FAR-RIGHT PARTY ELECTION LEADERS CHARGED FOR THEIR SPEECHES (Czech Rep.)

A Czech state attorney has charged four election leaders of the far-right Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS), including Tomas Vandas, for their public statements made at a May Day rally in Brno in 2009, the DSSS told CTK Monday. Vandas was the chairman of the Workers' Party (DS) that was dissolved by a court verdict in February. The court concluded that the party spreads fears of foreigners and creates feelings of danger and its programme contains xenophobia, chauvinism and homophobia and has a racist subtext. When the DS lost the court dispute it announced that it will run in the May elections under the name Workers' Party of Social Justice, an allied and previously dormant entity. "It is sad and tragic that representatives of an opposition political party must be tried in court for their public addresses," Vandas said in reaction. Apart from Vandas, DS deputy chairmen Jiri Stepanek and Petr Kotab, and Martin Zbela, the editor-in-chief of a paper issued by the party, were convicted. The far-right leaders were charged with instigation to hatred towards a group of persons, limiting their rights and freedoms and promotion of neo-Nazism. They face up to five years in prison, if found guilty. On May Day 2009, Vandas allegedly warned against immigrants, Stepanek and Kotab criticised drug crimes of the Vietnamese community and the work of then human rights and minorities minister Michael Kocab, and Zbela condemned alleged political trials in the country, the DSSS said in a written statement.

Prague Monitor

Keep racism out of the election (UK)

As members of the Black Asian Jewish Forum, we hope that politicians have taken on board your report (Immigration is not fuel for BNP support – study, 19 April) on the findings of the Institute for Public Policy Research that immigration does not fuel BNP support, as the perpetuation of myths and misconceptions about immigration and race issues can be toxic. But they should do more.

In past election campaigns, attempts have been made to reach agreement among the competing parties to avoid racist language. The need is even greater this time. Racist organisations seek to exploit people's insecurities at a time of financial crisis and global recession. Some sections of the media are unrestrained in their anti-immigrant and anti-asylum-seeker rhetoric and are drifting towards the normalisation of racist discourse. Islamophobia and antisemitism have also intensified. These are developments which should have no place in our society.

Inciting racial hatred was made a criminal offence in 1965, but the law is a blunt means of curbing the insidious demonisation of our ethnic and religious minorities. Those who would like to promote racist policies towards asylum seekers, for example, have learned to disguise their views in emollient and euphemistic words. Their growing influence has driven increasing numbers of people into the arms of extremist organisations.

This election will be hard fought and the temptation will be great to make concessions to placate supposed racist voters. The three main political parties all oppose racism, but that is not enough. Before it is too late they should declare publicly that racism has no place in our politics in any shape or form, the demonisation of black and minority ethnic communities, immigrants and asylum seekers will not be tolerated, and tackling racial inequality is a key priority for any government.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Rob Berkeley Director, Runnymede Trust

Sir Geoffrey Bindman

Lincoln Crawford

Dr Edie Friedman Director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality

Dr. Mohamed Hamdi

June Jacobs

Professor Francesca Klug

Rashid Laher

Patrice Lawrence

Antony Lerman

Tanuka Loha

Momotaz Rahim Housing & communities advisory officer

Dr. Imam Sajid Brighton Islamic Mission

Dr. Richard Stone

Simon Woolley Director, Operation Black Vote

• The IPPR highlights political and economic exclusion, including low skill levels, poor cohesion and low voter turnout as key risk factors in leading to the rise of the far right. Newham is the most diverse local authority in Europe and has long been an area of high migration. Despite this, 86% of our residents say that people from different backgrounds get along well. The key is building cohesion by delivering fair services. For example, housing allocation in Newham is strictly on a "first come, first served" basis. Responding to communities' concerns and managing the impacts of migration is critical – but we must not become fixated on immigration as an issue. We must focus on strengthening our communities, building their resilience and combating exclusion.

Joe Duckworth
Chief executive, Newham council

The Guardian

L.I. teen Jeffrey Conroy convicted of manslaughter in hate crime that left Ecuadorean immigrant dead (USA)

A Long Island teen was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime Monday in the stabbing death of an Ecuadoran immigrant - a case that exposed a growing bias against Hispanics in Suffolk County.

Jeffrey Conroy, a 19-year-old high school athlete at Patchogue-Medford High School faces eight to 25 years in prison for killing

Marcelo Lucero in November 2008.

"We believe it's a fair verdict based upon the evidence," said District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Conroy was one of seven teens implicated in Lucero's death. Four other defendants have pleaded guilty to hate crime-related charges and two are still awaiting trial.

Prosecutors hit Conroy with the most serious charges because they said he was the one who inflicted the fatal wound to the chest.

Conroy just shook his head when the verdict was announced in the packed courtroom. His brother and sister left the courthouse in tears.

Lucero's brother Joselo told The Associated Press, "The hunting season is over, at least for now."

Lucero, 37, was walking with a friend near the Patchogue train station around midnight when they were confronted by the seven teens. Prosecutors said they were looking for targets, and alluded to "beaner-hopping" or "Mexican hopping" in the stabbing.
The case, which was followed closely by the Ecuadoran media, shined a painful light on the growing number of hate crimes in Long Island, where the Latino population has doubled to 13% since 1990.

"What concerns us in the United States are crimes of hatred and xenophobia, obviously linked to racism," Ecuador's ambassador in Washington, Luis Gallegos, told The Associated Press. "And we believe that in the trial of Mr. Lucero, there must be a sentence of the greatest severity so that this kind of crime is not repeated."

Conroy is scheduled to be sentenced on May 26.
nydailynews

SOME 2,000 YOUTHS TO MARCH IN MOSCOW DURING 'ISLAM AGAINST TERROR' (Russia)

Some 2,000 young people of different faiths and confessions will take to Moscow streets on April 20 to hold an "Islam against Terror" march, the pro-Kremlin Nashi political movement said in a statement on Monday. The event was initiated by the Moscow Muslim youth who were extremely shocked by the two recent terrorist attacks in the Moscow subway. Twin blasts at the Lubyanka and Park Kultury subway stations occurred on March 29, killing 40 people and injuring around 100. On March 31, two bombs rocked the town of Kizlyar in Russia's North Caucasus region of Dagestan, claiming 12 lives. "Muslims are very concerned about the possible emergence of xenophobic attitudes in society because of terrorists, criminals who kill people; a stain has been made on the entire Muslim world behind which they hide while committing illicit acts," the statement said. The rally is aimed to prove that terrorism has no religion or nationality, to refute stereotypes that arise around Islam in modern society, and to call for world confessions to unite in the fight against terrorism. The march will be held along the Taras Shevchenko Embankment in Moscow. Russia's anti-terrorist chief said earlier this month the people behind the Moscow metro blasts and another attack in the Dagestani town of Kizlyar were identified. Alexander Bortnikov, who is the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), also said that 26 terrorists, including those involved in the deadly attack on a high-speed Moscow-St. Petersburg train in late 2009, had been eliminated and another 14 arrested giving no further details. The suicide bombers who set off the bombs in the Moscow subway have been identified as Dzhanet Abdurakhmanova (Abdulayeva), born in 1992, and Mariam Sharipova, a 28-year-old school teacher from the Russian North Caucasian republic of Dagestan.


en.rian

HUNGARIANS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM

Tens of thousands of Hungarians, mostly Jews, marched against anti-Semitism in a torchlight procession on the banks of the Danube River. State, civic and religious dignitaries, as well as diplomats, academics and artists, were among those who participated in the rally Sunday night. The March of Life, which took place at the scene of the murder of thousands of Holocaust victims by the Fascist Arrow-Cross in the winter of 1944-45, was the largest among several commemorative events taking place over the weekend to mark the 66th anniversary of the incarceration of Hungarian Jews in ghettos. The process launched the final and deadliest phase of the Final Solution involving the deportation and murder of more than a half-million Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz and elsewhere. Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai in a message to the marchers Sunday declared that “Fascist paramilitary organizations will never again be allowed to march on the streets of Hungary.” Bajnai was referring to the nascent Hungarian Guard, a banned paramilitary organization modeled on the notorious Arrow-Cross and sponsored by Jobbik, an extreme nationalist party that made major gains earlier this month in parliamentary elections. The weekend rallies at the sites of various Holocaust atrocities drew unusually large crowds. Speakers called for national unity to confront the current rise of anti-Semitic agitation.


JTA News

WHAT'S BEHIND HUNGARY'S FAR-RIGHT JOBBIK

Last week, Europeans woke up to the sinister news that in the heart of Europe a thoroughly far-right party, the Movement for a Better Hungary, or Jobbik, had won 17 percent of the vote in general elections, almost beating the governing Socialists into third place. Most European nations have their share of far-right fringe groups. But Jobbik is openly anti-Semitic and anti-gypsy. It is the founder of a rapidly growing, jackbooted and black-uniformed paramilitary, the Magyar Garda, and it is allied to pariahs such as the British National Party and France's Front National in the EU Parliament. How could such an out-and-out fascist outfit climb so vertiginously high up the greasy pole of politics in the modern era? It is the clearest sign yet that the economic crisis has woken Europe's most frightening demons. Or so runs the media narrative. Long-time watchers of the far-right in Europe describe this version of the story as "lazy." Certainly, the crash, which hit Hungary harder than many European nations – it was the first EU member state to run to the IMF – played a role in last week's vote, but the tale is, they say, longer and more complicated. "The frustration I have with the sudden burst of media coverage is that for most of the time, the far-right phenomenon is not treated seriously," complains Graeme Atkinson, the European editor of the UK's anti-fascist monthly, Searchlight. "They're treated as cranks, so papers don't write about them, don't notice them. And then suddenly something like this happens and they think the sky is falling." "I don't go for either picture. It's not that the crisis has suddenly caused this. This is a phenomenon that goes back much further than the last two years...Of course it exacerbates the situation – it would be surprising if the crisis did not result in some increased support for the far-right. But it's a long-term phenomenon that needs monitoring and countering. It's no reason to panic and then forget about it once the next big news item happens."

Mr Atkinson actually lays the bulk of the blame on the centre-left establishment in Europe: "Social democrats everywhere have abandoned their traditional constituency. This is the vacuum the far right are filling." As socialist and labour parties have, pace Tony Blair, embraced business, backed privatisation and instituted social spending cuts, he argues, extremist ideas provide an easy answer to the thousands that feel disoriented by the slings and arrows of the free market. The Perspective Institute, a Budapest polling firm, demographically backs this analysis, noting already in an analysis after last year's European elections in which the party scored 14.8 percent that left-wing voters were en masse turning toward Jobbik: "The Hungarian extreme right doesn't primarily recruit its supporters from the centre-right but instead from the leftist camp disappointed with the governmental performance of MSZP [the Socialists]. Jobbik, in certain cases, succeeded in doubling its nationwide share of the votes in cities that had been Socialist strongholds."

Support for far-right ideas doubles in ten years
Hungarian liberal think-tank Political Capital meanwhile has been measuring support for far-right ideas across Europe for a number of years. According to its latest Demand for Right-Wing Extremism (Derex) index, which gauges people's predisposition to far-right politics in 32 European countries, 21 percent of Hungarians are open to extreme right-wing ideas, the highest percentage of any European country other than Bulgaria, where 24.6 percent of the population is so predisposed. Just seven years ago in 2003, only 10 percent of Hungarians had such a propensity, according to the think-tank's surveys. Poland at the same time also had a score of 10 percent. This has since fallen to 6.5 percent. "But here it's doubled. The extreme right has profited from a massive growth in disaffection from the political elite. This feeling is not just anti-establishment. They oppose the entire system. They want to get rid of the whole thing," Political Capital analyst Alex Kuli says. Jobbik's growth was unremarkable until the last four years, when it began its meteoric ascent. The key event was in autumn 2006, when street protests in which the party played a key role rampaged through Budapest following the leak of an audiotape revealing that the then Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany had lied in order to win elections. But why such a response? There have been political scandals elsewhere. "There was the expenses scandal in the UK, sure, but what happened?" asks Mr Kuli. "People are investigated by the police, they resign, expelled from the party. They are humiliated. In Hungary, there is a feeling that there is no recourse to the law. People are caught stealing from the public purse and not a single thing is done against them."

Radical youth
One of the most disturbing aspects of the Jobbik phenomenon is how young and educated many of its supporters are. Far-right supporters elsewhere are thought of as the rural uneducated or, in the urban context, to use an old term, 'lumpenproletarian'. But in Hungary so many of them are the Bright Young Things. They believe they are the radical ones, with a burning fire of injustice as self-righteous as any anti-G8 militant from Genoa to Gothenburg to Gleneagles. Hungarian pollster Forsense noted that Jobbik and the country's small Green party, the LMP, together won 24 percent of all votes in the election, but a full 40 percent of votes cast by those under age 24. Almost half of the voters for the two parties are under 35 years of age and only 10 percent of them are over 55. The 2006 events radicalised Hungarian youth. But rather than looking to the left, as disaffected youth have ever done in the West, and once again over the past decade, from the Seattle anti-WTO demonstrations to anti-Iraq war protests in Barcelona, Paris and London and beyond, in Hungary, those who described themselves as left, in the form of the corrupt Socialist party of wealthy businessman Ferenc Gyurcsany, were the ones they were demonstrating against. "There's no attraction for angry young people to join something to the left of the [Socialists] because this politic is completely discredited after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, so you just don't get this," Mr Kuli says. Zsolt Varkonyi, the group's presidential campaign chief readying himself for the party's run in the upcoming June presidential elections, at 54 years old is one of the more senior members: "There is a big age-gap between me and them. Most of them could be my sons and daughters." Jobbik's national spokeswoman Dora Duro, for example, he says, is just 22. "They get out of school, university and they find themselves without a job. Everyone, even doctors, economists – there has been a huge wave of young people joining the party," he says.
Adam Schonburger, an anti-Jobbik campaigner and an organiser with the Budapest Jewish Youth Organisation, has tried to focus his activities on educating young people about Jewish and Gypsy culture, organising an annual festival in the hope they will learn from other sources than the slick Jobbik website and internet chatrooms. "University student government is largely controlled by Jobbik, particularly the humanities faculty," he says. "You know that Jobbik was actually created by a student government?" "There is very strong support for Jobbik in the universities," says Adam LeBor, the Hungary correspondent for the Times and the author of the Budapest Protocol, a political thriller that came out last year that focuses on anti-gypsy oppression in the country. "Part of this is the economic situation. It is indeed very hard for young people to find a job, but the crucial element is that Jobbik has an extremely savvy web presence, enabling them to sidestep the traditional media and speak directly to youth, to the Facebook generation. It even has pages in English, well-written English that isn't garbled. The other parties haven't really done this." "It's a lot more complex than just 'the nasties are marching'."

'Judapest'
The Magyar Garda, the estimated 3,000-strong paramilitary group founded by Jobbik leader Gabor Vona, has taken to calling the capital "Judapest." Socialist Party election posters were defaced with Stars of David and the Jewish community mounted a thousand-strong demonstration the week before the election after a rabbi's windows were stoned during Passover. Orthodox Jews in the supermarket are saluted with a raised arm 'Heil Hitler'. But Mr LeBor says that as terrifying as this is, it is not anti-semitism that is really what he calls "the mobilising issue." "The mobilising issue is racism against gypsies, which is much more widespread." He blames previous administrations for doing nothing to tackle the problems of the Roma community: "No government of any stripe has managed to deal with the situation of the Roma, who live in utter squalor, with high levels of unemployment. It's the classic strategy: in times of crisis, you seek a scapegoat." Roma homes and individuals have been repeatedly shot at and firebombed with Molotov cocktails. In 2009, eight gypsies were killed in incidents police believe to be deliberately targetted against the community.
'Gypsy Crime' and 'Israeli companies'
Roberto Fiore, leader of Italy's neo-Nazi Forza Nuova addressed a Jobbik rally in Budapest in November last year, but the Jobbik youngsters do not think of themselves as fascists at all. "They view themselves as part of a generational change in Hungary," the Political Capital think-tank's Mr Kuli adds. The rest of the world may not be able to speak Hungarian, but the hyper-educated Hungarian youth can read English and know what the rest of the world is saying about them. The Jobbik kids are not big fans. Jobbik are not Nazis, they insist, with the party's English-language website contrasting a relatively gentle picture of Jobbik voters in military "traditional dress" with a German skinhead with a large swastika tattoo on his neck, whom the caption describes as a "Nazi imbecile." On the day of the election, the Jobbik website published a rejoinder raging against the international coverage of the party and in particular an article in The Scotsman newspaper entitled 'Anti-Roma rhetoric pays off for far right in Hungary' explaining why so many people were voting for the party: "The scenario is classic. Hungary's economy is in crisis, its large Roma minority is an easy scapegoat, and a far-right party blaming 'gypsy crooks' and 'welfare spongers' is set to be the big winner." Responding to what a Jobbik web-writer viewed in the Scottish report as vicious slander, the party's missive reads: "What is this 'classic scenario?' Quite simple really. Central Europeans + Economic Downturn = (or rather, must and can only equal) Hateful Extremists and persecution of minorities...Take a few pennies out of a Hungarian's pocket, and he turns almost immediately into a slavering ultra-nationalist who on the way back from clubbing a local gypsy, will pause only to hurl yet another brick through the windows of his nearest synagogue." Mr Varkonyi, the Jobbik spokesman, says the party is only reminding Hungarians "of what Israeli President Shimon Peres himself admitted." He refers to the boast by Mr Peres of how well his country's real estate sector had been doing at a gathering of businessmen in Tel Aviv in October 2007. "The economic situation in Israel is excellent. We are buying up Manhattan, Romania, Hungary and Poland, all due to Israeli business acumen and connections."

When EUobserver proposes that Mr Varkonyi perhaps might be misinterpreting the Israeli president's speech, Mr Varkonyi says: "Look, 70 percent of Budapest belongs to Israeli companies. These were not empty words – there was something behind it." Krisztina Morvai, an MEP for the party and Jobbik's presidential candidate once spat: "So-called proud Hungarian Jews should go back to playing with their tiny little circumcised tails." But even she, a mother of three and practising human rights lawyer who once worked for the United Nations, styles her anti-Jewish rhetoric not with the bile of a Der Sturmer polemic, but couched in a pro-Palestinian discourse, albeit one that Palestinian solidarity groups elsewhere distance themselves from. In February, 2009, following Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip that killed 1400 Palestinians, she wrote in a letter to the Jewish state's ambassador to Hungary: "The only way to talk to people like you is by assuming the style of Hamas. I wish all of you lice-infested, dirty murderers will receive Hamas' 'kisses.'" Mr Varkonyi also insists that the party's strategy for dealing with the "gypsy problem" is "no different to what is being done in Italy or Slovakia." "And there is a reality to what we say about gypsy crime. There were 118 case of gypsies committing crimes against Hungarians from 1993 to 2009." "We don't need sociological explanations" when it is suggested to him that crime rates may grow amongst economically dislocated, racially oppressed communities. "How does a sociological explanation feel to an old lady who has had her head cut off by an 18-year-old gypsy, or a girl who is tied to a tree and raped and then set on fire?"

Political magpies
"We are not even a right-wing party," declares Mr Varkonyi. "We do not believe in the division between left and right. The true division is between those who want globalisation and those who do not. We are a patriotic party." He goes on to approvingly quote the left-wing Franco-American Tobin-Tax and anti-Lisbon-Treaty campaigner Susan George, criticising the privatisation of energy and water companies. "There is some cross-over with the anti-globalisation protests [at the turn of the millenium]. But the difference is that we respect private property. We are different from the Seattle protestors in that we want local private property but not a global version of private property." Indeed, the Jobbik website article goes on to try to deliver as proof that the party are not your average Nazi boneheads a laundry-list of policies, which, in all fairness, no one would be surprised to hear coming out of the mouths of the likes of leftist figures such as a Jose Bove, Oscar Lafontaine or Olivier Besancenot: rejecting IMF austerity measures, the influence of agribusiness and "unrestricted cowboy-capitalism." However, Jobbik, like any classic far-right formation, are political magpies, picking and choosing from the left and the right. Its website article that is supposed to explode "myths" about the party goes on to explain, without giving evidence, how gypsies increase crime in whichever country they go to, promotes Greater Hungary chauvinism – aiming to restore Hungary to its pre-World-War-One borders – and demands the return of the Csendorseg, the Hungarian Gendarmerie, the country's chief agents of Jewish deportations during the Holocaust, notorious for robberies, acts of torture and a viciousness which startled even the Germans. "When the Gendarmerie walked down the street and gypsies saw them, they would run away. They knew someone was watching them," warns Mr Varkonyi.

2006 riots
Vilmos Hanti, the president of the Hungarian Federation of Resistance Fighters and Anti-fascists (Measz), which dates back to 1945, blames the youthful attraction to the far-right on a gap in the school curriculum after 1990. "History books used in the schools are without a word of criticism regarding the role of Hungary in the Second World War. The young people of today know very little about Hungarian anti-fascist resistance," he says. "In spite of our efforts, a museum presenting Hungarian resistance to young people was never realised." In the six months that followed the 2006 anti-Gyurcsany riots in Budapest, Jobbik boosted its profile with a militant campaign against "Gypsy crime." Then, further building on its notoriety, the following year, the party launched the paramilitary Magyar Garda, or Hungarian Guard. The Magyar Garda, attired in black boots, black trousers, white shirt and black vest, take their oaths under the red-and-white striped flag of Arpad, the banner of the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian fascists who murdered between 10,000 and 15,000 Jews and together with the Gendarmes sent 80,000 to their deaths in Auschwitz. The Budapest Jewish Youth Organisation's Mr Schonburger says that the police in many cases are leaving the Hungarian Guard to solve problems: "'They say 'We can't help. Go ask the Hungarian Guard.'" Still, even two years after the riots, as late as December 2008, the party could not claim more than roughly three percent of voters. Over the following five months, it started to climb sharply as the economic crisis began to pinch, winning 14.8 percent or 428,000 votes cast in the June 2009 European Parliamentary elections, making it for the first time a serious political force. And then on 10 April 2010, the party won 16.7 percent or 844,000 ballots, doubling its number of voters in less than a year.

While Jobbik, led by 32-year-old Gabor Vona, a history teacher and founder of the Hungarian Guard – who has said he will wear his Magyar Garda uniform when sworn in as an MP – has won over thousands of young people, it is not true to say that they form the majority of the party's voters. The bulk of Jobbik's support actually comes from the east of the country, where there is enormous economic dislocation. There, one finds a strong correlation between such poverty and support for Jobbik. It should also be remembered that in Budapest, the LMP, from its Hungarian acronym for Politics Can Be Different, which is affiliated to the European Green Party, is also a party of the young, and that it beat Jobbik into fourth place inside the capital. The Times' Mr Lebor thinks there may be some hope here: "And this is a party that barely existed six months ago. All people really know about them is that they are sort of green and progressive. They don't know much more." Mr Kuli, for his part, is dismissive of the upstart LMP, a left-wing group but untarnished by any link to the Communist Party. "Their leader, Andras Schiffer, a lawyer, in the 1990s defended a bar that refused entry to two gypsies and the husband of the party's number six on their list is a legal advisor to Jobbik, so is there a real human rights commitment there or is it opportunism?" Searchlight's Mr Atkinson is quite pessimistic about the chances for a movement against the growth of the far right in the country: "Measz [the official Hungarian anti-fascist organisation] are very elderly, and maybe a bit old Stalinist, so there is that mark against them," he concedes. "But they were very heroic people in their time, although they are not really up for a fight now. There are no young anti-racist or anti-fascist groups that I know of, at least not on the scale that exist in most Western countries, even in eastern countries, Russia." "There is no real opposition in Hungary. It would be nice to see if something happens with the [LMP], although I worry they don't have much of a base."

Will Fidesz take them on?
And what of Fidesz, the socially conservative party of family values and law and order that won the election? After winning a whopping 52.8 percent of the vote and heading for an even better result in the second round that should give it a two-thirds majority in the parliament, it has no need to build a coalition with the far-right. Many are thankful that this at least this puts something of a break on and perhaps reverses Jobbik's advance, which according to some polls, had reached 25 percent support ahead of the voting. After the first round of voting, Fidesz' charismatic leader, Victor Orban, said he would take on Jobbik: "No radical party will be allowed to get rid of law and order in this country," he told reporters. "Democracy in this country is strong enough to defend itself." However, Mr Atkinson believes Fidesz is a worry in itself: "I cringe when I see some in the press refer to Fidesz as 'centre-right.' They're not. They're nationalist populist, what in German is sometimes referred to as a 'Volkisch' right." Fidesz, itself once a party of youth – the name is an acronym of Fiatal Demokratak Szovetsege, or Alliance of Young Democrats – was founded in 1988 as a libertarian anti-Communist party, joining the Liberal International in 1992. After a poor showing in the 1994 elections, it switched allegiance from liberalism to conservatism. The British anti-fascist editor says Mr Orban is a political chameleon, shifting ideology to whatever will keep him in power. He notes that the party has been in coalition with Jobbik at the local level in "around 100 municipalities." In 2008, Fidesz MP Oszkar Molnar, who was also mayor of Edeleny, a town in eastern Hungary, famously claimed that pregnant Roma women take medication to give birth to "fools" to receive higher family subsidies. "I have checked this and it's true; they hit their bellies with a rubber hammer so that they'll give birth to handicapped kids." Responding to Mr Molnar's statement, Mr Orban said only that his speech was "embarrassing," although the MP was later dropped from national lists and quit the party. But Mr Kuli, from the Poltical Capital think-tank, thinks the conservative party should be given the benefit of the doubt for now. "Fidesz has dealt with these issues very gingerly, it is true. But it's a political calculation. They do not want to alienate their rural support by taking decisive action against Molnar and send them into the arms of Jobbik. I don't necessarily support this strategy, but this is why they acted this way," he said. The Times' Mr LeBor believes that to call Fidesz "Jobbik lite" is "a complete nonsense. During the election campaign it made great efforts to distance itself from Jobbik. Like all parties, they include a wide range of views. Some of their MPs are more right-wing than others."
The Budapest Jewish Youth Organisation's Mr Schonburger also does not think Fidesz are wolves in centre-right sheep's clothing, but he does wish the party was more forthright in countering Jobbik: "We are hoping for the incoming government to make a clear statement on the issue in the next two weeks, Orban needs to make more public statements about what has happened. But I don't know if they are willing to. We certainly don't see any clear statement coming from them yet." He is however furious at the post-Hungarian election triumphalism of other conservative parties across Europe: "How can they call this a victory? How can they celebrate when so many people have voted for Jobbik?" "This is the most important issue facing Hungary, maybe even more important than the economic crisis. Something is going on here. How in the middle of Europe, in this new part of the EU, can we have such radical voters, Jobbik, the Hungarian Guard?" Analyst Mr Kuli is more optimistic: "What will Hungary look like in two years? Orban says he will be able to renegotiate the terms of the IMF deal. But he has very little room to manoeuvre. At the same time, the stability that a supermajority gives Fidesz – it will be the most stable government since 1990 – shouldn't be forgotten. And the economic gurus around him are very intelligent men." But even he issues a warning: "The trick is if Orban goes further with austerity measures. If his voters see that he doesn't have their dreams in mind, I think you'd see protests against him as well. "And Jobbik will be ready and waiting in the wings."

businessweek

BNP candidate was convicted for carrying 'weapon' at gay Pride march

A BNP candidate for Leicestershire is a former National Front member who was once convicted for carrying an offensive weapon at a gay rights parade.

Ian Meller, who is standing for North West Leicestershire, was fined £400 in 2000 for carrying a plank of wood at the gay event.
He told the Leicester Mercury that he had picked up the plank to protect himself against members of the Anti-Nazi League.
Mr Meller said: "The wood was lying in the road – I was there because we were against gay relationships being promoted in schools.

"It was unfortunate, but it was momentary, I wasn't on my own and I regret what happened.

"To be honest, that incident opened my eyes and I left the National Front shortly after that because I could see street demonstrations couldn't get us anywhere."
Mr Meller said he joined the National Front because he was concerned about crime and immigration, although he did not regard it to be an extremist party.

He added: "In terms of gay people, the BNP's view is what you get up to in your own house, we don't want to know about it at all.
"What we are against is using public money to fund things like gay marches.

"I'm a Christian and my own view is marriage is between a man and a woman and it's for bringing up a family.
"I wouldn't outlaw homosexuality because we are all equal."

Last month, BNP leader Nick Griffin admitted that he finds gays "creepy" and would ban civil partnerships if his party won power.
He told Total Politics magazine that he would ban the promotion of homosexuality in schools but would consider gay adoption.

Mr Griffin said he would be "inclined to agree" with gay couples adopting, but only "if we reach the stage where there are so many children in children’s homes that you run out of would-be adopted ideal families".

Pink News

Nick Clegg attacks 'evil, vile' BNP

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg launched a fierce attack on the British National Party today, branding it an "evil, vile, fascist organisation".

He said the party was "utterly useless" in helping people with the problems they face, such as unemployment, crime and housing, as they could only peddle hatred.

The Lib Dems had been "devastatingly successful at beating the BNP back" and he highlighted Burnley Borough Council as an example, which he said was now run by his party.
In an interview with the BBC Asian Network, Mr Clegg was asked about the BNP and how to counter its support among some communities in Britain.

He said: "I feel really strongly about this. The BNP is an evil, vile, fascist organisation.

"We, the Liberal Democrats, have been devastatingly successful at beating the BNP back.

"Remember a few years ago when everyone said that Burnley was going to be the first BNP town? Look now, it is now run by the Liberal Democrats."
Asked how mainstream politicians stopped people voting BNP, he said: "First, of course, you explain to them that the BNP are a vile organisation.

"But you say something much more powerful, which is that they are useless, utterly useless.

"I'll tell you why they are useless because hate, which is all the BNP peddles, doesn't create a single job, doesn't build a single affordable home, doesn't solve a single crime.

"If you want help for you, for yourself, for your family, for your parents, for your grandparents, for your street, for your community, the BNP is useless."

Mr Clegg said the way to counter extremism in the UK was to confront it.

"There are people in politics, in religion, who have views that I really don't like, but you have got to engage with them," he said.
And the Lib Dem leader said that his separation from his three young sons, stranded with his in-laws because of the flights ban, was affecting him.

Antonio, eight, Alberto, five, and one-year-old Miguel are in Olmedo, one-and-a-half hours north of Madrid, and may have to be driven home.

"It is really starting to get at me, because they are very small and I miss them terribly," he said.

The Independent

BNP candidate in ‘exclusion’ row

A British National Party prospective parliamentary candidate in Shropshire claims he has been excluded from a General Election hustings in the county.

Phil Reddall said he was the only candidate contesting the north Shropshire seat not to have been invited to tomorrow’s meeting in Oswestry organised by the National Farmers’ Union.

But the NFU said today that it had invited to the meeting those parties which it believed had the “strongest agricultural agenda”.
The meeting is being held at the Pedigree pub in Shrewsbury Road at 2.30pm.

The parliamentary candidates for Labour, Lib Dems, Conservatives, UKIP and the Green party have been invited to the meeting.
Mr Reddall, of Cheswardine, near Market Drayton said: “We are not asking to be treated in any way different, we are simply asking for a level playing field, to be treated in the same way as everyone else.”

A spokesman for the National Farmers’ Union, Oliver Cartwright, said: “The meeting was organised for our membership to discuss farming issues with prospective candidates.

“As a membership organisation we have the right to invite whom we wish to our meetings. We have got a limited time for the event and had to invited those we believe to be key players, those who include agriculture on their agendas and manifestos.”
Mr Cartwright said that as well as the three main political parties the Green party had been invited because it was heavily interested in agricultural and environmental issues.

He said UKIP was involved in agriculture at a EU level.

Shropshire’s BNP spokesman, Mr James Whittall, said the NFU meeting was not the first that had excluded the BNP.
“Some areas are inviting us to meetings but certain pockets are not.”

He said the BNP had been invited to church meetings in the Wrekin and Telford constituencies but those invitations had later been withdrawn when some other candidates had refused to share a platform with the BNP candidates.
Earlier this week the Lichfield Diocese wrote to churches urging them not to invite the BNP to meeting that it was organising.

shropshire star

Bill Clinton's warning on extremist mood in US

Bill Clinton today warned politicians and commentators to tone down their rhetoric for fear of inflaming hate groups and provoking violence, as a poll suggested that public trust in the US government is at its lowest point for half a century.

Amid growing concern in the White House about the anti-government mood and a marked rise in radical fringe groups, Clinton said the internet made it easier to spread ideas to reach "the unhinged". The worry is not so much over populist movements such as the Tea Party but the revival of extreme groups that have been encouraged by general anti-government sentiment.

On the 15th anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma bombing, the worst terrorist attack in the US before 9/11, Clinton wrote in the New York Times: "We are again dealing with difficulties in a contentious, partisan time … As we exercise the right to advocate our views, and as we animate our supporters, we must all assume responsibility for our words and actions before they enter a vast echo chamber and reach those both serious and delirious, connected and unhinged."
Clinton said it should not be forgotten what drove the Oklahoma bombers. "They took to the ultimate extreme an idea advocated in the months and years before the bombing by an increasingly vocal minority: the belief that the greatest threat to American freedom is our government and that public servants do not protect our freedoms but abuse them."

At a ceremony in Oklahoma yesterday, survivors and victims' relatives commemorated the 168 people who were killed.
The extent of the anti-government mood in the country was revealed today in a Pew Research Centre poll that found public confidence in the federal government was at its lowest for half a century. Almost eight out of 10 Americans surveyed said they did not trust it; only 22% said they trusted the federal government almost always or most of the time.
Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Centre, said: "Trust in government rarely gets this low. Some of it is backlash against Obama. But there are a lot of other things going on."
The poll identified several reasons for the rise in anti-government feelings: opposition to Obama; the recession, in particular the role of Wall Street; and anger with both Democratic and Republican members of Congress.
The Southern Poverty Legal Centre, which tracks hate groups, said yesterday there has been a surge in the number of militia and other extremists. Mark Potok, its head, said the mood was so volatile that it needed only a spark to set it off.

Last month nine people linked to the Hutaree, a Christian militia group in Michigan, were arrested over an alleged plot to kill police in the hope of starting an uprising against the government. In February, a lone anti-tax protester flew a plane into the tax office in Austin, Texas.
Members of Congress who last month supported the health reform bill have been targets of vandalism and death threats. Yesterday several hundred pro-gun activists gathered at the Washington Monument to demand the end of restrictions on carrying guns in public.
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said groups such as his were set on ousting moderate Republicans in primaries before the November Congressional mid-term elections.

"We are in a war," Pratt, a former Republican member of the Virginia state legislature, told a rally. He said the Obama administration was out to take their freedom, their money and their childrens because it was socialist.
A newly-formed group, the Oath Keepers, made up of former members of the armed services and police forces, had been due to take part in a rally in Virginia at which they would openly carry firearms but pulled out, expressing fears of confrontation with the police.

The Guardian

GOODWILL MARCH IN PRAGUE HIGHLIGHTS THE DANGER OF ANTI-SEMITISM (Czech Rep.)

The goal of the Goodwill March that was staged in Prague Sunday was to calmly react to the alleged aggressiveness and ignorance of neo-Nazis and anti-Semites in society. The police estimated participation in the march from the Old Town to the Lesser Town at 400 people. Last year some 1000 people took part in the event. The march, organised by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, was also attended by a few dozen activists who focus on human rights observance in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. "We want to point to the application of double standards in approach to Palestinians who are daily faced with aggressiveness, racism and other forms of oppression by the state of Israel," Jana Ridvanova, from the association Friends of Palestine, told CTK. The march ended in the Wallenstein Garden where the 7th public rally called We All Are People was held. It wants to declare that anti-Semitism has no place in a decent society. Israeli jazz musician Amos Hoffman with his band performed within the event. A few Holocaust survivors spoke about their stay in concentration camps. Tomas Kraus, secretary of the Federation of Jewish Communities, acquainted the present people with a report on manifestations of anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic. He said the situation is relatively good. Last year 28 anti-Semitic manifestations were registered in the country.


Prague Monitor

Deadly attack on gay man 'like Clockwork Orange scene'

A gay man was subjected to homophobic taunts before being punched and stamped to death in London's  Trafalgar Square.

Ian Baynham, 62, of Beckenham, Kent, was with a friend when three teenagers attacked him outside South Africa House in September, the Old Bailey heard.
One witness said the attack, in which he was punched and stamped, was like a "scene from the film Clockwork Orange".
Joel Alexander, 19, Rachel Burke and Ruby Thomas, both 18, have all pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

Mr Alexander, of Thornton Heath, south London, Miss Burke, of Three Oaks, East Sussex, and Miss Thomas, of Lichfield, Staffordshire, also deny violent disorder.

'Shocked onlookers'
Brian Altman, prosecuting, said the girls, then 17, had been drinking when they confronted Mr Baynham and his friend Philip Brown and shouted abuse at them.
It was Mr Alexander, then 18, who punched the victim to the ground. Mr Baynham died 18 days after the attack from a brain injury.
Mr Altman said the "brutal attack" was "fuelled by copious amounts of alcohol".
"One onlooker likened the scene of violence to the film A Clockwork Orange.

"Ian Baynham was openly homosexual. What led to his death began when Ruby Thomas hurled homophobic abuse at him and his friend Philip Brown."
The row escalated when Mr Baynham slapped Miss Burke, which led to Mr Alexander punching the victim with such force that he hit the back of his head on the pavement and became unconscious, Mr Altman said.

He added: "That did not suffice. There is evidence that the female defendants then began putting the boot into Mr Baynham, who was still prone on his back, clearly unconscious and in distress.

"Shocked onlookers saw repeated stamping to his chest and forceful kicks to his head."

Miss Burke also repeatedly punched Mr Brown in the face when he tried to stop her from fleeing, the jury heard. She also denies assaulting Mr Brown.

The trial continues.

BBC News

Billy Bragg clashes with BNP's Richard Barnbrook

Billy Bragg was engaged in a finger-pointing row with a senior member of the British National party during a day of action in London, telling him his "racist fascist" politics offered no help to voters.
Bragg was leafleting in Barking and Dagenham, one of the BNP's top target areas in next month's elections, when he bumped into the BNP's London assembly member, Richard Barnbrook, who has attacked the singer on his blog.
Bragg, who was born and raised in Barking, told Barnbrook: "You do not represent the people of Barking and Dagenham," as the pair became embroiled in a heated argument. "You are exploiting the genuine concerns of people here and you are making the problems worse."

Barnbrook, who was elected to the London assembly in 2008, accused Bragg of "mouthing away" and said the "ballot box will determine what happens".

The exchange came during a day of action against the BNP which saw 541 volunteers deliver 91,000 Hope Not Hate newspapers.
The BNP is due to launch its manifesto this week and has claimed it is on the verge of causing a "political earthquake". It claims it has a chance of taking control of Barking and Dagenham council and of gaining two MPs – in Stoke Central and Barking.
However, the far-right party's campaign has been beset by problems, and it appears to be floundering in the polls. Internal criticism over Nick Griffin's leadership came to a head earlier this month when publicity director Mark Collett was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill him.

In Stoke, the party's number two target, Alby Walker, who led the BNP on the local council for four years, is standing as an independent in the general election.
Walker said he was leaving the BNP because of a "vein of Holocaust denying within the BNP that I cannot identify myself with."

Meanwhile Griffin, who is standing in Barking, has been forced to change the BNP's whites-only membership policy following a legal battle with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Last week the Electoral Commission announced it was launching a formal investigation into the party's 2008 accounts.

These difficulties appear to have hit the party's ability to stand candidates in next month's local elections.



The Guardian

Ugandan MP to be banned from UK if his gay death penalty bill succeeds

David Bahati wants to execute consenting same-sex couples, arguing it is a crime they choose to commit.

The British government will ban a Ugandan MP from travelling to the UK if he is successful in passing a law that would impose the death penalty in Uganda for being gay.

Civil servants in the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the Borders Agency are drawing up plans to block the visa of born-again Christian MP David Bahati if he does not drop legislation that would see consenting adults who have gay sex imprisoned for life and impose the death penalty on those with HIV – which will be called "aggravated homosexuality".
The bill also proposes the death penalty for those having gay sex with anyone under the age of 18, with someone disabled or what the legislation describes as "serial offenders".

It also calls for life prison sentences for those "promoting homosexuality", which could come to mean human rights groups or those who fail to inform on a gay couple.
One senior British government source said the issue could turn into a "major diplomatic incident if the Ugandans do not back down". President Barack Obama has already described the legislation as odious.
The British government's views have been conveyed to Uganda but officials have not received a clear sense of whether the legislature will pass the bill into law.
Ugandan government officials appear to be using stalling tactics, suggesting it will not come to a vote until 2011, deflecting pressure from a government that could change in the forthcoming general election.

Bahati submitted a private member's bill to the Ugandan parliament last year arguing that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice.
Gay sex is already illegal in Uganda but backbenchers there are pushing for more draconian punishment by preying on fears that homosexuals are "recruiting" children at schools.
Though observers believe President Yoweri Museveni was beaten back by the level of international opprobrium, a march against homosexuality in Uganda last month attracted 2,000 supporters.

The British government is concerned by a wave of anti-gay sentiment sweeping Africa that has also put pressure on homosexual people in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nigeria.
Besides rescinding the visa of the backbencher, other options considered have been blocking aid to the Ugandan government. The government has switched its strategy to individual visa blocking amidst signs that threats to withhold aid backfire.
Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe, chairman of the Malawi Council of Churches, has accused western donors of trying to use aid as a bait to force Malawi to legalise homosexuality.

British officials have already rescinded the visas of those involved in the Kenyan election riots and members of the Zimbabwean government.

The Guardian

Neo-Nazi music festival goes ahead without incident (Australia)

A music festival held by a white supremacist group went ahead without incident on the Gold Coast at the weekend, police say.

Local police expressed concern prior to the event, which was held at an unannounced location on Saturday.
Officers planned to patrol the area near the festival, but a police spokesperson said there were no incidents reported in relation to the event.
The Queensland chapter of the Southern Cross Hammer Skinheads had distributed flyers for the white pride gathering, Hammered, sponsored by Gold Coast neo-Nazi groups Crew 38 and Blood and Honour.

Advertising did not name the venue, but interested festival-goers were asked to email the organiser, known only as Tattooed Aryan.
The organiser would then give interested parties details of a "meet and greet" gathering at which the festival's exact location would be disclosed, it said.
Tattooed Aryan promoted the event as a week of "sun, surf and racialist music" on the SCHS website.

SCHS claims its goals can be summed up by its mission: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children".
Gold Coast City Council or police could not prevent the event, held on private property, from taking place.
An anti-racism protest was held on Saturday at The Spit on the Gold Coast, in protest of the SCHS festival.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reported a group of about 30 men and women wearing clothing with the slogan 'Blood and Honour' had dined at suburban restaurant Ashmore Steak and Seafood Restaurant on Friday night.
Staff reportedly seated other patrons away from the group, whose clothing bore swastikas.
The German branch of Blood and Honour was banned in Germany 10 years ago for spreading Nazi messages.

At that time, the German government said members of the group had been arrested after a series of attacks on foreigners inspired by music played at concerts organised by the group.

Brisbane times

Leicestershire BNP candidate is former National Front member

A BNP candidate is a former National Front member with a criminal conviction, it has emerged.

Ian Meller, who is standing in North West Leicestershire, was fined £400 for carrying an offensive weapon – a plank of wood – at a gay rights march.
Mr Meller now says he "regrets" the incident, which happened in 2000, and left the National Front shortly afterwards.

But he said he did not view the party as extremist.

Mr Meller said he picked up a roofing lath at the march in Humberstone Gate, Leicester, in self-defence
He said: "There were four people arrested and I was one of them – the rest were members of the Anti-Nazi League.

"The wood was lying in the road – I was there because we were against gay relationships being promoted in schools.
"It was unfortunate, but it was momentary, I wasn't on my own and I regret what happened.

"To be honest, that incident opened my eyes and I left the National Front shortly after that because I could see street demonstrations couldn't get us anywhere."

Mr Meller – who was fined £400 and ordered to pay £55 costs after admitting carrying an offensive weapon, was a member of the National Front from 1995 to 2000.
Its policies include outlawing homosexuality and abortion, alongside the forced repatriation of immigrants.

He said: "I joined the National Front because at the time I had concerns about immigration and jobs.

"The National Front wasn't an extremist party, and if they were, then I certainly wasn't one.

"The BNP and the National Front differ now because we (the BNP) don't want to send anybody back, we want to stop immigration but we don't support compulsory repatriation, it's voluntary."

The Mercury asked Mr Meller about the BNP's policies – which include re-introducing the death penalty and preventing the teaching of gay relationships in schools.
He said: "I'm not here to pass judgement as to who should receive capital punishment, but in my grandfather's day, if there was a murder, you knew there was going to be a hanging.

"In terms of gay people, the BNP's view is what you get up to in your own house, we don't want to know about it at all.

"What we are against is using public money to fund things like gay marches.
"I'm a Christian and my own view is marriage is between a man and a woman and it's for bringing up a family.
"I wouldn't outlaw homosexuality because we are all equal."
"In terms of immigration – my area of Whitwick has seen a lot of 'white flight', where people are moving away from Leicester because they feel they don't have an identity anymore. They don't want to bring a child up where three different languages are spoken in the classroom."
A spokesman for anti-fascist organisation Searchlight said: "If he doesn't regard the National Front as an extremist party, I wouldn't like to bump into representatives of a party he does regard as extreme.

"This is indicative of Nick Griffin's BNP – he aims to promote a non-violent and moderate face to his organisation but the reality is that the BNP is still populated by extreme views."

The Leicester Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Centre in Wellington Street was unavailable for comment.
The BNP is fielding candidates in every seat in Leicestershire and Rutland.

this is leicestershire

Far-Right Suspected in Attack on Ryazan Human Rights Activist

Men screaming racist rhetoric attacked a prominent human rights activist in Ryazan, Russia according to an April 10, 2010 report posted on the opposition web site Kasparov.ru. Pyotr Ivanov, who works for the NGOs "Memorial" and the Ryazan Human Rights School, was assaulted on April 10 by three men who aggressively asked him,
"Are you Russian or not?!"
At least one of the assailants had a shaven head. A passing police patrol scared off the attackers, but so far
police have detained no suspects.
UCSJ

English Democrats launch election campaign in Dartford

The police community liaison officer is wearing the pained expression of a man sent to sort out a domestic dispute.

"We are just concerned for your safety," he keeps saying. "I don't want to get into a political debate."

It's probably a bit too late for that.
On Saturday thousands of Sikhs took to the streets of Gravesend, in Kent, to celebrate Vaisakhi, the Sikh New Year Festival.
It is also the day that the English Democrat party have chosen to launch their general election campaign a few miles away in Dartford.

After they have finished handing out leaflets in Dartford town centre, the English Democrats plan to head over to Gravesend in their battle bus - a white van with large Cross of St George posters on either side and a PA system belting out Jerusalem.
The police are concerned this might be seen as a bit provocative.

"There are 15,000 Sikhs travelling through Gravesend today," says the young liaison officer, who in his black bomber jacket could easily be mistaken for one of the English Democrat activists.

"People might see the flag of St George and get the wrong idea."

'Discrimination'
"We've got Sikh candidates," says Steve Uncles, the English Democrats' national coordinator, who has taken on the role of peace maker.
Would the SNP or Plaid Cymru be treated this way?, he asks. He reassures the officer that the party are not racists, it even says so on their battle bus, and they are not looking for trouble, just trying to exercise their democratic right.
Suitably mollified, the officer and his colleague hand Mr Uncles a card and tell him to phone them if they get any trouble.
"We've never had this before. I am quite surprised to be honest," says the party chairman Robin Tilbrook. "What we do get quite regularly is discrimination from officialdom against the use of the E word."

He means English. The English Democrats, who are fielding more than 100 candidates at the general election, believe they are the only party out there speaking up for England.
But they are also very keen to stress that they are a moderate organisation, which draws support from across the political spectrum.

"We are not just about one race. One of the reasons the BNP attack us is that we have non-white candidates. They are not about Englishness," says Robin Tilbrook.

"Englishness is something in the heart, not something in the skin."

The party, which campaigns for an English Parliament, like the ones in Scotland and Wales, gained 280,000 votes at last year's European elections and is fielding more than 100 candidates across England on 6 May.
Opinion polls suggest the majority of people in England support an English Parliament - and the party clearly believes that if it only got a bit more airtime from the broadcasters they would be serious contenders.

It is easy to see why they believe they are on the verge of a breakthrough. Their patriotism and tough line on immigration plays well with voters out shopping in the brilliant spring sunshine in Dartford.

Eurosceptics
The problem is that, with the British National Party and the UK Independence Party also banging the Eurosceptic drum, it is a crowded field.
"We would prefer it if UKIP were not standing," admits Mr Uncles.
The party has done a deal with the Christian Party and The Jury Team, the umbrella group of independents backed by former Tory grandee Sir Paul Judge, so that they will not stand against each other.

But efforts to reach a similar accommodation with UKIP, which would have seen just one Eurosceptic candidate in every constituency across the UK, came to nothing.
Nevertheless, every candidate at the launch seemed to have little doubt that they will be elected on 6 May.

Dr Peter Thorogood, who is standing in Romford, says Thursday's TV debate has "done us a whole lot of good", as it has got people interested in the election, he tells me, before pointing with pride to the line on his leaflet that says "a man of integrity".
Robin Tilbrook says he hopes the party can gain three MPs.
As he is preparing for a TV interview, he is keen to avoid standing in front of the Union Flags that are fluttering in the breeze on one of the market stalls.

The Cross of St George is the only flag for him.

"This is our flag and it has been hijacked by people who want to turn it into some kind of racist symbol and we want to take it back," he explains.
BBC News

Immigration is not fuel for BNP support

Higher immigration to an area is not to blame for driving the voters into the arms of the BNP, according to a study exploring the roots of its support published today.

In fact, the analysis by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) finds that nine out of the top 10 areas for BNP votes actually has a lower than average proportion of recent migrants.

Instead the study which looked at the roots of BNP support across 150 local authority areas suggests that social exclusion, such as lack of qualifications, weak social cohesion and low levels of voter turnout are far more important.
The IPPR researchers say findings show that the idea that politicians need to adopt ever-tougher immigration controls to undermine the BNP is misleading. Instead they need to work harder to build strong communities, strong education systems and rebuild trust in democratic politics so that "marginalised and isolated" people do not feel so disconnected.

The researchers say that the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, argues that in many working-class and lower middle-class areas immigration has brought in so many people that they "totally swamp the existing people …destroying their communities" and leading them to support his party.

"The findings suggest that areas which have higher levels of recent immigration are not more likely to vote for the BNP," says the study. "In fact the more immigration an area has experienced, the lower its support for the far right. It seems that direct contact with migrants dissuades people from supporting the BNP. For example, of the 10 local authorities where the BNP gained most support in the 2009 European elections, nine had lower than average immigration," says the study.
Barking and Dagenham, which has had significantly higher levels of recent migration, is the exception rather than the rule, say the researchers. The study found however that Stoke-on-Trent, Thurrock and Barnsley, which are ranked second, third and fourth in the list of the top 10 BNP share of the vote areas, all have lower than average immigration.

By contrast the three local areas with the lowest levels of social "resilience" in the country, Sandwell, Barking and Dagenham and Stoke-on-Trent, are all found in the top 10 for BNP votes.
The researchers' analysis suggests that the more "resilient" a community is the less likely it is to vote BNP.
They measure social resilience of communities by their ability to withstand and adapt in response to shocks and include indicators such as unemployment, level of skills and qualifications, ability to influence local decisions, crime, health, business survival rate and voter turnout. As examples they name Richmond-upon-Thames and Wokingham as the two most resilient communities in the country.
The IPPR calculates that, based on the 2009 European election results, the top 10 most resilient communities in the UK cast fewer votes for the BNP put together than the average UK local authority.

The study acknowledges that immigration is a matter of concern to the British people and has had some negative effects on parts of the UK but say that where people have had significant direct contact with migrants, most are not concerned enough with immigration to vote for the BNP.
The researchers say the implication of their finding that isolation and dejection rather than immigration is driving voters into the hands of the BNP should give politicians and commentators the confidence to resist the idea that much tougher border controls must be introduced in order to regain public support.

"Mainstream politicians need to work harder to build strong communities and strong education systems, and to rebuild trust and confidence in democratic politics so marginalised and vulnerable people do not feel so disconnected," it concludes. "Doing so should allow them to serve the interests of these communities more effectively, and in the process, undercut support for the BNP."

The Guardian

Neo-Nazis protest against immigrants in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — About 100 members of a self-described neo-Nazi group protested against immigrants to the United States on Saturday, sparking a counter-rally that drew about 500 people.

The black-clad neo-Nazis were met by members of Hispanic, black and gay community groups who shouted "Racists Go Home" and "Stop the Nazis."
The group, which calls itself the National Socialist Movement, requested and received a city parade permit for a white power demonstration at City Hall.
 "It's just one group of racists protesting another group of racists," said one police officer.

Some of the counter protestors waved signs reading "Nazi scum."

Los Angeles is among the most diverse cities in the United States, with 44 percent of the population of Hispanic origin or descent. Most Americans nationwide are still of European descent but California has no majority ethnic group.

BNP excluded from debate

THE British National Party have been banned from a public debate hosted by the church.

And Mike Ashburner, the BNP’s parliamentary candidate, has slammed the snub as being made by “typical limp-wristed charlatans.”
All the other general election candidates set to contest the Barrow and Furness seat are invited to the “Question Time” on Sunday, April 25.

So while Mr Ashburner has been left out in the cold, there will be appearances by John Woodcock (Labour), John Gough (Conservative), Barry Rabone (Liberal Democrats), Chris Loynes (Green Party), John Smith (UKIP) and Brian Greaves (Independent).
The event has been organised – as at previous general elections – by Churches Together in Barrow and will this time be staged in The Abbey Road Baptist Church.

The organisation’s secretary Margaret Evason, of St James’ Anglican Church in Barrow, said the hard-line stance on the BNP was their decision to make but followed national guidelines.
Churches Together in England recently stated that, while most churches stayed away from instructing people on how to vote, the racist policies and philosophy of the British National Party were incompatible with Christian faith.
Mrs Evason said: “We felt that if the BNP candidate was invited then some people would not turn up at the debate who might otherwise have come.”

She added that questions should be sent in advance in writing to Reverend John Goddard, of 27 Carlton Avenue, Barrow or by emailing: jmgoddard@tinyworld.co.uk. The debate, which starts at 3pm, will be chaired by former Barrow Town Clerk Derek Lyon with further information available from Mrs Evason – wife of the Reverend Stuart Evason – on 821475.

Mr Ashburner last night told the Evening Mail the decision was disappointing but predictable.
He added: “It is what you expect from the typical limp-wristed charlatans that masquerade as Christians these days.
“They are only too willing to bend over backwards to our Muslim colonisers and convert their churches to mosques at the earliest convenience.

“It will be a peculiar event indeed, without the only party that stands up for our Christian heritage.

“Clearly, Margaret Evason doesn’t believe in democracy and hates free speech.”

David Edmonson, Minister for Vickerstown and Millom Methodist Churches, has also entered the debate.
Writing his Christian Comment in tonight’s Evening Mail, he says the Barrow churches feel that showing an interest in political matters is a natural part of following Jesus.
But Reverend Edmonson points out that the Millom churches decided not to hold a similar meeting because they did not want to run the risk of being associated with any particular party.

He adds: “On the whole I think I side with the Barrow decision: I don’t think Christians can avoid election politics – even if we’d sometimes like to.”

NWEMail

BNP man's home paid for by German embassy

The London organiser of the BNP is the husband of a German Embassy diplomat and benefits from accommodation and allowances provided by the German taxpayer, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The London organiser of the BNP is the husband of a German embassy diplomat and benefits from accommodation and allowances provided by the German taxpayer.

Bob Bailey also enjoys some diplomatic immunity as the family member of an envoy - though this is limited as he remains a British citizen.
He married Martina Borgfeldt in Australia in 1999 after meeting her while serving in the Royal Marines in Africa. The latest issue of the Diplomatic List shows she is an "assistant attaché" at the German embassy.

Mr Bailey is leader of the opposition on Barking and Dagenham Council, which he hopes to take control of at next month's elections.
He gives his main home as an address in Barking and Dagenham, east London, but lives in embassy-provided accommodation in west London. This appears to breach rules which say that council candidates must live or work in the same borough.

One source close to the embassy said that Mr Bailey had never told his wife that he was a BNP leader and she found out when confronted recently by her superiors.

Mr Bailey yesterday refused to deny this, or his marriage to Mrs Borgfeldt, or that he lived with her in a home paid for by the German embassy, though he insisted he did live in Barking.
The Telegraph

Neo-Nazi clothing label Thor Steinar sues satirical copycat

German clothing brand Thor Steinar – a known favourite among neo-Nazis – is suing satirical copycat label “Storch Heinar” for libel and violating trademark laws.
Since December 2008 Storch Heinar, or “Stork Heinar,” has mocked the neo-Nazi scene with t-shirts and other products bearing the image of an awkward cartoon stork with a Hitler-style moustache and hairdo. The label funds the Social Democratic activist organisation Endstation Rechts, which aims to fight right-wing extremism in the state of Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania.

The tongue-in-cheek label has apparently done so well that now Thor Steinar’s parent company MediaTex is taking them to court on June 23 in Nürnberg-Fürth.
Storch Heinar organisers don’t deny the label apes Thor Steinar’s identity.

“We want to highlight that the brand ‘Thor Steinar’ has a high status and symbolic significance in the scene,” said one of the project’s initiators, Mathias Brodkorb, a Social Democrat and Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania state parliamentarian.
Brodkorb says he has frequent run-ins with parliamentarians for the neo-Nazi NPD party, which has had six seats in the state legislature in Schwerin since 2006.

The t-shirts, mugs, and even dog outfits bearing Storch Heinar’s image have sold throughout Europe, Brodkorb said, describing the silly stork as a “poor bastard.”

MediaTex, based in the Brandenburg city of Zeesen, apparently tried to trademark the Storch Heinar name soon after the t-shirts appeared, but was rejected and followed up with a lawsuit against the activist group.

The company, known for being litigious, acknowledged it had initiated the lawsuit but refused to comment on the case.
But Brodkorb said Endstation Rechts won’t bow to the legal pressure, and has instead launched a new t-shirt series to boost funding for legal costs. The shirts indicate that the purchaser is a Weltkriegsverliererbesieger, or “World War loser conqueror.”

“However the trial goes, we’ll figure out how to keep the clothing shop open,” he said.

The Local Germany

Police issue web warning following hate crime attack (UK)

Police have issued a warning about meeting people through internet chat rooms after a man was attacked in Leicestershire
Police have issued a warning about meeting people through internet chat rooms after a man was attacked in Leicestershire.

The 50-year-old victim had arranged to meet a man at a park in Burbage on Sunday evening after initially meeting him via an internet chat room for gay men, the Peterborough Telegraph reported.
But when he got to the park in Colts Close he was approached by four men who demanded he hand over his money.
The victim was then hit a number of times until he told his assailants he did not have any cash, police said.

He had suffered injuries to his face and head and was taken by ambulance to Leicester Royal Infirmary for treatment.
After the attack it was discovered that his car had been damaged and the front driver’s side window smashed.
Leicestershire Police said they believe the man was set up by the suspects via the chat line for gay men that he had been using and that he was targeted because of his sexual preference.

Officers hope to interview the occupants of two cars in the nearby car park after the attack who asked the victim if he was OK before driving off.
Detective Constable Pete Watson said: “It is appalling to think that this man was purposely targeted because of his sexual orientation and we want the suspects to know that it is not something that we will tolerate.”

He added: “We are determined to find the four men responsible and are appealing to members of the public for their help in finding and identifying them.”

Pink Paper

HOLOCAUST-DENYING BISHOP FINED BY GERMAN COURT

A renegade British bishop has been fined 10,000 euros (£8,750) for denying the Holocaust in a case that has acutely embarrassed the Vatican. The case went ahead in a German court without Richard Williamson, whose breakaway Catholic fraternity told him not to testify, his lawyer said. Denying that the Holocaust took place, or questioning key elements, is illegal in Germany. The bishop acknowledged the offending comments in a statement read in court. Williamson, 70, was convicted by the court in the southern German city of Regensburg of inciting racial hatred for stating in a TV interview aired in January 2009 that only "200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps". He also denied the Nazis had used gas chambers. Imposing the fine in the high-profile proceedings on Friday, presiding judge Karin Frahm said: "The statements by the accused represent a denial of the actions taken under the National Socialist regime. "Bishop Williamson must have assumed that his remarks would draw attention. Williamson knowingly accepted that attention." Williamson was fined 12,000 euros (£12,500) earlier this year for giving the interview in Germany to a Swedish broadcaster. The latest trial was ordered after Mr Williamson, who lives in London, refused to pay. He faced a sentence ranging from a fine to up to five years in prison. Williamson's lawyer, Matthias Lossmann told the court: "Bishop Williamson would gladly have come, but the Saint Pius X Society suggested he did not - to be precise, they forbade him from coming."


'Remarks are unacceptable'
The court on Friday heard an excerpt of the interview, in which Williamson is heard telling the interviewer: "Be careful, this is against the law in Germany." The bishop was told the interview would be aired only in Sweden, Mr Lossmann told the court. He said Williamson could not be held criminally responsible for its release in Germany. "That will be the crux of the case here," he said. "We do not even need to discuss the fact that these remarks are unacceptable, that is completely beside the point." Mr Lossmann read a statement by Williamson in which the cleric acknowledged casting doubt on the Holocaust. "I was aware that it is against German law to express such doubts, so I expressed these doubts for exclusive broadcast on Swedish television" where such remarks are legal, he said. The Saint Pius X Society, an ultra-conservative, Swiss-based Catholic fraternity, appointed Williamson a bishop without the pope's blessing after it broke away from Rome over the Vatican II reforms of 1965. Among the reforms rejected by the organisation was a declaration, Nostra Aetate, which ended a Church doctrine by which the Jews were held responsible for killing Jesus Christ. The trial comes at a difficult time for Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican as a sexual abuse scandal rocks the Catholic church. Hundreds of people have come forward in Germany and other countries around the world, saying they were molested by predatory priests. Bishop Williamson's case prompted a rare comment on religious matters by the German chancellor. Angela Merkel called on Pope Benedict to "clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial" that the Nazis killed six million Jews. Williamson has said he wished to apologise to anyone offended by his comments but has refused to retract his assertions, saying only that he would re-examine the historical evidence.

BBC News

NEO-NAZI CUTS DEAL WITH PROSECUTION (Serbia)

A Member of the neo-Nazi organization Nacionalni Stroj has admitted to attacking participants of an anti-fascist forum in Novi Sad. The man, named as Dolf Pospiš, thus made a deal with the prosecution and will spend 16 months in prison. Pospiš admitted to participating in the attack on the forum in Novi Sad in October 2007. According to the deal, which has been accepted by a Novi Sad court with jurisdiction in the case, he will spend 16 months in prison, Public Prosecution Spokesman Tomo Zoriæ confirmed for B92. Several persons sustained minor injuries and several neo-Nazis, including the organization’s leader Goran Davidoviæ, were arrested during the 2007 incident. Davidoviæ is a fugitive recently arrested in Germany, where he was hiding. Serbia has requested his extradition.

B92

Smear complaint by BNP Sedgefield candidate

The BNP candidate for Sedgefield in County Durham has claimed he is the victim of a smear campaign.

Mark Walker said that details of an unemployment tribunal were leaked to the press in a bid to blacken his name.
He was dismissed from his teaching job at Sunnydale Community College in 2008 because of his absenteeism.
He maintained he was sacked because of his BNP membership but an employment tribunal rejected his claim for unfair dismissal in January.
Mr Walker was suspended from his post at Sunnydale Community College in March 2007, after an allegation of misuse of a school computer.

About 18 months later he was sacked on the grounds of his sick record.
He said that he was being discriminated against because he was a member of the BNP and the resultant stress had made him ill.
His case went to an employment tribunal, which ruled in favour of his employers, Durham County Council.

No details were released at the time and Mr Walker described it as "strange" that they should have surfaced in the press so close to the election.

"It is absolutely politically motivated," he said.

"They want to smear my name for the election because I'm standing in Tony Blair's old constituency.

"It's gutter politics."

He added: "I could appeal against the [tribunal's] decision but I've lost my job so cannot afford justice."

Other candidates for Sedgefield so far announced are:

Labour: Phil Wilson; Conservative: Neil Mahapatra; Liberal Democrats: Alan Thompson; UK Independence Party: Brian Gregory.
BBC News

BNP candidate's husband in drugs arrest

THE husband of a BNP Parliamentary candidate is on police bail after being arrested over an alleged drugs offence, The Sentinel can reveal.

Unemployed Clifford Baddeley, aged 49, of Holehouse Road, Abbey Hulton, who is a BNP member, was arrested last month on suspicion of possessing cannabis.

Days later, police also searched the semi-detached house he shares with his wife Melanie.
She is a BNP city councillor who is standing as the party's Parliamentary candidate for the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency.

Mr Baddeley has not been charged with any offences, but remains on police bail while officers complete their investigation.
His wife said yesterday that she was aware of her husband's arrest, but had not told party chiefs about the situation.

The Abbey Green ward member said: "I haven't told the party, because it's nothing to do with me; it's his problem, not mine. I was very upset and annoyed with him when I found out about his arrest, and I still am because I wasn't aware what was happening at the time.

"He is on police bail at the moment and the police did come and search my house, but didn't find anything."

She added: "My husband did smoke cannabis for medical reasons, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm carrying on as normal with my election campaign."
Mr Baddeley admitted that he used to smoke the drug to relieve the pain of chronic arthritis.

He said: "I know that the BNP disapproves of drug use, but I'm more worried about my wife, who is very anti-drugs.

"She works tirelessly for this community, and it's embarrassing for her that I'm in this situation.

"I've stopped using cannabis, and I'm back on medication, although it doesn't work as well."

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's BNP group leader, Councillor Michael Coleman, was shocked to learn of Mr Baddeley's arrest.
But he said the party would still be backing Mrs Baddeley in the run-up to the General Election.

After being contacted by The Sentinel yesterday, he said: "It is shocking and disappointing. Mr Baddeley is a party member.

"I know he has a serious medical problem and is in pain, and that's why he used cannabis. But I don't approve, and the party doesn't approve of people using drugs in that way.

"We condemn these drugs in our communities and we have to condemn this. However, Melanie didn't know about it and we feel it doesn't affect her.

"It will be damaging for us to some degree, but we like Melanie and will be backing her."

Mrs Baddeley was unveiled as the BNP's Parliamentary candidate in Stoke-on-Trent North in January, when party leader Nick Griffin travelled to the city to unveil his election manifesto in Meir.

Staffordshire Police declined to comment on the investigation.
This is Staffordshire

CALL FOR EXCLUSION OF DUTCH ANTI-ISLAM PARTY

A former leader of the Dutch Christian Democrats, 87-year-old Willem Aantjes, has called on his party to rule out coalition talks with the extreme right Freedom Party. Mr Aantjes says the party, led by anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, is undemocratic and not fit to be in a coalition government with the Christian Democrats. The Freedom Party has no members and is accountable to nobody, according to Mr Aantjes. The former leader wants the congress of his party to discuss the issue next week. If it is not put on the agenda, and if the Christian Democrats do not rule out talks with the Freedom Party, Mr Aantjes said he would vote for the radical Christian Union party instead in the 9 June general election. No party is expected to gain an overall majority, so as usual in the Netherlands coalition talks will decide which combination of parties will form the next government.


RNW

HOLOCAUST-DENYING BISHOP WILLIAMSON ABSENT AS TRIAL BEGINS (Germany)

The trial of British bishop Richard Williamson for Holocaust denial began in Regensburg on Friday in a case that has deeply embarrassed the Vatican. The high-profile proceedings opened without Williamson after his breakaway ultra-conservative Catholic fraternity ordered the cleric not to testify, his lawyer said. "Bishop Williamson would gladly have come, but the Saint Pius X Society suggested he did not - to be precise, they forbade him from coming," defence attorney Matthias Lossmann told the court in this southern German city. He was fined 12,000 euros (17,000 dollars) earlier this year for giving an interview in Germany to a Swedish broadcaster in 2009 in which he argued that only "200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps." The bishop also denied there had ever been any gas chambers. A further trial was ordered after he refused to pay. Denying that the Holocaust took place, or questioning key elements, is illegal in Germany and Austria. Williamson, 70, who now lives in London, faces a sentence ranging from a fine to a prison sentence of up to five years if convicted.

Williamson belongs to the Saint Pius X Society, a Swiss-based Catholic fraternity, which appointed him a bishop without the pope's blessing after it broke away from Rome over the Vatican II reforms introduced in 1965. Among the points rejected by the organisation was a declaration, Nostra Aetate, which ended a Church doctrine by which the Jews were held responsible for killing Jesus Christ. Pope Benedict XVI unleashed a deluge of criticism for reversing the excommunication of Williamson and three other bishops in the Saint Pius X Society just days after the bishop made his remarks on the Holocaust. The case prompted a rare comment on religious matters by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called on Pope Benedict to "clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial" the Nazis killed six million Jews. The pope later admitted mistakes in his handling of the case, saying he was unaware of Williamson's latest remarks and that it was "intolerable" to dispute the facts of the Holocaust.

The trial comes amid a ballooning sexual abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church, with hundreds of people coming forward in Germany and other countries around the world saying they were molested by predatory priests. Williamson has said he apologised to anyone offended by his comments but has refused to retract his assertions, saying only that he would re-examine the historical evidence. The court on Friday heard an excerpt of the interview, in which Williamson is heard telling the interviewer: "Be careful, this is against the law in Germany." The bishop was told the interview would be aired only in Sweden, Lossmann told the court, and said Williamson could not be held criminally responsible for the release of the remarks in Germany. "That will be the crux of the case here," he said. "We do not even need to discuss the fact that these remarks are unacceptable, that is completely beside the point." Lossmann added that the bishop had been surprised by a question on the Nazis' slaughter of European Jews at the end of the interview.

AFP