Muslim group in Aylesbury has offered an olive branch to a far right organisation which plans to descend on the town in May.
Calls have been mounted for an open debate amid fears that a demonstration by 1,500 English Defence League (EDL) members on May 2 could lead to violence and disorder.
Opponents from Unite Against Fascism (UAF) plan to stage a counter protest on the same day, and both sides have clashed whenever they have met in the past.
This week an open letter was sent out by Aylesbury Muslims, an informal group of young people, inviting EDL for a chat.
It concluded: "By the end of our meeting, perhaps we will dispel misconceptions of each other.
"And if we can't leave the hall as friends, then perhaps we can leave without being enemies."
Yesterday the founder of Aylesbury's EDL division said he welcomed the opportunity to hold a proper debate, and claimed any demonstration in the town would be non-violent.
Originally posted in bucksherald
Monday, 15 March 2010
LewsiRight-wing BNP grandmother to run for mayor (UK)
Tess Culnane, who previously ran unsuccessfully for the far-right National Front at the London Assembly, has now been named as the British National Party (BNP) candidate for Mayor of Lewisham.
Ms Culnane, a long-term resident of the borough, has also spoken at a meeting of the British People’s Party (BPP), an extreme-right group which supports repatriation of immigrants and banning abortion.
The party sells busts of Adolf Hitler for £15 on its website, along with books on the Klu Klux Klan.
In a speech on the internet, Miss Culnane talks of people being “infected” with multiculturalism and speaks about an “invasion” of Britain.
She goes on to claim “we can no longer trust foreign doctors” and urges her supporters to “unleash the British Bulldog”.
The grandmother told News Shopper: “The indigenous British people will be airbrushed out of existence. That’s what’s happening now.”
Ms Culnane, who refused to tell us her age, claims she will be tough on crime and council bureaucracy and that she will make Lewisham “a borough where British interests and people are put first”.
She said: “The crime level has gone beyond all reason now. I don’t care what the statistics say.”
When asked about her speech at the BPP meeting, she said: “I’ve got no time for them.”
In 2008, Ms Culnane unsuccessfully tried to sue Lewisham Liberal Democrats over an election leaflet which alleged some leading members of the BNP had criminal convictions.
She was ordered to pay more than £100,000 in costs.
Current Lib Dem leader Councillor Chris Maines, who is also running for mayor, pointed out Ms Culnane was “hammered” by his party when she stood in a Downham by-election last year, getting just 287 votes.
He said: “Previously when she stood we exposed her vile party.
“We’ll continue to fight the BNP who offer nothing to the people of Lewisham.”
News Shopper
Racist thug jailed over attack in Oldham (UK)
Graham Paul Smith, 23, of Acre Lane, Oldham, admitted one count of racially aggravated grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 18 months at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester on Wednesday.
The court head that the 53-year-old victim was on Shrewsbury Street just before midday on October 31, 2009, when Smith began verbally abusing him.
The victim confronted Smith, and was then punched in the face and fell to the floor.
The victim got up and was once again punched to the ground by Smith, who then made racist comments towards the victim.
He was taken to hospital for treatment to a bleed on his brain.
Detective Sergeant Ian Webb, of Oldham CID, said: "The fact Smith was drunk before midday and prepared to randomly launch tirades of verbal abuse against complete strangers tells you exactly what type of person he is.
"His level of aggression indicates he was clearly looking for a fight and his actions left his victim critically ill as a result.
"While he has made a remarkable recovery the consequences could have been far worse, even fatal.
"There is no place for this type of behaviour on the streets of Oldham and this prison sentence will offer the opportunity for him to reflect on his thuggish and totally unacceptable behaviour."
oldhamadvertiser
English Defence League switch date for Dudley protest
The group, which claims to oppose Islamic extremism and is said to have far-right links, will now take to the streets of Dudley the day before.
Spokesman Steve Simmons said the protest against a proposed new £18 million mosque in the town had been shifted “so as not to disturb people on the religious day”.
A march by the EDL in Birmingham last September saw more than 90 people arrested, as cops battled for hours to keep them away from rival anti-fascist demonstrators.
birminghammail
Neo-Nazis resort to subtler tactics (Germany)
Neo-Nazis in Germany are changing their recruitment strategy to include subtler tactics that target young people, a domestic intelligence expert said on Monday.
According to Burkhard Freier, the deputy head of North Rhine-Westphalia's Verfassungsschutz agency, right-wing extremists are no longer seeking open confrontation. Instead some are attempting to seduce the middle class with their ideology behind closed doors.
Agitation, public appearances and advertising have become “significantly more subtle” and therefore harder to recognise, Freier told daily Neue Westfälische on Monday.
Security experts believe there are signs that neo-Nazis are “eating more crow,” Freier told the paper, explaining that they have taken to targeting young people.
“They're now hidding the dehumanising messages at first,” he said.
Tactics include beginning with a discussion of welfare benefits and globalisation, and end with racist ideology against foreigner, in particular Muslims and Jews, he said.
Representations of the group online have also become more modern, he warned, saying that they are making efforts to avoid being “immediately recognisable.”
This translates to wearing less conspicuous clothing too, he said.
thelocal.de
Sarkozy's facing Defeat while Far Right make Elections gains (France)
Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party appears to be heading for defeat in French regional elections.Initial results suggest the opposition Socialist party has taken a strong lead in the first round of voting.
The outcome will be a major blow for Mr Sarkozy in the last nationwide poll before presidential and parliamentary elections due in 2012. The far-right National Front looks to have done better than expected, with up to 12% of the vote.
Sunday's election took place with President Sarkozy's popularity rating at an all-time low and unemployment at 10%.
The French leader had sought to play down the importance of the vote, insisting it was only about regional issues.
But many voters used it to signal their disapproval of the president and his government, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby, in Paris.
As well as the fallout from the economic crisis, a range of unpopular planned reforms appear to have cost the governing party.
Turnout for the ballot was also poor. The abstention rate was put at some 52%, a record for a regional election.
President Sarkozy did not comment on Sunday night, but Prime Minister Francois Fillon insisted the vote was not over.
Near complete results suggested the Socialists were likely to emerge as the largest single party, and that the centre-left and Greens would get more than half the vote.
The leader of the Socialists, Martine Aubry, said the result was a blow to President Sarkozy's government.
"By this vote the French people have sent a clear and strong message of refusal to a France that is divided, anguished and weakened," she said.
Le Pen triumphant
The Socialist party is deeply divided at national level, but remains strong in the regions.
It already controls 20 out of 22 regional councils in the country and now looks likely to make further gains in the final vote next Sunday.
National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen appeared on national television after the vote, holding a poster banned by a court that read: "No to Islamism."
The 81-year-old politician called on voters to back the party again in round two, saying his party was "combative and capable of rebuilding this country, which is in a horrible state."
His party effectively tied for third-place nationally with Europe Ecologie.
The National Front's surprising performance comes against the background of social and racial tensions after the government's public debate on national identity.
Some 44 million voters were registered to elect 1,880 councillors from party lists to control regional budgets on transport, education and economic development.
BBC News
'Apprehension' among Muslim women (Wales, UK)
The French parliament is to vote on a proposal to ban the face covering known as the niqab or burqa. BBC Wales reporter SELMA CHALABI looks at what is happening in France and finds out how Muslims in Wales are responding.
These days it is quite common to see women walking around the part of Cardiff that I live in covered head to toe in a dark colour, usually black.
As the daughter of a practising Christian British mother and a lapsed Muslim Iraqi father, my own values and cultural references have been almost entirely shaped by this country.
But with half of my family being Muslim, I have a natural desire to understand that side of my heritage.
When women started to cover their faces on British streets, my curiosity got the better of me.
I wanted to know who they were, and under what circumstances they chose (or not) to cover.
I also wanted to try the cover for myself to see what it feels like and how people respond.
I got my chance when I was asked by BBC Radio Wales' Eye On Wales programme to find out what Muslims in Wales feel about the proposed ban in France.
My guide was Cardiff-born Aminah Delgado, who converted to Islam at the age of 22, and chose to cover her face two years later in 2001.
For her, wearing her outer clothes such as the abaya (full-length gown) and the niqab (face cover) is like putting on her shoes.
After showing me how to put the clothes on, we ventured out into Cardiff.
Within minutes of stepping out of Aminah's front door, two van drivers beeped and stared aggressively at us.
I thought they only paid attention to women who wore next to nothing.
Striding along covered up in a dark burgundy cover, I felt no different in myself.
The cloth is very light and can hardly be felt, although breathing in air through a piece of cloth was none too pleasant.
What was different was how people reacted. People would stare, sometimes curiously, sometimes aggressively, giggle as if we could not see them, and call us names such as ninjas.
Even the Big Issue seller ignored me. That has never happened before.
However I should point out that on another trip to Cardiff city centre, no-one blinked an eyelid.
There was the occasional stare, especially as I browsed through the rails of a high street fashion store, but the overwhelming impression I had was that people were not bothered.
Nevertheless, this piece of cloth causes feelings to run high, especially amongst politicians and the media.
Misunderstandings are rife. The word burqa for instance has been seized upon by the media - burqa commission, burqa ban. It sounds good, but it is inaccurate.
The burqa is the mesh covered gown that women in Afghanistan wear. In Europe, the Arab-style niqab is favoured, which is the piece of material drawn across the nose and mouth leaving the eyes exposed.
In France, the government is concerned about the growing visibility of the niqab on their streets.
Out of 5m Muslims, only an estimated 2,000 women are covering up to this extent, but the French are worried that this is a growing trend.
Politicians such as the UMP's Jacques Myard are convinced that the face cover is an affront to French values of secularity, dignity and equality, and that it must be nipped in the bud by clear rulings from parliament.
The only way forward, in his view, is to legislate a ban.
Muslims throughout the world, and here in Wales, are watching with keen interest. France will vote on a resolution and possibly a ban after the regional elections which end on 21 March.
Nation's values
France has already banned the hijab (head scarf) in schools in line with its policy on all religious symbols, but this ruling would take things further by singling out the niqab and burqa, and banning it in all public places including transport, libraries and banks.
If Mr Myard gets his way, the niqab will be banned on the streets as well.
It would make France the first Western democratic nation to ban an item of clothing on the grounds that it does not fit in with the nation's values.
In the Muslim world, Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia have already banned the face cover in an effort to crack down on the growing influence of Islamic party politics.
Within these shores, UKIP and the BNP are the only political parties calling for a ban.
Most of the Muslim women I talked to during the making of this programme are apprehensive.
Many of these women wear the hijab, which covers their hair and neck, and they already feel the weight of society's disapproval.
One hijab wearer told me that she does not wear her scarf to work for fear that she will be sidelined and not promoted.
For these women, this focus on a small minority of women who choose to cover their face further alienates and marginalises Muslim women.
Women such as Iman (her name has been changed), who has raised a family in Cardiff and holds down a high ranking professional position, told me: "I think it's symptomatic of something much more serious and profound, that is the notion of trying to create an us and them situation… "
"It's trying to make us out as though we are something completely alien and foreign, that it's completely impossible for us to live as legitimate, contributing citizens within Europe."
Some Muslim women I talked to do not condone a ban, but nevertheless think that there needs to be more debate and dialogue.
Shaista Gohir, of the Muslim Women's Network, told me that she has noticed a visible increase in women choosing to cover their faces, and she worries that such women are putting themselves in a vulnerable position, particularly with regards to job opportunities.
The 2001 census showed that 66% of Muslim women were economically inactive, and Shaista's concern is that this figure will get worse if the trend to cover one's face increases.
Most Muslims agree that the Quran indicates that believing women should cover their hair and chest.
The interpretation that the face should be covered is not agreed by all theologians.
'Working hard'
It is a matter of personal choice, but Shaista thinks that some women are not getting access to the full range of interpretations.
For me, making this programme has been a steep learning curve. What I have felt is lacking in this whole debate is women's voices.
When did you last hear the voice of a woman who wears a niqab, or for that matter a hijab, on television or radio? I am glad to have had the opportunity to seek these voices out.
Iman summed up the feelings of many of the women I talked to: "If women are working hard, if they're bringing up children well, if they're looking after the environment and their neighbours and their extended family… such women are a contribution to society, not a scourge."
These women just want to get on with their lives, and feel that surely there are bigger things facing the world right now.
Not so according to Mr Myard, who told me down the line from the BBC studio in Paris that "this is more important than the economic crisis".
As for niqab wearer Aminah Delgado, whatever is going on in the world, she is adamant that she has the right to cover: "This is what I want to do to get closer to Allah. I'm not harming anyone. I won't take it (my niqab) off. It's very important to me. I won't take it off
BBC News
These days it is quite common to see women walking around the part of Cardiff that I live in covered head to toe in a dark colour, usually black. It is so common that I hardly blink anymore, but I remember a time not that long ago when I would have done a double take.
As the daughter of a practising Christian British mother and a lapsed Muslim Iraqi father, my own values and cultural references have been almost entirely shaped by this country.
But with half of my family being Muslim, I have a natural desire to understand that side of my heritage.
When women started to cover their faces on British streets, my curiosity got the better of me.
I wanted to know who they were, and under what circumstances they chose (or not) to cover.
I also wanted to try the cover for myself to see what it feels like and how people respond.
I got my chance when I was asked by BBC Radio Wales' Eye On Wales programme to find out what Muslims in Wales feel about the proposed ban in France.
My guide was Cardiff-born Aminah Delgado, who converted to Islam at the age of 22, and chose to cover her face two years later in 2001.
For her, wearing her outer clothes such as the abaya (full-length gown) and the niqab (face cover) is like putting on her shoes.
After showing me how to put the clothes on, we ventured out into Cardiff.
Within minutes of stepping out of Aminah's front door, two van drivers beeped and stared aggressively at us.
I thought they only paid attention to women who wore next to nothing.
Striding along covered up in a dark burgundy cover, I felt no different in myself.
The cloth is very light and can hardly be felt, although breathing in air through a piece of cloth was none too pleasant.
What was different was how people reacted. People would stare, sometimes curiously, sometimes aggressively, giggle as if we could not see them, and call us names such as ninjas.
Even the Big Issue seller ignored me. That has never happened before.
However I should point out that on another trip to Cardiff city centre, no-one blinked an eyelid.
There was the occasional stare, especially as I browsed through the rails of a high street fashion store, but the overwhelming impression I had was that people were not bothered.
Nevertheless, this piece of cloth causes feelings to run high, especially amongst politicians and the media.
Misunderstandings are rife. The word burqa for instance has been seized upon by the media - burqa commission, burqa ban. It sounds good, but it is inaccurate.
The burqa is the mesh covered gown that women in Afghanistan wear. In Europe, the Arab-style niqab is favoured, which is the piece of material drawn across the nose and mouth leaving the eyes exposed.
In France, the government is concerned about the growing visibility of the niqab on their streets.
Out of 5m Muslims, only an estimated 2,000 women are covering up to this extent, but the French are worried that this is a growing trend.
Politicians such as the UMP's Jacques Myard are convinced that the face cover is an affront to French values of secularity, dignity and equality, and that it must be nipped in the bud by clear rulings from parliament.
The only way forward, in his view, is to legislate a ban.
Muslims throughout the world, and here in Wales, are watching with keen interest. France will vote on a resolution and possibly a ban after the regional elections which end on 21 March.
Nation's values
France has already banned the hijab (head scarf) in schools in line with its policy on all religious symbols, but this ruling would take things further by singling out the niqab and burqa, and banning it in all public places including transport, libraries and banks.
If Mr Myard gets his way, the niqab will be banned on the streets as well.
It would make France the first Western democratic nation to ban an item of clothing on the grounds that it does not fit in with the nation's values.
In the Muslim world, Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia have already banned the face cover in an effort to crack down on the growing influence of Islamic party politics.
Within these shores, UKIP and the BNP are the only political parties calling for a ban.
Most of the Muslim women I talked to during the making of this programme are apprehensive.
Many of these women wear the hijab, which covers their hair and neck, and they already feel the weight of society's disapproval.
One hijab wearer told me that she does not wear her scarf to work for fear that she will be sidelined and not promoted.
For these women, this focus on a small minority of women who choose to cover their face further alienates and marginalises Muslim women.
Women such as Iman (her name has been changed), who has raised a family in Cardiff and holds down a high ranking professional position, told me: "I think it's symptomatic of something much more serious and profound, that is the notion of trying to create an us and them situation… "
"It's trying to make us out as though we are something completely alien and foreign, that it's completely impossible for us to live as legitimate, contributing citizens within Europe."
Some Muslim women I talked to do not condone a ban, but nevertheless think that there needs to be more debate and dialogue.
Shaista Gohir, of the Muslim Women's Network, told me that she has noticed a visible increase in women choosing to cover their faces, and she worries that such women are putting themselves in a vulnerable position, particularly with regards to job opportunities.
The 2001 census showed that 66% of Muslim women were economically inactive, and Shaista's concern is that this figure will get worse if the trend to cover one's face increases.
Most Muslims agree that the Quran indicates that believing women should cover their hair and chest.
The interpretation that the face should be covered is not agreed by all theologians.
'Working hard'
It is a matter of personal choice, but Shaista thinks that some women are not getting access to the full range of interpretations.
For me, making this programme has been a steep learning curve. What I have felt is lacking in this whole debate is women's voices.
When did you last hear the voice of a woman who wears a niqab, or for that matter a hijab, on television or radio? I am glad to have had the opportunity to seek these voices out.
Iman summed up the feelings of many of the women I talked to: "If women are working hard, if they're bringing up children well, if they're looking after the environment and their neighbours and their extended family… such women are a contribution to society, not a scourge."
These women just want to get on with their lives, and feel that surely there are bigger things facing the world right now.
Not so according to Mr Myard, who told me down the line from the BBC studio in Paris that "this is more important than the economic crisis".
As for niqab wearer Aminah Delgado, whatever is going on in the world, she is adamant that she has the right to cover: "This is what I want to do to get closer to Allah. I'm not harming anyone. I won't take it (my niqab) off. It's very important to me. I won't take it off
BBC News
Huddersfield BNP man says party will be 'driven underground' after legal ruling
Outspoken BNP member Robert Walker, who has stood for the party at Kirklees Council elections, said: “If you take away the rights of my political party, I’ve no platform.
“It’s a dangerous situation and the feeling of resentment that’s going on in this country is going to go underground.”
The BNP was yesterday banned from taking on new members after a judge ruled its constitution could discriminate against non-white people.
Judge Paul Collins issued an injunction ordering the far right group to comply with race equality laws.
He said: “The membership list will have to be closed until then.
“I hold that the BNP are likely to commit unlawful acts of discrimination within section 1b Race Relations Act 1976 in the terms on which they are prepared to admit persons to membership under the 12th addition of their constitution.”
Last month the BNP scrapped its whites-only policy in an attempt to avoid legal sanctions brought by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Mr Walker, who runs Great Northern Street Motors at Lower Fitzwilliam Street, said he believed in the rights of the “indigenous” people of Britain.
He said: “I’m a second-class citizen in my own country because I’m a white working-class male.
“We’re not allowed a voice and the BNP is the only party with a voice for indigenous working people.
“The indigenous people in this country have no rights and they’ve had their rights taken away from them.”
Weymen Bennett, national secretary for Unite Against Fascism, said: “The BNP talk about law and order, but they are officially a racist organisation and their constitution supports division and separation and apartheid.
“This is something that hasn’t been seen since apartheid in South Africa and Nazi Germany.
“The leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin, wants taxpayers money to support him.
“Unite Against Fascism believe that democracy involves everyone regardless of religion or race.”
examiner
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