Social media game aims to end extremism

A social media game with Arab super heroes at its heart has been launched on Facebook.

The man behind the project, Suleiman Bakhit, hopes that Happy Oasis can create positive role models for children who might otherwise be enticed by extremist views.

The game launched this week and has already attracted 50,000 followers.

Newly appointed TED fellow Mr Bakhit spoke about his project at the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh.

Mr Bakhit, who comes from Jordan, was a student at the US University of Minnesota when the 9/11 attacks took place. Shortly afterwards he was attacked by four men because he was an Arab.

Magic carpet
Instead of feeling bitter, Mr Bakhit decided to engage in an education campaign.

"I realised that you fight extremism by starting with the young. The message was simple - 'We are not all terrorists'," he told the BBC.

Armed with a not-so-magic carpet, he began telling Aladdin-style stories in local schools.

"One day a child asked me if there was an Arab superman and I realised that there wasn't," he said.

So began his comic-book project which aimed to create a range of positive Arab role-models, including a female James Bond and a Jordanian special agent who fights extremists.

In Jordan, Mr Bakhit has sold 300,000 copies of his comics and came to realise that there was a market for a web-based version.

"Print media is dying but there are 30 million Arabs on Facebook so I thought about making social games with the same message," he said.

Mr Bakhit wanted to make sure that his characters related to the children he was aiming to reach.

"I took a peer-to-peer approach, engaging kids to get their ideas," he said.

He was undecided about whether to include a character dressed in a burka until he showed the animated character to a focus group.

"They loved the idea so she was in," he said.

The first game featured special agent Element O and while it was, in Mr Bakhit's words "not very good", it did show him the potential of such a project.

"Fans were discussing the games in the forums and arguing about politics. I went on as Element O and the arguments immediately stopped," he said.

Mr Bakhit said he now hopes to take his comic book model to Pakistan, where extremism is a growing problem.

BBC News

Stepmom in Calif. neo-Nazi case pleads not guilty (USA)

The stepmother of a 10-year-old California boy charged with murdering his white supremacist father has pleaded not guilty to child endangerment.

Krista McCary also pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Superior Court to four charges of criminal storage of a gun. She was charged after her neo-Nazi husband Jeff Hall was shot to death in their home on May 1.

Authorities say the eldest of Hall's five children took his parents' gun off a shelf and shot his father in the ear while he was sleeping.

Hall was a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement who led rallies at a day labor site and synagogue.

McCary's public defender, Judith Gweon, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Forbes

Did you snap the EDL demo? Plea by police for your pictures (UK)

Police are asking the public for their pictures and video of violence that erupted when the English Defence League descended on Halifax at the weekend.

Divisional commander for Calderdale Chief Superintendent Chris Hardern says they are investigating a clash between some of the far-right group and counter-demonstrators at King Cross and the break-out of EDL members from the Eureka car park.

He urged residents who saw what happened, have footage or photographs, or who witnessed any other trouble, to get in touch.

Calderdale councillor Faisal Shoukat (Lab, Park) says he was assaulted after EDL supporters turned up at the counter-demonstration .

He said he was speaking to organisers of the counter-protest as they were setting up when EDL supporters turned up and started damaging the gazebo and speakers.

“They started shouting racist abuse and opening up a banner with racist remarks on it and they chanted ‘‘EDL’.” he said.

He suffered bruising to the back of his head and kidney area.

He said one of the EDL members was filming the incident.

Police have confirmed they are investigating an allegation of assault against a man during the King Cross disturbance.

The EDL had been told they could hold their protest in the Eureka car park, and the museum shut for the day because of the demonstration, but some of the group came intent on marching on the town’s streets.

Coaches are believed to have let some off in Sowerby Bridge, from where some marched into Halifax and others took buses into King Cross and the park opposite the William IV pub where the counter-demo was planned.

Police marched the protesters into the Eureka car park where the mob hurled glass bottles at police, shouted anti-Islamic chants and “Let’s go mental” before breaking fencing to get out of the car park and onto the Eureka grounds.

Officers donned riot gear and escorted the EDL supporters to coaches and the rail station and out of Halifax.

Chf Supt Hardern repeated the force’s thanks to members of the public for supporting officers’ efforts to keep disruption to a minimum.

“We want to thank the communities of Halifax and the rest of Calderdale for their patience, tolerance and understanding,” he said.

He added his thanks to officers for the courage they showed on Saturday, especially the ones who had to deal with the ones who broke out of the car park.

And he wants to thank partner agencies who police have been working with in the lead up to the event.

Anyone who can help the police should call 0845 6060606 or CrimeStoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

Halifax Courier

Russian nationalists given life for 27 racist murders

The ringleader was among the five men given life sentences for the 2007-08 killing spree in and around Moscow, which targeted people from Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus and from ex-Soviet Central Asia.

Standing in a glass box, the group shared jokes and attempted Nazi salutes in handcuffs before their sentencing in the Moscow Military District Court, state TV showed.

Eight members of the gang, including one young woman, were given terms of between eight and 25 years behind bars, Russian media reported.

Neo-nationalist groups have been increasing in number in Russia, and violent clashes in the capital between Muslims and ethnic Slavs have raised concerns authorities will be unable to keep order ahead of March 2012 elections.

Over the last two years, a judge and a lawyer who fought against neo-nationalists, Eduard Chuvashov and Stanislav Markelov, were shot and killed in attacks officials connected to their work.

Rights workers say the Russian government's lenient attitude to the far right allows racism to flourish in Russia, which is home to some 20 million Muslims, a seventh of the population.

Many migrants from the impoverished North Caucasus, where an Islamist insurgency is raging, come to the Russian heartland for menial work. They say they are often treated with suspicion by ethnic Russians and many face racism.

Those convicted on Monday belong to the far-right Nationalist Socialist Society, which was outlawed in February and whose logo is a red and black stylised swastika.

The group's leader Lev Molotkov pleaded not guilty, and the defence plans to appeal against the length of the sentences, Russian media reported.

After being convicted, some of the nationalists shouted: "Our conscience is above your laws, we'll be back!" Interfax news agency reported.

They were also found guilty of attempted terrorism, creating and participating in extremism and inciting racial hatred.

Reuters

Arson attack in Býchory, Czech Republic: Group of attackers shouted racist slogans

Today in the early morning hours in Býchory, Kolín district, an unidentified perpetrator threw a flaming torch into a Romani home. None of the victims suffered physical injury. Police suspect racial motivation.

"At 12:30 AM a group of people walked around the Romani home shouting racist slogans. One of them then threw a flaming, wrapped stick, resembling a torch, into the house. The family put out the fire themselves. Fortunately no one was injured and the damage is estimated at about CZK 100," Soňa Budská, spokesperson for the Central Bohemian Regional Police, told news server Romea.cz. The regional police are taking over the investigation and will pursue it as attempted grievous bodily harm.

Romea

Bush Hill Park Q&A scrapped after objections to BNP and Christian candidates (UK)

A Hustings meeting ahead of a by-election has been axed amid objections to some candidates being invited.

The nine candidates standing for the vacant Enfield Council seat in Bush Hill Park had been invited to a question and answer session next week ahead of the poll.

But the Bush Hill Park Residents Association, which was organising the session, has pulled the plug amid fears of protests and political bias.

The British National Party have entered a candidate – London organiser Steve Squire – for the first time in Bush Hill Park, but Labour candidate Ivor Wiggett is understood to have refused to share the platform with him under party policy.

Objections were also raised to Christian Party representative Clive Morrison being invited, owing to alleged inflammatory comments made during his bid for the Edmonton Parliamentary seat last year.

Tony Kingsnorth, chairman of the association, said they were worried about the event being beset by protests outside and decided to call it off.

The issue has been further complicated as Mr Kingsnorth is a candidate himself, standing as an independent, with vice chairman John Jewson running his campaign.

This meant organising the debate would have to fall to other members of the committee, and the association did not want to risk being political by holding the event.

Paul Smith, the Lib Dem candidate, expressed his disappointment at the debate's cancellation on his blog, saying: “To be clear, the Lib Dems will appear at such events regardless of who else is on the platform because we believe that voters are drawn to fringe and extreme parties primarily because the major parties are seen as ignoring them.

“Get out onto the doorstep, meet these voters at hustings and they are given the voice they want and deserve and they can see how false the arguments from the extremists are.”

The BNP has never contested Bush Hill Park before, but Mr Squire is believed to have entered as a test in Enfield ahead of next year's London Assembly elections to see how the party fares.

Polling day is Thursday, July 28, with the result expected the day after.

Enfield Independant

Czech Republic/Islamophobia: Former Czech PM sued over statements on Islam

Retired politician Milos Zeman, Czech prime minister in 1998-2002, faces a criminal complaint over the statements on Islam he made in June at an international conference on Europe.

“The enemy is the anti-civilisation spreading from North Africa to Indonesia. Two billion people live in it and it is financed partly from oil sales and partly from drug sales,” Czech news servers quoted Zeman as saying about Islam at the recent conference.

Zeman said Thursday Muslims believe in the Koran like Nazis believed in racial supremacy and anti-Semitism and communists in class struggle and dictatorship of the proletariat.

He said Islam is far more aggressive and intolerant than present Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and other world religions.

He added that the Koran includes passages calling for the subjugation, enslavement and even elimination of non-believers.

Zeman has been known for his strong statements.

IINA

EDL demo: Six people arrested and police officer injured

Hundreds of police officers were deployed in Halifax today to keep English Defence League protesters under control.

Around 450 members of the far-right group came to the town, with coaches arriving from the Midlands and other parts of the country.

Some clashed with a counter demonstration in King Cross but were marched to the designated protest site at Eureka car park.

There was also some who arrived in Sowerby Bridge and marched from there into Halifax.

Police had to don riot gear when the protesters broke their way out of the car park and onto the childrens museum site.

The protesters were herded back onto coaches and trains and out of Halifax by around 5pm.

Five people have been arrested on suspicion of public order offences. A 21-year-old has also been arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon.

A police officer was injured. He suffered a dislocated shoulder.

Around 70 people were at the counter demonstration in King Cross.

*For full story, pictures and video see Monday’s Halifax Courier
Halifax Courier

SCOUTS SAY NO TO NEO-NAZI CAMP TENANTS (Sweden)

A Swedish neo-Nazi political party is planning to gather this weekend in Höör, in southern Sweden, where they are organising a summer camp for their supporters and their families.

The camp, organised by the right-wing extremist Party of Swedes (Svenskarnas parti), was to be held in a cabin owned by the Swedish Guide and Scout Association (Svenska scoutförbundet), who claim they were tricked when the premises were booked. According to the Scout Association, the representatives from the Party of Swedes pretended to be from a sports club in Malmö, when they asked to rent the premises. "It feels awful that a neo-Nazi organisation wil be using our facilities under a fake name," said Erik Sillén, chairman of the Scout Association, to newspaper Kvällsposten. The Party of Swedes estimate that the summer camp, called Nordic Vision, will receive roughly one hundred visitors. "We're directing ourselves to people that we consider to be Swedes. People with African names aren't welcome. Adopted children with Swedish names aren't welcome either," said organiser Andreas Carlsson, from the Party of Swedes. Carlsson has previously described the camp in Swedish media as a way for kids to "have fun", but also adding that everyone will be able to take part in a debate on the Sunday where one of the topics will be “Who is a Swede and who isn’t?”. The Lund police force were still unaware of hundreds of neo-Nazis' plans to gather in Skåne's woods this weekend, when Kvällsposten spoke with the police station on Thursday. "I hope and believe that the Swedish Security Services know about this, because that many extremists in the same place is a big security risk. But we have no information about this yet. We're sitting here completely non-plussed, after your phone call," said officer Mats Persson to the newspaper.

The Scout Association is renouncing the party, announcing that they will not permit the camp to be carried out on their premises. "Our local association has waived the rental agreement," said Erik Sillén to news agency TT. He underlines that this decision has support from the Scout Association on a national level, and they are planning to back the local association up, in the case of a dispute with the Party of Swedes. The 10,000 kronor ($1,580) paid in advance by the party will be returned, explains Sillén, who is uncomfortable with the idea of owing money to neo-Nazis. "That wouldn't feel good. Anyway, they've ordered a service that we won't be delivering, so of course we're returning the money. But this is about values and ideas that the Scouts don't want anything to do with," he told TT. But the organiser of the event, Andreas Carlsson, told TT that the Party was now searching for another solution. "It is a little last minute," he told TT. If no other premises can be found, the party will take legal action in order to be able to use the cabin anyway. According to him, the legal advice they have received so far says they have the law on their side. Earlier this summer, journalist Johannes Jakobsson of the Swedish magasine Expo, which studies and maps anti-democratic, right-wing extremist and racist tendencies in society, told The Local that there is little doubt about the party's heritage.

“The party leadership is the same as the old National Socialistic Front (National Socialistisk Front – NSF), they represent an ethnic nationalism and they believe in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,” he said. According to him, the Party of Swedes party was formerly known as the People's Front (Folkfronten) and was founded by members of the former National Socialist Front (Nationalsocialistisk front - NSF) in November 2008. At the time it dissolved, NSF was the largest neo-Nazi political party in Sweden. It became a political party on April 20th, 1999, the 110th birthday of Adolf Hitler.

The Local Sweden

Neo-Nazi skinhead taken down with one punch (USA)

A neo-Nazi is in jail because he allegedly tried to pick a fight with the wrong man, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

According to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office, Daren C. Abbey, 28, is accused of verbally confronting and then assaulting Marlon L. Baker, a 46-year-old African American.  It happened inside a Bayview, Idaho bar on July 3.

According to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office, Baker was approached by Abbey.  Investigators said Abbey began threatening to stab Baker if he would not leave Bayview.  Investigators said Abbey said "blacks are not welcome here."  After continued harassment, Baker left the bar and walked about 400 yards with Abbey following behind him yelling racial slurs.

Baker finally turned around and Abbey came at him.  That's when investigators said Baker punched Abbey in the face once, knocking him down.  Investigators said Baker was wearing a shirt that said "Spokane Boxing Club Champion".  Investigators also said Abbey was intoxicated.

The Southern Poverty Law Center spoke to the owner of Spokane Boxing who said Baker has never been a licensed professional boxer, to his knowledge.  It is possible Baker may have informal boxing experience.

Investigators said Abbey is listed as a transient out of Coeur d'Alene.  He has ties to California and Montana.  Reports show Abbey had contact with police in Coeur d'Alene in 2004.  He has multiple tattoos including swastikas and a thunderbolt.  He also has a shaved head.

According to SPLC, Abbey was arrested and booked into jail on charges of battery, a misdemeanor, and felony malicious harassment. Officials said Baker was not injured and not charged.

Abbey was treated for a possible broken nose after being booked into the Kootenai County Jail.

Abbey is being held on $75,000 bond.

NWCN

670 police prepare for marches (UK)

Police in Cambridge have deployed more than 670 officers as the English Defence League and anti-fascist groups march through the city.

Cambridgeshire Police expect up to 500 members of the EDL to take part in a march.

Similar numbers from Unite Against Fascism and the TUC will take part in a counter march.

East of England MEP Richard Howitt will deliver a speech to the counter march. He will say: "We publicly attest that the EDL is not welcome in this city because we cannot let the poison of their ideas seep in to the body of our community.

"I am proud to live and work in this, the most international of cities, where one in 10 of my neighbours comes from black or ethnic minority communities.

"This is a city which spoke out to end slavery 50 years before it was abolished and today, over two hundred years later, we speak out to restate that there can never be those amongst us who can be treated as less than equal."

Mark Woods, speaking on behalf of Cambridge's Muslim community, said: "We accept that there's a right to free speech but there are also laws against inciting racial hatred.

"The Muslim community here recognises it has had its own problems and is working hard to tackle those.

"Our message to the EDL is: you're not welcome in Cambridge."

Belfast Telegraph

Enormous Disruption Looming: Halifax counts cost of EDL protest (UK)

Traders across Halifax were today counting the cost of the English Defence League’s decision to hold another demo in town - today.

Scores of pubs and other businesses will be shutting while the far-right group staged its protest.

Shops and pubs say they will lose business but want to avoid the disorder seen last time the EDL came to Halifax.

Megan Forest, from The Three Pigeons, South Parade, said they planned to shut until 4pm. “We don’t want the trouble.”

Others closing include The Ring O’Bells, which will stay shut until the protesters have left. The Barum Top will be closed until 6pm. The Salvation will keep its doors shut till 5pm and the Plummet Line will also be closed till 5.

Chris Lord, of Chris Lord Photography, said he was bound to lose business today because people will not be passing his office on Square Road.

“We’re all trying hard to earn a living,” he said.

The EDL decision to come to Halifax will also mean Eureka, one of Halifax’s busiest tourist attractions, will shut for the day.

Police and Calderdale Council have designated the museum car park as the least disruptive spot for the protest.

Police are also be expected to run a up a huge bill manning the demonstration.

The force cannot say yet how much it will cost them but a demonstration in Bradford last summer cost the force £650,000.

MP for Halifax Linda Riordan said: “This has caused unnecessary disruption to people, businesses, and shopkeepers as well as affecting the local economy.

“It is outrageous that local businesses have been put in a position where they have to close for the day.

“I am confident the police will handle the situation effectively.

“But my message to the EDL is for them to go away and don’t come back to Halifax.

“I am sure the vast majority of people in this town, who are tolerant, respectful and decent, would agree with me.”

A joint statement from a group of Halifax organisations and individuals including Calderdale Council’s political leaders, Mrs Riordan, Halifax Minster, Calderdale College and Halifax Festival said: “The planned EDL protest is unwanted and damaging to everyone who lives, works and cares for Halifax and Calderdale.

“We support the right to peaceful protest but there is no clear reason why this group want to protest in Halifax,and the event will only bring tension, discord and anxiety.

“We have seen the impact of previous disruptive and criminal behaviour by supporters of this group in Halifax in recent months followed by the arrests of 16 people in April.

“Today is the first day of Halifax Festival. Eureka would be marking their 19th birthday in Halifax, but is now closed. It should be a day for local people to enjoy, a day for us to welcome visitors to our town, and a welcome boost for local businesses in difficult times.

“Instead, this protest – which will cost the police, council and partners many thousands of pounds – will disrupt our town and have a damaging impact on our businesses on the day itself and potentially afterwards.

“Fortunately, Halifax is a resilient place, with a clear determination to respond to the challenges of the economic recession.

“We are a place where people live side by side, with common values based upon mutual respect, tolerance and unity.

“The actions of the EDL in choosing to demonstrate in Halifax today show they care nothing for the wellbeing of anyone who lives, works in or cares about Halifax.

“They are not welcome in our town. It is time that they got this message.”

The protest clashes with the launch of Halifax Festival, but organisers say they are determined it will go ahead.

A counter-EDL protest was being held today in King Cross Road, around noon.

Halifax courier

Racist' stop-and-search powers to be challenged (UK)

The high court has agreed that a full legal challenge can be brought against a police stop-and-search power alleged to be used in a racist way against African-Caribbean people.

The challenge follows officers stopping and searching a 37-year-old woman with no convictions, after they claimed she was holding onto her bag in a suspicious way.

The woman, Ann Roberts, ended up being held down by officers on the floor in front of other people, handcuffed and taken to a police station where she was wrongly accused of being a class A drug user and placed on a treatment programme under the threat of arrest if she failed to attend.

Roberts was stopped under section 60 of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, brought in to tackle illegal raves. The power allows police to stop and search people without having a reasonable suspicion they are involved in criminality.

Roberts, a special needs assistant, argued that a disproportionate number of black Londoners are searched in violation of article 14 of the European convention on human rights, which bans discrimination.

Her lawyers say statistical evidence implies that a black person is more than nine times more likely to be searched than a white person. They go on say section 60 is "incompatible" with three articles of the convention: 14, 5, which protects the right to liberty and security, and 8, which protects the right to private and family life.

Police say section 60 is a valuable tool which has been used to tackle areas plagued by violence.

On 9 September 2010 Roberts was on a bus when an inspector found she had insufficient money for her journey on her prepaid Oyster card.

Police were called when she could not produce identity documents.

According to her lawyers, she was searched under section 60 after a police officer took the view she was holding on to her bag in a manner that suggested she had something to hide.

She was told the area she was in was a "hotspot" for gang violence and the possession of knives. Few, if any, acts of gang violence are committed by married women in their mid 30s.

Roberts asked to be searched in a police station rather than in public in case it was seen by young people with whom she worked.

Police refused and when they tried to seize her handbag a struggle followed which led to officers restraining her on the floor.

Three bank cards with different identities were found in her bag. She explained they were in her name, her maiden name – having recently married – and her son's name.

She was told she was being arrested on suspicion of fraud and taken to Tottenham police station.

She was subjected to a drugs test which she was told showed small amounts of crack cocaine, but a later test showed she was clear.

After being put in a cell, she was interviewed and told she was no longer suspected of fraud but was being detained on suspicion that she had obstructed a police search.

Later a caution was administered for obstruction.











 The Guardian

Italian court sentences nine elderly German Nazis

An Italian court on Thursday handed down life sentences to nine elderly Germans for having killed more than 160 civilians in northern and central Italy during World War II.

The nine former Nazi soldiers, all in their 80s and 90s, were sentenced in absentia by a court in Verona Tuesday night after a seven-month trial. They had been charged with killing 140 civilians in the Modena region in 1944 and also for massacres of dozens of others carried out in Tuscany and Emilia Romagna regions.

The nine men had been German officers and soldiers attached to a parachute division charged with quashing Italian resistance to German occupation.

"At last there is justice for the victims and their relatives and a bloody page of history can be closed," one of the plaintiffs told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Jerusalem Post

Newbury Town Council has been criticised over an appendix to a report on planning for traveller sites (UK)

Newbury Town Council has been accused of racism after publishing statements on travellers “worthy of the British National Party (BNP).”

The offending paragraphs appeared in an appendix to a report on planning for traveller sites prepared for Monday night’s the planning and highways committee meeting.
They were initially published on the council website but were removed when the storm broke.

They stated: "We do not believe that travellers should be treated as a separate ethnic group or that policy towards them should be governed by such considerations. Because of the undesirable effects of the travelling way of life on receipt of social services, especially education, we do not consider that travelling in the sense used in this paper can be sustained in the long run.

“It is gradually disappearing and that trend should not be discouraged. We obviously agree on the measures to prevent abuse of the planning system by travellers.”

The comments were condemned by the general secretary of West Berkshire Minority Ethnic Forum, Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera who pointed out: “Roma, Romany Gypsies and Irish travellers are now all recognised to have protection under the Race Relations Act as they have been finally recognised as minority ethnic communities in law.

“The intolerance shown towards these communities is still very obvious, and is even enshrined within some of the policies and procedures of our public authorities. Are these somewhat limiting and discriminatory views the opinions of the town council as a whole, or merely a few individuals? Whichever. it is very concerning.”

Local Labour Party spokesman Richard Garvie said he interpreted the words to mean that travellers should not have equal access to health and education services and branded the comments “worthy of the BNP.”

The wording of the report also sparked a heated debate on the forum at our website, Newburytoday.co.uk ahead of Monday night’s meeting.

Before the meeting began, Anthony Pick (Con, St Johns) revealed that he was the author of the offending report and added: “I apologise for any offence which my remarks may have caused and I withdraw them without reservation.”

Committee vice chairman Adrian Edwards (Con, Falkland) spoke next, saying he was responsible for submitting the report to committee and adding: “I would like to apologise that I failed to pick this up.”

Council chief executive Graham Hunt then offered a “full and unqualified” apology, adding that the final responsibility for what was published rested with him.

He pointed out that the offending report had been removed from the website and promised “equality training” would be put in place.

Mr Hunt added: “Newbury Town Council welcomes any initiative which will improve facilities for the travelling community.”

Mr Garvie said afterwards: "For the council to have to issue three apologies at the start of a meeting shows how serious an incident this was.”

Newbury Today

HOLOCAUST DENIAL NO CRIME IN SPAIN

In a ruling that may have ripple effects across Europe, the Spanish Supreme Court has ruled that neo-Nazi literature and speech, including that which openly denies the Holocaust, is not a punishable crime. In his June 3 ruling, presiding judge Dr. Adolfo Prego said that while such speech is truly offensive, it is only a crime if advocates violence. “Advocating an ideology is not punishable no matter which ideology is involved,” Judge Prego chided prosecutors in his ruling. The verdict overules a 2009 lower court conviction of four Spanish neo-Nazis, Ramón Bau, Óscar Panadero, Carlos García and Juan Antonio Llopart, who were found guilty of disseminating hate literature.

Panadero owned and operated the now-defunct Kalki bookstore, which openly sold neo-Nazi paraphanelia and literature, including books that denied the Holocaust. Garcia was an employee at the store, while Bau and Llopart ran organizations that promoted National Socialist ideology. Judge Prego noted that he himself was offended by the neo-Nazi literature, but could not let the conviction stand as this would open the door to random prosecution of any opinion expressed. As a result of the Supreme Court ruling, the four men were aquitted of their prison terms, which ranged from 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 years.

The Jewish Community Federation of Spain (FCJE) roundly condemned the verdict, reports the World Jewish Congress. “We Jews are very worried that the Spanish judiciary, which in certain situations shows a lot of sensitivity, does not consider the sale of books in which the Holocaust is denied and racism propagated an offense banned by our laws,” the group said in a press statement. The Israeli Embassy in Madrid said in a statement, “Israel believes that this decision gives support to racist violence and shows a lack of historic knowledge.” It added that the ruling was reason for “sadness and concern.”

Holocaust denial is explicitly or implicitly illegal in 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland.

The European Union’s Framework decision on Racism and Xenophobia, released in 2007, states that denying or grossly trivialising “crimes of genocide” should be made “punishable in all EU Member States.” While other EU member states have already adopted either parts or the entire framework into their laws, Spain has not complied.

 Europe Today

A decade after the riots, Bradford is still uneasy about race relations (UK)

There has been progress, not least the stand residents took against the EDL last year, but threats from the far right remain.

Ten years ago today Bradford witnessed race riots that lasted three days and brought the issue of race relations in the city to the country's attention. Bradford became known as a "racial tinderbox" where the city's large Asian community was estranged and at odds with the white working class.

You could see the troubles coming as rioting spread across the north from towns on the other side of the Pennines such as Burnley and Oldham. There were the largely forgotten riots of 1995, which should have acted as a warning signal. After those disturbances, Asian residents complained about a lack of opportunities and growing unease about relationships with the police and the white working class. Those calls were mostly ignored, the National Front took advantage and six years later tensions boiled over again.

I was a 17-year-old student at the time, and like many people in the city was shocked to see Manningham turned into a battleground. I remember picking up the Telegraph and Argus and seeing the faces of young men I'd played against in a football semi-final a few months earlier on the front page as wanted troublemakers. Harsh sentences followed for the Asian offenders and the city woke up to the fact that it had been sleepwalking into segregation for more than 30 years.

There was a definite change in the city as the initial shock of the riots turned to disgust and even hatred as people surveyed what "they" had done to "our" city. The fallout continued with the BNP gaining council seats in predominantly white areas like Queensbury and Keighley as far-right groups took advantage of the troubles to reinforce the "them and us" attitude. Lord Ouseley's report and the Cantle report followed and laid out the drastic action that needed to be taken to counteract the effects of segregation in the city and others like it.

But the anniversary of the riots isn't the best indicator of how far the city has come when dealing with race relations. That date came on 28 August 2010 when the English Defence League (EDL) brought 700 supporters to the city. The event had been talked about for months and when the static protest started the group faced opposition from a wide range of residents. It was a display of unity which largely went unreported, the focus instead being on the EDL's clashes with the police. It was the toughest test Bradford's communities had faced since 2001 and people from all over the city made sure no one group was left to stand up to the far right alone.

The BNP is no longer represented on the council and now Bradfordians are focused on new challenges such as the lack of development in the city centre, which literally left a hole in the heart of the city, and fewer job opportunities after the area's financial services industry was hit by the economic downturn. When Chris Morris chose the city's 16th International Film Festival as the place to premier his controversial film Four Lions, which was about a British group of suicide bombers, I was delighted to see someone like Morris in the city. But even more delighted that there wasn't trouble after the premier, especially considering one of the 7/7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, was born in Bradford. It showed me that perhaps now Bradfordians of all races are able to examine even the most uncomfortable aspects of life in the city.

Bradford still faces challenges when it comes to relations between different communities. The white flight that occurred in areas like Manningham is being repeated, this time with Asian middle-class families moving out to areas like Heaton and eastern European migrants taking their place. The school system is still a source of segregation, with many containing a majority of pupils from either white or Asian backgrounds. But progress is being made with exchange programmes and a greater awareness of how without early integration a "them and us" attitude can develop.

Many in the city are happy about the progress that has been made but as the far right regroup again in the form of the EDL, Bradfordians are well aware that their unity will be tested again and so will the city's race relations.

The Guardian

English Defence League to march through Plymouth (UK)

Far-right street protest group the English Defence League is to march through Plymouth on Saturday as part of its campaign against what it calls the spread of Islamic extremism in Britain.

A counter-march has been organised by Unison, Unite Against Facism (UAF) and the Trades Union Council.

The EDL march will start in Exeter Street at 1pm, there will be speeches in the city centre at 2pm and a march back to Exeter Street at 3pm.

A statement on EDL Plymouth's Facebook posting for the event reads: "Above all the English Defence League will be attending Plymouth to hold a peaceful protest anyone causing trouble or making racist remarks will be removed from the demo and is likely to be arrested."

The counter-event will start with a rally at the Jigsaw Garden near Drake Circus at 12pm and there will be a march at 1pm.

Devon and Cornwall Police are planning to deploy officers in the city centre during the events.

Police are readying themselves for the potentially explosive rallies with ‘significant resources’ available.

But they added that protesters have said they would hold peaceful demonstrations.

“It’s important that we plan for every eventuality,” said Superintendent Craig Downham.

“We’re expecting large numbers of people in the city centre and Barbican areas and protesters have stated that it is their intention to hold a peaceful assembly, however, we will have significant police resources available to deal with any situation which presents itself, in a fair, proportionate and impartial way.”

He added that the police and local authority do not have powers to ban the protests and respect everyone’s democratic right to participate in peaceful protest.

But the Force is asking the community to be vigilant and inform the police immediately of any incidents.

“Devon and Cornwall Police is experienced in policing large events and our commitment is to protect the communities we serve and keep the peace, while facilitating peaceful and lawful protests,” he said.

“We want to reassure people that the city centre is still open for business. The two march routes have been negotiated in such a way that there’s less of a chance of disorder but we are there in large numbers should we need to use our powers to deal with anyone who is getting out of hand.”

The EDL have been leafleting around the city centre ahead of their rally with pamphlets saying “peaceful protest in Plymouth” and “defend our culture”.

UAF said that a unity statement has been signed by local politicians and trade unionists in opposition to the EDL protest.

To highlight this they are organising a multicultural We Are Plymouth demonstration.

Kevin Treweeks, equalities officer, city of Plymouth branch UNISON, added that the group is also planning an afternoon of multi-cultural entertainment following the rally.

The EDL formed in Luton in 2009 in response to protests by Islamic groups.

Events by EDL in other cities have sometimes seen a number of arrests, violent clashes with the UAF and other groups and criminal damage.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 demonstrators marched through Newcastle in May 2010 - from both the EDL and UAF.

Police say the event passed without incident.

EDL events are usually heavily policed.

This is Plymouth

US 'hate groups' bolstered by Obama's election

Aryan Nations

Did the election of Barack Obama as US president boost the growth of right-wing and so-called "hate groups"?

A curious thing happens when you walk down the street in Spokane, Washington, first thing in the morning. Complete strangers look you in the eye, and say, with a little smile: "Good morning."

It is that kind of a town; if not close-knit, then, compared to some of the other towns and cities in America, human in scale and friendly to strangers.

Which makes the attempted bombing here of a civil rights march in January all the more difficult to comprehend.

The man alleged to have left a rucksack filled with explosives and shrapnel - covered in rat poison so as to stop blood clotting - is Kevin Harpham, an Army veteran with an interest in neo-Nazi groups.

The difficult truth for Spokane, for Washington State, for neighbouring Idaho and for all of the US, is that hate groups - anti-black, anti-Jew, neo-Nazi - are on the rise again.

And nearly everyone, including members of those groups, agrees that the election of Barack Obama has been a catalyst for the increase in support.

"I wouldn't say it surprises me," says Spokane's mayor Mary Verner, "though it is alarming to me".

"We are seeing a resurgence in hate groups because we are seeing democratic activity and empowered citizens who are not Anglo-Saxon Protestants."

There was the same sort of reaction from the local sheriff, Ozzie Knezovich, when he heard that a bomb had been left beside the route of the Martin Luther King Jr Day march.

"Surprised? No," he says. "We live in a different world now - hate seems to be a widespread phenomenon right now."

'Explosion' of groups
And there are ordinary citizens - and their children - who are at the receiving end of hate group activity in Washington and Idaho.

Rachel Dolezal, who teaches art and African-American studies, has been repeatedly harassed since word got out about what she taught.

Her homes - she has moved several times - have been broken into. Nooses have been left for her, and a swastika was left on the door of her workplace.

And she has acted to protect her son.

"I actually bought him a pair of earphones for the bus," she says, "because he hears the word 'nigger' every day.

"It seems things were kind of hush and sanitised and cleaned up, or something, and then Barack Obama just brought things to the surface that were already existent within people."

Hate groups and other groups on the far right - so-called Patriot groups which vow to resist the encroachments of the Federal government, and anti-immigrant nativist groups - are tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC).

"In the fall (autumn) of 2008," says the director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, Mark Potok, "we started to see an explosion in hate groups, but more generally in right-wing groups of general types."

Rise in requestsIf Mark Potok wanted confirmation of his research, he could find it just across the border from Spokane, in the city of Coeur d'Alene, northern Idaho.

Sitting on his porch as the day fades into night is Jerald O'Brien, flanked by the flags of the Aryan Nations group and the Church of Jesus Christ-Christian.

Aryan Nations is a wildly anti-Jewish white separatist group. The faded plastic children's toys on the lawn seem more than a little incongruous.

Mr O'Brien insists he does not condone or encourage any acts of violence. He calls Jews "the children of Satan".

He accuses Barack Obama of being Jewish - he is not - and of not being a US citizen - he is. But he has cause to thank the president.

"The day after Barack Obama's election," he says, "my phone would not stop ringing. It was up to four or five a day asking for education and information."

Some will dismiss men such as Jerald O'Brien, and groups such as Aryan Nations, as "wackos" and "nut-jobs".

But Mark Potok is concerned.

"I think we are in a very similar period as we were in the run-up to the Oklahoma City bombing," he says, "as far as a bombing or an attack like that, whether that will come, we don't know.

"We are very close in numbers to the numbers we had at the very peak of the militia movement."

The trial of Kevin Harpham, accused of attempting to the bomb the Martin Luther King Jr Day march in Spokane, begins in August.

BBC News

Newsnews archives This page is updated almost every day with items from regular news sources. If you have an item for the news page please send it to us at news@icare.to . Your news has to be in English. If you have any relevant URL's (webaddresses) where more info about the news you send us can be found, please send those too. Don't forget to add the country where the newsitem originates. For news about Hate Crime, please visit our ICARE HATE CRIME NEWS. Headlines 8 July, 2011 * ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION NATIONWIDE PROBLEM - MEDVEDEV (Russia) * BULGARIA'S SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS GAY RIGHTS, RULES AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA * 'NEWS CHANNELS BIASED AGAINST ISLAM' CLAIMS SURVEY (uk) * MEP SAJJAD KARIM CALLS POLICE AFTER FAMILY HOME 'TARGETED BY FAR RIGHT ACTIVISTS' (uk) * AGE OVERTAKES RACE DISCRIMINATION IN TRIBUNAL CASES (uk) * ALMOST 2,000 CHILDREN ARE REPORTED FOR 'HATE CRIMES' (uk) * PUPILS AND TEACHERS 'SHOW RACISM' (uk) * DER UNTERGANG: BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY DECLARES WAR... ON ITSELF (uk) * COMMON EU POLICY NEEDED ON MIGRATION (Cyprus) * POLISH LEADER RAISES ALARM ABOUT 'NEW' EUROSCEPTICISM * SOUTH AFRICA FAILS TO STOP RISE IN XENOPHOBIA * MUSLIM-JEWISH PARLEY SEEKS 'PLATFORM FOR DIALOGUE' Headlines 1 July, 2011 * ROMANIAN PLAN TO WALL OFF ROMA STIRS PROTESTS * OF SKINHEADS AND JIHADISTS (Ireland) * BILL TO BLACKLIST FOREIGNERS 'FAIR': RUSSIA'S LAVROV * HIGH COURT LIGHTENS UP ON EXTREMISM CASES (Russia) * REPORT: HATE CRIME DECLINES IN SWEDEN * SWEDISH POLICE BACKTRACK ON 'ETHNIC' PROFILING * NORWAY ‘CHERRY PICKS’ LIBYAN REFUGEES * PLAN FOR FOREIGN CRIMINAL EXPULSIONS HITS IMPASSE (Switzerland) * KOSOVO FM: PARTITION WOULD "OPEN GATES OF HELL" * KOSOVO MUSLIMS STEP UP MOSQUE PROTESTS * MINISTER APOLOGISES TO ROMA GYPSY FAMILY FOR POLICE BRUTALITY (Serbia) * POLAND COMPLAINS TO VATICAN OVER PRIEST'S REMARKS * A BURKA CONFLICTS WITH GOOD MANNERS, LIKE PUBLIC NUDITY, SAYS MINISTER (Netherlands) * FEAR OF FOREIGNERS 'UNDERSTANDABLE', SAYS VERHAGEN (Netherlands) * EUROPEAN JEWISH GROUPS VOW TO FIGHT DUTCH SLAUGHTER BAN (Netherlands) * DUTCH LAWMAKERS VOTE ON RITUAL ANIMAL SLAUGHTER * COURT: FRENCH TAX OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES HINDERS RIGHTS (France) * MARINE LE PEN: IS THIS THE MOST DANGEROUS WOMAN IN FRANCE? * FAR-RIGHT AUSTRIAN PARTY AMBIVALENT ON HITLER DEBATE * FAR-RIGHT POLITICAL LEADER WILL BE MOCKED, RIDICULED AT GAY PRIDE (uk) * SCHOLAR'S RESEARCH SHOWS NORTHERN IRELAND ANTI-RACISM POLICIES ARE FLAWED * SEVEN ANTI-FACISTS FACE JAIL FOR AN ATTACK ON TWO 'NAZIS' (uk) * NEO NAZI BOMBER LOSES SENTENCING APPEAL(uk) * SURPRISE POLL SHOWS WIDESPREAD MUSLIM SUPPORT FOR GAY RIGHTS (uk) * 'RACISM' STILL RIFE IN BIRMINGHAM - IMPACTS CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY, SAYS PANEL (uk) * ALEX SALMOND'S FORCED CLIMBDOWN OVER HIS FOOTBALL HATE-CRIME BILL MAY NOT BE ENOUGH TO SAVE IT (uk) * SHEDDING LIGHT ON RACISM IN MALTA * REPORT WARNS OF NEO-NAZIS DISGUISED AS BOY NEXT DOOR (Germany) * REPORT: NEO-NAZI VIOLENCE UP IN EASTERN GERMANY * ARSON AND STABBINGS IN BERLIN AS EXTREMIST GROUPS CLASH (Germany) * 16 INJURED IN ARSON ATTACK ON TURKISH CAFE IN GERMANY * NEW BOOK REVEALS SECRET MEANING OF NEO-NAZI CODES (Germany) * GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER URGES MUSLIMS TO COMBAT MILITANCY (Germany) * POLITICIANS USING ANTI-ROMA RHETORIC ARE SPREADING HATE (opinion) * POLICE INVESTIGATE 'ANTI-SEMITIC' GRAFFITI (Czech Rep.) * TOWN FINES ORGANISERS OF PROTEST AGAINST ULTRA RIGHTISTS (Czech Rep.) * ACTIVISTS DEMAND CHILD ADOPTIONS FOR HOMOSEXUALS (Czech Rep.) * NUMBER OF EVENTS STAGED BY FAR RIGHT DROPPED LAST YEAR IN CZECH REP. * ABUSE OF LEGAL VISA POLICY MOST PRESSING IMMIGRATION ISSUE (Czech Rep.) * CZECHS PASS DECADE OF ROMA INCLUSION CHAIRMANSHIP TO MACEDONIA * EUROPE ROMA CZ LAUNCHES PROJECT TO SUPPORT VICTIMS OF HATE VIOLENCE (Press release) * POLICE PREVENT CLASH BETWEEN EXTREMISTS, ROMANIES IN CZECH TOWN * DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIMS AT ALL-TIME HIGH IN BELGIUM * GAYS, POLICE OUTFOX FAR RIGHT (Hungary) * WEDDING PLANS BLOOM AS NY LEGALIZES GAY MARRIAGE (usa) * FOURTH OIC ANNUAL REPORT ON ISLAMOPHOBIA RELEASED (world) THE WILDERS TRIAL IN THE NETHERLANDS * IS THIS THE DEATH OF DUTCH MULTICULTURALISM? * GEERT WILDERS, A VOLTAIRE FOR OUR TIMES? (Netherlands, opinion) * LEGALISING RACISM? (Netherlands, opinion) * TWO STANDARDS FOR HATE SPEECH (editorial, the Toronto Star) * GEERT WILDERS AND DUTCH DEMOCRACY (Netherlands) * BELITTLING ISLAM IN THE DUTCH WILDERNESS – ONLY A POLITICIAN’S JOB (Netherlands) * WILDERS FOUND NOT GUILTY OF INCITING HATRED, BUT IS 'ON THE EDGE' (Netherlands) * VERDICT SET FOR DUTCH ANTI-ISLAM LAWMAKER * DUTCH ANTI-ISLAM LAWMAKER WILDERS FACES JUDGEMENT Headlines 24 June, 2011 * AMNESTY SLATES ROMANIA OVER ROMA HOUSING * GOVERNMENT'S GESTURES TO FAR-RIGHT ALLY POISON DANISH ATMOSPHERE (Denmark) * FREE SPEECH -TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY- (Denmark) * TURKEY IGNORING ANTI-LGBT DISCRIMINATION SAYS AMNESTY * 'SEX ASSAULT' POLITICIAN BLAMES FAR-RIGHT PLOT (France) * BULGARIA SENTENCED IN STRASBOURG FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST 2 RUSSIANS * HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL IN THESSALONIKI, GREECE, DESECRATED * HITLER 'STILL HONORARY CITIZEN IN HIS HOMETOWN' (Austria) * NEVER AGAIN GIVEN UEFA-BACKED AWARD (Poland) * PRIEST KNOWN FOR EXTREME VIEWS INVITED TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BY MEPs (Poland) * WOMEN PLAYING BIGGER ROLE AMONG FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISTS (Germany) * GERMANY'S LEFT PARTY FACES CHARGES OF ANTI-SEMITISM * ERRC URGES END TO POLICE PROFILING OF EU ROMA IN DENMARK * FESTIVAL TO COMBAT DISCRIMINATION TOWARD ROMA BOTTLE COLLECTORS (Denmark) * CZECH NEO-NAZIS POST GUERRILLA ‘HARDBASS’ DANCE ATTACKS ON YOUTUBE * OSCE HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF CALLS FOR END SEGREGATION & DISCRIMINATION ROMA CHILDREN IN CZECH SCHOOLS * MASKED NEO-NAZIS MARCH BY TORCHLIGHT AS A PROVOCATION IN CZECH TOWN OF KRUPKA * HUNDREDS ATTEND COMMEMORATIVE CEREMONY FOR LEŽÁKY (Czech Rep.) * POLICE 'FAIL' DISABLED PEOPLE SUFFERING HATE CRIME (uk) * EDL THUG ABUSED OLD MEN (uk) * MINISTER: SHORTER PARENTAL LEAVE FOR IMMIGRANTS (Sweden) * RUSSIA 2018 PLEDGES TO FIGHT RACISM AFTER BANANA THROWN AT ROBERTO CARLOS * NEW ANTI-NAZI COALITION (Russia) * ST PETERSBURG BANS SLAVIC GAY PRIDE PARADE BUT OKs ANTI- GAY RALLY (Russia) * ACTIVIST NIKOLAI ALEKSEYEV SUGGESTS RUSSIANS NOT INTERESTED IN GAY RIGHTS (Russia) * AUSTRIAN HOMOSEXUALS ARRESTED IN HUNGARY * GAY PRIDE RALLIES HELD ACROSS BALKANS * CROATIAN CAPITAL GEARS UP FOR GAY PRIDE PARADE AFTER EARLIER VIOLENCE * BULGARIA'S SOFIA PRIDE GAY PARADE GOES SMOOTHLY, ONLY 'FAMILY NGO' PROTESTS * BULGARIA'S 4TH SOFIA PRIDE GAY PARADE GUARDED BY HUNDREDS OF POLICEMEN * EU AGREES TO REFORM INTERNAL BORDER RULES * EU SUMMIT ENDORSES LIMITED TIGHTENING OF SCHENGEN SYSTEM * COUNCIL OF EUROPE LAUNCHES PROBE INTO MIGRANT DROWNINGS Headlines 17 June, 2011 * LEADERSHIP NEEDED ON RIGHTS (Italy) * POLICE ATTACKS THE OFFICE OF THE INSTITUTE FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY (Azerbaijan) * MIGRANTS TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES (Netherlands) * DUTCH GROUP TO BURN HILL'S BOOK OF NEGROES (Netherlands) * DUTCH JEWS, MUSLIMS APPEAL RITUAL SLAUGHTER PLAN * YOUTH PARTY FIGHTS FOR THE RIGHTS OF WHITES (Denmark) * HACKERS EXPOSE NEO-NAZI PARTY SUPPORTERS (Germany) * RIGHT EXTREMISTS SQUABBLE OVER A CROSSWORD PUZZLE (Germany) * NEO-NAZI LEADER GETS SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR ASSAULTING POLICE (Hungary) * THE EXTEND AND THE LIMITS OF XENOPHOBIA IN FRANCE (opinion) * FRENCH PARLIAMENT REJECTS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL * 2 RUSSIAN NEO-NAZI LEADERS SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR KILLINGS OF NON-RUSSIANS * FAR-RIGHT COULD PUSH SWEDEN INTO CRISIS * PARENTAL LEAVE 'TRAPS' IMMIGRANTS AT HOME (Sweden) * SWEDISH KIDS INVITED TO NEO-NAZI SUMMER CAMP (Sweden) * OPINION POLL POINTS TO DISCRIMINATION IN MONTENEGRO * JOBS ADS ARE OFTEN DISCRIMINATORY, OMBUDSMAN SAYS (Czech Rep.) * CZECH CONSTITUTIONAL COURT SAYS EXTENSION OF CUSTODY FOR NEO-NAZI LEADER VIOLATED HER RIGHTS (Czech Rep.) * CATHOLIC PRIESTS PROTEST AGAINST ULTRA-RIGHT PARTY IN KRNOV (Czech Rep.) * TURKEY FEELS RACIAL TENSIONS AS FLOOD OF SYRIAN REFUGEES GOES ON * SOCIAL MEDIA'S INFLUENCE ON ‘HATE CRIME' (Turkey) * MUSLIMS SAY BULGARIA PLAGUED WITH ISLAMOPHOBIA, VOW TO DEFEND THEMSELVES (Bulgaria) * SOFIA MOSQUE WARDEN ASSAULTED, BEATEN - CHIEF MUFTI (Bulgaria) * POLICE PROBE FAR-RIGHT LINKS TO 'POISON PACKAGES' AT MOSQUES (uk) * UK LIBERAL MUSLIMS LAUNCHED JIHAD AGAINST VIOLENCE * SCHOOL'S REFUSAL TO LET BOY WEAR CORNROW BRAIDS IS RULED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (uk) * TOUGHER LAWS FOR FOOTBALL HATE CRIMES (uk) * RELIGIOUS HATE CRIME SOARS (uk) * ‘CAGED’ EDL LEADER VOWS TO RETURN TO DEWSBURY IN THOUSANDS (uk) * MUSLIMS CALL FOR ACTION AGAINST HATE CRIMES (uk) * PRIDE'S SUCCESSFUL MARCH (Slovakia) * EURO 2012 FRONTLINE IN BATTLE WITH RACISM (Poland/Ukraine) * WARSAW CONFERENCE TO LAUNCH FARE EURO 2012 ACTIVITIES (Poland) * RACISM STILL RIPE IN THE MEDIA (Poland, editorial NPE) * ITALY AGAINST THE JEWS * ANTI-GAY PROTESTERS CHARGED AFTER SPLIT PARADE VIOLENCE (Croatia) * VIOLENCE MARS CROATIAN GAY PRIDE PARADE * TURKEY PM WARNS OF DUTCH RADICALISM (Netherlands) * POPE WANTS GYPSIES INTEGRATED INTO SOCIETY * HOW TO AVOID A MULTICULTURAL CHERNOBYL? (opinion) * EU AGENCY FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS (FRA) LAUNCHES ITS ANNUAL REPORT (press release) * UN GROUP BACKS GAY RIGHTS FOR THE 1ST TIME EVER * STRUCTURAL DISCRIMINATION, A COMMON THREAD BETWEEN THE ROMA AND THE VICTIMS OF CASTE SYSTEMS Headlines 8 July, 2011 ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION NATIONWIDE PROBLEM - MEDVEDEV (Russia) 5/7/2011- Ethnic discrimination is a problem facing not only certain Russian regions, but the entire country, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday. "We have problems with this," the president said, speaking during a Human Rights Council meeting in Nalchik, the capital of the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.“I mean the situation in general, not just in a certain republic or a certain territory, in the Caucasus or in central Moscow." Harmonizing inter-ethnic relations within the country is a complicated task, but it should be addressed, he said, adding that developing national media should be a major goal for local governments. "We are trying to deal with it now in order for every ethnic group to have its own media, internet resources, as well as other opportunities that every people should have," Medvedev said. He also stressed the importance of providing "equal access to municipal service positions" for representatives of different ethnic groups. Promoting negative historical stereotypes that show certain ethnic groups in a bad light is "absolutely unacceptable, dangerous and may create horrible problems," the president added. The Russian capital saw its worst race-related riots for almost a decade in December last year, when a 5,000-strong crowd of nationalists and football hooligans clashed with police near the Kremlin walls. The rioters were protesting police negligence over the killing of a 28-year-old Muscovite football fan in a brawl with migrants from Russia's North Caucasus region earlier in the year. Smaller race-hate disturbances took place afterwards in Moscow and other Russian cities. Medvedev called the disorder a threat to the "stability" of the Russian state and has urged police to clamp down on nationalists. The president also proposed banning those charged with extremism from taking up state positions. © RIA Novosti up BULGARIA'S SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS GAY RIGHTS, RULES AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA 4/7/2011- Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court has rejected an appeal by the head of the Municipal Council in the city of Pazardzhik over a gay rights case, confirming it was a case of discrimination based on sexual orientation. The gay rights scandal in the southern city of Pazardzhik erupted in the spring and summer of 2010 when Stefan Yanev, a local prosecutor, defended a municipal ordinance of the Pazardzhik Municipality that banned the displays of sexuality in public, which was clearly directed at gays. This led Bulgarian gay rights youth NGO "LGBT in Action" to appeal to the Supreme Judicial Council in order to receive an apology from the notorious prosecutor involved in anti-gay policies. Gay rights activists appealed the ordinance to the local Prosecutor's Office; this resulted in Yanev issuing a position in which he upheld the notorious regulation, and even went as far as publishing his own musings on human sexuality ridiculed by the media as a "treatise" - in which hee compared homosexuality, bisexuality, and heterosexuality with pedophilia, zoophilia, gerontophilia, necrophilia, and fetishism, as he considers all of those forms of sexual orientation. Subsequently, the problematic ordinance was repealed by the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office in Sofia. Monday's ruling by the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court is based on an appeal by the Chair of the City Council in Pazardzhik Georgi Yordanov, which asked for the repeal of a ruling of the Commission for Protection from Discrimination. The Commission ruled in May 2010 against the municipal ordinance of the Pazardzhik Municipality that banned the displays of sexuality in public, which stirred the scandal in the first place. According to the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court, however, the Pazardzhik City Council has committed direct discrimination based on sexual orientation against the residents and visitors of the city who are not heterosexual. "The specific ordinance studied by the Commission contains discriminatory attitude against the sexual orientation of persons who are not heterosexual. It is inadmissible that the ordinance of the local authority would defend the negative, subjective perception that has formed with its members," the three judges from the SAC ruled. The scandal with the anti-gay initiatives in Pazardzhik grew in the fall of 2010 when the Bulgarian Orthodox Bishop of Plovdiv Nikolay, known for his radical views, presented Yanev and Pazardzhik Mayor Todor Popov with the highest order of the Plovdiv Bishopric styling them "defenders of Christian values," and calling homosexuality "travesty" and "debauchery" among other similar terms. The LGBT in Action NGO backed by another NGO, Free Internet Society, have declared that their appeal to the Supreme Judicial Council for an apology from Prosecutor Yanev was in response to the fact that he accepted the medal handed to him by Bishop Nikolay. The gay rights activists defined this act "not just as a violation of fundamental human rights but also as blatant lack of knowledge about the Bulgarian legislation." Monday's ruling of the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court, the highest-ranking institution that can issue a legally-binding ruling in Bulgaria, is now believed to have settled the legal side of the case in Pazardzhik, ruling agianst discrimination based on sexual orientation. © Novinite up 'NEWS CHANNELS BIASED AGAINST ISLAM' CLAIMS SURVEY (uk)

An independent poll carried out by Consumer PI has claimed that the vast majority of British Muslims perceive the three mainstream TV news channels (BBC, ITV and Sky) to be biased against their religion when reporting current affairs. The TV channels’ reporting of terror cases, news pieces on Iraq and Afghanistan and coverage of the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings have been cited as examples of anti-Muslim bias. Furthermore, British Muslims believe that other topical issues such as the Israeli raid on the flotilla, it’s continued occupation of, and raids into, Palestinian territories, the dropping of terror cases by the police as well as positive stories about Islam generally are either not given enough prominence or simply not covered.

The poll also found that British Muslims were offended by some of the terminology used in news reports.

Terms such as ‘jihadist’ or ‘moderate Muslims’ are often used in the wrong context or in a generalised manner, indicating there was a severe lack of understanding of Muslim communities on the part of news reporters.

Many believe this type of reporting does play some part in fanning the flames of extremism. Shakir Ahmed, Director of Passion Islam Media said: “The reporting by the mainstream TV news channels of stories concerning Muslims is at times unbalanced, ill-informed and sensationalist. I would expect this type of coverage in the tabloid press, not from respected news organisations at the BBC, ITV or Sky. However, this is not entirely surprising since these three news channels employ very few reporters who follow the Islamic faith and who would truly understand the Muslim communities and their culture and practices.

Worryingly, the perception by some British Muslims of an unjust Islamophobic mainstream media may well fuel radicalism.”

Asian Image