Are the Czech Republic Romanies the most discriminated against minority in the EU

The Czech government has protested against a European survey that in early December said Czech Romanies are a minority that is the most discriminated against in the EU. Michael Kocab, Czech minister in charge of human rights and minorities, told journalists that a number of Romany intellectuals live in the Czech Republic, who are able to distinguish and describe discrimination and report on it abroad. The Czech government is trying to solve the problem openly and transparently, which, however, does not mean that it can admit Czech Romanies being [referred to as] the most discriminated against in the EU, Kocab said. According to Kocab, the survey's results reflect the relatively high legal awareness on the part of Czech Romanies, their higher ability to identify discrimination in society in which they are far better integrated than Romanies in other countries. "In view of this, Czech Romanies have a much bigger chance of full-fledged integration in society, though they show a strong feeling of being discriminated against," Kocab said in a press release. He said Romanies in the Czech Republic have good knowledge of the country's anti-discrimination measures and of the organisations providing help and advice in this area. This corresponds to the developed network of NGOs that focus on fighting discrimination in the Czech Republic, he said. The Romanies are aware of the impacts of the social and economic transformation. "However, they consider them a violation of the egalitarianism applied by the previous communist regime. They are able to orient themselves in their rights and demand their observance," Kocab said. He said an improvement in this area also ensues from the report on Czech Romanies' emigration to Canada that the cabinet discussed today.


The cabinet also approved a manual for Czech embassies concerning the Romany issue. It will serve for diplomats to respond basic questions about the Czech Republic's approach to Romany integration, Kocab said. The study was worked out by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) on the basis of interviews with 23,000 immigrants and ethnic minority members. According to it, 64 percent of Romanies in the Czech Republic were discriminated against in the past 12 months, and 42 percent of Czech Romanies fell victim to crime. The Czech government's office for Romany affairs, however, says the situation is in fact not that alarming. The office director Gabriela Hrabanova told CTK previously that the objective situation of Romanies in the Czech Republic is better than in some other states, mainly in east Europe. Residents of Romany settlements in Slovakia and Romania face far worse living conditions, she said. Hrabanova, too, pointed to the relatively large integration of Czech Romanies with the majority society, "At some places they live in total segregation. As a result, they do not meet with discrimination at all," she said. She said most Czech Romanies are in contact with the majority society, therefore they better realise mutual differences. The FRA has examined minority members' experiences with discrimination in nine areas of everyday life - in seeking jobs and at work, in housing, health care and social services, at schools, in cafes, pubs and night clubs, in shops and in banks. It also looked into wehther minority members fell victim to crime. The FRA found the strongest discrimination in terms of access to education and work, but said there are shortcomings in other areas as well.

prague monitor

New service for homophobic hate crime victims in Wales

A partnership between Victim Support and Stonewall Cymru has launched a new service to help victims of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes.
The service has received £50,000 funding from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which Victim Support is using to train staff and volunteers in offering emotional support and practical help to gay and trans people.
This will include advice on personal safety, how to deal with police and the Prosecution Service and support for victims and witnesses during trials.
Gaynor McKeown, Victim Support’s regional manager for Wales, said that support would be tailored to victims' individual needs.
She said: “With more staff and volunteers we will now be able to give a more robust service to victims and witnesses of homophobic and transphobic crimes.

"It’s essential that all victims have someone they can turn to for support, someone who will understand the issues and challenges they may face. Victims and witnesses need easily accessible help and support to suit their needs – that’s why we’ve set up this new service.”

Jenny Porter, community liaison officer at Stonewall Cymru, said: "We at Stonewall Cymru urge victims of homophobic and other hate crimes to take up this offer from Victim Support, receiving focused support and information at such a critical time can make a huge difference to coping with the experience."

Victims of homophobic or transphobic crime can call the helpline on 0845 6 121 900.

Pink News

Billy Bragg Concert to fight fascism for Hope Not Hate

If you are unaware the Hope Not Hate is an excellent organisation in the UK that campaigns against UK’s extreme racist political party the British National Party “BNP”.

The HNH organisation has been very successful with their work and their website is a must view resource for any one seeking information about the BNP or other extreme far right groups in the UK.
The following video is a simple advert for the forthcoming Billy Brag concert in support of the HNH cause.

For tickets and more information please click the link below.
Hope Not Hate

Attention ! please report the following You Tube Race Hate Promoters

Attention ! please report the following You Tube Race Hate Promoters

theGREATAPEHATE

http://www.youtube.com/theGREATAPEHATE

An extreme racist and anti-Semitic hate promoter who has posted a link to another users twitter account in a obvious attempt to generate abuse at that user.

JenkemChimpPimp

http://www.youtube.com/JenkemChimpPimp

A bigoted extreme racist who has been suspended on numerous occasions for extreme racial hatred promotion and abuse.

inevergiveup14O2

http://www.youtube.com/inevergiveup14O2

this user has created a clone channel of another You Tube user with the Id of inevergiveup1402.

What this racist abusive user has done is instead of using the number “0” in their user clone id they have substituted the letter “O” in its place.

Make sure please when reporting this user you report the correct one which is inevergiveup14O2 (“O” being the letter O as on Orange not the number “0” zero).

All these users can be reported by using the tools at the Stop Racism Canada web site
http://www.stopracism.ca/content/cleaning-youtube-and-social-networking-sites

or by using the You Tube Safety tool
http://www.youtube.com/safety_help

Jailed British Godfather Threatened Enemies From Facebook Account

A convicted criminal used Facebook to threaten his enemies while in a maximum security prison for conspiracy to murder, it emerged tonight.
Colin Gunn, an underworld godfather who ordered the killing of a couple, had his social networking site account shut down yesterday, a source said.

The Sunday Times reported the 42-year-old said in one posting: 'I will be home one day and I can't wait to look into certain people's eyes and see the fear of me being there.'

Gunn, from Nottingham, was jailed over the revenge murders of John and Joan Stirland in 2004.

According to the Ministry of Justice, prisoners are prohibited from accessing social networking sites.

But the latest internet breach comes after Jade Braithwaite, jailed for knifing to death Ben Kinsella, 16, used Facebook to taunt his victim's family.

Earlier this month, relatives of victims of violent crime called for the introduction of electronic anti-social behaviour orders, or 'E-Asbos' to stop convicted killers bragging online.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'We are extremely concerned that prisoners are able to update Facebook and other social networking sites either through illicit technology or via outside contacts.

'The Public Order Act 1986 created offences dealing with causing harassment, alarm or distress. We will not hesitate to refer to the police any published material that appears to breach this.

'We recognise that it is deeply distressing for victims and their families and friends and we have made it clear to Facebook that we do not think it acceptable or appropriate for these sites to remain active, something Facebook agrees with.'

He added that serving prisoners do not have access to the internet 'except for educational purposes, when access is closely monitored by staff' and access to social networking sites is prohibited.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said: 'I have sought the assistance of Facebook to have these profiles removed and we will continue to press for removal of these whenever we find them or whenever they are drawn to our attention.

'I am also hoping to meet with Ofcom, Facebook, victims' representatives and other government departments with an interest in this area to identify a solution to what is an issue of considerable concern to myself, victims and their families, and many members of the public.

'We will not hesitate to refer to the police any published material that appears to breach the law.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247422/British-Godfather-taunted-foes-prison-facebook-messages.html#ixzz0eBBcAZu2

Daily Mail

Australia Prime Minister nephew in Ku Klux Klan stunt

The nephew of Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been arrested for offensive behaviour, after dressing up in a Ku Klux Klan costume. Van Thanh Rudd and another man were protesting outside the Australian Open tennis championships, against a recent spate of attack on Indians living in Melbourne. Victoria state police said they fined the pair 234 Australian dollars (210 US dollars) each for offensive behaviour.



BBC News

Russia ranked highest in human rights violations

Russia has the dubious honour of having the largest number of pending complaints filed against it in the European Court of Human Rights in 2009. But some say that the figures are worse than they look

As stated in the official court press release, “as in 2008, 4 States (Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Romania) were the source of almost 56% of the pending applications: in particular 28.1% of the cases were directed against Russia, 11% Turkey, 8.4% Ukraine and 8.2% Romania."

Experts say, however, that the main reason behind Russia’s leadership in this particular category is the size of its population. As Georgy Matyushkin, the country’s representative to the Court of Human Rights pointed out, if the ranking was done by cases per capita, Russia wouldn’t be nearly as high up.

Here’s a video discussing the whole matter.

BNP’s Mark Collett Star of Young, Nazi & Proud To Stand For Election In Sheffield A Foolish Joke Or A Very Cunning Plan We Ask

This week the BNP announced that their representative in Sheffield in the general election will be none other than little Hitler Mr Mark Collett. If you don’t know who Mark is then try to imagine if Der Fhurer had an anorexic grandchild with the only distinguishing personality characteristic is his extreme racism. Mark who has said many really brilliantly bad quotes in the past which include "Hitler will live forever; and maybe I will." And speaking of Aids said "A friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it.”

So is putting him forward as a political candidate in Sheffield a bad decision by the BNP? or is this a very cunning plan by them. As Mark is bound to do something or say something hysterically bad that it will be gold mine of propaganda for us in the anti-BNP community.

And more than likely it will take the media attention away from the lesser know candidates in other areas of the country.

Who knows but its bound to be a giggle fest of news to come.

Incidentally there’s an absolute gem of a write up about this whole thing on the Lancaster Unity Blog site.

We highly recommend every person to read it.

The snowball that rolled into Hell, and other notes on mental health

A Preview Of The BNP Allowing Non-White Members

With the hammer of change coming ever closer to falling on the BNP.
The following video may be very close to the mark

Protests over Super bowl ads for anti-gay Christian group

A gay group is protesting over the decision of US television network CBS to show an advert by Focus on the Family during the Super Bowl next Sunday.

Focus on the Family, which says homosexuality "violates" God's will, is to screen an ad featuring football star Tim Tebow and his mother. Pam Tebow will discuss how she was told to abort her son in 1987.

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League and is the most watched event on US television.

Women's groups have also complained about the pro-life message and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation complained that CBS had rejected a 2004 ad from the gay-friendly United Church of Christ which promoted LGBT equality.

At the time, CBS said the United Church of Christ's ad was "unacceptable for broadcast" as President George Bush had recently proposed a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to heterosexuals.

GLAAD senior director of media programmes Rashad Robinson said in a statement: "CBS spent years denying a platform to an LGBT-inclusive church that wanted to share a message of inclusion with a national audience.

"Now, when it happens to be financially inconvenient for CBS to hold to the standard it had previously imposed, the network's expediency benefits a virulently anti-gay organisation whose advocacy on these issues is the antithesis of that of the United Church of Christ."

CBS said this week that it had changed its policies on ads and that the church's 2004 ad would have been accepted now.

A spokesman told Associated Press this week: "We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms."

Rev. J. Bennett Guess, of the United Church of Christ, said: "CBS' about-face only underscores the arbitrary way the networks approach these decisions, and the result is a woeful lack of religious diversity in our nation's media.

"Such flip-flops only lead the public to believe that broadcasters own the airwaves when, in theory at least, they do not."

Pink News

French PM asks top court to help draft law banning full Islamic veil

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has asked France's top court to help the government draft a law banning the full Islamic veil, his office said. The move comes three days after a French parliament report called for the ban. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Friday asked France's top court to help the government draft a law banning the full Islamic veil, his office said.

The government's move comes three days after a French parliament report called for a ban on the burqa and niqab, saying Muslim women who fully cover their heads and faces pose an "unacceptable" challenge to French values.
Fillon wrote to the State Council, the country's highest administrative court, asking it to "study the legal solutions enabling us to reach a ban on wearing the full veil, which I want to be as wide and effective as possible."
He asked the court to "help the government find a legal answer to the concerns expressed by parliament's representatives and to rapidly submit a bill on the subject to parliament."
The State Council is to submit its findings by the end of March.
After six months of hearings, a panel of 32 lawmakers this week recommended a ban on the face-covering veil in schools, hospitals, public transport and government offices, the broadest move yet to restrict Muslim dress in France.

The commission stopped short however of calling for legislation to outlaw the burqa in the streets, shopping centres or other public venues after raising doubts about the constitutionality of such a move.

France is home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority but the sight of fully-veiled women remains rare. Only 1,900 women wear a niqab, 90 percent of them under 40, according to interior ministry estimates.

Supporters of a ban argue that the full veil is being pushed by radicals in the French Muslim community, but critics say the wearing of the garment remains marginal and warn a ban risks stigmatising France's six million Muslims.

In 2004, France passed a law banning headscarves and any other "conspicuous" religious symbols in state schools after a long-running debate on how far it was willing to go to accommodate Islam in its strictly secular society.

The new French debate on the face-veil is being closely watched, three months after Swiss voters approved a ban on minarets.

President Nicolas Sarkozy set the tone in June when he declared the burqa "not welcome" in France.

He has since sought to reassure France's Muslims, declaring this week that freedom to practise religion was enshrined in the French constitution.

French support for a law banning the full veil is strong: a poll last week showed 57 percent are in favour.

The leader of Sarkozy's right-wing party in parliament, Jean-Francois Cope, has already presented draft legislation that would make it illegal for anyone to cover their faces in public on security grounds.
The Netherlands and Austria are considering a ban on the full veil, while Denmark said Thursday it would limit the use in public of the burka and niqab veils although stopping short of an outright ban
France 24

Britain’s mistreatment of holocaust survivors inspires WW2 book

It’s perhaps a less well known episode of the Second World War – the internment of Jews into British camps in Cyprus. Neil McKay speaks to one man about how his own involvement inspired him to write his first work of fiction.

As a 20-year-old Army sergeant he watched speechless as thousands of skeletal Jewish figures were frogmarched off ships at the point of guns and bayonets and led to internment camps – by British soldiers.

The year was 1946 and news of Nazi atrocities in camps such as Auschwitz and Belsen had not reached public consciousness. David, from Murton, County Durham, saw at first hand the effect on the survivors from those, and other concentration camps. And he unwittingly found himself taking part in an episode which still shames Britain.

Internment camps were set up by Britain on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus for Jewish immigrants who attempted to travel to Palestine in violation of immigration quotas set for Jews.

Tens of thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors escaping to flee Europe for Palestine on transport ships were intercepted on the high seas by the Royal Navy and escorted to Cyprus.

From 1946 until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the British confined 50,000 Jewish refugees on the island. Sgt Hughes was stationed with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on Cyprus and found himself working in the stores supplying one of the internment camps near Famagusta. But the sight of the Holocaust survivors being transferred to British camps still haunts him more than 60 years later.

“It is the sight of the hatred in the eyes of those survivors directed at us which I will never forget. I had never witnessed such hatred either before or since,” he said.

“None of us knew at that time of the horrors the survivors from the Nazi concentration camps had experienced and witnessed, but here we were putting them in another internment camp at the point of the gun and bayonet, with searchlights and barbed wire.”

David, now 84 and living in Houghton- le-Spring is a respected author and charity fundraiser.

Journal Live

BNP to allow non whites, well here’s a preview.

INTERNET RACISM PAIR LOSE APPEAL

Simon Sheppard, 51, was sentenced to four years and 10 months, and Stephen Whittle, 42, to two years and four months at Leeds Crown Court in July.
However, the Court of Appeal has reduced Sheppard's sentence by one year and Whittle's jail term by six months.
Sheppard, from Selby, North Yorks, and Whittle, of Preston, Lancs, controlled US websites featuring racist material.

During their first trial in 2008, they skipped bail and fled to California, where they sought asylum claiming they were being persecuted for their right-wing views, but were deported.

The police investigation began after a complaint about a leaflet called "Tales of the Holohoax", which was pushed through the door of a Blackpool synagogue and traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard.
'Abusive and insulting'
Published material found later included images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups.
The pair were charged under the Public Order Act with publishing racially inflammatory material, distributing racially inflammatory material and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.
Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, was found guilty of 16 offences and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was found guilty of five.
Sentencing them, Judge Rodney Grant said he had rarely seen material which was so abusive and insulting.

Sheppard's counsel Adrian Davies told the Appeal Court the sites were "entirely lawful" in the US.
He said that there was no evidence that anyone in England and Wales - except for the police officer in the case - had ever seen any of them.

Excessive sentences
Giving the Court of Appeal ruling, Lord Justice Scott Baker said the material had been available to the public despite the fact that the evidence went no further than establishing that one police officer downloaded it.
He said the trial judge had been right to hold that he had jurisdiction to try the pair because much of the activities constituting the crime took place in England.
However, although the Appeal Court judges agreed that "this was truly pernicious material", the sentences handed down had been excessive.

From hope not hate
Sheppard's website, to which Whittle contributed, featured grotesque images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and posters ridiculing ethnic groups. Sheppard, who had been expelled from the British National Party, was even caught delivering racist pamphlets door to door in North Yorkshire. Shepherd and Whittle are believed to be the first UK citizens to be convicted of publishing racist material online.

Hope Not Hate Original Story

BBC

WILDERS' PARTY IS 'NEW RADICAL RIGHT' (Netherlands)

Geert Wilders' political movement PVV is not an extreme right wing party but contains some radical right wing elements, according to a report into radicalisation in the Netherlands by Tilburg University research group IVA. PVV statements on 'islamisation' and non-western immigrants appear to be discriminatory and the party organisation is authoritarian rather than democratic, the researchers say. The researchers, who were looking into polarisation and radicalism across the Netherlands, describe the PVV as 'new radical right', a party with a national democratic ideology but without extreme right wing roots. In particular, the party's pro-Israel stance shows it is not neo Nazi, the report states. Nevertheless, the PVV has a preference for 'the familiar' and turns against things which are 'foreign' and its political opponents, the report said. This, coupled with an authoritarian tendency show it leans towards a national democratic ideology. And on the internet, for example, the party is a magnet for extreme views, the researchers point out.

Scandalous

Wilders told news agency ANP the report is 'scandalous' - in particular the link between defending the national interest and the radical right. And he attacked the decision to publish it now, just as he is on trial for discrimination and inciting hatred. An earlier version of the report, leaked to the Volkskrant in November, said Wilders' party is an extreme right wing grouping and a threat to social cohesion and democracy. The paper claimed at the time the researchers were under pressure to water down the conclusions because of their political sensitivity. Home affairs minister Guus ter Horst, who commissioned the research, has denied exerting any influence on the report.

IS ANTI-FASCISM A CRIME? (Austria)

This is a user email post to the I CARE website which we found so interesting we decided to repost it here in its entirety

Police and City of Vienna criminalize protest against the extreme-right WKR-Ball (dancing event of the 'Wiener Korporationsring'/Vienna umbrella organization of German-nationalist student's organizations)! Above all, the Vienna police banned an anti-fascist demonstration on the day of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp. On January 29th the ball of the 'Wiener Korporationsring' (WKR) is taking place in the Viennese 'Hofburg', the former imperial palace. Like in the past years numerous proponents of the extreme right will rendezvous there ­ from german-nationalists to virulent anti-Semites, no one wants to miss that chance for right-wing networking. While these activities are not hindered by the authorities in any way, the anti-fascist counter- demonstration was now banned.

At the WKR-ball the 'Who is Who' of the European extreme-right is shaking hands, which is easily revealed by a look on the list of participants: former and current guests at the ball include(d): Jean-Marie Le Pen from the French Front National, the fascist Enrique Ravello, anti-Semites like Alexander Dugin and representatives of the German extreme-right DVU, as well as spokespersons of the Austrian extreme-right parties, among them Martin Graf, third president of the National Council with a tendency to anti-semitic tirades, Barbara Rosenkranz, exponent of a home-stove-'mother's cross' policy and fighter against the 'gender-delusion' and John Gudenus, who has already been sentenced to one year on parole because of Holocaust-denial. It seems to go without saying that there are protests against this gathering. In the last years sizeable demonstrations have already been taking place ­ typically for Austria these have been accompanied by a repressively huge contingent of police and a ban from the premises of the WKR-gathering. But even that seems to be too much disturbance now. The demonstration, which this year had been planned by the alliance

nowkr, queer-feminists, the criticalmass, feminist womenlesbian groups, a number of students' representatives and many other groups, was now completely banned. The reason given by the police is telling: because of the group of people expected to attend the demonstration 'public security' would be endangered ­ an argument, which equals a total negation of the right to demonstrate.

In that the authorities in scandalous manner follow the 'arguments' from German-nationalist students' associations, the FPí ('Freedom Party') and neo-Nazis, who for years have been lobbying for a complete ban of anti-fascist demonstrations or would rather like to take self-administered justice. A notorious neo-Nazi website stated in an entry called 'Tips for House and Home ­ This Time Weapons' that it would be on time to 'question the state's monopoly on violence', just to dedicate their next entry to agitate against 'Entartete' - a nazi-term meaning 'degenerated', in this context denouncing queer-feminists ­ and the 'sub-human filth'. Above all it is the city of Vienna, which ­ personified by its mayor Michael Haupl ­ likes to present itself as an anti-fascist stronghold against the rise of the extreme right, that now together with the police serves in fulfilling right-wing extremists' dreams. This fact tells more about the state of this country than any number of leaflets could. It is only fitting that the ban was announced right on the Holocaust Memorial Day when official representatives of the republic show themselves to be deeply moved. While the importance of anti-fascist engagement is stressed in official settings, actual antifascist activism is banned and neo-Nazis, right wing extremists and anti-Semites are offered room at the 'Hofburg', which after all is also the official residence of the Austrian president.

Even if these developments show their face more clearly in Austria than in other countries, they do follow a disastrous international trend. Anti-fascism is criminalized all over Europe: Only recently the demonstration against the largest neo-Nazi march in Europe has been criminalized in Germany, posters were confiscated, websites blocked and more repression against the organizers of the anti-fascist demonstration followed. All these developments have to be countered resolutely. We won't let

anti-fascism be banned! Therefore: Everyone to the demonstration against the extreme-right WKR-ball!

Origianly posted by Rosa Antifa Wien

Will The BNPs Revised Constitution Still Be Illegal?

It seems that the revised BNP constitution may not have been altered enough to prevent the party from being faced with a possible court injunction.

The BNP were taken to court by the Equality and Human Rights Commission over the working of their party constituion that did not allow non-whites to join the party. The amended version states that members must adhere to the idea of "the maintenance and existence of the unity and of the integrity of the indigenous British".

It remains to be seen whether the BNP party members will vote in favour of the changes at their extraordinary general meeting in two weeks, and in the event of the racist party agreeing the changes we will wait with baited breath to see whether the Equalities Commission will agree they have gone far enough.

Robin Allen QC, representing the EHRC, told the hearing the changes the party had proposed to its constitution were "highly suspect" and "unquestionably" racially discriminatory.

The BNP have been ordered to pay £12,500 for the adjourned court session, which is due to be reconvened until 9th March when the legality of the new document will be decided.

BBC news story

Independent News Story


Check out the BNP 2005 Manifesto (the latest whole manifesto they have issued) for more thinly-disguised racism.

BNP 2005 Manifesto

Russian Government Stats Show Extremist Crimes Up Dramatically Since 2004

The head of the MVD's anti-extremism unit has released statistics on the number of extremist crimes in Russia, according to a January 26, 2010 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. General Yuri Kokov gave the following figures, which show a rapid growth in the number of such crimes over the past five years

According to his statistics, 130 extremist crimes were recorded in 2004, 460 in 2008, and 549 in 2009. As usual, the MVD stats did not distinguish between hate crimes and crimes connected to Islamic extremists, insurgents in Chechnya, or even peaceful opposition demonstrators, whom police are

targeting with increasing frequency by abusing anti-extremism legislation. But General Kokov did say that there are 150 neo-fascist groups active in Russia.

General Kokov admitted that his statistics are not 100% reliable. He also added that 549 extremist

crimes do not seem like much compared to the overall crime number for 2009 of 3,000,000. "Nevertheless," he said, "it ought to be pointed out that even one crime connected to the specific and delicate sphere of

inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations can drastically destabilize or even explode the situation, not only in one specific region, but in the entire state... That is the main danger presented by extremist incidents. Sometimes, a typical bar fight or night club brawl can lead to unpredictable consequences, including mass disorders on inter-ethnic or inter-religious grounds. It's enough to remember what happened in

Kondopoga, Salsk, Kalmykiya."

Far-Right Activist on Trial for Murder (Russia)

he murder trial of the head of the local branch of an extremist far-right group has begun in

Blagoveshchensk, Russia (Amur region), according to a January 15, 2010 report in the local newspaper "Amurskaya Pravda." The defendant, who is not named in the report, heads the local branch of the Movement Against Illegal Migration (DPNI), a group linked with racist violence in several cities. He allegedly beat Chinese man to death on September 15, 2009.

According to prosecutors, two Chinese citizens encountered the defendant and some other far-right activists near a large store. The defendant then allegedly pulled out a wooden bat and hit the victim on the head, knocking him down. He then allegedly hit him several times with the bat as he lay on the ground, striking him in the head and torso. The victim died four days later in the hospital.

A security camera outside the store recorded the attack, and police detained the suspect two days later. He reportedly confessed to a personal hatred of Chinese people. Local police chief Sergey Marchenko

was quoted in the article saying that the local branch of the DPNI, "beat up, terrorized and robbed foreigners--not just Chinese, but also Uzbeks, Tajiks and Kyrgyz." He added that other members of the DPNI face weapons and extremism charges. It is not clear, however, if other DPNI members will be put on trial. Their leader, whose name was not mentioned in the article, faces charges of "aggravated assault

motivated by ethnic hatred."

Media and politicians 'fuel rise in hate crimes against Muslims

A rise in the number of hate crimes against Muslims in London is being encouraged by mainstream politicians and sections of the media, a study written by a former Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officer, published yesterday, says.

Attacks ranging from death threats and murder to persistent low-level assaults, such as spitting and name-calling, are in part whipped up by extremists and sections of mainstream society, the study says.

The document – from the University of Exeter's European Muslim research centre – was written by Dr Jonathan Githens-Mazer and former special branch detective Dr Robert Lambert.

"The report provides prima facie and empirical evidence to demonstrate that assailants of Muslims are invariably motivated by a negative view of Muslims they have acquired from either mainstream or extremist nationalist reports or commentaries in the media," it says.

Lambert headed Scotland Yard's Muslim contact unit, which helped improve relations between the police and Britain's Islamic communities.

The unit won praise from even long-standing critics of the police, and Lambert was awarded an MBE.

The study mentions no newspapers or writers by name, but alleges that the book Londonistan, by the Mail writer Melanie Phillips, played a part in triggering hate crimes.

"Islamophobic, negative and unwarranted portrayals of Muslim London as Londonistan and Muslim Londoners as terrorists, sympathisers and subversives in sections of the media appear to provide the motivation for a significant number of anti-Muslim hate crimes," it says.

In his foreword, the rightwing journalist Peter Oborne writes: "The constant assault on Muslims from certain politicians, and above all in the mainstream media, has created an atmosphere where hate crimes, ranging from casual abuse to arson and even murder, are bound to occur and are even in a sense encouraged by mainstream society."

The report is based on interviews with witnesses to and victims of hate crimes, as well as police officers and former members of extremist organisations such as the British National Party.

The report cites interviews with rightwing extremists to try to prove a link between what is published in the mainstream media and the anti-Muslim views held by extremists.

It says: "An experienced BNP activist in London explains that he believes that most BNP supporters simply followed the lead set by their favourite tabloid commentators that they read every day.

"When these commentators singled out Muslims as threats to security and social cohesion, he says that it was perfectly natural for BNP supporters to adopt the same thinking."

The report says the extreme right are directing their violence more against Muslims than black or Asian Britons.

"Interviewees with long experience of extremist nationalist street violence in London are unequivocal in their assessment that Muslim Londoners are now a prime target for serious violence and intimidation in the way that Londoners from minority ethnic communities once were," it says.

"Similarly, interviewees with experience of London street gangs that have no connection or affinity with extremist nationalist politics are adamant that Muslims have become prime targets for serious attacks.

"In addition, well-informed interviewees are clear that the main perpetrators of low-level anti-Muslim hate crimes are not gangs but rather simply individuals from a wide range of backgrounds who feel licensed to abuse, assault and intimidate Muslims in terms that mirror elements of mainstream media and political comment that became commonplace during the last decade."
The report says the attacks come in part from street gangs targeting Muslims as punishment for members who have embraced Islam and left gang culture.
"Often, they know someone who has left their scene and become a devout Muslim," the document, which also drew on interviews with youth workers dealing with gangs, says.
"That is like a defection. And whether they do or don't, they say they know this or that terrorist who used to be a great person till he joined the Muslims."
The report also says gang members believe Muslims values "oppose everything these kids aspire to. Flash cars, nightclubs, expensive clothes, jewellery, drugs, alcohol, casual sex, glamour, dancing, music ...".
The study says the majority of hate crimes involve low-level incidentsand are not reported to police.
Most officers are committed to tackling anti-Muslim hate crimes seriously, but are undermined by a few colleagues who are not. But the study warns: "Anti-Muslim hate crimes have not been afforded the same priority attention [that] government and police have invested in racist hate crimes."
The report is dedicated to Yasir Abdelmouttalib, a PhD student who was left brain-damaged after a gang of youths attacked him in London, striking him over the head with a stick, as he made his way to a mosque while wearing Islamic clothing.
It cites other cases of rightwing extremists preparing hate campaigns and of serious attacks on Muslims in Britain.
These included: "Neil Lewington, a violent extremist nationalist convicted in July 2009 of a bomb plot; Terence Gavan, a violent extremist nationalist convicted in January 2010 of manufacturing nail bombs and other explosives, firearms and weapons; a gang attack in November 2009 on Muslim students at City University; the murder in September 2009 of Muslim pensioner, Ikram Syed ul-Haq; a serious assault in August 2007 on the Imam at London Central Mosque; and an arson attack in June 2009 on Greenwich Islamic Centre."
The study focuses on anti-Muslim violence in London, with its authors saying they will produce one covering the whole of the UK by this summer.

our view.
So with this daming report we still ask the question "how can an extremist violent organisaion as the English Defence League still not be banned?". It just defy's logic.

The Guardian

ANTI-SEMITISM ON THE RISE IN AMSTERDAM

On an evening during the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Ber van Halem (22) crossed a street in Amsterdam’s affluent Zuid neigbourhood, only to hear a group of boys invoke a Dutch ethnic slur (“Kankerjood”) involving both a deadly disease and his Jewish heritage. Not once, but several times. Van Halem confronted the boys and continued on his way. Suddenly, he heard the sound of bicycles behind him. He turned around and an argument developed. Out of nowhere, he felt somebody hit him. He fell to the ground. “I was kicked in my stomach and on my shoulder while prone,” Van Halem recounted. Van Halem’s beating, which took place in October 2008, remains one of the most infamous manifestations of anti-Semitism in the Netherlands in recent years. The incident led to public outcry, when local police failed to find time to register Van Halem’s formal complaint days later. “We were very busy working a robbery,” a spokesperson for the Amsterdam- police force explained. The Van Halem case has since been closed. Not one perpetrator was caught.

Anti-Semitist incidents doubled

In 2008, 14 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in the Dutch capital, making for relatively calm year in the city that is home to most of the country’s approximately 40,000 Jews. New - as yet unpublished - data collected by a semi-governmental agency that reports on discrimination, have shows that the number of reported incidents grew to 30 in 2009. This development is in line with national trends, said Elise Friedmann of the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel, a pro-Israel lobby group in the Netherlands. “We estimate the total number of reported incidents doubled in 2009,” she said. Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza strip in January of that year was the driving force behind the explosive growth, according to Friedmann. “In that month alone we had a hundred or so reports come in, almost the same amount we did over the entire year before,” she said. When an Israeli military operation dominates the headline, Van Halem is one of the first to notice it on the streets. “The verbal abuse hurled at me on the streets is becoming more severe and more regular,” he said. Experience has taught him that the boys taunting him are almost always of Moroccan descent. “Their reasoning goes something like this: Israelis are Jews, Palestinians are Arabs, so we Moroccan ‘Arabs’ in the Netherlands are going to take on Dutch Jews,” said Menno ten Brink, a rabbi for the liberal Jewish community in Amsterdam.

More and more under siege

At the time when Van Halem was beaten, Israel was relatively quiet however. “They spotted my skullcap and started swearing at me,” he recounted. Van Halem has been wearing the traditional headgear, proscribed by the Jewish faith, since he was six. “Ever since, I have been cursed regularly. When I was 8 I hurt myself after I was pushed against a bicycle stand. My leg needed stitches,” he said. Many people witnessed his 2008 beating and were able to give the police good descriptions of the assailants. Van Halem was surprised when the police sent him a letter, letting him know that the perpetrators had never been found. Rabbi Ten Brink wonders whether the police had really tried its best. “All these witnesses and the police can’t find the guy who did it. Telling,” he said. A spokesperson for the Amsterdam police force assured they had done everything within their power. We had plainclothes cops staking out the area for days, looking for the boys. But we couldn’t find anyone,” the spokesperson said. The case was finally closed in May of last year. Ten Brink’s sceptical attitude towards the police illustrates of the Amsterdam Jewish community at large. Jews here feel more and more under siege as they are exposed to a growing barrage of name-calling, hate mail, firecrackers in their mailboxes, graffiti and – occasionally – physical abuse. They feel the government should do more about it, by coming down harder on perpetrators, for one, but also by investing more in their security financially.

'Hilter let one get away'

The liberal Jewish community in Amsterdam is building a new synagogue. “Security is costing us hundreds of thousands of euros,” Ten Brink said. “In Antwerp and Paris, synagogues were attacked. The same could happen here.” On the shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, security officers guard the synagogues. “Fear has taken hold,” said Max Engelander, chairman of the Amsterdam police force’s Jewish network, which was founded last year. “That is why we do not take lightly to anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination,” he said. How big is anti-Semitism really in Amsterdam? “It is a serious problem, but it doesn’t occur on a daily basis,” Ten Brink said. Rabbi Raphaël Evers a rabbi serving Amsterdam’s orthodox community, felt the problem was more serious. “I do not get out much, but when I do I am almost always insulted along the lines of ‘Hitler let one get away’. My mother says it is worse now than it was before the second world war,” he said. Bloeme Evers-Emden, a 83-year old survivor of the concentration camps, lost most of her family during the Holocaust. “In 1939 I was 13. The NSB [The Dutch fascist party] disseminated a lot of anti-Jewish propaganda back then, but I do not remember Jews getting beaten as they are now.” Evers-Emden lives in a part of Amsterdam home to a lot of Moroccans. “I saw a kid about 8 years old yelling something about ‘killing Jews’. I asked him ‘do you know what you’re saying?’ He said ‘yes’, and went on repeating himself.” Van Halem feels uncertain whether anti-Semitism is on the rise. “It goes up and down, mostly following events in Israel,” he said. He and his friends do feel an urge to strike back. “A lot of my friends have been trained in the Israeli army. I have years of martial arts training myself. Occasionally we’ll say: ‘come on, let go get them back’. But in the end, we don’t want to form a militia or anything.”

 

original Post

JEWISH CEMETERY IN STRASBOURG DESECRATED by NEO-NAZI (France)

STRASBOURG, France -- A Jewish cemetery in eastern France was desecrated Wednesday, with at least 18 gravestones marked with swastikas and overturned, police and Jewish officials said.

The desecration in a Strasbourg cemetery came as Jews marked the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz death camp, a symbol of the Holocaust, when the Nazis killed millions.

France's main Jewish organization, CRIF, said at least 18 tombstones at the Cronenbourg cemetery were found Wednesday marked with swastikas and 13 of them were overturned.

The CRIF's Marc Knobel said the inscription "juden raus" (Jews out) was found on one tomb.
President Nicolas Sarkozy "firmly condemns this unbearable act, the expression of odious racism," said a statement from his office. It asked that those responsible be quickly identified and their acts "treated with the severity called for."

You Tubers standing against hate in a remembrance of the Holocaust

With it being holocaust Remembrance Day a number of You Tubers have changed their user profile to images that stir memories of the holocaust. Although few in number it has not gone unnoticed. They have also uploaded holocaust related videos and posted comments throughout the channel.

As a remembrance to the millions that died under the banner of National socialism they have not only showed that it is not forgotten but have made a poignant stand against the rise of far right nationalism and those who glorify the hate regime of Nazi Germany.

Let not those who died for a political hate policy be ever forgotten.

When They Came For Me

When the Nazis came for the communists

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

Then they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

I did not protest;

I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

I did not speak out;

I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

Keeping the memory of Auschwitz alive in a digital world

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are playing a part in reaching out to young people on Holocaust Memorial Day – but do they really have an impact?
On 27 January 1945, on Saturday, at around 9am the first Russian soldier from a reconnaissance unit of the 100th Infantry Division appeared on the grounds of the prisoners' infirmary in Monowitz. The entire division arrived half an hour later," reads the status update on Facebook of the Auschwitz memorial page. More than 50 people so far have clicked to say they "like" this.
Holocaust Memorial Day marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and to keep the memory alive, more and more organisations are turning to social media.
In the UK, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is taking a new approach. While a memorial ceremony will take place in London's Guildhall alongside hundreds of community events across the UK, the trust has also adapted the act of rememberance for the digital world.

This year, the trust completely changed its website to make it easier for readers to bookmark and share content via social media websites. It now runs a Twitter feed, a Facebook fan page and a YouTube page which features a video narrated by Daniel Radcliffe.

The use of digital engagement to keep such memories alive is becoming more and more common, but it is also controversial: it is claimed that it might just be a simple way for users to ease their conscience. As digital critic Evgeny Morozov puts it, there is a danger that this form of activism makes you feel you are engaged when, for example, you join a "Feed Africa" group on Facebook, while you actually don't make a difference at all.

On the other hand, digital involvement is becoming increasingly important as the media landscape changes. So this form of activism could be a way to raise interest and pull in users, especially young people.

"The act signifies a commitment to helping build a safer, inclusive society where the differences between us are respected," says the trust. Within a week, more than 20,000 people have lit a candle on the website and thus gained more information about history and ongoing events.

"The majority of visitors to the Auschwitz memorial are students and other young people," said Auschwitz museum official Pawel Sawicki when the Facebook page was launched. "Our mission is not only to teach them about the history, but to be responsible in the world of today. We should find every possible way to reach out, so why shouldn't we use the same tool in that young people use to communicate?"

A collection of speeches by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is Italy’s second-most downloaded iPhone application on Holocaust Memorial Day.

A collection of speeches by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is Italy’s second-most downloaded iPhone application on Holocaust Memorial Day.

The application, called iMussolini, is available on Apple’s online store for 79 euro cents ($1.1). It has been downloaded more than a video game based on the blockbuster film Avatar, according to Apple Inc.’s Italian iTunes store. A wallpaper application is the most downloaded item.

The Mussolini application makes 100 of the so-called Duce’s speeches available on the iPhone. Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 until his death in 1945 at the end of World War II. His granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, is a politician and ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government.

“It’s a delicate page in our history that should never be forgotten,” Luigi Marino, the 25-year-old creator of the application, told Bloomberg News in an e-mail. “I’m stunned by the success of the application. I’ve had complaints, but also lots of positive feedback asking me to keep updating.”

Marino, a native of Naples, gets to keep 70 percent of the proceeds from the application, which has jumped to about 1,000 downloads a day from 55 on Jan. 21, when it first went online.

A Milan-based spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment.

Auschwitz liberation marked on Holocaust Memorial Day

The 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is being marked at events across the UK on Holocaust Memorial Day.
Holocaust and genocide survivors will join in a national commemoration event at the Guildhall in London later.
The Archbishop of Canterbury urged people to listen to the survivors' stories but also remember their legacy.
He also warned against "attitudes in ourselves and in others which were the harbingers of the Holocaust".

The theme for the 10th annual Holocaust Memorial Day is Legacy of Hope, which focuses on the lessons future generations can learn from the Holocaust.

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chief executive Carly Whyborn said the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the largest Nazi concentration camp was a "hugely important landmark".

The words of Holocaust survivors should set an example, she added.

"They don't talk about revenge or hatred, they don't talk about enacting revenge on anybody, they talk about hope, they talk about creating a cohesive society for all of us," Ms Whyborn said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Rowan Williams, warned against "dehumanising attitudes".

"We need to be vigilant about every expression of ungenerous feeling towards people in need and all who may for a time be dependent on the wider community - the refugees and asylum seekers," he said.

"We need to be alert to the signs of a casual attitude to the value of human lives, whether by acts of terrorism or more subtly, in relation to disability, or the beginning or end of life."
Holocaust Memorial Day is marked with the intention of remembering and honouring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust and those from subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and the ongoing atrocities in Darfur.

St. Petersburg Police Detain Far-Right Activist in Shooting of Anti-Fascist

Police in St. Petersburg, Russia detained a suspect in the shooting of member of an anti-fascist group, according to a January 21, 2010 report by the Regnum news agency. The suspect is a 29 year old male who is a member of a far-right group. He faces charges of "hooliganism" and simple assault, though police are checking to see if they can tie him to other unsolved crimes

January 27th is world Holocaust day.

January 27th in 1945 the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz- Birkenau death camp, and the full horrors of Hitler’s Nazi regime became apparent to the world.

With the rise of the BNP and other far right groups around the world (940+ in the USA) it is becoming more important everyday that we do not forget what could happen if they ever gain power, and we can never let them gain power again.

France MPs' report backs Muslim face veil ban

A French parliamentary committee has recommended a partial ban on women wearing Islamic face veils.

The committee's near 200-page report has proposed a ban in hospitals, schools, government offices and on public transport.

It also recommends that anyone showing visible signs of "radical religious practice" should be refused residence cards and citizenship.

The interior ministry says just 1,900 women in France wear the full veils.

In its report, the committee said requiring women to cover their faces was against the French republican principles of secularism and equality.

"The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable. We must condemn this excess," the report said.

The commission called on parliament to adopt a formal resolution stating that the face veil was "contrary to the values of the republic" and proclaiming that "all of France is saying 'no' to the full veil".

for the full story please click below

BBC news

Trial Set for Neo-Nazi Gang in Krasnodar(Russia)

Members of a neo-Nazi gang face a pending trial on extremism charges in Krasnodar, Russia, according to a January 21, 2010 article in the national daily "Komsomolskaya Pravda." According to the prosecution, the "Pit Bull" gang was founded in February 2007 with the express purpose of
committing acts of violence against non-Russians. Their first victim was a "non-Slavic" woman whom the defendants allegedly assaulted in
October 2008. They allegedly followed that up with a March 2009 attack on a man they perceived as "non-Slavic." The gang's two alleged founders face charges of "creating an extremist organization" and aggravated assault charges motivated by ethnic hatred. It is not clear from the report how many other defendants there are, nor what charges they face.