Controversy over comments about Roma by Hungarian far-Right leader

Gábor Vona, chairman of the radical nationalist party Jobbik, has recently come under fire for comments made about Roma in Hungary.

During a parliament session on the 14th February, he said that a major problem in Hungary was the fast reproductive rate of the gypsy community.

The Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly László Kövér made no objection to this remark. When the Socialist chairman Attila Mesterházy later advised Kövér to take action against similar behaviour in the future, he was told by the Speaker to not commentate on how the session was being led or else he would not be allowed to speak.

Vona also spoke about the way in which gypsy crime, especially in the Borsod county, was causing people to live in a state of fear.

Whilst in parliament, the Jobbik leader was wearing the banned uniform of the Hungarian Guard, a paramilitary-style organisation he formed in 2007 but which was disbanded by the Metropolitan Court of Budapest in 2009 for activities that were deemed in contravention of the human rights of minorities.

This is not the first time that Vona has made such comments. At a speech at the end of January outlining the future strategies of his party, he expressed his view that it was essential to ‘slow the reproduction’ of Roma, promoting the idea of food stamps instead of financial benefits as a means to do so. This forms part of Jobbik’s intention to increase the number of Hungarian families and avoid Roma becoming ‘a majority in Hungary,’ even though the Romani community currently make up around 2% of the country’s total population.

In addition, he said that gypsy children should be educated in special boarding schools to break the cycle of crime that is passed on through generations in the gypsy community.

There have been strong reactions to Vona’s statements on the birth rate of Roma, with the current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declaring that ‘unnecessary life has never been born.’ Green party Politics Can Be Different added that such comments against Roma or other groups like Jews cannot be tolerated in today’s Hungary.

At present, Jobbik is Hungary’s third largest party, with 3 seats in the European Parliament. It describes its aim as defending the interests of Hungary, with support for Hungarians living in bordering countries to achieve self-determination. Jobbik has faced allegations of being fascist and anti-Semitic but these have been denied by the party.

Romea.az

Figures show an increase in homophobic and transphobic hate crimes (UK)

Hate crimes against gay and transgender people in Gloucestershire have risen according to new figures.

Victims reported almost 80 such crimes last year in the county with several areas such as Gloucester and the Forest of Dean seeing a rise in attacks.

These figures from the Safer Gloucester Partnership Research suggested figures were "just the tip of the iceberg", and for every hate crime reported at least five were not.

John Huggins, of The Westgate pub, which is aimed at the gay community, said he believed the figures showed more people were reporting the crimes.

He added: "I've not experienced any homophobia, except a few individuals name calling as they walk past the outside of The Westgate, mainly at night."

In 2005, 24-year-old barman Jody Debrowski, from Stroud, was murdered in a homophobic attack in London. Despite the shock waves his death caused, the county research show hate crime has not gone away here.

The figures show a rise of 11.4 per cent in 2009/10 than 2008/9.

In Gloucester, 23 homophobic crimes were reported to police in 2009/10, an increase of 15 incidents compared to the previous year. Meanwhile the Forest saw a rise with five crimes in 2008/09 rising to 13 in 2009/10 - a 160 per cent increase.

Police spokesman Chris Jackson said: "In the past, some people may have felt an incident was too trivial or insignificant to report and wouldn't be taken seriously, but that is no longer the case.

"People are now far less tolerant of any homophobic or transphobic incidents, realise they are unacceptable and come forward to report them."

This is Gloucestershire

More neo-Nazi offences reported (Austria)

The frequency of National Socialist activities is on the rise, new figures show.

The justice ministry said yesterday (Thurs) that 741 people were reported for spreading neo-Nazi propaganda or engaging in crimes with a far-right political background last year, up by 39.5 per cent to 2009 when 513 such cases were dealt with by the police and state prosecutors.

Forty-five people were sentenced for such crimes last year, down one from 46 in the previous year, according to the ministry which released the figures upon request by Social Democratic (SPÖ) MP Johann Maier. Long-term figures however show that the number of people found guilty of such acts has been on the rise over the past years. Just 11 people were sentenced for National Socialist activities in 1998.

Meanwhile, a taxi driver in Vienna has been accused of throwing out an opera singer because of the colour of her skin.

US star Angel Blue said yesterday she was ordered to get out of the vehicle moments after she entered it. "The driver said: ‘I don't drive black women - get out!’" the 27-year-old claimed.

Blue said the driver was a grey-haired Austrian aged between 50 and 60. She appealed on police to find the man, while the Association of Taxi Drivers in Vienna argued this was "impossible" considering the 4,500 cabs in the city.

Austria Independent

‘Citizen’s arrest’ ends in court (UK)

BNP father and son deny assaulting man over vandalised poster

Two members of the British National Party tried to carry out a citizen’s arrest on a man who was defacing a party poster in Aberdeen, a court has heard.

Steven Thomson, 42, and his son Gregor Thomson, 21, deny assaulting Stefan Knust, but admit trying to detain him while they waited for police in Great Northern Road on March 25 last year.

The men were guarding the poster, after one had been vandalised the night before, when they saw two men run up and throw paint over it, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard yesterday.

The pair are alleged to have repeatedly punched Mr Knust on the head and body and repeatedly kicked him.

Steven Thomson, of 5 Gibblestone House, Scalloway, Shetland, told the court he had spent 12 years in the Army, worked in the prison service and been trying to enter the police force when he discovered he suffered from a genetic heart problem.

He said a security firm had been hired to protect the poster during the day, but he had been tasked with guarding it at night.

Two men ran away after throwing paint on the poster, but Mr Knust fell as he crossed the road, Thomson said.

“I grabbed him with my right hand by his collar,” he said. “He was using his arms to try to break my grip of his clothing.”

Thomson sen was trying to video the vandalism using a camera, but had accidentally turned the recording function off, the court heard.

Thomson told the court he had helped to chase and detain the person who had vandalised the poster the previous night, which had cost £600 to replace.

When asked by fiscal depute Victoria White if he was “annoyed and angry” about the vandalism, he replied: “Yes”.

His son, of 10A Summerfield Place, Aberdeen, said they had intended to carry out a “citizen’s arrest”, and “take hold of them with reasonable force” until the police arrived.

Both men have left the BNP, the court heard yesterday.

The case will return to court next month, when Sheriff Malcolm Garden asked to be addressed on when a person is entitled to perform a citizen’s arrest.

Press and Journal

EDL dismisses Jewish arm as too extreme (UK)

The leadership of the English Defence League has distanced itself from the group's Jewish Division, because of its partnership with the far-right American group Jewish Task Force.

The head of the EDL's Jewish division, Roberta Moore, previously announced that the group was working with the JTF, whose leader Victor Vancier has been imprisoned for terrorism offences.

This week the EDL's leadership issued a statement saying that if the Jewish Division continued relations with the JTF, they would sever ties with her.

It said: "A member of the Jewish Division this week decided to link herself with terrorist organisation JTF. This was the decision and wishes of one single individual within the EDL, and does not mean that the EDL is linked with this movement.

"If they [the Jewish EDL] continue with their plans to forge links with the terrorist JTF, the EDL will have no option but to sever its links with the Jewish division as we cannot support terrorist sympathisers."

But Ms Moore said she was determined to continue the affiliation. She said the EDL leadership who had released the statement were "complete idiots," adding: "I have put my foot down; I am the one in contact with the JTF. If some people don't like it, then screw them. There are lots of Jewish people very upset that the EDL put out that statement - and I haven't received any personal messages telling me to cut off contact with Victor."

However, the EDL made it clear that they and Ms Moore were at odds on the matter. A spokesman said: "The EDL never has and never will have any affiliations with the Jewish Task Force. Unfortunately Ms Moore has caused a great deal of trouble and unrest within the EDL because of her gung-ho attitude."

Victor Vancier spent five years in prison from 1987 for 18 bomb attacks against Soviet targets in the US to protest against the treatment of Soviet Jews.

He posted on the JTF forum: "There are elements in the EDL who desperately want to be accepted by the leftwing establishment and the media. These elements have no principles or courage. Roberta Moore and the Jewish Division represent courageous and noble elements. If the EDL is not willing to work with JTF, then they are rejecting all rightwing Jews, evangelical Christians and others who believe in the right of the Jewish people to the entire land of Israel."

The Jewish Chronicle

Minorities complain of rising racism in Russian universities

There's increasing concern about the high levels of discrimination which ethnic minority students face if they study at Russian universities. Insults, beatings and official harrassment are among the complaints.

Fenced off public squares guarded by hundreds of security officers are not an uncommon sight in Moscow. City authorities are anxious to avoid gatherings that could lead to violent clashes between right-wing hooligans and ethnic minorities.

Such street battles first happened in December, after a football fan was killed, allegedly by people from the Caucasus region of Russia. Making an appeal for calm at the time, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addressed the issue of extremism and discrimination in Russian society - normally a taboo for the authorities.

Putin called the extremism a "virus" that had to be suppressed. He could also have mentioned the fact that many of those who participated in the riots were students. Indeed, racism at Russian universities appears to be a growing problem.

Ten years ago, Moscow University law student Aida moved to live in the Russian capital with her family from Dagestan in the North Caucasus - now infamous as a stronghold of Islamist terrorism. With her long dark hair and dark eyes, 22-year-old Aida says she that she is discriminated against because of her origin, and because of fears of terrorism.

"Just recently there was another unpleasant incident at my own faculty," said Aida. "It was just after the blast at Domodedovo airport at the end of January. As always I showed my student card to the security at the entrance. And he just started swearing at me with racist remarks and said something about me probably not even knowing Russian."

North Caucasus students asked to inform
It's not only fellow students and security staff who treat students from the North Caucasus in an unfriendly manner. The university authorities are also guilty, according to Dmitriy Dubrovski, a human rights expert and professor of history at the University of St. Petersburg.

“My students didn't tell me at first," said Dubrovski. “Then I found out that everyone from the North Caucasus has to fill out a couple of forms, in which they are questioned about their relatives: where they live, if they're members of a rebel group, what property they own, what cars they drive and so on. That's outrageous. If nothing else, it's a breach of article 51 of the Russian constitution that guarantees that you don't have to give testimony against your own relatives."

Students from the North Caucasus are not the only ones suffering from xenophobia. There are around 130,000 foreign students at Russian universities, many from China, Vietnam or African countries.

Though they regularly suffer racist remarks, even from staff, Dubrovski said that hardly anyone complains.

"The main difficulty is that no one talks about the problems," he said. "Countries like China and Vietnam for example don't even want their students to complain and would prefer them to leave Russia if there is a problem. They don't want to risk their relations with Russia. As a result, the students put up with everything with gritted teeth and we don't have a clue what is really going on."

Beaten up for talking to Russian girl
Boris Dengsten from Congo came to Russia three years ago, because it was a perfect chance to get a quality university degree. In May last year he was beaten up by more than a dozen Russian students who had been drinking, after they saw him and another student from Congo talking to a Russian girl at a bus stop.

#b#"One of them pulled the girl on her arm and asked her: Why do you speak to these apes," said Dengsten. "I said, ‘Where do you see apes, we are people too, aren't we?' And he just continued swearing at us. And then he hit me really hard, I almost fell. And when my friend hit him back to stop him, we were attacked by 15 Russians at once."

In the end it was Dengsten, not any of the Russian students, who was expelled from university - for having started a fight. While his case may be an extreme one, it shows the dangers that non-European students may face. Those with black skin or an Asian appearance rarely venture out alone at night.

Dengsten made his story public in the Russian courts with help from human rights organizations, but he lost his case. Now the 26-year-old has given up and will return to Congo, where an uncertain future awaits him: universities in Congo only accept new students who are under 25. The fact that he hoped to gain a university degree in Russia, Dengsten believes, could turn out to have been the biggest mistake of his life.

Author: Mareike Aden, Moscow / rc
Editor: Michael Lawton

DW-World

Interactive experience looks at Nazi attitudes to disabled people (UK)A unique exhibition examining the similarities between Nazi and modern attitudes to disabled people will be shown at The Brewhouse from February 26 to April 9. Resistance is a dual-screen interactive installation, comprising drama and documentary films and an immersive audio-video experience, which takes as its starting point the Nazi programme of mass-murder targeting disabled people living in institutions and, importantly, disabled people's resistance to it. The opening film follows the story of Elise, a patient who sweeps the institution. She doesn't speak but watches everything. She watches buses full of patients' leave and return empty. When it's her turn, she knows what's in store. Based on real events, this is the story of one woman's resistance in the only way she could. Over a decade in the making, it is the latest project from award-winning writer-director Liz Crow, whose previous work has been shown at Tate Modern and the British Film Institute. Miss Crow said: “This is an episode of history that is virtually hidden, yet the values that underpinned it still echo through disabled people's lives today. “It is a timely piece of work that I hope people will not only be moved, but also empowered by. I want people to come away feeling inspired to get involved, be effective and find the courage to be a part of change. “Resistance is about a sense of possibility.” The Brewhouse Gallery is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5.30pm.

A unique exhibition examining the similarities between Nazi and modern attitudes to disabled people will be shown at The Brewhouse from February 26 to April 9.

Resistance is a dual-screen interactive installation, comprising drama and documentary films and an immersive audio-video experience, which takes as its starting point the Nazi programme of mass-murder targeting disabled people living in institutions and, importantly, disabled people's resistance to it. The opening film follows the story of Elise, a patient who sweeps the institution. She doesn't speak but watches everything. She watches buses full of patients' leave and return empty. When it's her turn, she knows what's in store. Based on real events, this is the story of one woman's resistance in the only way she could.

Over a decade in the making, it is the latest project from award-winning writer-director Liz Crow, whose previous work has been shown at Tate Modern and the British Film Institute.

Miss Crow said: “This is an episode of history that is virtually hidden, yet the values that underpinned it still echo through disabled people's lives today.

“It is a timely piece of work that I hope people will not only be moved, but also empowered by. I want people to come away feeling inspired to get involved, be effective and find the courage to be a part of change.

“Resistance is about a sense of possibility.”

The Brewhouse Gallery is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5.30pm.

Somerset County Gazette

Jews, Arabs unite on UK campuses (UK)

Trained campus 'ambassadors' to promote conflict resolution, prevent heckling during lectures. Gerald Ronson: When Islamophobia hurts Muslims, it also hurts Jews

British campuses serve as fertile ground for heated political debates between Israelis and Arabs, but a new initiative sponsored by Gerald Ronson, one of the wealthiest Jews in the UK, aims to combating anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at universities across the country.

As part of the Campus Ambassadors program, 20 Muslim and Jewish students with leadership skills underwent six months of training in conflict resolution, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported on Monday.

The 'ambassadors' for the Coexistence Trust are currently enrolled in 10 of the UK's leading universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and the University of Manchester.

Now that they have completed their training, the students will begin working on joint projects and promote "damage control" activities. For example, the students will make certain that those who are invited to speak at the universities, regardless of their politics, will be able to speak their minds and not be heckled by either Jews or Muslims.

One of the 'ambassadors', Yuval Yaakov, attends Imperial College in London. "My hope is that we will be able to prove that Jew and can coexist and promote productive dialogue," he says.

Coexistence Trust chairman Lord Mitchell, who hosted the launch, said, "Islamophobia is the same poison as anti-Semitism, coming from the same people, and both our communities have to work together to counter all this. Together we can be much stronger than if we try to do it separately."

Ronson added "when Islamophobia hurts Muslims, it also hurts Jews."

The launching of the program at the House of Lords was attended by Baroness Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, the first Muslim woman to serve in the British cabinet.

YNetNews

Grampian Police complaints and race crime reports rise (UK)

Grampian Police has been told to take action after a large rise in complaints against officers and reports of racially-motivated crimes.

Complaints against officers increased by almost 70% from just under 300 in 2006/07 to almost 500 in 2009/10, according to a new report.

The number of reported racially-motivated crimes rose from 449 to 879.

However, detection rates improved from 59.9% in 2006/07 to 69.3%, above the the Scottish average.

The Accounts Commission and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland compiled the report.

It said Grampian Police and the joint police board performed well, but that more progress could be made.

The report said that the force considers members of the public are more prepared to make complaints because they have confidence in its willingness to deal with them.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

    Levels of public satisfaction are high and improving and, overall, crime rates in the area are falling”

End Quote Andrew Laing Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary

It said that evidence suggests that the force was meticulous in recording complaints and this, coupled with changes in recording processes, may have accounted for some of the increase.

The report revealed an overall reduction in recorded crimes since 2006/07 and crimes of violence, indecency, dishonesty and reckless behaviour were at their lowest level for seven years.

Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, Andrew Laing, said: "Grampian Police force is performing well and demonstrates many of the elements of best value.

"Levels of public satisfaction are high and improving and, overall, crime rates in the area are falling.

"However, it is unclear why recorded instances of racially-motivated crime and complaints against the police have increased and the force should make further efforts to understand and explain this."
'Excellent report'

The force and the board are to produce an improvement plan to show how they intend to address the findings.

Chief Constable Colin McKerracher said: "This is an excellent report that acknowledges the tremendous effort that has gone into our strategy for delivering the highest quality of policing for the people of the north east of Scotland.

"Over the past few years we have seen our officer numbers rise, crime rates across the region fall to a seven-year low and with detection rates for violent crime at their highest level over the same period."

The force said it recognised and acknowledged the areas for improvement.

BBC News

Court ruling pushes race-hate thugs underground (Russia)

The Moscow Prosecutor’s Office has suspended the activities of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) and will seek a court decision to declare it an extremist organization. The movement’s leaders warn that this will only force their members to go underground and that it risks sparking repeat riots on Manezh Square.

The Moscow Prosecutor’s Office investigated whether the Movement Against Illegal Immigration was within the law and concluded that “it is pursuing extremist goals and objectives.” Prosecutor Yury Semin personally signed the ruling suspending the group’s activity, his next move will be to seek a court ruling banning it.

Movement spokesmen told Gazeta.ru that they had only just received a copy of the ruling. “Plainclothes officers from the Moscow anti-extremism squad gave the document to movement leader Vladimir Yermolayev in Gostiny Dvor, where we had a news conference scheduled for today,” Alexander Belov (Potkin), DPNI’s informal leader, said. He believes the authorities chose not to warn them about the ban so as not to spark a protest.
Now Belov and his followers propose “taking all possible legal action.” But he is less than confident that the ruling will be in his favor. “There is no real court system here so the decision will be a formality,” Belov said. Even after the ban, which Belov describes as a done deal, the Dpni.org site and “public control centers” will stay in the open – units of the movement that render legal aid to “people in conflict situations,” i.e. nationalists facing extremism charges.

“The authorities have banned the largest nationalist organization and the need for a large-scale national-oriented political structure is now more pressing than ever before,” Belov argues. He is confident that a right-wing party will appear in Russia, though he is not going to register one formally. He has a stark warning for the authorities: the nationalists will call people out onto the streets.

Dmitry Demushkin, former leader of Slavic Union, said exactly that almost a year ago: “We will simply stop reining in the ‘autonomous’ gangs, who knife Tajiks and blow up markets.” However, when the Slavic Union was banned in April 2010, human rights activists did not observe any spike in the activity of neo-Nazi killers on Russian streets: legal nationalists and ‘autonomous’ cells essentially do not cooperate with each other, while autonomous radicals fill their blogs, forums and online communities with repeated calls to kill both Demushkin and Belov, deeming them traitors.”

No deadline has been set for examining the ban. The precedent is not encouraging: only a few days after the Slavic Union was banned, Demushkin set up a new nationalist organization registered under the name of Slavic Force.

RiaNovosti

Neo-Nazi worked at Zurich university (Switzerland)

The University of Zurich’s student newspaper revealed today that a neo-Nazi had been working in their philosophy department for four years.

In 1999 the unnamed man was convicted in Dortmund, Germany for spraying swastikas and slogans promoting labour camps on walls. He was seen as someone who could take the neo-Nazi scene in Dortmund forward and had founded a local arm of the German Nationalists party.

As subsequently reported by the 20 Minuten newspaper, the person did not have their contract renewed at the end of last year after colleagues found out about his past, and because there was not enough progress in his doctoral thesis.

The Dean of the Philosophy, Professor Bernd Roeck, said it was unfortunate that someone with such a past took the assistant position at the expense of others.

World Radio

Arlington man pleads guilty to federal hate crime at mosque (USA)

An Arlington man pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to a hate crime at an Arlington mosque this past summer when he set fire to playground equipment at the mosque.

Henry Glaspell, 34, faces a maximum 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 11.

According to court documents, attorneys in the case are recommending a 14-month sentence, but the presiding judge is not bound by that recommendation.

During the plea hearing, Glaspell admitted that he set fire to playground equipment at the mosque in July as part of a series of ethnically motivated acts directed at individuals of Arab or Middle Eastern descent associated with the mosque, a U.S. Justice Department news release said.

Glaspell also admitted that he stole and damaged mosque property, threw used cat litter at the front door of the mosque, and shouted racial or ethnic slurs at individuals of Arab or Middle Eastern descent at the mosque on multiple occasions, according to the release.

This is the 50th prosecution of post-Sept. 11, 2001, backlash against Arab and Muslim Americans, the release said.

Jamal Qaddura, spokesman for the Tarrant County Islamic community, said surveillance cameras at the Dar El-Eman Islamic Center, 5511 Mansfield Road, caught Glaspell spray-painting graffiti and setting fire to playground equipment valued at more than $11,800.

Qaddura said he will ask people from the mosque to help him craft a victims' impact statement to deliver to the court prior to sentencing.

"I am praying for him and wish him all the best," Qaddura said. "I and the community have asked God to forgive him, but he has to pay his debt to society."

Star-Telegraph.com

American comes face to face with Nazi who signed family death warrant

The world's leading Nazi hunter has described as “sheer nonsense” the attempt by an American man to sue a former assistant of SS chief Heinrich Himmler.

Mark Gould (43) went under-cover in Germany’s neo-Nazi scene to meet and befriend Bernhard Frank, a 97-year-old former SS lieutenant colonel in Himmler’s office.

Mr Gould accuses Mr Frank of responsibility for the murder of countless Jews in the Holocaust, including some of his relatives. He claims Mr Frank’s signature can be found on an order from Himmler from July 28th, 1941, for the mass execution of Jews on the Polish-Ukrainian border.

The order contains the sentence “if the population is of lesser racial or human value . . . then all are to be shot” – something Mr Gould suggests is the first written proof of the looming genocide.

He has filed a civil suit against Mr Frank in Washington, claiming he was responsible under the 1941 order for the resulting attack on Ukrainian village Korets in which members of his family perished.

Talking to Bild tabloid yesterday about his undercover investigation, Mr Gould said he spent four years pretending to be a wealthy neo-Nazi from the US.

He filmed many lengthy interviews with Mr Frank, in one of which, in halting English, he can be heard saying: “With Himmler I had a very good relationship, he loved me, and I can only say he was a good man.”

Eventually Mr Gould confronted the elderly man, telling him he was his enemy. “My enemy, why?” asked Mr Frank.

“Because you killed my family,” replied Mr Gould.

The work of Mr Gould has its defenders, including Stephen Smith, founder of Britain’s Holocaust Centre, but others have questioned his self-styled crusade.

Mr Gould, a former trader of Nazi memorabilia, is not Jewish; the family that perished may have been relations of the Jewish man his mother later married.

Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem suggests Mr Gould is a self-promoter, pointing to a pending book and film deal. He describes Mr Frank as a “glorified proof-reader” in Himmler’s office and describes his continued belief in Nazi ideology as irrelevant for a prosecution.

The 97-year-old man lives in Frankfurt, he has never hidden from view, is known to German prosecutors and even published his autobiography five years ago.

“Gould is claiming Bernhard Frank is the guy who started the Holocaust, which is sheer nonsense,” said Mr Zuroff.

Irish Times

SWEDEN DEMOCRAT QUITS AFTER ASSAULT CONVICTION

Mikael Svensson, a Sweden Democrat (SD) serving on Burlöv municipal council in southern Sweden, has resigned his post after being convicted of assaulting a woman in the face with a motorcycle helmet.

Svensson handed in his resignation on Monday following a conviction for assault last week when he was sentenced to probation and community service, reported the local Sydsvenskan daily. Despite insisting as late as Friday that he would remain in his post, Svensson handed in his resignation to the council on Monday following internal party discussion over the weekend. "We have discussed within the party, since he was convicted for this incident, that he should resign his post in the council and that he has agreed to do," said Lennart Glans of Burlöv Sweden Democrats to the newspaper.

The incident in question occurred in September 2010 outside Mikael Svensson's home in Arlöv. According to the police report of the incident, Svensson was helping someone park their car on the street when the 30-year-old woman sounded her car horn, at which point he pulled open her car door and assaulted her with his motorcycle helmet. The report detailed that the woman sustained redness and bruising. Svensson furthermore hit the car so hard with his helmet that it sustained damage. Mikael Svensson has denied the charges and indicated that he is considering an appeal of the district court ruling.

The Local Sweden

TRIAL OVER RIGHTS LAWYER'S MURDER STARTS (Russia)

An open jury trial over the 2009 twin killing of lawyer and rights activist Stanislav Markelov and liberal Novaya Gazeta reporter Anastasia Baburova started in the Moscow City Court on Monday, Interfax reported. Alleged ultranationalists Nikita Tikhonov, 30, and Yevgenia Khasis, 25, are charged over the attack, but plead not guilty to murder charges. The 34-year-old Markelov, who often represented victims of ultranationalists' attacks in court, was gunned down in broad daylight in downtown Moscow. Baburova was shot dead when she tried to stop the attacker. Markelov represented the mother of Alexander Ryukhin, an activist fighting hate crime in Moscow, who was shot dead in 2006, anti-xenophobia watchdog Sova reported. Tikhonov was one of the people charged in the case.

Several neo-Nazi attackers were convicted over Ryukhin's death in a 2007 trial, but Tikhonov escaped arrest and went into hiding. He was detained along with his girlfriend, Khasis, in 2009, months after Markelov's shooting. The two requested sanction to marry while in pretrial detention, but the investigators denied the request, allegedly believing it an attempt by suspects to gain good publicity ahead of the trial. Tikhonov, who was on the run from the law over Ryukhin's murder, admitted Monday to charges of use of forged documents and illegal firearms possession, but denied killing the lawyer and the reporter. Tikhonov also admitted that he had no alibi for the day of the 2009 shooting, but said killing Markelov was pointless, because charges in Ryukhin's murder were levied by police, not the lawyer.

The Moscow Times

Cameron says UK prejudiced for believing Muslims cannot manage democracy (UK)

Prime minister will tell Kuwait national assembly that Britain was wrong to prop up 'highly controlling regimes' as way of ensuring stability.

Britain has been guilty of a prejudice bordering on racism for believing that Muslims cannot manage democracy, David Cameron will say as he recasts foreign policy in light of protests across the Arab world.

In a speech at the national assembly in Kuwait, the prime minister will abandon decades of so-called "camel corps" diplomacy by saying Britain was wrong to prop up "highly controlling regimes" as a way of ensuring stability.

Cameron – who is facing anger in the UK for placing defence exports at the heart of his long-planned visit to the Gulf – will use the speech to show that Britain is promoting political reform in the region.

The prime minister, who attended a ceremony in Kuwait with Sir John Major to mark the 20th anniversary of the first Gulf war, said: "Now, once again, this region is the epicentre of momentous changes, but pursued in a very different way. History is sweeping through your neighbourhood."

Cameron, who on Monday visited the scene of the demonstrations in Tahrir Square in Cairo that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, said the protests had highlighted a hunger for freedom across the Middle East.

He depicted the protests as "movements of the people" that were not ideological or extremist.

But he indicated that the demonstrations presented a challenge for Britain as he dismissed as a "false choice" the old calculation that authoritarian regimes needed to be supported as the price of ensuring stability.

"For decades, some have argued that stability required controlling regimes and that reform and openness would put that stability at risk," Cameron said.

"So, the argument went, countries like Britain faced a choice between our interests and our values. And to be honest, we should acknowledge that sometimes we have made such calculations in the past."

He added: "But I say that is a false choice. As recent events have confirmed, denying people their basic rights does not preserve stability – rather, the reverse."

The prime minister said Britain and other western countries cannot impose any democratic model on the Arab world, but stressed: "That's not an excuse, as some would argue, to claim that Arabs or Muslims can't do democracy – the so-called Arab exception.

"For me, that's a prejudice that borders on racism. It's offensive and wrong and it's simply not true."

Cameron's speech has been designed to lay to rest decades of British foreign policy which held that authoritarian regimes in the Gulf must be supported to guarantee stability. The strongest example is Britain's close relationship with Saudi Arabia.

The prime minister will not be visiting Saudi Arabia during his three-day tour of the Gulf. This is because King Abdullah is in poor health and not because Cameron wants to distance the UK from the kingdom.

He is also distancing himself from US neocons who believe democracy can be imposed.

Cameron outlined his thinking on this issue on Monday in Cairo, when he said: "Democracy is an important part of our foreign policy.

"But I am not a naive neocon who thinks you can drop democracy out of an aeroplane at 40,000ft or that, simply by holding an election, you have satisfied the needs of democracy. You have had plenty of elections in Egypt, but that does not mean you have had a functioning democracy."

He developed this theme in his speech at the Kuwaiti national assembly in which he said the "building blocks" of democracy – an independent judiciary, free media and a "proper place" for the army – had to be laid with care.

"Democracy is the work of patient craftmanship – it has to be built from the grassroots up," he said. "It can't be done overnight."

The prime minister outlined his approach to foreign policy in Kuwait because Britain believes its national assembly is a strong example of democracy in the Gulf.

Its 50 members are elected by universal suffrage, though the majority of the population, many of whom come from the Indian sub-continent, do not have the vote. There are four woman members.

The Kuwaiti prime minister, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah, who was summoned for a grilling last year, only survived a confidence vote by 25 votes to 23.

The Guardian

The Hate Destroyer: Retired Woman Defaces Neo-Nazi Graffiti

We usually look down on people who destroy others' work, but we'll let Irmela Mensah-Schramm slide. Armed with spray-paint and a scraper, she's spending her retirement hunting down Neo-Nazi graffiti in Berlin and defacing it beyond recognition. She's been at it for 25 years, and has now told her story to Italian filmmakers Vincenzo Caruso and Fabrizio Lussu for their upcoming documentary, The Hate Destroyer.

Even though her work is destructive, it would be wrong to say nothing's created in the process. By letting Berliners walk through their streets without having to look at Neo-Nazi slogans and symbols, she's made a more mature city, one more capable of self-reflection and even self-censorship. Mensah-Schramm has endowed Berlin with the same indignant attitude she feels for the Nazi-nostalgics; she couldn't do more if she'd gone and put up her own graffiti.



THE HATE DESTROYER

ANTI-SEMITISM FLARES IN GREECE

 Nearly 70 years later, Athens, one of the last European capitals to commemorate those who perished at the hands of Nazi forces, finally has a Holocaust memorial. But since its dedication in May, synagogues have been targeted, Jewish cemeteries desecrated, Holocaust monuments elsewhere in Greece vandalized and the Jewish Museum of Greece, in the capital, defaced with swastikas. What's more, an alarming chunk of Athenians in November supported the election of a neo-Nazi candidate to the capital's city council. The ocher-colored marble sculpture in the shape of a broken-up Star of David, its triangular tips dismembered, points toward the 29 Greek cities from which at least 60,000 Jews were gathered and deported to the Auschwitz and Treblinka extermination camps between 1943 and 1944. The deaths of these victims are memorialized amid striking serenity. Set within a patch of olive and almond trees, and its pieces embedded alongside an herb garden of lavender, marjoram and thyme, the sculpture symbolizes survival and healing. Or is supposed to.

Although anti-Semitism is an old and shameful part of Europe's history, Greece, more than many European nations, continues to wrestle with strong anti-Jewish feelings. Such sentiments have been revived amid the angst and anger of the Greek economic crisis. "We've always been under siege by fanatics and far-right political movements here," said David Saltiel, president of the Central Jewish Board of Greece, which represents the country's 6,000 Jews. "The fear now is that anti-Semitism will get worse with the financial crisis." Well into the nation's worst recession in 17 years, the government in Athens was thrown a bailout lifeline of $146 billion by the European Union and International Monetary Fund last year in exchange for draconian reforms and cost-cutting measures designed to slash the country's yawning budget deficit, equal to 15.4% of gross domestic product. The measures are thought to be responsible for a surge in hate crimes against minorities by Greeks venting rage over rising unemployment and immigration.

Strapped for cash, the Socialist government has been aggressively wooing rich sovereign investors, tapping into deep pockets in China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and, now, Israel. This month, scores of Jewish American leaders arrived in Athens to advance Israel's revived relations with Greece, but not all here were happy to see yarmulkes on Greek streets, much less in the offices of senior politicians, including the country's president. "We're in danger!" warned renowned composer Mikis Theodorakis, who in the course of a television interview openly conceded that he was an anti-Semite. "Zionism and it leaders are here, meeting in our country! "This is no laughing matter," he railed, berating Zionism and its "control over America and the banking system that Greece is now a victim of." Such beliefs aren't new. Nor are they just Greek. What's different in Greece is the level of tolerance for anti-Semitism.

"There is zip, zilch, zero reaction to any semblance of anti-Semitism," said human rights activist Panayotes Dimitras, "leaving the door wide-open for extremists to come in and exploit this phobic society, more so now, in this time of crisis."  Some critics fault the country's Jewish organizations for shunning quick public reaction to attacks; others point to the attitude of some church prelates and to Greece's failure to come to terms with its once-multicultural identity and harrowing past. "Whatever the cause," said Anna Stai of the Anti-Nazi Initiative, "Greece can no longer sit in denial about its anti-Jewish feelings. It's dangerous."

Take the case of Konstantinos Plevris. A self-avowed anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, the 70-year-old lawyer was sentenced to 14 months in prison in 2007 for inciting racial hatred with his book "Jews: The Whole Truth." In 2009, the decision was overturned, and a year later, the Supreme Court upheld Plevris' acquittal, arguing that his "scientific work" did not target the Jews as a race or religion but, rather, their "conspiratorial pursuit of global domination," according to a copy of the 2010 decision. World Jewish organizations kicked up a storm in protest, but in Athens, mainstream news media offered scant coverage of the ruling and the government remained silent.

Two weeks ago, Stai and other members of the Anti-Nazi Initiative traveled to Brussels to lobby for support from European lawmakers. "There is such a strong undercurrent of anti-Jewish feeling in Greece," said Dimitras, the human rights activist, "that any hope of drawing attention to the problem must now come from outside pressure." Others say there is still hope within. "We're at a turning point as a society today," said Zanet I. Battinou, standing before a scale model of the Holocaust memorial showcased at the Jewish Museum of Greece, which she directs. "If we found the courage to take on responsibility for the financial mess we find ourselves in today, then we can take responsibility in facing down one of our worst traits." If anything, she quips, "we're running out of scapegoats."

LA Times

Landlord who served EDL loses his licence (UK)

A pub landlord who defied police by selling alcohol to English Defence League members before their Bolton town centre demonstration last March has lost his licence.

Simon Kirkpatrick had his sentence increased after his appeal against his conviction failed.

Bolton Crown Court, sitting at Bury Magistrates’ Court, heard that Kirkpatrick opened the Stags Head in Deane at 9am on March 20 last year and allowed drinks to be sold.

Pubs had been reminded of their licensing conditions ahead of the EDL rally as part of a large-scale operation to keep public order in the town centre.

Last September, Kirkpatrick, aged 39, of Haynes Street, Morris Green, was convicted of displaying alcohol for sale and knowingly allowing the sale of alcohol otherwise in accordance with his licence.

The court heard that the pub had been visited by police two days before the rally to remind Kirkpatrick that he was not allowed to sell alcohol before 11am.

The court heard that EDL supporters were at the pub on March 20, drinking and chanting and being “rowdy”.

Licensing officer PC Natalie Dolan told the court that she saw Kirkpatrick laughing and “in good spirits”.

Police had to organise buses to take the EDL supporters into the town centre because of concern about them walking through Deane.

The court refused Kirkpatrick’s appeal, and he must now forfeit his personal licence. He was also ordered to pay £625 costs.

The Bolton News

Headteacher sues her own school in racism row (UK)

A headteacher is suing her school claiming parents called her "that bloody Indian woman".

Sudhana Singh, 44, said a group of parents made her life a misery, while children at Moorlands primary school in Reading had "deeply held racist attitudes". She said she made a formal complaint about "acute racism" among parents.

A total of 169 parents are believed to have signed a petition calling for Mrs Singh to be sacked.

She is suing the school's governing body and the council for alleged race discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

The council and the governing body deny the claims. They cite an inquiry's findings that Mrs Singh could be "intimidating".

This is London