Get Involved in European Action Week Against Racism

In the 1960’s, the United Nations passed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This has been marked in many ways over the years, and March 21st is now the International Day to mark this convention.

In Europe, this translates to Anti-Racism Week, which runs from 13th to 21st March. Many anti-racist organisations across Europe are organising events to commemerate the week; for more information check out the United Against Racism site; they will even provide promotional materials for your event, or just to promote diversity in your area.

European-wide Action Week Against Racism

Anti-Racism activities

Councillor switches from BNP to National Front

A councillor has joined the openly-racist National Front, giving the far-right party its first elected representative for 35 years.

John Gamble was elected as a Rotherham BNP councillor in 2008, beating Mayor Allan Jackson by 61 votes but defected to the English First Party last June.
He told The Star he had 'jumped ship' to the NF because he wanted to join a 'more active' org

But when some of the NF's recorded views were put to him, the Catcliffe and Brinsworth councillor said: "You have caught me somewhat flat-footed.

"I am not aware of the severity of these opinions."

He added: "I am not racist, but on the far right," he told The Star. "How can I be racist when I have had several coloured girlfriends?

"I am concerned about immigration levels and want to continue to be a useful member of the community."

Rother Valley MP Kevin Barron said: "John Gamble was elected under the banner of one disgusting organisation, and he has moved to one that is even worse."

Rotherham MP Denis MacShane said: "The National Front is no different to the BNP as a racist party which fosters hate and violence
sheffieldtelegraph

BNP chief Nick Griffin claims £200,000 Euro expenses

BNP leader Nick Griffin was accused of joining “the expenses gravy train” today after it emerged that he has claimed hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The British National Party chief, who was elected last year as Euro MP for the North West of England, has submitted claims for more than £200,000 for his work in Brussels.

The costs, which come on top of his £82,000 MEP salary, include some £18,000 in “consultancy fees” and £10,000 in “agent fees”.

The BNP leader won his party's first seats in Strasbourg after attacking MPs for having their “snouts in the trough”.

After being accused of failing to be more open about his expenses, he has now published a version of his claims on his personal website.

Mr Griffin claimed £175,000 in “staff costs” for eight employees with titles ranging from “European researcher” to “campaigns co-ordinator”. A further £31,000 was for “office management costs”, including an office in his home. His “office costs” included £2,800 on “furnishings” and over £4,000 on “repair, maintenance and security”. Mr Griffin made a pre-election pledge to be transparent about his expenses. But he is yet to reveal how much he has claimed of his £270-a-day MEP's subsistence allowance, worth £40,000 tax-free every year, or how much he has claimed for travel.

Fellow BNP MEP Andrew Brons has not published any details of his expenses. He and Mr Griffin are jointly entitled to expenses of up to £530,000 a year. As well as staff allowances, both receive a “general expenditure allowance” worth more than £44,000 annually.

A spokesman for campaign group Searchlight said: “Griffin talked a good game on expenses before the election, but as soon as he got to Brussels he couldn't wait to jump aboard the euro expenses gravy train.”

this is london

Town gears up as thousands of campaigners plan protest rally (UK)

Bolton's top police officer has warned protesters intent on causing trouble in the town on Saturday: “You are not welcome.”


Addressing town centre businesses yesterday, ahead of planned English Defence League (EDL) and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) demonstrations in Victoria Square, Chief Supt Steve Hartley said troublemakers would be dealt with robustly.

He said: “People who want to come and protest lawfully are fine. Those who do not want to lawfully protest are not fine and I would say to them that they can expect to find a robust response.

“The planning for this event has been meticulous and there will be a lot of police officers in the town before the protest, on the day and afterwards.

“I can assure people that staff and customers will be able to come to Bolton, will be able to come into work and they will be safe.”

Police and Bolton Council chiefs are working around the clock and are in constant contact with organisers of the EDL rally and the counter UAF protest.
But they are still unsure how many protesters will descend on the town.

Information from websites, which are being checked by officers on a daily basis, suggests that thousands of protesters from each side will arrive from as far away as Dover and Aberdeen.

Ch Supt Hartley said: “It is difficult to say anything at this stage because each of the protests has been different. We had one of the earlier protests in Wrexham where about 50 people turned up and it lasted about an hour, through to Manchester where there were a few thousand people.”

Council maintenance staff have already started securing loose flagstones and cobbles in town centre streets and shops and businesses are being urged to keep bins and waste in a safe place.

Anything that can be used as a potential weapon will be taken off display for the day.

Ch Supt Hartley said: “This is not going to be like the G20 protests where someone is throwing something through a bank window.”
Bolton Council chief executive Sean Harriss admitted that staff from the authority had expressed concern about their own safety.
But he said: “Managers have sat down with staff and reassured them.”
Despite the reassurances, town centre bosses admit they are still undecided what course of action to take.

One businessman, whose premises is in Victoria Square, said: “I am going to have to make a decision soon about whether I board up my windows. I am not bothered about what the premises looks like, I just want to take any action I need to.”

Philip Parker, who owns Parker’s Clothing schoolwear in Deansgate, said he was unsure whether to close for the day.
He said: “I am not sure how many shoppers will actually bother to come into town. I do not think I would come into town if I knew there was going to be a confrontation between two different sides.

“All my staff are female and I could get a couple of men to add a bit of security but I do not know how much I would take and whether it would be worth opening.”

Buses and other public transport will be running as normally, although police have said some roads and car parks may be closed to allow them to escort protesters into Victoria Square.
Ch Supt Hartley said: “We are still working out the detail but all premises in the town centre will be accessible.”

Anyone with informationabout the forthcoming demonstrations should call the dedicated EDL hotline on 0161 856 5654, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or email EDL.CC.Management@gmp.police.uk andrew.greaves@ theboltonnews.co.uk

the Boltonnews

Dutch populist Wilders 'unwelcome' in Eifel town (Germany)

The Dutch anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders has been told he is “not welcome” in the western German town of Monschau after he spent the weekend in the Eifel region.


The parliamentarian and leader of the far-right Party for Freedom, along with several armed bodyguards, stayed from Saturday afternoon until Sunday morning in the town, according to police in the city of Aachen.


Wilders, who promotes a strongly anti-immigration and anti-Muslim platform, has called for the Koran to be banned in the Netherlands, among other incendiary positions. His party recently performed strongly in council elections.
Monschau Mayor Margareta Ritter said she was concerned that Wilders' presence had tainted her town with the suspicion that it was sympathetic to his views. As a result, Monschau had unfairly been connected with extremism in the European press.

“Of course I care very much if such persons feel comfortable here,” she said. “Anyone who pollutes the integration debate in the Netherlands with poisonous right-wing populism as Wilders has, is not welcome in Monschau. I wanted to distinguish Monschau from that.”

But she was not in favour of a legal bar against Wilders’ coming to the area and if he wanted to return, he could, she said. The populist politician was briefly barred from entering Britain in 2009 for his unsavoury views.
Wilders presence in Monschau only became public knowledge because he suffered a dizzy spell there.
Whether Wilders was merely holidaying in Monschau or had been meeting with like-minded people, Ritter was unable to say.
Police were in contact with Wilders’ bodyguards drove past his hotel several times to check there was no trouble, according to a police statement. The outspoken opponent of Islam has received death threats from Muslim militants and therefore has his own, round-the-clock bodyguards.
thelocal.de

European Court says Croatia violated Roma rights

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Croatia discriminated against Roma (Gypsy) school pupils by putting them in Roma-only classes.

The Croatian state had argued that the separate classes were intended to help Roma catch up with other pupils.

Fifteen former pupils of Roma origin had alleged that the arrangement was a form of racial discrimination and violated their right to education.
Croatia has been told to pay each one 4,500 euros (£4,075) in damages.
In 2008, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg had rejected the former pupils' arguments, but that verdict was overturned by an appeal court on Tuesday.

Eight years have passed since the pupils first argued their case in Croatia - which is currently negotiating accession to the European Union.
All have now left school, and some have small children of their own, the BBC's Nick Thorpe reports from Croatia.
The former pupils attended primary school in the villages of Macinec and Podutren, in northern Croatia, at different times between 1996 and 2000.
The court judgement says the drop-out rate among Roma children in primary school was 84%.

"The court held that no adequate safeguards had been put in place at the relevant time to ensure sufficient care for the applicants' special needs as members of a disadvantaged group," the ruling said.

The court found that Croatia had failed to address the former pupils' alleged deficiency in the Croatian language through any special tuition.

Allocation of the former pupils to Roma-only classes had been done on the basis of a general "psycho-physical" assessment rather than a language test, the judgement said.

The court also said Croatia had violated the plaintiffs' rights to a fair trial because the judicial proceedings had been conducted over an "excessive" period.
BBC News

ROMANI FAMILY IN OSTRAVA SUFFERS MOLOTOV COCKTAIL ATTACK (Czech Rep.)

An unknown perpetrator attacked a Romany family house with a Molotov cocktail in Ostrava's Bedriska neighbourhood at night on Saturday, fortunately injuring no one, the criminal police told reporters yesterday, "Unacceptable, appalling, mad. These are things that have no place in a normal society. I firmly believe the affair will be properly investigated," Prime Minister Jan Fischer said in reaction to the case. The case will be investigated by a special team. "The perpetrator, unknown for now, threw a Molotov cocktail through the window glass...but it did not catch fire," the officer said. The Molotov cocktail did not break after it fell on the floor, therefore the inflammable liquid neither leaked nor flared up. The police are now waiting for the results of an expert assessment that is to be completed by the end of the week. The attack occurred at night from Saturday. The Molotov cocktail flew into a children's room where a 14-year-old girl was sleeping. She woke up at the noise. Local Romanies now say they fear for their safety. Last April, arsonists attacked a Romany family house in Vitkov, elsewhere in north Moravia, with three Molotov cocktails. Three people were injured by the fire, including a 2-year-old girl who suffered burns on 80 percent of her body. The trial of the four suspects in the case, all right-wing extremists from north Moravia, is to start on May 11. They have been charged with attempted racially motivated murder targeting several people, including a child. They face up to 15 years in prison, if found guilty, but a longer sentence or even life imprisonment cannot be ruled out.

praguemonitor

FAR-RIGHT WORKERS' PARTY APPEALS ITS BAN (Czech Rep.)

The Czech far-right Workers' Party (DS) yesterday sent through e-mail an appeal against its dissolution to the Constitutional Court (US), challenging the decision, party leader Tomas Vandas told CTK. The proposal has the postponing effect that will last throughout the proceedings at the US. The DS has announced it will run in the May elections under the name Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS). DS lawyer Petr Prchal who has drafted the complaint said the conditions for the dissolution of the party were not fulfilled. Prchal said if the evidence were relevant, it would be sufficient to discontinue the activities of the party, not to dissolve it. The Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) passed the verdict on February 17. It said the DS's programme contains xenophobia, chauvinism, homophobia and racism. It spreads fears of foreigners and creates the feelings of danger. The DS's logo, a red cogwheel on a white field and with black letters DS inside, strikingly reminds of the emblem of the German Labour Front (DAF), a kind of a Nazi union organisation. A similar logo was also used by the now defunct Free German Workers' Party (FAP), a party of neo-Nazis dreaming of a Fourth Reich, the NSS concluded.

praguemonitor

ANTI-SEMITISM COMMON IN NORWEGIAN SCHOOLS

Jewish schoolchildren in Norway are being subjected to anti-Semitic harassment, forcing some families to move. Amongst calls for action come allegations of staff turning a blind eye to what is happening.

“They say that all Jews should be killed, and use nicknames such as “Jewish pig” and “fucking Jew”. It’s blatant anti-Semitic harassment that escalates both verbally, and physically,” a mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells NRK. She says her son has been harassed for several years by fellow students with a Muslim background. A father of another boy says his son was stopped by a gang of older youths on the way home from school, and that were going to take him into the woods and hang him because he is Jewish. The boy managed to break free, but is still affected by what happened. His father goes on to say harassment by Muslim boys became so severe, they decided to move somewhere else.

But it appears as though some teachers are either indifferent, or unwilling to act on anti-Semitism in schools. “They say they can’t do anything about it. Neither the teachers nor the principals care about it at all. They don’t want to talk about the problem because it is too sensitive,” says the anonymous mother. She goes on to describe a teacher who said “this type of thing happens us all” when informed that her Jewish son had received death threats. Kari Helene Partapuoli, leader of the Norwegian Centre against Racism, alleges it’s a common problem. “Unfortunately, we also see that Norwegian schools often don’t take racism and anti-Semitism seriously. They’d rather look away when racism occurs. Even painting a Swastika on house walls isn’t treated with the seriousness it demands,” she tells NTB.

Anne Sender of the Mosaic Religious Community in Oslo says she believes part of the problem is schools’ lack of opposition to many Muslim youths’ prejudices. “It’s a specific problem, without wishing to stigmatise any particular group,” she says. Whilst Shoaib Sultan, Secretary General of Islamsk Råd – an umbrella organisation umbrella organisation for the Islamic religious community and organisations in Norway – tells NRK they’re shocked. “What is most interesting is to find out how we can combat this hatred,” he tells NRK. Sender has already contacted Kristin Halvorsen, the Centre Party’s (SV) Minister of Education, to discuss anti-Semitism in Norwegian schools. “The Norwegian authorities must map out both the problem and who it concerns,” she tells NTB.

Halvorsen says anti-Semitism in Norwegian schools is unacceptable, and was unaware of the extent of problem before NRK broke the story. Some Jewish children have yellow stars stuck to their backs. “It’s clear this has some additional dimensions that make some people reluctant, but teachers and principals have a responsibility to crack down on these types of attitudes. I don’t think most people realised it could have such a serious outcome,” the leader of one of the parties in the red-green coalition government tells NRK.

The Foreigner

Break the law and your new online 'friend' may be the FBI (USA)

The Feds are on Facebook. And MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, too.

U.S. law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department document that offers a tantalizing glimpse of issues related to privacy and crime-fighting.

Think you know who's behind that "friend" request? Think again. Your new "friend" just might be the FBI.

The document, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, makes clear that U.S. agents are already logging on surreptitiously to exchange messages with suspects, identify a target's friends or relatives and browse private information such as postings, personal photographs and video clips.

Among other purposes: Investigators can check suspects' alibis by comparing stories told to police with tweets sent at the same time about their whereabouts. Online photos from a suspicious spending spree — people posing with jewelry, guns or fancy cars — can link suspects or their friends to robberies or burglaries.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based civil liberties group, obtained the Justice Department document when it sued the agency and five others in federal court. The 33-page document underscores the importance of social networking sites to U.S. authorities. The foundation said it would publish the document on its Web site on Tuesday.

With agents going undercover, state and local police coordinate their online activities with the Secret Service, FBI and other federal agencies in a strategy known as "deconfliction" to keep out of each other's way.

"You could really mess up someone's investigation because you're investigating the same person and maybe doing things that are counterproductive to what another agency is doing," said Detective Frank Dannahey of the Rocky Hill, Conn., Police Department, a veteran of dozens of undercover cases.

A decade ago, agents kept watch over AOL and MSN chat rooms to nab sexual predators. But those text-only chat services are old-school compared with today's social media, which contain mountains of personal data, photographs, videos and audio clips — a potential treasure trove of evidence for cases of violent crime, financial fraud and much more.

The Justice Department document, part of a presentation given in August by top cybercrime officials, describes the value of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and other services to government investigators. It does not describe in detail the boundaries for using them.

"It doesn't really discuss any mechanisms for accountability or ensuring that government agents use those tools responsibly," said Marcia Hoffman, a senior attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The group sued in Washington to force the government to disclose its policies for using social networking sites in investigations, data collection and surveillance.

The foundation also obtained an Internal Revenue Service document that instructs employees on how to use to use Internet tools — including social networking sites — to investigate taxpayers. The document states that IRS employees are barred from using deception or creating fake accounts to get information, a directive the group says is commendable.

Covert investigations on social-networking services are legal and governed by internal rules, according to Justice Department officials. But they would not say what those rules are.
The Justice Department document raises a legal question about a social-media bullying case in which U.S. prosecutors charged a Missouri woman with computer fraud for creating a fake MySpace account — effectively the same activity that undercover agents are doing, although for different purposes.

The woman, Lori Drew, helped create an account for a fictitious teen boy on MySpace and sent flirtatious messages to a 13-year-old neighborhood girl in his name. The girl hanged herself in October 2006, in a St. Louis suburb, after she received a message saying the world would be better without her.

A jury in California, where MySpace has its servers, convicted Drew of three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization because she was accused of violating MySpace's rules against creating fake accounts. But last year a judge overturned the verdicts, citing the vagueness of the law.

"If agents violate terms of service, is that 'otherwise illegal activity'?" the document asks. It doesn't provide an answer.
Facebook's rules, for example, specify that users "will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission." Twitter's rules prohibit its users from sending deceptive or false information. MySpace requires that information for accounts be "truthful and accurate."

A former U.S. cybersecurity prosecutor, Marc Zwillinger, said investigators should be able to go undercover in the online world the same way they do in the real world, even if such conduct is barred by a company's rules. But there have to be limits, he said.
In the face-to-face world, agents can't impersonate a suspect's spouse, child, parent or best friend. But online, behind the guise of a social-networking account, they can.

"This new situation presents a need for careful oversight so that law enforcement does not use social networking to intrude on some of our most personal relationships," said Zwillinger, whose firm does legal work for Yahoo and MySpace.

Undercover operations aren't necessary if the suspect is reckless. Federal authorities nabbed a man wanted on bank fraud charges after he started posting Facebook updates about the fun he was having in Mexico.
Maxi Sopo, a native of Cameroon living in the Seattle area, apparently slipped across the border into Mexico in a rented car last year after learning that federal agents were investigating the alleged scheme. The agents initially could find no trace of him on social media sites, and they were unable to pin down his exact location in Mexico. But they kept checking and eventually found Sopo on Facebook.

While Sopo's online profile was private, his list of friends was not. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Scoville began going through the list and was able to learn where Sopo was living. Mexican authorities arrested Sopo in September. He is awaiting extradition to the U.S.

The Justice document describes how Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have interacted with federal investigators: Facebook is "often cooperative with emergency requests," the government said. MySpace preserves information about its users indefinitely and even stores data from deleted accounts for one year.

But Twitter's lawyers tell prosecutors they need a warrant or subpoena before the company turns over customer information, the document says.
"Will not preserve data without legal process," the document says under the heading, "Getting Info From Twitter ... the bad news."

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The chief security officer for MySpace, Hemanshu Nigam, said MySpace doesn't want to be the company that stands in the way of an investigation.

"That said, we also want to make sure that our users' privacy is protected and any data that's disclosed is done under proper legal process," Nigam said.

MySpace requires a search warrant for private messages less than six months old, according to the company. Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the company has put together a handbook to help law enforcement officials understand "the proper ways to request information from Facebook to aid investigations."

The Justice document includes sections about its own lawyers. For government attorneys taking cases to trial, social networks are a "valuable source of info on defense witnesses," they said. "Knowledge is power. ... Research all witnesses on social networking sites."

But the government warned prosecutors to advise their own witnesses not to discuss cases on social media sites and to "think carefully about what they post."

It also cautioned federal law enforcement officials to think prudently before adding judges or defense counsel as "friends" on these services.

"Social networking and the courtroom can be a dangerous combination," the government said.

Times Argus