Neo-Nazi leader loses hotel ban court case (Germany)

Hotels are entitled to refuse rooms to neo-Nazis, a court ruled late Tuesday in overturning a complaint by far-right leader Udo Voigt against a Brandenburg hotel.

Voigt, leader of the far-right National Democratic Party, had sued the Esplanade Resort & Spa in Bad Saarow, Brandenburg.

But on Tuesday, a court in Frankfurt an der Oder ruled that the hotel “had been entitled to bar the NPD leaders to protect their own reputation and image in view of the polarising effect of the NDP in the community.”

Furthermore, Voigt was not entitled to have the ban overturned under anti-discrimination laws, the court ruled.

A court spokesman said Voigt had taken the decision calmly. But Voigt’s lawyer said his client planned to appeal to a higher court.

Voigt’s wife had in autumn last year booked the hotel through a travel agent. But the hotel management then told Voigt on November 23 that he was banned from the hotel.

It declared that it was banning him because his political views were inconsistent with the hotel’s stated aim to “offer an excellent travel experience” to every guest.

Voigt felt discriminated against and sued. During the court case, he argued that he was staying at the hotel as a private individual, not for the purposes of political activity. The ban was the result of an agreement within the Hotel and Guesthouse Association, Dehoga, to maintain a ban on “so-called” right-wing extremists, he said.

The court rejected this view.

The hotel welcomed the decision. “This ruling strengthens us in our conviction to create the philosophy of a tolerant and cosmopolitan hotel, on the inside and the outside,” manager Heinz Baumeister said.

The Brandenburg chief of hotels association Dehoga said: “We share in the Brandenburg concept of a ‘tolerant Brandenburg,’ but for us, tolerance ends with right-wing extremism.”
The Local Germany

Australia restores race discrimination act

Australia has reinstated race laws that were suspended by the previous government in its campaign against child abuse in Aboriginal townships.

Suspending the law three years ago allowed the authorities to restrict how welfare payments to indigenous people were spent, with the aim of reducing the consumption of alcohol and drugs.

Indigenous activists and the UN condemned the policy as discriminatory.

The intervention powers will now also cover non-Aboriginal people as well.

Australia's landmark racial discrimination act was suspended by the conservative government of John Howard, as part of a raft of policies called "the intervention".

Despite delivering an official apology to Australia's indigenous people for past injustices soon after taking office, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had kept in place the main elements of the intervention, but his government has now reinstated the racial discrimination act.

The country's indigenous affairs minister, Jenny Macklin, said its suspension was a blight on Australia's international image, and left Aborigines feeling hurt, betrayed and less worthy than other Australians.

Restrictions on welfare payments not only remain in place but have been extended to non-indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory, a move which now makes the measures comply with the racial discrimination act.

So the move, which has little practical effect, has done little to appease indigenous groups, which continue to oppose the intervention.

BBC News

Terrorised family fear racist thugs could strike again (Belfast, Northern Ireland)

A Filipino family whose house was fire-damaged in a racially-motivated attack have said they are considering leaving their Whiteabbey home because they fear they could be targeted again.

Ishis Calungsod (30), his wife Emmie (29) and their two children moved into their Fernagh Avenue home two months ago but are now thinking of moving after arsonists set fire to two cars in their street during the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Both vehicles were extensively damaged and the front of Mr Calungsod’s house was scorched.

Police are treating both incidents as racially-motivated hate crimes.

Mr Calungsod said his children, who are aged four and six, have been left terrified by the ordeal.

The young family were asleep when the car, which was parked at the front door of their house, went up in flames. They were not aware the fire had spread until the fire brigade burst into their home to rescue them.

The Filipino, who moved to Northern Ireland five years ago to find work, said he could not think of any reason why they had been targeted.
The vehicle, he said, belonged to his friend Arnel Verzonilla, who lives several doors up. The other car damaged in the attack belongs to a neighbouring Indian family, the Tomys, who have lived in the area for the past six years.

However this was the second time the Tomys have been victims of a racially-motivated attack. In 2006 arsonists set fire to a different car.

“We didn’t have any problems before but now we are thinking of moving again,” Mr Calungsod said. “We moved here because our friends live here. They said it was a nice quiet street, good for our kids. And it had been. But now we are all scared.”

Meanwhile, police are also treating a series of attacks in south Belfast as racist and sectarian.

A group of up to eight masked men forced their way into a house on Coolfin Street shortly before 8.30pm on Monday where they slapped a Catholic woman across the face and smashed her furniture.
Following the attack the mob then forced their way into another house where they ransacked the inside then broke windows in a neighbouring house.

Minutes later they then forced their way into a house on the Donegall Road where they assaulted a man, who is believed to be Polish.

Belfast Telegraph

TACKLING UNFOUNDED FEARS TO KILL RACISM IN MALTA

A man and woman at Valletta's City Gate were seen 'arguing' over the topic of African immigrants yesterday, amid accusations that "the blacks" are taking Maltese jobs and invading Malta. The woman said that the number of immigrants in Malta totalled less than one per cent of the population. In the meantime, she said, nobody ever complained about the 9,000 Russian immigrants in Malta "because they are blonde". The two were actors who role played common misconceptions to raise awareness. Refugees shared their experiences with a curious crowd that gathered during an activity organised by the Migrant Solidarity Movement and Graffitti to mark World Refugee Day today. A group of people wore white masks and stood in front of a banner in remembrance of the thousands of migrants who die in the Mediterranean Sea in search of a new life.

Racist feelings were best fought by addressing people's unfounded fears brought about because of a lack of information, Andre Callus from Moviment Graffitti said. Sudanese Hassan Mohammed Saleban explained how he chose to leave his country after his father died during the war, in search of a better life and to earn money to send home to his sick mother. During his travels, he said he had to endure four days of "punishment" in Libya by being left out in the scorching sun during the day and out in the cold at night. After that he and his friends were taken to a prison where they spent 18 months living in a small crammed cell with a hole for a toilet. Reflecting on his experience, Mr Callus appealed to the authorities not to send immigrants back to Libya. Libyan Fawzi Sadegh, who was listening to the stories, objected to the statement and explained his country did not have a prison just for black people, as had been suggested. In fact, he said, many black people worked there legally.

A Nigerian refugee said that during the years he spent in Malta he learnt the plastering trade. However, he was sometimes turned away because of his skin colour. Somali Jon Low explained his frustration when he overheard people assuming he was living off government charity because he owned a mobile phone. He explained he had bought his phone with the money he earned while working legally and paying taxes. In a statement issued yesterday, the Nationalist Party called on all Maltese to show solidarity towards refugees who left their country in search of a place to call home. While Malta was small and there was a limit to its resources and the number of refugees it could accommodate, it would be wrong to use this as an excuse to close the door to people in need, the PN said.

Times of Malta

Udo Voigt fights for rights of German far-right

A court in eastern Germany is due to decide on Tuesday whether a local hotel was within its rights to ban the  leader of the German far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) from taking a room.
It is easy to see why people love to come to the Hotel and Spa Esplanade.

With its softly bubbling pools and tranquil massage rooms, it sits right on the shore of Lake Scharmuetzelsee in the idyllic small town of Bad Saarow, just 45 minutes' drive south-east from Berlin.

In the roaring 1920s Berliners came out to lush green Saarow to summer by the lake, and today the recently built Esplanade boasts high-profile guests like Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But when Udo Voigt, leader of the far-right NPD, tried to book a holiday there last November, the hotel said "no".
The NPD is a legal party, but has known links with neo-Nazi groups, and stands accused of racism and inciting hatred.

"Given his political opinions, and what he and his party represent, we could not guarantee the well-being of our guests should he stay with us," explains Heinz Baumeister, general manager of the Hotel Esplanade.

Voigt would not take no for an answer, hosever, and sued the hotel for discrimination. The irony is not lost on Mr Baumeister.
After all, a few years back the NPD leader was found guilty of inciting racial hatred himself.

"There is a debate to be had," Mr Baumeister admits. "Should you discriminate against those who are guilty of discrimination? It's an interesting subject, but in the end decisions have to be made."

'Misunderstood'
The hotel manager can rely on the support of most of his guests, like Anne-Dore Krohn, who is here for the first time.

"For me it would definitely be a strange atmosphere to swim in the same pool as Mr Voigt, or to sit in the sauna next to him," she says.

Just 70km away, in Koepenick, a slightly run-down area in Berlin's east, I find Udo Voigt at party headquarters.

It is a rather unimpressive looking, small two-storey building with no party sign, but with double steel doors and a police car parked outside.


"It's scandalous and a violation of my basic rights," Mr Voigt says about the hotel ban.

Asked about the matter of his own, well-documented discrimination against others, he claims he has always been misunderstood.

"We have nothing against foreigners," he says.

"We do welcome guests in Germany and don't discriminate against them. We just don't want them to stay indefinitely. I didn't intend to stay indefinitely at Mr Baumeister's hotel."
The problem for Mr Voigt is that German anti-discrimination law does not regard political persuasion as something that deserves protection.

The NPD wants to change that, and sees the case against the Hotel Esplanade as a welcome opportunity.

"German legislators specifically excluded the element of political belief when they implemented European anti-discrimination law, because they didn't want to give any legal protection to the far-right," says Klaus Michael Alenfelder, law professor and president of the German Society for Anti-discrimination Law.

"So, when a private contractor decides not to do business with someone whose political opinion he doesn't like, he's perfectly free to do so."

Even though the NPD is represented in two regional parliaments, its share of the national vote is just over 1%.
And given Germany's past, neither politicians nor the courts are interested in changing that, Professor Alenfelder believes.

Even so, the case has prompted many Germans to ask themselves how intolerant they are prepared to be in order to protect a tolerant society.

BBC News

Two jailed over Panorama Southmead race abuse probe (UK)

Two men who racially abused two Asian reporters working undercover for a BBC Panorama programme have been jailed.

Sean Ganderton, 23, and Martin Durnell, 18, admitted racially-aggravated harassment during various incidents in Southmead, Bristol, last year.

Bristol Crown Court was shown footage which revealed Ganderton verbally and physically abusing the men.

Sentencing them Judge Michael Roach said their behaviour was "cowardly and not to be tolerated".

The programme featured the two undercover Asian reporters posing as a couple living in the Southmead area of Bristol.
Tamanna Rahman and Amil Khan spent two months living on an estate to find out if racism was still an issue in 2009.

The programme was broadcast on BBC One in October 2009.

BBC News

The organizer of an international neo-Nazi meeting in Tortosa Arrested

Police have arrested the alleged organizer of an international neo-Nazi meeting held last weekend in Tortosa (Tarragona), where Nazism lectures and exposed objects of the Third Reich regime.

As reported by the regional police force, the meeting held on 11 and 13 last June, also included a concert of music called RAC (Anti Rock), which entailed the performance of groups from all over Spain and other countries.
The Catalan police arrested VA Henry, 29 and a resident of Tortosa, on June 12 , as the alleged organizer of the neo-Nazi meeting, however he was released after payment of a bond, but he was charged with crime against fundamental rights and against the international community.

The regional police identified the 76 attending the meeting, of different nationalities, and seized numerous neo-Nazi symbols and xenophobic material, as well as original objects of the Third Reich.


Barcelona Reporter

AMSTERDAM MAYOR CONSIDERS USING 'DECOY JEWS' TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM (Netherlands)

Acting Amsterdam mayor Lodewijk Asscher is considering using police offcers posing as Jews in an attempt to stamp out anti-semitic violence, the Parool reports on Monday. A spokesman said the suggestion, made last week by Labour MP Ahmed Marcouch, fits in with Asscher's decision to take unorthodox measures to try to reduce verbal and physical attacks on Jews in the capital. Secret tv recordings by the Jewish broadcasting company Joodse Omroep broadcast on Sunday showed young men shouting and making Nazi salutes at a rabbi when he visited different areas of the city. The city's police already use people posing as pensioners and gay men in an effort to catch muggers and gay-bashers.


Dutch News

THOUSANDS CELEBRATE GAY PRIDE IN BERLIN (Germany)

An estimated 600,000 people partied in the streets of Berlin on Saturday, celebrating gay pride and marking the annual Christopher Street Day. The festivities included a colorful parade through the heart of the city.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched and danced through the streets of Berlin on Saturday, taking part in the annual Christopher Street Day and this year's theme, 'Normal is Different.' More than 50 floats traveled through the streets of the capital, ending at the Brandenburg Gate. Berlin's Mayor Klaus Wowereit, who is openly gay, said that homosexuals are still fighting for equality. "There is still today daily attacks and discrimination against homosexuals," Wowereit told the German news agency dpa. As soccer fever grabs Germany, the World Cup theme found its way into the parade, with participants on the German Football Association float handing out pink cards, instead of football's red and yellow cards. The 32nd annual gay pride event in Berlin commemorates the start of the gay rights movement in New York's Greenwich Village in 1969. On June 28 of that year, customers at the Stonewall Inn on New York's Christopher Street - who were mostly drag queens and young prostitutes - rebelled against a police raid.


DPA

NEO-NAZI LEADER EJECTED FROM SAXON LEGISLATURE (Germany)

Right-wing extremist NPD parliamentarian Holger Apfel has been banned for six months from the Saxony  state parliament following an anti-Semitic outburst on Thursday. He was removed from the building in Dresden by several police officers.

The politician will now be barred from attending the next ten plenary sessions and committee meetings due to the “particular gravity of the rebuke,” parliamentary president Matthias Rößler said. This means he will only be able to attend one session in December before the end of the year. The executive committee interrupted the floor debate to hold a special meeting about Apfel’s comments, which were given under the context of an NPD motion entitled “No cooperation with rogue states – end the Saxon-Israeli partnership.” The neo-Nazi garnered several calls to order with references to the “Jewish rogue state,” the “blooming Holocaust industry” and the “Jewish terror state” until his microphone was finally turned off. Rößler called an end to the debate, but Apfel refused to leave the plenum, forcing police to escort him from the building. The parliamentary leadership had already distanced itself from the debate ahead of time, encouraging the NPD to change the title for fear that the topic would damage Saxony’s reputation.


The Local Germany

CZECH REPUBLIC OFFICIALLY OPENS MEMORIAL TO ROMANI VICTIMS IN LETY

The memorial to the Romany victims of wartime Nazi persecution, which the Czech state arranged in Lety near the site of a former Romany internment camp, was ceremonially opened Friday in the presence of the culture minister and the government human rights commissioner. An open-air amphitheatre has been built at the memorial site in the past four months, along with two replicas of the original wooden dormitories with an exhibition commemorating the Romany victims. The memorial has been arranged close to the site where the camp used to stand and where a pig farm has been built in the meantime. The Lety camp was opened as a disciplinary labour camp in August 1940, designed for the men who failed to prove how they earned their livings. It was also designed for travellers. The same camp was opened in Hodonin near Kunstat, south Moravia. In 1942 both camps were transformed into interment camps for Romanies. A total of 1308 Romanies were gradually interned in the Lety camp by May 1943. Out of them, 327 perished there and more than 500 were transported to Oswiecim. Experts estimate that the Nazis killed 90 percent of the Czech Romany population.


"We've built a complex that the Czech Republic need not feel ashamed of and where we can invite anyone," Culture Minister Vaclav Riedlbauch told journalists. The next task is the removal of the pig farm standing at the former camp site, he said, adding that the problem rests in gaining the necessary money as the state would have to buy the pig farm from its owner, Riedlbauch said. He praised Michael Kocab, former minister in charge of human rights and minorities, and now government human rights commissioner, for largely contributing to the Lety memorial project. Kocab said he is happy at having fulfilled his plan. It has turned out, he said, that people are not indifferent to the fate of Romanies in World War Two. Kocab, too, said the next task is to have the pig farm pulled down. Last year the government earmarked 21.4 million crowns for arranging the memorial. Before, the site was maintained by the town of Lety, but not systematically. Since last year it has been managed by the Lidice Memorial, a state-subsidised organisation seated in Lidice, central Bohemian village that the Nazis razed to the ground in 1942. Lidice Memorial director Milous Cervencl Friday said another task is to present the Lety commemorative site to Czech students and teachers so that they start visiting it. It is interesting that foreigners know about the memorial and have been visiting Lety, Cervencl said.

Prague Monitor

Soldier backs BNP and hails 'legends' who shot 14 dead on Bloody Sunday

A soldier has been carpeted by top brass after a foulmouthed internet rant claiming soldiers were right to open fire on the Bloody Sunday marchers.

Fusilier John Allison, 20, is also facing disciplinary action for drumming up support for the BNP.

The dog handler serves with Fusiliers 2 Scots Battalion and has toured Afghanistan's Helmand province.

But he's been hauled over the coals after launching a tirade on his Facebook page after the Saville Inquiry last week condemned troops for killing 14 people during a civil rights demo in 1972.

But in a message peppered with swear words, Allison wrote: "The Saville Report is a lot of s****. The soldiers were right to shoot the ***** on Bloody Sunday. Rule Britannia."

Allison went on to describe 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment, who were responsible for killing the marchers, as "legends".

Army bosses also discovered that Allison had tried to canvas votes for the BNP on his web page the day before last month's general election.

Allison, of Paisley, Renfrewshire, wrote: "Vote BNP. Keep Britain British."

Serving soldiers are permitted to be members of legal political parties but are forbidden from campaigning.

Lord Saville's report ruled all victims fired on by the Paras were innocent and condemned the troops for opening fire in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland.

An Army spokesperson said: "Neither the Army nor the Armed Forces tolerates inappropriate behaviour in any shape or form.

"Instances of unacceptable social media comments brought to the attention of the Army are investigated, and appropriate action taken."

Daily Record

BNP lecturer behind Muslim heroin leaflet cleared of inciting religious hatred

A politics lecturer who wrote and distributed leaflets which blamed Muslims collectively for the heroin trade was yesterday cleared of intending to incite religious hatred.

Anthony Bamber, 54, a BNP activist, told a jury his intention was to create a debate about the ''crime against humanity'' that was the flow of the drug on to Britain's streets.

He was responsible for heading a campaign which sent up to 30,000 of the leaflets by hand or post to targeted areas and individuals throughout the north of England over a 12-month period.

Entitled The Heroin Trade, the leaflet claimed: ''Before the Islamic invasion it was impossible to find heroin in our land. Muslims are almost exclusively responsible for its production, transportation and sale.

''It is a crime against humanity because it has caused far more suffering than slavery ever did. It has led to millions of premature deaths.''
Taxpayers were also victims due to the cost of policing and rehabilitation for which Muslims must compensate, the leaflet added.

Muslims should be held to account with condemnation heaped upon them so that it would lead to the abolition of the trade, it concluded.

Bamber, of Greenbank Street, Preston, Lancashire, pleaded not guilty to seven counts of distributing threatening written material intended to stir up religious hatred between March and November 2008.

He was cleared by a jury at Preston Crown Court of all seven counts.

Representing himself, Bamber said there had been ''no unpleasant incidents or social unrest'' following the sending of the leaflets.

Giving evidence last week, he explained they were targeted at educated professionals such as teachers, doctors, lawyers and clerics who were unlikely to take physical retribution against Muslims upon reading the literature.

His aim was to create curiosity and interest which would then lead to a debate, he said.

''If I wanted to stir up religious hatred I would have aimed at a different group,'' said the former part-time lecturer of politics and economics at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston.

He said: ''It was a desire to protest at what I say is a monstrous abomination. I believe I have the right to protest about the heroin trade.

''There are 400,000 heroin users in this country which is the equivalent of the size of a city like Liverpool. Half of these people are going to die.

''I wanted to scream out, I wanted society to pay much more attention to the heroin trade. It is ignored.''

He added: ''I do not want religious war, I do not want people to hate.

''I intended to do something about the heroin trade. I was not a monster stirring up religious hatred.

''I think it should be discussed and debated, and it will come (round) to my opinion that it is a crime against humanity.

''I believe I was doing a good thing.''

Following the verdict, Detective Supt Neil Hunter, of Lancashire Constabulary's Force Major Investigation Team, said: ''While we are disappointed with today's decision, we accept the decision of the court.

''We have worked very closely with the Crown Prosecution Service throughout this inquiry and careful consideration was given before any decision to charge was made.

''That decision was based upon both the nature of the leaflets and the persistent nature of their distribution."

The Telegraph

Kenya 'hate speech' minister Machage suspended

Kenya's Assistant Roads Minister Wilfred Machage has been suspended by President Mwai Kibaki a day after being charged with inciting hatred.

Along with two other MPs, he was charged with hate speech during the campaign for a new constitution.

They allegedly said some ethnic groups would have to leave their land if the constitution was approved.

Six people died on Sunday in a stampede after grenades exploded at a campaign rally for the "No" campaign.
Some fear that the campaign ahead of a 4 August referendum could lead to a repeat of the violence which followed elections in December 2007.
Disputes over allegations of electoral fraud ignited ethnic tensions, leading to the deaths of some 1,300 people and forced 300,00 from their homes.

Higher Education Minister William Ruto, among another three MPs also accused of hate speech earlier this week but not charged, has appeared before the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).

Mr Ruto is alleged to have asked Muslims to reject the proposed constitution if they do not want a war with Christians.
The NCIC was set up to ease ethnic tensions after the post-election violence in 2007 and 2008.

The commission has written to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, asking for the suspension of all campaigning.

Power share
NCIC chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia said he wanted the politicians to be prosecuted quickly after the experience of 2008.
Much of the post-election violence in 2008 was over land disputes between rival ethnic groups and the proposed constitution would set up a land commission to manage public and community land, which is opposed by some.
The violence ended when election rivals Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga agreed to share power - and write a new constitution.

The coalition remains shaky but supporters of both men generally support the draft constitution.

The document provides for greater checks on presidential powers and more regional devolution.

It also recognises the UN human rights charter and creates a second parliamentary chamber - the senate.

BBC News

Police attacked at anti-racist demo (UK)

Admin comment, what you wont find mentioned in any of the mainstream media organisations news report's about the anti-Racism march that occurred in East London, is that a number of EDL members showed up in the area last Tuesday the 15th. Apparently they were very intimidating and handing out anti-Islamic leaflets. As quick as they arrived they left, leaving a very bad taste in the mouths of the locals.


Gangs of youths have attacked police officers after an anti-racist march, Scotland Yard has said.

Cordons were set up to stop people going up Whitechapel Road, in east London, because officers feared random attacks on members of the public.
The scenes followed a rally, organised by Unite Against Fascism, that attracted several thousand people.

It was organised in response to another rally planned by the far-right English Defence League (EDL) which was called off earlier this week.
A police spokesman said the UAF rally was "well organised and well stewarded" but a group of young men gathered outside the nearby East London Mosque in response to rumours the EDL were planning a protest.

He said: "The group numbered up to 300, who were very volatile. Despite continued excellent attempts by stewards and representatives from the East London Mosque to control the crowds, even placing themselves in danger, there was the risk of serious disorder.

"Police officers were attacked by the crowd at points throughout the afternoon. One member of the public was attacked at random by members of the crowd as those gathered surged up and down the Whitechapel Road.
"In order to prevent injuries to the public and officers, and serious disorder, police withdrew from the immediate area and a series of filter cordons were put in place. The cordons were used to prevent access to parts of Whitechapel Road due to concerted efforts by the crowd to attack people at random."

The cordon was in place for two hours. One person was arrested for assault.

A spokesman for Unite Against Fascism said around 5,000 took part in the march from Stepney to Whitechapel. He said: "I heard there were a few nasty scuffles between local youths and police but certainly the demo was very positive and a really good vibe."

Belfast Telegraph

Native Canadians to recall boarding school abuse

Hundreds of indigenous Canadians are to give evidence before a commission of their experiences at state-funded schools set up to enforce assimilation.

About 150,000 children attended the Church-run boarding schools which operated up to the 1990s.

The pupils were forced to abandon their cultural identity and many were physically and sexually abused.

The truth and reconciliation commission is part of a settlement agreed by the Canadian government four years ago.
The settlement also included an apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and more than C$2bn (£1.3bn) compensation for surviving former schoolchildren and their families.

The BBC's Lee Carter in Toronto says the so-called Indian residential schools represent one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history.

For some survivors, disclosing their experiences to the commission may prove extremely distressing, he adds.

Beaten
The schools, which operated from the late 19th Century, were designed to assimilate the children into European-Canadian society by removing their language, religion and culture.

Many former students recall being beaten for speaking their native language.

The federal government has already acknowledged that physical and sexual abuse were rampant in the schools.
Although some schools operated until the 1990s, most were shut down in the 1970s.
Buffy Sainte-Marie, a native Canadian singer-songwriter who took part in the commission's opening ceremonies on Wednesday, says the shock is still deeply felt by indigenous Canadians.

"It is just totally heartbreaking," she said.

"The things that happened for generations of children, just removed from their homes. How can you say to a child, we're going to take away your parents, your sisters, your brothers your home - everything? You are going to be up for grabs for anyone who wants to do anything to you. And it was done."

The hearings opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with a traditional sacred fire. It is the first of seven events to be held across the country.
Manitoba Justice Murray Sinclair, the head of the commission, said the experiences of former students will no longer be relegated to the sidelines of Canadian history.

"They will tell you something they have never told anyone before," he said.

"It is the kind of truth that causes you to squirm."

He added: "The truth eventually will heal us all."

BBC News

World Cup 2010: HMV withdraws 'racist' anti-England posters from Scottish stores

High street retailer HMV has withdrawn "Anyone But England" World Cup posters and T-shirts from its Scottish stores following complaints they were racist.
HMV took the decision after Fife police visited a store in the Kirkcaldy constituency of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Campaign for an English Parliament (CEP) contacted police about the "insensitive and provocative" items which, their website claimed were "criminally irresponsible".

The CEP said: "We understand HMV have agreed to withdraw their insensitive and provocative 'Anyone but England' window displays and T-shirts from their Scottish stores following complaints from members of the public and a complaint by the CEP to Fife Police for incitement to racial hatred.

"During the last World Cup, a number of racist attacks were committed in Scotland against English people and anti-English racism remains a problem whether it's a World Cup year or not."

An HMV spokesman told The Scotsman newspaper: "If we thought the shirts were in any way racist, then we certainly wouldn't have stocked them.

"In our view, the shirts are not against England or the English, but are simply about some Scottish fans expressing a view that they want any team other than England to win this year's World Cup.

"This is about the World Cup and should not be turned into a race issue."

Scotland failed to reach the finals after a dismal qualifying campaign.

Telegraph

Neo Nazi Gettysburg Rally peaceful despite threats (USA)

Chambersburg resident Christopher Moats picked Saturday, June 19 to wear his Barack Obama T-shirt -- the one with the silhouette of the president and the words "The New Face of America" splashed across as the front as if in graffiti.


The wardrobe choice would seem appropriate considering the day, known as Juneteenth, marks an annual celebration of civil rights. But 16-year-old Christopher had other reasons for the shirt.

"I have a problem when anybody tries to force their views on the rest of us," Christopher said, motioning to the patch of lawn at Gettysburg National Military Park where the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations was expected to appear.
"We might have different color skin, but we're all the same on the inside," Christopher said, "we all bleed red."

On Saturday afternoon, both Aryan Nations members and protesters shouted threats to spill blood and other acts of violence across the park's lawn, just west of the old Cyclorama Center.

The Aryan Nations identifies itself as a white-supremacist organization and the group has been named a "continuing terrorist threat" by the FBI. Although park officials said they do not support the views of the group, they're still obligated to accommodate those exercising their First Amendment rights.

Multiple law enforcement agencies were in attendance during the two-hour rally, including local and national park police as well as officers from Cumberland Township and the Borough of Gettysburg. Similarly, K-9 units patrolled the surrounding areas and a National Park Service helicopter buzzed overhead.

The white supremacists carried no visible weapons, despite earlier statements from Young saying the group would be armed. Instead, members brandished flags representing the Aryan Nations, the Confederacy and white supremacy. One individual, dressed in military garb, clutched a Bible to his chest while another held a stack of papers -- which showed a fearful-looking white family and the words "Earth's Most Endangered Species."

Both Aryan Nations members and protesters were required to pass through police checkpoints -- where backpacks and pockets were searched for potential weapons -- before allowed access to the rally.

As protesters amassed, Aryan Nations Alabama State Leader Bradley Jenkins urged the opposition forward.
"Okay everybody, I would like to invite them to come and speak with us," he said.

Protesters were held in check by police forces.

"Hey hippies come here," Jenkins added. "Power to the white man you pieces of s---."

A young newswoman walked momentarily between the groups -- red hair, skirt, high heels -- moving deliberately though the tall grass.

Aryan Nations leader Gordon Young called to her -- "Honey," he said, asking if she wanted to join them. She smiled politely and put her head down while passing by.

"Here they come gentleman, get ready. Here come the devil's spawn," shouted Young, as a group of protesters advanced toward the rally point.

"Death ... Death ... death to fascists. Power ... Power ... power to the people," responded about 17 members of the communist group Progressive Labor Party.

"Aryan Nations you can't hide, we charge you with genocide," added nearly two dozen members of an approaching anarchist group. "Yo Nazis ... Yo Nazis ... what's up ... what's up. Come to our town ... we'll f--- you up."
Young shouted back, "Force will be met by force," through a PA system across the lawn.

Separating the roughly 70 protesters lawn. Police barricades kept the groups apart and officers were posted around the area.

Despite the threats, U.S. Park Police Sgt. David Schlosser said things went "smoothly" and no acts of violence had been reported.
In total, 12 Aryan Nation members participated in the rally and the group arrived in a yellow school bus, which park officials say picked them up from a private site nearby.

In the weeks prior to the rally, Young had said the group was having trouble enlisting a bus company. Drivers, he said, were afraid of rocks being thrown through bus windows.

Noel Phillips, who identified herself as one of a group of communist protesters, said she came from New York to attend the day's rally. Many of the protesters said they learned about the rally on the Internet.

"We're here to take the Battle of Gettysburg one step further against these fascist scum," she said.

Young's response came through the PA system.
"All we want is our white rights," he said, calmly now. "You give it to the Negro beasts and the Hispanics. In my opinion, the monkeys here in Yankee country should be taught a lesson by the ropes and the draggings."

The white supremacists weren't the only ones issuing threats.

Among the group of anarchists was a 21-year old who identified himself as Peter Kropotkin, after the famed Russian anarchist.

The protester said he was 16 when he had "Liberation or death" tattooed across his left forearm, scrawled in cursive with black ink. And on the underside of his right tricep, in similar script, was "This machine kills fascists."
But among those "fascists" was a boy, who couldn't have been be older than 11 -- one of the Aryan Nations members bused in for the rally. A white bandana was pulled tight across his face because, as a rule, the identities of Aryan Nations children is guarded to protect against retribution.

The adults, Young says, can handle themselves.

Short-cropped hair, gray tanktop, the boy looked like the hundreds of others that scoured the park that day -- most of them members of Boy Scout packs or camp groups. Only instead of a plastic musket an Aryan Nations flag was perched in the crook of his arm.

And a woman -- the group's only -- took his flag to block him from view while he drank from a bottle of water.

When finished, the woman replaced the bandana and wiped the sweat from his nose with her thumb. Then she returned to him the flag and together they moved to face the crowd.

Alleged Bulgarian Neo-Nazi Attackers to Remain in Jail

The Sofia City Court has decided to keep in jail the six alleged “neo-Nazis” who have been arrested for attacking youngsters in a tram in the Bulgaria's capital.

Dimitar Lazarov, Vasil Pavlov, Matey Penev, Emil Aleksiev, Rosen Kanev, and Mario Abdel Gamal beat four youngsters between 17 and 23 years old in Sofia public transport tram on June 6.

The Court convened Friday with increased security measures. Even though a number of people flocked to the courthouse in order to attend the hearing, only relatives were allowed in.

An hour after the beginning of the trial, the Prosecution's Office delivered the protocols from interrogations and the expert's reports, which were previously declared “missing” by the defense.
The mother of Rosen Kanev, one of the defendants, stated that her entire family could guarantee that during the attack Rosen was home. She claimed the police came and arrested him from his room, seizing only his computer.

According to the defense, there were violations during the identification of the defendants. They also claim that the publications in the Bulgarian media have also influenced the Court's ruling.

The victims of the alleged neo-Nazis were on their way to a rally against the illegal detention of foreigners at the Special Center for Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners in Busmantsi, a Sofia suburb, widely known as the Bulgarian Guantanamo.

The Center has come under fierce criticism by NGOs and intellectuals for making locking people up pretty much the norm, holding people not temporarily but for years, providing no information how long they are going to be detained, imposing information blackout on the self-abuse and suicide attempts many detainees resort to.

novinite

British National Party challenged again on its rules by the Human Rights Commission EHRC

Apparently the BNP have once again has been contacted by the EHRC about it’s membership policy.


The actual facts about this right now are sketchy to say the least as the item has only been mentioned on the BNP website. But Nick Griffin is claiming that they are trying to seek legal action to send him to prison.

Mr Griffin who’s leadership position is in jeopardy after their disastrous general election thrashing is now calling all members of the racist party to support him.
(another not so cunning plan perhaps).

At the present time we have no idea how true it all is, but it is well worth a read and a slight giggle of hope.

Link to story on the BNP Website