The Battle And Legacy of Cable Street, No Pasaran! (They Shall Not Pass)

I have decided to post a brilliant animated video about “The Battle Of Cable Street” that has won many international awards but has largely been ignored by the anti-Fascist movements in the UK. And it really does need more publicity.

The video is followed by a short documentary called “the Legacy of Cable Street”.

But then I also realised that many people might know the history of the event.
The following item was originally posted on the BBC website in 2006 by Kate Reading,

Battle of Cable Street

By Kate Reading

Seventy years ago Londoners took the fight against fascism to the east end streets.

Cable Street is an unassuming, run of the mill street in the heart of Whitechapel.

Walking along it today it would be difficult to believe that anything extraordinary had ever happened there.
But On Oct 4th 1936, over 250,000 ordinary east enders, took to the streets to fight their own war against fascism. The ensuing clashes became known as "The Battle of Cable Street".
Europe was in the grip of Fascism. Both Germany and Italy were led by dictators and civil war had broken out in Spain, after a fascist uprising.

Refused
Britain had the British Union of Fascist (BUF) headed by the glamorous and charismatic Sir Oswald Mosley and his blackshirts.
The BUF had been terrorising Jews throughout the East End. On Oct 4th they planned to march through Stepney, an area with the largest Jewish population in England.
Despite petitions from local Jewish groups the Conservative government refused to ban the march.

The blackshirts assembled at Gardner’s Corner, a famous department store in Aldgate, known as the gateway to the east End.

Adopted
Their way was blocked by thousands of demonstrators, made up of communists, Jews, dockers and labourers from the local community.

They flooded the narrow streets, making them impassable. They carried banners and chanted "They Shall Not Pass" a slogan adopted from the Spanish Republicans.

A lone tram driver stopped his tram in the middle of a junction blocking the blackshirts way. The driver then got out and walked off.
Barricades had been erected in the side streets to stop the march getting past. Over 10,000 police officers had been drafted in and they mounted constant baton charges to try and clear the streets.

Barricade

Four thousand officers on horseback joined the charges, as the anti-fascists fought back with chair legs, marbles and stones.

In Cable Street a hasty barricade was erected, made of mattresses, furniture, planks of wood from a local builders yard and even a lorry.

Women in houses along the street contributed by hurling rotten vegetables, rubbish, bottles and the contents of chamber pots onto the police as they attempted to dismantle the barricade.
Finally, the police gave in and told Mosley to march back through the deserted City of London streets to The Embankment. There was jubilation and partying in the streets of the East End.

Remarkable
Once the dust had settled over 150 people had been arrested and some were sentenced to hard labour. There were reports of police brutality suffered while in custody and 100 people were injured including police officers, women and children.
In the following months the government passed The Public Order Act of 1936 forbidding the wearing of political uniforms in public. After the battle of Cable Street, BUF popularity of was never the same. A remarkable story from an unremarkable street.
Today, a red plaque and a mural on the Side of St George’s Hall are the only visible signs that anything momentous ever occurred here. But they stand as a quiet testament to the power of ordinary people.
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The following video is called the Battle of Cable Street and was made by yoyosegal
Winner of best HD film at DC shorts and official selection at Chicago Int, Palm Springs, Encounters, LA Shorts Fest and many more.



Yoyosegal also made the following short documetary.
Ubby Cowan helped orchestrate the Battle of Cable Street on October 4th 1936. The event was a mass demonstration to stop Mosley and his Black-shirt fascists from marching through Stepney, East London spreading their message of rascism and hate. This film is a short doc telling Ubby's story

FRANCE STATE RAILWAY SPARKS RACISM FURY WITH WARNING ON ROMANIANS

The French state railway network has been accused of racism after asking passengers to report Romanians to security staff following a spate of thefts. A safety information notice posted in SNCF trains in southwest France warned of “problems with Romanians” and said that “numerous thefts of luggage have been noticed”. In terms reminiscent of the Italian Government’s onslaught against alleged Romanian criminals, the message told passengers to be “doubly vigilant” and added that “all acts by Romanians must be reported”. The signs were denounced by the writer Mouloud Akkouche, who at first thought that they were a bad joke by a local prankster. He said he was stunned to discover that they were the work of the SNCF’s passengers safety unit. The revelation brought a furious reaction from Romanians living in France. Roumanophilie, a Franco-Romanian internet site, said that French railways were “turning to anti-Romanian racism”. As the controversy threatened to sour relations between Paris and Bucharest, the SNCF issued an apology, blaming the “unfortunate expression” on an individual guard and saying that the signs had been taken down as soon as executives in Paris had been alerted. “This should not have happened,” a statement said. “An internal inquiry is under way to determine how it occurred.” A spokesman said that no one had rung the security hotline to report Romanians after reading the notice.

The sign relit a debate that has never gone away in France over the wisdom of allowing Romania to enter the European Union — seen as an error by a substantial slice of French public opinion. It also unleashed a wave of anti-Romanian sentiment on French websites, with one user, for instance, saying: “Everyone knows that they send children to steal from tourists and travellers. “Police catch them every day but must release them because they are minors.” French newspapers regularly report alleged criminal acts by Romanian gangs. They said last month that eight Romanian children aged between 12 and 17 had been arrested for allegedly stealing a total of €20,000 (£18,000) from people withdrawing money from cash dispensers in the Paris region. Last year the media noted the arrest of a Romanian gang suspected of stealing from supermarkets on the French Riviera. In 2008 a French sports journalist was reprimanded by the Higher Audiovisual Council for describing Romanians as “chicken thieves” during a football match between France and Romania. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, has been accused of stigmatising Romanians in Italy after blaming them for the country’s crime wave.
The Times Online

REPORT ON POLICE RACISM 'SHOULD STAY INDEPENDENT' (uk)

London Mayor Boris Johnson has been urged to ensure a landmark report into racism in the police remains independent. Questions have been raised about the final draft of a long-overdue review of racial discrimination and equality at the Metropolitan Police. The report follows a series of public meetings where senior officers, experts and advisers were quizzed about cultural change, promotion and training. It has emerged that the final draft will be written up by officials at the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which is also under scrutiny. The MPA's Jenny Jones questioned the arrangement, which she suggests may have come about in order to keep costs down. "Bringing it in-house sends out a signal that the mayor is not taking the issues of racism and equality in the police seriously enough. Questions are being raised about the mayor's commitment to use his funds to promote equality, as Africa Day funding has reportedly been dropped and the funding for Black History month greatly reduced," she said. Her comments came after one of four panellists, Bob Purkiss, charged with compiling the work stood down and asked for his name to be removed from the report. Mr Purkiss said the decision to use MPA staff "infuriated" the panel and said he doubted the ability of the report to be self-critical. He also criticised delays in publishing the report and said he has completed inquiries into "whole countries" in less time. The review was ordered by Mr Johnson when he took control of the MPA and kicked out Sir Ian Blair in October 2008 - he has since stood down from his MPA role. It came amid a row about claims of racism among the highest ranks of London police. The £100,000 inquiry held a series of public meetings last year and heard evidence from current police chief Sir Paul Stephenson and his predecessor. But it has fallen behind schedule amid consistent rumours of backstage wrangling between the panel and senior City Hall figures.

press association

FOOTBALL FANS IN CZECH REP. TO FACE BAN FROM MATCHES FOR VIOLENCE, RACISM

The Czech Republic justice minister says football fans must behave or face being banned from attending matches for violent and race-related incidents. Speaking on Wednesday ahead of the resumption of the Czech's top league this weekend after a winter break, Daniela Kovarova said fans could be banned from stadiums for up to 10 years under a new penal code. Authorities said the measure, modeled on a similar one applied in Britain, was in place to curb violence and racism in Czech stadiums. Sparta Prague was forced to play a Champions League match against Arsenal in 2005 with a third of its stadium closed because of the racist behaviour of its fans. UEFA also fined Sparta on that occasion but Prague's Jewish representatives complained later that anti-Semitic chants had not stopped.

The Associated Press

CHECK REVEALS CZECH SOLDIER WITH NAZI TATTOOS

A check focusing on extremism in the Czech military revealed a soldier who had tattoos of Nazi symbols on his body, the commercial Nova TV reported Wednesday, adding that the man has been accused. The military commanders have already recommended that the soldier be stripped of his rank and sacked from the army, Jana Ruzickova, spokeswoman for the General Staff, told Nova. The man had the motto of the SS units, Meine Ehre Heist Treue (My Honour is Loyalty), tattooed on his back. He also wore a necklace with a ring with engraved swastikas. The check focusing on extremism was ordered some two months ago after it was revealed that two Czech soldiers deployed within the Afghan mission wore helmets with Nazi symbols. Both soldiers were dismissed and their commander was punished. Last November, another Czech soldier co-founded and trained a neo-Nazi organisation that was preparing terrorist attacks on power plants and kidnappings of "Jews in high posts" and the police.

praguemonitor

ROMANIAN GYPSIES PROTEST FOREIGN MINISTER REMARKS

Some 200 Gypsies and others are protesting comments by Romania's foreign minister suggesting some Gypsies, or Roma, were born criminals. Protesters gathered Wednesday in front of the government offices in Bucharest held banners that read "If we are Roma, then we are criminals." They also chanted "Down with racism," and "Resignation." Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi earlier this month suggested during a meeting with French state secretary Pierre Lellouche that criminality among Gypsies was a biological trait. He later acknowledged the comments "did not adequately convey the message the minister wanted." Romania has up to 2 million Gypsies, most of them living in poverty and facing deep discrimination.

The Associated Press

Peter Hain warns of "complacency" in face of far-right threat (UK)

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has warned against "complacency" in the face of what he called "racist, fascist" organisations.

Mr Hain said all of Wales must stand together to resist the likes of the Welsh Defence League (WDL) and the British National Party (BNP).
During a Commons debate on Welsh affairs he praised communities which had opposed far-right demonstrations,
Both the BNP and the WDL have denied being racist organisations.
In October last year, about 200 people gathered to protest about a demonstration against Islamic extremism by the Welsh Defence League (WDL) in Swansea.
It led to the cancellation of another planned WDL protest in Newport later that month.
Mr Hain said: "The people of Wales have resolved that the rise of racist, fascist organisations must be stopped.
"These far-right groups first tried it on in Swansea, then abandoned their vile demonstration plans in Newport and Wrexham in the face of decent, concerted community action.
"But we must not be complacent. Whenever the so-called Welsh Defence League and the British National Party threaten our decent, tolerant communities in Wales we must all stand together to resist them."
A wide-ranging debate also found Mr Hain claiming government schemes had helped Wales weather a "very tough" recession.

He also accused the Conservatives of being "evasive and unfair" in relation to Wales and said if elected they would hold an emergency budget by which Wales would be the "biggest casualty" in terms of cuts.
Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan rejected that claim as "hypothetical rubbish", argued Labour had "let Wales down" by losing control of Wales' finances and claimed her party would tackle the deficit.
She said: "Labour's legacy is the loss of nearly 50,000 manufacturing jobs since 1998."
Ms Gillan said for devolution to work, politicians at Westminster and Cardiff must work together, so a Conservative Welsh Secretary and Prime Minister would make him or herself available to answer questions in the assembly on a regular basis.
Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price argued Wales needed to focus on developing manufacturing and science industries.
He added: "I'd like to see the World Expo, the World Fair come back to the UK some time soon. It hasn't been back in the UK since 1862... Why not bring it to Wales ? Why not have the Wales World Expo?"
According to Mr Price, a bid for the expo to come to Wales should be supported with central government expenditure.

Liberal Democrat MP Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) called on the UK government to set a date for a referendum on further powers for the Welsh assembly before a general election.
He said: "I'm not clear... whether, if this was postponed and there was a Conservative government, whether that necessary procedure would be put in place."
Meanwhile, the Conservative MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire attacked the assembly government for failing to upgrade the main road through his constituency.
Stephen Crabb MP insisted the A40 is "woefully inadequate", especially considering that Wales needs to attract private investment.
The Welsh Assembly Government is responsible for motorways and trunk roads.
BBC News

Neo-Nazis Buy Palace In Eastern Europe to create a Nazi College?

Two prominent neo-Nazis have bought a crumbling 18th century palace in an eastern German village. The locals don't seem bothered about the prospect of far-right neighbors, but regional authorities are worried that the property will be turned into a neo-Nazi training center.

Trebnitz palace, an austere-looking manor built at the start of the 18th century, has seen better days. Weeds grow out of its gray stone facade, many of its windows are broken and the stone staircase to the main entrance is crumbling.
The former seat of the aristocratic Rauchhaupt family stands empty in the village of Trebnitz, some 20 miles southwest of the eastern German city of Leipzig. At one point it was a retirement home. Soon, young neo-Nazis might be moving in, after two leading figures in Germany's far-right scene purchased the property for just €80,000 ($108,000) at an auction a few days ago.
The new owners are Thomas Wulff and Axel Schunk. Wulff has been convicted several times for incitement to racial hatred and displaying banned Nazi symbols. He calls himself "Steiner," in honor of a former officer of Hitler's murderous Waffen SS unit, and is a member of the executive of the far-right National Democratic Party. He was a close friend of Jurgen Rieger, the prominent neo-Nazi who died last year.
Schunk was a leading member of the far-right "Wiking" youth organization, which has since been banned. Asked by Spiegel Online what they plan to do with the property, both declined to comment.

Nazi College?

There's talk that Wulff and Schunk plan to use Trebnitz Palace as some sort of far-right training center. Authorities and local political parties are worried. The interior ministry of the state of Saxony-Anhalt suspects they want to Trebnitz into a place of "national importance for right-wing extremists," not least because of its favorable location close to the A14 autobahn. The region seems to be a focal point for neo-Nazis. The NPD youth organization "Junge Nationale" recently moved its headquarters to the nearby town of Bernburg, and some leading eastern German extremists live in the area.
Neo-Nazis have tried to purchase properties in other towns around Germany in recent years, but their attempts were usually thwarted by local resistance.
The people of Trebnitz, though, don't seem overly concerned about their new neighbors. Many refused to talk to journalists. One man walking his young daughter down a street pointed out that right-wing extremists had owned the building once before.

Red Tape, Watchful Authorities Could Thwart Plans
Steffen Hupka, a local neo-Nazi, wanted to convert the palace into a far-right center in 2001 and tried to make friends with the villagers by throwing a large party. But nothing came of the plan and the building has fallen into disrepair in the last few years. Locals believe it would take hundreds of thousands of euros to make the palace usable.
Even if the new owners have the cash, Wulff and Schunk face some tough administrative hurdles before they can realize their plans, whatever those may be. The palace is under monument protection, and they will have to submit a detailed concept for its use if they are to have any hope of getting planning permission. That can take a very long time in Germany, especially if the owners are frowned upon. The Interior Ministry and Germany's domestic intelligence service have pledged to keep a very close eye on who goes in and out of the building.
Intellpuke: You can read this article by Spiegel Online staff writer Florian Gathmann, reporting from Trebnitz, Germany, spiegel online

Russian court sentences neo-Nazi "White Wolves" to up to 23 years in prison for killings

A Russian court has sentenced nine ultranationalists to up to 23 years in jail for a series of hate-motivated killings.
The Moscow City Court said in a statement Thursday that 12 mostly underage neo-Nazis who called themselves "White Wolves" have been charged with 11 murders and one assault since April 2007.
It said a jury found nine of them guilty of six murders and one assault.
The group was formed on Adolf Hitler's birthday to "exterminate" non-Russians.
Its participants fatally stabbed Central Asians and other non-Slavs with dark skin or Asian features. They often videotaped the attacks and posted them online.
Russia has experienced a surge of racist assaults, xenophobia and neo-Nazism in recent years.
fox8

Neo-Nazi cleared by Latvian court

The Supreme Court of Latvia has overturned a two-year sentence to a certain Andris Jordans, convicted in 2008 a year after he declared himself the Fuhrer of a neo-Nazi campaign for ethnic cleansing. He glorified the Nazi Holocaust and called the Jews and the Gypsies scam which he would gladly deal with by mowing them down with a machine gun.

Symptomatically, the authorities defended him as a law-abiding gent with full entitlement to the freedom of expression and did not prosecute him before being urged to do so by the United Nations.
So what now for the cleared Mr Jordans?
We hear about this from the Latvian Euro-MP Tatyana Zhdanok.
Mr Jordans and his likes are regulars at reunions and commemorations held by former Latvian members of the Nazi SS.
The rhetoric at such gatherings exposes the participants as unreformed Nazis".
Unfortunately, the scourge is not confined to Latvia. Ahead of independence anniversary celebrations in neighbouring Estonia, for example, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has awarded service medals to five wartime collaborators with the Nazis.
Sixty five years after its defeat on the battlefield, Nazism is still going strong in certain parts of Europe.
ruvr

This you???? : Phishing attack hits Twitter users

(Editorial note: We don’t normally post items of this nature but there appears to be a large number of social networking users having their accounts compromised at the moment, so we thought we would post this report on one way it can happen.)

Messages asking "This you????" followed by a link are being sent via the system to unsuspecting users. If you click on the link you are taken to a fake Twitter login page, where hackers are just waiting for you to hand over your credentials. In fact, they can automatically post the phishing message from your account as soon as you hand over your details.

If you have received a message like this from one of your friends it is likely that their account has been compromised by cybercriminals.
It's bad enough if hackers gain control of your Twitter account, but if you also use that same password on other websites (and our research shows that 33% of people do that all of the time) then they could access your Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook, eBay, Paypal, and so forth.

So, be cautious about the links you click on, choose a strong password, and - if you have found that you're spreading suspicious messages from your Twitter account or believe that you have been compromised - change your passwords immediately.
You should also check your Twitter account and check the Settings/Connections screen. If there are any third party applications you don't recognise listed there, revoke their permission to access your account.

Here's a video about how it works.
 



It's bad enough if hackers gain control of your Twitter account, but if you also use that same password on other websites (and our research shows that 33% of people do that all of the time) then they could access your Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook, eBay, Paypal, and so forth.
So, be cautious about the links you click on, choose a strong password, and - if you have found that you're spreading suspicious messages from your Twitter account or believe that you have been compromised - change your passwords immediately.
You should also check your Twitter account and check the Settings/Connections screen. If there are any third party applications you don't recognise listed there, revoke their permission to access your account.

Sophos

Google Italy ruling threatens YouTube pursuit of profitability

Clear implication of Milan court's judgment against three executives is that every hosted video should be pre-screened
The judgment by a Milan court against Google's employees throws a bucketful of sand into the machinery of YouTube, the video site that the search engine company bought for $1.65bn in October 2006. The clear implication of its decision is that every video should be screened before it is put on to the site – and with more than 20 hours of video uploaded every minute worldwide (Google does not break down the figure for Italy), monitoring all that content, even for a single country, could prove enormously expensive.
That in turn would put profitability for the site – which is thought to have lost between $100m and $500m in 2009 – further away than ever. YouTube has never made an operating profit in its five-year history, and Google has been trying to sell adverts on videos to make the site profitable.
Italy recently seems to have taken a more extreme stance over internet content than many other European countries. Its tax authorities have demanded that eBay should hand over information about its customers relating to goods sold on the site between 2004 and 2007; Yahoo was fined €12,000 last year after Milan's public prosecutor demanded information about private emails sent by suspected criminals; and the Italian interior ministry has required Facebook to hand over personal information about users who created groups said to "glorify" Mafia bosses, and again last October over a group said to promote the violent death of Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister.
Today's judgment found three Google executives – David Drummond, Google's senior vice-president of corporate development and chief legal officer, Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel, and George Reyes, a former chief financial officer – guilty of invasion of privacy following the uploading to Google Video in September 2006 of footage of four Italian teenagers bullying a youth with Down's syndrome. The premise is that Google is responsible for any content that appears on its site.

Google said on its blog that the ruling "attacks the very principles of freedom on which the internet is built". The company had argued that because it removed the video immediately after being notified of its content, and co-operated with the Italian authorities to identify the bullies so they could be brought to justice, it had discharged its duty. It said hosting platforms – such as YouTube, Facebook or Twitter – did not create their own content and so could not be held responsible for what other people upload.
Google is already fighting a number of legal actions over content on YouTube. The largest is from the entertainment company Viacom, which has accused the site of "contributory infringement" and other offences for carrying videos uploaded by users containing Viacom's copyrighted material.
The Italian decision creates a monumental headache for Google, which is already under pressure in Europe after the announcement last night that it faces an anti-monopoly investigation into whether it penalises competing websites in its search rankings. If it has to monitor every video before it appears on YouTube, that would push its costs up substantially: people are a comparatively expensive link in any business chain, which is why Google has sought to replace them with computers where possible.
The censoring of websites has become a hot issue in Italy in recent months, following a spate of hate sites against officials, including Berlusconi. The government briefly studied plans to black-out such sites after fan pages emerged praising an attack on the premier, but the idea was dropped after executives from Facebook, Google and Microsoft agreed to a shared code of conduct rather than legislation.

The Guardian

Facebook urged to act after memorial sites defaced (Australia)

Cyber attacks on Facebook pages set up to pay tribute to two murdered Australian children has prompted calls for the social networking site to be more accountable for its users.
Social media experts say it is natural that people who use sites such as Facebook or MySpace as a major form of communication should turn to these sites with personal tragedies.
These memorial sites often attract thousands of friends and well-wishers, as in the case of the pages set up after the deaths this month of Elliott Fletcher, 12, and Trinity Bates, 8.
Students from Brisbane College in the state of Queensland flocked to a memorial site set up after Fletcher was stabbed in a schoolyard fight two weeks ago, but it was defaced with offensive comments and images including child pornography and bestiality.
The same happened to a site set up in memory of Bates who was taken from her bed in Bundaberg, Queensland, with her body found in a nearby storm drain on Monday. A teenager accused of her murder was also revealed to be a Facebook friend of her parents.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has appealed to the owners of U.S.-based Facebook to find ways to stop a recurrence of these types of "sickening incidents".
"To have these things happen to Facebook pages set up for the sole purpose of helping these communities pay tribute to young lives lost in the most horrible ways adds to the grief already being experienced," Bligh wrote in a letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg which was released to the media.
"I seek your advice about whether Facebook can do anything to prevent a recurrence of these types of sickening incidents.
A spokesman for Bligh said the premier had yet to receive a response from Zuckerberg.
But Facebook spokeswoman Debbie Frost said the site had rules to check content and reviewers were quick to respond to any reports of hate or threats against an individual, pornography, or violent photos or videos, and would remove the content, and either warn or disable the accounts of those responsible.
"Facebook is highly self-regulating, and users can and do report content that they find questionable or offensive," Frost said in a statement.
She said in the tragic case of Elliott Fletcher, Facebook responded to reports of vandalism from others users and the police by removing the groups and disabling the accounts of the people responsible but that was about all the action possible.
"It is simply not possible to 'prevent' a person with a sinister agenda from undertaking offensive activity anywhere on the Internet where people can post content. Nor is it really possible in real life," Frost added.
Detective Superintendent Peter Crawford of Queensland police said people should think twice before setting up such social networking groups. As well as memorial sites, Facebook pages popped up vilifying the man accused of murdering Bates.
"I would say anybody thinking about putting these sites up in the future need to realise that they're going to attract these kinds of people," Crawford told radio station Fairfax Radio 4BC.
"The reality is once you open these sites up to open access to anyone on the Internet, you are going to attract unsavoury people and clearly that's occurred again."

reuters

Alleged Nazi Zentai appeals extradition (Australia)

An alleged Nazi war criminal living in Australia has appealed to the Human Rights Commission in a bid to avoid extradition to his native Hungary.

The lawyer for Charles (Karoly) Zentai this week asked commission President Catherine Branson to intervene, the Australian Associated Press reported Tuesday, on the grounds that there was no guarantee that Hungary could ensure a fair trial, especially in the absence of witnesses.
Zentai, 88, of Perth, is facing allegations in Hungary that he helped murder Jewish teenager Peter Balasz in Budapest in November 1944.
Zentai has vehemently denied the claim since he was first arrested by Australian Federal Police in 2005 after a Simon Wiesenthal Center investigation helped flushed out information on his whereabouts.
The Human Rights Commission cannot supersede the legal processes of Zentai’s extradition but could help Zentai pay for his legal fight against extradition.
Zentai's appeal is scheduled to begin March 31 in Perth Federal Court.

JTA

Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada reach record high

Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose to record levels, according to B'nai Brith Canada's annual audit.

The yearly survey released Wednesday showed an 11.4 percent increase in incidents in 2009 over the previous year to reach the highest number ever reported in the audit's 28-year history.
There were 1,264 anti-Jewish incidents last year, which encompassed acts of harassment, vandalism and violence. That compares to 1,135 incidents in 2008, and represents a five-fold increase over the last decade, B'nai Brith's League for Human Rights said.
The highest number of incidents for the year, 209, occurred in January, coinciding with Israel's war in Gaza, noted Frank Dimant, executive vice president of B'nai Brith Canada.
Last year in Canada saw 884 cases of harassment, 348 of vandalism and a doubling from 2008 of acts of violence, at 32.
The majority of incidents, 672, occurred in Ontario. That represents a slight drop over 2008 of 1.5 percent, while incidents in the Greater Toronto Area decreased by 11 percent. However, incidents in other parts of Ontario rose by nearly 50 percent.
There were 373 incidents in Quebec, a 52.5 percent rise over the 2008 data. Of these, 319 incidents took place in Montreal, representing an increase of 58.7 percent over the year before.
Nationally there were 111 incidents targeting Jews in their own homes, compared to 105 in 2008, and 137 incidents on university campuses, well above the 76 reported in 2008.
Another spike in incidens occurred just before Yom Kippur, when 10 synagogues were vandalized across the country, including four in Quebec on one night.
Dimant specifically cited an Islamic community newspaper, which accused Jews and Israelis of mass organ trafficking.

JTA

Would-be Miss California says God wants gays dead

A contestant for the 2010 Miss California pageant has given her views on same-sex marriage, saying that the Bible is "pretty black and white" on what should happen to gays.
Miss Beverly Hills 2010 Lauren Ashley, who evidently hopes to follow in the footsteps of last year's Miss California Carrie Prejean, was speaking to Fox News.
Ms Ashley said: "The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. In Leviticus it says, 'If man lies with mankind as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death and their blood shall be upon them.' The Bible is pretty black and white.
"I feel like God himself created mankind and he loves everyone, and he has the best for everyone. If he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that's a pretty stern warning, and he knows more than we do about life."
But the beauty queen was quick to point out she had plenty of gay friends, saying: "There's no hate between me and anyone."
Last year, Miss California Carrie Prejean lost the Miss USA pageant and her crown after announcing she disagreed with gay marriage.
Ms Prejean became a poster girl for the Christian right following her outburst and was revered by some as a martyr for Christian values.
But she was swiftly dropped when it was revealed she had had breast implants and appeared in home-made solo porn videos.
Ms Ashley said she had not yet met Ms Prejean but said: "She is definitely a beautiful person and I love that she stood up for what she believes in. I think that's gorgeous."

Pink News

Irkutsk Police Detain Suspect in Racist Assault (Russia)

Police in Irkutsk, Russia detained a far-right activist in connection with an assault on an ethnic Buryat, according to a February 11, 2010 report by the Teleinform news agency. Police charged the 19 year old suspect with "hooliganism" paradoxically announcing at the same time that he assaulted his victim out of racist animus. It is not clear from the report why, therefore, the suspect does not face hate crimes charges in
addition to "hooliganism," especially since he allegedly yelled racist abuse during the crime.
UCSJ

Google bosses convicted over abuse video of Down’s syndrome boy

Three Google bosses were today convicted of violating the privacy of a boy with Down's syndrome in a ruling that could also affect websites such as YouTube and Facebook.
The men received suspended six-month sentences after the internet giant allowed a video of the teenager being abused to be posted online.
Google said the ruling by an Italian court set a “dangerous precedent” and raised major questions over the future of websites where people regularly upload information.
“This is the biggest threat to internet freedom we have seen in Europe,” said MP Tom Watson. “The only people who will support this decision are Silvio Berlusconi and the governments of China and Iran. It effectively breaks the internet in Italy.”
Google today vowed to appeal, saying in a statement: “We are deeply troubled by this conviction, it attacks the very principles of freedom on which the internet is built.”
Two executives, David Drummond and Peter Fleischer, and former employee George Reyes were accused of negligence. Prosecutors said the video remained online for two months even though some web users had posted comments asking for it to be taken down.
Judge Oscar Magi absolved the three of defamation and acquitted a fourth defendant altogether.
Mr Drummond, who is Google's chief legal officer, vowed to fight his conviction. He said: “I am outraged by the decision … If individuals like myself and my Google colleagues who had nothing to do with the harassing incident, its filming or its uploading onto Google Video can be held criminally liable solely by virtue of our positions at Google every employee of any internet hosting service faces similar liability.”
The case stems from an incident in 2006 when four boys in Turin filmed and uploaded a 191-second clip of them bullying a schoolmate with Down's syndrome. It shows the youths making fun of the boy, before punching and kicking him. One of the attackers then makes a mocking call to Viva Down, an advocacy group for people with Down's syndrome. The complaint was brought by the charity and the boy's father. “The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian police,” Google said.
“We also worked with the police to help identify the person responsible for uploading it and she was sentenced to 10 months community service, as were several other classmates.”

Originaly posted on This is London Website

White supremacist group considers John Day for possible national headquarters (USA)

Grant County residents are taking steps to fight any effort by members of a white supremacist group calling themselves the Aryan Nations to find a new headquarters in John Day.
On Friday, residents will gather for two town hall meetings in Canyon City, just south of John Day. Speakers will include Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, attorneys Norman Gissell and Tony Stewart, who helped win a landmark judgment against the Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations in 2000.
On Monday, 60 to 70 protesters carried signs in downtown John Day with slogans such as "One Race: Human," "No to Aryan Nations!" and "Say No to Hate and Violence!"
The gatherings come in the wake of a visit to John Day last week by Paul R. Mullet, who described himself as the Aryan Nations national director. He told townspeople he was in town to look at two large downtown properties for a possible national headquarters for the group, said John Day Mayor Bob Quinton.
Mullet, of Athol, Idaho, added that Grant County, with its wide open spaces, would be an ideal setting for both a headquarters and a neo-Nazi national gathering in September 2011.
Mullet also said he was looking for a property with enough space to train recruits, house them in a barracks, and hold gatherings. The group would pay cash "from legal means," he said.
Wearing a uniform shirt with a swastika patch, Mullet was accompanied by Leif Berlin, described as the group's Washington state leader, and Grant County residents Jacob Green of Mount Vernon and Christopher Cowan of John Day, said John Day Police Chief Richard Tirico.
Quinton expressed surprise that anyone in the county would be affiliated with the hate group.
"If they've got a presence here, it's been pretty much under the radar," he said.
But Grant County Undersheriff Todd McKinley said officials aren't dismissing the group's plan. "We are taking it seriously," he said.
Grant County, with fewer than 8,000 residents in an area twice the size of Delaware, "would rather be known for cattle and timber and their rivers, and not be known as an area that harbors a hate group," McKinley added.
Monday's rally drew a broad cross section, Quinton said.
"There were grandmothers and people in their 20s and every age group in between," he said. "There were log trucks honking and cars honking and people waving."
The supremacist group advocates so-called racial purity and claims that Jews and nonwhites are natural enemies of white people. The group seeks to establish a state for the "Aryan race," where nonwhites would be prohibited.
The group's interest in Grant County may have been piqued by a 2002 ballot measure declaring the county a "U.N.-free" zone. The designation has occasionally attracted outsiders with the mistaken idea that Grant County is lawless and a good spot to lie low, law enforcement officials said.
Lt. Stuart Miller of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office in Coeur d'Alene monitors separatist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist activities. He said the group has been relatively inactive in the Idaho panhandle since the 2004 death of Richard Butler, the group's longtime leader.
Butler owned a 20-acre compound and neo-Nazi church near Hayden Lake, north of Coeur d'Alene, for many years. He was forced to sell it in 2000 after losing a $6.3 million lawsuit brought by two Native Americans, a mother and son, who were shot at by Aryan Nations members.
The group's current national leader is August B. Kreis 3rd of Lexington, S.C., according to the group's Web site. The site says the group's national headquarters will soon move to St. Cloud, Fla.
Mullet, meanwhile, and two associates were accused in August of scattering supremacist literature on lawns around Coeur d'Alene, Miller said, but charges of littering were later dismissed.
Grant County remains on guard.
"I can guarantee you we are probably not done with the issue," said Tirico, the police chief. "Most of the population is agreeing they will stand together on this. I am very happy with the community on the way they handled this."

Originaly posted by Richard Cockle at dailyme

Racist vandals daub 'BNP' on mosque

RACIST graffiti yobs have defaced a South Tyneside mosque.

The letters BNP were daubed on the doors of the building in Laygate when leaders arrived to open up yesterday.
It is thought the vandals struck some time over the weekend.
One person from the mosque, who did not want to be identified, said: "They seem to have done it very quickly.
"South Shields, in general, has quite a diverse community which works well, and it is quite sad when things like this go on."
The vandalism was reported to police, and was quickly removed by South Tyneside Council's graffiti team.
Neighbourhood Inspector Peter Sutton of South Shields Police said: "Officers went straight round to the mosque, and this does seem to be an isolated incident.
"We have an excellent working relationship with those who attend the mosque, and we are all saddened at such behaviour.
"Inquiries are being made by the local policing team, who are working closely with the community to catch those responsible."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 03456 043 043.

shieldsgazette