Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is worried by the “radical” turn Dutch politics is taking. "In politics I strongly oppose radicalism. The right way is a middle course”, Mr Erdogan told Dutch media on the eve of Sunday's general elections in Turkey. “Radicalism only causes problems, for people and the country”, he went on to say, without mentioning Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders. “Our party, as you know, steers a middle course in politics. We are neither left nor right wing. We are far removed from the extremes. We are far removed from the radicals. We only work with those who are close to everybody. “ “Erdogan is the worst kind of Islamist”, Mr Wilders says in a reaction. “If he wins the elections, Turkey will turn its back on Europe for good. We don’t want them in the EU anyway, but with him even normal relations will become more complicated. He is, therefore, a dangerous man who is a radical Islamist himself.” "Erdogan is the worst kind of Islamist”, Mr Wilders says in a reaction. “If he wins the elections, Turkey will turn its back on Europe for good. We don’t want them in the EU anyway, but with him even normal relations will become more complicated. He is, therefore, a dangerous man who is a radical Islamist himself.”
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Muslims call for action against hate crimes (UK)
Islamophobic attacks have been on the rise, with an increase in assaults, vandalised mosques and desecrated graves
Britain's largest mainstream Muslim organisation will today call for "robust action" to combat Islamophobic attacks amid fears of growing violence and under-reporting of hate crimes.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) will challenge the "ethnic profiling" of members of its community, claiming that minorities are 42 times more likely to be targeted under the Terrorism Act.
MCB secretary-general Farooq Murad will tell the council's AGM in Birmingham that there must be more monitoring of anti-Muslim crimes in response to incidents including violent assaults, death threats and the desecration of graves. He will also complain that not enough is being done to encourage communities to report crimes to the police.
The calls, supported by leading academics, a counter-terrorist think-tank and Muslim groups, come as the Metropolitan Police confirmed a total of 762 Islamophobic offences in London since April 2009, including 333 in 2010/11 and 57 since this April. A spokesman said the Met was aware of "significant" under-reporting of hate crime, and acknowledged "missed opportunities" to keep victims safe.
Despite rising concerns about the impact of hate crime on all communities, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said that data on such offences are not collated centrally as this would be an "overly bureaucratic process for local forces". Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris, who leads the police on hate crime, was unavailable for comment.
In his speech, Mr Murad is expected to warn that attacks are increasing. "Islamophobic attacks, on persons and properties, are committed by a tiny minority, but the number of incidents is increasing. Robust action is necessary and this means we must have a systematic manner of recording, monitoring and analysing such attacks. Only a small number of police forces record anti-Muslim hate crimes."
He will claim that figures collated from only two police forces indicate 1,200 Anti-Muslim crimes in 2010, as opposed to 546 anti-Semitic crimes from all the police forces in the UK.
Muslims from across the country have reported attacks on imams and mosque staff, including petrol bombings and bricks thrown through windows, pigs' heads being fixed prominently to entrances and minarets, vandalism and abusive messages.
Mr Murad will tell the gathering at the Bordesley Centre: "It is not a piece of cloth on someone's head or face, the shape of someone's dress, a harmless concrete pillar on a religious building or even not speaking a common language that creates alienation."
Dr Robert Lambert, co-director of
the European Muslim Research Centre and research fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Exeter University, said a decade of research will report before the 10th anniversary of 11 September.
His report will provide comprehensive figures on attacks on mosques, Islamic organisations and Muslim institutions, while avoiding confusion over race-related or random attacks.
Dr Lambert, a former counter-terrorism police officer, said problems over data collection stemmed from a lack of political will, rather than from the police efforts – and that the onus was on Muslim communities to emulate the "outstanding" data collection around anti-Semitic crimes conducted by the Community Security Trust.
He added: "When I was working in the police, some of the notable spikes in incidents came after terrorist events such as 9/11 and 7/7. We have more than 50 incidences of fire-bomb attacks and we have yet to reach the 10-year anniversary. But no leading politician has seen fit to stand shoulder to shoulder with mosque leaders. That is quite something."
Ghaffar Hussain of the counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam said: "Anti-Muslim bigotry is very real. It does exist. There are sections of our society who are deeply suspicious of Muslims, even of Muslims building mosques, and are threatened by the idea of Islamification across Europe."
Some 40 to 60 per cent of the mosques, Islamic centres and Muslim organisations in the UK have suffered at least one attack since 9/11.
Taji Mustafa, spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, said: "Xenophobic attacks on Muslims have increased under successive governments. In a manipulative alliance with some sections of the media, they have demonised Islam as part of their foreign policy propaganda."
Continued at the Independent.
Britain's largest mainstream Muslim organisation will today call for "robust action" to combat Islamophobic attacks amid fears of growing violence and under-reporting of hate crimes.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) will challenge the "ethnic profiling" of members of its community, claiming that minorities are 42 times more likely to be targeted under the Terrorism Act.
MCB secretary-general Farooq Murad will tell the council's AGM in Birmingham that there must be more monitoring of anti-Muslim crimes in response to incidents including violent assaults, death threats and the desecration of graves. He will also complain that not enough is being done to encourage communities to report crimes to the police.
The calls, supported by leading academics, a counter-terrorist think-tank and Muslim groups, come as the Metropolitan Police confirmed a total of 762 Islamophobic offences in London since April 2009, including 333 in 2010/11 and 57 since this April. A spokesman said the Met was aware of "significant" under-reporting of hate crime, and acknowledged "missed opportunities" to keep victims safe.
Despite rising concerns about the impact of hate crime on all communities, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said that data on such offences are not collated centrally as this would be an "overly bureaucratic process for local forces". Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris, who leads the police on hate crime, was unavailable for comment.
In his speech, Mr Murad is expected to warn that attacks are increasing. "Islamophobic attacks, on persons and properties, are committed by a tiny minority, but the number of incidents is increasing. Robust action is necessary and this means we must have a systematic manner of recording, monitoring and analysing such attacks. Only a small number of police forces record anti-Muslim hate crimes."
He will claim that figures collated from only two police forces indicate 1,200 Anti-Muslim crimes in 2010, as opposed to 546 anti-Semitic crimes from all the police forces in the UK.
Muslims from across the country have reported attacks on imams and mosque staff, including petrol bombings and bricks thrown through windows, pigs' heads being fixed prominently to entrances and minarets, vandalism and abusive messages.
Mr Murad will tell the gathering at the Bordesley Centre: "It is not a piece of cloth on someone's head or face, the shape of someone's dress, a harmless concrete pillar on a religious building or even not speaking a common language that creates alienation."
Dr Robert Lambert, co-director of
the European Muslim Research Centre and research fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Exeter University, said a decade of research will report before the 10th anniversary of 11 September.
His report will provide comprehensive figures on attacks on mosques, Islamic organisations and Muslim institutions, while avoiding confusion over race-related or random attacks.
Dr Lambert, a former counter-terrorism police officer, said problems over data collection stemmed from a lack of political will, rather than from the police efforts – and that the onus was on Muslim communities to emulate the "outstanding" data collection around anti-Semitic crimes conducted by the Community Security Trust.
He added: "When I was working in the police, some of the notable spikes in incidents came after terrorist events such as 9/11 and 7/7. We have more than 50 incidences of fire-bomb attacks and we have yet to reach the 10-year anniversary. But no leading politician has seen fit to stand shoulder to shoulder with mosque leaders. That is quite something."
Ghaffar Hussain of the counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam said: "Anti-Muslim bigotry is very real. It does exist. There are sections of our society who are deeply suspicious of Muslims, even of Muslims building mosques, and are threatened by the idea of Islamification across Europe."
Some 40 to 60 per cent of the mosques, Islamic centres and Muslim organisations in the UK have suffered at least one attack since 9/11.
Taji Mustafa, spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, said: "Xenophobic attacks on Muslims have increased under successive governments. In a manipulative alliance with some sections of the media, they have demonised Islam as part of their foreign policy propaganda."
Continued at the Independent.
Saturday, 11 June 2011
March Against Neo-Nazi's in Sofia on June 12 (Bulgaria)
People Against Racism will stage an "anti neo-Nazi march" on June 12 at the Sveta Nedelya Square in Sofia, media reports have said.
The organisers said that they will commemorate the one year anniversary since the foundation of the People Against Racism, but also to mark the anniversary of the "tram attack" in which several youths were attacked and beaten by suspected skinheads. Six men were arrested following an assault aboard tram 20 in Sofia on June 6 2010. Reportedly, the six are said to be members of far-right extremist groups. Other reports have them linked to Sofia-based football "firms", hooligan supporter groups. The authorities named the six perpetrators – Dimitar Lazarov, Vassil Pavlov, Matei Penev, Emil Alexiev, Rossen Kunev and Mario Abdal Gamal.
The latter's name has also been reported as Mario el Makoussi in other media. On the day of the attack, the masked men burst into the tram, allegedly armed with metal rods, and proceeded to attack four youths in the vehicle.
The victims were supporters of asylum seekers' rights in Bulgaria. People Against Racism say that neo-Nazi attacks in Sofia are increasing. Traditionally, they are aimed at Roma and people of darker skin complexion, as well as homosexuals, but they can sometimes happen randomly and against anyone they perceive as strange. The anti-Nazi march in Sofia on June 12 is not politically motivated, the organisers said.
The Sofia Echo
The organisers said that they will commemorate the one year anniversary since the foundation of the People Against Racism, but also to mark the anniversary of the "tram attack" in which several youths were attacked and beaten by suspected skinheads. Six men were arrested following an assault aboard tram 20 in Sofia on June 6 2010. Reportedly, the six are said to be members of far-right extremist groups. Other reports have them linked to Sofia-based football "firms", hooligan supporter groups. The authorities named the six perpetrators – Dimitar Lazarov, Vassil Pavlov, Matei Penev, Emil Alexiev, Rossen Kunev and Mario Abdal Gamal.
The latter's name has also been reported as Mario el Makoussi in other media. On the day of the attack, the masked men burst into the tram, allegedly armed with metal rods, and proceeded to attack four youths in the vehicle.
The victims were supporters of asylum seekers' rights in Bulgaria. People Against Racism say that neo-Nazi attacks in Sofia are increasing. Traditionally, they are aimed at Roma and people of darker skin complexion, as well as homosexuals, but they can sometimes happen randomly and against anyone they perceive as strange. The anti-Nazi march in Sofia on June 12 is not politically motivated, the organisers said.
The Sofia Echo
NGOs RISE AGAINST XENOPHOBES VOWING TO MAR SOFIA GAY PARADE (Bulgaria)
Bulgarian NGOs have demanded that the Bulgarian capital Sofia's municipality ban the nationalistic rally scheduled at the same time and place as the upcoming "Sofia Pride" gay parade on June 18.
The Sofia Pride Foundation, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the AnarchoResistance group, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender's youth "Action" organization, People against Racism and the Bilitis Resource Center have sent a letter to Sofia's Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and the head of the Sofia Department of the Interior, pointing out that the nationalistic rally will be dangerous for the public order and should be banned. The NGOs have refuted a statement made earlier by Sofia's Deputy Mayor responsible for security, Ivan Sotirov, who claimed that the municipality cannot ban any parades but only advise about changing their routes.
The rally will be aggressive and threatening the peaceful citizens, the NGOs have pointed out. "Sofia Pride", Bulgaria's first ever gay parade, took place for the first time in 2008 and was marred by hooligans, with more than 60 people ending up arrested by the police for trying to attack and harass the participants, some of them throwing Molotov cocktails. The 2009 gay parade, passing very quickly and under enhanced security measures, gathered around 300 people. Bulgaria's 3rd annual gay parade went without violent incidents largely thanks to the decisive actions of the 300 riot police officers guarding the rally.
Novinite
The Sofia Pride Foundation, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the AnarchoResistance group, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender's youth "Action" organization, People against Racism and the Bilitis Resource Center have sent a letter to Sofia's Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and the head of the Sofia Department of the Interior, pointing out that the nationalistic rally will be dangerous for the public order and should be banned. The NGOs have refuted a statement made earlier by Sofia's Deputy Mayor responsible for security, Ivan Sotirov, who claimed that the municipality cannot ban any parades but only advise about changing their routes.
The rally will be aggressive and threatening the peaceful citizens, the NGOs have pointed out. "Sofia Pride", Bulgaria's first ever gay parade, took place for the first time in 2008 and was marred by hooligans, with more than 60 people ending up arrested by the police for trying to attack and harass the participants, some of them throwing Molotov cocktails. The 2009 gay parade, passing very quickly and under enhanced security measures, gathered around 300 people. Bulgaria's 3rd annual gay parade went without violent incidents largely thanks to the decisive actions of the 300 riot police officers guarding the rally.
Novinite
Police gearing up for city protest by far right group (UK)
Police have moved to reassure residents over a planned protest by the far right group the English Defence League.
Members of the Portsmouth and south east branch are planning a march in the city next month.
They say they will peacefully protest against Islamic extremism and Sharia law, which they are against.
A wreath will then be laid in Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square in memory of servicemen and women who have lost their lives.
The march is due to take place on July 16 but the group says that date could change and it has refused to reveal the route.
The group has informed police who are now planning for an estimated 1,000 people expected to come to Portsmouth for the march.
Officers from Safer Neighbourhoods Teams are speaking to locals to allay any concerns about the planned protest.
Superintendent Rick Burrows, who is planning Operation Buscot, said: ‘We are engaging with organisers to establish details and have begun the planning process to provide a policing operation.
‘This will facilitate the group’s right to peaceful and lawful protest, while minimising the impact to people and ensuring that the interests of all members of the local community are protected.
‘Officers from the Safer Neighbourhoods teams in Portsmouth are engaging with members of the local community to address any concerns they may have. It is very early in the planning process at this time.’
The rally comes eight months after up to 100 people were involved in a protest outside the Jami Mosque in Victoria Road North, Southsea. It started after Muslim extremists from outside Portsmouth burned poppies in London during the Armistice Day two-minute silence. Peace campaigners gathered outside the mosque in support of the Muslim community.
An English Defence League spokesman said: ‘This is not a national demo but a local one that will be protesting at situations relevant to that area.
‘The English Defence League will be peacefully protesting at this event against Islamic extremism.’
Portsmouth News
Members of the Portsmouth and south east branch are planning a march in the city next month.
They say they will peacefully protest against Islamic extremism and Sharia law, which they are against.
A wreath will then be laid in Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square in memory of servicemen and women who have lost their lives.
The march is due to take place on July 16 but the group says that date could change and it has refused to reveal the route.
The group has informed police who are now planning for an estimated 1,000 people expected to come to Portsmouth for the march.
Officers from Safer Neighbourhoods Teams are speaking to locals to allay any concerns about the planned protest.
Superintendent Rick Burrows, who is planning Operation Buscot, said: ‘We are engaging with organisers to establish details and have begun the planning process to provide a policing operation.
‘This will facilitate the group’s right to peaceful and lawful protest, while minimising the impact to people and ensuring that the interests of all members of the local community are protected.
‘Officers from the Safer Neighbourhoods teams in Portsmouth are engaging with members of the local community to address any concerns they may have. It is very early in the planning process at this time.’
The rally comes eight months after up to 100 people were involved in a protest outside the Jami Mosque in Victoria Road North, Southsea. It started after Muslim extremists from outside Portsmouth burned poppies in London during the Armistice Day two-minute silence. Peace campaigners gathered outside the mosque in support of the Muslim community.
An English Defence League spokesman said: ‘This is not a national demo but a local one that will be protesting at situations relevant to that area.
‘The English Defence League will be peacefully protesting at this event against Islamic extremism.’
Portsmouth News
More Breaking News (UK)
Admin comment; Following on to the previous item.
What happens when you challenge Nick Griffin in the so called democratic BNP.
More Breaking News.
Word is that Nick Griffin has moved to suspend his leadership challenger and fellow MEP Andrew Brons. Not for standing as candidate you understand, but for organising a factional meeting in Wigan last night.
See last blog post ... BNP MEP Andrew Brons, another former chair of the NF like Griffin, has decided he will stand against Nick Griffin for the leadership ...
What happens when you challenge Nick Griffin in the so called democratic BNP.
More Breaking News.
Word is that Nick Griffin has moved to suspend his leadership challenger and fellow MEP Andrew Brons. Not for standing as candidate you understand, but for organising a factional meeting in Wigan last night.
See last blog post ... BNP MEP Andrew Brons, another former chair of the NF like Griffin, has decided he will stand against Nick Griffin for the leadership ...
Breaking News-Game on! (UK)
This could be a major setback for Griffin. Although Brons has little chance of winning (due to the way the party's electoral processes have been stitched up), the BNP's lie and smear machine that it unleashes against dissenters will struggle against the popular Yorks and Humberside MEP.
Brons's supporters have already clashed with Griffin after Griffin turned on Brons during a Q&A session held for BNP members at the European parliament.
Brons and Griffin fell out previously in the 80's for control of the National Front. It seems history has a habit of repeating itself.
Nick Lowles at Hope Not Hate
Friday, 10 June 2011
Islington racist jailed for slashing Asian teen’s face with a knife (UK)
An Islington man who pinned a 15-year-old Asian boy to the floor and sliced open his cheek in an “appalling” racist attack has been jailed for eight years.
Jerry Monerville, 47, of Claremont Square, off Pentonville Road, pounced on the teenager and beat him to the ground with the help of accomplice Shane Doyle, 26.
The vile pair then slashed his face twice with a knife, and when the boy asked why they had attacked him they spat back: “It’s cos you’re a f***ing Paki”.
Monerville and Doyle ambushed the teenager from behind as he sat alone in Weavers Field Park, Bethnal Green, at around 11pm on November 21, last year.
Prosecutor Helen Owens said the boy heard voices behind him saying “Are you on it? Let’s do it!”, before he was confronted by Monerville and punched in the face, kicked and headbutted.
“Jerry Monerville was sitting on top of him,” said the prosecutor.
“He had the knife in his hand.
“He told the victim he was going to kill him.
“He then drew the knife across the victim’s face twice, causing cuts both times.
“After the victim was cut Shane Doyle kicked him twice in the face.
“He asked why they were doing this and one of them replied: ‘It’s cos you’re a f***ing Paki’.”
Miss Owens said the two men then searched the teenager’s pockets and took his mobile phone before they attempted to flee the scene.
But a passer-by who heard the boy’s screams called the police and the two men were arrested in the park.
Officers recovered the knife used in the attack and found Monerville was also carrying a stungun.
Both men pleaded guilty to robbery and causing grievous bodily harm, but claimed they were drunk at the time of the incident.
Jailing Monerville for eight years and Doyle, of Epping Close, Isle of Dogs, for seven years at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Judge Neil Sanders said: “The facts of this case are appalling.
“To exasperate everything he was repeatedly called a ‘Paki’ and it is absolutely plain that there were racial overtones to what was being done to him.
“It must have been a terrifying experience for the victim.”
Islington Gazette
Jerry Monerville, 47, of Claremont Square, off Pentonville Road, pounced on the teenager and beat him to the ground with the help of accomplice Shane Doyle, 26.
The vile pair then slashed his face twice with a knife, and when the boy asked why they had attacked him they spat back: “It’s cos you’re a f***ing Paki”.
Monerville and Doyle ambushed the teenager from behind as he sat alone in Weavers Field Park, Bethnal Green, at around 11pm on November 21, last year.
Prosecutor Helen Owens said the boy heard voices behind him saying “Are you on it? Let’s do it!”, before he was confronted by Monerville and punched in the face, kicked and headbutted.
“Jerry Monerville was sitting on top of him,” said the prosecutor.
“He had the knife in his hand.
“He told the victim he was going to kill him.
“He then drew the knife across the victim’s face twice, causing cuts both times.
“After the victim was cut Shane Doyle kicked him twice in the face.
“He asked why they were doing this and one of them replied: ‘It’s cos you’re a f***ing Paki’.”
Miss Owens said the two men then searched the teenager’s pockets and took his mobile phone before they attempted to flee the scene.
But a passer-by who heard the boy’s screams called the police and the two men were arrested in the park.
Officers recovered the knife used in the attack and found Monerville was also carrying a stungun.
Both men pleaded guilty to robbery and causing grievous bodily harm, but claimed they were drunk at the time of the incident.
Jailing Monerville for eight years and Doyle, of Epping Close, Isle of Dogs, for seven years at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Judge Neil Sanders said: “The facts of this case are appalling.
“To exasperate everything he was repeatedly called a ‘Paki’ and it is absolutely plain that there were racial overtones to what was being done to him.
“It must have been a terrifying experience for the victim.”
Islington Gazette
MEMORIAL ACTIVIST BEATEN OUTSIDE HOME (Russia)
A human rights worker was hospitalized after being beaten up in his apartment building, an attack his employer said was linked to his work. Bakhrom Khamroyev, a member of leading human rights group Memorial, was walking into the building in southeast Moscow on Monday when a group of strangers attacked him, spraying gas in his face and beating him on the head and legs. Memorial chief Oleg Orlov said Tuesday that the attack was aimed at disrupting Khamroyev's upcoming trip to Murmansk, where he had arranged a meeting with an Uzbek citizen threatened with extradition for purportedly taking part in Islamist militant activities, RIA-Novosti reported. "Memorial believes the attack on Bakhrom Khamroyev was planned in advance and prepared as a trap," Memorial said in a statement. "In December last year, an attack was carried out on Khamroyev. A criminal case was opened, but until today no one has been called to take responsibility." Orlov said Khamroyev was attacked by security forces in December when he was working on a similar case involving the arrest of suspected militants from Central Asia. The head of Amnesty International's Russia division, Sergei Nikitin, called on authorities to find and punish those responsible for the beating. "We hope a serious investigation will be carried out and that the guilty are punished," he said. Police said Tuesday that they were looking for the attackers.
Moscow Times
Moscow Times
Austrian far-right in fresh push for EU respectability
Buoyed by their recent success in the polls, the Austrian and French far right have made a fresh push for respectability in the European Parliament. A blurring of the 'softer' far right with eurosceptic parties may be in the offing.
Austria's Freedom Party in particular called on the eurosceptic alliance in the chamber, the Europe of Freedom and Democracy grouping led by Britain's Ukip and Italy's Northern League, to let their two MEPs join.
FPO Party leader and MEP Heinz-Christian Strache alongside French Front National chief Marine Le Pen in the parliament in Strasbourg announced deeper co-operation between their two far-right parties at a Wednesday press conference.
Speaking to reporters, the Austrian also said that he wanted his deputies in the EFD but was being blocked by two MEPs in the grouping reluctant to embrace the party.
The two party leaders were hoping to put themselves across as serious statesman and distance themselves from the impression of far-right politicians as consorting with skinheaded and heavily tattooed bully boys.
According to a March poll in Le Parisien, Le Pen, who has something of a softer image from her father whom she succeeded as leader in January, would gain an unprecedented first-round victory if a presidential election were held today.
Meanwhile, a May survey found that were an election to happen now, the FPO would top the polls, with 29 percent of votes to the second-placed Social Democrat's 28 percent. A second far-right party, the Alliance for Austria (BZO) would be awarded an additional 13 percent, putting far-right politics by far the most popular option in the land.
Strache, whose MEPs are classed as 'non-inscrit', the parliamentary term for unattached deputies but something of a short-hand for extremists as most of the non-inscrit politicians come from far-right parties, wants to leave this reputation behind.
He declared he has no interest in joining with the Greater Romania party, the UK's British National Party (BNP) or Bulgaria's Ataka, three groups that in the demi-monde of the far-right are seen as the extremists.
Asked whether Le Pen is looking to form a parliamentary fraction with the FPO, she held back from a full endorsement, saying "Deeper relations and work on different fronts ... does not necessarily revolve around the European Parliament."
In an interview with Dutch radio on 1 June, Le Pen also sought to distance herself from Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, saying he reads the Koran literally.
Strache this week also met with Belgium's Flemish nationalists of the Vlaams Belang and the Northern League to press his case.
According to Francesco Speroni, Northern League deputy and co-chair of the EFD, his party is in favour of the FPO joining, but MEPs from Greece's Laos and Denmark's People's Party are opposed.
The FPO has been campaigning for months to kick Greece out of the eurozone.
Ukip for its part said that they have no contact with Strache's party and have no comment on their joining.
"Everybody is free to desire to be a member of the EFD," EFD spokesman Herman Kelly, a member of Ukip, told EUobserver. "But we have no control over that. The EFD has had no contact with Strache. Ukip has had no contact with Strache. Why would we have an opinion about someone we have never met with?"
In the wake of the economic crisis, both euroscepticism and the far right have been two of the only political forces to increase their support in polls. While the centre-right has benefited electorally at the expense of the centre-left, it has been largely on the back of record abstention.
EUobserver.com
Austria's Freedom Party in particular called on the eurosceptic alliance in the chamber, the Europe of Freedom and Democracy grouping led by Britain's Ukip and Italy's Northern League, to let their two MEPs join.
FPO Party leader and MEP Heinz-Christian Strache alongside French Front National chief Marine Le Pen in the parliament in Strasbourg announced deeper co-operation between their two far-right parties at a Wednesday press conference.
Speaking to reporters, the Austrian also said that he wanted his deputies in the EFD but was being blocked by two MEPs in the grouping reluctant to embrace the party.
The two party leaders were hoping to put themselves across as serious statesman and distance themselves from the impression of far-right politicians as consorting with skinheaded and heavily tattooed bully boys.
According to a March poll in Le Parisien, Le Pen, who has something of a softer image from her father whom she succeeded as leader in January, would gain an unprecedented first-round victory if a presidential election were held today.
Meanwhile, a May survey found that were an election to happen now, the FPO would top the polls, with 29 percent of votes to the second-placed Social Democrat's 28 percent. A second far-right party, the Alliance for Austria (BZO) would be awarded an additional 13 percent, putting far-right politics by far the most popular option in the land.
Strache, whose MEPs are classed as 'non-inscrit', the parliamentary term for unattached deputies but something of a short-hand for extremists as most of the non-inscrit politicians come from far-right parties, wants to leave this reputation behind.
He declared he has no interest in joining with the Greater Romania party, the UK's British National Party (BNP) or Bulgaria's Ataka, three groups that in the demi-monde of the far-right are seen as the extremists.
Asked whether Le Pen is looking to form a parliamentary fraction with the FPO, she held back from a full endorsement, saying "Deeper relations and work on different fronts ... does not necessarily revolve around the European Parliament."
In an interview with Dutch radio on 1 June, Le Pen also sought to distance herself from Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders, saying he reads the Koran literally.
Strache this week also met with Belgium's Flemish nationalists of the Vlaams Belang and the Northern League to press his case.
According to Francesco Speroni, Northern League deputy and co-chair of the EFD, his party is in favour of the FPO joining, but MEPs from Greece's Laos and Denmark's People's Party are opposed.
The FPO has been campaigning for months to kick Greece out of the eurozone.
Ukip for its part said that they have no contact with Strache's party and have no comment on their joining.
"Everybody is free to desire to be a member of the EFD," EFD spokesman Herman Kelly, a member of Ukip, told EUobserver. "But we have no control over that. The EFD has had no contact with Strache. Ukip has had no contact with Strache. Why would we have an opinion about someone we have never met with?"
In the wake of the economic crisis, both euroscepticism and the far right have been two of the only political forces to increase their support in polls. While the centre-right has benefited electorally at the expense of the centre-left, it has been largely on the back of record abstention.
EUobserver.com
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Lincoln yob denies being racist 'because he has a friend called nig-nog' (UK)
Neil Mitchell, 42, of Woodland Avenue in Skellingthorpe, has been found guilty of racially aggravated threatening behaviour and racially aggravated criminal damage.
Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard that Mitchell went to Caldo Pizza in Woodfield Avenue, Birchwood on Thursday, January 6 after he was given the wrong kebab by staff.
Mitchell slammed the chicken kebab on the counter before swearing at owner Hamid Banki.
The court heard he asked staff "Can't you understand English" and called them "f***ing foreigners" and "pakis" before picking up a pizza shovel and brandishing it at them.
A bowl was damaged during the altercation.
But in an interview with police, Mitchell claimed he was not a racist because he "had lots of paki and coloured friends" and a friend in his phone called "nig nog".
At an earlier hearing, Mitchell pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour and causing criminal damage but denied they were racially aggravated.
Lois Colley, prosecuting, asked Mitchell: "On a number of occasions during your police interview you mimicked the accents of staff at the shop. Do you find that offensive?"
Wearing a dark suit and standing defiantly in the dock Mitchell replied: "No. Is it offensive for a northerner to mimic a southerner?"
Ms Colley then put to Mitchell: "You said in interview you had lots of "paki" and "coloured" friends and that you had a friend in your phone called 'nig nog' ".
Mitchell replied: "Nig nog is a white guy, it was a name he had from the Army.
"He got the name because he was always dirty and would wear paint on his face."
Referring to the incident at Caldo Pizza, Mitchell then told magistrates: "I hadn't slept for three nights because my father is ill with Parkinson's disease.
"They had got my order wrong again, so I went back to demand my money back, and petrol money as well.
"The chef started getting a bit cocky and it escalated from there.
"I said 'Can't you understand English?', but it wasn't a racist remark.
"I grew up in the ghetto where life was tough. Where I came from, things were different and you could have a bit of banter.
"I never used racist words, I can't understand why they thought I did."
Richard Marshall, in mitigation, said: "Mr Mitchell comes from a different background, but it is clear he didn't use overtly racist language."
Adjourning sentencing for further reports, chairman of the bench Robert Cox said: "You have accepted threatening behaviour and criminal damage offences but we have come to the conclusion they were racially aggravated.
"Mr Mitchell's use of words in both interview and the witness box demonstrates an underlying hostility to racial minorities."
Sentencing was adjourned until Friday July 8 awaiting further reports.
This is Lincolnshire
Vancouver man convicted in racist hate-crime attack at sports bar (Canada)
He’s one of three who yelled ‘White Power!’ and assaulted black man
A longtime white supremacist was convicted in federal court Wednesday for his role in a racially motivated hate-crime attack on a black man in a downtown Vancouver sports bar in January 2010.
Zachary Beck, 32, of Vancouver was convicted in a three-day bench trial of conspiracy to violate civil rights, interference with a federally protected right and witness tampering, according to a bulletin from U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan handed down the verdict in Tacoma.
The bulletin and The Columbian’s files say Beck was in the former bar at 115 E. Seventh St. when he saw the black man socializing with white friends and told the bartender, twice, that the lone black man “had to leave” or there would be trouble.
The black man, whose name hasn’t been released, stayed and Beck went outside and discussed attacking him with Kory Boyd, a Vancouver skinhead and self-described white supremacist, and a third man, Lawrence Silk.
Yelling “White Power!” “You’re dead!” and racist slurs, the three went inside and attacked the black man, shouting that he shouldn’t be kissing white women and threatening to stab him.
The African-American man defended himself by blocking Beck’s punch and grabbing him in a headlock. Meanwhile, Boyd and Silk threw bottles at the black man — and a friend of the victim intervened.
When the black man released Beck, the attackers fled, shouting more racial slurs and threatening to return.
The black man followed them out of the bar and pursued them while calling 911.
The victim suffered injuries including a cut arm, bruising on his forearms and a sore chin, officials said.
Vancouver police apprehended Silk and investigated, as did the FBI. Federal authorities arrested and charged Beck and Boyd in August 2010.
Beck was accused of witness tampering for asking a former girlfriend to provide an alibi for the night of the attack, according to Columbian files.
“There is no haven for hate crimes,” Durkan said in the bulletin issued after Beck’s conviction Wednesday. “I applaud the Vancouver residents that stood up for fairness and tried to stop Beck and his co-conspirators that night. Both the FBI and the Vancouver Police Department are to be commended for their work.”
Wednesday’s bulletin adds that Silk and Boyd “have already been convicted for their roles. Silk pleaded guilty to Washington State charges of malicious harassment and received a two-year sentence. Boyd pleaded guilty to a federal hate-crime charge and was sentenced in January 2011 to 34 months’ imprisonment.”
All three of the attackers have associated with white-supremacist groups, the bulletin said.
In 2003, Beck ran unsuccessfully for the city council in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, “under the Aryan Nations banner,” Wednesday’s bulletin said.
That same year, Beck was charged with punching a man in a parking lot after asking if he was Mexican, according to The Columbian’s files.
The Colombian
A longtime white supremacist was convicted in federal court Wednesday for his role in a racially motivated hate-crime attack on a black man in a downtown Vancouver sports bar in January 2010.
Zachary Beck, 32, of Vancouver was convicted in a three-day bench trial of conspiracy to violate civil rights, interference with a federally protected right and witness tampering, according to a bulletin from U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan handed down the verdict in Tacoma.
The bulletin and The Columbian’s files say Beck was in the former bar at 115 E. Seventh St. when he saw the black man socializing with white friends and told the bartender, twice, that the lone black man “had to leave” or there would be trouble.
The black man, whose name hasn’t been released, stayed and Beck went outside and discussed attacking him with Kory Boyd, a Vancouver skinhead and self-described white supremacist, and a third man, Lawrence Silk.
Yelling “White Power!” “You’re dead!” and racist slurs, the three went inside and attacked the black man, shouting that he shouldn’t be kissing white women and threatening to stab him.
The African-American man defended himself by blocking Beck’s punch and grabbing him in a headlock. Meanwhile, Boyd and Silk threw bottles at the black man — and a friend of the victim intervened.
When the black man released Beck, the attackers fled, shouting more racial slurs and threatening to return.
The black man followed them out of the bar and pursued them while calling 911.
The victim suffered injuries including a cut arm, bruising on his forearms and a sore chin, officials said.
Vancouver police apprehended Silk and investigated, as did the FBI. Federal authorities arrested and charged Beck and Boyd in August 2010.
Beck was accused of witness tampering for asking a former girlfriend to provide an alibi for the night of the attack, according to Columbian files.
“There is no haven for hate crimes,” Durkan said in the bulletin issued after Beck’s conviction Wednesday. “I applaud the Vancouver residents that stood up for fairness and tried to stop Beck and his co-conspirators that night. Both the FBI and the Vancouver Police Department are to be commended for their work.”
Wednesday’s bulletin adds that Silk and Boyd “have already been convicted for their roles. Silk pleaded guilty to Washington State charges of malicious harassment and received a two-year sentence. Boyd pleaded guilty to a federal hate-crime charge and was sentenced in January 2011 to 34 months’ imprisonment.”
All three of the attackers have associated with white-supremacist groups, the bulletin said.
In 2003, Beck ran unsuccessfully for the city council in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, “under the Aryan Nations banner,” Wednesday’s bulletin said.
That same year, Beck was charged with punching a man in a parking lot after asking if he was Mexican, according to The Columbian’s files.
The Colombian
RECTOR AT MUSLIM UNIVERSITY IN RUSSIA IS SHOT TO DEATH
Gunmen on Tuesday killed the rector of a Muslim university in southern Russia who had been leading a government-sponsored effort to counter violence in the region by reviving the local traditions of Sufi Islam that he said were less likely to inspire suicide bombers. The rector, Maksud I. Sadikov, of the Islamic University of the North Caucasus, was shot to death in a car in Makhachkala, the capital of the Dagestan region, Russian prosecutors said. Mr. Sadikov’s bodyguard was also killed, they said. The prosecutors had not arrested or identified any potential suspects by late Tuesday, and no group immediately stepped forward to take responsibility for the attack. Mr. Sadikov was a proponent of the idea that state support for Sufism could diminish the threat of terrorism in Russia. Sufism was once widespread in the North Caucasus but faded after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the arrival of proselytizers from Middle East who sought to spread Sunni Islam. In an interview about his work in February, Mr. Sadikov said that no Sufi had committed a suicide bombing in Russia. “One of the best methods to resist the ideology of extremism is a good religious education,” Mr. Sadikov said. He said a moderate Islamic education was an “anti-venom” against terrorism.
The effort, and the government financing it received, had put him at odds with militants in the Islamic insurgency in Russia that began in Chechnya in the 1990s and has spread to other regions, including Dagestan. His university, a sprawling complex beside a mosque in Makhachkala, was involved in one of the few nonmilitary approaches that the Russian government has attempted to resolve the long-running rebellion. President Dmitri A. Medvedev has also tried to use economic aid to ease unemployment in the area. Militants have sent dozens of suicide bombers into central Russian cities, including Moscow, over the past decade. In the past 18 months, 76 people have died in attacks on the Moscow subway system and at its main airport. Those attacks led the police to put additional metal detectors in public spaces. Mr. Sadikov said his strategy was to prevent radical Islamic ideas from taking root in young men. In southern Russia, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, most suicide bombers are adherents of fundamentalist Sunni sects, including the Salafi tradition that is the state religion in Saudi Arabia. The Russian government latched onto Mr. Sadikov’s observations and threw official support behind other forms of Islam.
The United States tried a similar tactic in Iraq by introducing moderate imams at the prisons where insurgents were being held. Mr. Sadikov’s university was intended to educate elementary school teachers for a pilot project to teach Sufi Islam in public schools. This year, 1,300 students were enrolled, making it the largest effort of its kind in the North Caucasus. His university taught what he characterized as pacifist Sufi practices, like performing a ritual whirling dance or taking pilgrimages to holy sites. Critics countered that the Sufi monopoly of formal religious education in the North Caucasus only served to further alienate fundamentalist Sunni believers by compelling them to worship at home. The state’s support also made the university a target. In the February interview, Mr. Sadikov said that he was keenly aware of the dangers inherent in his project. “The radicals are saying, ‘You need to punish the impure Muslims,’ ” Mr. Sadikov said.
International Herald Tribune
The effort, and the government financing it received, had put him at odds with militants in the Islamic insurgency in Russia that began in Chechnya in the 1990s and has spread to other regions, including Dagestan. His university, a sprawling complex beside a mosque in Makhachkala, was involved in one of the few nonmilitary approaches that the Russian government has attempted to resolve the long-running rebellion. President Dmitri A. Medvedev has also tried to use economic aid to ease unemployment in the area. Militants have sent dozens of suicide bombers into central Russian cities, including Moscow, over the past decade. In the past 18 months, 76 people have died in attacks on the Moscow subway system and at its main airport. Those attacks led the police to put additional metal detectors in public spaces. Mr. Sadikov said his strategy was to prevent radical Islamic ideas from taking root in young men. In southern Russia, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, most suicide bombers are adherents of fundamentalist Sunni sects, including the Salafi tradition that is the state religion in Saudi Arabia. The Russian government latched onto Mr. Sadikov’s observations and threw official support behind other forms of Islam.
The United States tried a similar tactic in Iraq by introducing moderate imams at the prisons where insurgents were being held. Mr. Sadikov’s university was intended to educate elementary school teachers for a pilot project to teach Sufi Islam in public schools. This year, 1,300 students were enrolled, making it the largest effort of its kind in the North Caucasus. His university taught what he characterized as pacifist Sufi practices, like performing a ritual whirling dance or taking pilgrimages to holy sites. Critics countered that the Sufi monopoly of formal religious education in the North Caucasus only served to further alienate fundamentalist Sunni believers by compelling them to worship at home. The state’s support also made the university a target. In the February interview, Mr. Sadikov said that he was keenly aware of the dangers inherent in his project. “The radicals are saying, ‘You need to punish the impure Muslims,’ ” Mr. Sadikov said.
International Herald Tribune
Second protest for day of English Defence League demonstration in Dewsbury (UK)
An anti-fascist organisation will lead a counter-protest to the English Defence League’s demonstration in Dewsbury this weekend.
But police have ruled that neither group will be allowed to hold events in the heart of the town centre.
The EDL had originally planned to hold speeches outside Dewsbury Town Hall on Saturday afternoon.
Now its demonstration will be limited to the car park outside the town’s train station between 2pm and 3pm.
Chf Supt John Robins said: “After discussions with local businesses, the council, the community and the EDL organiser, we have decided that the venue of the planned EDL peaceful static protest should now be on the public car park outside the railway station.
“This decision was made to ensure that any possible disruption to people visiting and working in Dewsbury on Saturday is kept to an absolute minimum.”
Kirklees Unite Against Fascism is planning an event of its own from noon on Saturday to celebrate the “unity of multicultural Dewsbury”.
Chf Supt Robins said: “We are speaking with the organiser, but it is likely that this counter-protest will be on Wellington Road East, further along the ring road.
“As we have stated previously, our main aim is to ensure it is ‘business as usual’ for the traders, businesses and the people of Dewsbury on Saturday.”
Dewsbury Reporter
But police have ruled that neither group will be allowed to hold events in the heart of the town centre.
The EDL had originally planned to hold speeches outside Dewsbury Town Hall on Saturday afternoon.
Now its demonstration will be limited to the car park outside the town’s train station between 2pm and 3pm.
Chf Supt John Robins said: “After discussions with local businesses, the council, the community and the EDL organiser, we have decided that the venue of the planned EDL peaceful static protest should now be on the public car park outside the railway station.
“This decision was made to ensure that any possible disruption to people visiting and working in Dewsbury on Saturday is kept to an absolute minimum.”
Kirklees Unite Against Fascism is planning an event of its own from noon on Saturday to celebrate the “unity of multicultural Dewsbury”.
Chf Supt Robins said: “We are speaking with the organiser, but it is likely that this counter-protest will be on Wellington Road East, further along the ring road.
“As we have stated previously, our main aim is to ensure it is ‘business as usual’ for the traders, businesses and the people of Dewsbury on Saturday.”
Dewsbury Reporter
Former BNP Councillor Paul Golding heads Britain First nationalist movement (UK)
Paul Golding, who stepped down as a Sevenoaks District councillor for the Swanley St Mary’s ward in February, is now director of Britain First.
Mr Golding, whose latest venture is run from a Swanley postal address, told News Shopper he left his position as councillor because he had moved out of the area.
Mr Golding said in February: “I’ve moved out of the area. I didn’t think it was morally justified to keep getting the allowance. It’s as simple as that, no drama involved.”
In a campaign for Britain First, Mr Golding makes a swipe at other nationalist parties, asking: “Are you, like me, fed up of enduring the constant bickering, moaning, whinging and name-calling that is at present consuming what is left of the British patriotic movement?”
Mr Golding also accuses other parties of creating: “a constant stream of self inflicted media scandals and embarrassing gaffes that make all of us look ridiculous”.
The group also uses slogans including “if voting changed anything, it would be illegal” and “the voice of the silent majority”.
Mr Golding, who calls the movement “a modern political phenomenon” also says: “Now it is time for all patriots of stout heart to join forces, so that we can, once again, achieve progress and make an impact against the despicable traitors ruining our once green and pleasant land.
“We want our country back and we shall not rest until our land is free.”
Labour Councillor John Underwood, who still represents the Swanley St Mary’s ward for Sevenoaks District Council, said: “He can do what he likes as far as I’m concerned.
“I’m just glad he’s gone and out of my way.”
Paul Golding’s timeline of gaffes
February 2009 - Paul Golding is elected, beating Labour candidate Michael Hogg by 408 votes to 332.
August 2009 - He attends a BNP Red White and Blue family festival in Derbyshire - where an undercover News of the World reporter records a 12-year-old burning a gollywog. Mr Golding condemned these actions.
August 2009 - As part of the BNP’s anti-media campaign, Operation Fightback, he made a video to prove that a woman convicted of intimidating an Asian mother was not a BNP member. Later investigations confirmed that Helen Forster was a member, but had registered under a different name.
September 2009 - St Mary’s constituents accuse Mr Golding of “doing nothing” for them since his election.
October 2009 - The BNP threatens to boycott three News Shopper advertisers unless they pull their adverts, calling the paper “a particularly venomous anti-British left-wing propaganda outlet”.
February 2011 - Steps down as a Sevenoaks District Councillor.
News Shopper
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Murder suspect also facing sex assault charge (Canada)
 |
| Robert David Reitmeier |
Robert David Reitmeier, 24, is accused of sexual assault and unlawful confinement of a woman at a party in the city on April 29, 2009.
He also is charged with failing to comply with probation conditions.
Crown prosecutor Karuna Ramakrishnan, assigned to the sexual assault case, said following the appearance in provincial court that Reitmeier and the alleged victim did not know each other, but were “beyond casual acquaintances.”
The victim cannot be named because of a court-ordered ban.
Ramakrishnan said Reitmeier was not charged until April 29, when he was allegedly identified through a DNA match from the assault two years earlier.
Lawyer Nick D’Souza, who appeared in court for Reitmeier on Tuesday, said he has virtually no information on the 2009 charges as he has not yet received any Crown disclosure.
Reitmeier and Tyler William Sturrup, 26, suspected leaders of the WEB, or Western European Bloodline white pride group, were arrested May 31 in connection with the killing of Mark Mariani of Calgary in October 2010.
Mariani, a 47-year-old who was attacked by a group of men in an alley in the 1500 block of 16th Avenue N.W., was believed to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Police investigators said although the two suspects are white supremacists, there’s no indication that affiliation had any connection to the crime.
Although police wouldn’t disclose a motive for the killing of Mariani, Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus of the homicide unit said last week it appeared unprovoked.
Police said Sturrup, 26, was arrested in Edmonton, and Reitmeier, 24, in Calgary last week.
The WEB is one of two known white supremacist groups in Calgary since the disbanding of the Aryan Guard.
Calgary Herald
Women give neo-Nazi scene a face-lift (Germany)
Men make up the majority of neo-Nazis, but emancipation has also forged new territory for women in right-extremist circles in Germany. A new book sheds light on female neo-Nazis
Women want to have their say. That slogan from the 1960's women liberation movement still echoes through to today. And it's a rallying cry that leaders from Germany's National Democratic Party, the NPD, have picked up on.
The NPD, which is not prohibited in Germany, uses women to lure people into the right-extremist movement, maintain authors Andrea Röpke and Andreas Speit. Their new book "Mädelsache! Frauen in der Neo-Nazi-Szene" ("Girls' Business: Women in the Neo-Nazi Scene") illuminates how women are used as ambassadors for the movement.
A mother of several children wins the hearts of people much more easily than a young man with tattoos chanting xenophobic slogans, said author Speit. "Many people think 'If women are part of it, it can't be so bad,'" he observed.
The strategy seems to work, as regional elections in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt this past March showed. NPD women reaped an impressive number of votes.
Wolves in sheeps' clothing
Röpke and Speit's book looks at the various right-extremist groups in Germany. It's a heterogeneous movement that includes a right-wing women's organization, as well as numerous rightist enclaves such as the National Women's Circle - an association linked to the NPD.
Other smaller groups or associations do not appear to be right-extremist at first glance. On the contrary, one could almost take them to be "granola heads" - save the environment hippies donned in handmade clothing or dirndl-like dresses, living cozily amongst their kind in rural communities.
But at second-glance, say the authors, one notices the Prussian rigidity with which the mothers raise their children. It's a harsh approach that glorifies discipline and German tradition. This breed refuses to use English words that have long found their way into colloquial German. "T-shirt" thus becomes "T-Hemd," "Weltnetz" (World Web) is used rather than "Internet," "Gemüsetorte" (Vegetable Cake) rather than "Pizza."
The danger of underestimation
That all may sound so "yesterday," but authors Röpke and Speit stress that one should not underestimate the power and reach of women within the right-extremist movement. They have a stabilizing function within their groups; they are particularly loyal in toeing the NPD party line; and they have a major impact on how children and youth are raised.
They also don't stay within their own extremist enclaves, but are often employed as social workers or caregivers in pre-schools or daycare centers. There, they can easily recruit members for the movement - one with no shortage of young people, Speit said.
The book "Mädelsache" illuminates just how underestimated these right-extremist women are, especially in their ability to appeal to mainstream society far better than men. But as moderate as the women may appear, the authors make clear their connections to organizations touting non-democratic, racist beliefs.
DW-World
The NPD, which is not prohibited in Germany, uses women to lure people into the right-extremist movement, maintain authors Andrea Röpke and Andreas Speit. Their new book "Mädelsache! Frauen in der Neo-Nazi-Szene" ("Girls' Business: Women in the Neo-Nazi Scene") illuminates how women are used as ambassadors for the movement.
A mother of several children wins the hearts of people much more easily than a young man with tattoos chanting xenophobic slogans, said author Speit. "Many people think 'If women are part of it, it can't be so bad,'" he observed.
The strategy seems to work, as regional elections in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt this past March showed. NPD women reaped an impressive number of votes.
Wolves in sheeps' clothing
Röpke and Speit's book looks at the various right-extremist groups in Germany. It's a heterogeneous movement that includes a right-wing women's organization, as well as numerous rightist enclaves such as the National Women's Circle - an association linked to the NPD.
Other smaller groups or associations do not appear to be right-extremist at first glance. On the contrary, one could almost take them to be "granola heads" - save the environment hippies donned in handmade clothing or dirndl-like dresses, living cozily amongst their kind in rural communities.
But at second-glance, say the authors, one notices the Prussian rigidity with which the mothers raise their children. It's a harsh approach that glorifies discipline and German tradition. This breed refuses to use English words that have long found their way into colloquial German. "T-shirt" thus becomes "T-Hemd," "Weltnetz" (World Web) is used rather than "Internet," "Gemüsetorte" (Vegetable Cake) rather than "Pizza."
The danger of underestimation
That all may sound so "yesterday," but authors Röpke and Speit stress that one should not underestimate the power and reach of women within the right-extremist movement. They have a stabilizing function within their groups; they are particularly loyal in toeing the NPD party line; and they have a major impact on how children and youth are raised.
They also don't stay within their own extremist enclaves, but are often employed as social workers or caregivers in pre-schools or daycare centers. There, they can easily recruit members for the movement - one with no shortage of young people, Speit said.
The book "Mädelsache" illuminates just how underestimated these right-extremist women are, especially in their ability to appeal to mainstream society far better than men. But as moderate as the women may appear, the authors make clear their connections to organizations touting non-democratic, racist beliefs.
DW-World
Plea to ignore West Yorkshire EDL demonstration (UK)
Residents in Dewsbury are being urged to ignore a planned demonstration by the controversial English Defence League (EDL) this Saturday.
Around 500 supporters of the group are expected to rally outside Dewsbury Town Hall from 2pm.
In the past, EDL demos, such as one held in Leeds in 2009 have flared into violence with clashes between the EDL and rival anti-racism campaigners who have turned out to protest.
Today, bosses at Kirklees Council urged residents to show the town’s multi-cultural communities could live in harmony.
A spokesman said: “The prime concern is the safety and well being of our local people and local communities.
“We are committed to ensuring that our residents can enjoy their public spaces.
“We of course recognise the right of all citizens to peaceful demonstration and will respond to the planned EDL demonstration to ensure that this right is protected in a way that also respects the needs and views of our residents.
“We would urge our communities to ignore the demonstrators and prove that Dewsbury is truly a place where different communities can thrive together without conflict.”
Officers from eight forces were drafted in to police the EDL demo in Leeds in October 2009, leaving taxpayers with a £345,000 bill.
West Yorkshire Police says it aims to contain the demo.
Chief Superintendent John Robinson said: “We will facilitate a peaceful protest. Between now and then we are preparing to make sure that the event goes peacefully.
“Clearly the message to the EDL is that we will treat you fairly but firmly to ensure it is a peaceful protest.”
Yorkshire Evening Post
Around 500 supporters of the group are expected to rally outside Dewsbury Town Hall from 2pm.
In the past, EDL demos, such as one held in Leeds in 2009 have flared into violence with clashes between the EDL and rival anti-racism campaigners who have turned out to protest.
Today, bosses at Kirklees Council urged residents to show the town’s multi-cultural communities could live in harmony.
A spokesman said: “The prime concern is the safety and well being of our local people and local communities.
“We are committed to ensuring that our residents can enjoy their public spaces.
“We of course recognise the right of all citizens to peaceful demonstration and will respond to the planned EDL demonstration to ensure that this right is protected in a way that also respects the needs and views of our residents.
“We would urge our communities to ignore the demonstrators and prove that Dewsbury is truly a place where different communities can thrive together without conflict.”
Officers from eight forces were drafted in to police the EDL demo in Leeds in October 2009, leaving taxpayers with a £345,000 bill.
West Yorkshire Police says it aims to contain the demo.
Chief Superintendent John Robinson said: “We will facilitate a peaceful protest. Between now and then we are preparing to make sure that the event goes peacefully.
“Clearly the message to the EDL is that we will treat you fairly but firmly to ensure it is a peaceful protest.”
Yorkshire Evening Post
Hustles in Brussels, BNP style. (UK)
Following onto the previous post here's the two part video footage of what happened in Brussels when Nick Griffin gate crashed a meeting held by fellow BNP MEP Andrew Brons.
BNP fight club (Hope Not Hate, UK)
The bitter confrontation happened in Brussels a couple of weeks ago when a group of BNP members on a trip to the European Parliament at the tax payers expense, were being treated to a Q&A session by Yorks & Humberside MEP Andrew Brons, when in popped the uninvited Nick Griffin to launch a quite extraordinary attack on the people there.
Most of his vitriol was directed at Michael Barnbrook, the BNP's self seeking "sleaze buster" who never quite seemed capable of turning his attentions onto his own party leader, until recently. Described as a "show pony", Barnbrook was given the full "hairdryer" treatment by Griffin, while last year's beaten leadership challenger, Eddy Butler, was accused of being a liar. For his own efforts, Griffin even accused Brons of publishing a website "full of lies".
News of Griffin's decision to hold his EGM on June 26th (as exclusively revealed here), also came as somewhat as a shock to Brons, as he was initialy scheduled to speak to party rebels in the North East on that day, on the very subject of a need to call and EGM...
Hope Not Hate
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