This year’s Bob Angelo award for people who campaign for gay, bi-sexual and transsexual rights has been given to photographer Erwin Olaf and the Amsterdam police force.
Gay rights lobby group COC recognised Olaf for his campaign against anti-gay violence and the police organisation Roze in Blauw (pink in blue) for making it easier for people to report gay-bashing incidents.
Dutch News
Monday, 24 January 2011
Mencap to launch hate crime campaign during Learning Disability Week (UK)
This year's Learning Disability Week will take place from 20-26 June. During the week, Mencap will launch a three-year campaign against hate crime, 'Stand by me'.
David Congdon, Mencap's head of campaigns and policy, said: "Recently, three men who tortured a 17 year old with Asperger's syndrome walked away with a sentence of just 80 hours of community service. And in another high-profile case, Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her disabled daughter after police failed to stop the abuse they were subjected to by local youths. Cases like these show that hate crime is still not taken seriously enough by the authorities."
'Stand by me' will challenge the police, the criminal justice system and the courts to end hate crime against people with a learning disability within a generation.
The first year of the campaign will aim to persuade the police to take action. David Congdon says: "We want the police to take attacks against disabled people as seriously as racist incidents."
Mencap staff, local groups and supporters will be able to get involved in a range of activities and events to support the campaign. Currently, Mencap is looking for people who are willing to share their experiences of hate crime to support the campaign.
Mencap
David Congdon, Mencap's head of campaigns and policy, said: "Recently, three men who tortured a 17 year old with Asperger's syndrome walked away with a sentence of just 80 hours of community service. And in another high-profile case, Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her disabled daughter after police failed to stop the abuse they were subjected to by local youths. Cases like these show that hate crime is still not taken seriously enough by the authorities."
'Stand by me' will challenge the police, the criminal justice system and the courts to end hate crime against people with a learning disability within a generation.
The first year of the campaign will aim to persuade the police to take action. David Congdon says: "We want the police to take attacks against disabled people as seriously as racist incidents."
Mencap staff, local groups and supporters will be able to get involved in a range of activities and events to support the campaign. Currently, Mencap is looking for people who are willing to share their experiences of hate crime to support the campaign.
Mencap
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Religion must be in key school exam, insist faith leaders (UK)
Bishop of Oxford says anti-Islam protests make the subject essential for the English baccalaureate
Religious leaders and theologians have condemned the decision to leave religious education off the list of GCSEs that go towards the controversial new English baccalaureate.
The chairman of the Church of England's education board, the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev John Pritchard, said that failing to take the study of religion seriously was "highly dangerous" at a time when groups such as the English Defence League (EDL) were staging violent protests against British Muslims.
Annual league tables on schools' performance published last week measured the proportion of pupils obtaining the English bac, which is awarded to teenagers who achieve GCSEs at grade C or above in English, maths, science, a foreign language and a humanities subject (history or geography) – but not in RE.
Pritchard said: "The Church of England is pretty astonished at the omission of RE. I want to fire a warning salvo that there will be huge objection from the church and many other parts of society if it is not part of the core curriculum."
Pointing to claims last week by the Conservative party's co-chairwoman, Baroness Warsi, that Islamophobia had "crossed the threshold of middle-class respectability" and to the rise of the EDL, the bishop said: "RE is a real tool for creating that kind of cohesive community and society that we're looking for... we neglect it at our peril."
The subject, he said, was just as academic and rigorous as history and geography and was also extremely popular, with the number of students studying it to GCSE level climbing from 113,000 to 460,000 over the last 15 years.
Senior Jewish and Muslim figures backed the call for RE to be included on the English bac subject list. Many faith groups have written to the Department for Education expressing concern over its omission. The education secretary, Michael Gove, has indicated that he will look again at the area, without promising any change.
Until now the key measurement in league tables has been the proportion of pupils getting five A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and maths. But with success at the English bac now also being measured, many schools are likely to switch their attention to the traditional subjects that it demands. The recently published tables for last year's GCSE results revealed that fewer than one in six English students had qualified for the new certificate.
Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said he was particularly concerned about the impact of leaving RE off the list on students at Jewish schools, the vast majority of which make the subject compulsory.
"Religious studies has proven itself to be a valuable contribution to the academic curriculum, teaching students to respect themselves and others and, importantly, build identities which contribute favourably to all areas of society," he said.
"The multi-disciplinary nature of the subject, involving textual study, philosophical thinking, ethics, social understanding and the skills of analysis and reasoning, develops critical thinkers," said Benjamin.
Dr Hojjat Ramzy, vice-chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain's education committee, said he was "extremely worried" that RE was not being afforded a higher status, especially given the challenge posed by Islamophobia. "In our ever-growing multi-cultural and multi-faith society, it's very important that people, especially the younger generation, are aware of the religions and cultures of others," he said.
Members of the academic community joined calls for the humanities element of the English bac to be reconsidered, praising RE as a great developer of critical faculties as well as a key link to history, art, culture and politics.
"How can you understand Shakespeare without learning about the Bible, or understand the English civil war without understanding about disputes over how to interpret the Bible, or understand modern politics without understanding the difference between Islam and Christianity?" said Richard Swinburne, emeritus Nolloth professor of the philosophy of the Christian religion at Oxford University. "It's a mistake."
Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, the Oxford church historian who presented the BBC series A History of Christianity, said the decision was short-sighted. "Religion matters to most human beings in the world today," he added. "To leave religion to the religious extremists, outside a good education system, is to distort it."
The Guardian
Religious leaders and theologians have condemned the decision to leave religious education off the list of GCSEs that go towards the controversial new English baccalaureate.
The chairman of the Church of England's education board, the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev John Pritchard, said that failing to take the study of religion seriously was "highly dangerous" at a time when groups such as the English Defence League (EDL) were staging violent protests against British Muslims.
Annual league tables on schools' performance published last week measured the proportion of pupils obtaining the English bac, which is awarded to teenagers who achieve GCSEs at grade C or above in English, maths, science, a foreign language and a humanities subject (history or geography) – but not in RE.
Pritchard said: "The Church of England is pretty astonished at the omission of RE. I want to fire a warning salvo that there will be huge objection from the church and many other parts of society if it is not part of the core curriculum."
Pointing to claims last week by the Conservative party's co-chairwoman, Baroness Warsi, that Islamophobia had "crossed the threshold of middle-class respectability" and to the rise of the EDL, the bishop said: "RE is a real tool for creating that kind of cohesive community and society that we're looking for... we neglect it at our peril."
The subject, he said, was just as academic and rigorous as history and geography and was also extremely popular, with the number of students studying it to GCSE level climbing from 113,000 to 460,000 over the last 15 years.
Senior Jewish and Muslim figures backed the call for RE to be included on the English bac subject list. Many faith groups have written to the Department for Education expressing concern over its omission. The education secretary, Michael Gove, has indicated that he will look again at the area, without promising any change.
Until now the key measurement in league tables has been the proportion of pupils getting five A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and maths. But with success at the English bac now also being measured, many schools are likely to switch their attention to the traditional subjects that it demands. The recently published tables for last year's GCSE results revealed that fewer than one in six English students had qualified for the new certificate.
Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said he was particularly concerned about the impact of leaving RE off the list on students at Jewish schools, the vast majority of which make the subject compulsory.
"Religious studies has proven itself to be a valuable contribution to the academic curriculum, teaching students to respect themselves and others and, importantly, build identities which contribute favourably to all areas of society," he said.
"The multi-disciplinary nature of the subject, involving textual study, philosophical thinking, ethics, social understanding and the skills of analysis and reasoning, develops critical thinkers," said Benjamin.
Dr Hojjat Ramzy, vice-chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain's education committee, said he was "extremely worried" that RE was not being afforded a higher status, especially given the challenge posed by Islamophobia. "In our ever-growing multi-cultural and multi-faith society, it's very important that people, especially the younger generation, are aware of the religions and cultures of others," he said.
Members of the academic community joined calls for the humanities element of the English bac to be reconsidered, praising RE as a great developer of critical faculties as well as a key link to history, art, culture and politics.
"How can you understand Shakespeare without learning about the Bible, or understand the English civil war without understanding about disputes over how to interpret the Bible, or understand modern politics without understanding the difference between Islam and Christianity?" said Richard Swinburne, emeritus Nolloth professor of the philosophy of the Christian religion at Oxford University. "It's a mistake."
Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, the Oxford church historian who presented the BBC series A History of Christianity, said the decision was short-sighted. "Religion matters to most human beings in the world today," he added. "To leave religion to the religious extremists, outside a good education system, is to distort it."
The Guardian
NEO-NAZIS ATTEMPT TO DISRUPT COMMEMORATION FOR MURDER VICTIM IN CZECH TOWN PRÍBRAM (Czech Rep)
In the Czech town of Pøíbram, mourners convened at 18:00 local time today to commemorate the death of Jan Kuèera, who was murdered three years ago by neo-Nazi sympathizer Jiøí Fous.
Just after 15:00, about 40 neo-Nazis gathered to protest the commemoration. Both gatherings were monitored by 200 police officers, who prevented the antagonistic groups from clashing. After a two-hour wait, the neo-Nazis started marching through the town toward the Bøezové Hory neighborhood. Both groups approached one another on Thomas Garrigue Masaryk Square, where about 60 anti-fascists had gathered to honor Jan Kuèera's memory at 18:00. The neo-Nazis shouted slogans like "Nothing but the Nation." The mourners on the square were holding a funeral wreath and portraits of the murdered youth. Police did not permit the neo-Nazis to enter the square. The right-wing radicals then continued their march and reached Bøezové Hory at around 18:00. The group of anti-fascists on the square then grew significantly in numbers. Organizers used a megaphone to warn those arriving that the new law on assembly does not permit people to cover their faces. Many people were wearing either bandanas and scarves over their faces or sunglasses. About 150 anti-fascists then started marching. The demonstrators carried portraits of the murdered youth and banners reading "Autonomous Antifa Pøíbram", "Antifa Benešov" or "Always in Our Hearts". The march stopped for a moment near the restaurant where Kuèera was murdered three years ago. Several people laid the wreath and some flowers at the murder site. Police officers arrested two marchers for keeping their faces covered despite the warning.
During the commemoration for Kuèera, the antifascists held a minute of silence and then indirectly called on those assembled to fight the neo-Nazis. One organizer said they should discover where the neo-Nazis hang out and instill fear in them. The event ended on J. A. Alise Square. Some participants then left to attend a concert by three bands in the nearby Bøezové Hory neighborhood. Monika Schindlová, press attache for the police, said there were about 200 officers on the scene including an anti-conflict team and extremism specialists. Police arrested one person earlier in the afternoon. "They confiscated one knife, brought one person to the station in Prague, and issued an order for his arrest," Schindlová told news server iDNES.cz, which also reported that the person detained was a member of a security team for a television crew. The Czech Press Agency reported that the person detained was a right-wing radical. An invitation to the neo-Nazi event was posted on the National Resistance (Národní odpor) website. "We must get the red hoodlums off the street once and for all! If the police don't do it, then we will," reads the neo-Nazi call for a violent attack on the commemoration. Another neo-Nazi group, the Autonomous Nationalists of the Northeast (Autonomní Nacionalisté Severovýchod) distanced itself from the event, but published the following on its Facebook profile: "We wish everyone who wants to go to Pøíbram anyway a lot of luck in battle and we look forward to seeing them on the evening news."
Kuèera was stabbed by a neo-Nazi in the groin and back on 18 January 2008 in the Na Chmelnici restaurant in Pøíbram. A local CCTV video camera recorded the whole thing. The attack was preceded by provocations made by a group of young neo-Nazis given the Nazi salute. The assailant belonged to that group. The incident occurred on the restaurant stairs; video footage shows Jiøí Fous wearing a German military uniform and challenging those pursuing him to settle the argument physically. Kuèera let himself be provoked into running toward Fous and punching him. Fous then repeatedly stabbed Kuèera with a bayonet and Kuèera fell to the ground. He was transferred to the local hospital where he died as a result of his injuries two days later. Jiøí Fous received a 12.5 year sentence in a maximum security prison for murder. The court identified him as an adherent of the neo-Nazi movement, while Kuèera was identified as having belonged to a group called Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP). Neo-Nazis distanced themselves from Fous after the murder, claiming he has Roma ancestry. Some witnesses to the tragedy agreed that Fous paradoxically has a negative relationship toward the Roma minority.
Czech News Agency
Just after 15:00, about 40 neo-Nazis gathered to protest the commemoration. Both gatherings were monitored by 200 police officers, who prevented the antagonistic groups from clashing. After a two-hour wait, the neo-Nazis started marching through the town toward the Bøezové Hory neighborhood. Both groups approached one another on Thomas Garrigue Masaryk Square, where about 60 anti-fascists had gathered to honor Jan Kuèera's memory at 18:00. The neo-Nazis shouted slogans like "Nothing but the Nation." The mourners on the square were holding a funeral wreath and portraits of the murdered youth. Police did not permit the neo-Nazis to enter the square. The right-wing radicals then continued their march and reached Bøezové Hory at around 18:00. The group of anti-fascists on the square then grew significantly in numbers. Organizers used a megaphone to warn those arriving that the new law on assembly does not permit people to cover their faces. Many people were wearing either bandanas and scarves over their faces or sunglasses. About 150 anti-fascists then started marching. The demonstrators carried portraits of the murdered youth and banners reading "Autonomous Antifa Pøíbram", "Antifa Benešov" or "Always in Our Hearts". The march stopped for a moment near the restaurant where Kuèera was murdered three years ago. Several people laid the wreath and some flowers at the murder site. Police officers arrested two marchers for keeping their faces covered despite the warning.
During the commemoration for Kuèera, the antifascists held a minute of silence and then indirectly called on those assembled to fight the neo-Nazis. One organizer said they should discover where the neo-Nazis hang out and instill fear in them. The event ended on J. A. Alise Square. Some participants then left to attend a concert by three bands in the nearby Bøezové Hory neighborhood. Monika Schindlová, press attache for the police, said there were about 200 officers on the scene including an anti-conflict team and extremism specialists. Police arrested one person earlier in the afternoon. "They confiscated one knife, brought one person to the station in Prague, and issued an order for his arrest," Schindlová told news server iDNES.cz, which also reported that the person detained was a member of a security team for a television crew. The Czech Press Agency reported that the person detained was a right-wing radical. An invitation to the neo-Nazi event was posted on the National Resistance (Národní odpor) website. "We must get the red hoodlums off the street once and for all! If the police don't do it, then we will," reads the neo-Nazi call for a violent attack on the commemoration. Another neo-Nazi group, the Autonomous Nationalists of the Northeast (Autonomní Nacionalisté Severovýchod) distanced itself from the event, but published the following on its Facebook profile: "We wish everyone who wants to go to Pøíbram anyway a lot of luck in battle and we look forward to seeing them on the evening news."
Kuèera was stabbed by a neo-Nazi in the groin and back on 18 January 2008 in the Na Chmelnici restaurant in Pøíbram. A local CCTV video camera recorded the whole thing. The attack was preceded by provocations made by a group of young neo-Nazis given the Nazi salute. The assailant belonged to that group. The incident occurred on the restaurant stairs; video footage shows Jiøí Fous wearing a German military uniform and challenging those pursuing him to settle the argument physically. Kuèera let himself be provoked into running toward Fous and punching him. Fous then repeatedly stabbed Kuèera with a bayonet and Kuèera fell to the ground. He was transferred to the local hospital where he died as a result of his injuries two days later. Jiøí Fous received a 12.5 year sentence in a maximum security prison for murder. The court identified him as an adherent of the neo-Nazi movement, while Kuèera was identified as having belonged to a group called Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP). Neo-Nazis distanced themselves from Fous after the murder, claiming he has Roma ancestry. Some witnesses to the tragedy agreed that Fous paradoxically has a negative relationship toward the Roma minority.
Czech News Agency
Liverpool event remembers Holocaust and hate crime (UK)
The Holocaust and other genocides across the world are being remembered at an event in Liverpool.
Liverpool Remembers, on Sunday, is being held in the week of Holocaust Memorial Day to reflect on human rights tragedies and look at local hate crime.
Members of the Jewish community will be speaking at the event, at St Francis of Assisi Academy in Kensington.
Merseyside Police will also lead a discussion on tackling hate crime in the region.
'Make a difference'
Councillor Louise Baldock, Chair of Liverpool Remembers and Chair of Liverpool Hate Crime Reduction Forum, said: "It is vitally important that we continue to promote awareness and understanding about the Holocaust.
"This will be our fourth annual event to commemorate and reflect upon the millions of lives lost.
"We also reflect on other genocides and human rights abuses which have affected people worldwide who now live in communities in our city."
She added: "Racism, homophobia and other forms of hate crime still exist today, and if unchecked, lead to world tragedies like the Holocaust.
"We will be asking people to make a pledge to do something that will shine a small light and make a difference."
Holocaust Memorial Day is on 27 January, to coincide with the same day in 1945 when the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated.
BBC News
Liverpool Remembers, on Sunday, is being held in the week of Holocaust Memorial Day to reflect on human rights tragedies and look at local hate crime.
Members of the Jewish community will be speaking at the event, at St Francis of Assisi Academy in Kensington.
Merseyside Police will also lead a discussion on tackling hate crime in the region.
'Make a difference'
Councillor Louise Baldock, Chair of Liverpool Remembers and Chair of Liverpool Hate Crime Reduction Forum, said: "It is vitally important that we continue to promote awareness and understanding about the Holocaust.
"This will be our fourth annual event to commemorate and reflect upon the millions of lives lost.
"We also reflect on other genocides and human rights abuses which have affected people worldwide who now live in communities in our city."
She added: "Racism, homophobia and other forms of hate crime still exist today, and if unchecked, lead to world tragedies like the Holocaust.
"We will be asking people to make a pledge to do something that will shine a small light and make a difference."
Holocaust Memorial Day is on 27 January, to coincide with the same day in 1945 when the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated.
BBC News
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Suspect arrested in mosque arson attacks case (Germany)
A 30-year-old man was arrested Friday evening in Berlin's Neukölln district on suspicion of arson, following a series of attacks on several mosques in the German capital, a police spokesman said.
Investigators apprehended the man at the Blaschkoallee U-Bahn station.
The arrest follows a wave of arson attacks on Muslim houses of worship in Berlin in recent months. No one was injured, but the fires caused property damage in every case.
The assailant or assailants routinely left messages behind at the scene. Police did not describe the notes in detail, but media reports said the messages were collages of newspaper articles.
Following a comprehensive investigation, state prosecutors reportedly obtained a warrant to search the offices of the Berlin daily newspaper B.Z. A police spokesman said investigators confiscated evidence that strengthened the case against the suspect.
According to the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Peter Huth, the suspect contacted B.Z. in mid-December under false pretenses, requesting a copy of a newspaper article. Huth said an employee received the inquiry.
"Wisely, she took down the name and the address and was able to inform police officers on Friday afternoon, which allowed for an arrest within a few hours," B.Z.'s editor said.
A police spokesman said the man arrested Friday is suspected of involvement in four of seven arson attacks on Berlin mosques since June of last year. Investigators are examining whether the suspect has any connection to the other incidents.
Most recently, the entrance of a mosque of the Ahmadiyya community in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin was set ablaze in the early hours of January 8. Mosques in the districts of Neukölln and Tempelhof were targeted in similar attacks in 2010.
The Local Germany
Investigators apprehended the man at the Blaschkoallee U-Bahn station.
The arrest follows a wave of arson attacks on Muslim houses of worship in Berlin in recent months. No one was injured, but the fires caused property damage in every case.
The assailant or assailants routinely left messages behind at the scene. Police did not describe the notes in detail, but media reports said the messages were collages of newspaper articles.
Following a comprehensive investigation, state prosecutors reportedly obtained a warrant to search the offices of the Berlin daily newspaper B.Z. A police spokesman said investigators confiscated evidence that strengthened the case against the suspect.
According to the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Peter Huth, the suspect contacted B.Z. in mid-December under false pretenses, requesting a copy of a newspaper article. Huth said an employee received the inquiry.
"Wisely, she took down the name and the address and was able to inform police officers on Friday afternoon, which allowed for an arrest within a few hours," B.Z.'s editor said.
A police spokesman said the man arrested Friday is suspected of involvement in four of seven arson attacks on Berlin mosques since June of last year. Investigators are examining whether the suspect has any connection to the other incidents.
Most recently, the entrance of a mosque of the Ahmadiyya community in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin was set ablaze in the early hours of January 8. Mosques in the districts of Neukölln and Tempelhof were targeted in similar attacks in 2010.
The Local Germany
Barnardo's ex-head says race issues threaten adoptions (UK)
The reluctance of some councils to arrange adoptions because of a child's race means the UK faces a collapse in adoption rates, the outgoing chief executive of Barnardo's has warned.
Martin Narey told the Guardian this "prejudice" was so entrenched that it would be difficult to reverse.
He said the adoption rate of babies must "quadruple" in the next few years.
Children's Minister Tim Loughton has said it is unacceptable to deny a child a home because of ethnic differences.
Children from ethnic minorities are over-represented among those seeking adoption, but it typically takes three times as long to place them.
Official figures show that 2,300 children were placed for adoption in 2009, compared with 2,500 the previous year, and down from 3,400 in 2005.
In about 20% of cases identified as suitable for adoption, no placement is found.
Mr Narey, who has run Barnardo's for more than five years, said the numbers of toddlers and older children placed with new families needed to increase dramatically.
The charity's outgoing chief executive, who is being replaced by Anne-Marie Carrie, accused local authorities and adoption agencies of showing a disregard for the law through a reluctance to allow white couples to adopt children from different ethnic backgrounds.
"The law is very clear. A child should not stay in care for an undue length of time while waiting for adoptive parents of the same ethnicity.
"But the reality is that black, Asian and mixed race children wait three times longer than white children," he said.
In November, in a letter to local authorities in England, the children's minister said he was "troubled" to hear that sometimes "there may be over sensitivity on the grounds of ethnicity when it comes to the matching of children with prospective adopters".
He wrote: "It is plainly unacceptable for a child to be denied loving adoptive parents solely on the grounds that the child and prospective adopters do not share the same background.
"The primary consideration must surely be whether the family can offer a strong, safe, stable and loving placement that can meet the child's needs."
And, in a speech last year, the minister also said: "We know that a child tends to do better if adopted by a family that shares their ethnic and cultural heritage.
"Although the law and guidance is clear that due consideration needs to be given to language, religion, culture and ethnicity, this isn't translating into practice.
"It is much better that a child is adopted by loving parents than left waiting for their future to be decided."
BBC News
Martin Narey told the Guardian this "prejudice" was so entrenched that it would be difficult to reverse.
He said the adoption rate of babies must "quadruple" in the next few years.
Children's Minister Tim Loughton has said it is unacceptable to deny a child a home because of ethnic differences.
Children from ethnic minorities are over-represented among those seeking adoption, but it typically takes three times as long to place them.
Official figures show that 2,300 children were placed for adoption in 2009, compared with 2,500 the previous year, and down from 3,400 in 2005.
In about 20% of cases identified as suitable for adoption, no placement is found.
Mr Narey, who has run Barnardo's for more than five years, said the numbers of toddlers and older children placed with new families needed to increase dramatically.
The charity's outgoing chief executive, who is being replaced by Anne-Marie Carrie, accused local authorities and adoption agencies of showing a disregard for the law through a reluctance to allow white couples to adopt children from different ethnic backgrounds.
"The law is very clear. A child should not stay in care for an undue length of time while waiting for adoptive parents of the same ethnicity.
"But the reality is that black, Asian and mixed race children wait three times longer than white children," he said.
In November, in a letter to local authorities in England, the children's minister said he was "troubled" to hear that sometimes "there may be over sensitivity on the grounds of ethnicity when it comes to the matching of children with prospective adopters".
He wrote: "It is plainly unacceptable for a child to be denied loving adoptive parents solely on the grounds that the child and prospective adopters do not share the same background.
"The primary consideration must surely be whether the family can offer a strong, safe, stable and loving placement that can meet the child's needs."
And, in a speech last year, the minister also said: "We know that a child tends to do better if adopted by a family that shares their ethnic and cultural heritage.
"Although the law and guidance is clear that due consideration needs to be given to language, religion, culture and ethnicity, this isn't translating into practice.
"It is much better that a child is adopted by loving parents than left waiting for their future to be decided."
BBC News
Police accuse far-right DM deputy head of Nazism promotion (Czech Rep)
The Czech police have accused a 21-year-old woman, who is Workers' Youth (DM) deputy head Lucie Slegrova, according to the Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS) server, in connection with her speech delivered at the DSSS's meeting in Litvinov on November 17, 2010.
In her speech the woman expressed her positive stance on the movements suppressing human rights and freedoms and her adherence to the ideology of German Nazism and she promoted German National Socialism, police spokeswoman Ludmila Svetlakova told CTK Thursday.
The woman is prosecuted without being taken into custody. If found guilty, she faces up to three years in prison.
According to the police, she spoke about the ideology of National Socialism and she called this ideology the only possible path to fight against the current situation in the government.
The police recorded the speech and asked political scientists to assess it, Svetlakova said.
The DSSS reports that Slegrova is also accused of carrying a flag with the logo of the banned Workers' Party (DS) at the DSSS's pre-election meeting.
The Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) decided to dissolve the far-right extra-parliamentary DS party last February, complying with the proposal of the government saying the DS is extremist and poses a threat to democracy.
Last November the DSSS met in Litvinov to commemorate a march of ultra-right supporters in 2008. They clashed with the police who prevented then from marching to the Romany-inhabited Janov housing estate.
Prague Monitor
In her speech the woman expressed her positive stance on the movements suppressing human rights and freedoms and her adherence to the ideology of German Nazism and she promoted German National Socialism, police spokeswoman Ludmila Svetlakova told CTK Thursday.
The woman is prosecuted without being taken into custody. If found guilty, she faces up to three years in prison.
According to the police, she spoke about the ideology of National Socialism and she called this ideology the only possible path to fight against the current situation in the government.
The police recorded the speech and asked political scientists to assess it, Svetlakova said.
The DSSS reports that Slegrova is also accused of carrying a flag with the logo of the banned Workers' Party (DS) at the DSSS's pre-election meeting.
The Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) decided to dissolve the far-right extra-parliamentary DS party last February, complying with the proposal of the government saying the DS is extremist and poses a threat to democracy.
Last November the DSSS met in Litvinov to commemorate a march of ultra-right supporters in 2008. They clashed with the police who prevented then from marching to the Romany-inhabited Janov housing estate.
Prague Monitor
* News * World news * Arizona Tucson teachers fight to overturn ban on Mexican American classes (USA)
Attorney general attacks anti-white 'brainwashing', but critics say he is pandering to xenophobic sentiment
Arizona is a state riddled with anti-government white militias, radio stations pumping out racist hate speech and politicians who wave guns as they denounce the oppressive rule of Washington. But Arizona's attorney general apparently believes the real threat to the stability of the US government is being fomented in a handful of high schools in a liberal corner of the desert state.
Tom Horne has declared classes in Mexican-American history and social studies in the city of Tucson illegal on the grounds that they are "propagandising and brainwashing" students into overthrowing the constitutional government and hating white people.
Horne has ordered schools to scrap the ethnic studies programmes under a law he wrote in his previous role as Arizona's education superintendent. He has not banned similar classes dealing with black or Native American history on the grounds that no one has complained about them.
Critics, including teachers of the classes he wants to scrap, accuse Horne of political opportunism by exploiting growing hostility to people of Hispanic origin in a state that recently passed controversial anti-immigrant legislation.
José Gonzalez, who lectures at a Tucson high school, is one of 11 teachers suing to prevent that ban from being enforced.
"If you were to look at the legacy of Tom Horne and his past eight years as the superintendent of instruction in Arizona, you will see that he has targeted Mexican-American people. He did away with bilingual education. He was very proud of that," said Gonzales. "He's a politician and, quite frankly, a very successful politician so he's pandering to these xenophobic sentiments here in Arizona and that's helping him get elected."
Horne began pushing to abolish Mexican-American studies after an incident in 2007 when a prominent trade unionist, Dolores Huerta, told high school students in Tucson that Republicans hate Latinos.
Horne, a Republican, sent an aide to the school to counter the message, only to have him met by a group of students who turned their backs and raised a fist.
Infuriated, Horne blamed the teachers and wrote a law barring Arizona schools from holding classes that breached any of four prohibitions: promoting the overthrow of the government, creating resentment toward a race or class of people, focusing on students of one ethnic group or promoting ethnic solidarity.
Teachers of the offending classes acknowledge that they deal with sensitive issues, such as the past and continuing discrimination against Hispanic people in the US. They also teach the role played by figures such as César Chávez, the Mexican-American civil rights activist and trade union leader who was instrumental in improving the lot of agricultural workers, many of whom were immigrants.
Among other things, state officials have objected to classes portraying Benjamin Franklin as a racist for owning slaves and for promoting a climate of "victimisation" by teaching that white people have been more privileged in the US.
The classes involve Latino literature, although Shakespeare is on the curriculum too, as well as books such as Rodolfo Acuña's Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, which Horne has described as fostering "ethnic chauvinism" and promoting separatism.
The book, which describes Mexican- Americans as "captives of a system that renders them second-class citizens", is in its seventh edition and used at universities across the US.
The teachers say that these books are the basis for robust discussion about the past and present, which inevitably touches on race in the US – particularly in a state where about 30% of Arizona's 6.5m people are of Hispanic descent and businesses once carried signs saying: "No Mexicans or dogs allowed."
"American history is supposed to teach the history of the United States and the United States is made up of immigrants," said Gonzales. "Everyone is an immigrant here with the exception of the indigenous people, so they all have their story. The narrative that's given is traditional so Mexican-Americans' contribution to this country have been omitted and their experience has not always been a good one. We should at least be able to talk about it."
Critics said that Horne's law could mean an end to teaching about slavery because of the resentment it might cause among black students toward whites. Despite this the Arizona legislature passed the legislation last year. It was put on the statute books at the beginning of this month, just as Horne took up his new job.
Within days, he told the schools that their Mexican-American studies classes breached all four criteria, and ordered them shut down. The classes continue while the issue is resolved in the courts.
Horne has been backed by some Tucson teachers such as John Ward, who is of Hispanic origin and said the classes indoctrinate "students, based primarily on ethnic divisions, in the belief that there is a war against Latino culture perpetrated by a white, racist, capitalist system".
The Tucson school board turned down Horne's request for every Mexican-American studies class to be videotaped. But teachers say the political attacks have forced them to watch what they say in class.
"There is a chilling effect," said Lorenzo Lopez. "There's a lot more pause in what we say. Because of the unprecedented scrutiny we are a lot more cautious how we raise issues, how we discuss them. It's really hampered the dialogue that takes place."
The Guardian
Arizona is a state riddled with anti-government white militias, radio stations pumping out racist hate speech and politicians who wave guns as they denounce the oppressive rule of Washington. But Arizona's attorney general apparently believes the real threat to the stability of the US government is being fomented in a handful of high schools in a liberal corner of the desert state.
Tom Horne has declared classes in Mexican-American history and social studies in the city of Tucson illegal on the grounds that they are "propagandising and brainwashing" students into overthrowing the constitutional government and hating white people.
Horne has ordered schools to scrap the ethnic studies programmes under a law he wrote in his previous role as Arizona's education superintendent. He has not banned similar classes dealing with black or Native American history on the grounds that no one has complained about them.
Critics, including teachers of the classes he wants to scrap, accuse Horne of political opportunism by exploiting growing hostility to people of Hispanic origin in a state that recently passed controversial anti-immigrant legislation.
José Gonzalez, who lectures at a Tucson high school, is one of 11 teachers suing to prevent that ban from being enforced.
"If you were to look at the legacy of Tom Horne and his past eight years as the superintendent of instruction in Arizona, you will see that he has targeted Mexican-American people. He did away with bilingual education. He was very proud of that," said Gonzales. "He's a politician and, quite frankly, a very successful politician so he's pandering to these xenophobic sentiments here in Arizona and that's helping him get elected."
Horne began pushing to abolish Mexican-American studies after an incident in 2007 when a prominent trade unionist, Dolores Huerta, told high school students in Tucson that Republicans hate Latinos.
Horne, a Republican, sent an aide to the school to counter the message, only to have him met by a group of students who turned their backs and raised a fist.
Infuriated, Horne blamed the teachers and wrote a law barring Arizona schools from holding classes that breached any of four prohibitions: promoting the overthrow of the government, creating resentment toward a race or class of people, focusing on students of one ethnic group or promoting ethnic solidarity.
Teachers of the offending classes acknowledge that they deal with sensitive issues, such as the past and continuing discrimination against Hispanic people in the US. They also teach the role played by figures such as César Chávez, the Mexican-American civil rights activist and trade union leader who was instrumental in improving the lot of agricultural workers, many of whom were immigrants.
Among other things, state officials have objected to classes portraying Benjamin Franklin as a racist for owning slaves and for promoting a climate of "victimisation" by teaching that white people have been more privileged in the US.
The classes involve Latino literature, although Shakespeare is on the curriculum too, as well as books such as Rodolfo Acuña's Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, which Horne has described as fostering "ethnic chauvinism" and promoting separatism.
The book, which describes Mexican- Americans as "captives of a system that renders them second-class citizens", is in its seventh edition and used at universities across the US.
The teachers say that these books are the basis for robust discussion about the past and present, which inevitably touches on race in the US – particularly in a state where about 30% of Arizona's 6.5m people are of Hispanic descent and businesses once carried signs saying: "No Mexicans or dogs allowed."
"American history is supposed to teach the history of the United States and the United States is made up of immigrants," said Gonzales. "Everyone is an immigrant here with the exception of the indigenous people, so they all have their story. The narrative that's given is traditional so Mexican-Americans' contribution to this country have been omitted and their experience has not always been a good one. We should at least be able to talk about it."
Critics said that Horne's law could mean an end to teaching about slavery because of the resentment it might cause among black students toward whites. Despite this the Arizona legislature passed the legislation last year. It was put on the statute books at the beginning of this month, just as Horne took up his new job.
Within days, he told the schools that their Mexican-American studies classes breached all four criteria, and ordered them shut down. The classes continue while the issue is resolved in the courts.
Horne has been backed by some Tucson teachers such as John Ward, who is of Hispanic origin and said the classes indoctrinate "students, based primarily on ethnic divisions, in the belief that there is a war against Latino culture perpetrated by a white, racist, capitalist system".
The Tucson school board turned down Horne's request for every Mexican-American studies class to be videotaped. But teachers say the political attacks have forced them to watch what they say in class.
"There is a chilling effect," said Lorenzo Lopez. "There's a lot more pause in what we say. Because of the unprecedented scrutiny we are a lot more cautious how we raise issues, how we discuss them. It's really hampered the dialogue that takes place."
The Guardian
Judge makes an example of vile bus yob (UK)
A man has been jailed for launching a tirade of racist abuse at a female bus passenger.
District Judge David Cooper wanted to make an example of Daniel Nixon, 37, after he and Michael Spidy’s foul-mouthed rant at a female student who boarded a Number 78 bus at the Hythe.
Sentencing Nixon to 42 days in prison, Judge Cooper said the bus passengers were “very brave” for confronting the “vile offenders”.
Yesterday, Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard Nixon, of Rosabelle Avenue, Wivenhoe, and Spidy, 20, also from Wivenhoe, were on the bus at about 7pm on December 8 when the student, from Essex University, boarded the bus at the Hythe’s Tesco store.
Tazmin Sharpe, prosecuting, told the court the pair subjected her to racist and sexual abuse from the backseat of the top deck of the bus, leaving her “shaken” and “scared”.
After asking the men to stop, the woman approached the bus driver for help. The two men then told her to “go home to her own country”.
The victim, a Cypriot national, was told to wait on the top deck of the bus while the men were dealt with.
After briefly getting off at the university, the pair got back and began barging into her, until getting off in Wivenhoe.
The court heard other passengers on the bus were shouting at the men to leave and the victim had suffered nightmares since the incident, and was frightened to use buses as a result.
Spidy was given a caution for causing harassment, alarm and distress by using threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour at an earlier hearing, but yesterday, Judge Cooper handed father-of-five, Nixon, a prison sentence.
Judge Cooper described the incident as “deeply depressing” and said he wanted to make an example of Nixon, who has ten previous convictions for a variety of offences, including criminal damage and possession of cocaine.
Judge Cooper said: “It is absolutely disgraceful people can not even get on a bus without being abused by someone like Nixon.
“People wanting to travel on public transport need to be protected. It is a disgrace the other chap only got a caution.”
Addressing Nixon in court, Judge Cooper, added: “There are families on buses and vulnerable women who need to be protected from this sort of thing.
“She now doesn’t feel able to get on the bus. ”
Daily Gazette
District Judge David Cooper wanted to make an example of Daniel Nixon, 37, after he and Michael Spidy’s foul-mouthed rant at a female student who boarded a Number 78 bus at the Hythe.
Sentencing Nixon to 42 days in prison, Judge Cooper said the bus passengers were “very brave” for confronting the “vile offenders”.
Yesterday, Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard Nixon, of Rosabelle Avenue, Wivenhoe, and Spidy, 20, also from Wivenhoe, were on the bus at about 7pm on December 8 when the student, from Essex University, boarded the bus at the Hythe’s Tesco store.
Tazmin Sharpe, prosecuting, told the court the pair subjected her to racist and sexual abuse from the backseat of the top deck of the bus, leaving her “shaken” and “scared”.
After asking the men to stop, the woman approached the bus driver for help. The two men then told her to “go home to her own country”.
The victim, a Cypriot national, was told to wait on the top deck of the bus while the men were dealt with.
After briefly getting off at the university, the pair got back and began barging into her, until getting off in Wivenhoe.
The court heard other passengers on the bus were shouting at the men to leave and the victim had suffered nightmares since the incident, and was frightened to use buses as a result.
Spidy was given a caution for causing harassment, alarm and distress by using threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour at an earlier hearing, but yesterday, Judge Cooper handed father-of-five, Nixon, a prison sentence.
Judge Cooper described the incident as “deeply depressing” and said he wanted to make an example of Nixon, who has ten previous convictions for a variety of offences, including criminal damage and possession of cocaine.
Judge Cooper said: “It is absolutely disgraceful people can not even get on a bus without being abused by someone like Nixon.
“People wanting to travel on public transport need to be protected. It is a disgrace the other chap only got a caution.”
Addressing Nixon in court, Judge Cooper, added: “There are families on buses and vulnerable women who need to be protected from this sort of thing.
“She now doesn’t feel able to get on the bus. ”
Daily Gazette
Friday, 21 January 2011
Gee Walker visits Southport's Birkdale High School to give speech on racism (UK)
Gee Walker, whose 18-year-old son was killed with an ice axe in 2005, forgave his killers and has built up a formidable reputation in the fight against racism.
She visited Jack Rodwell’s former school of Birkdale High, in Southport, with Everton FC’s educational team in a talk head teacher Gary Loveridge described as the one of the most emotional he had ever witnessed.
Liverpool Echo
Parliament crackdown as white supremacist and Jewish hater Darryl Potts faces the sack
An accused white supremacist could be banned from Parliament House as computer experts work to block the online posting of offensive material from within the nation's capital building.
The move follows new revelations Jew hating and other offensive posts were sent to websites from an IP address belonging to the Parliamentary Services Department, reported The Daily Telegraph.
The self-description and language in the posts matches that of parliamentary elevator technician Darryl Potts, exposed yesterday as a Holocaust-denying extremist who has just been granted a handgun licence.
The messages refer to Jews as living in "Satan's sewer" and visiting his family home posing as "Israeli art peddlers". Mr Potts did not deny he was the author of the posts when contacted yesterday.
Parliamentary Services acting head David Kenny said the posts were a clear breach of the rules and parliamentary technicians were working on a way to block the sender.
Mr Kenny also said he was in discussions with the company that directly employed Mr Potts about potentially banning him from the building.
The posts were written under the pseudonym Kinkyboy and written between 2006 and 2010.
In one traced to a parliamentary computer he says: "Jewish Fascists masquerading as 'Israeli Art Peddlers', likely inspired by the slippery reptiles at the B'nai B'rith, have visited the family home when the kids were in the house" - the exact same story and phrase Mr Potts told The Daily Telegraph.
Under another name on a white supremacist website he claims the Jewish holy book, the Talmud, allows sexual abuse of children.
In another post he describes himself as a "6'+ blue-eyed Anglo-Celt, who like some others, wears a kilt, blows the pipes, but refuses to defer to kikes". Mr Potts wears a kilt and plays in bagpipe band.
In yet another post on a white supremacist website he reveals himself to be "KinkyBoy" and likens Jews to flies and maggots.
Mr Potts declined to comment further yesterday.
News.com Au
The move follows new revelations Jew hating and other offensive posts were sent to websites from an IP address belonging to the Parliamentary Services Department, reported The Daily Telegraph.
The self-description and language in the posts matches that of parliamentary elevator technician Darryl Potts, exposed yesterday as a Holocaust-denying extremist who has just been granted a handgun licence.
The messages refer to Jews as living in "Satan's sewer" and visiting his family home posing as "Israeli art peddlers". Mr Potts did not deny he was the author of the posts when contacted yesterday.
Parliamentary Services acting head David Kenny said the posts were a clear breach of the rules and parliamentary technicians were working on a way to block the sender.
Mr Kenny also said he was in discussions with the company that directly employed Mr Potts about potentially banning him from the building.
The posts were written under the pseudonym Kinkyboy and written between 2006 and 2010.
In one traced to a parliamentary computer he says: "Jewish Fascists masquerading as 'Israeli Art Peddlers', likely inspired by the slippery reptiles at the B'nai B'rith, have visited the family home when the kids were in the house" - the exact same story and phrase Mr Potts told The Daily Telegraph.
Under another name on a white supremacist website he claims the Jewish holy book, the Talmud, allows sexual abuse of children.
In another post he describes himself as a "6'+ blue-eyed Anglo-Celt, who like some others, wears a kilt, blows the pipes, but refuses to defer to kikes". Mr Potts wears a kilt and plays in bagpipe band.
In yet another post on a white supremacist website he reveals himself to be "KinkyBoy" and likens Jews to flies and maggots.
Mr Potts declined to comment further yesterday.
News.com Au
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Two men accused of making racist phone calls and threats to takeaway owner (UK)
Two men accused of making racist telephone calls to the owner of a takeaway have appeared in court.
Mohammed Ali Noor, 20, and Joynal Ali, 25, are each accused of racially aggravated harassment between January 1 and June 14 last year.
It is alleged they made threatening and abusive calls to Ofiekur Khan, owner of the Burton Spice Indian Takeaway.
The Crown says the calls included threats to Mr Khan's life and that his business would be set on fire with him in it.
Noor, of Hunt Lea Avenue, off Boultham Park Road, Lincoln, and Ali, of Dixon Street, Lincoln, appeared at Lincoln Magistrates' Court.
They were granted unconditional bail until their trial on February 25. No pleas were entered.
This is Lincolnshire
Mohammed Ali Noor, 20, and Joynal Ali, 25, are each accused of racially aggravated harassment between January 1 and June 14 last year.
It is alleged they made threatening and abusive calls to Ofiekur Khan, owner of the Burton Spice Indian Takeaway.
The Crown says the calls included threats to Mr Khan's life and that his business would be set on fire with him in it.
Noor, of Hunt Lea Avenue, off Boultham Park Road, Lincoln, and Ali, of Dixon Street, Lincoln, appeared at Lincoln Magistrates' Court.
They were granted unconditional bail until their trial on February 25. No pleas were entered.
This is Lincolnshire
FAR RIGHT TARGETS ROMA GHETTO IN BULGARIA
The future of a Roma settlement in Sofia is in question, as hard-line nationalists demand its removal.
Nationalists from Bulgaria's VMRO party say they have gathered around 3,000 signatures in support of a referendum demanding the removal of a run-down Roma neighbourhood in the city’s Orlandovtsi district. The party maintains that the settlement, which is home to several hundred people, is illegal and should be demolished. “We support people’s demands for removal of the ghetto. They [Roma] are in conflict with their neighbours and often torture them,” Krasimir Karakachanov, leader of VMRO, told Balkan Insight. Todor Krastev, mayor of the city quarter where the Roma neighbourhood is located, said a commission was already checking on whether the Roma homes were illegal. The inspection started a few months ago and is about to finish, he said. Krastev told Balkan Insight that urban planning authorities are likely order removal of the homes, if they’re found to be illegal. “Although our inspection started months ago, VMRO is trying to politicize the issue,” Krastev said.
Human rights activists are closely monitoring the case. Krasimir Kanev, head of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, a non-governmental organisation, said the city authorities must carefully consider their actions. “Any evictions, even if the houses are illegal, would violate these people’s right to a home unless the city authorities either help them legalize their properties or provide alternative housing,” he said. This is not the first time that Roma housing problems have stirred controversy in Bulgaria. In 2008, the threatened destruction of another Roma settlement in Sofia was halted after the case was brought before the European Court of Human Rights. The Strasbourg court is expected to deliver a ruling on the case later this year. Many Roma communities around the country face similar housing problems. The ethnic minority were effectively segregated from the mainstream population during the Communist era.
Balkan Insight
Nationalists from Bulgaria's VMRO party say they have gathered around 3,000 signatures in support of a referendum demanding the removal of a run-down Roma neighbourhood in the city’s Orlandovtsi district. The party maintains that the settlement, which is home to several hundred people, is illegal and should be demolished. “We support people’s demands for removal of the ghetto. They [Roma] are in conflict with their neighbours and often torture them,” Krasimir Karakachanov, leader of VMRO, told Balkan Insight. Todor Krastev, mayor of the city quarter where the Roma neighbourhood is located, said a commission was already checking on whether the Roma homes were illegal. The inspection started a few months ago and is about to finish, he said. Krastev told Balkan Insight that urban planning authorities are likely order removal of the homes, if they’re found to be illegal. “Although our inspection started months ago, VMRO is trying to politicize the issue,” Krastev said.
Human rights activists are closely monitoring the case. Krasimir Kanev, head of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, a non-governmental organisation, said the city authorities must carefully consider their actions. “Any evictions, even if the houses are illegal, would violate these people’s right to a home unless the city authorities either help them legalize their properties or provide alternative housing,” he said. This is not the first time that Roma housing problems have stirred controversy in Bulgaria. In 2008, the threatened destruction of another Roma settlement in Sofia was halted after the case was brought before the European Court of Human Rights. The Strasbourg court is expected to deliver a ruling on the case later this year. Many Roma communities around the country face similar housing problems. The ethnic minority were effectively segregated from the mainstream population during the Communist era.
Balkan Insight
White nationalists to meet in Charlotte (USA)
A magazine described as a platform for white nationalists plans to hold its annual conference in Charlotte next month, smack on the heels of an NAACP leader's description of the city as a "racist bastion."
American Renaissance, a magazine of the nonprofit New Century Foundation, plans a conference Feb. 4-6 at a site yet to be announced.
According to its website, the group advocates "race realism," a belief that race is "the most prominent and divisive" fault line in society.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks such groups, says at Renaissance conferences "racist 'intellectuals' rub shoulders with Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists."
Magazine editor Jared Taylor on Wednesday dismissed the criticism.
"They clearly have an axe to grind; we have perfectly ordinary people," said Taylor. "But that's their typical fearmongering. Their purpose is to paint us in the blackest language so people will contribute to them."
Taylor says the conference will be "at a first-class venue." But for security reasons, he won't announce it until 48 hours before.
"The last time the venue came under tremendous pressure," he said, "hundreds of telephone calls saying 'How dare you do business with these awful people?' We don't want to expose a hotel to that kind of pressure."
Monday, NAACP President Kojo Nantambu alluded to the conference at a rally to protest Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' decision to use the Martin Luther King holiday as a make-up day for students.
"To show you how wicked Charlotte is," he said, "there's going to be a white supremacists' meeting in Charlotte next month."
Many African-Americans disagreed with Nantambu's characterization of the city.
Taylor said he's unsure whether the event will be open to the media.
Charlotte Observer
American Renaissance, a magazine of the nonprofit New Century Foundation, plans a conference Feb. 4-6 at a site yet to be announced.
According to its website, the group advocates "race realism," a belief that race is "the most prominent and divisive" fault line in society.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks such groups, says at Renaissance conferences "racist 'intellectuals' rub shoulders with Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists."
Magazine editor Jared Taylor on Wednesday dismissed the criticism.
"They clearly have an axe to grind; we have perfectly ordinary people," said Taylor. "But that's their typical fearmongering. Their purpose is to paint us in the blackest language so people will contribute to them."
Taylor says the conference will be "at a first-class venue." But for security reasons, he won't announce it until 48 hours before.
"The last time the venue came under tremendous pressure," he said, "hundreds of telephone calls saying 'How dare you do business with these awful people?' We don't want to expose a hotel to that kind of pressure."
Monday, NAACP President Kojo Nantambu alluded to the conference at a rally to protest Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' decision to use the Martin Luther King holiday as a make-up day for students.
"To show you how wicked Charlotte is," he said, "there's going to be a white supremacists' meeting in Charlotte next month."
Many African-Americans disagreed with Nantambu's characterization of the city.
Taylor said he's unsure whether the event will be open to the media.
Charlotte Observer
US pastor Terry Jones banned from entering UK
The pastor, who last year planned a Koran-burning protest in the US, had been invited to address right-wing group England Is Ours in Milton Keynes.
The Home Office said Mr Jones could not enter the UK as the government "opposes extremism in all its forms".
Mr Jones told BBC Radio 5 live he would challenge the "unfair" decision and his visit could have been "beneficial".
Mr Jones - who is pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, which has fewer than 50 members - came to prominence last September when he announced plans for his "International Burn a Koran Day" on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
His plan was internationally condemned and sparked many demonstrations around the world before he eventually called off his protest.
'Unacceptable behaviour'
A Home Office spokesman said: "Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour.
"Coming to the UK is a privilege not a right and we are not willing to allow entry to those whose presence is not conducive to the public good.
"The use of exclusion powers is very serious and no decision is taken lightly or as a method of stopping open debate."
Mr Jones said he had not been planning to break any laws while in England.
"The whole object of the exercise is to have a discussion about the
Islamification of the UK and just have dialogue about the problems”
Quote Barry Taylor England Is Ours
Quote Barry Taylor England Is Ours
"I'm not against Muslims, we are not against their religion," he said. "We have, here in the West, freedom of religion and limited freedom of speech which we don't have in their countries.
"What I am against is the radical element. If I came to England we would expect Muslims to rally with us."
He added that the ban was also unfair on a "human basis" because his daughter lived in England and his grandchildren were English.
Mr Jones had accepted an invitation to speak to England Is Ours in February and was due to address a series of demonstrations against the expansion of Islam and the construction of mosques in the UK.
Barry Taylor, secretary of England Is Ours, said he was "very disappointed" by the decision.
"The whole object of the exercise is to have a discussion about the Islamification of the UK and just have dialogue about the problems," he said.
"The idea isn't to cause trouble or kick up a stink. These things do need addressing and people do need to speak about them. We shouldn't be frightened about them."
Sabotage of rights
He said he had expected about 100 people to attend events organised for Mr Jones, including about 30 members of England Is Ours.
"It's quite possible that other members of his outreach may be able to come," Mr Taylor said.
"I understand Pastor Jones is planning some visits to nearby European countries and we will be able to go and visit him there," he added.
A press release issued by Stand Up America - which is organising rallies addressed by Mr Jones - said the UK ban exemplified the sabotage of the basic human rights of freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
In December, Home Secretary Theresa May said she was "actively looking at" whether Mr Jones should be banned from entering the UK after the right-wing English Defence League (EDL) had invited him to share his views on Islam at a rally in Luton in February.
However the EDL later withdrew the invitation to Mr Jones. A spokesman said it was because of his critical views on homosexuality and race.
BBC News
Teens protest against racism in Israel
Members of left-wing youth movement gather in downtown Jerusalem to fight 'public's indifference' to acts of racism
Hundreds of members of the left-wing HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (Working and Studying Youth) movement protested in downtown Jerusalem Wednesday evening against the growing racism in Israel.
The rally was organized by 11th and 12th graders who recently returned from a trip to Poland. "As teenagers who love this country we fear the racism that is seeping into people's hearts and the indifference displayed by the public and its leaders," youth movement member Tal Kedmi said.
"We've decided not to stand by and watch as darkness threatens to take over," she said.
The protestors waved signs reading, "Racism will destroy Israel" and "Jerusalemites are stopping racism".
Protestor Yoav Rimer mentioned the rabbis' letter calling on Jews not to sell or rent apartments to Arabs, violence acts perpetrated by Jewish teens against Arabs and the "discrimination against students of Ethiopian and Sephardic descent" as clear signs that racism is spreading.
YNet News
Hundreds of members of the left-wing HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (Working and Studying Youth) movement protested in downtown Jerusalem Wednesday evening against the growing racism in Israel.
The rally was organized by 11th and 12th graders who recently returned from a trip to Poland. "As teenagers who love this country we fear the racism that is seeping into people's hearts and the indifference displayed by the public and its leaders," youth movement member Tal Kedmi said.
"We've decided not to stand by and watch as darkness threatens to take over," she said.
The protestors waved signs reading, "Racism will destroy Israel" and "Jerusalemites are stopping racism".
Protestor Yoav Rimer mentioned the rabbis' letter calling on Jews not to sell or rent apartments to Arabs, violence acts perpetrated by Jewish teens against Arabs and the "discrimination against students of Ethiopian and Sephardic descent" as clear signs that racism is spreading.
YNet News
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Vandals wreck Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Facebook page on holiday (USA)
The Facebook page for the legendary civil rights leader contained photos that used the N-word and depicted African Americans as slaves and monkeys.
"Sadly, hate groups have never gone away, and the Internet gives them another way to spread venom," said Steve Klein, the spokesman for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, which owns the page.
Klein said the defacing of the fan page was not the first online racial incident to come to the attention of the King Center.
"This happens a lot, but I don't think those hateful words or pictures represent a large group of people in the United States," Klein said.
"I just wish more people spent Monday remembering Dr. King's dream, not spreading online hate."
The racist imagery sent shock waves through the online community. "These devils won't even let the poor man rest in peace in death,"read one post yesterday.
It isn't known who vandalized the page.
NY Daily
Le Pen leaves party leadership with anti-Semitic slur (France)
Le Pen suggested in a weekend farewell speech that Jews cry wolf, unduly claiming to be victims of anti-Semitism, during his comments on the case of a Jewish French journalist who filed an official complaint against the National Front last weekend.
Mickael Szames, a journalist for the French media station France 24, said over the weekend that he was violently pushed out of a private National Front gala and injured by a group of security guards, reportedly because he was Jewish. He filed an official complaint over the attack.
In response, Le Pen, 82, jokingly told journalists that “the person in question thought he could say that he was kicked out because he is Jewish. It didn’t show, either on his (press) card, or on his nose, if I dare say.”
The National Front denied that Szames was beaten and said it would file a complaint against him for slander.
Le Pen's comments in the incident come as no surprise. In his farewell speech Saturday, Le Pen said he had no regrets for calling the Holocaust a “detail” in the history of World War II, nor for other comments that repeatedly cost him fines in court and a reputation as France’s leading political xenophobe.
France’s largest Jewish umbrella group, the CRIF, said in a statement Monday in response to Le Pen’s outburst that “we understand that Jean-Marie Le Pen feels the need to show that he still exists to a small extent, and that he is not foregoing any of his obsessions.”
The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants also said in a statement issued Monday that Holocaust survivors “are shocked but not surprised that Le Pen would once again revert to foul and offensive Jew-baiting in remarks at the close of his notorious political career."
"Until it distances itself from such comments, the National Front party will live in the shadow of these words of hate," the statement said.
New party president Marine Le Pen, 42, refrains from the kind of advertised disdain her father showed for the role of the Jewish community in French society. But like her father, she has taken a firm stance against the spread of Islam in France.
The newly elected leader of the National Front recently compared Muslim prayers in the streets around certain Parisian neighborhoods to the Nazi occupation. She was overwhelmingly elected president of the party over the weekend and is expected to modernize the group into a more powerful political force.
JTA
SHARP FALL IN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS TO CANARY ISLANDS (Spain)
The number of illegal immigrants arriving in the Canary Islands, considered a gateway to Europe from Africa, fell sharply in 2010 to the lowest level since 1997, the Spanish Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. Authorities in the Spanish archipelago recorded the arrival of 196 migrants in 2010, compared to 2,246 in 2009 and 31,678 in 1996. Overall, the numbers embarking on Spanish soil had roughly halved with 3,632 people registered in 2010 against 7,285 the year before. Spanish officials fear many of the thousands of Africans who attempt the perilous journey by boat to Spanish soil die each year of thirst, hunger or exposure. The mass arrival of boats carrying migrants, however, has become rarer in recent years due to the economic downturn in Spain and repatriation agreements Madrid signed with the African countries that were a major source of migrants. The country has also worked with other European nations to boost maritime surveillance.
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