people who commit an illegal act for the first time,” stated Mr Callus.

Malta Independant

FAR-RIGHT AUSTRIAN LEADER JOERG HAIDER SECRETLY HAD £40 MILLION IN LIECHTENSTEIN

Prosecutors from Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein found 12 shell companies whose Liechtenstein bank accounts Haider had access to, Profil magazine reported. The accounts currently still have 5 million euros of deposits, it said. The money was found in an investigation by Austrian and German authorities into the near-collapse of Austrian bank Hypo Group Alpe Adria, once owned by the Austrian region of Carinthia, which Haider governed until he died in a car crash in 2008. Haider’s Carinthia and a group of mainly German and Austrian investors sold a majority stake in Hypo to Germany’s BayernLB in 2007 in a deal that ultimately proved disastrous. Hypo had to be nationalised last year to prevent a collapse. Prosecutors are investigating whether former managers, shareholders and business partners of Hypo lined their pockets at the expense of both Hypo and BayernLB. Claudia Haider, the far-right politician’s widow, denied any knowledge of the funds, adding “Nothing like that was described in the estate.”


The Telegraph

Mongolian neo-Nazis: Anti-Chinese sentiment fuels rise of ultra-nationalism

Alarm sounds over rise of extreme groups such as Tsagaan Khass who respect Hitler and reject foreign influence.
Their right hands rise to black-clad chests and flash out in salute to their nation: "Sieg heil!" They praise Hitler's devotion to ethnic purity.

But with their high cheekbones, dark eyes and brown skin, they are hardly the Third Reich's Aryan ideal. A new strain of Nazism has found an unlikely home: Mongolia.

Once again, ultra-nationalists have emerged from an impoverished economy and turned upon outsiders. This time the main targets come from China, the rising power to the south.

Groups such as Tsagaan Khass, or White Swastika, portray themselves as patriots standing up for ordinary citizens in the face of foreign crime, rampant inequality, political indifference and corruption.

But critics say they scapegoat and attack the innocent. The US state department has warned travellers of increased assaults on inter-racial couples in recent years – including organised violence by ultra-nationalist groups.

Dayar Mongol threatened to shave the heads of women who sleep with Chinese men. Three years ago, the leader of Blue Mongol was convicted of murdering his daughter's boyfriend, reportedly because the young man had studied in China.

Though Tsagaan Khass leaders say they do not support violence, they are self-proclaimed Nazis. "Adolf Hitler was someone we respect. He taught us how to preserve national identity," said the 41-year-old co-founder, who calls himself Big Brother.

"We don't agree with his extremism and starting the second world war. We are against all those killings, but we support his ideology. We support nationalism rather than fascism."

It is, by any standards, an extraordinary choice. Under Hitler, Soviet prisoners of war who appeared Mongolian were singled out for execution. More recently, far-right groups in Europe have attacked Mongolian migrants.

Not all ultra-nationalists use this iconography; and widespread ignorance about the Holocaust and other atrocities may help to explain why some do.

Tsagaan Khass points out that the swastika is an ancient Asian symbol – which is true, but does not explain the group's use of Nazi colours, the Nazi eagle and the Nazi salute; or the large picture of the Führer on Big Brother's cigarette case.

Nor does it seem greatly relevant, given their unabashed admiration for Hitler's racial beliefs.

"We have to make sure that as a nation our blood is pure. That's about our independence," said 23-year-old Battur, pointing out that the population is under three million.

"If we start mixing with Chinese, they will slowly swallow us up. Mongolian society is not very rich. Foreigners come with a lot of money and might start taking our women."

Big Brother acknowledges he discovered such ideas through the nationalist groups that emerged in Russia after the Soviet Union's fall; Mongolia had been a satellite state. But the anti-Chinese tinge is distinct and increasingly popular.

"While most people feel far-right discourse is too extreme, there seems to be a consensus that China is imperialistic, 'evil' and intent on taking Mongolia," said Franck Billé of Cambridge University, who is researching representations of Chinese people in Mongolia.

Hip hop tracks such as Don't Go Too Far, You Chinks by 4 Züg – chorus: "shoot them all, all, all" – have been widely played in bars and clubs. Urban myths abound; some believe Beijing has a secret policy of encouraging men to have sex with Mongolian women.

Yet Tsagaan Khass claims it welcomes law-abiding visitors of all races, and Big Brother can certainly be hospitable.
Enthusiastically shaking hands, he says: "Even though you are a British citizen, you are still Asian, and that makes you very cool."

He says the younger members have taught him to be less extreme and the group appears to be reshaping itself – expelling "criminal elements" and insisting on a good education as a prerequisite for membership. One of the leaders is an interior designer.

But critics fear ultra-nationalists are simply becoming more sophisticated and, quietly, more powerful. Tsagaan Khass say it "works closely" with other organisations and is now discussing a merger.

"Some people are in complete denial … [but] we can no longer deny this is a problem," said Anaraa Nyamdorj, of Mongolia's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre.

The US state department has noted increased reports of xenophobic attacks since the spring. The UN country review cites a recent vicious assault on three young transgender women. When one of the victims publicly blamed an ultra-nationalist group – not Tsagaan Khass – death threats quickly followed.

"They are getting more support from the public," added Enkhjargal Davaasuren, director of the National Centre Against Violence, who fears that ultra-nationalists are growing more confident and victims too scared to come forward. She pointed to a YouTube video posted last year, showing a man roughly shaving a woman's long hair. The victim's face is buried in her hands, but her hunched body reeks of fear.

Others in Ulan Bator suggest the movement is waning and suspect the groups' menacing stance and claims of 3,000 members are bluster. Billé thinks there is "a lot of posturing".

"We have heard of instances [of violence]. They are not necessarily all right or all wrong," said Javkhlan, a Tsagaan Khass leader. But the group is simply a "law enforcement" body, he maintained: "We do checks; we go to hotels and restaurants to make sure Mongolian girls don't do prostitution and foreigners don't break the laws.

"We don't go through and beat the shit out of everyone. We check our information and make sure it's true."

They rely on police and media pressure to reform such businesses, he added. And if that failed? "We try to avoid using power," he said. "That would be our very last resort."

The Guardian

'Racist' powder attacks closed hospital A & E and police station (UK)

Police have made four arrests after attacks on three men with powder from a fire extinguisher sparked a  major chemical alert which closed a hospital A&E department and a police station.

Firefighters and police officers were called to North Manchester General in Crumpsall after one of the victims rushed there with burns to his face.

The A&E department was closed, and part of Collyhurst police station was also shut after a second victim went there. Both buildings were later reopened when it was discovered that the powder was harmless.

Four men have been arrested and police say that because black men were targeted in the attacks, they are treating them as racially aggravated incidents.

The scare began when taxi driver Kalu Amah was sprayed as he sat in his cab near Harpurhey market. The powder burned his face and he rushed to North Manchester General.

Bosses there were informed and they immediately closed the A&E department, shortly after 3pm yesterday.

Twenty patients and ten staff were quarantined in the ward while tests were carried out on Mr Amah and his clothing.
The incident came after reports that a man had also been covered in powder in Jersey Street, Ancoats, just after 2.30pm.

And in a third case a man reported being targeted in Blueberry Avenue, Moston at 5.40pm.

One of the men went to Collyhurst police station to report the incident and part of the station had to be closed while tests were carried out. Mr Amah, 42, from Moston, was treated at the hospital and later released. He told how he was sprayed by a group of youths in a car.

He said: "My windows were down, and a blue Ford pulled up beside me.

"I thought the driver was going to ask for directions, but before I knew it they sprayed me in the face with something.

"I saw two black pipes, but it all happened in a second. It was powdery and white, all over my face. My eyes and nose were burning.

"It not only wasted my time and money, they wasted the time of the ambulance, police and fire brigade.

"I’m really angry about it. People don’t realise what they are doing."

Sadie Kirkham, 45, from Harpurhey, was in North Manchester General’s A&E with her husband as he waited for a back X-ray. Mrs Kirkham said: "We were then told there was a major chemical incident and we all had to be locked in for our own safety.

"Some people who had nipped outside for a cigarette couldn’t get back in to see their children. We didn’t know what on earth it was. It could have been anthrax or anything. I think they did the right thing in keeping us in."

Watch commander Ian Hanley said that tests had revealed the chemical was from a fire extinguisher and not dangerous.

The four men arrested were detained on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and remain in police custody.

Detective Inspector Alex Nicholson said: "We believe there are other victims out there who have had powder thrown onto them. While it is important they seek medical advice it is equally important they call the police.

"The vast majority of victims were black men and we are treating this as a racially aggravated series of attacks."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 3540 or call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

Manchester Evening News

Anti-racism group furious after MAS Carnival snub (Wlaes, UK)

Members of a Welsh anti-racism group say they are furious after their invite to participate in the weekend’s MAS parade was withdrawn at the last minute.

Cardiff Communities Against Racism was formed earlier this year in response to a march by the far-right English Defence League in the city in June.

Creator of the group Ross Saunders was contacted by South Wales Intercultural Community Arts (SIWCA), which organises the annual MAS carnival and invited them to participate.

But Cardiff council said yesterday that the group were asked not to come because the carnival “is not a vehicle for political protest”.

Spokesman for Cardiff Communities Against Racism Joe Fathallah said the group’s ethos was to bring communities in Cardiff together, which, he said, was what the MAS carnival is about.

“SIWCA said they would like to have us along on the parade,” he said.

“We made a banner and printed leaflets so people knew what we were about. We put in a lot of time and effort, but on Friday morning we had a phone call telling us that the council wouldn’t allow us to come along to the parade.

“They claimed it would be against the ethos of the carnival and politicise the event.”

The MAS carnival, which was first created in 1990 by SIWCA, celebrates the cultural diversity of South Wales.

A Cardiff council spokesperson said: “While Cardiff council supports the sentiments behind Cardiff Communities Against Racism, the inclusion of any non-performance group or organisation would change the whole artistic ethos of the carnival

“The MAS carnival is a multicultural community arts project that celebrates the diversity and multiculturalism of Cardiff. It is not a vehicle for political protest.

“However, we would be pleased to listen to any ideas Cardiff Communities Against Racism may have regarding promoting racial tolerance in our capital city.”

Wales Online

The global reach of neo-Nazis

From Israel to India, Taiwan and Chile … far-right groups are spreading

Israel In 2008, four suspects were charged with neo-Nazi activities. They were members of a gang called Patrol 35 which targeted other minorities and desecrated synagogues. Some of the gang were Soviet immigrants who refused to accept their Jewish ancestry.

Chile Patria Nueva Sociedad (New Fatherland Society) is a well-organised neo-Nazi group in Chile. Its leaders claim to adhere to Nazi economic and labour principles but say the group is against xenophobia, racism and discrimination.

Russia Neo-Nazi gangs such as the White Wolves have resorted to lethal violence to get across their message of white supremacy. Gang members were jailed this year after several central Asian migrants were attacked and killed in Moscow's back streets.

Taiwan In 2007 university students formed the National Socialism Association. The group claimed to have 800 members and a spokesperson said: "We want to study Hitler's good points, not study his massacres."

India A growing trend for Hitler memorabilia in India has caused shock. One publisher claims to have sold more than 100,000 copies of Mein Kampf (left) to Indians in the last 10 years. Some Indians have claimed to be inspired by Hitler's "discipline and patriotism".

The Guardian

POLITICAL OPPONENTS, ACADEMICS SAY PVV INFLUENCE WILL BE GREAT (Netherlands)

A minority VVD CDA cabinet supported by the PVV will give the anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders a lot of influence on government policy, academics and politicians say in Saturday's NRC. The three party leaders are expected to start talks next week on drawing up right-wing policy which the PVV will support from outside government. Wilders has already said he will continue to speak his mind about Islam and expects tough policy on integration, immigration and public safety in return for his backing.

Responsibility
Wim Voermans, professor of constitutional law at the University of Leiden said the PVV has everything to gain with a minority cabinet. 'Wilders wins a lot of time. He lets it be seen that he wants to take responsibility for government,' Voermans told the NRC. 'But he can always walk away and say 'they really don't want me. I have done everything I could.' And politicial scientist Marcel Boogers said the VVD and CDA will be very dependent on the PVV which will have a disproportionate influence on the cabinet. 'Wilders does not have to supply any ministers and get his hands dirty but he can hold hostage and blackmail the VVD and CDA,' Boogers said. A minority VVD and CDA cabinet which looks for support from different parties depending on the policy would be a preferable option, he said.

Power
MPs are concerned as well. 'Wilders will not be in the cabinet, but he will be the real prime minister,' said Labour MP Sharon Dijksma. 'Wilders has got Verhagen and Rutte on a lead. He doesn't carry the risk of the talks collapsing but has all the power,' said Boris van Ham of the D66 Liberal party. André Rouvoet, deputy prime minister in the outgoing government and leader of the orthodox ChristenUnie, was blunt. 'If Wilders' preference really is for a minority government, that would seem to me to be every reason not to do it,' he told the paper.

Dutch News

EU TURNING BLIND EYE TO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ROMA, SAY HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS

The European Union was today accused of "turning a blind eye" as countries across Europe carried out a wave of expulsions and introduced new legislation targeting the Roma. Human rights groups criticised the EU for failing to address the real issues driving Europe's largest ethnic minority to migrate in the first place and for choosing not to upbraid countries for breaking both domestic and EU laws in their treatment of them. The criticism came after France announced it would round up and expel illegal Roma immigrants and destroy hundreds of their encampments. Elsewhere, it emerged that the city of Copenhagen had requested Danish government assistance to deport up to 400 Roma, and that Swedish police had expelled Roma in breach of its own and EU laws. In Belgium a caravan of 700 Roma has been chased out of Flanders and forced to set up camp in French-speaking Wallonia in the south. Italy, which in 2008 declared a state of emergency due to the presence of Roma, and evicted thousands of them, mainly to Romania and Bulgaria, is continuing to implement the policy to this day. Germany is in the process of repatriating thousands of Roma children and adolescents to Kosovo, despite warnings they will face discrimination, appalling living conditions, lack of access to education as well as language problems, because many of them were born in Germany and do not speak Serbian or Albanian.

In eastern European countries that are EU members, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, accounts are rife of widespread discrimination against Roma, including physical attacks. Amnesty International said the EU had "turned a blind eye" to what it called a "serious breach of human rights" towards Europe's Roma, who are roughly estimated to number about 16 million. "There is a clear and systemic programme of EU governments targeting Roma," said Anneliese Baldaccini, a lawyer at Amnesty's EU office. The Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), which monitors the situation of Roma in Europe, called on the EU to be "much more forthright" in pointing out to member states "the clear requirements of the free movement law". "Poverty, discrimination and a whole host of things make life unbearable for Roma in their countries of origin," said the ERRC's executive director, Robert Kushen. "We would welcome strong EU involvement to address some of these issues," he said.

The campaign groups were responding to the European Commission's insistence this week that the issue was one for individual states to handle. "When it comes to Roma and the possibility of expelling them, this is up to the member states to deal with – in this case France – and for them to decide how they are going to implement the law," said Matthew Newman, spokesman for the European justice commissioner, Viviane Reding. French president Nicholas Sarkozy was this week accused of pursuing a "xenophobic" and "discriminatory" crackdown on the country's 400,000 Travellers, Gypsies and Roma – most of whom have French citizenship. Interior minister Brice Hortefeux announced new measures including the dismantling of about 300 encampments and the "quasi-immediate" expulsion to Romania or Bulgaria of Roma with a criminal record.

Amnesty said the EU should penalise countries that have persistently failed to uphold the human rights of Roma. Among the harshest measures applicable under the charter of fundamental rights that came into force with the Lisbon treaty last year is the withdrawal of voting rights, or even expulsion from the union. "The EU under the Lisbon Treaty...has the responsibility to address human rights within the 27 member states," said Amnesty's executive officer for legal affairs in the European Union, Susanna Mehtonen. Campaign groups say the EU's failure to intervene calls into question its commitment to the Charter of Fundamental Rights that came into force with the passage of the Lisbon Treaty last year, and was heralded as a "new dawn" for human rights in Europe. They have accused Brussels of cowardice when it comes to the Roma. While the commission has no competence to defend gay rights, either, it has frequently been ready to criticise homophobic legislation in eastern Europe – largely, it is believed, because gay rights are well established in western European countries, unlike the rights of Roma.

Guardian

ANTI-ISLAM PARTY SUPPORTS FIRST DUTCH MINORITY CABINET SINCE WORLD WAR II (Netherlands)

Wilders

The Liberal Party and the Christian Democratic Alliance agreed to form a government with the support of the  anti-immigrant Freedom Party, creating the Netherlands’ first minority Cabinet since World War II. The “parties accept each other’s differing opinions” on the characterization of Islam, the parties said in a joint statement. “However, there’s a lot of common ground: making the Netherlands stronger, safer and wealthier is a common goal and starting point.” The three parties said the Freedom Party will support parts of a government agreement to be negotiated between the Liberal Party, or VVD, and the Christian Democratic Alliance, or CDA, while the latter two take into account wishes of the Freedom Party. The “willingness” of the Freedom Party, or PVV, to support budget cuts will be linked to agreements on issues including immigration, integration and public safety, the parties said. It took six weeks and three rounds of talks to reach the agreement following the June 9 election. The Liberal Party and Christian Democrats, with a combined 52 seats in the lower house of parliament, will rely on the Freedom Party’s 24 lawmakers to gain the smallest possible majority in the 150-seat parliament.

‘Possibilities’
“We’ve concluded we see possibilities for a government with CDA and VVD with support from the PVV,” Liberal Party leader Mark Rutte told reporters in The Hague. The coalition will offer power for the Freedom Party, whose representation more than doubled in the elections, and the Christian Democrats of outgoing Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who lost half their support. “It may work out,” said Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, which seeks to ban new mosques, curb immigration, cut development aid and reduce European Union influence. “The negotiations are yet to start, but if it does work, that would be great for the Netherlands. I am very happy this offers chances in the Netherlands to make political cooperation happen on the right side,” he told reporters in The Hague. Wilders, 47, receives police protection around the clock and faces trial in the Netherlands on charges of inciting hatred in his 2008 film “Fitna,” in which he calls on Muslims to rip out “hate-preaching” verses from the Koran.

Austerity
Austerity measures are the most important issue on political leaders’ agenda, with the Netherlands, the fifth- largest economy in the euro region, needing to narrow its budget deficit from a forecast 6.3 percent of gross domestic product this year to 3 percent by 2013 to meet EU rules. Wilders’ Freedom Party will support an 18 billion-euro ($23 billion) cut in the government budget, Dutch public broadcaster NOS quoted him as saying on its website. Queen Beatrix last week asked Ruud Lubbers, a three-time prime minister, to broker talks among the parties to form a coalition backed by a majority in parliament following the election. Lubbers will speak with leaders of the other political parties on Aug. 2 before reporting back to the Queen on the proposed minority Cabinet, the government information service said in an e-mailed statement. Yesterday’s agreement is “surprising in the sense that Lubbers was asked to investigate the possibilities of forming a majority Cabinet,” Labor Party leader Job Cohen told NOS radio. “Our country needs a stable majority Cabinet in this difficult economic situation.” The Queen’s adviser should consider other majority backed options first, in accordance with his task, Cohen said.

Bloomberg