One-year-old child suffers racist abuse (UK)

Children as young as one have been the victims of racist abuse, new figures suggested today.
Police investigated 31 reports of hate crime targeted at youngsters aged under 11 in the Lothians last year, according to figures obtained by the Evening News under freedom of information.

Experts have said abuse or attacks at such a young age could cause psychological damage, while politicians have urged the Government to clamp down on racist thugs.

The reports detail one investigation into an incident in north Edinburgh, the worst area in the Lothians for hate crime against under 11s, where a 12-month-old child was listed as the victim.

Police also probed a race hate crime against a two-year-old in south Edinburgh, and a seven- year-old in the same area.

The figures also reveal that a ten-year-old child in Bathgate was targeted because the offenders thought the victim was homosexual.

Overall, hate crimes investigated in Lothian and Borders rose by 8.4 per cent from 1604 in 2008/09 to 1739 in 2009/10.

Labour's justice spokesman, Richard Baker MSP, said the rise was "deeply worrying".

He said that stricter sentences and robust policing in recent years may not have had the desired impact.

He said: "It's appalling that children have been subject to hate crimes and I'm sure this will be met with a huge amount of concern throughout the community.

"If it's adults committing these crimes against children, that is deeply worrying.

"They should be subject to the full force of the law and the courts should deal with them in an appropriately severe manner.

"However, if it is other children that are responsible for racist and homophobic crimes, that suggests deep-seated social problems that we need to deal with.

"We have to ask why these attacks have taken place. If it's other children we have to ask how they would come to be driven by race and homophobia.

He added: "The trends overall are also concerning. We have taken action in parliament in terms of introducing legislation and stiffer penalties on hate crimes, so if despite that we are seeing an increase, then we need to see an appropriate response from the relevant agencies."

A police spokesman said: "Lothian and Borders Police will not tolerate hate crime of any nature and will robustly deal with anyone found to be responsible."

Scotsman

BNP councillor quits party in protest over assualt row (UK)

 The Welsh wing of the far-right British National Party is said to be in turmoil after a Llandybie community councillor tore up his membership following the Guardian's coverage of an assault carried out by a party member.

According to Cllr Kevin Edwards, the Guardian's reporting of BNP member Roger Phillips' attack on Adam Margetts in Cross Hands on December 20 has set the party back years in Wales.

The Llandybie councillor says he resigned after a meeting of party organisers went back on a pledge from BNP leader Nick Griffin to have Mr Phillips dismissed from the party.

Mr Griffin had sent Cllr Edwards an email regarding Mr Phillips' actions, stating: "He's got to go. I'm shocked that this was not dealt with in South Wales ages ago."

However, Cllr Edwards claims that the party's refusal to oust "thuggish" Mr Phillips, has left him no choice but to cut all links with the BNP.

"My mobile number never stopped with calls from distraught ex and current members who were deeply disturbed over this incident that has set the BNP back years in west Wales," said Cllr Edwards, who will continue to stand as a "Justice 4 Linda Lewis Campaign" councillor at Llandybie. Last year fellow Llandybie community councillor Meirion Bowen also resigned from the BNP.

Following his resignation, Cllr Edwards' blog was inundated with messages of support from party members.

"This is a very serious and major setback for the profile of the BNP in Wales," said one anonymous poster.

South Wales Guardian

'NaziLeaks' and the NPD: NPD STRUGGLING TO MOBILIZE SUPPORTERS

While the NPD in Saxony-Anhalt have their heads in the clouds, their colleagues in Baden-Württemberg are having a hard time mustering enough people on the ground. The NPD in the state is suffering from mobilization problems: The far-right party has to collect 150 valid signatures in each election district in order to be allowed to field their own candidates in the state parliamentary election on March 27. In December, Janus Nowak, a local party official from the town of Böblingen, wrote an e-mail with "ALARM" in its subject line. In the e-mail, he reported that, despite months of trying, party members were "apparently incapable" of even "getting merely a single signature per day." In order to increase the yield, the NPD official provided the would-be signature-gatherers with detailed suggestions on how they "could address people on the street and be successful." For example, he suggested that every pitch should begin with the words: "Hello, I'm not trying to sell anything. No vacuum cleaners or washing machines or anything." Once they had gotten that far, campaign workers were instructed to make sure "to look people in the eye," rather than looking at their clipboards, and to avoid saying anything too "complicated." The most important piece of advice regarded what came last: "Say 'Thank you' and don't talk too much." The idea of deploying professional signature collectors, such as an "NPD organizational wizard" from the town of Völklingen, was even considered. But the man in question appeared to lack selfless dedication to the party. Instead, as Nowak complained in an e-mail, he asked for "€1,000 a week" in addition to "meals + additional helpers + information kiosks + accommodation." Nowak also declined to comment on the e-mail exchanges.

'Capitalist' Scheme
Rudolf Schützinger, a member of the NPD's executive committee in Baden-Württemberg, also gave some thought to how to increase the number of signatures being collected. He suggested paying €1 to "each collector who turns in an acceptable, unauthenticated signature" and €2 for every authenticated signature. Schützinger also had another idea up his sleeve: attracting campaign donors with a sort of "profit-sharing" scheme. He suggested that, if the party succeeded in winning more than 1 percent of the vote, donors would get their "entire donation back within a set time frame + 30 percent." But, if the NPD could "not master" the 1 percent hurdle, donors would get back half of their contribution, while still being able to write the donation off against their taxes. In doing so, they would "have a loss of only 25%." According to Schützinger, this scenario offered the advantage that the party would not have to assume any "financial risk," while at the same time motivating "the gamblers among our sympathizers" to make donations. In an e-mail, the NPD official admitted that the scheme had "a capitalist aftertaste" and noted that it would need "legal validation" as far as party finance laws were concerned. In the end, the idea was apparently rejected. Schützinger also chose not to respond to SPIEGEL's inquiries.

Threat of Legal Action
NPD spokesman Klaus Beier has threatened legal action in response to the publication of the emails. According to Beier, the "e-mail traffic between both party officials and party members, which used encryption technology (was) copied in breach of (Germany's) communication secrecy law" and that "the texts, whose content was probably manipulated" were "provided to the compliant journalists." On Saturday, the news agency DPA reported that the NPD had filed a criminal complaint over the publication of the e-mails. In any case, Beier refused to say anything about who was behind the data leak or how it came about. He did say, however, that one had to assume that "the system has far-reaching means at its disposal for reading all of the NPD's e-mail communication." Beier's remarks are reminiscent of the stance that the party took back in 2008, when SPIEGEL published an earlier collection of internal NPD e-mails.

Spiegel

Billboards used to fight hate crime (Northern Ireland, UK)

Massive billboard posters are being unveiled in Northern Ireland to help fight hate crime.

More than 2,100 offences were committed against minority groups last year but authorities believe more than twice as many have gone unreported.

A series of 14 billboard posters and a mobile advertising unit will appear in Belfast and around Northern Ireland over the next fortnight urging people to report hate crime.

Eva Grosman, Unite Against Hate project manager, said: "Northern Ireland is not unique to suffer from these crimes. But they are deeply damaging not just to the victims and their families and friends, but also to the international reputation of the country as a place in which to visit and to invest.

"We all have a role to play in stamping out hate crime by reporting any incidents right away."

Celebrity backers of the campaign include boxing champion Paddy Barnes, model Gemma Garret and TV presenter Katie Larmour.

Justice Minister David Ford said: "The criminal justice system has come a long way in its understanding and handling of hate crime in recent years but more must be done. We need to improve our support to victims and bring those responsible for such crimes before the courts."

Evelyn Collins, chief executive of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, said hate crime was a serious form of discrimination.

"In recent years we have seen a rise in negative attitudes towards people with disabilities and those from different racial background and sexual orientations and we are all challenged to raise awareness of the importance of equality and respect for everyone in our community," she added.

The mobile billboard unit will visit six local councils, sporting events and other crowd-gathering locations.

Belfast Telegraph