Dutch government misses Senate majority, say exit polls (Netherlands)

The Dutch centre-right cabinet, backed by an anti-Islam party, is set to fall short of a majority in the Senate after regional polls, exit polls suggest.

They predict that the two government parties and Geert Wilders' Freedom Party would win 35 out of 75 seats.

This could derail the implementation of some of the key policy pledges of the cabinet led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, analysts warn.

Officials result of the regional polls are expected overnight.
MPs anger

Exit polls suggest that Mr Rutte's Liberal VVD party, the Christian Democrats (CDA) and Mr Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) will secure 35 seats in the Senate.

If confirmed, this is three short of the majority needed to pass laws through the veto-wielding upper house.

Analysts say the minority government is hoping to win support form some smaller parties, but even this may not be enough to muster a majority.

Mr Rutte's five-month-old cabinet has pledged to ban the full Islamic veil in the country, to impose curbs on immigration and also to implement budget cuts.

However, last year's coalition deal angered some CDA lawmakers who said they would not work with Mr Wilders.

Last year, he went on trial in Amsterdam on charges of inciting hatred with his film Fitna (Division).

The film juxtaposes the Muslim holy book, the Koran, with the 9/11 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people in the US were killed in 2001.

BBC News

Bulgarian Nationalists Launch Attack on Power Utilities

Bulgaria's far-right nationalist Ataka party asked Tuesday Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, to dismiss the head of the energy watchdog, Angel Semerdzhiev, over the looming hike in electric power prices.

The move comes in the aftermath of reports the three power utilities in the country – Czech CEZ, Austrian EVN, and German E.ON are requesting between 5% and 15% increase of prices after July 1, 2011.

Ataka leader, Volen Siderov, says Smerdzhiev, who is the Chair of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), must go if the price hike materializes and is adamant the contracts with the power utilities must be annulled and "electric power must become a Bulgarian matter."

The nationalists demand for DKEVR to keep the price at the current level.

Siderov further accused the right-wing Member of the Parliament, Rosen Yordanov, in conflict of interests, claiming CEZ has financed his election campaign and through him, the campaign of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) party.

UDF leader, Martin Dimitrov, retaliated by calling Siderov a liar, saying Yordanov is a mid-level employee of CEZ; the company had never funded his campaign and all document related to the campaign have been submitted with the National Audit Office.

Dimitrov also accused the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party of using Siderov as their "loudspeaker," when matters become unpleasant, and asked GERB to never again send their "servant" to them.

CEZ also reacted to the nationalist leader's attack by distributing a letter to the media, firmly denying any involvement in political activities and parties' financing.

Novinite

Skinhead leader believed slain in Citrus Heights home (USA)

A decade ago, the influence of white supremacist gangs in the Sacramento region was so prevalent that skinheads with swastika tattoos could walk into area restaurants without drawing a second glance.

Leaflets denouncing minorities routinely appeared on neighbourhood lawns, three area synagogues were set ablaze, and a Shasta County gay couple were murdered by a pair of racist brothers.

Law enforcement began calling 1999 the "Summer of Hate" and cracked down on the gangs until they seemed to disappear.

But they never really went away, and the mysterious slaying inside a Citrus Heights home before dawn Wednesday served as a reminder that the groups are still present.

The victim is believed to be 40-year-old David Lynch, one of the nation's best known hate-group leaders and a skilled organizer who aimed to unite disparate skinhead gangs as a force against minorities.

Citrus Heights police did not formally release the name of the man found with gunshot wounds to his head and torso inside a house in the 5900 block of Merlindale Drive.

But Lynch is listed as an owner of the home, and hate group monitors said they had confirmed he was the victim.

Police also did not release the identity of a man detained Wednesday afternoon as a "person of interest," but three law enforcement sources told The Bee the individual was an associate of Lynch from the world of hate groups who recently had been fired by Lynch.

Police went to the house after a 4 a.m. 911 call reported shots being fired. Officers found the man dead in a bedroom and a 33-year-old woman with a leg wound in the hallway. A law enforcement source said detectives believe the assailant may have entered the home through an unlocked door.

The woman, whose name was not released, was taken to Mercy San Juan Medical Centre and was expected to survive. Police said a teenage girl and another woman inside the house were unharmed.

Avoided confrontationsLynch had worked for years as an asbestos removal technician and had several daughters from different relationships, acquaintances said.

It was clear from the front of his home that he did not care for some outsiders. The front doormat read, "Come back with a warrant." And a sign taped to the front door warned, "Jehovah's Witnesses or any other Christian solicitors will be sacrificed and eaten if you knock on our door!!!"

Despite the warnings, neighbours described Lynch as quiet and reclusive.

"He avoided any kind of confrontation, period," said neighbour Brian Hegney, 43.

The most common complaint against Lynch seemed to be that his Dodge Ram truck had a loud muffler, which could be heard when he left around 7:30 a.m. and came home around 5 p.m.

A sticker on the truck's back wind shield on Wednesday paid tribute to "Joe Rowan: Fallen Hero." Rowan, killed in a 1994 shooting in Wisconsin, was lead singer of a Delaware skinhead band and a member of Hammerskin Nation, whose website says it is a "leaderless group of men and women who have adopted the White Power Skinhead lifestyle."

Neighbor Cori Llopis said Lynch would attend neighbourhood Fourth of July celebrations, but stayed near his backyard gate rather than talking with neighbours. "He's been nothing but nice, but we haven't had anything to do with him," Llopis said.

Another neighbour, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said Lynch was a skinhead who hung a Confederate flag from his roof last year on the Fourth of July. The family made a point of avoiding his home, the neighbour said.

Billy Roper, chairman of the Arkansas-based white supremacist group White Revolution, said he had known Lynch for a decade and that "he didn't go around trying to hurt people's feelings or use pejorative terms" toward minorities.

"It's a tragedy," Roper said. "I can tell you that I know how people view those of us who are white nationalists and they think that we're blind haters. David Lynch was one of the most friendly, kind, compassionate people you'd ever meet."

American Front founder

Experts on the shadowy world of white supremacists, racists and skinheads described Lynch as the founder of the hate group American Front and more recently a unifying force working to coalesce skinhead groups throughout the West.

"He really was a force in the skinhead world," said Brian Levin, director of the Centre for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "The fact that he's dead is a blow to the skinhead movement. He was one of the survivors. Instead of flaming out, he really grew a base and really marketed the skinheads."

Hatewatch, a blog of the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a nonprofit organization that campaigns against racism, described him as a "clever and charismatic racist skinhead organizer whose history of racist activism dates back to the late 1980s."

Sacramento Sheriff's Lt. Milo Fitch, who ran the gang unit from the mid-1990s until 2002, when hate groups in Sacramento were particularly active, said Lynch was a behind-the-scenes organizer who used his personality to attract recruits.

"He was very prominent in the white supremacist movement and continued to remain that way today," Fitch said. "He was originally from San Francisco and then ended up here after living in Florida for a while and bouncing across the country."

Fitch said Lynch had been an associate of two of the nation's most prominent hate-group leaders – William Pierce of the National Alliance in West Virginia and Tom Metzger of White Aryan Resistance in the San Diego area.

"He was a very charismatic guy," Fitch said, adding that he once ran into him as Lynch was having drinks. "I could see why people would be drawn to him – the people who are vulnerable, the kids they usually prey upon. He wasn't educated but very smart, articulate when you talked to him."

Levin, who has studied hate leaders for years, said Lynch most recently was involved in organizing skinhead protests in Southern California and that his longevity in such movements was a testament to his intelligence.

"He was part of the racist skinhead worlds, but even more than that he was someone who wanted to create a unified front to protect a nation, and particularly California, that he saw going down the tubes in large part due to demographic changes and the empowerment of minorities.

"He was a true believer. The movement really lacks charismatic leaders, and he was one of them."

Sacbee

South Africa's Trevor Manuel slams 'racist' Jimmy Manyi

One of South Africa's most powerful ministers, Trevor Manuel, has accused the government spokesman of "the worst order of racism" over remarks he made about mixed race people.

Mr Manuel made the comments in an open letter published in a local newspaper.

Spokesman Jimmy Manyi said in an interview last year - which resurfaced recently - there was an "over supply of coloureds" (mixed race people) in Western Cape Province.

Mr Manyi has not commented.

Mr Manuel, a minister in the presidency in charge of economic policy, is the first minister to comment on the row.

"I want to put it to you that these statements would make you a racist in the mould of HF Verwoed [former South African prime minister, dubbed the 'architect of apartheid]," he wrote in the letter published in The Star newspaper.

Mr Manuel is the most senior member of South Africa's coloured community in the government.

"I now know who Nelson Mandela was talking about when he said from the dock that he had fought against white domination and that he had fought against black domination - Jimmy, he was talking about fighting against people like you."

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says it is unusual for a minister to launch such a strong public attack on another government official.

Mr Manuel's letter has caused mixed reaction in South Africa, our correspondent says.

While the ANC's youth wing has criticised him for publicly reprimanding Mr Manyi, civil society has applauded the move.

The ANC-led government has come under pressure from white- and coloured-led opposition parties over the years, who have accused it of ignoring the needs of the mixed race community in favour of black people.

Some opposition politicians say Mr Manuel's rebuke may be intended to help the ANC win over the coloured vote ahead of local elections due in April.

Mr Manyi made the statements during a televised interview in March 2010, when he was director-general of the Labour Department.

The ruling Africa National Congress (ANC) has since distanced itself from Mr Manyi's remarks, saying they were "disturbing" and "unacceptable".

The government's communication department has issued an apology on behalf of Mr Manyi.

BBC News

FROM FINANCIER TO FLAG-BEARER FOR GERMANY'S FAR-RIGHT

Thilo Sarrazin's attacks on immigration have divided a nation. Tony Paterson watches an unlikely demagogue in action.

It was not the sort of reception normally laid on for an author whose book has sold well over one million copies: outside the community hall in Ehringshausen, a sprawling suburban town north of Frankfurt, an angry army of left-wing protesters was growing hoarse from screaming: "We don't want racist pigs!" Burly police struggled to keep them on the pavement. An elderly woman in a fluffy hat had covered herself with placards proclaiming: "Thank you foreigners for everything you have done to build up Germany!" But on the steps of the community hall, a crowd of grey-haired, middle-aged men queued to see the writer who has polarised the country by daring to write what many claim is "what everybody really thinks". The author was Thilo Sarrazin, the renowned 65-year-old former Bundesbank board member and Berlin city government finance minister who has shocked and nauseated parts of Germany's liberal establishment with his explosive, bestselling book about immigration entitled Deutschland schafft sich ab (Germany is doing away with itself).

Sarrazin's work is a long and divisive essay, based on questionable statistics, about what he considers to be the combined ill-effects of continued Muslim immigration and an accelerating decline in the birth rate of intelligent white Germans. His argument, boiled down, is that Muslim immigrants are chronic under-achievers who not only breed like rabbits but are more likely to be dependent on social security and involved in crime than ethnic Germans and other Europeans. "No other group is so intent on stressing its otherness, especially through clothing worn by women," Sarrazin says. "In no other religion is the transition to violence, dictatorship and terrorism so fluid." Sarrazin quotes and agrees with Enoch Powell, who in 1968 shocked Britain with his infamous "rivers of blood" speech predicting that the UK would be swamped with West Indian immigrants. In a similar vein, Sarrazin predicts the Germans will eventually be outnumbered by an underclass of Muslims. "I don't want the land of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to become predominantly Muslim, or to become a place where Turkish and Arabic are mostly spoken, or to be a country in which women wear headscarves and the daily rhythm is determined by the call of the muezzin," he writes. "Whole clans have a long tradition of incest and correspondingly many handicaps. "More children from cleverer people before it's too late." Towards the end of his 450-page book, Sarrazin presents readers with the grim spectre of a future Germany in which Muslims are in the majority and Cologne's mighty cathedral has to be handed over to the Islamic community for future use as a mosque.

Since it was published in August by Germany's respected DVA publishing house, Deutschland schafft sich ab has topped Der Spiegel magazine's national bestseller list. The book is now on its 16th edition. At the last count it had sold in excess of 1.3 million copies, making it one of the most widely read titles published in Germany since the Second World War. Sarrazin's views are credited with sparking a "long overdue" debate in Germany and elsewhere about immigration. They have helped to foster a climate in which Chancellor Angela Merkel has denounced attempts to build a multicultural society as a "complete failure". David Cameron chose Germany to make virtually the same statement in February. But the book has also found many critics, including the general secretary of Germany's Central Council of Jews. He suggested that Sarrazin should apply for a job as a spokesman on race issues for the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party. In Ehringshausen, the author was making one of his regular appearances at a public reading of his work. The event, which was sold out almost a month in advance, was organised by the youth wing of Ms Merkel's Christian Democratic party and billed as an "opportunity for people to discuss an explosive subject on the spot". The town's 600-seat community hall was packed. The audience almost exclusively consisted of white middle-aged or older Germans.

With his grey hair, moustache, tweed jacket and thick spectacles, Sarrazin looked like an elderly schoolmaster at a strict 1950s prep school. The protesters were his first target. "These are left-wing fascists, who don't read and know nothing," he announced to his audience, earning a burst of wild applause. Sarrazin then ran through his well-known theories which were peppered with observations: "Britain provides a good case study on Muslims. Immigration from the Indian sub-continent has shown that Hindus far outperform Muslim Pakistanis and Bangladeshis at school," he insisted. "The more religious the Muslims, the worse they are at school, at work and at integration." Department for Education figures show that Indian children outperform those from Pakistan or Bangladesh, and they are more likely to be Hindus. But Muslim children educated in Muslim schools outperform those taught in non-faith state schools, according to a study carried out in Bradford, debunking his theory that the more religious the Muslims, the worse they are at school. The author delighted in telling the crowd about a podium discussion at which a young headscarf-wearing Muslim woman asked him what she should do to integrate herself better into German society: "I told her: 'You must take off your headscarf !' It is legitimate for the German Volk to ask whether it wants to keep its identity."

Ms Merkel's young conservatives had hoped that Sarrazin's reading would spark a lively pro-and-con discussion between their guest and the audience. But the middle-aged crowd in the hall appeared to agree with everything the speaker had to say. Sarrazin was delivered soft-ball questions, such as: "What should we do to stop the rise of the Muslim population?" He replied: "Intelligent women must have more children." He did not mean intelligent Muslim women. One member of the audience won special applause after stating: "Let's be honest Mr Sarrazin, the whole debate about immigration is being conducted by naïve do-gooders and token immigrants. When are you going to start your own political party?" The author refused to take up the challenge and somewhat meekly replied that he believed the main parties faced their last chance to take up the issue themselves. Sven Ringsdorf, one of the young conservatives' leaders, said the event has shown that "Sarrazin has struck a chord with the audience". He said the young conservatives had wanted to provide a platform for Sarrazin and had not considered inviting a speaker who might take issue with his views. When Sarrazin's critics have tried to speak at his readings they were shouted down. In Ehringshausen, judging by the 137-metre queue for signed copies of Deutschland schafft sich ab, it seemed reasonable to assume that the same would have happened this time. Most of those in the queue interviewed by The Independent had a negative story to tell about their experience with Germany's 3.5 million Turks. Annette, a hairdresser in her 30s and one of the few younger women at the event, complained that Turkish mothers at her child's kindergarten refused to bring their offspring to children's parties and just stayed away without saying anything.

Siegfried, a pensioner in his 70s, said that Turks "hang around in knife gangs and threaten people". Pushing a wheelchair-bound relative down the street, he described how he was forced off the pavement by a group of young Turkish boys. "They are all the same," he said. When Deutschland schafft sich ab was first published there were fears that Sarrazin's views would lead to the sudden formation of a new and threatening far-right party. In the meantime, the book is viewed more or less as a safety valve which enables many ordinary Germans to see their prejudices reflected and not feel alone. If a survey conducted among 10,000 Sarrazin readers for Germany's Süd deutsche Zeitung newspaper is anything to go by, his fans are dyed-in-the-wool conservatives rather than raving neo-Nazis. An overwhelming majority was shown to be middle class and middle-aged or elderly men who valued "a harmonious private life" and "cleanliness in the home". Most of them subscribed to the following assertion: "I don't like changes in my life. I prefer to stick to my old habits." Some say that such findings make Sarrazin's book no less disturbing, as they suggest there is a grain of truth in the claim that he has written "what everybody thinks".


Profile – Thilo Sarrazin, 66, the son of a doctor, grew up in the West German town of Recklinghausen and studied economics at Bonn University. He has spent most of his working life as a civil servant. He served as a Berlin city government finance senator and as a Federal Bank board member. He is a member of the opposition Social Democratic Party. He is married to a teacher, with whom he has two children. His book, Germany Does Away With Itself, was published in 2010 and predicts that Germans will soon be outnumbered by an underclass of semi-criminal, welfare-dependent Muslims who breed like rabbits. The book provoked an outraged response from immigrant and Jewish community groups. But it has sold almost 1.3 million copies. 

 The Independant

FIRST FORMAL ROMA COURT OPENS IN ROMANIA

This is not a parallel justice system, it is simply part of our tradition," Dorin Cioaba, son of the self-proclaimed King of the Gypsies, said on Monday, when opening the first formal court (called Stabor in Romani language) for the minority group in Romania. "We are here to mediate different disputes among people of our community, so we will try not to judge them, but only to reconcile people," he told Balkan Insight. The unofficial courthouse is located in Sibiu, southern Transylvania, home to a large community of Roma. Dressed in long white and purple gowns, Cioaba, the court's president, and the seven members of a jury opened the first session with a hearing on a dispute between two Roma men who were wrangling over the ownership of a gold necklace that belonged to their mother. Dorin Cioaba, 41, is a graduate in law, while the members of the court's ruling committee are leaders (called bulibasa) of different Roma families.

After more than an hour of carefully listening to both parties' arguments, the jury decided to postpone the case until the end of next month. "Our main aim is to help people reconcile and to go to the official justice system only if there are no other solutions. That's why we are addressing cases of minor disputes among members of our community. Furthermore, we can offer legal advice for those in need," says Florin Cioaba. Among the cases he mentioned are commercial and civil law disputes, counseling for married couples in trouble or the violation of Roma traditions. Until now, the Stabor rulings have not been open to the public and have been held in various locations, including out in the open, often in the street. The mediation has been offered by informal leaders of the community, including elders. Romania is officially home to some 550,000 Roma, although it is widely believed that their real number is at least twice as high. Many people of Roma origin do not declare their ethnicity on account of the widespread prejudice they face in the Balkan country.

Balkan Insight

ROMA LEADER TO SUE 'FACEBOOK' PROTEST ORGANIZER OVER RACIST SLOGANS (Croatia)

The president of the Roma Football Association has said he would sue the organizer of the so-called "Facebook" protests for not curbing his follower's racist slogans. Tofko Dedic-Toti said that the organizer of the protest, Ivan Pernar, should have intervened when some of the protesters started yelling "Gypsies! Gypsies" in front of the government buildings, referring to the officials that they want deposed. "Roma are in continuous struggle against racism, discrimination, intolerance and poverty. Mr. Pernar is the organizer of the protest and he should have reacted" when people around him started using "gypsy" as a derogatory word to insult the officials, Dedic-Toti said. "For ten years I've been advocating equality, and I want to prove in human and tolerant way, that we are equal inhabitants." Dedic-Toti is demanding an apology from Pernar, the daily Jutarnji List writes. A series of anti-government protest has swept some towns in Croatia with, Zagreb at their center. The protests were first organized by Ivan Pernar over Facebook.

The Croatian Times