Jobbik against setting up Tom Lantos Institute (Hungary)

Radical nationalist party Jobbik said on Monday that it objected to plans to set up a Tom Lantos Institute in Budapest to promote minority rights, insisting that the former US politician of Hungarian descent was a "Hungarophobe."

Hungarian President Pal Schmitt told a UN general assembly meeting in New York on Friday that Hungary plans to set up a centre to promote tolerance, to be named after Lantos.

Jobbik parliamentary group leader Marton Gyongyosi said on Monday that the initial idea for the centre came from former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who announced plans to set up a Tom Lantos institute after the US politician's death in February 2008.

Gyongyosi said Lantos, a former politician of the Democratic Party, was a "Hungarophobe" and "best friends" with former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

"Hungarian right-wing people with patriotic feelings will never support this initiative," he said.

In addition to the naming of the institute, Gyongyosi also criticised the entire plan to set up such an organisation, adding that minority research and promoting tolerance were not among Hungary's most urgent tasks at the moment.

Politics Hu

Ukraine holds two over suspected anti-Semitic murder

An Israeli Hasid was stabbed to death and his brother was beaten late Saturday night in Uman, a Breslov pilgrimage destination.

An Israeli Breslov Hassid was stabbed to death and his brother was beaten late Saturday night in the Ukrainian city of Uman. Shmuel Toubul, 20, and his older brother Rafael were in Ukraine to assist Jews making the pilgrimage to the grave of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

The three assailants fled the scene but hours later two of them were apprehended by police. Police have yet to decided whether to charge the two with murder or manslaughter.

The victims' family believe the incident was motivated by anti-Semitism. It is also thought that the attack may have been motivated by the Rosh Hashanah killing of a local man by a Jew who fled the country.

The killing of Toubul occurred on the 200th anniversary of the death of Rebbe Nachman.

The Jewish community in Ukraine managed to persuade the police to hand over Toubul's body without performing an autopsy, though one is required by law. Performing an autopsy is a sacrilege to many religious Jews. The body was flown to Israel, and the man was to be laid to rest late last night in Jerusalem.

The stabbing, just after midnight Saturday, occurred a few hundred meters from the rebbe's grave, where Jewish followers had gathered to pay homage and mark 200 years since his passing. The Toubuls, originally from the West Bank settlement of Immanuel, manage a number of businesses in Uman. They own an apartment they rent out, operate a transportation service and a local supermarket offering kosher products to the tens of thousands of Jewish visitors who come annually.

The Toubuls' businesses in Uman are managed by Rafael Toubul, with the younger Shmuel making the trip before Rosh Hashanah to offer help. Shmuel Toubul kept in touch with many Israeli visitors via his Facebook page. He was to be married in Israel in two months.

According to the Toubul family and local Jewish officials in Uman, the memorial ceremony near the rebbe's grave drew dozens of people. Shmuel Toubul was sent to bring refreshments. While he was inside his home, he heard noises outside, where three young men were hurling rocks at his car. He alerted Rafael, who was also home. The two went outside to chase away the stone throwers, who then assaulted the brothers. Rafael Toubul says they tried to defend themselves, they hit back and offered the attackers money to leave them alone. But one of them produced a knife and stabbed Shmuel Toubul three times, including once in the heart. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Rafael was beaten around the head and feet with an object.

Another brother, Nachman Toubul, said: "Even though my brother Rafael offered the youths money so that they would be left alone, they refused, pulled out a knife, and stabbed Shmuel, of blessed memory, in the heart. Shmuel collapsed on the spot and he called out to his brother, 'Rafael, they stabbed me in the heart.'" He said his brother lost consciousness and then was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Ukrainian police are trying to determine whether the violence was random and whether the suspects involved were under the influence of alcohol. One of the suspects is in his early 30s and the other in his early 20s. They were found to have blood stains on their clothing.

Hareetz

Crime Spree Suspects Linked To White Supremacy Group USA

Authorities believe a group of midstate criminals is responsible for running several meth labs and breaking into homes and cars across the region.

They're armed, dangerous, and now linked to a radical white supremacist group.

Investigators describe them as a loose knit gang, and the Sumner County Sheriff's Department has every intention of shutting this group of criminals down.

What started as a series of car thefts weeks ago led investigators with the Sumner County Sheriff's Department to a series of meth labs and dozens of stolen guns. Child endangerment charges were also filed after a five month old baby was found in the same home as an active meth lab.

"Thefts, burglaries, assaults then the meth labs. we recovered 5 meth labs during this investigation," said Sumner County Sheriff Sonny Weatherford.

Now, the case has taken another turn-- at least 14 people responsible for the crime spree now face criminal charges, and all of them have linked themselves to a white supremacist group known as Aryan Nations.

"They feel they're a dominant race and do the intimidation on the rest of the public," said Weatherford.

Investigators said many of the suspects met each other while in prison. While the network of white supremacists is not tight knit, Sheriff Weatherford said his department is cracking down on the group to prevent future crimes and public unrest.

"If you are in Aryan Nations and in Sumner County we want to locate you and get you out of Sumner County, whether that's by placing you in jail or you leaving," said Weatherford.

Investigators are taking the Aryan Nations group seriously for several reasons. Detectives said they've broken into homes, cars, and stores in five different midstate counties. And, they could be extremely dangerous. Authorities have seized more than 60 guns they believe were stolen during the crime spree. At least one member of the group is still on the loose.

Investigators believe there are more members of Aryan Nations in Sumner County and the surrounding areas who could be part of the rash of crimes. Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to call the Sumner County Sheriff's Department.

News Channel 5

White supremacist sentenced for attack (USA)

Lockner gets 31 years for beating elderly black man

A Baltimore judge sentenced white supremacist Calvin E. Lockner to 31 years in prison Monday on four criminal counts, including the assault of an elderly black fisherman, who repeatedly described the beating and its aftermath as "stressful" during the brief court proceeding.

Standing four feet from his attacker, James Privott, 77, outlined the effects of the August 2009 battering, which left him with a fractured eye socket, missing teeth and expensive doctor bills.

"The situation put my wife and I and my family in a stressful, stressful" position, Privott said. "My wife basically had to take over for me. … For three weeks, I couldn't see."

Court papers describe Lockner, 29, as a Hitler follower and registered sex offender who molested a little girl and raped a woman. He pleaded guilty last week to attacking Privott, as the older man packed up his Chevy Tahoe and prepared to head home after an early morning of fishing at Fort Armistead Park

Motivated by hate, Lockner and two others beat Privott, then stole his vehicle, according to court records. Lockner received a 30-year sentence for the carjacking, 25 years for assaulting Privott and 10 years for committing a hate crime, all set to run concurrently. He received an additional one-year sentence for assaulting a correctional officer by throwing urine at the man, who declined to speak in court Monday.

Lockner's public defender read a statement on his behalf apologizing to Privott and asking for forgiveness.

"I should have been able to conduct myself as a man, but chose the acts of a boy," Lockner said in the statement. "I am sorry for the pain and agony that my actions have caused you."

The trial of a co-defendant, Zachary Watson, 18, had been scheduled Monday but was postponed because Watson's attorney is trying another case, according to the Baltimore state's attorney's office. A third defendant, 16-year-old Emmanuel Miller, was previously found "involved" by a juvenile court judge.

Baltimore Sun

Attacks on homeless becoming hate crimes in Fla (USA)

Prejudice-motivated attacks against homeless people are becoming hate crimes in Florida, a state that has led the nation in that statistic four of the last five years.
The new law goes into effect Friday.

Florida is the largest of five states and the District of Columbia that have increased penalties for attacks against the homeless, but the National Coalition for the Homeless says it's unsure such laws will do any good.

The coalition first wants the federal government to begin collecting data to help determine what will work.

A U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee is scheduled to hear testimony on that issue Wednesday.

Other advocates, though, say publicity surrounding hate crime laws can be a deterrent itself.

Miami Herald

FRANCE’S NATIONAL FRONT STEADILY GAINING STRENGTH, POLLS SHOW

Tall, blonde and plain-spoken, 42-year-old Marine Le Pen has two ambitions: to succeed her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, when he steps down as head of the extreme right National Front party in January, and to become the first French president who represents the far right. But even if her succession is still months away, and her ascension to the presidency unlikely, Ms. Le Pen and the National Front are already wielding disproportionate influence on French politics. Observers say that although the party is still far behind in the polls, the National Front’s touch is being felt in everything from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s attack on Roma and other immigrants this summer to a decision earlier this month by a small-town mayor to refuse a group of refugee children the right to go to school. The far right has always had some influence in France, but a possible surge in popularity for the National Front is causing extra concern, since it comes at the same time as other extreme right parties improve their standing in Europe. This week, voters in Sweden – the European bastion of social democracy – elected members of an anti-immigrant party to their parliament for the first time. Far-right anti-immigrant parties have also made huge gains in the Netherlands, Norway, Italy and Hungary in recent months.

In France, the latest polls show that the National Front has been steadily gaining popularity and its leader would place third in a crowded roster of candidates to become the next president. Brice Tenturier, who heads the IPSOS polling company, says part of the resurgence is due to a general sense of insecurity in France after the global economic crisis and the euro crisis this spring. But he says Ms. Le Pen is also largely responsible. Her father made it to the second round in the 2002 presidential elections, but then quickly lost support for his blatantly xenophobic message. Ms. Le Pen, a twice-divorced Catholic, still advocates the party’s core values of French nationalism, Euro-skepticism and hard-core law and order. But she has softened the party’s image and drawn people back by insisting she’s not against foreigners, just illegal immigration, and focusing more on social issues. “Marine Le Pen has managed to build up a lot of credibility as a more moderate politician than her father and established herself as a regular commentator,” says Thomas Klau, of the European Centre for Foreign Relations. “It’s very clear that that is causing a lot of concern for Nicolas Sarkozy.”

With his approval ratings at a career low, his government embroiled in a series of conflict-of-interest scandals, and both the National Front and Socialist parties gaining strength, Mr. Sarkozy decided this summer to appeal to far-right sympathizers by rebuilding his image as a law and order politician. The country heard Mr. Sarkozy’s Sports Minister calling the largely immigrant French national soccer team “mafiosos” who had never escaped the mentality of the suburbs, the Interior Minister calling for elected criminal-court judges who would impose harsher sentences, and Mr. Sarkozy ordering the expulsion of Roma who were in the country illegally and proposing a new law that would strip foreigners of their citizenship for committing serious crimes. Some human-rights activists believe Mr. Sarkozy’s new far-right stand has even trickled down to a more grassroots level. As an example, they cite the tiny Parisian suburb of Saint Gratien where the mayor refused to let a group of refugee children attend nursery school and banned their older siblings from school canteens and after-class programs. The mayor, a member of Mr. Sarkozy’s UMP party, said she could not see why local residents should “pay for these children” and cited a more “general problem surrounding asylum seekers.”

Manuel Alvarez, local president of the Federation of Public Schools Parents Association, said the mayor’s actions were illegal and amount to “manifest discrimination” inspired by Mr. Sarkozy’s move to the right. “All summer our President promoted anti-immigrant policies,” he said. “What’s sure is that when you hear Mr. Sarkozy talk that way, it’s going to encourage others in the same sense.” Mr. Tenturier, the pollster, says Mr. Sarkozy’s new position is a gamble, since he risks losing even more support from his traditional base on the centre right. But with the ascent of far-right movements across Europe and in the United States, he has decided it’s worth the risk. “The success of the far right in Sweden, of the Tea Party movement in the United States, all show there is apparently a deep popular discontent and a readiness to vote for parties who draw their success on the protest vote,” Mr. Klau said. “Sarkozy and his advisers surely have that in mind.”

Globe and Mail

NEO-NAZI VULGARITIES INCREASE IN MAINSTREAM CZECH MEDIA (Commentary)

Gradually and stealthily, the rhetoric normally used by neo-Nazis is slowly starting to make its way into serious media in the Czech Republic. We have already grown used to seeing young Roma referred to on neo-Nazi websites as “litters of Gypsies”, blacks referred to as “niggers”, and to various slurs being made against Jewish and Vietnamese people. Today the Czech internet daily Deník.cz and its Havíøov edition, havirovsky.denik.cz, have crossed way over the line. An article on the problems of children hospitalized with jaundice in Havíøov has appeared under the truly eye-catching headline: “Havíøov infection unit full once again of Gypsy litter with jaundice” (“Havíøovská infekce je zase plná malých cikáòat se žloutenkou”). A similar headline ran over the same article on the nationwide Deník.cz server but was changed after about two hours to “Havíøov infection unit is full of Roma children again”. This is the culmination of a gradual vulgarization of Czech society as a whole. Serious political parties (e.g., the Czech Social Democrats) play the nationality card during elections while others (the Civic Democrats) say they want to create a concentration camp for homeless people outside of Prague. The Zemanite Party for Citizens’ Rights (SPOZ) is fighting against drug addicts instead of against drugs, and the Czech Interior Minister does not mind that one of his party’s candidate lists (Public Affairs) is led by an extremist former National Party member. As a result of this vulgarization, already last year four monstrous human beings set fire to a home with children in it (of course, for Havíøovský deník reporter Libor Bìèák, those children were a “Gypsy litter”). If the Havíøovský deník continues this rhetoric, expect to see the following shocking headlines in your paper: “Gooks arrested for growing marijuana”, “Four young men liberated after almost burning a little Gypsy to death”, “Nigger becomes President of the USA”, or “Czech Television presents fourth episode of a documentary series filmed by a litter of young Gypsies”.


Romea

GYPSY CIRCUS IS NEXT ON FRANCE'S EXPULSION LIST

After deporting many illegal Roma immigrants, Nicolas Sarkozy's government may force Europe's only Gypsy circus to close down

With its mesmerising songs and startling acrobatics, the Cirque Romanès is one of the most unusual cultural highlights of Paris: the only Gypsy circus in Europe and the only show in the French capital whose artists retreat to their caravans after the curtain falls. For 18 years it has been attracting audiences to its exotic blend of poetry and performance. In June it was deemed good enough to represent France at the World Expo in Shanghai. But after a summer which has seen France crack down on its foreign Roma population and draw the ire of Brussels for the policy, the future of the circus and its loyal band of artists hangs in the balance. The authorities have refused to validate work permits for the five Romanian musicians whose instruments are crucial to the performances. The French employment inspectorate insists that the cancellation of the permits has no connection with the wider political climate, which has seen around 1,000 Roma return to their home countries in nearly two months and around 200 unauthorised Roma camps cleared by police. They say there are problems with the circus's functioning, accuse its owner of underpaying the musicians and question the use of child performers.

Such claims are dismissed as "pure invention" by Alexandre Romanès, the circus's charismatic founder. "They're making up all these reasons. It's complete fantasy," he said, as he sipped coffee outside his caravan on the outskirts of Paris. Responding to the authorities' chief criticism – that of low pay – he added: "They get four times the minimum wage, and they are fed and housed. When I contacted a lawyer and told her what they [the authorities] were trying to claim, she just burst out laughing." Romanès, a published poet and friend of the late writer Jean Genet, is unequivocal about what he believes to be the real reasons for the sudden move, taken for the first time in the circus's two decades of existence. For him, it is just another sign of France's growing hostility towards his people. "As this woman from Luxembourg [EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding] said, we thought Europe was protected from this kind of thing, but clearly it isn't. What I have noticed is that, instead of waging war on poverty, the French government is waging war on the poor," he said.

In order to try to revoke the authorities' "unjust" decision, 59-year-old Romanès and his wife, Délia, have started an online petition. Urging the authorities to let the circus "employ those Romanian and Bulgarian artists with whom they want to work", the appeal has more than 7,000 signatories. A "night of support" on 4 October will aim to rally the troops. One of the most vocal Romanès fans is Reinhard von Nagel, a world-famous harpsichord maker and esteemed Maître d'Art appointed by the French culture ministry. There was no doubt, he said, of the political nature of the refusal of permits. "In France, as in other countries, there are laws for and against things, but they are not always applied. If you want to attack someone, you find a law and you apply it. That is what the authorities are doing in the case of Alexandre and Délia," he said, criticising the "zealousness" of the authorities implementing the "hunting down of the Roma". "It is a policy which I have no hesitation in declaring to be fascist. It bothers me deeply," said Von Nagel, a German who has lived in Paris for decades. At a meeting last weekend with Frédéric Mitterrand, the culture minister, he brought the Cirque Romanès to the minister's attention. "I told him that if the Cirque Romanès is shut, I don't know if I can stay in France," he said.

President Sarkozy's policy of paid "voluntary returns" for all those foreign Roma found to be living on French soil without permission has been denounced as unfair and unworkable by human rights activists, foreign politicians and even members of the president's own right-wing UMP party, one of whom – like Reding – enraged the government by comparing the evacuations across France with Vichy-era roundups of French Jews and Gypsies. For the Romanès family, who dislike the term Roma and prefer to be proud Gypsies, the situation is telling. Even though they are both French citizens – Alexandre since birth – they feel they are being stigmatised by a crackdown which is supposedly only a question of legality. This was not helped by the leak this month of an interior ministry memo that singled out Roma camps as the target for this summer's expulsions. "Even we, Gypsy artists who are legal citizens, are being attacked," said Délia, 40, a Romanian-born singer who fled her native Transylvania during the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. "I found it extraordinary that they sent us to represent France at Shanghai and that, when we came back, they weren't letting our musicians work. It's mad, really bad. They want to get rid of us. They just don't want to have to see us. But we are human beings too, you know?"

The Guardian

Former neo-Nazi to address US gay students

A former US neo-Nazi activist is to speak at an event hosted by the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer) committee of the State University of New York College (SUNY) at Cortland.

Tom "T.J." Leyden spent 15 years as a white supremacist and recruiter, campaigning against blacks, Latinos, Jews and gays before turning his back on the movement.

At one point, he had 30 tattoos of swastikas and other Nazi symbols covering his body and flew the Nazi swastika flag above the cot of his new born baby.

After leaving the racist movement, he worked for five years for the Simon Wiesenthal Centre teaching on the culture of hate and the importance in fighting back against it and has spoken at White House conferences on hate for both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

His talk next Tuesday, the 5th October is open to the general public at the SUNY Courtland campus

Pink News

Commission hits out at racist Roma statement by Bulgarian minister

The European Commission yesterday (27 September) described as "unacceptable" a statement by Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who said that the Roma community was an "incubator" for crime. Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner in Bulgaria, reports.

European Commission spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen answered with a short but resounding "no" when she was asked whether the statement by Bulgarian Minister Tsvetanov was acceptable.

The minister said in an interview with the '24 chasa' daily that a "very thorough analysis" of the Roma problem was needed because "this environment is an incubator for generating crime".

Tsvetanov gave the interview in the wake of a visit to Brussels, where he met yesterday among others Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Commissioner László Andor, with whom he reportedly discussed cooperation on integrating Roma.

The visit took place against the backdrop of controversy surrounding the expulsions of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma by the French authorities. In this controversy, Bulgaria sided with France and said Paris had the right to conduct the expulsions.

Asked by the Brussels correspondent of Bulgarian daily Trud to comment on the fact that he had stigmatised an ethnic community by calling it "an incubator for crime," Tsvetanov insisted he had made the statements in an internal context.

"You live in Brussels. You should go to villages near the big [Bulgarian] cities," he said, hinting that journalists were quick to criticise without understanding the true extent of the problem.

He went on to explain that analyses of criminality had shown that Roma were behind most of the petty crime to which in his words society was most sensitive.

"I only say what the reality is, as we need to call problems by their real names," Tsvetanov said.

The Bulgarian minister repeated statements made by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov at the last EU summit that money to integrate the Roma should be given to the state and not to NGOs.

"Over the last 20 years many NGOs received a lot of money but did nothing," Tsvetanov said.

The minister also insisted that his country should join the Schengen border-free area of the EU in March 2011.

Asked by EurActiv to comment on whether Bulgaria and Romania's accession to Schengen could be blocked due to opposition from EU members who point out that the countries are still subject to EU monitoring over deficiencies in their law-enforcement systems (see 'Background' and 'Romania, Bulgaria presidents push for Schengen accession'), the European Commission neglected to give a clear-cut answer.

Spokesperson Michele Cercone said that on one hand, Schengen accession was conditional on satisfying a series of specific technical parameters. But on the other hand, he added that the decision to take on board new members was political, as it was taken by member countries deciding unanimously.

Positions
Krassimir Kanev, President of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, an independent non-governmental organisation for the protection of human rights, called “racist” the statement by Tsvetan Tsvetanov in his interview for “24 chasa”.

“To stygmatise an entire Roma group that it is an incubator for crime is simply a racist statement, which is in no way compatible with the capacity of its author, a minister of the interior, meaning a minister for all Bulgarian citizens,” Kanev said.

“It is extremely unacceptable to say such a thing. It is the same as saying that the police is an incubator for crime. There are Roma who are authors of crimes, there are also policemen who are authors of crime,” Kanev said.

EuraActv

Young migrants make a case against racism (Ireland)

AN exhibition of suitcases detailing the poignant -- and at times disturbing -- experiences of young migrant schoolchildren went on display last night as part of a travelling anti-racism campaign.

'Suitcase Stories' is the brainchild of UNICEF director Melanie Verwoerd, who was inspired after seeing a similar exhibition in her native South Africa.

The exhibit features old suitcases filled with children's artwork, photographs and other personal items to symbolise the child's life as a migrant and their former home. The outer lid of the case represents their life here.

Many of the 14 children taking part came to Ireland with their parents as refugees or were born here. Others made their home in Ireland as immigrants.

But the touching depictions of the struggles in their lives both here and in their homelands have a recurring theme of homesickness and of being an outsider.

Andrej Pacher (16), who moved to Rathfarmham, Co Dublin, from his home in Bratislava, Slovakia, more than four years ago, filled his suitcase with imaginary letters he wrote to his grandmother, detailing the ups and downs of being a young migrant in Ireland.

Sadly, racial bullying by some of his primary school classmates was his introduction to Ireland.

"Dear granny," he wrote. "I miss you a lot. I won an award in the Young Scientist competition. Other boys in my class are starting to behave nicer to me but they make me feel different."

The promising science student said he was finally being accepted by some of his peers but admits it has been a struggle.

"I do feel homesick," he told the Irish Independent last night. "I feel I fit in much more now but every now and then I get the feeling I don't fit in."

The suitcase of Yasmin Dirir (13), from Ballyfermot, who was the first Irish-born Somali, tells a different story.

While she has never gone to her parents' homeland, her suitcase is filled with disturbing images of the war-torn African country.

But it also proudly displays the Somali flag and a painting she did of the mountains, giraffes and lions she hopes to see when she visits there next year. While she too is no stranger to racism, she has learnt to take it in her stride and is proud of her "Irish accent".

The project organised by UNICEF and Dublin City Council will remain on display at the council's Civic Offices in Wood Quay until October 8 before moving to Dublin's main libraries.

Irish Independant