Vandals wreck Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Facebook page on holiday (USA)

An online fan page for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was vandalized with racist images and messages on Monday's national holiday.

The Facebook page for the legendary civil rights leader contained photos that used the N-word and depicted African Americans as slaves and monkeys.

"Sadly, hate groups have never gone away, and the Internet gives them another way to spread venom," said Steve Klein, the spokesman for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, which owns the page.

Klein said the defacing of the fan page was not the first online racial incident to come to the attention of the King Center.

"This happens a lot, but I don't think those hateful words or pictures represent a large group of people in the United States," Klein said.

"I just wish more people spent Monday remembering Dr. King's dream, not spreading online hate."

The racist imagery sent shock waves through the online community. "These devils won't even let the poor man rest in peace in death,"read one post yesterday.

It isn't known who vandalized the page.

NY Daily

Le Pen leaves party leadership with anti-Semitic slur (France)

Jean-Marie Le Pen, exiting leader of France’s far-right National Front party, made a public anti-Semitic slur while handing over the party leadership to his daughter.

Le Pen suggested in a weekend farewell speech that Jews cry wolf, unduly claiming to be victims of anti-Semitism, during his comments on the case of a Jewish French journalist who filed an official complaint against the National Front last weekend.

Mickael Szames, a journalist for the French media station France 24, said over the weekend that he was violently pushed out of a private National Front gala and injured by a group of security guards, reportedly because he was Jewish. He filed an official complaint over the attack.

In response, Le Pen, 82, jokingly told journalists that “the person in question thought he could say that he was kicked out because he is Jewish. It didn’t show, either on his (press) card, or on his nose, if I dare say.”

The National Front denied that Szames was beaten and said it would file a complaint against him for slander.

Le Pen's comments in the incident come as no surprise. In his farewell speech Saturday, Le Pen said he had no regrets for calling the Holocaust a “detail” in the history of World War II, nor for other comments that repeatedly cost him fines in court and a reputation as France’s leading political xenophobe.

France’s largest Jewish umbrella group, the CRIF, said in a statement Monday in response to Le Pen’s outburst that “we understand that Jean-Marie Le Pen feels the need to show that he still exists to a small extent, and that he is not foregoing any of his obsessions.”

The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants also said in a statement issued Monday that Holocaust survivors “are shocked but not surprised that Le Pen would once again revert to foul and offensive Jew-baiting in remarks at the close of his notorious political career."

"Until it distances itself from such comments, the National Front party will live in the shadow of these words of hate," the statement said.

New party president Marine Le Pen, 42, refrains from the kind of advertised disdain her father showed for the role of the Jewish community in French society. But like her father, she has taken a firm stance against the spread of Islam in France.

The newly elected leader of the National Front recently compared Muslim prayers in the streets around certain Parisian neighborhoods to the Nazi occupation. She was overwhelmingly elected president of the party over the weekend and is expected to modernize the group into a more powerful political force.


JTA

SHARP FALL IN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS TO CANARY ISLANDS (Spain)

The number of illegal immigrants arriving in the Canary Islands, considered a gateway to Europe from Africa, fell sharply in 2010 to the lowest level since 1997, the Spanish Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. Authorities in the Spanish archipelago recorded the arrival of 196 migrants in 2010, compared to 2,246 in 2009 and 31,678 in 1996. Overall, the numbers embarking on Spanish soil had roughly halved with 3,632 people registered in 2010 against 7,285 the year before. Spanish officials fear many of the thousands of Africans who attempt the perilous journey by boat to Spanish soil die each year of thirst, hunger or exposure. The mass arrival of boats carrying migrants, however, has become rarer in recent years due to the economic downturn in Spain and repatriation agreements Madrid signed with the African countries that were a major source of migrants. The country has also worked with other European nations to boost maritime surveillance.

Expatica

'UKIP poised for success as radical right party' (UK)

 In the recent Oldham by-election, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) confirmed its status as the fourth largest party in British politics, ahead of the British National Party (BNP). Now, with the local elections looming, experts are warning that UKIP looks set to become a successful radical right party, similar to those seen in countries like Austria, France and Italy, and a 'significant vehicle' for Islamophobia.

"Our research shows that Euroscepticism is not the whole story where UKIP is concerned," say two of its authors — Dr Robert Ford and Dr Matthew Goodwin — experts on voting behaviour at the Universities of Manchester and Nottingham.

"There's no doubt the party's position on Europe is a big factor, but their supporters are increasingly concerned with attitudes more typically associated with the British National Party (BNP). Like far right voters, those who vote UKIP are dissatisfied with the mainstream parties and hostile toward immigration."

The research is the first of its kind to analyse and understand the attitudes and motives of UKIP supporters. At the 2010 general election, UKIP called for an immediate halt on immigration, the ending of multicultural policies and a ban on the niqab and burqa in certain buildings. Its leader, Nigel Farage, has since given a "cautious welcome" to emulation of his party by the French National Front (FN), one of the most successful radical right parties in Europe.

"Our analysis shows while UKIP does mop up 'defectors' from the Tories - upper and middle class voters who largely follow UKIP to lodge their feelings on Europe at European Parliament elections - its appeal in domestic elections is rather different", says Robert Ford, the lead author.

"In domestic elections like Oldham East, UKIP tends to do best amongst disaffected working class voters, who find UKIP's populist attacks on immigrants, Muslims and the political establishment attractive. UKIP appeals to the same kind of voters as the BNP, but may be able to recruit a broader and more sustainable vote base, with UKIP voters outnumbering BNP voters three to one. While many voters who agree with the BNP's political messages, they are turned off by its violent and fascist reputation. UKIP suffers no such legitimacy problems. It is in a position to not only recruit a much broader base of BNP support, but a much more sustainable base."

The research also shows that due, in part, to its more moderate reputation, UKIP has succeeded in securing the votes of important groups like women, who have traditionally rejected the BNP due to its perceived extremism.

"Until now, getting to grips with UKIP has been extremely difficult due to an absence of any real systematic research," Dr Goodwin adds. "This is why the party remains something of a puzzle to many."

The paper; Strategic Eurosceptics and Polite Xenophobes: support for the UK Independence Party in the 2009 European Parliament Elections, looks at data gathered from the YouGov online panel in the week prior to the European Parliament Election, and is also authored by Dr David Cutts at the University of Manchester.

Amongst other methods, the researchers compared the views of more than 4,306 UKIP in a group of 34,000 randomly interviewed in the 2001 census. It builds on their previous pioneering studies of BNP voters.

"Ultimately" adds Dr Goodwin,"our research backs up assertions that UKIP, unlike the BNP, are thought of as a legitimate force in British politics, with access to mainstream media and political elites. Voters who shun the BNP are willing to listen to the same messages when they come from UKIP. UKIP may therefore function as a "polite alternative" for voters worried about immigration and Islam, but repelled by the BNP's public image."

Provided by University of Nottingham

Physorg 

GAY COUPLE WINS DISCRIMINATION CASE AGAINST CHRISTIAN HOTELIERS (uk)

Court awards compensation of £1,800 each to gay couple refused a double room at Chymorvah private hotel

Devout Christian hotel owners who refused to allow a gay couple to share a double room acted unlawfully, a judge at Bristol county court ruled today. Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy, who are civil partners, won their landmark claim for discrimination in a case funded and supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The ruling, one of the first made under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, is likely to provide those in partnerships with greater protection from discrimination. The owners of the Chymorvah private hotel in Cornwall, Peter and Hazel Bull, do not allow couples who are not married to share double rooms because they do not believe in sex before marriage.

The Bulls asserted that their refusal to accommodate civil partners in a double room was not to do with sexual orientation but "everything to do with sex". The restriction, the owners said, applied equally to heterosexual couples who are not married. In his ruling, Judge Andrew Rutherford said the hotel had directly discriminated against the couple on the grounds of their sexual orientation and awarded them compensation of £1,800 each. The judge said the right of the defendants to manifest their religion is not absolute and "can be limited to protect the rights and freedoms of the claimants". He described the sexual orientation regulations as a "necessary and proportionate intervention by the state to protect the rights of others".

John Wadham, the legal director of the EHRC, said: "The right of an individual to practise their religion and live out their beliefs is one of the most fundamental rights a person can have, but so is the right not to be turned away by a hotel just because you are gay. "The law works both ways. Hotel owners would similarly not be able to turn away people whose religious beliefs they disagreed with. "When Mr and Mrs Bull chose to open their home as a hotel, their private home became a commercial enterprise. This decision means that community standards, not private ones, must be upheld."

Preddy and Hall said they were pleased with the outcome of the case: "When we booked this hotel we just wanted to do something that thousands of other couples do every weekend – take a relaxing weekend break away. "We checked that the hotel would allow us to bring our dog, but it didn't even cross our minds that in 2008 we would have to check whether we would be welcome ourselves. "We're really pleased that the judge has confirmed what we already know – that in these circumstances our civil partnership has the same status in law as a marriage between a man and a woman, and that regardless of each person's religious beliefs, no one is above the law."

The Guardian

SWEDISH LESBIAN PASTOR DENIED JOB FOR BEING 'ONE OF THOSE'

The 39-year-old pastor was applying for a temporary position with the diocese in Strängnäs to fill an extended vacancy, which had for the time being been filled by retired pastor in his seventies. While at first responding with enthusiasm upon receiving an application from the woman in June, the vicar subsequently told a fellow diocese employee that he knew the applicant was "one of those." When the employee asked if the vicar was referring to the applicant pastor's sexual orientation, he added that he had promised the diocese leadership that none of "them" would be allowed to join the diocese. He went on to express concerns about having a lesbian pastor and her girlfriend living on parish grounds and about having her instruct confirmation classes. In early August, the pastor emailed another staff member at the diocese to inquire about the status of her application, but received a response that the person was on vacation. In the message, she questioned why the parish would choose to have a retired pastor over a younger unemployed pastor. Shortly thereafter, the vicar emailed the 39-year-old to say that her services were no longer required by the diocese and that the elderly pastor would continue in the position.

Two weeks after receiving the vicar's rejection, the lesbian pastor received a response from the staff member she had originally emailed which referred to the parish's preference for older pastors as a latent form of discrimination. At the time, the applicant pastor assumed the email referred to age discrimination. In September, however, she learned about the vicar's previous statements about her sexual orientation and realised that she had been passed over for the job because she was a lesbian. "This is an important case because it involves exactly the kind of thing that we don't think should be allowed to happen," Vida Paridad, a lawyer with the Örebro Rättighetscenter, an anti-discrimination organisation which helped the pastor with her case, told The Local. "Namely, that someone be denied a job, not because they lack the right skills or competence, but because of their sexual orientation," she explained. According to Paridad, her organisation generally attempts to get the parties involved in discrimination cases to sit down to discuss the matter in order to reach a common understanding.

After the vicar refused repeated attempts for a meeting to discuss the matter, the rights group in turned filed a complaint on her behalf with Sweden's Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen – DO) on behalf of the pastor. While proving workplace discrimination is always hard, Paridad was confident about the lesbian pastor’s case. "It's seldom that you have an independent witness who can testify that discrimination has taken place. But, in this case we have someone who has come forward and that makes this a very strong case," she said. When reached for comment by the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper, the vicar, who now works as a pastor in another parish, refused to comment.

The Local Sweden

Athens far-right city councillor gives Nazi salute at municipal meeting (Greece)

Athens' new Socialist mayor is criticizing a far-right city councillor for giving a Nazi salute during a council meeting.

Mayor Giorgos Kaminis on Tuesday condemned the gesture, which was made at a meeting at Athens City Hall and shown on Greek television and posted on the Internet.

Nikolaos Michaloliakos, leader of the far-right group Chrysi Avgi, which has been linked to violent attacks against immigrants in Athens, was seen giving the salute Monday during a heated exchange with a left-wing city councillor.

The group staged a violent anti-immigrant demonstration over the weekend.

Kaminis and the new city council were voted in on November 7-14 local elections and sworn in on Dec. 29.

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