The Council of Europe has expressed grave concerns at France's controversial deportation of Roma migrants. “Recent developments in several European countries, most recently evictions of Roma camps in France and expulsions of Roma from France and Germany, are certainly not the right measures to improve the situation of this vulnerable minority. On the contrary, they are likely to lead to an increase in racist and xenophobic feelings in Europe,” Mevlüt Çavuþoðlu, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), declared on Friday. Following a debate in June, PACE said it was shocked by recent outrages against this minority in Europe. “Taking advantage of the financial crisis, some governments and groups capitalise on fears deriving from the equation made between Roma and criminals, choosing a scapegoat that presents an easy target, as Roma are among the most vulnerable groups of all. The European Court of Human Rights has regularly condemned states in which Roma have suffered from abuse or discrimination,” the President said, recalling also that Protocol No. 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights prohibited the collective expulsion of aliens.
Stressing that the process of Roma integration has not reached its objectives over the last 20 years, the PACE President urged member states to face up to their responsibilities and to tackle the issue of the situation of Roma seriously and sustainably. He re-iterated PACE’s call for determined measures with regard to education, employment, housing, health care and political participation. The PACE President welcomed the adoption by many member states of national strategies for improving the situation and the integration of Roma. “This is positive but not sufficient. Such action plans need adequate and long-term funding, efficient co-ordination and have also to be implemented at local and regional levels.” The situation of Roma in Europe will also be one of the issues to be discussed during the PACE President’s official visit to Romania from 29 August to 1 September. France continued with its controversial deportation of Roma migrants on Friday afternoon, when 130 passengers boarded a charter plane, bound for Romania. A day earlier French authorities deported 86 Roma from illegal squatting camps to Romania in the largest expulsion seen in France since President Nicolas Sarkozy called for tougher action against Roma living in the country illegally. A total of 850 Roma persons will have to leave France by the end of August.
The next deportation is expected for next Thursday, when 160 persons will be deported. Meanwhile, the French government made it clear it is reluctant to style its actions as "deportation", saying that Roma people are leaving the country by mutual agreement and for a compensation (EUR 300 per adult, EUR 100 per child), and also retain the right to return whenever they might wish. Roma from Romania and Bulgaria are allowed free passage into France if they are European Union citizens. After that, however, they must find work, start studies, or find some other way of becoming established in France or risk deportation. The French government said those Roma being deported this week have overstayed the three-month limit.
Novinite
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Canadian Media Clamouring To Give Well Known Racist/Neo-Nazi A Platform
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| Paul Fromm |
Last week in Calgary Paul Fromm and a group from the Aryan Guard protested in front of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s constituency office with signs ‘Stand Up, Send the Illegals Back’. This weekend, Paul Fromm organized a rally at Esquimalt to oppose the landing of the MV Sun Sea. In a press release, he made absurd and false allegations about the boat being found with drugs and explosives.
“Paul Fromm, now fronting as the leader of the Canada First Committee, is a known neo-Nazi leader and one of Canada’s most notorious white supremacists. Fromm has spoken at Heritage Front events, including a celebration of Hitler’s birthday. He cannot be given an uncritical platform to spew his hate,” says Maitland Cassia of Anti Racist Action- Vancouver.
Fromm received prominent media coverage all weekend including by the Toronto Star, Canadian Press, CTV, and CFAX 1070 with little mention of his notorious links. According to Shane Calder of the Victoria Anti Racist Network, “Government officials and media outlets should all be aware about his extremist white supremacist links, and should report on them. It should be absolutely unacceptable that well-known neo-Nazis and white supremacists are openly organizing rallies for the ship to be sent back.
We should all be organizing counter-rallies against in response to their hateful and oppressive views.”
“It is frightening when Vic Toews and Paul Fromm are parroting the same unsubstantiated lies about terrorists, criminals and illegals to justify public hysteria and a large security operation. Is this really the direction we want to be going in? Or do we want to stand on the side of refugee justice, compassion, and respect for life?” states Magin Payet Scudalleri, a member of No One Is Illegal-Vancouver.
“We should refrain from stereotyping these migrants and remember that they have survived a long and arduous journey in the hopes that the Canadian state will fully comply with its international refugee and human rights law obligations to the right to asylum” Scudalleri said.
The Link Paper
RACIST THUGS URGED TO HURL PORK AT MUSLIMS (UK)
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| EDL in action |
The hatemongers also advise people to “throw raw strips of bacon” and “cat anddog crap” at followers of Islam, believing it will force them out of Britain.
They suggest touching shop door handles, bus seats and taxis with pork and announcing on Facebook where this has been done.
And they advise fellow sickos to hand Muslims cards that say: “You have just been tainted with a FILTH product. See you in HELL!”
The vile “How To” guide has been posted on a host of right-wing websites and blogs, including those of the English Defence League (EDL) and the English Nationalist Alliance (ENA).
The thugs reckon this tactic will push many Muslims to leave the UK, believing they go to hell if they make contact with pork. But a spokesman for anti-fascist group One Million United said their plan is as flawed as it is sick. He said: “Muslims do not go to hell if they touch pork products. We can only suspect this bizarre idea came from EDL assumptions and guesswork.
“There is nothing stated anywhere that they will face Allah’s wrath if they touch pork products. If the EDL are expecting Muslims to scuttle off, panicking the second a trotter lands near them, they will be disappointed.”
It is not the first time right-wing extremists have used pork in a bid to taunt Muslims. Pigs’ heads were recently placed on the gates of several UK mosques. Billy Baker, spokesman for the ENA – which marched on Westminster on August 1 against Sharia Law – said his group does not condone such threats.
He said: “We do not advocate racism or violence. Our site is visited by extremists who post inflammatory comments.
“Our site moderators do our best to get rid of them as soon as we can.”
Daily Star
Saturday, 21 August 2010
The US blogger on a mission to halt 'Islamic takeover'
Pamela Geller is on a mission to save the free world and she's doing it, on this occasion, in a bikini as she writhes around in the sea.
"Here I am in my chador, my burka," Geller jokes to the camera in one of a string of video blogs campaigning against Islamic "world domination" shortly before kicking back in the waves. "There is a serious reality check desperately needed here in America and I'm here to give it to you, but I'm just not ginormous enough. What can I say? And on that note I'm going to go swimming in the ocean, and visit my mama, and fight for the free world."
This strange performance might suggest that Geller is a figure consigned to the margins of the widening and increasingly heated debate about the role of Muslims in America. Far from it.
The flamboyant New Yorker, who appears on her own website pictured in a tight fitting Superman uniform, has emerged as a leading force in a growing and ever more alarmist campaign against the supposed threat of an Islamic takeover at home and global jihad abroad – and never more so than in the present bitter dispute over plans to build an Islamic centre near the site of the World Trade Centre, brought down by al-Qaida.
Geller has been at the forefront of drumming up opposition to the centre, two blocks from Ground Zero, through an array of websites such as the Freedom Defence Initiative (FDI) and Stop Islamisation of America (SIOA). They have become increasingly influential as conservative politicians exploit anti-Muslim sentiment before November's congressional and state elections.
SIOA is behind a series of advertisements opposing the "Ground Zero Mega Mosque", as Geller calls it, which appeared on the sides of New York buses this week picturing a plane flying into one of the World Trade Centre towers and a mosque divided by the question: Why Here?
Geller's answer is that the planned centre is viewed by Muslims as a "triumphal" monument built on "conquered land".
As extreme as that may seem, Geller and her views have been embraced by leading politicians such as Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, and John Bolton, the conservative former US ambassador to the UN, who are scheduled to speak at a rally against the controversial New York Islamic centre organised by Geller for September 11.
Gingrich this week likened the planned centre to putting Nazi signs outside the Holocaust museum.
The campaign against the centre also has the backing of Liz Cheney, daughter of the former vice-president and prominent conservative activist in her own right.
Geller says that after the September 11 attacks she "began to immerse herself in gaining a full understanding of geopolitics, Islam, jihad, terror, foreign affairs and the imminent threats to our freedoms that the mainstream media and the government wouldn't cover or discuss".
Civil rights groups have accused Geller of "hate speech" for her repeated warnings of a looming threat of "Islamic domination", including a claim that Muslim groups in America are working to impose sharia law on the entire population, and her assertions that the 9/11 attackers were practicing "pure Islam".
Geller has also compared the proposed mosque to a building a Ku Klux Klan shrine next to a black church in Alabama.
But she vigorously denies she is hostile to Muslims. "I'm not anti-Muslim. That's a slanderous slur and it's unfair," Geller said this week. "Secondly, I'm not leading the charge [against the Islamic centre near Ground Zero]. The majority of Americans – 70% – find this deeply insulting, offensive. To call it anti-Muslim is a gross misrepresentation and to say that I'm responsible for all this emotion, again a gross misrepresentation."
Geller, a former associate publisher of the New York Observer, is often found in the professional company of Robert Spencer, a bestselling author who is less generally visible but is taken more seriously as a scholar among conservatives.
Spencer, who describes himself as a consultant to the US military, the FBI and the government's joint terrorism taskforce, is the author of several books, including Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs. He also runs a high-profile website, Jihad Watch, which helped raise some of the tens of thousands of dollars to pay for the New York bus poster campaign.
Together the pair launched several organisations including the FDI, which says it is fighting "specific Islamic supremacist initiatives in American cities" and hunting down "infiltrators of our federal agencies", and SIOA, which calls itself a human rights organisation and is tied to a similar group, Stop Islamisation of Europe, which goes by the motto: "Racism is the lowest form of human stupidity, but Islamophobia is the height of common sense".
One member of the board of the Freedom Defence Initiative is John Joseph Kay, who has written that all Muslims are out to kill ordinary Americans: "Every person in Islam, from man to woman to child may be our executioner. In short, that there are no innocents in Islam ... all of Islam is at war with us, and that all of Islam is/are combatant(s).(sic)"
Geller and Spencer wrote a book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America, for which Bolton provided the forward.
Geller writes for an Israeli media network based in the occupied territories that is the voice of the Jewish settler movement and runs another website, Leave Islam Safely, which claims to offer guidance on how to escape the religion without being killed.
But her principal outlet is her blog, Atlas Shrugs, named after the philosophical novel by the arch-conservative Russian emigre, Ayn Rand, which promoted "the morality of rational self-interest".
In Atlas Shrugs, Geller lays bare her sympathies with extremist groups across the globe. She has vigorously defended Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president who died while on trial at The Hague for war crimes, and denied the existence of Serbian concentration camps in the 1990s.
She has allied herself with racist extremists in South Africa in promoting a claim that the black population is carrying out a "genocide" of whites.
The website also carries a picture of Geller hugging Geert Wilders, the far-right Dutch politician who advocates banning the Qu'ran and the construction of new mosques, and runs a support campaign for him as he faces trial for incitement to hatred.
Geller has also spoken out in favour of the English Defence League. When the anti-Islamic organisation was planning a rally outside parliament earlier this year, she wrote: "How I wish I could be there to stand with the English Defense League".
Geller has claimed regular contact with the EDL leadership and recently published a screed by the organisation's spokesman, Trevor Kelway. She said in one of her blogs: "I share the EDL's goals ... We need to encourage rational, reasonable groups that oppose the Islamisation of the West and not leave it solely to fringe groups like the BNP."
Geller has also said the EDL is misrepresented. "The EDL is routinely smeared in the British media, as the Tea Party activists are smeared in the US media ... There is nothing racist, fascist, or bigoted about the EDL," she wrote.
While mainstream politicians in Britain and other parts of Europe generally steer clear of the likes of the EDL, Wilders and Serbian war criminals, Geller is providing a bridge between foreign extremists and prominent politicians in the US.
Wilders is scheduled to appear on stage at the September 11 anti-mosque rally alongside Gingrich, Bolton and Gary Berntsen, a candidate for the US Senate.
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, the most prominent hate monitoring group in America, said that the campaign against the Islamic centre near Ground Zero had mixed political exploitation with hate-mongering.
"The politicians and other opportunists are stoking the fires," said Marc Potok, who heads the centre's operation to monitor the extreme right. "The politicians are in it because they want to win more seats. The Pamela Gellers of the world apparently will do anything they can to attack Islam and this Islamic centre has provided them with a very large opening."
Potok says that Geller and others have crossed the line from legitimate debate.
"I think we have seen a great deal of hate speech. It is one thing to talk about the sensibilities of New Yorkers and of survivors and relatives of those who died.
"It is quite another to talk about conspiracies on the part of Muslims to dominate the United States, plots to insert sharia law into American statute books, and the idea that Islam is in of itself a great evil. Those things seem to be clearly over the line and we're hearing more and more of that," he said.
Geller did not respond to requests for an interview. But the American Civil Liberties Union, which has spoken out forcefully in support of the right to build the Islamic centre and mosque, said that Geller and others campaigning against the centre were equally protected by the constitution.
"Just as religious liberty is a core American value so too of course is free speech," said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU's freedom of religion programme.
"It's clear that many are exploiting this issue and the deep-seated anti-Muslim bigotry that underlies much of this controversy for bare political gain [but] there certainly is a constitutional right to speak out against this or any other project.
"We have a robust protection of free speech in this country including the right to speak hatefully."
The Guardian
Cops cuff armed white supremacist in Banana Costume (USA)
Carlton Jeffery Kohnert, 21, accompanied by Anthony Marks Maybury, 21, and an unnamed 18-year-old woman, began his trip to jail by flashing at a woman at the Port Angeles Wendy's restaurant.
The three then drove to Saar's Market on US Highway 101 on the east side of town where they entertained locals by "pulling 360s" in the car park.
The jaunt continued through the Four Seasons Ranch neighbourhood, where banana man jumped out out the car and allegedly gave forth loudly about the superiority of the white race.
Cops finally pulled the trio on a nearby highway. Sergeant Randy Pieper, of Clallam County Sheriff's department, explained to the Peninsula Daily News that Kohnert "couldn't really tell us why he was in the costume".
He added: "All we know is he was drinking earlier in the day, but he didn't really have a reason for the costume."
Kohnert has been charged with "reckless endangerment, aiming or discharging a weapon and indecent exposure". Maybury was collared for "investigation of reckless endangerment", while the teenage girl escaped arrest since she was apparently just along for the ride.
Cops were on Tuesday awaiting a warrant to search the car since they spotted "two empty shotgun shells in the passenger seat", but Pieper was able to confirm that "the banana costume has been seized and put into evidence".
The Register
Home Secretary bans English Defence League march in Bradford
The EDL had intended to demonstrate in Bradford on Saturday August 28 and Unite Against Fascism has planned a protest in the city on the same day.
A Home Office spokesman said: ''Having carefully balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected, the Home Secretary today gave her consent to a Bradford Council order banning any marches in the city over the bank holiday weekend.
''West Yorkshire Police are committed to using their powers to ensure communities and property are protected and we encourage all local people to work with the police to ensure community cohesion is not undermined by public disorder.''
The decision by Bradford Council to seek a marching ban followed a formal request by West Yorkshire chief constable Sir Norman Bettison.
Sir Norman said he was taking the action after considering the "understandable concerns of the community".
The move follows a high-profile campaign in the city to stop the EDL march, with some commentators saying they feared it could provoke a violent reaction to rival the riots which shook the city nine years ago.
Despite the ban, groups could still hold static demonstrations in the city.
A 10,000-signature petition opposing the EDL march was handed in to the Home Office earlier this month.
The Telegraph
FIRST ROMA EXPELLED FROM FRANCE REACH ROMANIA
The first 93 ethnic Roma who agreed to the "voluntary return procedure" have left France and landed in Bucharest on Thursday afternoon, as part of a plan of French authorities to expell people living in illegal camps. The 93 ethnic Roma who agreed to a "voluntary return procedure" landed in Bucharest on Thursday afternoon, as part of moves by Paris to expel foreign-born Roma living in France without a permit. Romanian President Traian Basescu said: "Romania has no objection to France's plans to tackle illegal immigration, but it is also supporting the right of any Romanian citizen to travel freely around European Union. 'We need to co-operate better with France on this issue." Kristalina Georgieva, the EU commissioner on International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, expressed concerns over France’s decision. “France’s decision to deport Roma is worrisome for Brussels because it can lead to tension in Bulgaria,” she told local private television channel Nova TV. “Roma should not be assimilated. They should be integrated to become part of society’s productive capacity,” she added.
The French government began the deportation of around 700 Roma people of Romanian and Bulgarian citizenship from illegal camps earlier on Thursday. Those on the flight had agreed to the so-called "voluntary return procedure" under which each adult was granted €300 and each child €100. Around 412 Roma people will be repatriated to Romania by the end of the month, Romanian state secretary Valentin Mocanu has said. A total of 41 Roma are also being deported from France to Bulgaria, local broadcaster Darik Radio reported. The first group of 13 will return on a flight from Paris to Varna, the country's biggest seaside city, on August 25th, while the remainder will arrive on two additional flights on September 10th and 17th, said Bulgaria Air officials quoted by Darik radio.
Deyan Petrov, chairman of Amalipe, a Roma rights organisation based in the Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo, said France’s decision was discriminative. He told Balkan Insight: “We should remember that during World War II Nazis in Germany killed many Roma, claiming that they were fighting crime. "I understand that there are probably some alleged criminals in Roma camps in France, but you can’t dismantle the whole camp just because of that.” “If there’s a mass return of [jobless] Roma to Bulgaria, this could turn into a social crisis.” The office of the French president said in a statement the camps were "sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundly shocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime". It added new legislation would be introduced soon to make the expulsion from France of illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe easier "for reasons of public order".
Rights groups across Europe have attacked France's decision, saying it violated human rights and the Roma were often treated like a sub-class of immigrants and targeted by police. The Roma community in Romania numbers about 535,000 people according to the national census. But non-governmental organisations, NGOs, say the figure is probably between 1.5 - 2 million as many do not declare themselves as Roma amid fears of being discriminated. Roma in Bulgaria number about 370,000 people according to government statistics. But NGOs say the actual number is nearer 700,000. The minority is extremely marginalised, they say, as most live in poor conditions, suffer widespread discrimination and racism and have difficulties finding a job.
Balkan Insight
The French government began the deportation of around 700 Roma people of Romanian and Bulgarian citizenship from illegal camps earlier on Thursday. Those on the flight had agreed to the so-called "voluntary return procedure" under which each adult was granted €300 and each child €100. Around 412 Roma people will be repatriated to Romania by the end of the month, Romanian state secretary Valentin Mocanu has said. A total of 41 Roma are also being deported from France to Bulgaria, local broadcaster Darik Radio reported. The first group of 13 will return on a flight from Paris to Varna, the country's biggest seaside city, on August 25th, while the remainder will arrive on two additional flights on September 10th and 17th, said Bulgaria Air officials quoted by Darik radio.
Deyan Petrov, chairman of Amalipe, a Roma rights organisation based in the Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo, said France’s decision was discriminative. He told Balkan Insight: “We should remember that during World War II Nazis in Germany killed many Roma, claiming that they were fighting crime. "I understand that there are probably some alleged criminals in Roma camps in France, but you can’t dismantle the whole camp just because of that.” “If there’s a mass return of [jobless] Roma to Bulgaria, this could turn into a social crisis.” The office of the French president said in a statement the camps were "sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundly shocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime". It added new legislation would be introduced soon to make the expulsion from France of illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe easier "for reasons of public order".
Rights groups across Europe have attacked France's decision, saying it violated human rights and the Roma were often treated like a sub-class of immigrants and targeted by police. The Roma community in Romania numbers about 535,000 people according to the national census. But non-governmental organisations, NGOs, say the figure is probably between 1.5 - 2 million as many do not declare themselves as Roma amid fears of being discriminated. Roma in Bulgaria number about 370,000 people according to government statistics. But NGOs say the actual number is nearer 700,000. The minority is extremely marginalised, they say, as most live in poor conditions, suffer widespread discrimination and racism and have difficulties finding a job.
Balkan Insight
CONTROVERSIAL SLOGANS NOT RACIST, SAYS AUSTRIA'S FAR-RIGHT
Austria's far right Freedom Party (FPO) is causing outrage with its advertising campaign for upcoming Vienna city elections. Its posters have been described as racist, dangerous and reminiscent of Nazi slogans. The slogan causing all the fuss appears in bold letters across huge billboards next to the smiling face of Freedom Party leader Heinz Christian Strache. "Mehr Mut für Wiener Blut" - more courage for Viennese Blood. The next rhyming line goes on to say - too many foreigners does no one any good. The phrase draws on the title of a Strauss operetta popular early last century, as well as a hit song from the 1980's by Austrian rocker Falco. But the Social Democrats who currently hold power in Vienna say it's straight out of the Nazis' vocabulary, emphasizing purity of race and blood.
More than tradition
For Eric Frey, the managing editor of the Vienna daily Der Standard, the language is blatantly racist. "This is racist, it is openly xenophobic," said Frey. "It's part of the campaign strategy." "Strache is going to run a kind of a two pronged campaign, trying to mobilize his core voters and then trying to appeal to the working class voters who are generally not really happy about voting for FPO," said Frey. The Freedom Party claim they only intend to emphasize their support for Viennese traditions. They point out there's little that's more authentically Viennese than Strauss and Falco.
Carefully chosen words
But most commentators disagree. Benedict Narodoslawsky, the author of a book about the Freedom Party, says that although the party claims the slogans reference to Viennese culture, its leaders know just how provocative their words are. "They say no, that reminds us of Strauss, and Falco. That's just the automatic defense against the critics," said Frey. "Of course they are calculating that it has this negative connotation." The Freedom Party, long seen as the party of Jörg Haider, has enjoyed popular support under its new young leader, Heinz Christian Strache. A recent Gallup poll suggested it could win 23 percent of the vote in Vienna, where most of Austria's immigrants live. A win would have major consequences for the Social Democrats: they would lose their absolute majority and be forced to form a coalition with one of the smaller parties. It could also have implications for the Chancellor Werner Faymann, whose Social Democrats lead the federal coalition and who have suffered a string of losses in recent regional elections. According to Frey, Faymann is depending on Vienna May or Michael Häupl to minimise Freedom Party gains.
Migrant city
"The question of whether Häupl can keep the absolute majority or lose it partly because of the strength of the FPO can make or break Faymann's political future," Frey said. Vienna is a city where every second household has at least one member of migrant background. Even in the time of Johann Strauss, it was a city of migrants from all parts of central Europe. In eight weeks, the multi-cultural city will give its verdict on the Freedom Party's exploitation of one of their best known traditions.
DW-World
KOSOVO HURDLES FOR ROMA KIDS EXPELLED FROM GERMANY
For two teenage Roma sisters life has turned into a nightmare since they were forced to leave Germany, the only home they had ever known, and expelled to Kosovo, a country they had never seen. "I feel like I am in prison. I do not go out of the yard," said 13-year-old Bukurije Berisha in fluent German as she pointed to the high walls surrounding her dilapidated house. "I still hope I will wake up and see it was a bad dream." The girls were born after their parents sought asylum in Germany in 1993, fleeing a brutal crackdown on Kosovo by the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic. They speak no Albanian, the dominant language in Kosovo, and only a bit of their parents' native Roma tongue. But last December, they landed with their parents and five brothers and sisters in a poor Roma settlement with filthy, narrow streets on the edge of the western Kosovo town of Pec. The Berishas are among some 14,000 Kosovars -- 10,000 of them Roma -- to be returned from Germany under a bilateral deal in April, nearly 11 years after the end of the Kosovo war. And those who will suffer most are children like Bukurije and her sister Lumturije, warn experts including Thomas Hammarberg, the human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe, the pan-European rights body. On Tuesday, he singled out Kosovo as he urged member states to refrain from action that only worsens the exclusion of Roma, many of whom already live on the fringe as stateless people without documents and thus denied basic human rights. "For instance, western European states should stop forcibly returning Roma to Kosovo," Hammarberg said in a statement.
Rights groups have sounded the alarm about a new round of discrimination against what some call Europe's most hated minority. In France, controversy has dogged a government crackdown on illegal gypsy camps and moves to expel foreign gypsies breaking the law, after President Nicolas Sarkozy said some in the community posed security problems. Most Roma -- an ethnic group widespread in eastern Europe -- in France are thought to come from Romania and Bulgaria, both of which joined the European Union in 2007. European Justice and Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding already warned in April that "the situation of many Roma seems to have deteriorated over the years," adding "that is simply not acceptable." Last month, the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, noted that about half of the Roma to be deported from Germany to Kosovo are children, the majority of them born and raised in Germany. "Children are the ones most affected by these forced returns," Hammarberg warned in a foreword to the UNICEF report. "In Kosovo they are confronted with an entirely new reality. They feel lost and alienated." The home the Berishas left was burned down in the bloody 1999 war that ended the conflict in the former Serbian province, which declared independence in 2008 despite fierce Serbian opposition. Now the family lives in a cousin's house with no indoor plumbing or running water. The two sisters no longer go to school. They blame language trouble but also say they feel like outcasts with their urban European manners and fashionable clothes. "Children tease and call us names in school," Lumturije said. They long to return "home" and vow to do so when older. "I was born there and I feel German," a tearful 14-year-old Lumturije Berisha said, remembering her home in Arnsberg, western Germany. "I miss my school. I miss going to walk with friends in my city."
Analyst and prominent Roma journalist Kujtim Pacaku said it was an "illusion" to expect Roma children to integrate "after such a cultural shock". "To do so, they have to forget all their previous experience and knowledge and begin from zero," he told AFP. Germany has pressed for the refugees' return for years and despite the April deal, even Kosovo's Minister for Welfare Nenad Rasic conceded that his country simply does not have the resources to receive and integrate all returnees. Kosovo is considered one of Europe's poorest countries where official figures show nearly half the two million population is unemployed and living under the poverty line. Critics in both countries have charged that Kosovo is unable to guarantee basic human rights like access to adequate housing, health care or education to its own inhabitants, no less returning Roma. Kosovo "first must create conditions for their integration," said Roma member of parliament Danish Ademi, who opposes the return of gypsies. "Otherwise, people will have to beg or steal at once they are dropped at the airport in order to feed their families," he said. Families with special needs children have not been excluded from the expulsions from Germany, though the German embassy in the Kosovo capital Pristina was not available for comment. The nine-member Miftari family were returned after a 16-year stay in Germany where two of their sons, now seven and 11 and both profoundly deaf, were born. "In Germany the conditions were ideal. They went to a specialized school which picked them up from home each day and returned them," their father Shemsi Miftari said sadly. "Here they are forced to collect scrap metals and tin cans."
The Mulolli family has a similar tale. Their two-year-old daughter suffers from what they said is a congenital disorder that makes her "forget" to breathe in her sleep, though they could produce no verifiable medical documents, saying they were given only a short time to pack one bag per family member when they were expelled and had no time to gather medical documents. Selina's condition is controlled by special, expensive portable equipment attached to her chest at night to alert her parents if she stops breathing, they said. "The equipment uses replaceable and expensive diodes we cannot afford and which even do not exist here," her father Florim said. "Germany condemned Selina to death, but we will not let her die," he said bitterly, hugging the lively blonde girl on his lap. Florim's son Rrahman, 14, like the Berisha girls, said he felt like a refugee in Kosovo and was in constant touch with his German friends via Facebook. "When German police came to our flat to take us to the airport they said we're taking you home," he said. "I told them my home is here."
AFP
Rights groups have sounded the alarm about a new round of discrimination against what some call Europe's most hated minority. In France, controversy has dogged a government crackdown on illegal gypsy camps and moves to expel foreign gypsies breaking the law, after President Nicolas Sarkozy said some in the community posed security problems. Most Roma -- an ethnic group widespread in eastern Europe -- in France are thought to come from Romania and Bulgaria, both of which joined the European Union in 2007. European Justice and Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding already warned in April that "the situation of many Roma seems to have deteriorated over the years," adding "that is simply not acceptable." Last month, the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, noted that about half of the Roma to be deported from Germany to Kosovo are children, the majority of them born and raised in Germany. "Children are the ones most affected by these forced returns," Hammarberg warned in a foreword to the UNICEF report. "In Kosovo they are confronted with an entirely new reality. They feel lost and alienated." The home the Berishas left was burned down in the bloody 1999 war that ended the conflict in the former Serbian province, which declared independence in 2008 despite fierce Serbian opposition. Now the family lives in a cousin's house with no indoor plumbing or running water. The two sisters no longer go to school. They blame language trouble but also say they feel like outcasts with their urban European manners and fashionable clothes. "Children tease and call us names in school," Lumturije said. They long to return "home" and vow to do so when older. "I was born there and I feel German," a tearful 14-year-old Lumturije Berisha said, remembering her home in Arnsberg, western Germany. "I miss my school. I miss going to walk with friends in my city."
Analyst and prominent Roma journalist Kujtim Pacaku said it was an "illusion" to expect Roma children to integrate "after such a cultural shock". "To do so, they have to forget all their previous experience and knowledge and begin from zero," he told AFP. Germany has pressed for the refugees' return for years and despite the April deal, even Kosovo's Minister for Welfare Nenad Rasic conceded that his country simply does not have the resources to receive and integrate all returnees. Kosovo is considered one of Europe's poorest countries where official figures show nearly half the two million population is unemployed and living under the poverty line. Critics in both countries have charged that Kosovo is unable to guarantee basic human rights like access to adequate housing, health care or education to its own inhabitants, no less returning Roma. Kosovo "first must create conditions for their integration," said Roma member of parliament Danish Ademi, who opposes the return of gypsies. "Otherwise, people will have to beg or steal at once they are dropped at the airport in order to feed their families," he said. Families with special needs children have not been excluded from the expulsions from Germany, though the German embassy in the Kosovo capital Pristina was not available for comment. The nine-member Miftari family were returned after a 16-year stay in Germany where two of their sons, now seven and 11 and both profoundly deaf, were born. "In Germany the conditions were ideal. They went to a specialized school which picked them up from home each day and returned them," their father Shemsi Miftari said sadly. "Here they are forced to collect scrap metals and tin cans."
The Mulolli family has a similar tale. Their two-year-old daughter suffers from what they said is a congenital disorder that makes her "forget" to breathe in her sleep, though they could produce no verifiable medical documents, saying they were given only a short time to pack one bag per family member when they were expelled and had no time to gather medical documents. Selina's condition is controlled by special, expensive portable equipment attached to her chest at night to alert her parents if she stops breathing, they said. "The equipment uses replaceable and expensive diodes we cannot afford and which even do not exist here," her father Florim said. "Germany condemned Selina to death, but we will not let her die," he said bitterly, hugging the lively blonde girl on his lap. Florim's son Rrahman, 14, like the Berisha girls, said he felt like a refugee in Kosovo and was in constant touch with his German friends via Facebook. "When German police came to our flat to take us to the airport they said we're taking you home," he said. "I told them my home is here."
AFP
Jail for racist who called Scottish cops 'haggis-munching ginger b*****ds'
A racist who called Scottish police officers ‘haggis-munching ginger b*****ds’ after threatening to kill them has been jailed for 18 months.
Mohammed Amir shouted the abuse at members of Grampian Police when they tried to arrest him for attacking his girlfriend, a court heard.
He yelled ‘I’m going to kill 20 of you and blow you to bits,’ during the incident in Aberdeen in February.
Amir, 29, from Aberdeen, was jailed at the city’s sheriff court after admitting offences including assaults on his girlfriend and threatening to stab a taxi driver.
Metro
Mohammed Amir shouted the abuse at members of Grampian Police when they tried to arrest him for attacking his girlfriend, a court heard.
He yelled ‘I’m going to kill 20 of you and blow you to bits,’ during the incident in Aberdeen in February.
Amir, 29, from Aberdeen, was jailed at the city’s sheriff court after admitting offences including assaults on his girlfriend and threatening to stab a taxi driver.
Metro
Alleged ICE Racism May Be Nation-Wide (USA)
A noose found hanging in an office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a letter left for a black employee asking him to check if he's a queer or a sissy who is filing a complaint.
Tre Rebstock is the president of the American Federation of Government Employees.
"It's ludicrous in this day and age to be targeting somebody else because of the color of their skin. Absolutely unacceptable," he says.
Rebstock says African American workers have endured racism and harassment by those in charge at Homeland Security in Houston.
"There are at least two managers who need to retire and get their personal preferences out the door with them," he says.
When we first reported about the alleged discrimination at Homeland Security, we began getting lots of calls.
African American federal workers from around the country 'claiming' they're experiencing the same type of treatment.
Congressman Gene Green viewed our report. He says because Homeland Security enforces immigration laws, it's crucial they're above board.
"That kind of activity is not to be tolerated in whether it takes a lawsuit or whether it takes ICE in Washington to hear enough about this to deal with the supervisors who allow this to continue," Green says.
Are the Houston allegations an isolated incident at the Department of Homeland Security?
We took a look at the national numbers.
From 2004 to 2009, there were 652 employees who filed racially-based complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Another 443 workers in that same period filed color-related complaints.
243 people also filed non-sexual harassment charges against Homeland Security.
"The leadership in ICE needs to know whether it's happening in Houston or LA or any other city because that's unacceptable for any federal agency," Congressman Green says.
FOX 26 News spoke with officials from homeland security on Wednesday.
They did not go on camera but issued a statement saying discrimination of any kind would not be tolerated.
A spokesperson also says if an employee feels victimized they have a complaint process in place to address the issue
My Fox Houston
Tre Rebstock is the president of the American Federation of Government Employees.
"It's ludicrous in this day and age to be targeting somebody else because of the color of their skin. Absolutely unacceptable," he says.
Rebstock says African American workers have endured racism and harassment by those in charge at Homeland Security in Houston.
"There are at least two managers who need to retire and get their personal preferences out the door with them," he says.
When we first reported about the alleged discrimination at Homeland Security, we began getting lots of calls.
African American federal workers from around the country 'claiming' they're experiencing the same type of treatment.
Congressman Gene Green viewed our report. He says because Homeland Security enforces immigration laws, it's crucial they're above board.
"That kind of activity is not to be tolerated in whether it takes a lawsuit or whether it takes ICE in Washington to hear enough about this to deal with the supervisors who allow this to continue," Green says.
Are the Houston allegations an isolated incident at the Department of Homeland Security?
We took a look at the national numbers.
From 2004 to 2009, there were 652 employees who filed racially-based complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Another 443 workers in that same period filed color-related complaints.
243 people also filed non-sexual harassment charges against Homeland Security.
"The leadership in ICE needs to know whether it's happening in Houston or LA or any other city because that's unacceptable for any federal agency," Congressman Green says.
FOX 26 News spoke with officials from homeland security on Wednesday.
They did not go on camera but issued a statement saying discrimination of any kind would not be tolerated.
A spokesperson also says if an employee feels victimized they have a complaint process in place to address the issue
My Fox Houston
Friday, 20 August 2010
Fears of anti-facist group allying itself with event prompts decision to relocate
A multicultural celebration is to be held outside the city centre on the same day that a rally by the English Defence League is planned for Bradford.
It was originally planned to be held in the city centre but has been moved following concerns that its presence there may increase the possibility of violence.
The peace event will now be held on Saturday, August 28, in Infirmary Fields, Manningham.
Police and Bradford Council have asked Home Secretary Theresa May to impose a ban on the planned EDL march. The decision could come as soon as today.
The Telegraph & Argus also supports the call, on the grounds that the EDL’s “anti-Islamification” stance is divisive and provocative, especially in a city such as Bradford with a high Muslim population.
A counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism is likely to take place if the EDL does descend upon Bradford in large numbers, provoking fears that there could be violent clashes. The UAF is thought to have allied itself to the multicultural celebration but organisers want it to be separate.
Jeanette Sunderland, Bradford Council’s Lib Dem leader and a member of member of the steering group organising the Manningham event, said: “Some people were suspicious of the motives of the UAF and thought that the event was being used by people who do not have the best of Bradford at heart.
“The Council and the police are going to back the event at Infirmary Fields and that will be policed by neighbourhood police with community stewards.”
She said it was not a demonstration, but an opportunity for people show their solidarity.
Bradford Together, a banner group campaigning to ban the EDL march, has previously expressed fears that extremists linking themselves to UAF may stir up trouble. The group has organised a peace vigil on Friday.
Paul Meszaros, of Bradford Together, said: “Any kind of counter-protest on the same day as the EDL come to Bradford would play right into the EDL’s hands. They want to have a provocative event in Bradford to provoke trouble.”
The ban has been supported by West Yorkshire’s Chief Constable, Sir Norman Bettison, the West Yorkshire Police Authority, Bradford Council’s Labour group and more than 10,000 people who signed a petition.
If granted, a ban would apply to a march by any protest group in the city centre but not static protests, which may still go ahead.
Mr Meszaros said: “At the moment, we are winning against the EDL’s plans – why play into their hands by holding any kind of counter-demonstration on the same day? Why just hand things back to them?”
The Telegraph and Argus
It was originally planned to be held in the city centre but has been moved following concerns that its presence there may increase the possibility of violence.
The peace event will now be held on Saturday, August 28, in Infirmary Fields, Manningham.
Police and Bradford Council have asked Home Secretary Theresa May to impose a ban on the planned EDL march. The decision could come as soon as today.
The Telegraph & Argus also supports the call, on the grounds that the EDL’s “anti-Islamification” stance is divisive and provocative, especially in a city such as Bradford with a high Muslim population.
A counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism is likely to take place if the EDL does descend upon Bradford in large numbers, provoking fears that there could be violent clashes. The UAF is thought to have allied itself to the multicultural celebration but organisers want it to be separate.
Jeanette Sunderland, Bradford Council’s Lib Dem leader and a member of member of the steering group organising the Manningham event, said: “Some people were suspicious of the motives of the UAF and thought that the event was being used by people who do not have the best of Bradford at heart.
“The Council and the police are going to back the event at Infirmary Fields and that will be policed by neighbourhood police with community stewards.”
She said it was not a demonstration, but an opportunity for people show their solidarity.
Bradford Together, a banner group campaigning to ban the EDL march, has previously expressed fears that extremists linking themselves to UAF may stir up trouble. The group has organised a peace vigil on Friday.
Paul Meszaros, of Bradford Together, said: “Any kind of counter-protest on the same day as the EDL come to Bradford would play right into the EDL’s hands. They want to have a provocative event in Bradford to provoke trouble.”
The ban has been supported by West Yorkshire’s Chief Constable, Sir Norman Bettison, the West Yorkshire Police Authority, Bradford Council’s Labour group and more than 10,000 people who signed a petition.
If granted, a ban would apply to a march by any protest group in the city centre but not static protests, which may still go ahead.
Mr Meszaros said: “At the moment, we are winning against the EDL’s plans – why play into their hands by holding any kind of counter-demonstration on the same day? Why just hand things back to them?”
The Telegraph and Argus
Jobless teen stuck BNP stickers on takeaway window and assaulted worker
A jobless teenager stuck British National Party (BNP) stickers on a pizza shop window before verbally and physically abusing its staff, a court heard.
Stephen Gary Paul Elstob admitted racially aggravated assault and criminal damage following the incident in Darlington on May 5.
Jonathan Bambro, prosecuting, told magistrates that Hakim Kadir was at work at Godfather's, in Cockerton, when he noticed a drunken Elstob at the window.
Mr Bambro said Elstob then shouted a string of racial abuse and as he did so he began to stick BNP stickers on the window.
Mr Kadir, who works as a delivery driver was later confronted by Elstob after he got in his car.
The 18-year-old opened the door of the Nissan Micra and punched Mr Kadir and then kicked and punched the car, causing £500 worth of damage.
He was later arrested and in interview gave no reply until he admitted to officers he had a problem with black and Asian people working in the UK. Elstob, of Eggleston View, Darlington, also admitted being in breach of a 12 month conditional discharge for possession of cannabis.
Mike Clarke, mitigating, said Elstob claimed there had been an injustice when his stepbrother was hit with a rolling pin by one of the take-away workers.
He said Elstob was also having difficulty after his mother had been given a "substantial" prison sentence for drugs offences.
Elstob was given 26 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, with a 12 month supervision order and 150 hours unpaid work.
He was also handed a restraining order stopping him from approaching or entering the shop, or molesting its staff.
He was also ordered to pay Mr Kadir £250 compensation.
The Northern Echo
Stephen Gary Paul Elstob admitted racially aggravated assault and criminal damage following the incident in Darlington on May 5.
Jonathan Bambro, prosecuting, told magistrates that Hakim Kadir was at work at Godfather's, in Cockerton, when he noticed a drunken Elstob at the window.
Mr Bambro said Elstob then shouted a string of racial abuse and as he did so he began to stick BNP stickers on the window.
Mr Kadir, who works as a delivery driver was later confronted by Elstob after he got in his car.
The 18-year-old opened the door of the Nissan Micra and punched Mr Kadir and then kicked and punched the car, causing £500 worth of damage.
He was later arrested and in interview gave no reply until he admitted to officers he had a problem with black and Asian people working in the UK. Elstob, of Eggleston View, Darlington, also admitted being in breach of a 12 month conditional discharge for possession of cannabis.
Mike Clarke, mitigating, said Elstob claimed there had been an injustice when his stepbrother was hit with a rolling pin by one of the take-away workers.
He said Elstob was also having difficulty after his mother had been given a "substantial" prison sentence for drugs offences.
Elstob was given 26 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, with a 12 month supervision order and 150 hours unpaid work.
He was also handed a restraining order stopping him from approaching or entering the shop, or molesting its staff.
He was also ordered to pay Mr Kadir £250 compensation.
The Northern Echo
PM'S ADVISER WANTS TO ABOLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER (Czech Rep.)
Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas's future adviser Roman Joch will recommend to Necas that he abolish the Human Rights Commissioner Office that is headed by former human rights minister Michael Kocab, Joch said on Czech Radio Wednesday. He added he considers the office redundant. "The real commissioner for human rights is the constitution and therefore every judge is to be a human rights guarantor. We have the ombudsman, therefore having a kind of human rights tsar is an idea coming from the times of feudalism," Joch said. On the other hand, Joch said he would preserve the government's councils that deal with human rights because, he said, they solve real problems, therefore they are legitimate. Joch is to be Necas's human rights adviser. He said he does not know yet what pay he will have. He is to prepare analyses for bills that will be submitted to the government. About 100, mainly young people, protested against Joch working for the Government Office Wednesday. They said they consider his idea of human rights unfortunate. They recalled some of his previous statements, for instance, the one praising the late Chilean dictator August Pinochet. The demonstration was also joined by several of Joch's supporters who call him anti-Kocab.
Prague Monitor
Prague Monitor
Don't Listen to Racists About Tamil Refugees, Say Groups (Canada)
White supremacists are catching the media spotlight, labelling Tamil refugees as terrorists on national television, say anti-racism and immigration activists.
The groups are criticizing media for voicing the comments of Paul Fromm, widely regarded as one of Canada’s most vocal white supremacists.
Fromm joined the Aryan Guard at a protest in front of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s constituency office in Calgary last weekend.
As the MV Sun Sea landed in Esquimalt on Aug. 11, Fromm organized a rally as the leader of the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee to denounce the arrival. In an earlier press release, he alleged that the boat had drugs and explosives on board.
“Paul Fromm, now fronting as the leader of the Canada First Committee, is a known neo-Nazi leader and one of Canada’s most notorious white supremacists,” says Maitland Cassia with Anti Racist Action-Vancouver.
“Fromm has spoken at Heritage Front (a disbanded neo-Nazi group) events, including a celebration of Hitler's birthday. He cannot be given an uncritical platform to spew his hate.”
The group said the prominent media coverage given to Fromm and his cohorts by the Toronto Star, Canadian Press, CTV, and CFAX 1070 barely mentioned Fromm’s neo-Nazi connections or his white supremacist background.
“Government officials and media outlets should all be aware about his extremist white supremacist links, and should report on them,” says Shane Calder of the Victoria Anti Racist Network.
“It should be absolutely unacceptable that well-known neo-Nazis and white supremacists are openly organizing rallies for the ship to be sent back. We should all be organizing counter-rallies in response to their hateful and oppressive views.”
While concerns have remained that the refugees could include terrorists from the Tamil Tigers, others are more concerned about the international failure to address the widespread abuses of the Sri Lankan authorities.
“The arrival of the 490 Tamil boat people seeking refuge in Canada is a symptom of the continued humanitarian suffering in Sri Lanka. It’s time for the government of Canada to rally international efforts to pressure the Sri Lankan government improve living conditions on the ground,” says a statement from the New Democratic Party.
NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar says Canada hasn’t paid enough attention to the plight of Tamils after the bloody civil war there.
“Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of displaced people continued to be targeted for brutal human rights violations in government-run camps in unhealthy and unsafe conditions and without access to international aid agencies,” Dewar says.
The NDP have urged the Conservative government to support efforts to rebuild the country, ensure the safety of civilians and spearhead international efforts to mediate a lasting political solution there. The conflict has its roots in policies that discriminated against Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority.
Dewar says such measures may have pre-empted the 490 migrants aboard the MV Sun Sea taking the drastic measure of boarding a boat for Canada.
The groups are criticizing media for voicing the comments of Paul Fromm, widely regarded as one of Canada’s most vocal white supremacists.
Fromm joined the Aryan Guard at a protest in front of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s constituency office in Calgary last weekend.
As the MV Sun Sea landed in Esquimalt on Aug. 11, Fromm organized a rally as the leader of the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee to denounce the arrival. In an earlier press release, he alleged that the boat had drugs and explosives on board.
“Paul Fromm, now fronting as the leader of the Canada First Committee, is a known neo-Nazi leader and one of Canada’s most notorious white supremacists,” says Maitland Cassia with Anti Racist Action-Vancouver.
“Fromm has spoken at Heritage Front (a disbanded neo-Nazi group) events, including a celebration of Hitler's birthday. He cannot be given an uncritical platform to spew his hate.”
The group said the prominent media coverage given to Fromm and his cohorts by the Toronto Star, Canadian Press, CTV, and CFAX 1070 barely mentioned Fromm’s neo-Nazi connections or his white supremacist background.
“Government officials and media outlets should all be aware about his extremist white supremacist links, and should report on them,” says Shane Calder of the Victoria Anti Racist Network.
“It should be absolutely unacceptable that well-known neo-Nazis and white supremacists are openly organizing rallies for the ship to be sent back. We should all be organizing counter-rallies in response to their hateful and oppressive views.”
While concerns have remained that the refugees could include terrorists from the Tamil Tigers, others are more concerned about the international failure to address the widespread abuses of the Sri Lankan authorities.
“The arrival of the 490 Tamil boat people seeking refuge in Canada is a symptom of the continued humanitarian suffering in Sri Lanka. It’s time for the government of Canada to rally international efforts to pressure the Sri Lankan government improve living conditions on the ground,” says a statement from the New Democratic Party.
NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar says Canada hasn’t paid enough attention to the plight of Tamils after the bloody civil war there.
“Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of displaced people continued to be targeted for brutal human rights violations in government-run camps in unhealthy and unsafe conditions and without access to international aid agencies,” Dewar says.
The NDP have urged the Conservative government to support efforts to rebuild the country, ensure the safety of civilians and spearhead international efforts to mediate a lasting political solution there. The conflict has its roots in policies that discriminated against Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority.
Dewar says such measures may have pre-empted the 490 migrants aboard the MV Sun Sea taking the drastic measure of boarding a boat for Canada.
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Ex BNP Councillor Joins Stoke-on-Trent’s Newest Political Group
Ex British National Party member and Stoke-on-Trent City Councillor Ellie Walker will be confirmed as the latest recruit to the city’s newest political group Community Voice.
Mrs Walker represents the people of the former BNP stronghold Abbey Green. She is the wife of former BNP Group Leader Alby who left the far right party amidst a storm of publicity surrounding the selection of the party’s PPC for Stoke-on-Trent Central.
Mr Walker was defeated in both the General Election, where he lost his deposit, and the local elections, where he was heavily defeated by the Labour Party candidate.
Ellie Walker contradicts the stereotypical image of a BNP activist. She is described as a caring and compassionate person and has often denied being racist.
Many of her fellow councillors are respectful of the work she carries out in both the Abbey Green ward which she represents and her committee work at the Civic Centre.
Some of the electorate may be surprised at the union between members of Community Voice, which is seen as a haven of old socialists and a former far right activist.
Alby Walker is set to join Community Voice in the near future ahead of next year’s all out council elections.
The Community Voice group’s number could be boosted even further in the near future.
Pits n Pots have learned that City Independent Group member Cllr Barbara Beeston could soon be crossing the council chamber.
Emergency talks are due to take place between Cllr Beeston and CIG Leader Cllr Brian Ward.
If those talks fail and Councillor Beeston’s concerns are not addressed, the Community Voice Group will be just one councillor behind the second largest political group on Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
There are growing rumours that the CIG could lose more members when the Budget consultations take place if the group back unpopular cuts that will impact on communities and services across the city.
Community Voice have refused to comment on the on-going speculation that their numbers may well swell in the near future.
Pits-n-Pots
Mrs Walker represents the people of the former BNP stronghold Abbey Green. She is the wife of former BNP Group Leader Alby who left the far right party amidst a storm of publicity surrounding the selection of the party’s PPC for Stoke-on-Trent Central.
Mr Walker was defeated in both the General Election, where he lost his deposit, and the local elections, where he was heavily defeated by the Labour Party candidate.
Ellie Walker contradicts the stereotypical image of a BNP activist. She is described as a caring and compassionate person and has often denied being racist.
Many of her fellow councillors are respectful of the work she carries out in both the Abbey Green ward which she represents and her committee work at the Civic Centre.
Some of the electorate may be surprised at the union between members of Community Voice, which is seen as a haven of old socialists and a former far right activist.
Alby Walker is set to join Community Voice in the near future ahead of next year’s all out council elections.
The Community Voice group’s number could be boosted even further in the near future.
Pits n Pots have learned that City Independent Group member Cllr Barbara Beeston could soon be crossing the council chamber.
Emergency talks are due to take place between Cllr Beeston and CIG Leader Cllr Brian Ward.
If those talks fail and Councillor Beeston’s concerns are not addressed, the Community Voice Group will be just one councillor behind the second largest political group on Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
There are growing rumours that the CIG could lose more members when the Budget consultations take place if the group back unpopular cuts that will impact on communities and services across the city.
Community Voice have refused to comment on the on-going speculation that their numbers may well swell in the near future.
Pits-n-Pots
BNP Three Rivers District Council member Seamus Dunne quits in leadership protest
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Councillor Seamus Dunne, who was elected to Three Rivers District Council in May 2008, announced yesterday that he would now be sitting as an independent member.
Councillor Dunne, of Alva Way, Carpenders Park, insisted he had not “sold out” his political principles but stressed that radical change was now needed if the party is to mount a serious electoral challenge at a national level.
Nick Griffin, who has been party leader since 1999, fended off a leadership challenge last week when his rivals failed to win enough support from other party members.
Councillor Dunne, however, believes the party cannot achieve significant change with Mr Griffin at the helm.
He said: “What I wanted was a leadership challenge so people can stand on a platform and ask some awkward questions and have a proper debate.
“I’m not selling out my political principles, I just want a new direction for the party and that is not going to happen under Nick Griffin. He did a good job for many years but he was found out at the General Election.”
He also raised concerns about the state of the level of the party’s debts – believed to be about £500,000.
His resignation comes just days after that of London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook, who is also now sitting as an independent.
Asked whether he would now seek re-election from voters, Councillor Dunne said he would carry on until 2012 – when he is due for re-election – without a fresh mandate.
He also raised concerns about the state of the level of the party’s debts, reported to be as high as £500,000.
Councillor Dunne said he would remain a member of the party until his membership expired later in the year.
Wattford Observer
Settlement rabbi arrested on suspicion of incitement to racism
Elitzur and Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira wrote a book "The King's Torah" which condones the murder of non-Jews if they threaten the welfare of Jews, citing Jewish law to support the argument.
On Wednesday, Rabbi Dov Lior, who supported the book and has refused to appear for questioning by police on the matter, had his lawyer send a letter to the deputy state prosecutor explaining his position.
"The rabbi [Lior] asked me to tell you that he does not intend to answer to anybody on his opinion on Jewish law," Lior's lawyer wrote. "Your harassment of rabbis for their opinions on Jewish law contradicts the state's principles of religious freedom and freedom of expression."
"The King's Torah" was published in November. The preface of the book states that it is forbidden to kill non-Jews but the book then describes the context in which it is permitted to do so.
According to the book, it is permissible to kill a non-Jew who threatens Israel even if the person is classified as a Righteous Gentile. The book says that any gentile who supports war against Israel can also be killed.
Haaretz
ManCity's Balotelli speaks out about racism
The 20-year-old of Ghanaian origin, an often controversial figure in Italy, moved to England from Inter Milan last week, just a few days after making his Italy debut in a friendly against Ivory Coast.
And having settled into his new home in Manchester, where he has been reunited with his former Inter boss Roberto Mancini, Balotelli spoke about the trauma of being racially abused, in particular from certain sections of the Juventus crowd.
"There were two or three incidents which are always annoying," he told Wednesday's La Gazetta dello Sport.
"I had to learn to live with racism in Italy, to pretend it was nothing, but it burnt.
"In England that doesn't happen. But it shouldn't happen anywhere."
Despite the racial abuse he suffered, Balotelli claimed it was not that but journalists that drove him away from the country of his birth.
And it was an incident after a Champions League match that for Balotelli was the last straw.
"Right after Inter-Barcelona (I decided to leave Italy). There were pages written about me in the newspapers, it was difficult to live in Milan and I told my agent: I want to go," he said.
Balotelli had been jeered by his own fans during that game, a crucial 3-1 victory in which he made a lacklustre 20-minute cameo appearance, and he further enraged them by throwing his shirt to the ground after the final whistle.
He was allegedly attacked by his own team-mates after the incident and was roundly criticised in the Italian press.
But he defended his reputation as a troublesome character.
"They say it in Italy but I'm not a bad boy. I'm an unusual guy, neither bad nor particularly good, very lively but normal."
And now that he is back working for the man who gave him his Inter debut, Balotelli had nothing to say about the coach with whom he regularly fell out last season: Jose Mourinho, now at Real Madrid.
"Mourinho is no longer my coach and I don't want to talk about him. Really, I don't care, I'm not interested in the reputation I had in Italy."
Looking at his new home in Manchester, Balotelli said he is hoping to score lots of goals.
"Apart from the paparazzi who are always following me, it seems a calm city and I like that.
"The only real problem is the weather.
"For a striker it's almost easier than in Italy where football is more tactical.
"I hope I'll feel good here, I can't wait to start playing and I'll do everything to be in the first team
Aboriginal victims remain fearful of racist attacks (Australia)
The families of five young Aboriginal men, who were ambushed by two car-loads of men wielding baseball bats, say there is deep fear in the community despite reassurances from police.
The men told police a group of caucasian men smashed their car windows near Wyndham on Saturday night, before chasing them through bush for hours with baseballs bats and torches.
Concerns were raised that police were not taking the incident seriously enough by ruling out race as a factor.
One of the men's relatives, who has asked only to be known only as Sissy, says those concerns remain despite a meeting with police yesterday.
"There's going to be probably a lot of fear for a long time, until these people are caught," she said.
"It's going to be sitting in the back of their minds, especially for local Indigenous people, there's going to be that fear."
However, she says yesterday's meeting with Police gave them hope.
"The boys have been on edge, waiting for the police," she said.
"There's been a lot of anger and frustration due to the reaction time, so that was disappointing, but after yesterday's meeting I can understand where the police are coming from."
ABC News
The men told police a group of caucasian men smashed their car windows near Wyndham on Saturday night, before chasing them through bush for hours with baseballs bats and torches.
Concerns were raised that police were not taking the incident seriously enough by ruling out race as a factor.
One of the men's relatives, who has asked only to be known only as Sissy, says those concerns remain despite a meeting with police yesterday.
"There's going to be probably a lot of fear for a long time, until these people are caught," she said.
"It's going to be sitting in the back of their minds, especially for local Indigenous people, there's going to be that fear."
However, she says yesterday's meeting with Police gave them hope.
"The boys have been on edge, waiting for the police," she said.
"There's been a lot of anger and frustration due to the reaction time, so that was disappointing, but after yesterday's meeting I can understand where the police are coming from."
ABC News
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