Russia continues to stop and search Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslim readers of Said Nursi's works for literature banned under anti-extremism legislation. However, Forum 18 News Service notes that a new development is the use of the Traffic Police - which is not part of the ordinary police, but is also under the Federal Interior Ministry - to conduct such searches. In another new development, police officers seized a Nursi title which is not one of the banned titles on the Federal List of Extremist Materials. They justified this by claiming that the text is identical to a banned title. A legal case following the seizure is pending. Police refused to tell Forum 18 how they knew that three minibuses they stopped and searched contained Jehovah's Witnesses, or how they knew that a person detained on arrival at Novosibirsk railway station would be carrying translations of works by Said Nursi. In another development, imports of every print edition of two Jehovah's Witness magazines - "The Watchtower" and "Awake!" - and not just editions on the Federal List of Extremist Materials, have been banned in Russia. An official denied to Forum 18 that this is censorship.
Forum 18 News
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu stopped and searched by police EIGHT times
Dr John Sentamu said police should not be able to ask for someone's bank accounts to be frozen merely because they are suspected of terrorism.
The Ugandan-born Archbishop told peers that he had been stopped and searched by officers because he had been suspected of crime, warning that the new asset-freezing law could lead to people losing their money and property just because their faces did not fit.
His warning is likely to carry weight with ministers because of his powerful record both as an opponent of racism and a critic of left-wing 'multiculturalism'.
Dr Sentamu, who is second to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England hierarchy, was speaking in the Lords on the Terrorist Asset-Freezing Bill.
The law, which is not opposed by Labour, would allow the courts to freeze assets on 'reasonable suspicion' that someone is a terrorist, rather than the more demanding rules that there must be a 'reasonable belief' of their involvement in terrorism.
Revealing his experience of being stopped and searched, the Archbishop said: 'When the policeman suddenly realised that I was a bishop, that didn't stop me being stopped and searched.'
And he claimed that such police checks were often on the basis of 'he doesn't look like one of us'.
Calling for automatic judicial review of asset-freezing orders, the Archbishop said that 'otherwise you have no money and your assets have gone'.
'I am not very happy with this very low bar in court.' He told ministers: 'I think you are going in a wrong way.'
Acknowledging terrorism is a 'heinous crime' he added: 'I don't think we need to have a law which almost doesn't say that, when you are taken before a court in this country and people are about to seize your assets, you will know that it has been done justly and not simply on reasonable grounds to suspect.
'And, because terrorism is a crime, should the lawyers who are intending to participate in it also be seen as criminals?'
Dr Sentamu, right, was a member of Sir William Macpherson's inquiry which in 1999 accused the Metropolitan Police of 'institutional racism' in its bungled handling of the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
He has spoken in the past of his view that police unfairly use stop and search powers against people because they are black, and of his own experiences of being stopped.
However he has also defended the record of the British Empire, stood up for British culture against the multiculturalists and criticised migrants who fail to integrate into British life.
His Lords intervention won support from cross-bencher Lord Pannick, a leading QC, who said: 'To freeze a person's assets is a very substantial restriction on their liberty.'
Treasury Commercial Secretary Lord Sassoon said the Government would 'think about' Dr Sentamu's points.
Daily Mail
White students plead guilty in racism video case (South Africa)
Four white former students pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges surrounding a video they made humiliating black university employees in a case prompting bitter protests that racism remains entrenched in South Africa more than a decade after the end of racist white rule.
The men pleaded guilty to charges of illegally and deliberately injuring another person's dignity. The video showed the employees being forced to consume food and drinks that appeared to be tainted with urine. The students later described it instead as a "harmless" liquid.
The court accepted the guilty plea and adjourned to Wednesday for closing arguments from attorneys on sentencing that is unlikely to include imprisonment.
The video, which was shot in 2007 at the University of the Free State some 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Johannesburg, used the university employees to re-enact the initiation rights normally given to students trying to get into the residence hall. The employees included four middle-aged women and one man.
After the video first emerged in 2008, police dispersed stone-throwing students on the sprawling campus and classes were cancelled.
Students Roelof Malherbe and Schalk van der Merwe were banned from the campus and two fellow students living in the university accommodation known as the Reitz men's residence, Danie Grobler and Johnny Roberts, were implicted in making the video after they graduated and had left the campus.
The men's residence was also shut down after video received worldwide publicity.
The university in the city of Bloemfontein has been regarded as a bastion for Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers who are often most closely linked with white apartheid rule.
Commentary on the video in the Afrikaans language included sarcastic references to the university's policy of integrating the campus dorms years after the end of apartheid.
Black students make up 60 percent of the Free State university's 25,000-strong student body. Most of the support staff are black but the teaching staff are mainly white.
Multiracial elections in 1994 ended decades of white rule in South Africa but racial undercurrents remained strong.
Amid tensions on the campus in 2008, lawyers for the students said although it appeared as if the food had been urinated on, a "harmless" liquid had been squirted from a bottle.
Apologizing in the statement, two of the students said they had been "crucified as racists" and regretted making the film, meant as a "satirical slant" on the issue of racial integration at the university hostels.
In a sign of the gravity of the case, South Africa's most senior prosecutor, Johan Kruger, appeared for the state Tuesday. Renowned defense attorney Kemp J. Kemp, who represented Jacob Zuma before he took office as president last year, represented the students. Prosecutors dropped the corruption charges against Zuma.
Associated Press
The men pleaded guilty to charges of illegally and deliberately injuring another person's dignity. The video showed the employees being forced to consume food and drinks that appeared to be tainted with urine. The students later described it instead as a "harmless" liquid.
The court accepted the guilty plea and adjourned to Wednesday for closing arguments from attorneys on sentencing that is unlikely to include imprisonment.
The video, which was shot in 2007 at the University of the Free State some 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Johannesburg, used the university employees to re-enact the initiation rights normally given to students trying to get into the residence hall. The employees included four middle-aged women and one man.
After the video first emerged in 2008, police dispersed stone-throwing students on the sprawling campus and classes were cancelled.
Students Roelof Malherbe and Schalk van der Merwe were banned from the campus and two fellow students living in the university accommodation known as the Reitz men's residence, Danie Grobler and Johnny Roberts, were implicted in making the video after they graduated and had left the campus.
The men's residence was also shut down after video received worldwide publicity.
The university in the city of Bloemfontein has been regarded as a bastion for Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers who are often most closely linked with white apartheid rule.
Commentary on the video in the Afrikaans language included sarcastic references to the university's policy of integrating the campus dorms years after the end of apartheid.
Black students make up 60 percent of the Free State university's 25,000-strong student body. Most of the support staff are black but the teaching staff are mainly white.
Multiracial elections in 1994 ended decades of white rule in South Africa but racial undercurrents remained strong.
Amid tensions on the campus in 2008, lawyers for the students said although it appeared as if the food had been urinated on, a "harmless" liquid had been squirted from a bottle.
Apologizing in the statement, two of the students said they had been "crucified as racists" and regretted making the film, meant as a "satirical slant" on the issue of racial integration at the university hostels.
In a sign of the gravity of the case, South Africa's most senior prosecutor, Johan Kruger, appeared for the state Tuesday. Renowned defense attorney Kemp J. Kemp, who represented Jacob Zuma before he took office as president last year, represented the students. Prosecutors dropped the corruption charges against Zuma.
Associated Press
Muslim leaders call on communities to prevent all groups 'disrupting peace' (UK)
Bradford’s Council for Mosques has backed the Telegraph & Argus campaign supporting calls for a ban on a proposed English Defence League rally in the city.
The EDL has planned to flood the streets with thousands of supporters during August Bank Holiday weekend.
Today, Muslim leaders in Bradford called on all of the city’s diverse communities to stop any groups “disrupting the peace”.
A spokesman for the Council for Mosques said in a statement: “All communities in Bradford must unite to say that EDL or other organisations of its type are not wanted in Bradford.”
He said that the Council for Mosques was united in its determination to keep such elements out of neighbourhoods and the city.
“EDL is committed to disrupting the peace and harmony of our neighbourhoods, towns and cities,” he added. “They do this through propaganda, which encourages and incites racial and religious hatred, and by setting communities against each other. We must not allow ourselves to be drawn into their web of hatred.”
The Council for Mosques is working with Bradford Council, West Yorkshire Police and Bradford District Faith Forum, as well as voluntary groups, to make people aware of EDL tactics.
A campaign against the rally has been started by groups under the Bradford Together Banner and is backed by politicians in the city, business and faith leaders, academics and members of the public.
Khadim Hussain, president of the Council for Mosques, said: “Some people may think that EDL is only targeting Muslims and that therefore they should not get involved.
“The EDL is against everyone who does not fit into their misguided and false definition of what constitutes Britishness.
“This time its Muslim; next time it will be someone else. Therefore, let us work together – Muslim, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, humanists – to say to EDL: ‘We are not interested in your type of politics’.”
The Telegraph and Argus
The EDL has planned to flood the streets with thousands of supporters during August Bank Holiday weekend.
Today, Muslim leaders in Bradford called on all of the city’s diverse communities to stop any groups “disrupting the peace”.
A spokesman for the Council for Mosques said in a statement: “All communities in Bradford must unite to say that EDL or other organisations of its type are not wanted in Bradford.”
He said that the Council for Mosques was united in its determination to keep such elements out of neighbourhoods and the city.
“EDL is committed to disrupting the peace and harmony of our neighbourhoods, towns and cities,” he added. “They do this through propaganda, which encourages and incites racial and religious hatred, and by setting communities against each other. We must not allow ourselves to be drawn into their web of hatred.”
The Council for Mosques is working with Bradford Council, West Yorkshire Police and Bradford District Faith Forum, as well as voluntary groups, to make people aware of EDL tactics.
A campaign against the rally has been started by groups under the Bradford Together Banner and is backed by politicians in the city, business and faith leaders, academics and members of the public.
Khadim Hussain, president of the Council for Mosques, said: “Some people may think that EDL is only targeting Muslims and that therefore they should not get involved.
“The EDL is against everyone who does not fit into their misguided and false definition of what constitutes Britishness.
“This time its Muslim; next time it will be someone else. Therefore, let us work together – Muslim, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, humanists – to say to EDL: ‘We are not interested in your type of politics’.”
The Telegraph and Argus
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Russian court sentences 14 neo-Nazis to jail
A court in central Russia has sentenced a neo-Nazi leader to life in jail and imprisoned 13 others for four hate killings and multiple assaults.
The Tver city court said in a statement Tuesday that 22-year-old Dmitry Orlov led a cell of the Russian National Unity, a once-powerful organization that since 1990 has actively advocated white supremacy and Orthodox Christian fundamentalism.
It says the other defendants, including three teenagers, received sentences of between 3 1/2 and 17 years.
In addition to the attacks, the court says, the defendants also owned arms and extremist literature and desecrated Muslim and Jewish cemeteries.
The Kremlin has recently cracked down on ultranationalists amid a spike in ethnic violence and killings of non-Slavs: mostly labor migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Associated Press
More about this story as we get it.
The Tver city court said in a statement Tuesday that 22-year-old Dmitry Orlov led a cell of the Russian National Unity, a once-powerful organization that since 1990 has actively advocated white supremacy and Orthodox Christian fundamentalism.
It says the other defendants, including three teenagers, received sentences of between 3 1/2 and 17 years.
In addition to the attacks, the court says, the defendants also owned arms and extremist literature and desecrated Muslim and Jewish cemeteries.
The Kremlin has recently cracked down on ultranationalists amid a spike in ethnic violence and killings of non-Slavs: mostly labor migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Associated Press
More about this story as we get it.
EDL members arrested over Bournemouth mosque bomb plot fears (UK)
Armed police opened fire during an operation to arrest members of the controversial far-right English Defence League, who were feared to be masterminding an attack at a Bournemouth mosque.
Marksmen shot the tyres out on a van belonging to John Broomfield, who describes himself as Dorset EDL head, as he drove alone through Corfe Castle.
He and six others were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion at a Bournemouth mosque.
All seven, including at least six EDL members, have since been released without charge.
Armed officers pounced from an unmarked car close to the Norden roundabout as 27-year-old Mr Broomfield, from Swanage, drove home from work around 5pm.
They used special rapid tyre deflation rounds, fired from a shotgun, to disable his vehicle.
Officers, including specialised forensic experts, then swooped on his Bell Street home, removing clothes, computer equipment, mobile phones and passports.
The suspects were held at Poole police station and a police station in Southampton, following last Thursday’s arrests.
The English Defence League is a contentious group that has been leading “anti-Muslim extremism” demonstrations around England since 2009.
Thousands of people have attended its protests – many of which have involved racist and Islamophobic chanting.
However, organisers insist it is not a racist organisation.
A number of violent clashes have also taken place at EDL demonstrations since the group first emerged in Luton last year.
In a statement to the Daily Echo, Mr Broomfield said: “While travelling home from work I was stopped and arrested by armed police. I was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion at a Bournemouth mosque.
“Five other members of the EDL were also arrested and held for 24 hours for questioning while searches of their homes took place. Then all of us were released without charge.
“There has been no conspiracy.
“There has never been any conspiracy. The EDL is not a terrorist organisation.”
A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “Dorset Police can confirm that as part of an investigation surrounding threats to a Bournemouth mosque a total of seven people were arrested for conspiracy to cause an explosion.
“Following an investigation police can now confirm these people have been released without charge.
“We can also confirm that one of the people arrested was detained safely by armed officers in the Corfe Castle area.
“We’ve been working very closely with the Muslim community since last Thursday and our local safer neighbourhood teams have been providing advice and reassurance throughout.
“At this stage there is no indication whatsoever that any of the mosques in Dorset are under threat of attack.”
Bournmouth Echo
Marksmen shot the tyres out on a van belonging to John Broomfield, who describes himself as Dorset EDL head, as he drove alone through Corfe Castle.
He and six others were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion at a Bournemouth mosque.
All seven, including at least six EDL members, have since been released without charge.
Armed officers pounced from an unmarked car close to the Norden roundabout as 27-year-old Mr Broomfield, from Swanage, drove home from work around 5pm.
They used special rapid tyre deflation rounds, fired from a shotgun, to disable his vehicle.
Officers, including specialised forensic experts, then swooped on his Bell Street home, removing clothes, computer equipment, mobile phones and passports.
The suspects were held at Poole police station and a police station in Southampton, following last Thursday’s arrests.
The English Defence League is a contentious group that has been leading “anti-Muslim extremism” demonstrations around England since 2009.
Thousands of people have attended its protests – many of which have involved racist and Islamophobic chanting.
However, organisers insist it is not a racist organisation.
A number of violent clashes have also taken place at EDL demonstrations since the group first emerged in Luton last year.
In a statement to the Daily Echo, Mr Broomfield said: “While travelling home from work I was stopped and arrested by armed police. I was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion at a Bournemouth mosque.
“Five other members of the EDL were also arrested and held for 24 hours for questioning while searches of their homes took place. Then all of us were released without charge.
“There has been no conspiracy.
“There has never been any conspiracy. The EDL is not a terrorist organisation.”
A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “Dorset Police can confirm that as part of an investigation surrounding threats to a Bournemouth mosque a total of seven people were arrested for conspiracy to cause an explosion.
“Following an investigation police can now confirm these people have been released without charge.
“We can also confirm that one of the people arrested was detained safely by armed officers in the Corfe Castle area.
“We’ve been working very closely with the Muslim community since last Thursday and our local safer neighbourhood teams have been providing advice and reassurance throughout.
“At this stage there is no indication whatsoever that any of the mosques in Dorset are under threat of attack.”
Bournmouth Echo
Paranoid Politics: The Denial of Islamophobia (USA)
Imagine a fairly widespread, fairly mainstream ethos in which politicians, pundits, and academics convened to denigrate practitioners of Christianity or Judaism. Imagine that these commentators picked apart the New or Old Testament to find its most heinous contents, then used those phrases to justify their hatred and distrust. Imagine a world in which this was utterly acceptable, even encouraged. Now turn on your television.
The debate over the proposed Muslim community center near Ground Zero and the more recent community mobilization against a Muslim group's attempted purchase of a vacant convent in Staten Island are indicative of the unhealthy Islamophobia that has taken root in right-wing American politics. Far from being a fact-based movement, its leaders and thinkers propagate falsehoods and myths towards the discriminatory goal of silencing Muslims in America.
This type of race and religion-baiting politics is not at all new. The tactics and orientation of those opposing Muslim-American institutions bring to mind what Richard Hofstadter called "the paranoid style in American politics." Hofstadter, writing in 1964, described the hallmarks of this style: "heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy."
The idea that a vast Muslim conspiracy exists to take over the United States and Europe from within is simply ridiculous. Yet it serves as the grounds for their opposition to the freedom of American Muslims to practice their religion in their own communities, such as Staten Island.
The inherent suspiciousness of the anti-Islam movement is so rich that its participants are unable to reconcile the contradiction between their narrative of secretive Islamic terrorists pursuing "jihad" and the high-profile, publicly conciliatory moves such as the Cordoba Initiative's efforts to purchase a building near Ground Zero and convert it into a public community center. In opposing both the secretive and the public display of Muslimness, they reveal that their actual goal is simply the silencing of Muslims in America. This is most clearly displayed in the way they claim to only target militant extremists, and then proceed to include the most mainstream and popular Muslim organizations in that category.
Within their narrative of a hateful religion bent on the destruction of the West, opposing any form of Islam in America comes out as justifiable. However, it closes them off to the actual practices and beliefs of the vast majority of Muslims in the United States and the world. They are intentionally ignorant because, as Hofstadter wrote, "The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms -- he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values." Though Hofstadter wrote of fears over Masonic and Jesuit conspiracies, his descriptions are easily applied to the anti-Islam movement.
It is ironic that in Staten Island so many Catholic parishioners sought to block the sale of an empty convent to the Muslim American Society (MAS) because they feared the spread of Islamic extremism, or what one group crudely calls "the Islamization of America." They contend that MAS is the "public face" of the Muslim Brotherhood despite the fact that both organizations deny a link and none has been found by America's now 900,000-strong intelligence community. Such flimsy evidence is common to the paranoid crowd.
A case about which Hofstadter wrote was the trend of anti-Catholicism in 19th century America, which took the form of heightened suspicion of Jesuits. It was in much the same manner as today's suspicion of Muslims. Hofstadter cites the example of an 1855 Texas newspaper article, which read, "It is a notorious fact that the Monarchs of Europe and the Pope of Rome are at this very moment plotting our destruction and threatening the extinction of our political, civil, and religious institutions."
Such rhetoric is never entirely without evidence. Participants in the anti-Islam movement are often quick to point to the 9/11 attacks, as well as subsequent attacks around the world, as justification for their hatred of Islam. The evidence of linkage is often weak. They may cite these attacks as reasons for denying the sale of the convent without showing that MAS was responsible for any.
The Islamophobe is unable to deal with complexity. They do not mention the fact that numerous Muslims died as victims of the 9/11 attacks, that Muslims have been in the United States for hundreds of years, and that the vast majority of American Muslims condemned the attacks on civilians as contradictory to the tenets of Islam.
They even go to the extent of denying the most clearly formed and documented counter-evidence. For example, in a recent debate over the proposed mosque on Staten Island on Russia Today's Alyona Show, Pamela Geller--a blogger and self-styled "expert" on Islam and jihad--claimed that backlash against Muslims in the United States following the events of September 11, 2001 has been "non-existent":
"there is no Muslim backlash...that's part of this Islamic narrative...you cannot cite any hate crimes...there have been no hate crimes...America has gone out of her way to make sure that there is no backlash."
In reality, hate crimes perpetrated against Muslims since 2001 and particularly in the years immediately following are well-documented. Just three years after the attacks, a report by the Council on American-Islamic relations found that in 2004, more than 1,500 hundred cases of anti-Muslim harassment and violence occurred, including 141 documented hate crimes, a fifty percent increase from the 2003.
Nine years after the attacks, the attitude toward Muslims in America that allows such attacks to continue, an attitude perpetuated by bloggers like Geller, show no signs of abating. According to a February 2010 report from the The United States Department of Justice, its Civil Rights division, along with the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys offices, have investigated "over 800 incidents since 9/11 involving violence, threats, vandalism and arson against Arab-Americans, Muslims, Sikhs, South-Asian Americans and other individuals perceived to be of Middle Eastern origin."
Geller is by no means alone in her attempts to deny the existence of Islamophobia. Though Tea Party leader Mark Williams was recently ousted for his racist diatribe directed at the NAACP, comments made months earlier in which he referred to Muslims as worshipping a "monkey god," went almost unnoticed by the media. Right-wing pundit Pat Robertson has regularly referred to Islam as a "fascist group" on television, and academic Daniel Pipes has denied the existence of Islamophobia entirely, asking:
"What exactly constitutes an "undue fear of Islam" when Muslims acting in the name of Islam today make up the premier source of worldwide aggression, both verbal and physical, versus non-Muslims and Muslims alike? What, one wonders, is the proper amount of fear?"
Even the Wikipedia article for "Islamophobia" contains an entire section on the debate surrounding the term. Of course, Wikipedia is a crowdsourced project, but perhaps that makes it all the more telling, and reflective of popular opinion. The page for "anti-Semitism" contains no debate, nor is it likely that any would be accepted by the public; while anti-Semitism means, rightly, social death, Islamophobia might get you a television spot, a column in a newspaper, or academic tenure.
In the paranoid Islamophobic mind, Islam is the perpetrator. Thus, Muslims cannot be victims. Islam is a monolith, acting in coordination towards the nefarious end of overturning Western civilization, according to their paranoid schema. So how could Muslims be anything but ill-willed? How could they be victims of any backlash when the West equals civilization and Islam so clearly conflicts with that idea? Were these views merely flights of personal fantasy, they would be harmless. The danger is that they have become part of the mainstream and are denying the freedom of Muslims to practice their religion, a freedom enshrined in the Constitution.
Luckily, significant portions of Americans who work or study with, live next to, or otherwise interact with, American Muslims, reject the simplistic hate-mongering of these groups. However, if Islamophobes really believe Muslims are a grave threat, the kind of post-9/11 violent backlash against them will grow.
Hofstadter would even predict that Islamophobes, like other paranoid movements in the past, would become more like the enemy they project. He pointed out that the "Ku Klux Klan imitated Catholicism to the point of donning priestly vestments, developing an elaborate ritual and an equally elaborate hierarchy." Also, the John Birch Society emulated "Communist cells and quasi-secret operation through 'front' groups, and preache[d] a ruthless prosecution of the ideological war along lines very similar to those it finds in the Communist enemy."
The best hope is that Islamophobia be pushed back into the fringes and local and federal authorities aggressively prosecute anti-Muslim violence and discrimination. Concerned communities should engage in dialogue with Muslims and their organizations, and learn more about them, rather than rely on the types of prejudices and paranoia being hawked by Islamophobes.
Jillian York Huffington Post
The debate over the proposed Muslim community center near Ground Zero and the more recent community mobilization against a Muslim group's attempted purchase of a vacant convent in Staten Island are indicative of the unhealthy Islamophobia that has taken root in right-wing American politics. Far from being a fact-based movement, its leaders and thinkers propagate falsehoods and myths towards the discriminatory goal of silencing Muslims in America.
This type of race and religion-baiting politics is not at all new. The tactics and orientation of those opposing Muslim-American institutions bring to mind what Richard Hofstadter called "the paranoid style in American politics." Hofstadter, writing in 1964, described the hallmarks of this style: "heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy."
The idea that a vast Muslim conspiracy exists to take over the United States and Europe from within is simply ridiculous. Yet it serves as the grounds for their opposition to the freedom of American Muslims to practice their religion in their own communities, such as Staten Island.
The inherent suspiciousness of the anti-Islam movement is so rich that its participants are unable to reconcile the contradiction between their narrative of secretive Islamic terrorists pursuing "jihad" and the high-profile, publicly conciliatory moves such as the Cordoba Initiative's efforts to purchase a building near Ground Zero and convert it into a public community center. In opposing both the secretive and the public display of Muslimness, they reveal that their actual goal is simply the silencing of Muslims in America. This is most clearly displayed in the way they claim to only target militant extremists, and then proceed to include the most mainstream and popular Muslim organizations in that category.
Within their narrative of a hateful religion bent on the destruction of the West, opposing any form of Islam in America comes out as justifiable. However, it closes them off to the actual practices and beliefs of the vast majority of Muslims in the United States and the world. They are intentionally ignorant because, as Hofstadter wrote, "The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms -- he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values." Though Hofstadter wrote of fears over Masonic and Jesuit conspiracies, his descriptions are easily applied to the anti-Islam movement.
It is ironic that in Staten Island so many Catholic parishioners sought to block the sale of an empty convent to the Muslim American Society (MAS) because they feared the spread of Islamic extremism, or what one group crudely calls "the Islamization of America." They contend that MAS is the "public face" of the Muslim Brotherhood despite the fact that both organizations deny a link and none has been found by America's now 900,000-strong intelligence community. Such flimsy evidence is common to the paranoid crowd.
A case about which Hofstadter wrote was the trend of anti-Catholicism in 19th century America, which took the form of heightened suspicion of Jesuits. It was in much the same manner as today's suspicion of Muslims. Hofstadter cites the example of an 1855 Texas newspaper article, which read, "It is a notorious fact that the Monarchs of Europe and the Pope of Rome are at this very moment plotting our destruction and threatening the extinction of our political, civil, and religious institutions."
Such rhetoric is never entirely without evidence. Participants in the anti-Islam movement are often quick to point to the 9/11 attacks, as well as subsequent attacks around the world, as justification for their hatred of Islam. The evidence of linkage is often weak. They may cite these attacks as reasons for denying the sale of the convent without showing that MAS was responsible for any.
The Islamophobe is unable to deal with complexity. They do not mention the fact that numerous Muslims died as victims of the 9/11 attacks, that Muslims have been in the United States for hundreds of years, and that the vast majority of American Muslims condemned the attacks on civilians as contradictory to the tenets of Islam.
They even go to the extent of denying the most clearly formed and documented counter-evidence. For example, in a recent debate over the proposed mosque on Staten Island on Russia Today's Alyona Show, Pamela Geller--a blogger and self-styled "expert" on Islam and jihad--claimed that backlash against Muslims in the United States following the events of September 11, 2001 has been "non-existent":
"there is no Muslim backlash...that's part of this Islamic narrative...you cannot cite any hate crimes...there have been no hate crimes...America has gone out of her way to make sure that there is no backlash."
In reality, hate crimes perpetrated against Muslims since 2001 and particularly in the years immediately following are well-documented. Just three years after the attacks, a report by the Council on American-Islamic relations found that in 2004, more than 1,500 hundred cases of anti-Muslim harassment and violence occurred, including 141 documented hate crimes, a fifty percent increase from the 2003.
Nine years after the attacks, the attitude toward Muslims in America that allows such attacks to continue, an attitude perpetuated by bloggers like Geller, show no signs of abating. According to a February 2010 report from the The United States Department of Justice, its Civil Rights division, along with the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys offices, have investigated "over 800 incidents since 9/11 involving violence, threats, vandalism and arson against Arab-Americans, Muslims, Sikhs, South-Asian Americans and other individuals perceived to be of Middle Eastern origin."
Geller is by no means alone in her attempts to deny the existence of Islamophobia. Though Tea Party leader Mark Williams was recently ousted for his racist diatribe directed at the NAACP, comments made months earlier in which he referred to Muslims as worshipping a "monkey god," went almost unnoticed by the media. Right-wing pundit Pat Robertson has regularly referred to Islam as a "fascist group" on television, and academic Daniel Pipes has denied the existence of Islamophobia entirely, asking:
"What exactly constitutes an "undue fear of Islam" when Muslims acting in the name of Islam today make up the premier source of worldwide aggression, both verbal and physical, versus non-Muslims and Muslims alike? What, one wonders, is the proper amount of fear?"
Even the Wikipedia article for "Islamophobia" contains an entire section on the debate surrounding the term. Of course, Wikipedia is a crowdsourced project, but perhaps that makes it all the more telling, and reflective of popular opinion. The page for "anti-Semitism" contains no debate, nor is it likely that any would be accepted by the public; while anti-Semitism means, rightly, social death, Islamophobia might get you a television spot, a column in a newspaper, or academic tenure.
In the paranoid Islamophobic mind, Islam is the perpetrator. Thus, Muslims cannot be victims. Islam is a monolith, acting in coordination towards the nefarious end of overturning Western civilization, according to their paranoid schema. So how could Muslims be anything but ill-willed? How could they be victims of any backlash when the West equals civilization and Islam so clearly conflicts with that idea? Were these views merely flights of personal fantasy, they would be harmless. The danger is that they have become part of the mainstream and are denying the freedom of Muslims to practice their religion, a freedom enshrined in the Constitution.
Luckily, significant portions of Americans who work or study with, live next to, or otherwise interact with, American Muslims, reject the simplistic hate-mongering of these groups. However, if Islamophobes really believe Muslims are a grave threat, the kind of post-9/11 violent backlash against them will grow.
Hofstadter would even predict that Islamophobes, like other paranoid movements in the past, would become more like the enemy they project. He pointed out that the "Ku Klux Klan imitated Catholicism to the point of donning priestly vestments, developing an elaborate ritual and an equally elaborate hierarchy." Also, the John Birch Society emulated "Communist cells and quasi-secret operation through 'front' groups, and preache[d] a ruthless prosecution of the ideological war along lines very similar to those it finds in the Communist enemy."
The best hope is that Islamophobia be pushed back into the fringes and local and federal authorities aggressively prosecute anti-Muslim violence and discrimination. Concerned communities should engage in dialogue with Muslims and their organizations, and learn more about them, rather than rely on the types of prejudices and paranoia being hawked by Islamophobes.
Jillian York Huffington Post
Filmmaker Oliver Stone slammed for anti-Semitism (USA)
The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League on Monday slammed filmmaker Oliver Stone for comments he made to The Sunday Times of London, calling the film director's views "anti-Semitic."
Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, said: "Oliver Stone has once again shown his conspiratorial colors with his comments about 'Jewish domination of the media' and control over U.S. foreign policy. His words conjure up some of the most stereotypical and conspiratorial notions of undue Jewish power and influence."
The ADL said Stone used an old stereotype "in a particularly egregious fashion by suggesting that Hitler has gotten an unfair shake because of Jewish influence."
When asked in an interview with the Sunday Times of London why he focused on the Holocaust in his latest filmmaking project, Stone replied: "The Jewish domination of the media."
He added: "They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years."
Late Monday Stone issued an apology.
"In trying to make a broader point about the range of atrocities the Germans committed against many people, I made a clumsy association about the Holocaust, for which I am sorry and I regret," Stone said in a statement."
"Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry," the statement said. "The fact that the Holocaust is still a very important, vivid and current matter today is, in fact, a great credit to the very hard work of a broad coalition to the remembrance of this atrocity -- and it was an atrocity."
This isn't the first time Stone has made controversial comments about the Holocaust. In January, he characterized Hitler as an "easy scapegoat" in a presentation to television critics in support of his upcoming Showtime miniseries "Oliver Stone's Secret History of America."
Yahoo News
Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, said: "Oliver Stone has once again shown his conspiratorial colors with his comments about 'Jewish domination of the media' and control over U.S. foreign policy. His words conjure up some of the most stereotypical and conspiratorial notions of undue Jewish power and influence."
The ADL said Stone used an old stereotype "in a particularly egregious fashion by suggesting that Hitler has gotten an unfair shake because of Jewish influence."
When asked in an interview with the Sunday Times of London why he focused on the Holocaust in his latest filmmaking project, Stone replied: "The Jewish domination of the media."
He added: "They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years."
Late Monday Stone issued an apology.
"In trying to make a broader point about the range of atrocities the Germans committed against many people, I made a clumsy association about the Holocaust, for which I am sorry and I regret," Stone said in a statement."
"Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry," the statement said. "The fact that the Holocaust is still a very important, vivid and current matter today is, in fact, a great credit to the very hard work of a broad coalition to the remembrance of this atrocity -- and it was an atrocity."
This isn't the first time Stone has made controversial comments about the Holocaust. In January, he characterized Hitler as an "easy scapegoat" in a presentation to television critics in support of his upcoming Showtime miniseries "Oliver Stone's Secret History of America."
Yahoo News
Monday, 26 July 2010
Boss of city right-wing group Exeter's English Defence League quits
THE chairman of Exeter's English Defence League has resigned after being caught up in violent clashes between police and right-wing protesters.
Jim Myers, 43, a door supervisor in the city, sparked controversy by saying Britain needed to follow the French lead and ban the burka.
But he has decided to stand down after last weekend's protest over a planned £18million mosque which left the people of Dudley, West Midlands, with a damage bill for £150,000.
Mr Myers, who lives in St Thomas, had, along with 13 other Exeter EDL members, taken a minibus from Cowick Street to join about 600 EDL protesters from across the country.
They were corralled in a car park but a group of about 200 protesters broke through the gates and clashed with lines of police and vans.
Bricks and cans were thrown at officers, forcing them to change into riot gear, and police dogs were brought in as a back-up. After a ten-minute stand-off with police, the protesters returned to the car park.
Houses and cars were damaged, missiles were hurled at officers and steel fences were pulled down.
Mr Myers, who, along with the Exeter contingent, was not involved in any of the disorder, said: "I was left really disgusted by what I saw in Dudley — from both sides, police and a minority of the protesters.
"There are always troublemakers who will latch on to a protest, whatever it is, and some tempers got heated.
"After what happened, I have decided to resign as Exeter chairman. We will have a meeting in August to see where we go from here."
Mr Myers also revealed that his hopes of holding a 9/11 memorial march through Exeter on September 11 had been dropped.
"I have spoken to the police, with whom I have a good relationship, and I have been told they would oppose such a march," he said. "We had hoped to remember those killed in the 9/11 tragedy."
He also indicated that he would not support a protest at the city's York Road mosque, which he admitted was being considered by EDL members.
The Muslim community in Exeter is said to be frightened at talk that the group — which has seen several of its demonstrations across the country end in violence — would target the mosque in York Road.
Formed just over a year ago, the EDL claims to be against "Islamic fundamentalists" but its opponents said targeting a mosque with no recognised link to terrorism was proof of the group's overall anti-Muslim agenda.
A South West division member says in a posting on the group's Facebook site: "I think a protest is due in Exeter at the mosque."
He then incorrectly states: "The council have given £3million to refurbish it and extremists use this mosque as it's out of the public eye.
"Exeter has had an attempted bomb attack and we don't want another. So please let's make this happen."
In fact, the mosque relies on public donations and the bomber who targeted the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter, Nicky Reilly, was influenced by extremists in Plymouth.
Lizi Allnatt, of the Exeter division of the Unite Against Fascism group, said: "Why have a demonstration at the mosque? It is like a church and is not a place that fundamentalists go to use. It is for everyday, ordinary Muslims. The Muslim community is quite rightly frightened at such a prospect."
SouthWest Business
Jim Myers, 43, a door supervisor in the city, sparked controversy by saying Britain needed to follow the French lead and ban the burka.
But he has decided to stand down after last weekend's protest over a planned £18million mosque which left the people of Dudley, West Midlands, with a damage bill for £150,000.
Mr Myers, who lives in St Thomas, had, along with 13 other Exeter EDL members, taken a minibus from Cowick Street to join about 600 EDL protesters from across the country.
They were corralled in a car park but a group of about 200 protesters broke through the gates and clashed with lines of police and vans.
Bricks and cans were thrown at officers, forcing them to change into riot gear, and police dogs were brought in as a back-up. After a ten-minute stand-off with police, the protesters returned to the car park.
Houses and cars were damaged, missiles were hurled at officers and steel fences were pulled down.
Mr Myers, who, along with the Exeter contingent, was not involved in any of the disorder, said: "I was left really disgusted by what I saw in Dudley — from both sides, police and a minority of the protesters.
"There are always troublemakers who will latch on to a protest, whatever it is, and some tempers got heated.
"After what happened, I have decided to resign as Exeter chairman. We will have a meeting in August to see where we go from here."
Mr Myers also revealed that his hopes of holding a 9/11 memorial march through Exeter on September 11 had been dropped.
"I have spoken to the police, with whom I have a good relationship, and I have been told they would oppose such a march," he said. "We had hoped to remember those killed in the 9/11 tragedy."
He also indicated that he would not support a protest at the city's York Road mosque, which he admitted was being considered by EDL members.
The Muslim community in Exeter is said to be frightened at talk that the group — which has seen several of its demonstrations across the country end in violence — would target the mosque in York Road.
Formed just over a year ago, the EDL claims to be against "Islamic fundamentalists" but its opponents said targeting a mosque with no recognised link to terrorism was proof of the group's overall anti-Muslim agenda.
A South West division member says in a posting on the group's Facebook site: "I think a protest is due in Exeter at the mosque."
He then incorrectly states: "The council have given £3million to refurbish it and extremists use this mosque as it's out of the public eye.
"Exeter has had an attempted bomb attack and we don't want another. So please let's make this happen."
In fact, the mosque relies on public donations and the bomber who targeted the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter, Nicky Reilly, was influenced by extremists in Plymouth.
Lizi Allnatt, of the Exeter division of the Unite Against Fascism group, said: "Why have a demonstration at the mosque? It is like a church and is not a place that fundamentalists go to use. It is for everyday, ordinary Muslims. The Muslim community is quite rightly frightened at such a prospect."
SouthWest Business
Minister to ban NPD members from running child care facilities
Politicians in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania hope that a new proposal will prevent private child care centres from being run by neo-Nazis or members of the far-right NPD party, a media report said on Monday.
According to the proposal put forward by state minister for social affairs Manuela Schwesig, those responsible for starting new day care centres or kindergartens must be able to show that their activities are constitutional, daily Ostsee Zeitung reported.
“I’m bothered by the worry that right-wing extremists could become kindergarten leaders,” Schwesig, who is also the deputy leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), told the paper.
Only after it was demonstrated that the facility proprietors did not belong to any far-right organisations would they be allowed to care for children, the paper said. Such scrutiny would be unprecedented in Germany’s northeastern states,
Schwesig's proposal follows the revelation in February that an NPD member tried to take over a child care centre in Bartow. When the tiny town of 550 began searching for a new owner for a local kindergarten, the town council was only barely able to prevent it from being taken on by an NPD member.
The Local Germany
According to the proposal put forward by state minister for social affairs Manuela Schwesig, those responsible for starting new day care centres or kindergartens must be able to show that their activities are constitutional, daily Ostsee Zeitung reported.
“I’m bothered by the worry that right-wing extremists could become kindergarten leaders,” Schwesig, who is also the deputy leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), told the paper.
Only after it was demonstrated that the facility proprietors did not belong to any far-right organisations would they be allowed to care for children, the paper said. Such scrutiny would be unprecedented in Germany’s northeastern states,
Schwesig's proposal follows the revelation in February that an NPD member tried to take over a child care centre in Bartow. When the tiny town of 550 began searching for a new owner for a local kindergarten, the town council was only barely able to prevent it from being taken on by an NPD member.
The Local Germany
TOWN BATTLES IMAGE AS NEO-NAZI STRONGHOLD (Germany)
In theory, Gerti Töpfer should be celebrating these days. Töpfer, who is the mayor of the small town of Riesa in the eastern German state of Saxony and a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is being feted all over Germany for her efforts to combat right-wing extremism. The 56-year-old mayor seems stressed, however, as she sinks into a white leather chair for an interview in her office in Riesa's town hall, where a sign in the stairwell reads "Diversity Is Good." Töpfer explains that the phone in the town hall has been ringing off the hook ever since it was announced that a Riesa street was, as a result of her initiative, going to be renamed after Hans and Sophie Scholl, young members of a resistance movement in Nazi Germany who were executed and have become folk heroes in modern-day Germany. People have been calling the mayor to congratulate her on her courageous action. The move is regarded as a particularly brave step because Deutsche Stimme, the publishing house of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), is located on that very street. The right-wing extremist publisher would hence be forced to incorporate the names of anti-Nazi resistance fighters in its letterhead. A nice coup for the mayor, it would seem. Indeed, Töpfer is pleased about the sudden attention. The only problem is that very few callers are interested in what else she has achieved for the town over the past seven years. All they care about is the fact that Riesa is an NPD stronghold. "It's annoying," Töpfer says, suddenly looking tired.
Bitter History
The story of Riesa and the NPD is a long and bitter one. Deutsche Stimme has been publishing the NPD party newspaper of the same name, which consists largely of incitement against immigrants, in the town for the past 10 years. The publisher also has a mail order business called the "National Department Store" offering, among other things, replica aviator watches from the Nazi era. Prominent NPD politicians such as Holger Apfel and Jürgen Gansel have moved their offices to Riesa. Their wives, meanwhile, have apparently been trying to infiltrate voluntary organizations for children and young people in the town. The town is set to elect a new mayor on Aug. 22, and Töpfer is running for reelection. The issue of the far-right has divided the local political parties. Töpfer herself seems to have no idea how to address the far-right in her election campaign, apparently out of fear of damaging the town's reputation. In her election program, there is not a single line about the NPD politicians or the Deutsche Stimme publishing house.
Below the Belt
Journalist and blogger Thomas Trappe, however, believes that the town's problems should be openly acknowledged -- something that has caused him to fall out with the mayor. The 29-year-old writes about the NPD on his personal blog about Riesa, in an attempt to demystify far-right agitators like Gansel and Apfel who try to cultivate a respectable image. Töpfer, however, sees Trappe as someone who lacks sensitivity for the town. Many of his blog entries were below the belt, she says. "You can tell that he does not come from Riesa." Trappe's blog was nominated this year for the prestigious Grimme Online Award. On his blog, Trappe describes, without mincing his words, just how helpless the democratic parties and the administration are in their efforts to deal with the NPD. Recently he made fun of a CDU politician who apparently replied to e-mails from the NPD with the single word "asshole." Trappe is sitting in a café in Riesa's renovated pedestrian zone, sipping a Coke. Most of the town's residents have no problems with far-right extremists, he believes. "They consider the NPD to be a normal party." The party's anti-immigrant stance comes across well in a town like Riesa where the unemployment rate is 11 percent. If you ask around in the town's kebab shops and Asian fast food restaurants, few people are willing to admit having had bad experiences with customers who wear Thor Steinar, a clothing label favored by neo-Nazis. Those are just ordinary people, comes the curt reply.
'People Try to Gag Me'
Thoralf Koss is one of Trappe's allies. He is a 46-year-old teacher who also favors taking the far-right on openly. "You're writing about our mayor's heroic acts?" he shouts into the telephone. "I'll come by in 15 minutes and pick you up." In the car, Koss begins his tirade. He argues that the renaming of the street is yet more proof of how Mayor Gerti Töpfer changes her position depending on which way the wind is blowing. Koss is a member of the town council for the Green Party, although he himself is an independent. He is engaged in a perpetual struggle with Töpfer and is also running for mayor. Koss can hardly contain himself. "I've been fighting the NPD for years, and people try to gag me," he says. Töpfer has accused him of damaging Riesa's reputation, he says, as if he were to blame for the town's image. No matter where she goes in Germany, the mayor apparently complained, the name of Riesa is associated only with neo-Nazis -- because Koss, she said, takes every opportunity to draw people's attention to that fact. "And now Töpfer is being seen as a great fighter against the far-right," Koss complains.
Raising Awareness
Koss stops his car in front of a single-family house barely three blocks from the Deutsche Stimme offices. This is where he is preparing his election campaign. As it happens, he almost didn't manage to secure his candidacy. The local Green Party is angry with him because he supported the NPD in a town council vote -- because he considered their motion, which involved reducing council members' allowances, to be sensible. If the NPD were to finally be banned, he would no longer face such moral dilemmas, Koss says. He wants to use local business tax revenues from the Deutsche Stimme publishing house to fund education programs in Riesa to raise awareness about right-wing extremism. His goal is to make his students immune to propaganda efforts by neo-Nazis, who distribute pamphlets and CDs with music by far-right bands in schoolyards. In the Riesa sports stadium, it becomes clear just how strong the far-right is in the town. The semi-final of the World Cup, where Spain is playing Germany, is being shown on giant screens. Men with shaved heads openly sing the old first verse of the German national anthem, which included the notorious phrase "Deutschland über alles" and which is no longer part of the official version due to its Nazi associations. Nobody seems bothered by their T-shirts featuring images of tanks or their neo-Nazi tattoos. When the German team loses the game, garbage cans start flying through the hall.
Appeal against Neo-Nazis
Given such conditions, Andreas Näther, a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party must feel a sense of desperation. He has been involved in the fight against right-wing extremism for years: He already took part in a protest march through Riesa's industrial zone back when Deutsche Stimme moved into its offices there. Näther would surely make a convincing mayoral candidate because of his work taking on the neo-Nazis. Unfortunately, the SPD has not put forward its own candidate for the upcoming election. Näther, a well-built 52-year-old man with a moustache, is a member of the town council and the head of an association that works with young people. Recently he got together with his colleagues from other similar organizations to launch an appeal against the infiltration of youth centers by neo-Nazis. The NPD is getting increasing bold in its attempts to hinder the work that youth clubs are doing to try to teach young people about democracy, says Näther. He says that colleagues of his recently had a run-in with Jasmin Apfel, the wife of NPD politician Holger Apfel. Jasmin Apfel allegedly approached a club for children and young people to try to get involved as a volunteer. As a result, Näther now wants to train his staff in how to deal with supposedly well-meaning parents who in fact want to recruit young people for the NPD under a veneer of respectability.
When asked about the work of Thoralf Koss, who he knows from his time in the opposition movement in the former East Germany, Näther shakes his head. Koss, he says, refused to support his recent appeal, because it did not also condemn left-wing extremism. "And yet we clearly referred to Deutsche Stimme as a problem," Näther says. Amid such disputes, the different political parties have lost sight of their real goal. The NPD has set up its propaganda center in the town and shows no signs of leaving. Many people wish the democratic parties would at least work together in the fight against the right-wing extremists. Meanwhile Gerti Töpfer is hoping for reelection -- and that the neo-Nazi menace will somehow go away by itself. She's been hoping for that for years.
Speigel
Bitter History
The story of Riesa and the NPD is a long and bitter one. Deutsche Stimme has been publishing the NPD party newspaper of the same name, which consists largely of incitement against immigrants, in the town for the past 10 years. The publisher also has a mail order business called the "National Department Store" offering, among other things, replica aviator watches from the Nazi era. Prominent NPD politicians such as Holger Apfel and Jürgen Gansel have moved their offices to Riesa. Their wives, meanwhile, have apparently been trying to infiltrate voluntary organizations for children and young people in the town. The town is set to elect a new mayor on Aug. 22, and Töpfer is running for reelection. The issue of the far-right has divided the local political parties. Töpfer herself seems to have no idea how to address the far-right in her election campaign, apparently out of fear of damaging the town's reputation. In her election program, there is not a single line about the NPD politicians or the Deutsche Stimme publishing house.
Below the Belt
Journalist and blogger Thomas Trappe, however, believes that the town's problems should be openly acknowledged -- something that has caused him to fall out with the mayor. The 29-year-old writes about the NPD on his personal blog about Riesa, in an attempt to demystify far-right agitators like Gansel and Apfel who try to cultivate a respectable image. Töpfer, however, sees Trappe as someone who lacks sensitivity for the town. Many of his blog entries were below the belt, she says. "You can tell that he does not come from Riesa." Trappe's blog was nominated this year for the prestigious Grimme Online Award. On his blog, Trappe describes, without mincing his words, just how helpless the democratic parties and the administration are in their efforts to deal with the NPD. Recently he made fun of a CDU politician who apparently replied to e-mails from the NPD with the single word "asshole." Trappe is sitting in a café in Riesa's renovated pedestrian zone, sipping a Coke. Most of the town's residents have no problems with far-right extremists, he believes. "They consider the NPD to be a normal party." The party's anti-immigrant stance comes across well in a town like Riesa where the unemployment rate is 11 percent. If you ask around in the town's kebab shops and Asian fast food restaurants, few people are willing to admit having had bad experiences with customers who wear Thor Steinar, a clothing label favored by neo-Nazis. Those are just ordinary people, comes the curt reply.
'People Try to Gag Me'
Thoralf Koss is one of Trappe's allies. He is a 46-year-old teacher who also favors taking the far-right on openly. "You're writing about our mayor's heroic acts?" he shouts into the telephone. "I'll come by in 15 minutes and pick you up." In the car, Koss begins his tirade. He argues that the renaming of the street is yet more proof of how Mayor Gerti Töpfer changes her position depending on which way the wind is blowing. Koss is a member of the town council for the Green Party, although he himself is an independent. He is engaged in a perpetual struggle with Töpfer and is also running for mayor. Koss can hardly contain himself. "I've been fighting the NPD for years, and people try to gag me," he says. Töpfer has accused him of damaging Riesa's reputation, he says, as if he were to blame for the town's image. No matter where she goes in Germany, the mayor apparently complained, the name of Riesa is associated only with neo-Nazis -- because Koss, she said, takes every opportunity to draw people's attention to that fact. "And now Töpfer is being seen as a great fighter against the far-right," Koss complains.
Raising Awareness
Koss stops his car in front of a single-family house barely three blocks from the Deutsche Stimme offices. This is where he is preparing his election campaign. As it happens, he almost didn't manage to secure his candidacy. The local Green Party is angry with him because he supported the NPD in a town council vote -- because he considered their motion, which involved reducing council members' allowances, to be sensible. If the NPD were to finally be banned, he would no longer face such moral dilemmas, Koss says. He wants to use local business tax revenues from the Deutsche Stimme publishing house to fund education programs in Riesa to raise awareness about right-wing extremism. His goal is to make his students immune to propaganda efforts by neo-Nazis, who distribute pamphlets and CDs with music by far-right bands in schoolyards. In the Riesa sports stadium, it becomes clear just how strong the far-right is in the town. The semi-final of the World Cup, where Spain is playing Germany, is being shown on giant screens. Men with shaved heads openly sing the old first verse of the German national anthem, which included the notorious phrase "Deutschland über alles" and which is no longer part of the official version due to its Nazi associations. Nobody seems bothered by their T-shirts featuring images of tanks or their neo-Nazi tattoos. When the German team loses the game, garbage cans start flying through the hall.
Appeal against Neo-Nazis
Given such conditions, Andreas Näther, a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party must feel a sense of desperation. He has been involved in the fight against right-wing extremism for years: He already took part in a protest march through Riesa's industrial zone back when Deutsche Stimme moved into its offices there. Näther would surely make a convincing mayoral candidate because of his work taking on the neo-Nazis. Unfortunately, the SPD has not put forward its own candidate for the upcoming election. Näther, a well-built 52-year-old man with a moustache, is a member of the town council and the head of an association that works with young people. Recently he got together with his colleagues from other similar organizations to launch an appeal against the infiltration of youth centers by neo-Nazis. The NPD is getting increasing bold in its attempts to hinder the work that youth clubs are doing to try to teach young people about democracy, says Näther. He says that colleagues of his recently had a run-in with Jasmin Apfel, the wife of NPD politician Holger Apfel. Jasmin Apfel allegedly approached a club for children and young people to try to get involved as a volunteer. As a result, Näther now wants to train his staff in how to deal with supposedly well-meaning parents who in fact want to recruit young people for the NPD under a veneer of respectability.
When asked about the work of Thoralf Koss, who he knows from his time in the opposition movement in the former East Germany, Näther shakes his head. Koss, he says, refused to support his recent appeal, because it did not also condemn left-wing extremism. "And yet we clearly referred to Deutsche Stimme as a problem," Näther says. Amid such disputes, the different political parties have lost sight of their real goal. The NPD has set up its propaganda center in the town and shows no signs of leaving. Many people wish the democratic parties would at least work together in the fight against the right-wing extremists. Meanwhile Gerti Töpfer is hoping for reelection -- and that the neo-Nazi menace will somehow go away by itself. She's been hoping for that for years.
Speigel
ANGER AS SARKOZY TARGETS ROMA IN CRIME CRACKDOWN (France)
During his rise to and occupancy of the French presidency, Nicolas Sarkozy has regularly announced new law-and-order offensives in the hopes of stoking support among the majority of French voters who say they're scared of crime. Typically, those policies have taken aim at Sarkozy's preferred target: the banlieues, the troubled suburban housing projects that ring most French cities and are populated by a disproportionately high number of minorities. Though divisive, the policies have usually worked — first fueling Sarkozy's rise from crusading Interior Minister to master of the Elysée, then serving as his trump card whenever his support slumped. But this week, Sarkozy turned on a community that has long been the default object of suspicion and disdain throughout Europe: itinerant people including gypsies, travelers and Roma. And by using that small, ostracized group as easy prey in a new anticrime push, Sarkozy has critics charging him with manipulating public concerns of security and immigration for cynical political gain.
On Wednesday, Sarkozy told members of his conservative government that he intends to look into "the problems created by the behavior of certain travelers and Roma," whose nomadic lifestyle leaves them with "no assimilation into [the] communities" they live near. He also said he'd gather with advisers on July 28 for a special Elysée meeting on the issue, which he said falls under the "implacable struggle the government is leading against crime, [and the] veritable war we're going to wage against traffickers and delinquents." Though the vast majority of the (very roughly) estimated 400,000 travelers in France are either French citizens or residents of E.U. countries, critics accuse government officials who have made statements linking the issue to immigration of trying to drum up nationalist support by playing the antiforeigner card. "You can very well be Roma, a traveler, even, at times, French within these communities," government spokesman Luc Chatel said to the press on Wednesday as he explained Sarkozy's motives. "But you'll have to respect the law of the republic."
Those comments came after a weekend of violence in central France, when young men from a community of travelers, enraged at the July 16 shooting of one of their peers by a policeman, rioted through the sleepy village of Saint-Aignan, south of Blois. For two days after 22-year-old Luigi Duquenet was fatally shot while a car he was in charged a police roadblock and allegedly hit an officer, around 50 youths from Duquenet's encampment attacked the Saint-Aignan gendarme station with metal bars and axes and also destroyed small local businesses, burned cars and damaged public property. The situation had calmed by July 18, but many people in France interpreted the violence as evidence that the widely held stereotypes of gypsies as criminals, troublemakers and outcasts are true. That such prejudice endures is partly the fault of France's authorities. Despite laws requiring that towns whose populations exceed 5,000 provide suitable camping grounds for traveler communities, France was recently chided by the Council of Europe for largely ignoring that obligation. Nomadic communities are often relegated to staying outside town walls, usually either in makeshift camps with few facilities supplied to them, or — for the poorest — in shantytowns and squats. That segregation means few urban French know much about travelers or the diversity of the traveling community. The generic label gens du voyage (travelers) covers not only tsigane (roughly "gypsies"), who went to France over the centuries, but also manouches who arrived from Germany in the 19th century, Spanish-origin gitanes and the more recent Roma.
Critics claim that Sarkozy's new hard-line focus seeks to play last week's unrest at Saint-Aignan for political gain. With his approval rating at a personal all-time low of 25%, his government dogged by spending scandals and his Labor Minister, Eric Woerth, ensnared in the intrigue surrounding the inheritance battle between L'Oréal heiresses Liliane and Françoise Bettencourt, detractors say Sarkozy's latest law-and-order charge is simply an attempt to change the topic and score points at the expense of a population that few people are eager to defend. "To better make people forget the scandal he's marred in himself, [Sarkozy] has invented a new diversion with a new category of scapegoat," Green Party legislator Noël Mamère declared on Wednesday night. "He serves up to the good folk of France people who've always been rejected to the margins of society, [and he] plays on confusion by suggesting that all Roma, all travelers, are all foreigners." Opposition pols aren't the only ones crying foul. France's League of Human Rights has decried Sarkozy's "racist stigmatization of Roma and traveler populations through unacceptable amalgams." Samir Mile, spokesman of Voice of Roma, an association defending the rights of France's nomadic communities, told France Info radio on Thursday, "We're preparing to take it right in the face as we always do during political crises," adding that when "France is going poorly, [and] the President is doing badly, he seeks to divert public opinion toward easy targets." This time, the controversy that Sarkozy's new law-and-order pledge has created seems to have replaced the applause that his previous anticrime crusades have provoked. It could be that by targeting travelers — the eternal scapegoat — Sarkozy may find that his unbeatable trump card has finally lost its magic.
Time
On Wednesday, Sarkozy told members of his conservative government that he intends to look into "the problems created by the behavior of certain travelers and Roma," whose nomadic lifestyle leaves them with "no assimilation into [the] communities" they live near. He also said he'd gather with advisers on July 28 for a special Elysée meeting on the issue, which he said falls under the "implacable struggle the government is leading against crime, [and the] veritable war we're going to wage against traffickers and delinquents." Though the vast majority of the (very roughly) estimated 400,000 travelers in France are either French citizens or residents of E.U. countries, critics accuse government officials who have made statements linking the issue to immigration of trying to drum up nationalist support by playing the antiforeigner card. "You can very well be Roma, a traveler, even, at times, French within these communities," government spokesman Luc Chatel said to the press on Wednesday as he explained Sarkozy's motives. "But you'll have to respect the law of the republic."
Those comments came after a weekend of violence in central France, when young men from a community of travelers, enraged at the July 16 shooting of one of their peers by a policeman, rioted through the sleepy village of Saint-Aignan, south of Blois. For two days after 22-year-old Luigi Duquenet was fatally shot while a car he was in charged a police roadblock and allegedly hit an officer, around 50 youths from Duquenet's encampment attacked the Saint-Aignan gendarme station with metal bars and axes and also destroyed small local businesses, burned cars and damaged public property. The situation had calmed by July 18, but many people in France interpreted the violence as evidence that the widely held stereotypes of gypsies as criminals, troublemakers and outcasts are true. That such prejudice endures is partly the fault of France's authorities. Despite laws requiring that towns whose populations exceed 5,000 provide suitable camping grounds for traveler communities, France was recently chided by the Council of Europe for largely ignoring that obligation. Nomadic communities are often relegated to staying outside town walls, usually either in makeshift camps with few facilities supplied to them, or — for the poorest — in shantytowns and squats. That segregation means few urban French know much about travelers or the diversity of the traveling community. The generic label gens du voyage (travelers) covers not only tsigane (roughly "gypsies"), who went to France over the centuries, but also manouches who arrived from Germany in the 19th century, Spanish-origin gitanes and the more recent Roma.
Critics claim that Sarkozy's new hard-line focus seeks to play last week's unrest at Saint-Aignan for political gain. With his approval rating at a personal all-time low of 25%, his government dogged by spending scandals and his Labor Minister, Eric Woerth, ensnared in the intrigue surrounding the inheritance battle between L'Oréal heiresses Liliane and Françoise Bettencourt, detractors say Sarkozy's latest law-and-order charge is simply an attempt to change the topic and score points at the expense of a population that few people are eager to defend. "To better make people forget the scandal he's marred in himself, [Sarkozy] has invented a new diversion with a new category of scapegoat," Green Party legislator Noël Mamère declared on Wednesday night. "He serves up to the good folk of France people who've always been rejected to the margins of society, [and he] plays on confusion by suggesting that all Roma, all travelers, are all foreigners." Opposition pols aren't the only ones crying foul. France's League of Human Rights has decried Sarkozy's "racist stigmatization of Roma and traveler populations through unacceptable amalgams." Samir Mile, spokesman of Voice of Roma, an association defending the rights of France's nomadic communities, told France Info radio on Thursday, "We're preparing to take it right in the face as we always do during political crises," adding that when "France is going poorly, [and] the President is doing badly, he seeks to divert public opinion toward easy targets." This time, the controversy that Sarkozy's new law-and-order pledge has created seems to have replaced the applause that his previous anticrime crusades have provoked. It could be that by targeting travelers — the eternal scapegoat — Sarkozy may find that his unbeatable trump card has finally lost its magic.
Time
Sunday, 25 July 2010
27 JEWISH GRAVES VANDALIZED IN EASTERN FRANCE
Police say vandals have smashed or overturned 27 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France. The gendarme service of the Bas-Rhin region says the damage was discovered at the cemetery in Wolfisheim on Wednesday. No other details were immediately available. Jewish grave sites around France are attacked sporadically by vandals, who leave gravestones broken or sprayed with anti-Semitic slogans. France is home to western Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations, and there are occasional attacks on their schools, cemeteries or places of worship. In January a Jewish cemetery in Strasbourg was desecrated by neo-Nazis. Knesset Member Shlomo Molla (Kadima), who was in the French city to attend a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, told Ynet, "It was a horrible sight, which probably stemmed from the rising anti-Semitism is Europe." "There were dozens of shattered tombstones, swastikas sprayed everywhere – complete destruction. This is a heinous crime," he added. "And today of all days, when dozens of European dignitaries are attending the ceremony… this is a reminder that anti-Semitism is alive. World nations must pass laws against such anti-Semitic expressions," he said.
Associated Press
Associated Press
OUTRAGE AS SARKOZY SAYS NOMADIC GROUPS POSE 'PROBLEMS' (France)
"Easy targets"
Sarkozy’s tough talk comes amid his administration’s renewed focus on security issues, a major theme of his presidential campaign three years ago. The new “war” on urban violence, as Sarkozy has termed it, is a response not only to the travellers’ riots, but also to violence that occurred in Grenoble after police there killed a man on the run after allegedly holding up a casino. The French president’s latest statement has provoked swift condemnations by rights groups. The French Human Rights League released a statement saying: “The President of the Republic has stigmatised Roma and ‘travelling people’ in a racist way, by creating an unacceptable amalgamation of a few individuals with entire communities, and announcing plans for ethnically targeted evictions of illegal settlements”. The group added that these communities were “scapegoats for deficiencies of the state”. According to the Human Rights League, those deficiencies include the failure to allocate sufficient numbers of living areas designated specifically for “travelling people” in France, in accordance with a law adopted more than ten years ago.
400,000 to half a million travelling people in France
A group of associations for the protection of the rights of Roma and of "travelling people" published a statement accusing the government of using the recent riots as a “pretext” to impose tightened “policies of repression to demonise the primary victims of racism in France," namely the people who choose a nomadic lifestyle. One association, La Voix des Roms (“The Voice of the Roma”), accused Sarkozy -- who has recently seen already low poll numbers tumble further -- of “trying to rally public opinion with easy targets”. The charge has been rejected by Sarkozy’s cabinet. Luc Chatel, the education minister and government spokesperson, said that Sarkozy was not “trying to stigmatise a community, but to respond to a problematic situation”. The National Federation of Associations In Support of Travelling People estimates that there are approximately 400,000 to 500,000 “travelling people” and 15,000 to 20,000 Roma in France today. It is not the first time that Sarkozy faces criticism for using language deemed insensitive when referring to populations in France that are comprised in part by ethnic minorities. The most famous instance of this was in 2005, when Sarkozy, then interior minister, vowed to clean up an immigrant-heavy Parisian suburb with a “Kärcher", citing a brand of high-pressure hoses. The French president has also on several occasions used the slang word “racaille”, which translates roughly into “scum” or “thug”, to describe French youths, often of immigrant backgrounds, who are frequently involved in the unrest in French suburbs.
France 24
Sand-cleaning machine kills migrant on Athens beach (Greece)
A 30-year old Romanian migrant sleeping on the beach near Athens was killed and her husband was in critical condition after a sand-cleaning machine ran over them Friday, Greek police said.
"The driver thought there were just clothes abandoned on the beach," said a police official. "He drove over them."
The driver was arrested for homicide by accident, the official said.
The Romanian couple had been sleeping on the beach at the Paleo Faliro coastal suburb for a month, police said.
Many migrants use Greece as their springboard to the rest of Europe. It has become common for those who cannot find housing to sleep on the beach in the summer, the police official said.
Reuters
"The driver thought there were just clothes abandoned on the beach," said a police official. "He drove over them."
The driver was arrested for homicide by accident, the official said.
The Romanian couple had been sleeping on the beach at the Paleo Faliro coastal suburb for a month, police said.
Many migrants use Greece as their springboard to the rest of Europe. It has become common for those who cannot find housing to sleep on the beach in the summer, the police official said.
Reuters
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Reported abuse against Muslims in Leicestershire rises (UK)
Muslims in Leicestershire are facing increasing abuse, according to figures from the police.
Between April 2008 and March 2009, officers recorded 25 offences against Muslims but in the following 12 months, the figure rose to 42.
Most incidents involved verbal abuse but there was a small number of cases in which veils were pulled off.
Police said they treated all types of hate crime as a priority and urged victims to report any problems.
'More confidence'
Insp Bill Knopp said that while the number of offences was relatively low, they took the upward trend seriously.
"We have a very good track record in detecting racial and religiously motivated crimes.
"I would encourage anyone with information to come forward and there is a good chance we will find the offenders and bring them to book."
Rehana Sidat, from Leicester, who wears the niqab, said: "I think there are two things going on. There is more Islamophobia, people are becoming more intolerant.
"But also more people are reporting this sort of thing, having more confidence to bring it to the police."
BBC News
Between April 2008 and March 2009, officers recorded 25 offences against Muslims but in the following 12 months, the figure rose to 42.
Most incidents involved verbal abuse but there was a small number of cases in which veils were pulled off.
Police said they treated all types of hate crime as a priority and urged victims to report any problems.
'More confidence'
Insp Bill Knopp said that while the number of offences was relatively low, they took the upward trend seriously.
"We have a very good track record in detecting racial and religiously motivated crimes.
"I would encourage anyone with information to come forward and there is a good chance we will find the offenders and bring them to book."
Rehana Sidat, from Leicester, who wears the niqab, said: "I think there are two things going on. There is more Islamophobia, people are becoming more intolerant.
"But also more people are reporting this sort of thing, having more confidence to bring it to the police."
BBC News
Mel Gibson accused of wanting 'Jew blood on my hands,' claims ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva
Oh Mel, when does it end?Mel Gibson, whose alleged rants against baby mama Oksana Grigorieva have been leaked on several recordings, has been accused of spewing some anti-Semitic comments – and this time it's threatening.
According to RadarOnline.com, Gibson's baby mama Oksana Grigorieva told authorities who are investigating the actor for domestic abuse that he once said, "I want Jew blood on my hands."
The foul-mouthed actor's alleged slur was reportedly made in reference to a high-profile Jewish figure in Hollywood whom he believed had "publicly humiliated" him.
Grigorieva, 40, claimed the hot-tempered actor "wanted the person taken to the desert, stripped naked, knee capped and left in the heat," according to Radar.
Gibson, 54, is also accused of hiring someone to surveil this person. The reported threats were never carried out.
This is the latest explosive claim against the "Mad Max" actor, who is heard making racist slurs against African Americans and Latinos in previous tapes.
In 2006, Gibson famously launched into an anti-Semitic tirade during his DUI arrest in Malibu.
"F--- Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?" the actor said to his arresting officer, who is Jewish.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the California Department of Children and Family Services are both investigating the actor after Grigorieva claimed he hit her during a heated fight in January.
According to Radar, Gibson also supposedly choked and punched the Russian beauty twice in the head, all while she was clutching their baby girl, Lucia. Pictures of Grigorieva with broken front teeth – allegedly a result of Gibson's punch – have also surfaced.
NY Daily
NOW SPAIN FLOATS A BURQA BAN
Spain’s parliament has joined an ever-lengthening list of European legislatures considering banning the burqa and niqab. No decision on whether to outlaw the veil in Spain will be made until later this year, but the fact that the congressional debate came just one week after France’s lower house overwhelmingly approved a ban is worrying many Muslims in Europe and beyond. There have been demonstrations as far away as Pakistan over the French decision, even though only around 2,000 of France’s five million Muslims – most of them French converts to Islam – cover their faces. Even though the Spanish justice minister, Francisco Caamano, said last week that garments like the burqa were “hardly compatible with human dignity”, the ruling Socialist Party was expected yesterday to vote against a plan to bar women from wearing a veil in public. The proposal was put forward by the opposition Popular Party, but analysts saw it as a political ploy to win support. No one has actually been able to cite a public place where women typically wear such veils in Spain.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, described the moves in Europe as thinly disguised attempts to discriminate against Muslims. “It’s really a new type of law targeting a particular minority faith based on the prejudices of the majority. And my religious rights should not be dependent on a majority vote,” he told Voice of America radio. Apart from France and Spain, the lower house of Belgium’s parliament has passed a bill to ban clothing that hides a person’s identity in any public place. Dutch attempts to impose a similar ban were dropped in 2006 over fears it would be unconstitutional. The government said it would legislate instead to ban burqas in schools and state buildings. Austria and Switzerland have both vowed to consider bans if burqas were to become widespread. Denmark and several German states have imposed bans on headscarves for various professions. And in northern Italy, local authorities have passed by-laws or resurrected old public order laws against the wearing of masks.
The UK, however, is bucking the trend, firmly ruling out any ban, even though a recent opinion poll showed that 67 per cent of Britons favoured one. A Conservative backbench MP introduced a private bill in parliament last week that calls for face coverings to be outlawed in public places. But his bill stands no chance of becoming law as all three major parties oppose the move. Damian Green, the immigration minister, described any such ban as “un-British”, while Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, said wearing the burqa could be “empowering” for some women. Welcoming these declarations yesterday, Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, a London-based organisation dedicated to inter-faith dialogue, said: “The right of Muslim women to wear the veil should be protected by this government and I welcome their commitment to freedom.”
The move towards bans could see a series of legal challenges in the European Court of Human Rights. John Dalhuisen of Amnesty International, an expert on discrimination in Europe, said he was concerned that the tendency towards bans could lead to restrictions on women’s rights. “Some of those who are currently being forced to wear veils won’t necessarily see their situation improve,” he said. “They will see access to services, goods and perhaps even the assistance that they might want to reach out to, taken away from them. “There’s obviously a risk of a double punishment – they are punished in the home and then they go out in the street and they are punished again.”
The National
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, described the moves in Europe as thinly disguised attempts to discriminate against Muslims. “It’s really a new type of law targeting a particular minority faith based on the prejudices of the majority. And my religious rights should not be dependent on a majority vote,” he told Voice of America radio. Apart from France and Spain, the lower house of Belgium’s parliament has passed a bill to ban clothing that hides a person’s identity in any public place. Dutch attempts to impose a similar ban were dropped in 2006 over fears it would be unconstitutional. The government said it would legislate instead to ban burqas in schools and state buildings. Austria and Switzerland have both vowed to consider bans if burqas were to become widespread. Denmark and several German states have imposed bans on headscarves for various professions. And in northern Italy, local authorities have passed by-laws or resurrected old public order laws against the wearing of masks.
The UK, however, is bucking the trend, firmly ruling out any ban, even though a recent opinion poll showed that 67 per cent of Britons favoured one. A Conservative backbench MP introduced a private bill in parliament last week that calls for face coverings to be outlawed in public places. But his bill stands no chance of becoming law as all three major parties oppose the move. Damian Green, the immigration minister, described any such ban as “un-British”, while Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, said wearing the burqa could be “empowering” for some women. Welcoming these declarations yesterday, Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, a London-based organisation dedicated to inter-faith dialogue, said: “The right of Muslim women to wear the veil should be protected by this government and I welcome their commitment to freedom.”
The move towards bans could see a series of legal challenges in the European Court of Human Rights. John Dalhuisen of Amnesty International, an expert on discrimination in Europe, said he was concerned that the tendency towards bans could lead to restrictions on women’s rights. “Some of those who are currently being forced to wear veils won’t necessarily see their situation improve,” he said. “They will see access to services, goods and perhaps even the assistance that they might want to reach out to, taken away from them. “There’s obviously a risk of a double punishment – they are punished in the home and then they go out in the street and they are punished again.”
The National
NATIONAL RACISM REPORT UNDER FIRE (Denmark)
A leading anti-racism organisation has criticised the government’s latest progress report to the UN, saying that it is both incomplete and that the number of cases included in the document is too low. The report was sent as a precursor to the UN’s Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which will assess the situation in Denmark in August. But according to the Documentation and Advisory Centre on Racism, the report leaves out a slew of incidents that the police and other investigators have deemed possibly race-related. ‘For example, the report doesn’t mention that [national intelligence agency] PET has identified 560 cases with possible racial/religious overtones, including violence, harassment, vandalism and attempted murder,’ said Niels-Erik Hansen, head of the advisory centre. He also pointed out that the government’s assessment indicated that over the past five years there have been 123 reports of violations adhering to anti-racism laws. But according to the National Police, the figure is 190 cases in all. Hansen said the government report painted a far too ‘rosy’ picture of the situation in Denmark. ‘If you cover your ears and close your eyes then it's easy to pretend there’s no racism,’ said Hansen. Frank Mathiesen, a Justice Ministry advisor, said that if the UN asked for specific information about possible racially or religiously motivated incidents, then the government would not hesitate in providing it. Both the Social Liberals and the Red Green Alliance have also criticised the report as inadequate.
The Copenhagen Post
The Copenhagen Post
Neo-nazi Movement Only 100 Signatures Away from Becoming Political Party
“We are planning to go downtown, to Paseo Ahumada, so we’ve made a request to the municipality,” PNS leader told online magazine Acción Chilena.
Alexis López, president of PNS said they already have about 40 of the 100 signatures they lack. Apart from these, the group already has seven thousand members.
The 2006 appeal to the Constitutional Court to outlaw this group was unsuccessful, according to a a ruling issued last month. In that appeal parliamentarians, the Homosexual Liberation Movement (Movilh) as well as the Jewish Youth group accused this movement of various neo-nazi attacks from 2002 to 2006.
But the group hopes to be a regional party before going national. They hope to focus in Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, AraucanÃa, Valdivia, Osorno and Aysén. The minimum number of signatures required by region is at least 0.5 percent of the electorate who cast ballots in the last deputy election. In Santiago, for example, that would total about 12 thousand signatures.
If they do become a party, it would most probably be marginalized since National Socialist groups around the world are usually cut from the electoral map. But with regards to criticism López does not worry much and calls them prejudice. “To have people who oppose… is part of the democratic game,” he said. He also distances himself from other Nazi groups who are known for violent attacks. “We don’t want to be related to them. They have even attacked us for being traitors.”
The Pulse
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