From Israel to India, Taiwan and Chile … far-right groups are spreading
Israel In 2008, four suspects were charged with neo-Nazi activities. They were members of a gang called Patrol 35 which targeted other minorities and desecrated synagogues. Some of the gang were Soviet immigrants who refused to accept their Jewish ancestry.
Chile Patria Nueva Sociedad (New Fatherland Society) is a well-organised neo-Nazi group in Chile. Its leaders claim to adhere to Nazi economic and labour principles but say the group is against xenophobia, racism and discrimination.
Russia Neo-Nazi gangs such as the White Wolves have resorted to lethal violence to get across their message of white supremacy. Gang members were jailed this year after several central Asian migrants were attacked and killed in Moscow's back streets.
Taiwan In 2007 university students formed the National Socialism Association. The group claimed to have 800 members and a spokesperson said: "We want to study Hitler's good points, not study his massacres."
India A growing trend for Hitler memorabilia in India has caused shock. One publisher claims to have sold more than 100,000 copies of Mein Kampf (left) to Indians in the last 10 years. Some Indians have claimed to be inspired by Hitler's "discipline and patriotism".
The Guardian
Monday, 2 August 2010
POLITICAL OPPONENTS, ACADEMICS SAY PVV INFLUENCE WILL BE GREAT (Netherlands)
A minority VVD CDA cabinet supported by the PVV will give the anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders a lot of influence on government policy, academics and politicians say in Saturday's NRC. The three party leaders are expected to start talks next week on drawing up right-wing policy which the PVV will support from outside government. Wilders has already said he will continue to speak his mind about Islam and expects tough policy on integration, immigration and public safety in return for his backing.
Responsibility
Wim Voermans, professor of constitutional law at the University of Leiden said the PVV has everything to gain with a minority cabinet. 'Wilders wins a lot of time. He lets it be seen that he wants to take responsibility for government,' Voermans told the NRC. 'But he can always walk away and say 'they really don't want me. I have done everything I could.' And politicial scientist Marcel Boogers said the VVD and CDA will be very dependent on the PVV which will have a disproportionate influence on the cabinet. 'Wilders does not have to supply any ministers and get his hands dirty but he can hold hostage and blackmail the VVD and CDA,' Boogers said. A minority VVD and CDA cabinet which looks for support from different parties depending on the policy would be a preferable option, he said.
Power
MPs are concerned as well. 'Wilders will not be in the cabinet, but he will be the real prime minister,' said Labour MP Sharon Dijksma. 'Wilders has got Verhagen and Rutte on a lead. He doesn't carry the risk of the talks collapsing but has all the power,' said Boris van Ham of the D66 Liberal party. André Rouvoet, deputy prime minister in the outgoing government and leader of the orthodox ChristenUnie, was blunt. 'If Wilders' preference really is for a minority government, that would seem to me to be every reason not to do it,' he told the paper.
Dutch News
Responsibility
Wim Voermans, professor of constitutional law at the University of Leiden said the PVV has everything to gain with a minority cabinet. 'Wilders wins a lot of time. He lets it be seen that he wants to take responsibility for government,' Voermans told the NRC. 'But he can always walk away and say 'they really don't want me. I have done everything I could.' And politicial scientist Marcel Boogers said the VVD and CDA will be very dependent on the PVV which will have a disproportionate influence on the cabinet. 'Wilders does not have to supply any ministers and get his hands dirty but he can hold hostage and blackmail the VVD and CDA,' Boogers said. A minority VVD and CDA cabinet which looks for support from different parties depending on the policy would be a preferable option, he said.
Power
MPs are concerned as well. 'Wilders will not be in the cabinet, but he will be the real prime minister,' said Labour MP Sharon Dijksma. 'Wilders has got Verhagen and Rutte on a lead. He doesn't carry the risk of the talks collapsing but has all the power,' said Boris van Ham of the D66 Liberal party. André Rouvoet, deputy prime minister in the outgoing government and leader of the orthodox ChristenUnie, was blunt. 'If Wilders' preference really is for a minority government, that would seem to me to be every reason not to do it,' he told the paper.
Dutch News
EU TURNING BLIND EYE TO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ROMA, SAY HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS
The European Union was today accused of "turning a blind eye" as countries across Europe carried out a wave of expulsions and introduced new legislation targeting the Roma. Human rights groups criticised the EU for failing to address the real issues driving Europe's largest ethnic minority to migrate in the first place and for choosing not to upbraid countries for breaking both domestic and EU laws in their treatment of them. The criticism came after France announced it would round up and expel illegal Roma immigrants and destroy hundreds of their encampments. Elsewhere, it emerged that the city of Copenhagen had requested Danish government assistance to deport up to 400 Roma, and that Swedish police had expelled Roma in breach of its own and EU laws. In Belgium a caravan of 700 Roma has been chased out of Flanders and forced to set up camp in French-speaking Wallonia in the south. Italy, which in 2008 declared a state of emergency due to the presence of Roma, and evicted thousands of them, mainly to Romania and Bulgaria, is continuing to implement the policy to this day. Germany is in the process of repatriating thousands of Roma children and adolescents to Kosovo, despite warnings they will face discrimination, appalling living conditions, lack of access to education as well as language problems, because many of them were born in Germany and do not speak Serbian or Albanian.
In eastern European countries that are EU members, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, accounts are rife of widespread discrimination against Roma, including physical attacks. Amnesty International said the EU had "turned a blind eye" to what it called a "serious breach of human rights" towards Europe's Roma, who are roughly estimated to number about 16 million. "There is a clear and systemic programme of EU governments targeting Roma," said Anneliese Baldaccini, a lawyer at Amnesty's EU office. The Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), which monitors the situation of Roma in Europe, called on the EU to be "much more forthright" in pointing out to member states "the clear requirements of the free movement law". "Poverty, discrimination and a whole host of things make life unbearable for Roma in their countries of origin," said the ERRC's executive director, Robert Kushen. "We would welcome strong EU involvement to address some of these issues," he said.
The campaign groups were responding to the European Commission's insistence this week that the issue was one for individual states to handle. "When it comes to Roma and the possibility of expelling them, this is up to the member states to deal with – in this case France – and for them to decide how they are going to implement the law," said Matthew Newman, spokesman for the European justice commissioner, Viviane Reding. French president Nicholas Sarkozy was this week accused of pursuing a "xenophobic" and "discriminatory" crackdown on the country's 400,000 Travellers, Gypsies and Roma – most of whom have French citizenship. Interior minister Brice Hortefeux announced new measures including the dismantling of about 300 encampments and the "quasi-immediate" expulsion to Romania or Bulgaria of Roma with a criminal record.
Amnesty said the EU should penalise countries that have persistently failed to uphold the human rights of Roma. Among the harshest measures applicable under the charter of fundamental rights that came into force with the Lisbon treaty last year is the withdrawal of voting rights, or even expulsion from the union. "The EU under the Lisbon Treaty...has the responsibility to address human rights within the 27 member states," said Amnesty's executive officer for legal affairs in the European Union, Susanna Mehtonen. Campaign groups say the EU's failure to intervene calls into question its commitment to the Charter of Fundamental Rights that came into force with the passage of the Lisbon Treaty last year, and was heralded as a "new dawn" for human rights in Europe. They have accused Brussels of cowardice when it comes to the Roma. While the commission has no competence to defend gay rights, either, it has frequently been ready to criticise homophobic legislation in eastern Europe – largely, it is believed, because gay rights are well established in western European countries, unlike the rights of Roma.
Guardian
In eastern European countries that are EU members, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, accounts are rife of widespread discrimination against Roma, including physical attacks. Amnesty International said the EU had "turned a blind eye" to what it called a "serious breach of human rights" towards Europe's Roma, who are roughly estimated to number about 16 million. "There is a clear and systemic programme of EU governments targeting Roma," said Anneliese Baldaccini, a lawyer at Amnesty's EU office. The Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), which monitors the situation of Roma in Europe, called on the EU to be "much more forthright" in pointing out to member states "the clear requirements of the free movement law". "Poverty, discrimination and a whole host of things make life unbearable for Roma in their countries of origin," said the ERRC's executive director, Robert Kushen. "We would welcome strong EU involvement to address some of these issues," he said.
The campaign groups were responding to the European Commission's insistence this week that the issue was one for individual states to handle. "When it comes to Roma and the possibility of expelling them, this is up to the member states to deal with – in this case France – and for them to decide how they are going to implement the law," said Matthew Newman, spokesman for the European justice commissioner, Viviane Reding. French president Nicholas Sarkozy was this week accused of pursuing a "xenophobic" and "discriminatory" crackdown on the country's 400,000 Travellers, Gypsies and Roma – most of whom have French citizenship. Interior minister Brice Hortefeux announced new measures including the dismantling of about 300 encampments and the "quasi-immediate" expulsion to Romania or Bulgaria of Roma with a criminal record.
Amnesty said the EU should penalise countries that have persistently failed to uphold the human rights of Roma. Among the harshest measures applicable under the charter of fundamental rights that came into force with the Lisbon treaty last year is the withdrawal of voting rights, or even expulsion from the union. "The EU under the Lisbon Treaty...has the responsibility to address human rights within the 27 member states," said Amnesty's executive officer for legal affairs in the European Union, Susanna Mehtonen. Campaign groups say the EU's failure to intervene calls into question its commitment to the Charter of Fundamental Rights that came into force with the passage of the Lisbon Treaty last year, and was heralded as a "new dawn" for human rights in Europe. They have accused Brussels of cowardice when it comes to the Roma. While the commission has no competence to defend gay rights, either, it has frequently been ready to criticise homophobic legislation in eastern Europe – largely, it is believed, because gay rights are well established in western European countries, unlike the rights of Roma.
Guardian
ANTI-ISLAM PARTY SUPPORTS FIRST DUTCH MINORITY CABINET SINCE WORLD WAR II (Netherlands)
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| Wilders |
‘Possibilities’
“We’ve concluded we see possibilities for a government with CDA and VVD with support from the PVV,” Liberal Party leader Mark Rutte told reporters in The Hague. The coalition will offer power for the Freedom Party, whose representation more than doubled in the elections, and the Christian Democrats of outgoing Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who lost half their support. “It may work out,” said Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, which seeks to ban new mosques, curb immigration, cut development aid and reduce European Union influence. “The negotiations are yet to start, but if it does work, that would be great for the Netherlands. I am very happy this offers chances in the Netherlands to make political cooperation happen on the right side,” he told reporters in The Hague. Wilders, 47, receives police protection around the clock and faces trial in the Netherlands on charges of inciting hatred in his 2008 film “Fitna,” in which he calls on Muslims to rip out “hate-preaching” verses from the Koran.
Austerity
Austerity measures are the most important issue on political leaders’ agenda, with the Netherlands, the fifth- largest economy in the euro region, needing to narrow its budget deficit from a forecast 6.3 percent of gross domestic product this year to 3 percent by 2013 to meet EU rules. Wilders’ Freedom Party will support an 18 billion-euro ($23 billion) cut in the government budget, Dutch public broadcaster NOS quoted him as saying on its website. Queen Beatrix last week asked Ruud Lubbers, a three-time prime minister, to broker talks among the parties to form a coalition backed by a majority in parliament following the election. Lubbers will speak with leaders of the other political parties on Aug. 2 before reporting back to the Queen on the proposed minority Cabinet, the government information service said in an e-mailed statement. Yesterday’s agreement is “surprising in the sense that Lubbers was asked to investigate the possibilities of forming a majority Cabinet,” Labor Party leader Job Cohen told NOS radio. “Our country needs a stable majority Cabinet in this difficult economic situation.” The Queen’s adviser should consider other majority backed options first, in accordance with his task, Cohen said.
Bloomberg
FPÖ ICON SCRINZI LEAVES AS INNER TURMOIL WORSENS (Austria)
Things have not gone too well for the third-strongest party in the federal parliament so far this year. Leader Heinz-Christian Strache has come under fire from several high-ranking FPÖ officials for nominating Barbara Rosenkranz as the party’s presidential candidate. The ultra-conservative mother-of-ten garnered a paltry 15 per cent of the overall vote in the April ballot won by incumbent President Heinz Fischer, a former Social Democratic (SPÖ) president of the federal parliament. Political analysts claimed ahead of the election the FPÖ would have fared better nominating Strache as such a step would have helped it to increase in popularity despite his non-existent chances of winning the election.
Rumour has it that Strache actually opposed the nomination of Rosenkranz, but was pressed by influential party board members to pick her. It will be a "make or break" autumn for the party headed by late BZÖ founder Jörg Haider as Styrians (26 September) and Viennese (10 October) head to the polls. The FPÖ is expected to gain in both ballots after poor showings in the 2005 provincial elections which took place months after its federal ministers left to join Haider’s new party. Strache admitted wanting to become mayor of Vienna someday, with the federal chancellorship to follow. Election experts have however claimed the FPÖ might do less well than expected in upcoming elections if it continues to focus solely on aggressive campaigning against "criminal immigrants".
Austrian Times
Sarkozy accused of pandering to far-right (france)
The French opposition has accused president Nicolas Sarkozy of abandoning republican principles and pandering to the far-right after he used a major speech to make a link between immigration and crime.
Mr Sarkozy’s strongly-worded speech last Friday in Grenoble, where riots broke out last month after a suspected armed robber was killed by police during a shoot-out, was marked by tough rhetoric and proposals that have provoked fury on the left.
Speaking of a “war” against criminality, the president suggested that French citizenship should be withdrawn from anyone of foreign origin who threatened the life of a police officer.
He also called for longer prison sentences for violent crimes and a law to allow for electronic tags to be automatically applied to repeat offenders for several years after their release from jail.
In breaking a mainstream taboo by drawing a connection between crime and immigration, Mr Sarkozy was accused of appealing to far-right National Front (FN) voters and trying to distract the public from the government’s problems.
Socialist party leader Martine Aubry said Mr Sarkozy’s comments represented “one further step in rhetorical excess” and “an anti-republican drift which damages France and its values”.
She suggested the government’s toughening language was the result of “panic” over its failures on economic and social policy as well as on crime. Mr Sarkozy’s approval ratings, at 32 per cent, are near their lowest level since he became president in 2007.
“Mr Le Pen and his daughter need no longer say a thing – their double is speaking for them,” said the prominent Green Party figure Noël Mamère, referring to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the FN, and his daughter Marine.
Socialist Pierre Moscovici said Mr Sarkozy, by dividing Frenchmen into different categories, was “killing the Republican sentiment”, while the Human Rights League said the “nauseating” debate evoked the worst refrains in French history, “those of the 1930s, aimed at stirring up hatred against foreigners.”
For her part, Marine Le Pen said the president had “officially confirmed” that there was a criminal element among some groups of immigrants, “a truth the FN has been persecuted for saying for three decades”.
Just days before his speech in Grenoble, Mr Sarkozy – who made his national reputation as a tough interior minister – called for a change to France’s immigration laws to make it easier to expel members of the Roma community who were in France illegally. He has said hundreds of illegal encampments will be dismantled by police over the coming months.
Faced with uproar from the left, however, interior minister Brice Hortefeux yesterday stood firmly behind the president’s speech.
In an interview with Le Parisien , Mr Hortefeux suggested the government could go further than Mr Sarkozy suggested by withdrawing citizenship from French men of foreign origin who commit crimes other than threatening a police officer.
The minister brushed off the criticism, saying: “When we must adapt to or confront new difficulties, we don’t hesitate to do so. We’re waging a war against insecurity. We’re on the side of the victims and we have but a single enemy: the crooks who make honest people’s lives a misery.”
Irish Times
Mr Sarkozy’s strongly-worded speech last Friday in Grenoble, where riots broke out last month after a suspected armed robber was killed by police during a shoot-out, was marked by tough rhetoric and proposals that have provoked fury on the left.
Speaking of a “war” against criminality, the president suggested that French citizenship should be withdrawn from anyone of foreign origin who threatened the life of a police officer.
He also called for longer prison sentences for violent crimes and a law to allow for electronic tags to be automatically applied to repeat offenders for several years after their release from jail.
In breaking a mainstream taboo by drawing a connection between crime and immigration, Mr Sarkozy was accused of appealing to far-right National Front (FN) voters and trying to distract the public from the government’s problems.
Socialist party leader Martine Aubry said Mr Sarkozy’s comments represented “one further step in rhetorical excess” and “an anti-republican drift which damages France and its values”.
She suggested the government’s toughening language was the result of “panic” over its failures on economic and social policy as well as on crime. Mr Sarkozy’s approval ratings, at 32 per cent, are near their lowest level since he became president in 2007.
“Mr Le Pen and his daughter need no longer say a thing – their double is speaking for them,” said the prominent Green Party figure Noël Mamère, referring to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the FN, and his daughter Marine.
Socialist Pierre Moscovici said Mr Sarkozy, by dividing Frenchmen into different categories, was “killing the Republican sentiment”, while the Human Rights League said the “nauseating” debate evoked the worst refrains in French history, “those of the 1930s, aimed at stirring up hatred against foreigners.”
For her part, Marine Le Pen said the president had “officially confirmed” that there was a criminal element among some groups of immigrants, “a truth the FN has been persecuted for saying for three decades”.
Just days before his speech in Grenoble, Mr Sarkozy – who made his national reputation as a tough interior minister – called for a change to France’s immigration laws to make it easier to expel members of the Roma community who were in France illegally. He has said hundreds of illegal encampments will be dismantled by police over the coming months.
Faced with uproar from the left, however, interior minister Brice Hortefeux yesterday stood firmly behind the president’s speech.
In an interview with Le Parisien , Mr Hortefeux suggested the government could go further than Mr Sarkozy suggested by withdrawing citizenship from French men of foreign origin who commit crimes other than threatening a police officer.
The minister brushed off the criticism, saying: “When we must adapt to or confront new difficulties, we don’t hesitate to do so. We’re waging a war against insecurity. We’re on the side of the victims and we have but a single enemy: the crooks who make honest people’s lives a misery.”
Irish Times
Sunday, 1 August 2010
7,000 already signed up for petition against EDL rally (UK)
Campaigners against the proposed English Defence League (EDL) demonstration in Bradford were rallying support on the city’s streets this weekend.
Community groups under the banner Bradford Together have already received signatures from around 7,000 people who want to see the demonstration, planned for August 28, banned by the Home Secretary.
Volunteers were collecting names on a petition in Girlington, Heaton, Buttershaw and Fairweather Green, talking to residents in the street and knocking on doors.
Speaking for Bradford Together, Paul Meszaros, said: “We have been getting really good reactions from people, a lot better than we had thought.
“There is a real worry in the city there is a massive threat to all of us, and I think Bradfordians know that."
Telegraph & Argus
Community groups under the banner Bradford Together have already received signatures from around 7,000 people who want to see the demonstration, planned for August 28, banned by the Home Secretary.
Volunteers were collecting names on a petition in Girlington, Heaton, Buttershaw and Fairweather Green, talking to residents in the street and knocking on doors.
Speaking for Bradford Together, Paul Meszaros, said: “We have been getting really good reactions from people, a lot better than we had thought.
“There is a real worry in the city there is a massive threat to all of us, and I think Bradfordians know that."
Telegraph & Argus
EDL EXTREMISTS TAKE KIDS ON LONDON ANTI-MUSLIM DEMO
Hundreds of families with youngsters were among the marchers in London yesterday.
Members of the English Nationalist Alliance waved St George flags and wore fake hijabs and T-shirts with “Infidel” across the front as they delivered a letter to Government officials in Whitehall.
The group, which claims not to be racist, traded angry chants with demonstrators on a counter protest organised by the Muslim Defence League.
They want the Government to ban faith-based laws and Sharia courts, which are held in some mosques in England to settle disputes.
One onlooker said: “It was strange to see kids on the march. It wasn’t really the place for them. They hadn’t a clue what it was all about.”
Daily Star
Gypsy evictions rooted in racism? (UK)
The new laws will strip many gypsy families from the right to camp on public property and force them to return to illegal camping on the side of roads, the Guardian reported.
According to human rights groups, the move, which will threaten a whole way of life, will also deprive children of the chance to attend schools and make it more difficult for the elderly to access the crucial health services they need.
Communities And Local Government Minister Erick Pickles is to introduce new laws, which will enable the police to evict and arrest people more easily for trespassing on public land.
His proposed laws will also suspend new applications and those in the process of examination for permits to park caravans on private land.
Former administrations had launched efforts to allocate caravan "pitches" to travelers within all local authorities to prevent the prospect of gypsies having to camp illegally.
As with Pickles' decision to axe the councils' budget for the "pitches" plan, spending does not seem to be a major concern as councils will be given some £18 million a year to carry out expulsions.
Gratton Puxon, a founding member of the Gypsy Council said the plan has to do with "racism" rather than austerity.
"Gypsies are being squeezed on all sides in this wave of intolerance and racism which is unlike anything I've ever seen before," he said.
This is while government data shows that gypsy and traveler caravans on illegal sites account for a minute fraction of the 18,000 caravans in the country. The gypsy vehicles are so few, they could all be parked within a area of one square mile.
"It's seen as the last bastion of racism. It's not socially acceptable to express racism against ethnic minorities, but against gypsies and travelers it's fine," said Emma Nuttall of the support group Friends, Families and Travelers.
Press TV
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Church plans Quran-burning event (USA)
In protest of what it calls a religion "of the devil," a nondenominational church in Gainesville, Florida, plans to host an "International Burn a Quran Day" on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The Dove World Outreach Center says it is hosting the event to remember 9/11 victims and take a stand against Islam. With promotions on its website and Facebook page, it invites Christians to burn the Muslim holy book at the church from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
"We believe that Islam is of the devil, that it's causing billions of people to go to hell, it is a deceptive religion, it is a violent religion and that is proven many, many times," Pastor Terry Jones told CNN's Rick Sanchez earlier this week.
Jones wrote a book titled "Islam is of the Devil," and the church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase.
Muslims and many other Christians -- including some evangelicals -- are fighting the initiative.
The church launched a YouTube channel to disseminate its messages.
"I mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim? As they're on the way to Mecca? As they gather together in the mosque on the floor? Does it look like a real religion of joy?" Jones asks in one of his YouTube posts.
"No, to me it looks like a religion of the devil."
The Islamic advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Muslims and others to host "Share the Quran" dinners to educate the public during the monthlong fast of Ramadan beginning in August. In a news release, the group announced a campaign to give out 100,000 copies of the Quran to local, state and national leaders.
"American Muslims and other people of conscience should support positive educational efforts to prevent the spread of Islamophobia," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper in the release.
The National Association of Evangelicals, the nation's largest umbrella evangelical group, issued a statement urging the church to cancel the event, warning it could cause worldwide tension between the two religions.
"The NAE calls on its members to cultivate relationships of trust and respect with our neighbors of other faiths. God created human beings in his image, and therefore all should be treated with dignity and respect," it said in the statement.
Dove's Facebook page, set up for the September event, has more than 1,600 fans.
"Eternal fire is the only destination the Quran can lead people to, so we want to put the Quran in it's [sic] place -- the fire!" the page says.
But another Facebook group with more than 3,100 fans says it stands "against the disrespect and intolerance that these people have for the Muslim people" and encourages people to report Dove's page to Facebook.
Targeting another group it calls "godless," the Dove center is also hosting a protest against Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe, who is openly gay, on Monday at Gainesville's City Hall. The group previously fought -- unsuccessfully -- to derail Lowe's election campaign.
"We protest sexual perversion because the Bible protests it. ... What is acceptable to today's leadership becomes acceptable to tomorrow's society," the church says in its blog entry about the event.
Lowe and other government figures and media outlets received e-mails from the church about the event, The Gainesville Sun reported. Lowe isn't concerned with Monday's event.
"I've got other things to do," he said, The Sun reports.
On the outreach center's front lawn, alongside a sign reading "Aug. 2 Protest, No Homo Mayor, City Hall," stands not just one, but three signs bearing the slogan "Islam is of the Devil."
One of the signs -- one reading "Islam" on one side, "Devil" on the other -- was vandalized. On its blog last week, the church said the sign will be replaced.
"This is private property and vandalism is a crime here in America," the blog says. "In Islam, many actions that we consider to be crimes are encouraged, condoned or sheltered under Islamic teaching and practice, though. Another reason to burn a Quran."
CNN
The Dove World Outreach Center says it is hosting the event to remember 9/11 victims and take a stand against Islam. With promotions on its website and Facebook page, it invites Christians to burn the Muslim holy book at the church from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
"We believe that Islam is of the devil, that it's causing billions of people to go to hell, it is a deceptive religion, it is a violent religion and that is proven many, many times," Pastor Terry Jones told CNN's Rick Sanchez earlier this week.
Jones wrote a book titled "Islam is of the Devil," and the church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase.
Muslims and many other Christians -- including some evangelicals -- are fighting the initiative.
The church launched a YouTube channel to disseminate its messages.
"I mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim? As they're on the way to Mecca? As they gather together in the mosque on the floor? Does it look like a real religion of joy?" Jones asks in one of his YouTube posts.
"No, to me it looks like a religion of the devil."
The Islamic advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Muslims and others to host "Share the Quran" dinners to educate the public during the monthlong fast of Ramadan beginning in August. In a news release, the group announced a campaign to give out 100,000 copies of the Quran to local, state and national leaders.
"American Muslims and other people of conscience should support positive educational efforts to prevent the spread of Islamophobia," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper in the release.
The National Association of Evangelicals, the nation's largest umbrella evangelical group, issued a statement urging the church to cancel the event, warning it could cause worldwide tension between the two religions.
"The NAE calls on its members to cultivate relationships of trust and respect with our neighbors of other faiths. God created human beings in his image, and therefore all should be treated with dignity and respect," it said in the statement.
Dove's Facebook page, set up for the September event, has more than 1,600 fans.
"Eternal fire is the only destination the Quran can lead people to, so we want to put the Quran in it's [sic] place -- the fire!" the page says.
But another Facebook group with more than 3,100 fans says it stands "against the disrespect and intolerance that these people have for the Muslim people" and encourages people to report Dove's page to Facebook.
Targeting another group it calls "godless," the Dove center is also hosting a protest against Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe, who is openly gay, on Monday at Gainesville's City Hall. The group previously fought -- unsuccessfully -- to derail Lowe's election campaign.
"We protest sexual perversion because the Bible protests it. ... What is acceptable to today's leadership becomes acceptable to tomorrow's society," the church says in its blog entry about the event.
Lowe and other government figures and media outlets received e-mails from the church about the event, The Gainesville Sun reported. Lowe isn't concerned with Monday's event.
"I've got other things to do," he said, The Sun reports.
On the outreach center's front lawn, alongside a sign reading "Aug. 2 Protest, No Homo Mayor, City Hall," stands not just one, but three signs bearing the slogan "Islam is of the Devil."
One of the signs -- one reading "Islam" on one side, "Devil" on the other -- was vandalized. On its blog last week, the church said the sign will be replaced.
"This is private property and vandalism is a crime here in America," the blog says. "In Islam, many actions that we consider to be crimes are encouraged, condoned or sheltered under Islamic teaching and practice, though. Another reason to burn a Quran."
CNN
Racist group planning to target fans at Pittodrie (Scotland)
The National Front has confirmed it plans to canvass support outside Pittodrie Stadium.
The group’s Aberdeen branch has announced it intends to distribute literature outside the home of Aberdeen Football Club to try to boost its membership.
The National Front is a far right political party widely considered a racist group. The British prison service and police forbid employees to be members of the party.
But Grampian Police is powerless to prevent members from selling papers and handing out leaflets on the streets around the ground.
The club is adamant, however, that members will be thrown out if they try to enter the stadium.
A spokesman for the group said they will be campaigning on local issues that are “relevant to the citizens of Aberdeen”.
He said: “This may be child molesters, muggers, immigration problems with the expanding immigrant population in the city.
“All these topics are of interest and we will have leaflets printed that show our views on these topics.”
He said the group would specifically target the visit of Celtic in December.
He added: “We have had a lot of success at our paper sales at Pittodrie in the past and the Celtic game is always a popular game for us to canvass support.”
The club is already preparing for the group’s advances.
Dons spokesman Dave Macdermid said: “We have made it clear the National Front is not a group we want to see associated with a family club.”
The group has targeted the club in the past. In 2003, there were fears that its presence at the ground would cause trouble.
The club’s first match programme of the 2003/04 season contained a statement telling fans not to be intimidated by anyone trying to sell them anything outside the ground.
Later that season, the club revealed it had kicked out a bid by the National Front to sponsor one of its matches.
Press and Journal
EDUMIN PROMISES MONEY FOR ROMANI HOLOCAUST INFO CENTRE(Czech Rep.)
The Czech state should find money for the construction of a Romany Holocaust Information and Education Centre on the spot of a former internment camp for Romanies in Hodonin u Kunstatu, Education Minister Josef Dobes told journalists yesterday. "It may be good to send a moral signal during a crisis," Dobes said. He admitted that he temporarily stopped all investment and is seeking how to save money. But the Romany Holocaust Centre may be an exception. The previous Czech government earmarked 90 million crowns for the centre. The Education Ministry bought the area of the former camp, now used as a recreation facility, for 20 million crowns last year. Dobes plans to present the budget for the centre's construction to the government in October.
Michal Kocab, government human rights commissioner, said this would be the first centre focusing on Romany Holocaust in the world. Some 1300 Romanies went through the Hodonin internment camp operating from August 1942 to December 1943. Over 200 died there and the rest of the inmates were moved to the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) extermination camp where most of them perished. In total, about 580 of 6000 Czech Romanies returned from Nazi camps after World War Two. Lucie Matejkova, from Brno-based Roma Culture Museum, said the centre should be open both to the general public and researchers. Dobes said the operation of the planned centre would cost from 600,000 to 3 million crowns, depending on the financial situation. ($1=19.233 crowns)
Prague Monitor
Michal Kocab, government human rights commissioner, said this would be the first centre focusing on Romany Holocaust in the world. Some 1300 Romanies went through the Hodonin internment camp operating from August 1942 to December 1943. Over 200 died there and the rest of the inmates were moved to the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) extermination camp where most of them perished. In total, about 580 of 6000 Czech Romanies returned from Nazi camps after World War Two. Lucie Matejkova, from Brno-based Roma Culture Museum, said the centre should be open both to the general public and researchers. Dobes said the operation of the planned centre would cost from 600,000 to 3 million crowns, depending on the financial situation. ($1=19.233 crowns)
Prague Monitor
Anti-fascists not welcome in Estonia
Estonian authorities have banned anti-fascist activists from entering the country. The activists were going to rally against the meeting of Estonian veterans who fought on the side of Nazi Germany.
The bus with Lithuanian and Latvian anti-fascists was unable to cross the border between Estonia and Latvia, as the border guards said the bus was in poor technical condition.
Six activists were made to go back to Latvia. 16 others were admitted, however, they were made to board an Estonian bus specially sent in, reports news agency Interfax.
The forum of the Waffen SS division is scheduled for Saturday and is to take place in the north-east of the country, in a village called Sinimäe. The anti-fascists want to hold their protest, which was officially permitted by Estonian authorities, just not far from this place.
Back in 1944, this neighborhood was the scene of fierce fighting between Soviet soldiers and SS forces. According to estimates, the death toll from both sides reached 200,000 people.
A day earlier, Estonia refused to allow Finnish activists to enter the country. The head of Finland’s anti-fascism committee, Johan Beckman, said the ban is a sign that Estonia supports pro-fascism events and is becoming the most dangerous place in the modern world.
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed indignation at Estonian authorities’ encouraging events that celebrate the crimes of SS squads.
RT
The bus with Lithuanian and Latvian anti-fascists was unable to cross the border between Estonia and Latvia, as the border guards said the bus was in poor technical condition.
Six activists were made to go back to Latvia. 16 others were admitted, however, they were made to board an Estonian bus specially sent in, reports news agency Interfax.
The forum of the Waffen SS division is scheduled for Saturday and is to take place in the north-east of the country, in a village called Sinimäe. The anti-fascists want to hold their protest, which was officially permitted by Estonian authorities, just not far from this place.
Back in 1944, this neighborhood was the scene of fierce fighting between Soviet soldiers and SS forces. According to estimates, the death toll from both sides reached 200,000 people.
A day earlier, Estonia refused to allow Finnish activists to enter the country. The head of Finland’s anti-fascism committee, Johan Beckman, said the ban is a sign that Estonia supports pro-fascism events and is becoming the most dangerous place in the modern world.
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed indignation at Estonian authorities’ encouraging events that celebrate the crimes of SS squads.
RT
Friday, 30 July 2010
Migrationsverket cuts asylum seeker estimates (Sweden)
The National Migration Board (Migrationsverket) believes that the number of asylum seekers in Sweden will decline to 29,000 in 2010 and 27,000 next year.
This is a decline from the May estimate of 31,000 in Sweden this year and 28,000 next year. The primary reason behind the adjustment is that the number of applicants from Somalia is no longer increasing at the same pace as before, the agency wrote.
The change means that the agency will have better conditions to continue efforts to shorten the waiting times for applicants. The average processing time is currently four and a half months, the shortest in 20 years.
At the same time, the agency also lowered its forecast for unaccompanied children by 400 to 2,400. However, more are expected this year and the need for places remains high. At mid-year, over 450 children were still waiting to be received in a municipality.
The forecast for the number of cases relating to work permits has increased. The agency estimates that it needs a significant cash injection for next year, 312 million kronor ($42.68 million) more than the government's current proposals.
The Local Sweden
This is a decline from the May estimate of 31,000 in Sweden this year and 28,000 next year. The primary reason behind the adjustment is that the number of applicants from Somalia is no longer increasing at the same pace as before, the agency wrote.
The change means that the agency will have better conditions to continue efforts to shorten the waiting times for applicants. The average processing time is currently four and a half months, the shortest in 20 years.
At the same time, the agency also lowered its forecast for unaccompanied children by 400 to 2,400. However, more are expected this year and the need for places remains high. At mid-year, over 450 children were still waiting to be received in a municipality.
The forecast for the number of cases relating to work permits has increased. The agency estimates that it needs a significant cash injection for next year, 312 million kronor ($42.68 million) more than the government's current proposals.
The Local Sweden
Skilled migrants urgently needed, says minister (Germany)
With Germany industry facing a looming skills shortage, Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle revealed on Friday he was planning a major recruitment drive to attract skilled migrants.
That included encouraging German firms to pay cash incentives to lure foreign workers, he told daily Handelsblatt.
“The question of how Germany becomes lastingly attractive to skilled migrants is right at the top of my agenda,” he said.
Part of the plan encourages payment of Begrüßungsgeld or “welcome money” for guest workers.
“It is conceivable that some businesses who can afford it and have an urgent need, pay skilled foreign workers an incentive,” he said.
He ruled out, however, using taxpayers’ money to subsidise skilled migrants to relocated to Germany.
Economists agree that Germany’s export-driven economy, which relies heavily on skilled workers such as engineers to develop its high-end manufactured goods to sell overseas, will be gradually eroded in years to come by a dearth of such qualified professionals.
“The skills shortage, and not unemployment, will in the coming years be the key problem for the German job market,” Brüderle said.
The Local Germany
That included encouraging German firms to pay cash incentives to lure foreign workers, he told daily Handelsblatt.
“The question of how Germany becomes lastingly attractive to skilled migrants is right at the top of my agenda,” he said.
Part of the plan encourages payment of Begrüßungsgeld or “welcome money” for guest workers.
“It is conceivable that some businesses who can afford it and have an urgent need, pay skilled foreign workers an incentive,” he said.
He ruled out, however, using taxpayers’ money to subsidise skilled migrants to relocated to Germany.
Economists agree that Germany’s export-driven economy, which relies heavily on skilled workers such as engineers to develop its high-end manufactured goods to sell overseas, will be gradually eroded in years to come by a dearth of such qualified professionals.
“The skills shortage, and not unemployment, will in the coming years be the key problem for the German job market,” Brüderle said.
The Local Germany
BNP faces fines for third accounts failure (UK)
The British National Party has failed to submit its 2009 accounts to the Electoral Commission, the third time the fascist party has been late.The Electoral Commission said today: “The British National Party and the party’s Regional Accounting Unit were both granted an extension to the deadline for submitting their statements of accounts. Both have failed to deliver their accounts within the extended deadline so the party will be fined a minimum of £500 and the accounting unit will be fined a minimum £100, this figure will increase if the accounts are more than three months late.”
The 2008 accounts, which were submitted nearly six months late, remain under investigation by the Electoral Commission because the auditors reported that they did not give a true and fair view and did not “comply with the requirements of the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as adequate records have not been made available”.
At the time, Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, described the accounts as “inadequate”. In his introduction to the 2008 accounts Griffin claimed that “the task of maintaining central office accounts had become too big for any one individual”. However, he continued, the problem had now been solved because the job had been “outsourced” to “an independent Chartered Accountant and Accounts Technician with the aim of presenting acceptable accounts for the accounting year 2009”.
The independent chartered accountant was John Thompson, a close business associate of Jim Dowson, the man whose web of financial links with the BNP is such that he in effect “owns” the BNP.
The failure to submit accounts will add to Dowson’s unpopularity with many BNP members and plays into the hands of Eddy Butler, who is currently trying to collect enough nominations to challenge Griffin for the party leadership. Butler’s response was: “Nick Griffin has brought disgrace upon the BNP yet again. There is only one way that you can change this. Sign the nomination form and vote for change.”
That the accounts have not appeared was no surprise to Searchlight. Given the BNP’s huge liabilities as a result of Griffin’s long list of reckless legal actions, the party’s independent auditors are likely to have had difficulty certifying that the BNP is a “going concern”.
In recent years, although the party has been insolvent, the auditors have assumed it can meet its liabilities by raiding the funds of its groups and branches, something with which many local officers are unhappy. Now, the liabilities are so big that branch funds are not enough, and many branch treasurers have adopted measures to keep head office’s hands off their money.
An organisation that is not a “going concern” cannot operate unless it pays for all goods and services in advance, something the BNP does not have the money to do.
Many party members are beginning to realise that although Dowson has raised unprecedented sums in donations, Griffin has been spending far more on madnesses such as using an image of Marmite on a BNP election broadcast, which attracted an injunction from Unilever, defending indefensible unfair dismissal claims from former employees and dragging out his response to the Equality Commission’s action over the party’s racist constitution to the extent that the legal costs are believed to be running at £300,000 so far.
Another problem the auditors might have had is that the party apparently no longer owns any of its assets. One of the sections of the new BNP constitution that Griffin slipped in without telling anyone states that all the party’s assets belong to the so-called Founders’ Association. That body is not defined in the constitution but it is understood to be all BNP members who joined before the new constitution came into effect in February and are still members. If the party does not own its assets, they cannot correctly be included in its accounts, which would greatly increase the party’s insolvency.
The BNP, however, is hoping its members will keep their heads firmly in the sand. The day before it emerged that the party’s accounts were missing, Dave Hannam, the party treasurer, sent out an email listing all the party’s financial achievements but admitting that he had been forced to implement new stringent financial controls and submit to monthly inspection of his “treasury office” by “an outside accountant”.
According to Hannam the party lacked “financial stability”. One reason was: “the large number of court cases launched at this party in a deliberate attempt to derail us,” skating over the fact that almost all the legal costs were entirely the fault of the BNP. Another reason was “a general lack of accountability with regards to the National Treasurer and his office”. And it had been “discovered that some officials has incurred expenditure that was both unauthorised and previously unknown to the Treasury department”.
In other words, Hannam had been as incompetent as most people, other than Griffin, Dowson and their sycophants, always knew he was from the time he first became the party’s deputy treasurer.
The email said nothing about the 2009 accounts being late, appealed for new regional treasurers – in other words new people Hannam can blame the next time it all goes wrong – and ended with a “donate” button, in the hope that the party’s stupid supporters will throw more money into Griffin’s bottomless pit.
STEEP FALL IN BIRTH RATE FOR MINORITIES (Denmark)
The latest figures from Statistics Denmark have revealed that women from non-Western immigrant groups are now having fewer children than their white Danish counterparts. Twenty years ago women from ethnic minorities had twice as many children as their Danish sisters, but by 2009 their birth rate had fallen to just 1.6 children per woman, below the 1.9 rate for Danes. Garbi Schmidt, a senior researcher in Islamic studies at the Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI) pointed out a number of explanations for this trend. Speaking to Kristeligt Dagbladet newspaper, she said: ‘One explanation is that women from ethnic minorities are waiting to have children because they are getting an education. At the moment there is a great focus on education and many are extremely ambitious about what they want to achieve in the educational system.’ Another explanation is that minorities are beginning to behave in the same way as the general population with regard to marriage, starting families and getting an education, she added. ‘This means that women from ethnic minorities are waiting longer before starting a family.’ The stricter rules now in force regarding residence permits for foreign-born spouses also make it more difficult for immigrants to marry people from their home country, Schmidt said. Last year SFI carried out a study among immigrant groups and discovered that minorities were delaying marriage as a direct result of the ‘24-year rule’. The rule, which has been part of immigration legislation since May 2002, stipulates that ‘naturalised citizens’ must have lived in Denmark for at least 24 years before being allowed to bring their spouse here.
cphpost
cphpost
ROMANIA TO COOPERATE WITH FRANCE ON ROMA ROW
Bucharest will not abandon its citizens abroad and will better cooperate with France on its plans to tackle illegal immigration, Romanian authorities have said, following an announcement from Paris that the government would dismantle some 300 illegal Roma/Gypsy camps across the country. "Our main interest is to help integrate Romanian citizens abroad, whatever their ethnicity is. But the social inclusion of Roma people is not only a Romanian issue," Prime Minister Emil Boc said on Thursday. France on Wednesday announced it would step up measures agains illegal immigration, including the deportation of Roma people from illegal camps in a move the government said is aimed at cracking down on increasing crime and urban violence. The move has prompted a significant reaction in France, where human rights groups and the main opposition Socialist party have denounced the measures, calling them racist and xenophobic. A press release from the French Presidency calls the illegal camps "sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundly shocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime". It added that new legislation would be introduced soon to make the expulsion from France of illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe easier, "for reasons of public order".
Paris made the move after riots erupted in two French towns over the weekend, one of which involved an attack on a police station by a group of Roma people angered after police shot a fellow traveller. In his press release, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said that he would ask the French National Assembly to vote on an agreement between France and Romania that would facilitate the return of unaccompanied Roma minors back to Romania. He also said that France would undertake a cooperation effort with Romania to fight against trafficking and allow for the return of Roma people from France to Bulgaria and Romania. The project would involve cooperation between French and Bulgarian and Romanian police, Sarkozy explained. An estimated 15,000 Roma people, also known as "gypsies" and "travellers", live in France, many in squalid shantytowns on the fringes of cities. Many of them come from Romania, but also from Bulgaria, both EU countries. Although these Roma people are European Union citizens, critics say they are often treated like a sub-class of immigrants and targeted by police.
Balkan Insight
Paris made the move after riots erupted in two French towns over the weekend, one of which involved an attack on a police station by a group of Roma people angered after police shot a fellow traveller. In his press release, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said that he would ask the French National Assembly to vote on an agreement between France and Romania that would facilitate the return of unaccompanied Roma minors back to Romania. He also said that France would undertake a cooperation effort with Romania to fight against trafficking and allow for the return of Roma people from France to Bulgaria and Romania. The project would involve cooperation between French and Bulgarian and Romanian police, Sarkozy explained. An estimated 15,000 Roma people, also known as "gypsies" and "travellers", live in France, many in squalid shantytowns on the fringes of cities. Many of them come from Romania, but also from Bulgaria, both EU countries. Although these Roma people are European Union citizens, critics say they are often treated like a sub-class of immigrants and targeted by police.
Balkan Insight
FAR-RIGHT NPD UPS ANTE WITH MEDIA OFFENSIVE IN EASTERN GERMAN STATE
Racist messages
Stefan Kausch, a political scientist who works with the Forum for Critical Research of Right-wing Extremism, said "the topics of the articles are connected with the party's objectives - racist ideologies are repeatedly conveyed." An example of this is given in an NPD article on municipal finances: "Instead of prescribing to the protection of identity, sovereignty and solidarity of Germans," the article reads, "The anti-German political cartel instigates a well-planned policy [serving the] interests of foreigners, foreign countries and high finance." Heerdegen says the far-right party is trying to use the new publications to position itself as the lone voice of political opposition in Germany. "And so these are NPD newspapers, not true newspapers in the sense of journalistic seriousness," he said.
New take, old idea
Publishing regional newspapers is not new for the far-right. Since 2001, publications such as the Inselboten, a regional paper in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, have been in print. The state's largest city, Rostock, is home to the right-wing Rostocker Boten, while a far-right newspaper can also be found in the city of Trier, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Pre-election periods usually see an increase in the number of these far-right publications. "We have also noticed this [in the eastern city of] Leipzig," said Kausch. "However, these publications don't last." Two exceptions to the short-lived nature of many right-wing newspapers are the Wartburgkreisbote and Der Rennsteigbote in Thuringia. In its 14th edition the former printed 22,000 copies, according to the NPD District Council Chairman and the paper's publisher, Patrick Wieschke. "The new regional papers are financed in mixed ways," said Wieschke. The lion's share comes from the NPD's associations at the state level, but local groups must also pay up, he says.
Parliamentary push
The NPD in Thuringia wants to use its five new publications to strengthen its grass-roots movement and create the conditions for entry to state parliament in 2014, says Wieschke. In 2009, the party only marginally failed to garner the 5 percent of votes needed for representation. The right-wing party says it wants to appeal to common voters by focusing on local issues in the hope this will demonstrate some kind of capacity to serve communities. The front and back sheets of the four-page publications attempt to deal with local issues and differ from paper to paper. The inner two pages, however, are identical in each of the five publications. Most Germans still view the NPD as embodying the neo-Nazi movement, and the new publications are unlikely to sway voters from these firmly held positions.
DW-World
SWITZERLAND FINED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
For years, the two women were not allowed to live with their husbands. On Thursday, the court announced that both women would be awarded €5,000 (SFr6,800) in compensation. Both the women and their husbands – all Ethiopian – came to Switzerland independently and sought asylum between 1994 and 1998. While awaiting the decision, the women were sent to cantons Saint Gallen and Bern, the men to canton Vaud. After their asylum applications were turned down, the Ethiopian authorities blocked them from returning home. During their continued stay in Switzerland, the women met and married their countrymen in Lausanne in 2002 and 2003. However, the Federal Migration Office refused to re-assign the women to canton Vaud so that they could live with their new husbands. The authorities said that a change of canton was against policy for rejected asylum candidates. The woman living in Saint Gallen decided to move to Lausanne anyway, but was eventually arrested and sent back in handcuffs in 2003. The canton also withdrew her welfare payments. Both women were finally permitted to join their husbands in canton Vaud in 2008. In response to their complaints, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Switzerland had violated the European Convention on Human Rights by preventing the spouses from living together.
SwissInfo
SwissInfo
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