I CARE - News Archive October

EUROPE'S MOST UNWANTED
November 2004- Today there is much talk of the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. Critics also note the rise of Islamophobia after 9/11: Muslim immigrant youths have been exclusively named responsible for attacks against Jewish people and property. Yet there is one group that has always been the target of hatred and discrimination, a group which remains Europe's most unwanted: The Roma.

Would you like to have Roma as neighbors? That is the standard question in most polls addressing prejudices against Roma. Roughly two thirds of Europeans say no. Such is the case, for example, in Romania: In polls carried out in 2000, 75 per cent of respondents said they would not like to live next door to Roma. 85 per cent of the respondents to a 1991 Czech poll said no, with the figure remaining stable in 1996, when 87 per cent said Romani neighbors would be unwanted. The degree of animosity in neighboring Slovakia is just as high: In a poll conducted in 1999, 87 per cent of the respondents declared that they would not like to have Roma as neighbors. Moreover, 55 per cent said that they would not want to live in a Romani neighborhood. A poll conducted in Slovenia in 1995 gave a slightly more optimistic picture: Not quite every second respondent was opposed to having Roma in his/her vicinity. In France and Ireland, people were interviewed on the topic of campsites for Roma/Travellers. French municipalities of more than 5,000 people are legally obligated to make premises available for Travellers, but a number of communes have refused to do so. Asked whether they agreed with this policy of resistance, a slim majority of the respondents, 51 per cent, said they did. In Ireland the opposition to campsites for Travellers was even more pronounced, with 57 per cent in a 2000 poll declaring that they would not accept Travelers in their neighborhood.

Another issue is personal relations. In a poll conducted among Slovenian high school students in 1993, 60.1 per cent admitted to avoid any contacts with Roma. This attitude is the same throughout Europe: In the above quoted Irish poll, two out of three respondents declared that they would not like to work with Roma. In Romania the opposite question was asked in 2003: Only 11 per cent were prepared to accept Roma as colleagues! The same mentality of rejection exists when it comes to schools. In 1992 a research team asked ethnic Bulgarians whether they would let their children go to school with Roma. 89.5 per cent considered it to be unacceptable. More recently, Croats were asked whether they would want their children to attend classes with a majority of Romani children. 64 answered firmly in the negative. In 1986, Spanish children were asked whether they would accept Romani children as classmates: 27 per cent said no. And the closer the relationship, the firmer the rejection: In a survey conducted among Spanish school teachers in the late 1980s, almost half of respondents indicated that they would not like to have Roma as friends. In a poll conducted in Romania in 2003 only 12 per cent said that they would accept Roma among their friends.

The question of intermarriages is often seen as the litmus test for a person's real attitude towards people of another "race" or ethnic origin, and Roma are not considered acceptable partners by the vast majority of non-Roma Europeans. 80 per cent of the respondents to a Slovak poll stated in 1999 that they would never allow their children to marry Roma. Half of the respondents to a 1995 Portuguese poll said they would not like their children to marry Roma. Having Roma as family was considered acceptable by only 7 per cent of the respondents to the above quoted Romanian poll. Less than one per cent of the respondents to a poll conducted in Bulgaria could imagine marrying a person of Roma origin. No doubt, there is a general dislike of Roma in Europe. 71.1 per cent of the respondents to a Bulgarian poll from 1991 expressed a generally negative opinion of them. A persistently high level of aversion is also found in the Czech Republic, where a 1991 poll showed 90 per cent expressing a generally negative attitude. In 1994 this was 68 per cent, and four years later, 65 per cent. Similarly high figures were also found in Poland: In 1996, 71 per cent of the respondents to a poll declared that they had a negative attitude towards Roma. In 2000 there was a decrease to 55 per cent, but in 2003 there was an upswing to 65 per cent, making Roma the most disliked ethnic group in Poland. Crude anti-Gypsyism was also evident in Romanian opinion polls. When asked their general opinion of Roma in a 1995 poll, 74 per cent of the interviewed declared it was unfavorable or very unfavorable. The percentage of negative opinions expressed two years later was 67 per cent. In 1992 the Allensbach Demoscopic Institute interviewed Germans about their attitudes towards Roma: 64 per cent expressed dislike. Two years later these findings were confirmed by a survey conducted by another institute, with 68 per cent declaring not to like Roma. In one English poll, 35 per cent of the respondents showed open aversion against them.

If people are asked to distribute their sympathies and antipathies among different ethnic/cultural groups or nationalities, Roma arrive mostly at the bottom of the hierarchy. This was the case in a Bulgarian poll from 1991, where 71 per cent expressed rejection towards Roma. This was also the case in a French survey from 1999 and in a Slovenian survey of the same year. In a Polish survey from 1999, Roma were not the most disliked group – Belorussians took that spot – but they were, together with Jewish people, the group garnering the lowest level of sympathy. Roma also ranged at the bottom of sympathies in a survey conducted by the Spanish Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in 1998. They were followed by people from Arabian countries and Muslims. If people are asked to choose among groups marked by socially deviant behavior such as drug addiction and crime, or people marked by their nationality or ethnicity, Roma usually follow, in preference, directly after the former. This indicates that the rejection of Roma is based on the idea that they are socially deviant. The identification of the Roma as nomadic is one of the most widespread stereotypes.

Opinion polls hardly address the issue of the reason for prejudices. In Western Europe it is impolitic to ask people to be outspoken on the nature of their resentments. In Eastern Europe this type of questioning is common and sometimes done with great detail, as in a poll conducted in 2001 in Romania. Asked to choose from a list three characteristics that would best describe Roma, half chose dirtiness and thievery, 39 per cent laziness. In another poll conducted in Romania in 2003, 82 per cent of the respondents agreed with the statement that many Roma are in conflict with the laws. Thievery and dishonesty are frequently associated with Roma: 77.1 per cent of the respondents to a Polish survey from 2000 characterized Roma as dishonest; 67 per cent in a 1995 Hungarian poll declared that Roma are prone to crime by nature. This prejudice was replicated by a third of Hungarian history students. The 2000 Polish poll also subscribed overwhelmingly to the statement that Roma are unfriendly (56.3 per cent) and that they do not like to work. These prejudices are also present among children: In a 1979 poll of German children aged ten to fourteen, 61.5 per cent agreed that Roma are sometimes dishonest. 69.2 per cent believed that Roma make their living out of begging and stealing. Against this backdrop it is all too logical that many people hold Roma responsible for their own marginalisation. 43 per cent in Poland and 87 per cent of Czechs, both in 1991, believed that Roma were responsible for the hostility against them. Another consequence of these beliefs is many agree with radical measures against Roma, ranging from the deprivation of their citizens' rights to their physical elimination. 13 per cent of respondents to an Irish poll from 2001 disagreed that Travellers should have the same rights as the settled community. 51 per cent of respondents to a French poll agreed with the refusal of some mayors to make campsites available for Travellers. 47 per cent of the respondents to a Romanian poll conducted in 2003 believed that municipalities and cities should be able to refuse Roma the right to settle down in their commune. In the same poll 68 per cent of respondents agreed that Roma should be denied the right to travel abroad.

Animosity goes further with the approval of segregation by many respondents. Again in the same Romanian poll, 31 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that there should be places such as bars, restaurants, discos and shops where Roma are not allowed entry. 64 per cent believed that there should be particular places for Roma at schools and universities. 36 per cent believed that Roma should be kept apart from the rest of the society, as they are unable to integrate. In 1999 in Slovakia, 60 per cent answered affirmatively the question, "Are you in favor of measures that would have Romanies living separated from the majority population, with their own schools and so on?" 30 per cent of respondents to a Czech poll conducted in 1994 agreed that Roma should be confined to ghettos. About half of the respondents to a Czech poll in 1996 agreed that Roma should be driven out of the Czech Republic. A concomitant view was expressed by 40.7 per cent of the respondents to a survey conducted in 2000 in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca, and by 13 per cent of teenage students in a survey conducted at Spanish schools in 1986 and 1988. More than 50 per cent of the respondents to a Portuguese poll from 1995 opined that there are too many Roma in Portugal. The same kind of extremist andindeedgenocidal thinking regarding Roma is displayed in the agreement of 48 per cent of the respondents to the above-quoted Romanian poll, that the state should take measures to stop the increase of the Roma population. This said, there is some public awareness of racism against Roma, but it does not match the prejudice's vigor. 41 per cent of the respondents to a French poll conducted in October 2000 considered that Roma/Travellers are among the most affected by prejudices. They were the fourth most quoted group after people from Maghreb countries and Africa. In a 2002 poll of French youth, 46 per cent believed that Roma are the most discriminated against. Here Roma came second after people from Maghreb countries, but before Black people and Jews. In an English poll from 2001, 38 per cent declared that they consider Roma to be the most affected by prejudices. The figures used in this paper are disparate and sometimes rather old. They mainly result from a search via the internet and serve one single purpose: To document that anti-Gypsyism exists as a prevailing attitude throughout Europe. Anti-Gypsyism is indeed deeply engrained in European culture and societies. Unlike with anti-Semitism, anti-Gypsyism has hardly been affected by any taboos or the adoption of at least a politically correct language. Likewise unlike anti-Semitism, anti-Gypsyism is still fuelled by ancient prejudices and stereotypes, the most common prejudice being that Roma are social outlaws. The fact that these stereotypes exist even in countries where there is hardly any visible Roma presence such as in Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium and Malta only highlights their crudeness. Anti-Gypsyism is not only the source of discrimination and marginalisation. As with the past, it kills. The number of Roma who are aggressed, wounded and killed, for the sole fact of being Roma, is undocumented. Romani women continue to be sterilized in a racist attempt to reduce the number of Roma, whose growth is seen as a social threat.

European institutions and national governments need to document and monitor incidents of anti-Gypsyism as it is done for other forms of racism and racist violence. An EU-wide survey on anti-Gypsyism including all its forms ranging from popular anti-Gypsyism, racist violence by individuals and law enforcement officers as well as hate speed is urgently needed in order to make this social phenomenon become visible to the majority. It needs to be understood that anti-Gypsyism is not only an attack on the human dignity and physical integrity of Roma but also a threat to social cohesion. Integration is never a one way process. As long as anti-Gypsyism persists there is little chance for a peaceful coexistence of Roma and non-Roma.
Research done by Karin Waringo, European Roma Information Office
Polls by country are available by requests
European Roma Information Office

FOOTBALL, COLOURS, MUSIC... AGAINST RACISM(Italy)
By Daniela Conti – Progetto Ultrà

The 8th edition of the Mondiali Antirazzisti has been played in Montecchio (Reggio Emilia - Italy) from 7 to 11 July 2004. The Mondiali is an annual, non competitive football tournament organised by Progetto Ultrà (Italy) and Istoreco (italy) in cooperation with FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe). This year 168 teams have been involved representing more than 20 countries, 40 national identities and a total of 6.000 participants, coming from all over Europe. Teams are male, female and mixed, without special rounds divided for categories: everybody play with everybody! The main target group of this 7-a-side multicultural football event are fans and migrant communities. Fans and migrant groups shared experiences about racism and discrimination in the stadiums and integration methods between migrants and local communities. For the first time a team from Palestine, one from Macedonia and a group of Nigerian who live in Hungary have been given the possibility to participate, thanks to the work of all the FARE network and the support of Regione Emilia-Romagna to obtain Visa for these groups More than 483 matches have been played split on 14 grounds, without referees, in order to underline the non competitive character of the event and to teach the teams how to self-regulate. The tournament has been won by Ultras Cava dei Tirreni, scond place for the team of Nigerians coming from Hungary African All Stars. At the Finals no regular matches have been played. The winners were determined through a penalty shooting. It should remind all players, that in life like in football, especially with penalty, it is sometimes only a question of luck, if you are privileged or deprived, winner or looser. Also the first Antiracist Basketball Tournament was organised by Italian ultras of basketball, who gave an important sign in the struggle against racism.

Mondiali are an occasion of meeting among people of different culture, religion, sexual orientation, countries and fans of clubs sometimes also enemy. In fact the goal of the manifestation is to demonstrate the conviviality among differences is not only possible, but is a richness for all the society. The event wants to demonstrate against each forms of discrimination, and for this reasons, all the groups are actively involved in the organisation and promotion of the event. People are hosted in 2 camping sites for the capacity of 3.000 people. Camping sites and services (toilettes, showers, parking area) were totally free of charge, as the participation at the tournament and concerts. The 2 restaurants and the 3 bars (managed by fan groups, migrant communities and local associations) had very cheap prices and all income has been used for funding the manifestation. At the entrance of the 2 camping sites a service of multilingual reception has been organised to supply all the needs.

To demonstrate the non competitive goal of the manifestation the more important prices are the special cups that have been given for activities against racism and Fair Play in sports. The cups given and offered by the migrant community Associazione Araba Novellara have been various and among all the most relevant were: the Mondiali Antirazzisti 2004 Cup assigned to Brigate GialloBlu Modena, who during all the years have been engaged in antiracist activities in schools and at the stadium, and who have been participants and volunteers during all the Mondiali, managing one of the restaurants from 7:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the night; the Kilometres Cup for the Palestinian team of Ibdaa, who have been for sure the team with the longest way to travel to be able to attend; the Invisible Cup was dedicated to the Sudanese migrants closed in the Humanitarian Ship Cap Anamur, blocked from the Italian and German government near by the European costs. For the Mondiali they were with us in an invisible presence. To offer a space of meeting and exchange, it was been built up the Piazza Antirazzista (Antiracist Square) who hosted the exposition of self-made materials picking the struggle against racism out as a central theme (articles, photos, t-shirts, stickers, banners…). Moreover, many debates took place at this meeting point. One of these debates organised by FARE has seen the participation of Paul Elliott, former defender of Chelsea and Pisa, who spoke about his experience as football player concerning racist abuse. He underlined the importance of acting and gave examples of what supporters and players can do to counter racism.

Since the beginning the Mondiali Antirazzisti chooses to support particular social projects, contributing to their realisation and promotion, as for example the project "El Estadio del Bae" for the upgrading of sports and cultural structures in Chiapas (Mexico); the project "Sport sotto l'Assedio" for supporting the sports activities of Palestinian children in Deisha. Moreover the Mondiali promoted the use of fair trade balls for all the sports manifestations. As every year, there has been a broad offer of musical entertainment and live concerts: the Italian band 400 Colpi; the the French Mastaya; the Catalan band Obrint Pas; the Italian DJ Kaos feat. DJ Trix, Moddi MC e Turi and the English Zion Train. The association of street artists Accademia dei Remoti presented a show with fire, that started at the camping site and arrived in the main Square of the village, where they proposed fireworks. During this march they have been accompanied by drummers and thousands of fans and locals followed this track, celebrating the idea of anti-racism, singing and presenting their flags and banners. In choosing the bands the organization has made a special attention to ethnic music, or who propose in their songs antidiscrimination messages, to underline the values of the manifestation. Describe in few words what is the Mondiali is difficult: it's passion and party, colours and football, music and arts, knowledge and friendship… It's better to come and live with us 5 day of demonstration the beauty of a multicultural society. Next edition will be from 5 to 10 July 2005.
More info on the website of Progetto Ultrà

INITIATIVE AGAINST THE CHIPCARD SYSTEM(Germany)
The „Initiative against the Chipcard system" in Berlin is fighting against the German practice to refuse to give asylum-seekers and refugees cash money for their everyday expenses. Instead they get vouchers or electronic smart cards (chip cards) which are only valid in a few and mostly expensive shops that are not necessarily anywhere near to where the refugees live. We believe that the people should have the right to spend their money where they want to and cash is necessary, especially because you can't pay a lawyer with these so called "Sachleistungen". This practice of the German Law is racist and discriminating against people because they are not allowed to spend their money the way they plan their lives and they are made to stick out in shops because everybody immediately knows that they are refugees. Often racist harassment is a result of trying to buy something with these cards it might be the cashier or the other people waiting in line who start to make comments about the refugees who "should go to work or leave instead of collecting social welfare". Because it is nearly impossible to get permission from the German Government to seek for a job and even harder to get one if you are actually allowed to, this is very hard on the people who are forced to waste their lives waiting for decisions from the law. With the 41 Euro a grownup person gets each month in cash it's not possible to pay a lawyer, public transport, a telephone bill, and special treats like cigarettes or alcohol (can't buy these with the cards) or presents for the family, that can not be found in supermarkets.

For four years now we have been organising actions, petitions and contacts between refugees and supporters we try to find people who have cash and are willing to shop with the cards of refugees and give them back the amount in ‘real money' / cash, we organise information campaigns about and against this system and we try to attack those who are responsible for keeping this practice up on a political level. Last year the greatest success was that nearly all districts who gave out these cards cancelled their contracts with SODEXHO, the company which produces and earns a lot of money with racist discrimination. This company also makes a lot of money with their try to build up a private prison system in Europe. The one district who still gave out vouchers to refugees - which are even worse because it's not allowed to give money back if you don't spend the whole amount, making it necessary to go shopping with a calculator! finally called a stop to this practice after we managed to find support from members in the local parliament and organised shopping actions, rallies and protests in front of the Social Security Office. By now (end of 2004) there are only two districts in Berlin left, where people are forced to take these cards. These are not easy to get at as they have a conservative and racist lawyer and local parliament, but we are working together with local Antifa groups and managed two shopping and information rallies in the last year, which were a pretty good success. Another thing we did this year was to get in contact with refugees who live in Brandenburg outside of Berlin who also get the chip cards and often live in very isolated places outside of town. For them it is even harder to buy everyday things with the cards and there have been attempts to criminalize them when they try to exchange the cards against cash. We got in contact with groups of refugees who are no longer willing to accept the discriminations against them and supported them in their struggle to inform the people and authorities of their will to fight against this system. There has been a strike of refugees in Kunersdorf in Brandenburg for three months where they would not take the cards when the social welfare people came to their camp, also they organised a rally and protests in the capital of the "Landkreis" (district), which have been the biggest political events in the place ever thanks to those people who are willing to struggle against these laws!

If you are interested in getting in contact with us, if you want more information or happen to be in Berlin and would like to find out what and if something is going on or you know people living here who need support, you can mail us: konsumfuerfreiesfluten@yahoo.com
Initiative against the Chipcard system

REVIEW: THE PEACE FACTORY(Netherlands)
An Interactive Exhibition on Peace Education
By Caecilia J. van Peski, an educational and cultural psychologist. She works for CISV Ltd., an international INGO that focuses on peace education and conflict transformation. Besides, she is as a trainer & developer in the field of culture and communication through Van Peski Consult, the Netherlands.

Is it possible to produce peace on a conveyor belt or in an assembly line? The Peace Factory uses the metaphor of a factory to teach peace education. Peace Education Projects the Netherlands is a charitable organization that believes that peace is something people can learn. It doesn't appear out of the blue, but is something to work on and learn about. Peace is something to do - an active verb.

The Peace Factory is a travelling exhibition presently touring through the Netherlands. Although it was designed for children and adolescents aged ten and up, adults will find it interesting and educational as well.

The Peace Factory illustrates how war and peace, past, present and future are interconnected. It combines realism and history with idealism and the future. While showing how these things are present in our world, the exhibition begins to shift the focus to the personal beliefs of the visitor. What are your own norms and values? How would you act in a certain situation? Would you fight for your own beliefs? Do you dare to stand up to what you believe in? By touching the visitor's own identity, individuals are forced to think about the consequences of their own day-to-day choices in moral dilemmas. Where do I stand? Visitors are actively challenged to examine their own opinions, choices and values.

Visitors enter the factory in pairs. Each pair is given a "roadmap to peace" that indicates a possible route. The roadmap also contains questions, the answers to which can be found while going through the exhibition. There are three different roadmaps of varying levels of complexity in order to accommodate both young and old. Upon entering the Peace Factory the sounds of a working factory are projected onto the visitor from every corner, creating realistic factory atmosphere. Visitors wear helmets, creating the illusion of construction workers walking around a building site. And, there is actual building taking place: Peace building!

The Peace Factory contains a total of fifteen machines, all made of synthetic fibre in a multitude of appealing colours. Visitors are invited to work with machines like the time machine, lie detector, regret tube, fact and opinion sorter, scapegoat mill, prejudice balance, tolerance measurer and violence roll. They use these different tools to explore a variety of concepts, discovering, for example, that although tolerance is a valuable asset, it also has its limitations. Freedom itself cannot be unrestricted, because the freedom of one individual can result in restrictions for others. Conflicts can be resolved in more than one way. Making agreements can be a way to find peace with your enemy. Joining resistance is heroic but also dangerous. What you perceive as innocent teasing of a child in your classroom may be seen as harassment in the eyes of the victim. Where do you draw the line?

The concept of the Peace Factory holds great promise for any organisation that works with children and adolescents, including exchange programmes, projects for refugees, and educational organizations. Not only in the Netherlands the Peace Factory can be a powerful educational tool when it comes to peace education. As we speak, other nations, including Algeria, Colombia, Spain, Italy, France, Russia, and Rwanda are working on their own Peace Factories, each with a focus specific to their particular history. The Netherlands and Germany are working on a shared Peace Factory that puts emphasis on their mutual conflicts during the Second World War as well.

Design: Jan Durk Tuinier and Geu Visser, 2004 for
Stichting Vredeseducatie (Peace Education Projects the Netherlands)

HATE CRIMES IN RUSSIA: THE STATE RESPONSE
By Dr. Leonid Stonov (UCSJ's Director of International Bureaus in the FSU)

10/12/2004- Some results of the first year implementation of the sponsored by the European Commission project "Public Campaign of to Combat Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism and Ethnic Discrimination in the Multi-National Russian Federation" (managing by the Moscow Helsinki Group, Union of Councils for Jews in the FSU and affiliated Moscow Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law)

What legislation can be used today in Russia on hate crimes?
Many officers within Russia's law enforcement bodies, instead of using Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code or another law against the "Incitement of Ethnic, Race or Religious Hatred", now speak of the law's imperfection. Article 282 was written as a substitute for another law on the same subject, replacing Article 74 from the old Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in a mid-1990s reform of the Criminal Code. The new article has the positive additions in comparison to the old one, most important is that the necessity to prove "intent" regarding a hate crime was removed. Several other laws were added or amended which were important to this struggle against hate groups. Besides Article 282, Article 148 ("Prevention of Carrying out Rights on Freedom of Conscience and Religion") appeared in the new code, thusly improving the consideration given to hate crimes performed as religious xenophobia. Also, the content of Article 205 ("Terrorism") was supplemented to include the "threat to commit a terrorist act". These additions are important for our topic, because even the most radical nationalistic groups may not be ready to commit a terrorist attack, but can still terrorize a community with their threats. The use of guns was also reclassified as an aggravating circumstance.

Yet it seems that investigators and especially the prosecutors have forgotten about Article 63 from the Common Part in the Russian Criminal Code. In Section E of Article 63 ("The Circumstances Aggravating the Punishment"), it was established that crimes committed on grounds of racist, ethnic and religious hatred are considered aggravating circumstances. As the law enforcement bodies continue to prefer to qualify the cases on violent crimes with nationalistic coloring, instead of Article 282 these crimes are also prosecuted under more common criminal articles – hooliganism, severe bodily injury and several others (i.e., Articles 213, 115, 116). It then would be reasonable to include the qualified indications in these articles about hooliganism, severe beatings and wide scale violations of the order. Here is where aggravating circumstances should find their usefulness to increase the rate of punishment for criminals, as crimes of ethnic, racial and religious hatred, by law, are objectively considered more publicly dangerous than the same crimes with mere "every day" motives. The punishments handed out in these cases are in response to both the actual act and the criminal's motives, as condemned by the society. Nevertheless, this aggravating circumstance is practically not taken into account. In this case, law enforcement bodies cannot refer to their fallback excuse – the "imperfection of formulation." Everything here is understandable and obvious, although some improvements are possible and necessary. Many experts, including UCSJ, consider it reasonable to use motives of ethnic, racial and religious hatred as an additional indication of aggravating punishment under Articles: 139 ("Violation of Sanctity of the Home"), 167 ("Intentional Liquidation or Damage to the Belongings"), 212 ("Mass Confusion"), 213 ("Hooliganism"), 214 ("Vandalism") and some others.

The current Russian Criminal Code has formulations to classify hate crimes as a qualified sign, increasing the punishment, in the following Articles (besides the abovementioned Article 63): 105 ("Murder", Part 2, Section L), 111 ("Intentional Big Harm to the Health", Part 2, Section E), 112 ("Intentional Medium Harm to the Health", Part 2, Section E) And 117 ("Torturing", Part 2, Section "?"). The questions of punishment for infringement of ethnic rights and religious freedoms are touched on in different forms in the following Criminal Code Articles: 136 ("Violations of Equality of Human and Citizens' Rights and Freedoms"), 148 ("Preventing of Realizing the Rights on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Freedoms"), 239 ("Organization of Unity Encroaching on Personal Freedom and Citizens' Rights"), 354 ("Public Appeals to Unleash an Aggressive War").

It is natural to think that Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code can be improved. Now it contains three different types of corpus delicti. First is "Humiliation of the Dignity", i.e. does moral harm, and can be referred to the Civil Rights Legislation. It is possible and almost necessary to add the new corpus delicti to the Criminal Code, which should be in accordance with Article 4 of the International Convention of Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. Secondly, the definition "Excitement of Hatred" can be divided to "Instigation to Discrimination", "Appeal to Violence", "Propaganda of Superiority or Inferiority", etc. A differing rate of punishment might be necessary for words versus actions, which has been left out of Article 282.

Parallel with criminal prosecution of hate crimes, decriminalization can also play a positive role in counteraction to extremism/chauvinism. Political decisions are important in this issue. First of all, the authorities need to react to speeches and decisions of their representatives (mayors, governors) and deputies on all levels. For example, the absence of a clear response from the authorities to the antisemitic statements of the former Krasnodar governor (and now representative in the Council of Federation, N. Kondratenko, who recently gave an aggressively antisemitic speech at a Beirut conference), to murders of human rights activists/experts on inter-ethnic relations (N.Girenko); from absence of security measures for judges leading to a higher number of victims, to indirect encouragement of ethnic, racial and religious violence. More symbolic and visible actions by high level officials are necessary in this sphere, if officials really want to finish with ethnic and religious hatred and crimes on this basis.

Simply speaking, citizens and the society in general in Russia can't be protected against racism, discrimination and chauvinism, but not because the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code or Citizen Procedure Code are ineffective, or because incompetent, corrupt and dependable judges (as often happens) prevent it. The question is, can the state, as it is, perform its basic functions and duties to protect their people? Until now, the practice did not show optimism. The efforts of political leadership must play the bigger role.
USCJ

WHITE SPOTS IN MEDIA COVERAGE OF UKRANIAN ELECTIONS
By Natalia Sineaeva (Helsinki Citizens' Assembly of Moldova, IKV intern) and Rafal Pankowski ('Never Again' Association-Poland, Helsinki Citizens' Assembly of Moldova)
Many thanks to Leonid Savin for his valuable help.

14/12/2004- Ukraine is a leading topic in the international media today. We would like to offer our own Eastern European perspective on the recent events, differing from the mainstream opinion.

The post-Soviet republic appears on the front pages of all newspapers in Europe and the United States. Before the recent presidential elections the Ukrainian affairs and the Ukrainian political process almost did not interest the Western political elite, so accordingly, the Western media also.

Observers on the part of the OSCE and the Council of Europe have qualified the recent elections as non-democratic and with a big probability of fraud. The Ukrainian authorities are accused of not providing equal and civilized conditions for politicians engaged in the presidential competition. They also mentioned the lack of access to the media for the representative of the opposition Viktor Yushchenko, supported by the strong political block "Our Ukraine", and manipulations of the press financed from the state budget in favour of the current prime minister Viktor Yanukovich.

The opposition parties demanded the results of the second round of the elections to be cancelled and immediately started to organize protests against the government. Under their pressure, the Ukrainian Parliament voted the election results invalid. The political crisis continues and numerous foreign mediators arrive in the country in the hope of bringing a solution to its problem…

Long before the announcement of the official election results some Western commentators and analysts had started to predict a ‘democratic revolution' in Ukraine, as it already happened in Georgia last year and in Serbia four years ago. They see analogies between the Rose revolution in Tbillisi and the Orange revolution in Kiev. All of them converge in the opinion that young demonstrators will bring down the authoritarian regimes and introduce a real democracy. The Western media coverage suggests that 1989 repeats: mass demonstrations all over the country, peaceful protests, the opposition versus a totalitarian regime...
And according to the global media, Yushchenko is pro-democracy, pro-West and pro-NATO, while Yanukovich is pro-Moscow and therefore anti-Western.

We believe it is a mistake to describe the current political crisis in Ukraine only in ‘black-white' colours, as, in fact, the situation is much more complex. And here the media and most of the observers are extremely biased. In fact, the biggest difference between the situations in Georgia in November 2003 and in Ukraine in November 2004 is that a vast majority of the Georgians was in favour of radical changes in their country and was against the then government and president Shevardnadze. But Yanukovich indeed has many supporters, especially in Eastern and Southern parts of Ukraine and many pro-Yanukovich demonstrations and protests occurred there. Sadly, they were almost unnoticed in the media. The official results of these elections can be real or at least close to real ones almost half of the Ukrainians is for Yushchenko and the rest supports Yanukovich. Yushchenko supporters have been much more visible mainly because his campaign was well prepared and ‘orange demonstrations' with their accompanying pop concerts, giant screens, free food and clothing - were not entirely spontaneous. They had been carefully planned and generously financed, mostly from US sources. Two names have been mentioned in the context of US backing for Yushchenko, among others, the former State Secretary Henry Kissinger and the former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.

It seems that the conflicting opinions of people have separated the country into two parts. One of the main arguments of ‘election skeptics' is roughly the following: how is it possible for Yanukovich to receive more than 90 per cent of the vote in his home town Donetsk? A similar question can be posed: why Yushchenko received the same per cent of the votes in places such as the western town Ivano-Frankovsk? It seems obvious that falsifications took place during the elections, but not only from Yanukovich's side. The country does not have a strong democratic tradition and the democratic political culture is rather weak here. Many years should pass before truly democratic elections in Ukraine. And first of all there must be changes in people's minds by evolutionary way.

This ex-Soviet republic, bordering the Black Sea, Poland, Romania, Moldova and the Russian Federation, with a population of approximately forty eight million people, also shakes from deep historical, religious and language contradictions. It is a very diverse country. Ukraine culturally, religiously and politically is split into two parts eastern and western. The numerical strength of the Russian speaking minority is huge in Ukraine around thirty per cent of the population. They are geographically concentrated mostly in the eastern regions of the country in relatively large numbers.

Millions of voters belonging to ethnic minorities strongly backed Yanukovich in these elections, mainly because of the fear of ethnic nationalism (which includes antisemitism) allegedly disseminated by the supporters of Yushchenko. Are their fears justified?

Many of today's demonstrators and supporters of the Orange revolution are activists bussed from the western part of Ukraine (Lvov and Ivano-Frankovsk). This part of the country harbours a strong nationalist movement which is both anti-Russian and anti-Polish, frequently also antisemitic, and its goal is not democracy but the protection and promotion of the Ukrainian ethno-national identity. Many of the nationalists draw inspiration from their ideological predecessors of the 1930s and 1940s. Revising the country's history is a popular tendency among them, and it includes the justification of the wartime alliance with the Third Reich. Veterans former volunteers of the Waffen SS organize marches there to express their patriotism and demand equal rights with ex-soldiers of the Red Army. It is possible to hear nationalistic songs originating in years of the Second World War in the crowd of ‘orange demonstrators'.

Several hundreds of young people from the neo-nazi group UNA-UNSO are active in these demonstrations. According to some witnesses, they have acted as security for the marchers. A leader of the UNA-UNSO had been elected to the parliament as an ‘independent' candidate in the Lvov region, supported by the "Our Ukraine" block. A rock group "Komu vniz" from Lvov, notorious for the promotion of fascist ideas, was among many pop and rock acts calling for young people to support Yushenko. Their main slogan is "Ukraine for Ukrainians". It didn't seem to provoke much revulsion from the organisers of the pro-democracy movement.

We have seen photos of nazi-skinheads participating in the ‘orange camp' in Kiev. Their political views are displayed openly with slogans such as "Skins for Yushenko" on their tents in the city centre accompanied by such internationally known codes of the extreme right as "88" which means "Heil Hitler". While such extreme views are obviously alien to the majority of the demonstrators the tolerance for such open racism and antisemitism must be disturbing.

During the summer of the pre-election campaign, the Pan-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" and its leader Oleg Tyagnibok called all the nationalistic parties in the country to support Yushchenko in the elections. According to the statement, Yushchenko is the only real candidate of ‘national-patriotic forces'. The previous name of this organisation was the Social-National Party, and its role model was Jean-Marie Le Pen who visited Ukraine on its invitation a few years ago. The party symbol was very similar to the swastika. Oleg Tyagnibok is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and represented the Yushchenko block "Our Ukraine".

Earlier this year Tyagnibok's speech in the Ivano-Frankovsk region, near the grave of Klim Savur, a commander of the wartime Ukrainian Insurrectionary Army (UPA), became a reason to initiate a criminal case against him. "They were not afraid, they took guns and went to the forest. They fought against Russians, Germans, Jews and others who wanted to occupy our Ukrainian land. Ukraine must be for Ukrainians. There is a fear of this Russian-Jewish mafia, which rules in Ukraine today" - said Oleg Tyagnibok. Later in other Ukrainian cities pamphlets with the headline "Rise up, honest Ukrainians! And kill all Russians" signed by the same person were distributed. The other goal of the pamphlet was agitation to vote for Yushchenko. And just recently Oleg Tyagnibok was among those who led the orange crowd storming the Ukrainian Parliament.

Another xenophobic case, which shocked Ukraine this year, is also connected with Yushchenko and his allies. The pro-Yushchenko newspaper "Village News", one the largest in Ukraine, published an article "Jews in Ukraine today: reality without myths" which claimed that 400 thousand Jews fought alongside Hitler's army in 1941. The Ukrainian Anti-fascist Committee initiated a prosecution of the newspaper for promoting xenophobia. The editor of the newspaper said: "I personally do not have anything against common Jews, but against a small group of Jewish oligarchs who control Ukraine both economically and politically. I believe the point of Zionism today is Jewish control of the world, and we see this process at work in Ukraine today". The court decided to close the newspaper, but the political block "Our Ukraine" started immediately a campaign in support for the publication. Important political allies of Yushchenko Yulia Timoshenko and Alexandr Moroz issued a joint statement "Hands off Village News".

Yushchenko himself never took a firm line against nationalist and antisemitic trends in his political circle. And it is obvious they are not uncommon among his supporters. The leader of "Our Ukraine" must be aware of it. Indeed, media and international observers do not raise this point in their coverage of the political situation in Ukraine. They should do it.

Ukraine is not a homogenous country and ethnic, cultural and political diversity is there to stay. Minorities must also be included in the process of democratization. Would Yushchenko be able to realize it?

The example of Georgia with its unresolved conflicts with Abkhasia and South Ossetia can be educational here. After one year after the Rose revolution an activist of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly said: "We put so many efforts to de-ethnicize the conflict, but Saakashviki came and ethnicized it".

According to numerous observers, more ‘revolutions' in the post-Soviet space are in the pipeline for the next year. Moldova is another post-Soviet republic, which has borders with Ukraine and Romania. As a response to the ‘orange revolution' in Kiev, a flow of electoral emotions has already gripped Moldova. The right-wing nationalist opposition started to ask itself what the lessons the Republic of Moldova could learn from the presidential elections in Ukraine. Today Moldova is democratic, in contrast to Belarus. Moldova also has a multicultural society. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the country has been split into two parts, which led to a frozen conflict with a separatist republic in Transnistria. A renewed wave of nationalism can be very dangerous for the country's future, as it is one the major obstacles towards a peaceful resolution of the frozen conflict. Today the radical right-wing opposition receives support from the West.

Does anybody have guarantees that this far right opposition is less corrupt than the current Moldovan government, does anybody have guarantees that Yushchenko is less corrupt than Kuchma and Yanukovich, or Saakashvili is less corrupt than Shevardnadze? No.

All these countries should build a strong civil society and develop a political culture through deep changes in people's minds. They should build democracy without nationalistic tendencies and on the basis of multiculturalism. Corruption can be fought and eliminated only through long-term changes in society itself, the development of NGOs and education. It is not an easy path but we believe it is more desirable than the current wave of simplistic propaganda.

PS A few days ago a new colour appeared in Ukraine's polarised political spectrum. Young people in Kharkov started a green movement as an alternative to both conflicting orange (Yushchenko) and blue (Yanukovich) options. Their slogan is "We are for peace!". They hope to bring two sides together.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LGBT MOVEMENT IN TURKEY
From the 1970's to the First Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Istanbul in 2004

11/12/2004- Like most of the countries in rest of the world, in Turkey a gay culture was born in sub cultures such as parks, bath houses, cafes and bars in especially big cities like Istanbul or Ankara.

Gays and Lesbians in 1970's Turkey
By the end of 1970's gays and lesbians who had more economic and educational independence began to establish communication with other gays and lesbians. An important step to establish a gay movement began in the city of Izmir by Ibrahim Eren. During the 70's he established therapy/ conversation sessions with gays and lesbians of Izmir while he was working at Izmir Environment and Health Organization. But the 1980 military coup shut down this organization with all other NGO's of Turkey. Ibrahim Eren left the country to escape from harassment. Living in Germany and other European countries, Ibrahim Eren learnt about anti-militarism, green movement and lgbt movements.

1980 – 1986 – Radical Democrat Green Party
1980 military coup crushed the freedom that Turkish people were enjoying since 1961. But this provided an opportunity for gays and lesbians to establish their own movement cause before they didn't have a choice but joining an existing left movement. Under those circumstances, Ibrahim Eren wanted to establish a party where anti-militarists, greens, gays, lesbians and transgenders can identify themselves. That's how the idea to establish a Radical Democrat Green Party was born but by 1987 they weren't able to resolve the issues, therefore they couldn't establish the party.

1987 – Hunger Strike Against Harassment
Beyoglu and Istiklal Street of Istanbul have always been an important meeting place not only for gays and lesbians but also transgenders as well. By 1987, the police harassment towards transgenders in that district intensified so much, however the media wasn't interested in what was going on. They preferred not to make comments on these issues. 37 gay and transgenders found the solution to seek help from the Radical Party which was on the process of establishment at the time. They started a hunger strike to protest the harassment towards them. This is the first action taken by the Turkish LGBT community to make their voice heard. Although no substantial success was achieved from the action, it raised attention both internally and internationally. Some successful figures of the time such as Rifat Ilgaz (author) and Turkan Soray (actress) supported their cause.

1988 – Turkish Transgenders Gained Legal Status
After a long legal struggle, in 1988 the 29th clause of the Turkish Civil Code was finally amended, to state that "In cases where there has been a change of sex after birth, documented by a report from a committee of medical experts, the necessary amendments are made to the birth certificate." But prejudice and violence towards transgenders continued.

1993 – Gay and Lesbian Pride Conference in Istanbul was Banned
A more visible Turkish LGBT movement began to appear after 1990's. The most notable event was the attempt to organize a gay and lesbian pride conference in Istanbul in 1993. A gay and lesbian pride conference (Christopher Street Day Sexual Liberation Activities) scheduled for July 2-6 1993 in Istanbul was banned on the last minute by the governor of Istanbul, apparently on the grounds that it would be contrary to Turkey's tradition and moral values and that it might disturb the peace. The governor allegedly sent men to many hotels in Istanbul, instructing them not to provide lodgings for participants. The next day, Turkish authorities detained 28 foreign delegates, most of them while they were on their way to participate in a press conference in protest of the ban. They were detained for over 5 hours, threatened with possible strip searches and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tests, and deported on a Turkish airline to Germany. The organizers had previously received approval of the event from the Interior Ministry.

The most striking result of this event was the establishment of Lambda Istanbul which is one of the most important LGBT organization in Turkey at the moment. Lambda Istanbul was formed by a group of gays and lesbians right after the Istanbul city government banned the Christopher Street Day Sexual Liberation Activities. After the incident, the group that used to gather under the name "Gokkusagi" (Rainbow) took the name Lambda Istanbul. The group's first activity was to work with the organizations that aimed to prevent the spreading of HIV/ AIDS. Together with the AIDS Prevention Society in Turkey, they prepared the first Safe Sex Brochure addressing gay men. Lambda Istanbul became a member of ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association) in 1993.

1994 – Kaos GL, A New LGBT Group in Ankara and the First Gay and Lesbian Turkish Magazine
In 1994, a group of gay and lesbian gathered in Ankara to establish a LGBT group. They also started publishing a magazine to cover the LGBT issues in Turkey in 1994 which is still being published.

1995 – Gay and Lesbian Pride Conference in Istanbul was Banned Again
In September 1995, the second attempt for LGBT activities was stopped by the Istanbul City Government. This second antidemocratic prevention was announced to the world public through the Internet and Reuters by Lambda Istanbul. Despite Turkish media's lack of interest, it has taken place in the world media and Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Culture received overwhelming protests.

Dilemma of Turkish Lesbians in 1990's
In 1990's there were some attempts to establish lesbian organizations such as Sappho'nun Kizlari (Sappho's Girls) and Venus'un Kizkardesleri (Sisters of Venus). Lesbians in the existing LGBT organizations at the time were having problems identifying themselves as a part of the movement.

1996 – Repression Against Transgenders Intensified
Although Turkish transgenders were severely repressed since they were visible, before the 1996 United Nations Human Settlements Program (Habitat) conference was to be held in Istanbul, transgender people who used to live in Ulker Street, in the Cihangir district of Istanbul were driven from the area. They were arrested and subjected to brutal torture.

1996 - First LGBT Radio Show and First Attempts to Publish a Turkish Gay Magazine
In 1996, Turkish gays and lesbians opened a stand table in the HABITAT II Congress.
In 1996, Lambda Istanbul started a radio program in Acik Radyo (Open Radio) to broadcast to Turkish gays and lesbians. The same year, it also published two LGBT magazines, 100% GL and Cins (Gender), but they didn't last for a long time.

1996 – Establishment of LEGATO, the first LGBT group for Turkish Students
LEGATO, named after the Turkish acronym for Lezbiyen Gay Toplulugu, is a Lesbian and Gay Association that aims to connect and bring together homosexual Turkish college students. The idea of meeting at university campuses and bringing homosexual students together first came forward at the Middle Eastern Technical University (METU) in 1996. In the upcoming years, LEGATO was founded at almost all universities in Turkey. By 2000, LEGATO became one of the most important and active gay/lesbian organizations of Turkey that gathers homosexual university students, graduates and academicians from all over, with its raising member number which is now 350. Beside its continuous work on presenting the homosexual student image and culture at all platforms it takes place, and forming the conscious of homosexuality in Turkish society, LEGATO also stands by its basic aims like supplying the communication between homosexual students and common living areas at university campuses.

June 1997 – A Turkish Transgender Activist, Demet Demir, received Felipa de Souza Award
Demet Demir, a transsexual woman and the first person ever considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International because of sexual orientation, was given the 1997 Felipa de Souza Award for exemplary service to her community. The award was given on June 2, 1997 by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). Ms. Demir is from Cihangir, a district of Istanbul, and has worked on behalf of gay men, lesbians, transvestites, transsexuals, and sex workers throughout Turkey. She has been imprisoned numerous times, tortured, had her home broken into and her telephone cables cut in efforts to silence her. As of 2004, she still is working in collaboration with various non-governmental organizations for equal rights for sexual minorities.

1998 to Present – Bi-annual National LGBT Meetings
Since 1998, Turkish LGBT groups have been holding bi-annual meetings, in Ankara in the spring (Bahar Ankara) and in Istanbul in the fall (Guztanbul). The purposes of these meetings are to produce solutions to the problems of Turkish LGBT community. The participators discuss the needs and demands, methods of struggle and endeavors of organizing by Turkey's gays and lesbians. Also since 2002, some family members of gays and lesbians have been attending to these meetings. These meetings still continue as of 2004.

2001 – First Time, First Demonstration, May 1 Labor Day
For the first time in modern Turkish Republic's history, on May 1, 2001 Kaos GL participated in a May 1 Labor Day demonstration in Ankara with its own group, bans and signs. This was the first attempt for Turkish homosexuals to express themselves in a public place. That also paved the way for Lambda Istanbul to join the May 1 Labor Day Demonstrations in Istanbul in 2002 for the first time.

After 2000 – New LGBT Groups in Different Turkish Cities
After formation of LGBT organizations in Ankara and Istanbul, new organizations began to appear in other cities. In the city of Izmir, Pink Triangle Group and in the city of Antalya, Rainbow Group were formed. Also two bear groups, Bear Anatolia and Bears of Turkey, became more active in the recent years. With the help of Internet and the development of other communication techniques, the number of LGBT organizations that targets different aims and interests are expected to increase in the long term.

March 2003, Establishment of the First Turkish Gay Library
At Lambda Istanbul Cultural Center, a LGBT library was founded which includes books, human rights reports about LGBT issues, articles about LGBT/queer politics, publishes of some Turkish NGO's and gay-themed movies. With almost 1,000 books Lambda Istanbul Library has been functioning since March 2003.

May 2003 – Important Symposiums about LGBT Issues
In May 2003, there had been a symposium series about "Music and Gender Politics" at the Lambda Istanbul Cultural Center.
In mid May 2003, "Symposium about Discrimination and Violence Towards Gays and Lesbians" was held in Istanbul Bilgi University with the participation of Lambda Istanbul, Anatolian Bear Group and academics. During the symposium discrimination against gays and lesbians in psychiatry, law, psychology, sociology and social works were analyzed. Other topics held were: "Problems of Travesties and Transsexuals" and "Invisibility of Lesbians."

June 2003, First Openly Gay Pride March in Istanbul
In June 2003, Lambda Istanbul celebrated the 10th Gay Pride week and the anniversary of Lambda Istanbul's establishment. (Lambda Istanbul was formed by a group of gays and lesbians right after the Istanbul city government banned the Christopher Street Day Sexual Liberation Activities to take place in July 1993) For the first time in Turkey's history, about 50 gays and lesbians marched in Istiklal Street of Istanbul and issued a press statement at the end of the parade. The press statement pointed out "The Right to Live Proud" which is an indispensable part of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The statement also indicated the problems Turkish gays and lesbians face in their lives. Other events that followed the parade were: The traditional pride party, the show of the legendary movie "Stonewall", a symposium about the history of LGBT movement in Turkey, a symposium about "Gay Identity and Literature" with the participation of Stella Aceme and Kucuk Iskender, a poet recital with Julide Kural and a music recital with Vedat Sakman.

September 2003 – Lambda Istanbul Joined an International Conference in Istanbul
On September 27, 2003 Lambda Istanbul participated to "International Congress of Institute of Forensic Sciences" and joined to a symposium about "Murders Towards Gays and Lesbians".

Spring 2004-Meetings and Symposiums at Various Cities
In the spring of 2004, Kaos GL realized meetings in the cities of Diyarbakir, Ankara, Izmir, and Istanbul in order to come together with the gay and lesbian individuals and the human rights activists. Two new symposiums took place in Spring 2004. The first one is: "To Understand Sexual Identity and Sexual Orientation in Turkey" which was held on May 7, 2004 with the support of Istanbul Bilgi University. The second one was "Turkey, Identity, Queer" which was held for two days on April 2004 with the support of University of Bogazici.

January 2004 – Turkish Parliament Justice Commission Considered "Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation" a Crime
On January 29, 2004 Turkey's Parliamentary Justice Commission voted to alter the 'discrimination' clause in the Penal Code to include "discrimination based on sexual orientation" as a crime. Turkish LGBT activists praised the legislation that would result in criminal charges against a person who refuses anyone service, housing or employment on the basis of sexual orientation. If the law had passed, Turkey could have became the first predominantly Muslim country to pass such a law.

July 2004 – Hopes Were Crushed When Turkish Parliament Justice Commission Ruled Out Considering "Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation" a Crime
On July 6, 2004 The Parliamentary Justice Commission took up the discrimination clause and decided to replace it with the discrimination clause that exists in the Constitution. According to the Article No.10 of the Turkish Constitution, discrimination based on language, race, skin color, gender, political opinion, religion, denomination and similar reasons is prohibited but it does not directly refer to sexual orientation.

July 2004 – International Aspect to Turkish LGBT Movement: European Union and Turkey's Membership Application
International Lesbian and Gay Association of Europe (ILGA Europe) asked the EU Presidency to ensure changes in the Turkish Penal Code in order to amend articles that discriminate against LGBT people. ILGA Europe also called for issues surrounding human rights and acceptance of LGBT people in the accession countries including Turkey.

September 2004 – Gays and Lesbians Are Protesting
Demonstrators from Gay Right Groups marched with Women rights groups on September 15, 2004 in front of the Turkish Parliament to protest the proposed legislation which aims to make adultery a criminal offence and gives no reference to discrimination based on sexual orientation.

October 2004 – First Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Istanbul
Istanbul had its first gay and lesbian film festival, OutIstanbul, 1st International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival between October 1 and October 6 2004.
Lambda Istanbul

THE FIGHT AGAINST RACISM IN THE MARCH 11 YEAR(Spain)
By Valentín Gonzalez

Movement against Intolerance demanded to the government and parliament a Hate Crimes Law to face the serious reality of the information included in the RAXEN report, in which it is clear the increase of the neonazi gangs and therefore the growth of hate crimes in Spain

Movement against Intolerance reminded that al last 60 people were murdered and hundreds were injured motivated by hate crimes in the last 10 years in Spain. Besides there are currently 70 operative neonazi groups with a militant membership of eleven thousand according to Interior Minister and sixteen thousand according to the nazi web site " The Censure of the Democracy" committed with hate ideology.

The RAXEN report warned about the 94 music bands self named as patriots, 50% assets playing in relative secrecy concerts and publishing CDs in which they spread their hate ideology of racism, anti-Semitism and related intolerance between thousands of youth people.

This was the situation about the issue in which we were focused in an electoral year, also worried about some public polls warning about the increase of prejudice about migrants inspirited in some political discourse saying falsely that migrants and delinquency was the same thing, at best under the indifference of the government.; when the worst crime against humanity committed in Europe since war of Balkans blasted as a terrorist and indiscriminate attack against the people of Madrid murdering 192 human beings and injuring more than one thousand people. All victims, a lot of them migrants, were citizens going to work that cold and sad morning of march.

The antiracism NGOs condemned without palliative the attacks and expressed their solidarity with the victims and also warned about the very likely increase of islamophobia. Movement against Intolerance in its statements and demonstrations insisted in the idea that the best way to fight against terrorism is fight at the same time against racism.

The year passed stigmatized by those dramatics events, history changed and it were defined a new awareness about the real threat of Islamic extremists terrorism. This situation made clear the requirement to face a new front against religious intolerance and in consequence to claim to the Islamic collective in Spain to be clear about this issue and work for eradicate any expression of Islam that could be discordant with the Human Rights Declaration. The imam at the Fuengirola´s mosque (small town in Andalusia) was accused and found guilty of incitement to the violence against women in application of the Spanish penal code.

At the same time, and in the first time in the sort history of Spanish democracy, a new Islamophobe discourse was being articulated and systematically and repeatedly broadcasted by important media groups. This had an ugly example in the statement made by the ex president Jose Maria Aznar in Georgetown university when he said that the fight against extremist Islamic terrorist begun in 711 when the Muslims came to Spain. Other evidence of islamophobia were placed in Seville, where a neighbours association agglutinated more than one thousand signatures adding to a proclamation against to put a Mosque in their district. In their previous stirring up campaign some pamphlets and posters compared Islam with terrorism were placed in the district.

The autumn came with the trial against Jose David F.S allegedly guilty of killing Ndonbele Augusto Domingos an Angolan teenager, in a night club of Alcorcon (Madrid). Movement against Intolerance prosecuted as civil action against Jose David F. S charging him with murder motivated by racism. A strong feeling of indignation invaded us when the jury claimed his innocent in a incongruous verdict disregarding crucial attestations and evidence, but the scandal arrived some weeks after the judgment, when some irrefutable evidence of intimidation of a witness who then lied in the court came into view. Ndombele´s parents and Movement against Intolerance are working for a new trial to have justice done.

At the end of the year another massive show of racism in football stadiums came to the light in the match between Spain and England ultras emulated "jungle noises" when black players from England touched the ball. The British government complained about this racist behaviour and the Spanish authorities made statements against it, but the coach of national team were nothing sensitive in his words avoiding ask apologies to the black players. A few weeks ago identical events happened in a football match in Malaga where Movement against Intolerance were distributing the red card against violence and racism in sports.

At the end of this difficult year we have to be aware of the important and difficult challenges that we will face in the next months in a world where the seed of hate ingrain in the middle of the silence, indifference and complicity of a lot ,and the activism of other a lot who works every day to eradicate intolerance.
Movement against Intolerance

THE CONGOLESE IRISH PARTNERSHIP
13/12/2004- The Congolese Irish Partnership, CIP, is a non government organisation based in Ireland since April 2001. The objectives assigned to the CIP are various such as providing information and support to Congolese living in Ireland in matters concerning accommodation, education, legal issues, integration employment and discrimination firstly and secondly, the CIP want to be the link with other service providers to ensure an efficient and comprehensive network of support for the Congolese of Ireland and thirdly to highlight human rights violations, campaign for peace and lobby politicians in Ireland and in the European Union to speak on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In this way all our activities were well organised. In 2003, our organisation focused all activities on human rights where the Congolese population have been experienced a worst moment never happen in any place in the World including Africa. These human rights abuses were characterised mainly by rape, infection of HIV/AIDS, internal displacement, pillage of natural resources, war of aggression, death, divorce, malnutrition within the civilian population caused by armies of aggression, … The CIP has detailed his deep concern for all those situations to the Irish government through the minister of foreign affairs and to the Irish parliament's commission in charge of human right including the Joint Foreign Affairs. This year a protest march was organised by CIP upon the O'connell Street/Dublin where Congolese people expressed publicaly their concern about the war in their country.

Certain member of our organisation attended conferences in Dublin and abroad in connection with human right such as the opening day on Stop violence against women held and organised by Irish Section of Amnesty International on mai 2004 in Dublin, Infection on HIV/AIDS on September/October in Japan, in the 6th annual forum on human right organised on December by the Department of Foreign Affairs at Croke Park in Dublin.

The CIP has observed increasingly records of Congolese in Ireland and other countries around the world, seeking asylum as result or consequence of polluted situation in Congo. For oncoming days, the CIP planes to make a campaign which will take place in different place in Ireland with aim to raise awareness on the consequence of war and what could be the resolution in post conflict. The CIP has crossed difficulties to achieve his goal caused by finance's aspect. In this way the publication of his newsletters, his Assembly General Meeting, his different visits within the countryside were not organised, etc. In this context we will work hard to apply for funding to allow us to achieve different projects in our file.

THE WALL(Ireland)
We are living in an era of ‘building bridges'. Yet on the fifth of October a 30 ft concrete wall was erected in Finglas. This wall was strategically located across a bridge and completely blocked access to and from Finglas Village for over 80 families living on Dunsink Lane. These families were cordoned off from all local amenities: schools, doctors, shops, and the rest of the neighbouring population. Why was this action, undertaken by a Task Force comprising of Fingal County Council, Dublin City Council and representatives from An Garda Síochana, generally deemed acceptable? Why was there no public or political outcry at the severe infringement of a community's basic human rights? One may assume it is because this was a Traveller community. No other community in this country would wake up to find themselves in a walled ghetto. Furthermore no other community would be expected to tolerate it – indeed why should Travellers be expected to? The barrier - a disproportionate response flying in the face of integration and peaceful coexistence between two communities- served as a stark physical reminder of the other invisible walls and barriers in our society: barriers to health, barriers in accessing education, services and employment and perhaps even more impenetrable; the walls that exist in people's hearts and minds. The physical barrier in Dunsink may well have been removed but we need to be aware that, after all there is more than one type of wall; we need to be building real and accessible bridges to support Travellers social and economic inclusion, not blocking them.

The Wall
No one doubts the basic facts surrounding the erection of the concrete barrier at one end of Dunsink lane on October 7th. As the local Traveller community slept in their beds a 30 tonne wall of concrete was shipped into place, blocking access to schools, doctors, shops and a local church. A Garda checkpoint was installed at the other end of the lane and Traveller residents were subjected to vehicle checks and in some cases obliged to sign themselves in and out of their own street. The council claimed that illegal dumping and other criminal activities forced them to build the wall and that the community hadn't been consulted so that the 'element of surprise' could be used to catch the culprits. However the Gardaí made no arrests that morning despite claiming to have specific intelligence on a number of families engaged in illegal activities. Gardaí failed to take advantage of whatever 'surprise' element they might have had and soon found they had a more urgent issue on their hands; an angry community unwilling to accept the authority of the State to imprison them in their own neighbourhood.

The ill begotten barrier quickly became a magnet for restless youths from Traveller and settled communities, causing severe disruption to everyone. A visiting teacher to Finglas commented that Traveller attendance at the local secondary school had risen dramatically in the previous year, from 58% to 92%, while integrated after school groups marked an improvement in Traveller-settled relations. However in the days following the construction of this 'Monument to Racism' (a phrase coined by Martin Collins) 60% of Traveller children stayed away from school, retreating to the safety of their homes. The headmaster of the local boys' secondary school was forced to leave the grounds each morning and cajole his pupils back into the classroom. The ritual was repeated after lunch break and again as the boys headed home. As anyone who has ever been fifteen will recall, the temptation to congregate and challenge Gardai is often too much to resist. Pavee Point consistently denounced all anti social behaviour carried out during the Dunsink barrier protests but their statements were largely ignored by media and politicians anxious to demonise the Traveller organisation. According to an Irish Times report Gardaí were 'terrified of Pavee Point' but not too terrified to pick Asst Director Martin Collins out of a crowd of peaceful protestors and bundle him into a police van. He spent three hours in custody before being released without charge.

The media faithfully reproduced the clichés associated with Traveller issues, holding all Travellers responsible for the activities of a tiny minority while overlooking the primary act of anti social behaviour; the erection of Ireland's bite-sized Berlin Wall. And as reports came in from around the country it became evident that there were dozens of 'Dunsinks' occurring nationwide. In Co Clare alone, 40 cases are being prepared for the Human Right's commission in which Traveller families are challenging the construction of walls that seal off Traveller accommodation from surrounding neighbourhoods. The climate of hostility against Travellers encouraged media pundits to give free rein to their wildest prejudices; Irish Times columnist Kevin Myers described ‘traveller' life as 'diseased, alcoholic, illiterate, violent, misogynistic, low achieving... and most of all, short."

It took a Russian-born journalist to spot the contradictions; 'The appalling discrimination against Ireland's Traveller community has been my single biggest shock since moving to this country,' wrote Vitali Vitaliev, working for the Village magazine. He visited Dunsink and met local families, accompanied by respected photo-journalist Derek Speirs; 'Walls and barriers of all sorts are useless and counterproductive by their very nature. Instead of resolving an "issue" they create many new ones on top of it, with the initial "problem" remaining unsolved."
Pavee Point Travellers Centre Ireland

DEALING WITH DIFFERENCES IN A RURAL SETTING(Ireland)
Donegal Local Development Company Ltd (DLDC) was incorporated in 1995. It is a true Partnership in that the structures are firmly in keeping with the Partnership model as understood and practised in Ireland. We are a local development company that exists to address the social, cultural and economic development needs of our catchment region, an area comprising 95 Electoral Divisions within Co. Donegal. We are "working in Donegal towards a better future for all."

Donegal, in keeping with so many other rural areas, continues to face problems around the socio-economic and cultural integration of all citizens to include Non-nationals, Refugees and Asylum seekers. Minority groups, including refugees and asylum seekers, are key target groups of Donegal Local Development Company Ltd under the Local Development Social Inclusion programme 2000-2006. DLDC has extensive partnerships and established inter-agency linkages with representatives from these target groups, who actively participate in DLDC's decision-making bodies. These bodies principally comprise DLDC's board of Directors, spanning the statutory, community and voluntary sectors, in conjunction with Sub-panel representatives which work practically with DLDC's programme co-ordinators in devising/delivering coherent actions and strategies on the ground. In particular, DLDC's Community Development workers and sub-panel members, have extensive experience working with minority groups on racism issues. Such experiences over the past year have included:

Donegal Town Asylum Seekers Support Group
DLDC has been working with the Donegal Town asylum seekers and refugees support group in the South of the County, since its establishment in May 2000. The company, spearheaded by our Community Development workers, proved a key stakeholder in mobilising and co-ordinating the support group to coincide with the first arrival of asylum seekers to Donegal Town. Since May 2000, the group has organised weekly consultation clinics for asylum seekers in the Cliffview House hostel, now the only direct provision centre in the County. The clinics provide a critical information service, enabling asylum seekers and refugees to integrate into the local community, and to actively participate in the activities therein. Funding for these consultation clinics has been provided annually under the Community Development strand (Measure B), of the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme (LDSIP). DLDC has continually worked in partnership with the North-Western Health Board (NWHB), the Countywide Network for Refugees and Asylum seekers, the D.S.F.A and other mainstream service providers to enhance/streamline service provision for asylum seekers and refugees in the locality. DLDC is also currently supporting a needs analysis, through the Donegal Town Asylum Seekers Support Group, which will enable the group itself to critically understand the elements and dimensions of its own diversity, given that individuals from 24 different countries, with intrinsically different needs, are now represented at the Cliffview hostel. The company's community links worker in the South of the County has also provided one-one support sessions, offering advice, guidance and assistance to asylum seekers and refugees. Through a series of information seminars and workshops, DLDC has been active in informing, engaging and educating the local community in respect of asylum seeker and refugee issues, and have facilitated relationship building between our statutory partners. A range of social activities were supported by DLDC to include evenings with other groups in Bundoran and Letterkenny, and a football team named "One Race" has been established. DLDC's Community Development team has worked actively in supporting the Donegal Town Asylum Seekers Support Group through these initiatives.

Diversity Awareness raising information days
On 10th February 2004, DLDC, in association with Donegal County Council hosted an awareness raising Information day on/for asylum seekers and refugees, in the Holiday Inn Letterkenny . This was part funded by the Irish Refugee Council. The day provided information, raised awareness and promoted an understanding throughout the wider community in Co. Donegal in respect of the National and International plight of asylum seekers and refugees, issues around integration and social inclusion within Co. Donegal. A panel of experts was convened from mainstream local and national statutory agencies within the County, agencies providing direct supports to refugees and asylum seekers. The event helped to raise awareness of the asylum process, the legalities of the system, the health, education and social welfare issues prevalent for asylum seekers and refugees, the current situation regarding all immigration into Ireland, the issues surrounding multi-culturalism and integration. Over 200 representatives from local/national statutory bodies, and the community /voluntary sector were in attendance.

Letterkenny Non-nationals, Refugees and Asylum Seekers Support Group
DLDC's Community Development team has also worked actively with ethnic minority groups and representatives within the North of the company's catchment region, particularly within Letterkenny. Letterkenny has an expanding non-national population, having approximately 150 asylum seeker/refugee families, and many more non-national families working and living in the Letterkenny area. DLDC's Community Development team has met regularly over the last year with the Letterkenny Non-nationals group, assisting in group formation, capacity building and management/organisation.

Other Support Initiatives for Minority Groups
During anti-racism week, 2004, DLDC organised a "Reeling Against Racism" week, a novel idea which engaged a large turn out amongst non-national groups, and explored issues around cultural diversity through the medium of music. DLDC has also assisted in the development and formation of a Donegal African Women's group, exploring prevalent issues with the group, and working in partnership with the Donegal Women's Network on integration issues. DLDC is currently the lead agency involved in organising a "presentation skills courses," for non-nationals within the company's catchment region. This has been organised after the company spotted certain gaps in the service provided to non-nationals within the catchment area and believed that this course could help them in their attempts to remain within the country.

DLDC has also worked in conjunction with Donegal County Council over the last three years in funding and supporting the Co. Donegal Equality Officer position, to advance the equality of opportunity agenda throughout its catchment region. The Company has also recently applied for further funds under the ‘The National Action Plan Against Racism' and are very expectant that these monies are forthcoming, so that the Company can continue to tackle the problems of Social Exclusion within the county and further the opportunities for cultural integration and understanding within the locality.

RACISM AND MIGRATION – IDEAS AND NOTES(Portugal)
Some facts and numbers
In Portugal, immigrants are not even 5% of population and 11% of the working population. They come from more than 180 countries

In Portugal, 2001 Census counted
- 258.584 (legal) immigrants in 10.356.117 people (2,49%)
- 86.140 classic immigrant families with a total of 229.577 people, of which only 20,7% are women, and 729 stateless people
- Of these, 49.320 coming from EU countries (0,19%)
- Only 237 (0,43%) are non-paid workers
- 347.636 Portuguese born in other countries (ex-immigrants)
- 54.178 people moved into Portugal after December 31st 1999

Something has to be wrong:
Brazil - Non-caucasians are almost ½ of the population... almost all are poor
South Africa - Only 15% are caucasian... almost all the non-caucasian are poor
USA - 13% of the population is Afro-American... these 13% are 33% of the poor population in USA

The only race is the human race
(...) by chance, it happens that all those who are sure to be white or non-blacks, or vice-versa (...), are throwing out conversation. From the genetic point of view, in almost absolute ways the only thing that any racist can be sure of is that he is a human being. (...) to belong to a biological race is to belong to a population that exhibits a specific frequency of a certain kind of genes; individuals have only the human complement of the genes, in a very high number, however undiscovered, and the most of which is shared by all the people. When a man says "I'm white", the only thing he can be communicating scientifically is that he belongs to a population that has been confirmed to have a high frequency of genes that determine light colour skin, thick lips, hairs in several parts of the body, average high and so forth. Given that the population to which he belongs is necessarily an hybrid population – in reality, all the human races are hybrid -, there is no way of making sure that this individual has any genetic heritage of other populations. (...) So, all the caucasians could be well advised scientifically to say: "I'm probably in part black" and all black people could affirm with much exactitude: "I am probably in part white" (...). All racial identity, scientifically speaking, is ambiguous.
Marvins Harris in Patterns of race in the Americas

1. Where racism comes from
The concept of race was created by European scientists that searched – under the illuminist reason – to explain, classify and make hierarchies or homogenise all that exists in this world. Race was invented when Europeans met other people. Afraid and suspicious of what they do not know (not making themselves predisposed to know), these new people where classified by their looks. To this classification, another classification was added – geographical classification. After creating the necessary conditions, they began to speculate about the hierarchy, superiority and value of each of these "discovered" races. Strangely, these scientists concluded that the superior race was theirs, and found a superior justification for it (because science is the bigger reason, being allowed to go over respect and dignity) and for imperialism, colonialism, oppression and theft, that we know so well from out history. From here on, it was only a step that took us to the inauguration of a social and legal order that makes inequality a principle of society organization and that makes the pillage of the many a legitimate way of assuring the luxury of some.

2. Where migration comes from
Migration is one of the oldest phenomenons in history of humanity. Migration is nothing more than natural phenomenon of human mobility, consequence of the desire and need to better ones life and of its loved ones, or simply of the will to discover what is beyond our places.

Independently of having a more adventurous or a more surviving pressure as motivation, the migratory fluxes were always considered, throughout history, not only natural, as welcomed. The inversion of this positive value over the cultural exchange, hybridation and difference only happened with the Jewish migration. They were soon seen as a challenge to societies in general, due to their power and wealth, instead of simply being faced as always, as movements the can be provisory or permanent and are founded only in the search for better living conditions and integration in different communities. On the other hand, it cannot be forgotten that it was this capacity of mobility, of change and adaptation that have allowed the survival of humanity since pre-historic time, allowing us to evolve and face climatic changes, wild animals, etc. To migrate is much more than to be a ‘lousy' being coming from a ‘lousy' country that seeks to enter a ‘rich' country… each one of us can be and is a migrant, in a larger sense.

3. Racism is not only "an attitude of the heart"
Racism is not only an attitude problem of some people. Racism is a structural, social and cultural problem. It manifests itself in the most diverse ways in the most diverse dimensions – in looks, language, unemployment, poverty, exclusion, political participation, education, abandonment…
Racism is taught to us since our youth, in school, by family and friends, by television, by language. Racism happens by the manipulation of our thoughts and actions, convincing us of thousands of things, e.g., Arabs are terrorists, blacks are lazy, Eastern European are mafia people, etc.
Racism is more than to discriminate. It excludes, destroys, kills, impoverishes and makes people sad. It denies the other in its individual and collective existence; it rejects its look and history, at the same time. Even though we can easily recognize that diversity is a condition for the human existence, the truth is that this diversity is today constituted as a difference that founds and justifies oppression.

4. Racism has something to do with migration
What is a migrant? A migrant is solely a person that abandons its country, because there he doesn't have conditions to live. It is a person who fights for survival in another country that he knows to be more prosperous and offers an opportunity to live with dignity.

Why is it that these countries cannot give to their people a life in dignity?

Why is it that migrants always come to the same countries?

Is it true that poorer countries do not have immigrants?

Is it true that the ostentation of "rich" countries is offensive and appealing?

But not all non-caucasians are immigrants!
There are many daughters/sons of immigrants that have the nationality of the hosting country and continue being treated as foreigners. There are many who were never immigrants, because their families are for decades in the country, having no memory of were they came from or when they came. For instance, before the 25 April, the Portuguese revolution that installed democracy, everybody was Portuguese, under the colonialist empire: Angolans, East Timorese, Cape Verdians, San Tomese, Mozambicans, Portuguese. There had been already decades (or centuries) that thousands of black people were living in Portugal, and thousands of caucasian people in Africa and Asia. How to solve then the problem of nationalities that the new independences brought up… unfortunately, the right to choose or the jus soli principle did not prevail, the colour of skin did. Black people suddenly started being Africans and caucasian people Portuguese! Suddenly every country was full of immigrants and undesirable strangers! The rest of the story does not need to be told!

Where is, after all, the ‘white human' supremacy and richness? The race supremacy is already proved to have been invented; richness is a result of illegitimate and unsustainable pillage and violence. What happens to immigrants, women and men, and by consequence to all the non-caucasians?

They have no vote, voice or job!

Because they do not have the right colour, they are often not accepted in the jobs they are looking for.

Their competences are not accepted or recognized and are undervalued

Because they supposedly lack competences, they are poorly paid, having no working conditions and no social protection.

Politically, they are taken out of the agenda, without power to vote or access to political information, and unable to pressure state and its governors.

All this without talking about legalisations, employments, finances, schools, that are highly bureaucratic and make everything difficult.

Consequently, we see poor ghettos, with instable families and in misery, children that do not have social support, no respect, no friends and no conditions to go to school, and if so, they go with empty stomachs and cannot study.
Like this, it might not be difficult to verify that non-caucasians are poor and that probably the only way they can live and eat is being "outside-the-law".

5. But there is more...
Racism has to be constantly watched because, as any other way of discrimination, it is so naturalized in cultures and history that it always finds new and more complex ways of manifesting itself, becoming even more invisible. Racism is only one of the expressions of imperialism, conquest and domination that many call capitalist society.

Racism makes it over non-white human beings;

Sexism makes it over women;

Xenophobia makes it over people considered inferior or barbarian;

Adultocentrism makes it over children and youngsters;

Ethnocentrism/Occidentalism makes it over all other cultures;

Homophobia makes it over lesbians and gays

Legalism makes it over other forms of regulation of societies;

Coming to the end of this list we understand that ‘poor and miserables' are all of these, and they make more than 80% of world's population. We also understand that very few are "able" to have power, money and human rights guaranteed: men, caucasian, heterosexual, rich and educated.

6. There are no innocents
"Those who receive the benefits of the system, although they did not actively engage in discrimination, are not innocent" (John A. Powell)

I would like to finish with this idea, because it is very common to think or say "I am not a racist, because…" or "racism is already a crime, what else is there to do" or "racism is on its way to extinction". However, this kind of positioning, besides being the easiest, is also taught to us as a way of being demobilized and not seeing what happens around us. The truth is that "all of us individually end up building races everyday!"

Imagine the various wrong attitudes one can have alone, loosing and wasting its diversity that is precisely what makes so beautiful.

Now add millions of people that are doing the same.

Add millions of people invested with political power, in government or cities, doing even more.

And finally add people invested with economic power, enterprises and employers, doing much more!

Is it so strange to say that all of us have something to do for Another World that is Possible Here and Now?

7. Bibliography

Census 2001, Portugal

EUMC, Newsletter – Issue 18 – June 2003

EUMC, Racism and Xenophobia in the EU Member States – trends, developments and good practices in 2002 (Annual Report – part 2)

EUMC, News "Equal Voices" – Issue 14

Grupo Internacional de Trabalho e Consultoria – Relatório Geral; "Além do racismo - Abraçando um futuro interdependente"
ACÇÃO JOVEM PARA A PAZ

ONLINE/MORE COLOUR IN THE MEDIA: TUNING IN TO DIVERSITY
Throughout Europe, mainstream media are vital channels for information and communication for all groups in society. However, they generally do not yet reflect the diverse nature of our societies in an adequate way. This is true both for the composition of the staff of media companies and the representation of cultural diversity in media programming. These two perspectives are closely interconnected: the issue of fair portrayal is directly affected by recruitment policies, who is visible on the screen, how programmes are selected, etc. Both concerns should be considered together, not separately, as often is the case in media businesses today.

New challenges have emerged since September 11, as media coverage increasingly affects the political agenda by connecting Muslim communities to terrorism and extremism. Unfortunately there are too few counterbalances to this, as people who work in the media still often have inadequate knowledge of the cultural and religious backgrounds of these "new Europeans", and the recruitment and involvement of people with different backgrounds in the national mainstream media is still limited.

While commercial and public broadcasters struggle to attract audiences and survive in an increasingly competitive market, audiences themselves are becoming more multicultural. In some countries, ethnic minority groups are the fastest growing consumer force, and in some urban areas more than 50% of young consumers have an ethnic minority background. Thus, increasing diversity within the media is essential for the future sustainability and legitimacy of the national mainstream media as well as the full integration of the groups of "new Europeans" into the national societies. In some countries, burgeoning new "urban" radio stations are showing the way forward, attracting a young audience with innovative, mixed programming, showcasing the potential of a truly intercultural approach.

Recently arrived migrants and refugees, however, are often not able to communicate in the language of their new country of residence and cannot access information provided by the mainstream media. As a result, they now often turn to satellite stations from their countries of origin. This can potentially negatively impact the process in which they come to see themselves (and are seen as) fully-fledged citizens of their new country. It shows the continuing need for vibrant minority community media that was underlined in the European Manifesto for Minority Community Media, which was presented to the European Parliament last May (www.multicultural.net/manifesto).

The European Manifesto was the initiative of a European network of minority community media platforms, brought together by Online/More Colour in the Media. Online/More Colour in the Media (OL/MCM) is a European network of more than 300 broadcasters, training institutes, researchers and multicultural organisations in the European Union and beyond, which was set up to improve the representation of ethnic minorities in broadcasting. OL/MCM has initiated projects in the fields of employment, training, production and research.

The overall aim of OL/MCM is to help create a rich, diverse media culture that will fully meet the needs and aspirations of national and pan-European multicultural societies. This aim can only be achieved through increasing the supply of both programming and other media products of high quality that present multicultural themes to the overall audience and targeted programming for minority groups. Equal participation of minority media professionals in the audio-visual, print and digital media labour market and intercultural awareness among both majority group and minority media professionals are essential to realise this goal.

Essential, too, is awareness raising among media consumer groups and their empowerment in voicing their concerns on media coverage and effecting change. Last year, OL/MCM therefore organised a Week of Monitoring and a Week of Action in the course of the European Day of Media Monitoring (EDMM) project. They served to empower minority organisations and foster the dialogue between journalists and minority audiences. Both monitoring reports and national overviews of Week of Action events are online at www.multicultural.net/edmm.

OL/MCM currently co-ordinates or facilitates activities of five networks and project partnerships:

MCM-Ethnomedia, the network of national platforms of minority media that created the European Manifesto;

MCM-Empowerment, the network of minority NGO's working to improve media portrayal of migrants and refugees that created the EDMM;

Equamedia, a network of national project partnerships funded by the EU Equal budget line;

Cream, a transnational project on career orientation and media education;

LOG in the Media, a transnational media literacy project.

Last September, OL/MCM organised the European conference Tuning in to Diversity 2004, which was attended by more than 200 delegates from all over Europe. It represented a platform for researchers, schools of journalism, workers unions, public broadcasters, community media, NGO's and media education institutes. The delegates discussed practical strategies for implementation of diversity policies in the European media industry and they committed themselves to several follow-up steps.

The conference especially focused on the involvement of future generations of ethnic minority groups, both as new, critical audiences and as professionals in the media industry. In fact, during the conference media talents from an ethnic minority background from different countries produced radio and television programs and news articles. At the end of the conference they presented their impressions to the delegates and gave their opinion on the impact of the results on their own future position in the media. On the conference website, www.tuning2004.nl, you will find sample video reports and radio broadcasts, as well as reports and presentations from the variety of workshops that took place.

The workshops served to formulate a range of recommendations and necessary follow-up steps, both for the broadcasters, minority organisations and other participants themselves and the European Commission and European Parliament. They outline what steps are necessary to realise a European media reality in which all Europeans, minorities and majorities, can truly recognize themselves.
Mira Media

A DEDICATED ANTI-FASCIST AND A GOOD FRIEND: STIEG LARSSON 1954 - 2004 (Sweden)
November 2004- It was with tremendous shock that we learned of the sudden death, from a heart condition, of our longtime Swedish correspondent Stieg Larsson on 9 November at the still young age of 50.

Stieg, who was also the chief editor of Searchlight's Swedish sister magazine, Expo, was a leading international anti-fascist. He will be terribly missed by all who had the unforgettable privilege of knowing him, working with him and being one of his friends and comrades.

Stieg managed to pack a vast amount of experience into his all-too-short 50 years, beginning with his poor upbringing in the forests of northern Sweden. His horizons were unlimited and, after enthusiastically doing military service, he travelled widely in Africa, witnessing bloody civil war in Eritrea at first hand.

On his return to Sweden, he took up his profession of journalism, working as a news journalist, feature writer and brilliant graphics artist for the Swedish news agency TT. To his work he brought a razor sharp mind, and covered every major world news story as it broke and unfolded for almost two decades. His artistic abilities extended into the realms of painting and layout.

At the same time as working for TT, and with the greatest conviction, he put his talents at the disposal of the anti-fascist movement, again as a writer and illustrator but most notably as a researcher whose knowledge of the Swedish and international far right could only be described as encyclopaedic.

This expertise he constantly made available to the growing international anti-fascist network. His journalistic output for the network of anti-fascist publications, especially Searchlight for which he has written since the early 1980s, was huge, always guided by an acute news sense and a talent for separating disinformation from fact to get to the bottom of a situation.

Stieg Larsson was unique and his contribution to the anti-fascist movement, the left and the cause of a better, more humanistic and more egalitarian society was inestimable. He never abandoned the boundless optimism, hopes and ideas that first led him to engage in political activity.

He was the incarnation of internationalism with a record that was unmatched, whether it was his work in solidarity with Vietnam, his support for the Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, whose socialist government was so cruelly destroyed by infighting, murder and US invasion, or his later life's work of energetically combating racism, antisemitism, fascism and discrimination of all kinds, especially against women.

The seriousness of the issues he dealt with never caused him to lose his ability to smile or to bury the sense of humour and warmth that fired his endless collection of hilarious stories and anecdotes. It is hard to imagine that he will never again sit with us and share them.

A shy person, Stieg never lost his modesty nor his capacity to recognise good in others. The time he always had for other people – often accompanied by the invitation "let's meet over a cup of coffee and talk about this" – made him a much loved person.

Stieg made big financial and health sacrifices for the anti-fascist cause, to which he gave everything and asked for almost nothing in return. For him it was results which led to a better world that made his sacrifices worthwhile.

His greatest rewards he saw as his summer trips to the north of Sweden, the beautiful days when he and his family, went sailing or rested at their rented summer house in the Stockholm Archipelago, the hours he spent in the bookshops of London when the chance afforded, and a late-night glass of malt whisky after a hard day's work.

It is an alarming irony that Stieg was taken from us just as he achieved his greatest ambitions: the consolidation of Expo and the development of its staff, and the publication of his crime novels – he had just signed a major contract to have a series of novels published. Those who read them will see Stieg's integrity, fearlessness and sense of justice in his young heroine, Lisbeth Salander, though her ways of putting things right are a far cry from Stieg's thoughtful and gentle manner.

Stieg's advice to those he leaves behind might well have been that of his famous fellow Swede Joe Hill: "Don't mourn, organise!" though with the added down-to-earth injunction: "but have some fun doing so!"

Our thoughts are with his family, whose support, advice, companionship and sometimes criticism were always so vital to him, and we extend our deepest sympathy to our comrades in Expo at this very dark and painful moment.

Farewell, Stieg, and Salud!
©Searchlight Magazine

EMPOWERMENT(Belgium)
By Didier Van der Meeren, Coordinator - Translation French-English : James Nugent
This article is an attempt to present the possibles in the form of action undertaken daily within our association. This discussion we hope will lead to a constructive dialogue within the wider community.

So what is a possible?
We offer courses in French and computing to immigrants and their children, as well those receiving state benefits. For us, labels are dysfunctional when compared with colours, impressions and iridescence gained from direct and unique contact with our students. We frequently question ourselves over the influence we are able to exercise on a daily basis. How is it constructed? What expectations does it create?

The question takes the form of a return. After an experience of exchange or training, each one returns home. What is the nature of the return and why is it rich in possibles? It's the return to or onto one's home of the consciousness of self, already enriched with multiple experiences. What must one do or think afterwards when meeting other men and women of the local community, or when confronted with those who stay home, neighbours, or loved ones, etc? Or after having spent your days with Khadrye for 6 months only to find her imprisoned for the « crime » of not being in possession of her papers.

We would like to set up contacts with some heterogeneous groups, with those in power, and to identify policies in accordance with standards, to recognize and adjust our own identity, incorporate the identity of others as an asset, and fight alongside them in order that they may achieve political recognition.

The possibility exists to construct a "policy" around a meeting of minds, a sharing of mysteries, adventures and myths. We consider ourselves fortunate in our training sessions to have been afforded this opportunity. The possibility to address recurrent problems from outside of power permits us to take risks and air political problems, while avoiding abuses of power or the reduction of questions to a simple response. Thus can we anticipate the awakening of a future rich in possibles, express our future hopes and desires beyond a simple admission of the state of being.

What we feel needs to be established is to arrive at a critique of the notion of reduction, a distortion wherein the world of possibles is reduced to a point, a dimension, a closed standard, or to « an order to quit the territory ». The self sufficiency of the conscious self is thereby banished, leaving individuals to open up to each other. This being imperative : « Allow yourself to be embraced by the world, enhanced by its risks and possibles. Envisage without guarantees, establish yourself in a world responsive to your positionand choices. Envisage is to find the value of your bearings, but not to deduce. »

A constructivist approach to knowledge requires us to put one's own conceptual categories under the microscope. How did Kadrye's abduction by the police affect our policy? What knowledge could we possibly accept about ourselves? Reactionism is considered here not as an affirmation of reflection in the making but rather as a poor defence which we will not allow ourselves to adopt. In fact we are that which we imagine ourselves to be, and responsible for the actions of others as if we ourselves had committed the acts. That which we had considered vital and well established would be better reconsidered as contingent and modifiable.

Culture has value in itself, and rather than being a closed identity is constantly evolving and updating itself through human exchange in order to provide man with an individual response. On the other hand, expulsion and those who serve its cause revel in the satisfaction of its needs, orders and omnipotence. In its political form, it challenges the free circulation of desire, of migrations towards other political entities, and aims to impose order, a restrictive standard which contains the means for its own destruction, that of the standard of money. Migration which aims to set up alternative modes of socio-economic coexistence faces repression, especially when seeking answers to questions as yet uncensored. Expulsion thereby imposes the distinction between the normal and the anormal, between marginal instability and the conventional standard. We could say that exclusion completely ignores all arguments which complicate the totalitarian process.

The existence of otherness must be seen and felt: once perceived it allows us to recognize its complexity. And the coexistence of men and women, forever intertwined, remains the main challenge.

Through the richness and variety of our reciprocal destinies we can construct our training programmes, sollicit the participation of local community groups and collectives willing to undertake challenging political decisions and to take risks, and to create common ground wherein those formerly required to stay silent are given the possibility to talk. The coexistence of different but mutually inter-dependant and enriching policies which flow from one another, without needing to dominate, creates a desire to profit from the exchange of feelings, knowledge, affinity, in order to better understand and approach each other.

We place ourselves at an exchange point between them and us, a seemingly unstable position, one in which we hope to understand them and to make them understand the same outcome, that of the freedom to replay.

Allowing the other to exist is to accord him/her a place within an unsymmetrical environment. Democracy, insofar as it passes no judgments but rather creates a dialogue or an undertaking, airs each set of circumstances, each question, with all the risks involved; an environment is therefore provided wherein the airing of the problem itself can provide the solution. Both men and women allow such risks to exist, and to understand and express their needs and obligations in a discontinuous temporal space forever to be replayed.

Thus, those who attempt to relocate their own conceptual categories and to refine them within other more risky forms open themselves up to an enormous field of possibles. We hope to realize such a project alongside our partners and students.

The difficulty is to envisage an « us » which doesn't become an identity closed in on itself, but rather one which protects against hierarchical imposition; it must work towards a power contained in the form of integration of those elements still external to the rhizome of its manifestations. Empowerment is achieved in a manner designed to enlarge the sphere of action.

Let's aim for a new way of resisting restrictives laws, in order to expand the network of possibles, and finally to allow our students to reinvent their lives.
Le Monde des Possibles – The World of Possibles

LEADING CHANGE?(uk)
Diversity Managers play a key role

There is no doubt about the growing interest in diversity issues across all types of organisations in the UK. Economic, social and political changes mean that private, public and voluntary sector organisations are putting in place policies and practices that acknowledge the importance of diversity. Over the past few years one measure of this development has been the creation of specific posts for diversity and equality managers. In major organisations they have been appointed not only to take care of the human resources aspect of diversity but, increasingly, to focus on product development and service delivery. But who are diversity managers? What do they do? We brought together three diversity managers – two from the private sector, one from the public sector – to discuss their work.

Judy Greevy has worked in the diversity field for ten years with several different organisations. She was recently appointed as diversity manager with Centrica - a large utilities company with 40,000 employees, operating mainly in the UK, but increasingly also in North America.

Niccola Swan, Equality and Diversity Director at Barclays faces similar challenges. She came into the diversity field in 2000, after twenty years as a career banker with the company. As one of the UK's major banks it provides financial services to a large customer base. It is also a global company with 75,000 employees.

Zahida Ramzan took up the post of Equalities Co-ordinator for Fife Council in Scotland nearly two years ago. With 22,000 employees it provides a range of local public services to a mix or rural and urban populations. Judy, Niccola and Zahida took part in a roundtable discussion with Graham Shaw, a diversity consultant based in the UK.

GS: What attracted you to your current post?
JG: It's difficult to have a narrow focus when you are working on diversity issues. After working in the field for ten years I am convinced of the need for linking both employee and customer diversity. Increasingly they also have to be part of the corporate social responsibility work of an organisation. That's the focus of my current role.

NS: I agree with this, but I can say that for me personal motivation has also been important. I spent 20 years as a career banker and was attracted to doing something different and challenging in an area that I had some personal empathy. My role is also strategic and across the company – I feel I can make a difference.

ZR: I think the feeling of wanting to make a difference is important. Often people can face multiple disadvantage and this has an affect on the quality of their life. I wanted to see if I can change practice within the Council that could make a difference to the quality of someone's life "out there". I thought it was also important that people were able to access the Council's services in the way they wanted to.

GS: What are the current diversity issues and priorities within your organisation, at the present time? How are you addressing them?
NS: I think we have made good progress in the UK on issues around sexuality, religion and age. Some good things have happened on ethnicity and gender issues but we have more to do in terms of improving representation of these groups at senior levels. I think we have begun to move away from only focusing on the different strands of diversity to looking at broader themes – work-life balance, dealing with inappropriate behaviours, recruitment. In all these areas we have senior leader champions, supported in some cases by employee networks. The real challenge however is to change behaviours so that inclusion is a clear objective. We are also a global company and here it is still early days - progress is not as fast as we would like, although we have some good work going on in Spain and, increasingly, in our Investment Banking business, which is very international.

JG: For us increasing awareness and understanding of diversity and inclusion is priority so we have developed a new training programme in modular and multi media format. We have a very diverse customer base and the way we respond to that diversity through appropriate service delivery strategies is really becoming most important. On the other hand the diversity of our workforce is also important. The increased availability of flexible working is a foundation for diversity. We are revising our policies and supporting practices coupled with behavioural training. We are also preparing for the impact of age legislation conducting research and developing guidance for our managers. Many of our staff are engineers and we are trying to improve the diversity of that group through work with education and training bodies and linking to community volunteering projects

ZR: We also have to address both our internal and external diversity issues – staff and the people who use our services. So we have three main priorities at the moment. We need to ensure that we are providing information and communicating with our customers in a format that meets their needs. This means that, for example, if someone requires information in tape, Braille or a community language we can meet that request. Our staff need to know how to respond and customers need to know that we can respond to their needs. We need to improve the representative nature of our staff. We are comparing our workforce against Fife's population and taking steps to address any underrepresentation that exists. Modernising the recruitment process is important in doing this. We have begun the process of ensuring that equality is embedded in the community planning process by making links with local community planning partnerships. All of these areas will be "joined up" through the production of Fife Council's Equality and Diversity Strategy which is currently being revised – a new one will be produced this year.

GS: What does your role as a diversity manager actually involve in relation to people inside the organisation?
NS: I lead a team of 10 people at group centre who interface with different diversity strands, the theme champions and business E&D Managers. We develop team plans involving delivering training, networks, communications, benchmarking, getting and sharing best practice, work with various internal departments (especially HR and Marketing) to integrate diversity into day-to-day activity, overseeing customer and supplier work, overseeing objectives and measurement and so on. So direct involvement with the majority of employees is limited as our intention is to devolve responsibility to the businesses and to integrate diversity into all activity. The exception is our employee networks where we play a more "hands on" role – they are a useful source of information about priorities and progress.

JG: For me it is the internal consultancy role that is most important – understanding business issues and the diversity implications. Sharing external knowledge, supporting programmes, identifying where diversity sits within existing initiatives. Diversity work is about change so helping the organisation and individuals do this effectively is also a key role.

ZR: My job as Equalities Co-ordinator essentially involves having an overview of all the equality work being undertaken in the Council as well as dealing with the corporate approach to equality and diversity. I do this in a range of ways. I have to advise our different services of their legal responsibilities and keep them updated on impact of changes to legislation; support the implementation of equality and diversity in service provision; support the Fife Equality Forum in ensuring that equality is embedded in the community planning process; ensure that new employees receive an induction that incorporates an equality "message"; and having an equality input into the training for Council staff.

GS: And what about externally?
ZR: I have to ensure that disadvantaged groups are able to access council services through various means – information in alternative formats; physical access to buildings; funding voluntary organisations to carry out consultations with disadvantaged groups; any complaints of discrimination are acted on promptly; ensuring that voluntary organisations funded by the Council promote equality of opportunity in their employment practices and in the services they provide; and making sure that the Council's workforce is reflective of Fife's population.

NS: I think that developing close links with a wide range of external organisations is very important. We take part in lots of best practice and networking organisations, including benchmarking, plus events with the UK Equality Commissions and MPs. The sharing of practices with others has been important is supporting our work in the company.

GS: What advice would you give to anyone taking up a diversity manager role, especially in relation to developing successful strategies and initiatives?
ZR: Being a diversity manager in a local authority, you need to gain senior officer/elected member commitment early on - the quicker you get senior staff on board the quicker you'll see results. You also need to set realistic goals and targets to measure progress over a period of time so that people both inside and outside the organisation see a difference. You need to make sure you keep people informed of what's happening. You must also ensure your own knowledge of what's happening in the equality and diversity field, locally and nationally, is up to date.

JG: I think similar things apply in the private sector. You need to gain understanding of business priorities and build diversity case in relation to these. Gathering case studies to demonstrate value of diversity management - real examples from within the organisation – is important. And this helps gain support from as wide a range of people as possible including the most senior leaders.

NS: I think there are some basic steps that are needed. Check on commitment and engagement of senior leaders before starting; build a fact base on employees, customers, local communities and suppliers; build connections with the main diversity organisations and undertake external benchmarking; engage senior leaders as champions and volunteers from all around the organisation to advise; do employee surveys to understand what priorities are; organise a clear plan of work; set measurable objectives; set up senior leaders group to provide direction and governance and monitor performance; build from diversity strands towards inclusive behaviours. Aim to do yourself out of a job through integrating diversity into the work of the organisation!

GS: That's been a great snapshot of your valuable work. Do you have any final thoughts?
JG: Try as hard as possible to avoid "badging" the work as "diversity" but emphasise good business and management practice and link your work into other initiatives.

NS: Don't be discouraged – this takes much longer than you imagine; persistence and determination are essential; and don't let anyone off the hook!

ZR: Being a diversity manager above all requires patience and determination – you don't see quick results. But if you stick with it, the long terms benefits can be immensely rewarding!

GS: Thank you for your time!
Stop discrimination

BRITISH MUSLIMS WANT ISLAMIC LAW AND PRAYERS AT WORK
30/11/2004- Muslims in Britain want greater recognition of their faith with the introduction of Islamic law for civil cases and time off for prayers during the working day, but are equally committed to greater participation in British life. A special Guardian/ICM poll based on a survey of 500 British Muslims found that a clear majority want Islamic law introduced into this country in civil cases relating to their own community. Some 61% wanted Islamic courts - operating on sharia principles - "so long as the penalties did not contravene British law". Many civil cases in this country deal with family disputes such as divorce, custody and inheritance. The poll also found a high level of religious observance with just over half saying they pray five times a day, every day - although women are shown to be more devout than men. The poll reveals that 88% want to see schools and workplaces in Britain accommodating Muslim prayer times as part of their normal working day. Alongside these signs of a desire for more recognition of their religion, however, the poll suggests that the Muslim community is perhaps more integrated than many might imagine, with 62% saying they number "a lot or quite a few" non-Muslim people among their closest friends and 35% saying they would consider marrying someone who was not a Muslim. There is also a strong appetite within the Muslim community to become a closer part of British life, with 40% saying they need to do more to integrate into mainstream British culture.

The ICM poll was commissioned as part of a groundbreaking Guardian exercise to gauge the mood of Britain's younger Muslim generation. In addition to the poll, 103 young Muslims were brought together to discuss the most important issues facing their future, from identity and integration to the war on terror. The Guardian/ICM poll confirms that political support for Labour has halved since the 2001 general election and the Liberal Democrats have emerged as the leading political party within the Muslim community. The role of Britain in the Iraq war and Tony Blair's strong support for the war on terror which is widely seen by the Muslim community to be an attack on Islam, has undoubtedly played a part in eroding Labour's support among British Muslims. In the 2001 general election it is believed that 75% of those who voted backed Labour. The voting intention figures in this poll show that support in the Muslim community for the government is slipping away fast. In March, ICM recorded Labour support at 38% and it has now fallen a further six points to 32% of Muslim voters. This is nine points behind the Liberal Democrats who now enjoy the support of 41% of Muslim voters. Conservative support has also fallen in the last six months from 25% to 16%. Other parties enjoy the support of 10% of British Muslim voters with 4% going to the Greens and 4% to George Galloway's Respect party. The problem for the Liberal Democrats is that the poll shows turnout among the Muslim community is likely to be far lower than the general electorate with only 47% saying they "always or nearly always vote" compared with 68% of all voters.

ICM interviewed a random sample of 500 Muslim people by telephone between November 15-21 2004. The data has not been weighted because there is no authoritative source of demographic information on the Muslim population. ICM abides by the rules of the British Polling Council.

The big debate
Eight tables, eight subjects, 103 young Muslims. Here are the reports of the discussions (moderated by participants).

Table 1 How would you describe your identity?

Table 2 What is the impact of the 'war on terror' on British Muslims?

Table 3 Do you want integration or parallel lives?

Table 4 Are you satisfied that the leadership of the community reflects your views?

Table 5 How do the faithful live in a secular society?

Table 6 The widespread perception is that Islam discriminates against women. Why is that so?

Table 7 What are the most pressing problems in your community?

Table 8 How hopeful are you about the future?

©The Guardian

GERMANY AGONISES OVER ISLAM
November 2004- Concern that religious tensions along the lines of those sparked in the Netherlands by the brutal killing of Islam-critical filmmaker Theo van Gogh could spill over into Germany has triggered a fresh debate among Germans about integrating the nation's large foreign population. Leon Mangasarian reports.

Muslims comprise 4 percent of Germany's population
While Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has stepped-up a campaign calling on the country's big Muslim community to fit with the country's laws and its democratic principles, leading political figures in the nation have claimed that multiculturalism has failed in Germany. This comes in the wake of a mass demonstration of Muslims in Germany against terror and growing alarm in the country over the torching of mosques, churches and schools in the Netherlands following the van Gogh killing. There have also been press reports of a link between the van Gogh murder and Germany, with claims that one of those involved in the killing in the Netherlands lived in neighbouring Germany. With 3.4 million Muslims comprising 4 percent of Germany's population, the question was put this way by a banner headline in the conservative Bild newspaper: "Is the hate going to come here?" asked the biggest selling tabloid. The Berliner Zeitung, a left-leaning paper in the German capital where about 200,000 mainly Turkish Muslims live, claims to know the answer: "The feelings of hated against the majority Christian society are growing." So far there has not been a high profile killing in Germany to match the stabbing and shooting of van Gogh. But a series of attacks on Jews in Berlin by Arab youths have sharply raised concerns. Germany's tough-minded interior minister, Otto Schily, spoke at the weekend of "a danger" to the country despite successes in integrating the majority of immigrants. Schily drew headlines earlier this year with a harsh warning to Islamic fundamentalists: "If you love death so much, then it can be yours." German opposition conservatives are demanding a ban on preaching in mosques in any language other than German. Calls for such a move were fuelled by a dramatic TV film secretly made in a Berlin mosque.

Is the hate going to come here?
"These Germans, these atheists, these Europeans don't shave under their arms and their sweat collects under their hair with a revolting smell and they stink," said the preacher at the Mevlana Mosque in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, in the film made by Germany's ZDF public TV, adding: "Hell lives for the infidels! Down with all democracies and all democrats!" Meanwhile, Opposition chief Angela Merkel has declared the multicultural society a failure. This was echoed by former Social Democrat Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in comments published in a German newspaper. "Multicultural societies have only ... functioned peacefully in authoritarian states. To that extent it was a mistake for us to bring guest workers from foreign cultures into the country at the beginning of the 1960s," Schmidt said. Speaking at the Muslims Against Terror rally in Cologne, Guenther Beckstein, interior minister of the mainly Catholic state of Bavaria, told more than 20,000 mainly middle-class Turks: "We ask of you: learn German, work with us, join in our celebrations." There are also demands for loosening German laws to make it easier to expel foreign extremists, after years of wrangles to win approval for deportation of radical Turkish Islamist Metin Kaplan, the self- styled 'Caliph of Cologne'. Udo Ulfkotte, a German journalist who has received death threats since writing a book critical of Islam titled 'The War in our Cities', underlines that many of the group responsible for the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US had lived in Germany. Asked about van Gogh's killing, Ulfkotte said: "The spark could jump over here at any time. We just need a provocation like in Holland. Islamists in Germany approved of (van Gogh's) murder and many of them actually cheered it." But other experts - while not downplaying threats - warn against being alarmist. Steffen Angenendt, a migration expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations and member of the German government's Council of Experts on Immigration and Integration, argues Germany is far better off than the Netherlands. Holland, says Angenendt, now faces "the rubble" of its failed policy of tolerant multi-culturalism, for which it was the European flagship during the past decades. Only limited efforts were made at integration in the Netherlands, after which the foreign communities were largely ignored, says Angenendt. Germany has three big advantages compared to the Netherlands, he argues. First is geography: Germany is not nearly as densely settled as the Netherlands and people have more room. "The Dutch feel as if they have no space," said Angenendt. A second plus for Germany is that unlike Holland the cities with big foreign populations, such as Berlin and Frankfurt, mostly do not have districts totally dominated by one group. Even Berlin-Kreuzberg, with its big Turkish community, is still a multi-ethnic society, he says.

Opposition leader Angela Merkel has declared the multicultural society a failure.
Thirdly, integration has generally worked better in Germany than in countries like the Netherlands, Angenendt says. This will improve further from January 1 when Germany's new immigration law comes into force. Under this legislation all new immigrants will have to take 600 hours German language instruction plus a 30 hour course on German society. In addition, 50,000 immigrants already here will be eligible to take the courses each year. A further point, not directly mentioned by Angenendt, is the fact that 75 percent of Germany's Muslims are from Turkey. A survey by the Islam Archive in Soest - which houses a major collection of Islamic books and documents - found that the majority of Turks in Germany do not practice their religion. Says Buelent Arslan, head of the German-Turkish Forum: "We have an Islam which is very influenced by Turkey and this is the most enlightened and secular." Still, even a small percentage of extremists is deeply worrying. Germany's Verfassungschutz - the domestic intelligence service - estimates there are 31,000 radical Islamists living in Germany, of whom several thousand are prepared to use violence. The biggest group is a Turkish movement named 'Milli Goerues' with 26,500 members, which fights against integration of Turks into German society. In a court case which set security establishment alarm bells ringing, a judge ruled last week week that Milli Goerues membership did not justify a German airport's bid to ban an employee from working within its security zone. The number of reported crimes carried out by foreign extremists in Germany almost tripled last year compared with 2002, warns the Verfassungsschutz.
©Expatica News

DUTCH MUSLIMS TARGETED AFTER MURDER OF CONTROVERSIAL FILM-MAKER
By M. S. Ahmed, a free-lance writer, is featured on Media Monitors Network (MMN) with the courtesy of Crescent International.

"Dutch politicians and other racists are now calling for tighter immigration rules, giving the false impression that these rules are too lax and need to be "updated". They conveniently ignore the fact that in 2002 those rules and procedures were so drastically revised that the New York-based Human Rights Watch (no friend of Islamic radicals) objected, as did other human-rights groups."

9/12/2004- The Netherlands, which until now has always claimed to be more tolerant than the rest of Europe, is now openly hounding its Muslim population, on the pretence of fighting terrorism. The change has been brought on by the murder of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch film-maker, at the beginning of November, allegedly by an ‘Islamic radical'. Not only have attacks on mosques, Islamic schools and Muslims' homes become common, but immigration and security officials have stepped up their search and interrogation activities. Government ministers and opposition leaders, exploiting the public's anger at van Gogh's murder, have thrown their weight behind tougher immigration and asylum laws and procedures. They have also called for greater cooperation with the rest of Europe to fight ‘Islamic radicalism'.

But by showing their resolve to "fight terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism", the Dutch have managed to reveal that they have not in fact been as tolerant of their Muslims as they claim to have been. They have discriminated against them and denied them opportunities for employment and education since their arrival (mostly 1960 onwards) from Turkey and Morocco. Moreover, the call for tougher measures against ‘radical Muslims' and immigrants began well before the incidents of September 2001 in the US. Almost immediately after the killing of van Gogh, Rita Verdonk, the immigration minister, told a crowd of 10,000 mourners that Dutch tolerance goes "this far, and no further" – implying that Dutch tolerance had been exploited and that such murders could not have happened in a less tolerant country. The almost 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands (5.8 percent of the population overall, and 13 percent in the biggest cities) have not been the recipient of good-natured or tolerant treatment, as more honest Dutch speakers have admitted.

Even a close friend of van Gogh's has pointed out since his death how racist Dutch society is. Prem Radhakishun, a lawyer and broadcaster, said: "Thirty percent of Dutch people are racist, thirty percent are not and the rest do not know what they think." Over two years ago the then immigration minister made similar remarks, although he did not go quite so far. Hilbrand Nawijn said in a newspaper interview: "People say the Dutch are tolerant but I doubt that. It is not that they are racist, but they are much more conservative [than foreigners outside the Netherlands realise] when it comes to people being different." In 1991 Frits Bolkestein, the outgoing EU commissioner, felt it necessary to issue the warning that unless tough immigration measures were introduced, the "divisions within society" that were allegedly already caused by the "inflow of immigrants" could get out of control.

Dutch politicians and other racists are now calling for tighter immigration rules, giving the false impression that these rules are too lax and need to be "updated". They conveniently ignore the fact that in 2002 those rules and procedures were so drastically revised that the New York-based Human Rights Watch (no friend of Islamic radicals) objected, as did other human-rights groups. Interestingly, one reason given for the alleged failure to act in the past, despite the existence of problems, by no less a person than Rita Verdonk, is so frank (perhaps unintentionally) that it shows how cynical the approach of the Dutch to immigrants must have been, despite their reputation to the contrary. In a newspaper interview two days after van Gogh's funeral, she said: "We have a lot of unrest in our society. For years it was not possible to talk about problems, particularly with regard to ethnic minorities. We thought they would go back where they came from after a while, but they didn't. We thought it was a multicultural society, but it wasn't."

The Muslims have stayed, and have been paying a heavy price for not leaving, although Verdonk is not quite honest enough to say that. In fact she blames them for the failure of ‘multiculturalism', saying that they have become "increasingly inward-looking". Naturally she fails to mention the reasons, such as racism and lack of opportunities, that probably drove them "inwards". Security agencies have been providing dubious evidence for her biased analyses, warning of "radicalisation" of Muslims since the 1990s – admitting in the process that they have had Muslims under surveillance. The Dutch intelligence agency is on record as having said that "around 100 – 200 Muslims under surveillance at any one time". Mosques, schools and homes are also under surveillance, although it does not seem to prevent the attacks (burning, breaking etc.) to which they are now frequently subjected.

The heightened war on Muslims in the Netherlands is attributed to the murder of van Gogh at the beginning of November. He was a self-declared enemy of Islam, and took every opportunity to blame Islam for all the problems of the world. In particular he claimed that Islam made slaves of women, and he encouraged Muslim women to join his war on their deen. Unfortunately he was able to find Muslim women (such as Ayaan Hersi, a member of the Dutch parliament) to collaborate with him. The script for his film, Submission, was in fact written by Ayaan, who is now in hiding, having renounced her people's faith and adding insult to injury by writing this blasphemous film. It is claimed that van Gogh was murdered by an ‘Islamic extremist' because of this film and his devoted service to the enemies of Islam.

But two years ago there was another highly publicised murder: that of a renowned ‘gay' politician, who was also famously anti-Islam. Pim Fortuyn was in fact responsible for making anti-Islamic attacks popular in the Netherlands – putting the emphasis on the theory that Muslim immigrants stand for values opposed to Dutch traditions. As a ‘gay', Fortuyn would naturally be opposed to Islamic values. But despite his hostility to Islam, he was not murdered by an ‘Islamic terrorist' but by an animal-rights activist, a supporter of ‘Dutch values'. Needless to say, no one is therefore criticising animal-rights activists or their values.

Instead, Dutch politicians, journalists, organisations and thinktanks are united in their belief that international terrorism (another name, they claim, for Islamic radicalism) must be fought by any and every means – including the abolition of rights of minorities, particularly Muslims.
Source: by courtesy & © 2004 M. S. Ahmed
Media Monitors Network (MMN)

FIGHT AGAINST DISCRIMINATION: STRONG DEMAND FOR MORE EU ACTION
26/11/2004- A vast majority of respondents (88%) responding to the Commission's Green Paper consultation on 'Equality and non-discrimination in the European Union' said that the EU should step up its efforts to combat discrimination following enlargement. One of the Commission's first steps will be to issue a Communication on anti-discrimination before the end of 2005. Vladimír Špidla, the new EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, emphasised that this is a crucial area. 'As President Barroso told the European Parliament, fundamental rights and the fight against discrimination are a top priority for the new Commission. This Green Paper consultation gives us a solid base for a broad EU agenda against all forms of discrimination The Green Paper consultation received a strong response, with more than 1500 contributions sent to the Commission. Of these just over 1,000 were received from individuals, with the remainder coming from organisations or institutions.[1]

Two EU Directives[2] approved in 2000 already ban discrimination in the areas of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. However, opinions are divided as to whether these new rules have yet had a tangible impact. National authorities, equality bodies and employers felt that the new legislation's effects had kicked in - but individuals and NGOs generally disagreed. Overall, 49% of respondents felt the new legislation had had limited or no impact. This may be due to certain Member States' delays in implementing the new rules. A similar split in opinion occurred on whether existing legislation provides sufficient cover. Some stakeholders want to bring the level of protection against discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, age, disability and sexual orientation into line with protection against racial discrimination. However, some (not least national authorities) feel that further legislative action in this area would be premature. Respondents felt that legislation is the most effective tool in addressing discrimination (34.2%), more than awareness raising (31.8%) and affirmative action (22.6%). But lack of awareness about people's rights featured among the most important obstacles in fighting discrimination, along with discriminatory attitudes and behaviour, and incomplete national implementation of legislation. Respondents recognised the important added value provided by EU funding, particularly the contribution made by the Community action programme to combat discrimination[3].

They urged the Commission to continue its support for the efforts of national authorities, civil society organisations and others to combat discrimination, by providing opportunities for exchanges of experience and joint action at EU level. Respondents also considered that support for non-discrimination should be "mainstreamed" across a range of other EU policy and funding instruments, including the Structural Funds. The Commission's Communication will set out the broad agenda for following up on the issues in the Green Paper consultation, including how to involve all of the key stakeholders (national, regional and local authorities; civil society organisations; the social partnes; specialised equality bodies) in developing EU anti-discrimination policy and legislation. The Commission will also launch a feasibility study in early 2005 to examine possible initiatives to complement the EU legal framework for tackling discrimination.

Detailed figures on responses to the Green Paper:
[1]
[2]
[3]

©EuropaWorld

US AND THEM(Denmark)
By Lakambini A. Sitoy

12/12/2004- Two Filipinas, one from Manila and one who has lived 33 years in Denmark, meet at the central train station, Kobenhavn Hovedbanegården. They embrace like old friends in the foyer, under the huge clock that tops the central pillar. Beneath it other people are waiting, shifting from one foot to the other and muttering into cell phonesin Europe, "at the station under the clock" is a convenient and unmistakable place to meet up. People stream past, intent on getting to the platforms below. Some have come on bicycles, which they have parked for the day on extensive racks beside the station. Trains roar in every minute or so. A digital display overhead announces the track and the train's destination and how many more minutes the commuters have to wait. The announcements over the PA system are in Danish, but English translations surface over the flow of unfamiliar syllables from time to time. This is a cross-section of Copenhagen's population. Most are Scandinavian, but there are darker peoples tooArabs, Turks, Africans, Asian types who might be Chinese or Indonesians, or Greenlandersso many they are no longer remarkable. Everyone is dressed in dark coats or padded jackets, wool scarves at throats, the women in bootslong and leather, or sheepskin as is the fashion again this winter. From time to time, a woman in a head scarf and robes moves past. Over by one column, a group of young punkers sits in a loose circle, hair in spikes, noses pierced, silent.

The Danish-Filipina is Filomenita Mongaya Høgsholm, founding president of Babaylan-Denmark and now its public relations officer. Stylish and outspoken, she seems bent on crushing the stereotype of the submissive Oriental woman. She settled here after marrying an engineer she met at Syracuse University, where she was finishing a master's degree in communications. Babaylan is a European-wide network of Filipino women's groups forged in Barcelona in 1992. The Denmark chapter followed in 1997. The word is Tagalog for "priestess." Among the group's aims are the creation of a forum for Filipino women in this part of the world, regardless of background; and to set up an atmosphere of debate and activity about migrant people, particularly migrant women's living conditions here. Babaylan uses the word "Filipina" loosely, to encompass temporary overseas workers, those who may be staying in a country illegally, those who are married to European men, and those who have acquired residency or become naturalized citizens. The daughters of cross-cultural/interracial marriages are even included, if they want to discover their roots, that is. The women make their way to a coffee shop, Estates, where the best coffee in Copenhagen is supposedly served. The Danes set store by the brewthey even have a song about coffee and bliss and a lovely woman called Nina, crooned by Povl Dissing, a singer beloved by the older set. Estates is a stark, modern version of Starbucks. The silver-top tables are small enough for knees to brush beneath, and the chairs are aluminum and blond wood. On the blackboard overhead is the selectioncoffees from Africa and Latin America. On a sheaf of fliers displayed on the counter is an image of a thin, dark-skinned child in a tattered singlet. Like a guilt trip. All the customers are affluent-looking whites. Two women in their 20s, their blond hair knotted at the nape, occupy one table. A 30-ish man manages twin little girls, their faces painted and spangled from a kindergarten party.

Babaylan-Denmark has worked to bring aspects of Filipino culture to this country, including a series of concerts by the De La Salle University choir last year, and a show of indigenous couture featuring the designer Ditas Sandico-Ong. However, the local reception has not been as warm as she had hoped. The Danes seem to gravitate more toward tourist magnets like Bali and Thailand, which have a battery of indigenous food, music, and imagery like costumes, temples and beaches. "They look at us as if we are not true Asian. We are not as ‘exotic' as other Southeast Asian peoples, and in their minds, ‘exotic,' or non-European, is ‘genuine.' We speak English too well, are too Americanized. They don't seem to accept our mestizo culture as valid in itself." According to statistics from the Philippine Embassy, there are 2232 permanent migrants and 4721 temporary migrants in Denmark. There is no way of telling how many illegal or undocumented Filipinos there are in this country. The women outnumber the men. Many work as chambermaids or au pairs. In the 1980s the Filipina acquired another facethat of the naïve, half-educated mail-order bride. "The Danish discussion on the issue was extremely black and white," says Høgsholm. "Some intellectuals and feminists emphasize the act of buying, the financial transaction in which the women were the commodity. They consider it a form of sex trafficking." Nowadays the mail-order bride issue has died down. Alarm over Islam has replaced it. A woman swathed in a head scarf would be more likely to elicit glares of resentment than an Asian face. But the stereotype of the Third Worlder trading on her sexuality continues to haunt Filipinas here.
"I've been quoted in the papers campaigning for improvements on how minorities should be treated," says Høgsholm." The following day I receive anonymous phone calls. They ring you up and say, ‘Prostitute!' The rightists are numerous, for such a so-called liberal society, and they are very, very organized."

She narrates how, in 1995, she was mauled in front of the parliament building, Christiansborg Slot, by a bicyclist involved in a near-collision with her car. She got out to apologize and the cyclist punched her and slammed her to the pavement. He straddled her and choked her, spitting epithets like "sorte luder"black whore. From among the stunned pedestrians and taxi drivers, someone finally called the police. The man was arrested. At the station, filing her complaint, Høgsholm was told that if she pressed charges the man might be slapped with a 1000 kroner fine, but no jail time. At the hospital, doctors refused to grant her an x-ray (free in this country), because she had no visible injuries. But blood cells showed up in a urine test. A doctor asked her, "Are you sure you're not having your menstruation?" Such assaults may be isolated. Høgsholm's assailant proved to have a police record for acts of violence, meaning he was probably the type to resolve conflictswith anyonewith his fists. But incidents like these are what immigrants remember. Cumulatively, they reinforce the idea of racism in these parts. The many positive encounters with neutral, or even sympathetic, Europeansand there are still many of those in Scandinaviado little to erase the bitterness of such experiences, and the fear and wariness they create.
The Manila Times

CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS THEIR OWN WORST ENEMIES(usa)
By Dewayne Wickham

4/12/2004- During the height of the civil rights movement, leaders of the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had good reason to fear that their private communications might be intercepted. Back then, the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, the White Citizens Council and even FBI agents were looking for anything they could get their hands on to undermine these groups, which spearheaded the fight for racial equality. But now, these civil rights organizations have another reason to worry that their most tightly held communications might slip from their grip: Their content might cause supporters to desert them in droves. Take, for example, an unsigned letter sent recently to members of the NAACP's board of directors. It was a Machiavellian missive that sought to stoke a simmering dispute within the group's governing body. The letter accused Julian Bond, the board's chairman, of jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with "partisan statements about the Republican Party, the president, his Cabinet and anyone else who may differ with him." In fact, the NAACP recently revealed that the Internal Revenue Service is reviewing its federal tax-exempt status as a result of a speech Bond gave at the group's annual convention in July. In that address, Bond blasted the president's education and economic policies, and his conduct of the war in Iraq. Of course, that kind of talk is no more partisan than the shots that several Roman Catholic bishops took at John Kerry during the presidential campaign. But the fact that Bond's words sparked an IRS investigation has helped fuel a firefight between board members loyal to Bond and those who support Kweisi Mfume. Mfume is the NAACP president who unexpectedly announced Tuesday that he is quitting his job at the end of the month. His supporters on the NAACP board are thought to be behind the unsigned letter, which contained this conspiratorial passage: "Some of us have formed a caucus to change the sad direction this board is going in. He (Bond) will be voted out soon when the time is right. ... We will be contacting you soon to join us. Our identities are secret and so will yours be." That kind of cloak-and-dagger intrigue among the NAACP's board members has to put a big smile on the faces of the group's enemies. But it hardly compares to the caustic memos that have flown back and forth between leaders of the SCLC, the church-based civil rights organization that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped create in 1957. For much of this year, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth an 82-year-old disciple of King's struggled to end the acrimony between the SCLC's top leaders. The enemies of today's continuing civil rights struggle and they are many are aided in their nefarious work by the strife within the NAACP and SCLC. They are aided and abetted by the petty rivalries and friendly fire that plagues these once-mighty civil rights organizations. While the Jim Crow racism that Roy Wilkins and King battled in the 1960s has been replaced by Jim Crow Jr. a kinder, gentler form of racism the NAACP and SCLC these men once led are in decline. Wracked by internal dissension, they are doing to themselves that which their enemies tried, but failed to accomplish.
©The Springfield News-Leader

'VLAAMS BELANG' TAKES ITS NAMESAKE TO COURT(Belgium)
26/11/2004– The Vlaams Belang, the new name for Flanders' far right Vlaams Blok party, is being taken to court by an anti-racism group with the same name. The four trade union workers who formed the original Vlaams Belang on 8 November in Liege, announced their intentions on Friday. The Vlaams Blok re-named itself Vlaams Belang – Flemish Interest - on 14 November after the supreme court confirmed that the party was in breach of Belgium's anti-racism laws. The Liege trade unionists said they had deliberately set up the alternative Vlaams Belang group in a bid to highlight the dangers of the extreme right. "Faced with the rise of extreme right parties and the growing attention they receive in the media, we could not sit back and do nothing," said Pierre Heldenbergh. Their campaign aims to keep out elected representatives from the far right in the local elections in Liege in 2006. Democratic parties were trying all legal means to do so, said Secretary General of the Liege-based group Thierry Bodson, adding that their first move was to cheat the political party of its new name. Vlaams Belang mark two is believed to be less than impressed by the initiative, reportedly judging the move ridiculous. "The creation of this not for profit group 'Vlaams Belang' cannot stop a party of the same name from using it," the ex-Blok said a statement. The party pointed out that the Liege group would not be able to use the name in the elections.
©Expatica News

BELGIAN PRINCE ENTERS 'VLAAMS BELANG' FRAY
1/12/2004- Belgium's crown prince Philippe has sparked a political row after publicly criticising Flanders' far right political party the Vlaams Belang. In an interview with Flemish magazine Story, the eldest son of King Albert II accused the party - previously known as Vlaams Blok - of "trying to destroy our country." "In our country there are people, parties such as the Vlaams Belang, which are against Belgium, and want to destroy. I can assure you that they will have to deal with me," he said, according to Belgian media reports. His remarks prompted a rapid rebuke from Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who reminded the prince that his constitutional role was not to get involved in the country's politics. "Even if I can imagine the prince is against certain parties that want to split the country, that does not correspond to the current and above all future constitutional role of the prince in our country," he said in a statement. "This role requires a certain reserve in comments, particularly about political parties, even if these parties do not want good for the future of our country," he continued. Prince Philippe made his comments to a Story journalist on a recent trip to China. The Vlaams Blok party was forced to change its name to Vlaams Belang last month after a court verdict outlawed the party for being racist. The party's popularity has surged in recent months, rising to second poll position in Dutch-speaking Flanders.
©Expatica News

BOSNIAN FILM CHALLENGES OLD STEREOTYPES ABOUT GAYS
"Go West" stirs angry debate with its unprecedented depiction of a gay love affair in wartime Bosnia.

By Aida Sunje and Mirna Mekic in Sarajevo

26/11/2004- Sasha looks no different than any other Bosnian youth in his twenties. He is tall and well dressed. But in the last five months alone, he has been beaten up four times. His crime? He is a homosexual. He reported the first three attacks to the police but did not bother the fourth time because he does not believe they want to help him. "I cannot live in Bosnia the way I am," said Sasha, who has spent some time in Germany where he said he lived a normal life. But now fear for his safety has prompted him to start thinking about leaving the country. Police told me I should have stayed in Germany when I filed my complaints," he said, with a wry smile on his face. Sasha's experience is a fair reflection of Bosnian society's treatment of gay people. The message of one 18-year-old on the topic was loud and clear. "I would line them all up against the wall and execute them, so help me God," he told IWPR. The fact that homosexuality remains a taboo issue in Bosnia has not stopped film director Ahmed Imamovic from tackling it head-on, however. Imanovic's movie, Go West, about a love affair between two men during the height of the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, has stirred tensions and brought the debate to the ears of many who would otherwise know little or nothing about the subject. Many critics are furious. The editor of the Bosnian magazine Walter condemned Go West as "blasphemy". Others are simply puzzled. "I don't want my son to think weird things about me when he sees this movie and asks if this is what people really did during the war," one father who hasn't seen the film said. Others have stood up for Go West. Senad Avdic, editor of the magazine Slobodna Bosna, one of the few who has seen the unfinished movie, has called it a masterpiece. "It's a love story with open and unrestrained insight into the lack of tolerance in the horrendous circumstances of war," Avdic said. Imamovic has told the media his film aims to tell society that homosexuals are human beings like any others, who suffered just as the rest did during the war.

The public debate reflects the harsh reality homosexuals have to deal with in a society that has slipped culturally as well as economically behind its western neighbours. "Go West has fully exposed just how immature some media are," said Svetlana Djurkovic, chair of the informal Q Association, which lobbies for gay and lesbian rights. She says the debate has revealed one glaring fact – "that our society is largely based on aggressive communication". According to a report by the Bosnia Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, gays and lesbians are fearful of expressing their sexuality and of the way society treats them. The committee stressed that laws were less of a problem than dominant social and cultural stereotypes based on prejudice and ignorance. "No one, no matter how different, should be discriminated or hated like queers in Bosnia are," Asim, a young homosexual from Sarajevo, told IWPR. The Helsinki committee and the Q Association know of numerous cases of violence against gay people, as well as threats and job losses. Neither organisation knows the exact number of cases for the simple reason that few are reported. The Q Association, however, does know of at least three gay men who have asked for political asylum in foreign countries, citing the discrimination they face at home on account of their sexuality. Madeleine Rees, head of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia, is acquainted with Sasha's case. "He has complained to the police but feels they have not dealt with his case seriously," Rees said. Bosnia's constitution guarantees a high level of internationally recognised human rights and basic freedoms, with special emphasis on personal freedom and safety prohibiting any kind of discrimination. But laws on public order in both the Federation and the Republika Srpska, RS, contain articles that can be used against homosexuals. In the Federation, "threatening public morality" and "offending the patriotic, national, religious and moral feelings of citizens" are deemed breaches of public order and judges have considerable leeway to decide what counts as an offence to public morals. The three largest religious groups in Bosnia - the Islamic community and the Catholic and Orthodox churches - unite in condemning homosexuality as a sin. "The Islamic community follows the principles of faith, and we will support nothing that contradicts faith (such as the issue of homosexuals)," effendi Muhamed Lugavic, an imam from Tuzla, told IWPR. Most people routinely express feelings of contempt for gay people. "It's a hormonal disease," one passer-by in Sarajevo told IWPR. Another was prepared to let homosexuals do "whatever they want, as long as they stay out of my sight". Naturally, those belonging to this minority disagree. "Love can never be wrong. Love is what this society is so sadly deprived of," Djurkovic said. Asim sees some hope in the future. "It's a process that takes time and education, because people fear homosexuals as they would alien creatures, even though they communicate with them on a daily basis," he said. Asim emphasised that many people in Bosnia view homosexuals as sick, sexually deviant, perverts who do not differ from child molesters. They often assumed all of them have AIDS. Few think their neighbours, relatives and even children may be among them. Meanwhile, Sasha has asked international organisations to help him get a Canadian immigration visa. "I hope it doesn't take too long," he said, "so I can take a break and start living a normal life."
©Institute for War & Peace Reporting

MONTENEGRO: BARBARIANS AT THE GATE
A TV show on homosexuality triggers strong negative reactions in Montenegro.

2/12/2004- It seems incongruous given the small size and cozy character of Montenegro's capital, Podgorica, that a television program would cause a ruckus that leaves three police officers injured and lands several football fans in jail--but that's exactly what happened a few days ago. The trigger was Montenegro TV's first show on homosexuality, which aired on 26 November. Several dozen supporters of the football club Buducnost (Future), who call themselves Varvari or Barbarians, gathered in front of the TV building, hurled abuse at those inside, and tried to prevent the broadcast.

‘Pussycats'
The protests had also been provoked by an article in the daily Vijesti the previous day. The article quoted one of the guests on the show, Atila Kovac, as saying, "Boys from Podgorica are real pussycats." Kovac is the editor of Decko (Boy), the first gay magazine in Serbia and Montenegro. He denied having made such a statement. When police intervened against the protesters, three officers were injured and several of the Barbarians arrested, including a well-known young journalist, Darko Ivanovic, and other leaders of the fan club. Ivanovic hosts a show on a private Podgorica television station that deals with social issues and writes for the influential Montenegrin weekly Monitor. He explained why the Barbarians didn't like homosexuals. "Heterosexuals don't have this need to go out in the streets and to explain their sexual life. As long as [homosexuals] do it in rooms away from the public, or in their houses, everything is OK. [But] when they go out into Podgorica's streets, that's our business." He also said the Barbarians didn't like anything that came from outside the town. "Our philosophy can be summarized in the phrase ‘Podgorica to Podgorica citizens.' " "We support right-wing politics, which is better than to be a part of these idiotic political parties, from the government to the opposition. We have chosen another option, which is fascism in Podgorica's framework," he continued.

Fear of difference
Psychologist Verica Mirovic said the behavior of the Barbarians is rooted in their patriarchal background, their fear of difference, and their rejection of diversity. "They have one picture in their head that must not be damaged, and if anyone… has the courage to openly say things differently, it threatens the picture." Sociologist Srdja Vukadinovic agrees. Talking to Montenegrin media, he said, "It's all about the unwillingness to accept differences--not just national differences, but others as well." He said this resulted from an unwillingness to accept social modernization. Some figures suggest that around 4 percent of the population is homosexual, which would mean roughly 25,000 Montenegrins. "We know for certain that 32 homosexuals live in Montenegro," says Jelena Scepanovic of Free Rainbow--that's the number of our members." Free Rainbow is the only organization in Montenegro that defends the rights of sexual minorities. Widespread intolerance was evident in an informal street poll TOL conducted in Podgorica. "I wouldn't accept [a homosexual] as a neighbor or a friend, but everybody has the right to live his own life," a woman in her mid-20s said. A 30-year-old man said, "I don't have anything against them, but I think it's very hard for homosexuals to live in our city." His friend was more radical, saying, "I think homosexuals are the worst thing that could happen to our society." And it was clear from the TV show itself that the Barbarians' rage was shared by many. It wasn't just that Atila Kovac was heckled when he entered the TV building. Six students from Podgorica law school who were also on the program turned out to be no different from the Barbarians at the doors. "You are sick!" said one of them, while members of the public sent in text messages saying, "Should children watch this program?" or "Shame on you, you put a faggot on TV." Vukadinovic, the sociologist, is troubled by the fact that it was young people who showed the most animosity toward homosexuals. He expects the young to be promoters of modern ideas. But here, "These young people have the same codes like those who hated Croats, Muslims, Montenegrins, or Serbs. Violence is their primary tool of communication."

Partial defence
It can be argued that the Montenegrin intelligentsia failed this particular test. The great and the good didn't stand up to defend the rights of minorities or to calm the situation, and almost nobody from the so-called elites--intellectual, artistic, political--dared to criticize publicly the Barbarians or the students. Moreover, none of Montenegro's political parties deals with sexual rights and freedoms in its platform. The spokesman for the governing Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Predrag Sekulic, said the issue of homosexuality "should be resolved carefully [by] taking into consideration the public attitude, tradition, and strong patriarchal structure of the western Balkan countries." Homosexuals wouldn't have much of a chance to advance in the Social Democratic Party, a pro-European DPS coalition partner, though spokesman Branislav Radulovic is against any kind of persecution. He explains, "They have to find a place in society, as long as they don't provoke conflict." The People's Party is more radical. It says homosexuality is a kind of deformity and that granting rights to homosexuals would be the same as giving someone the right to a speech impediment. The Liberal Alliance, according to spokeswoman Helena Vucetic, has no problems with homosexuals, but spokesman Dobrilo Dedic of the Serbian People's Party would feel "uncomfortable to have a discussion with homosexuals." Journalist Andrej Nikolaidis isn't surprised at the hostility that bubbled to the surface during the TV program. He thinks that the Barbarians are a logical product of contemporary Montenegro. "[Montenegrins] grow up with pictures of war and its consequences, in an intolerant atmosphere. For them, violence has no alternative. The [Barbarians'] hatred is no different from the hatred that engulfs this society--their only sin is that they publicly express it," he wrote in his commentary for Monitor.
©Transitions Online

VIEWPOINT: 'SOVIET' GRIP ON RUSSIAN MEDIA
26/11/2004- The former editor of one of Russia's best-known dailies, who was fired following his paper's coverage of the Beslan school siege, has said that media control in the country is comparable to Soviet times. Raf Shakirov, who ran the Izvestiya newspaper until his dismissal following what he claimed was pressure from the Kremlin, said that televison news was dedicated to propaganda designed to make Russia appear better. He said that Russian television news would show only positive stories about Russia, but very negative ones about events in the West. "They describe strikes in London, and lots of problems in Western countries," Mr Shakirov told BBC News. "Here, we have only successes. It is like in the Soviet Union. It would be very humorous if it wasn't so gloomy."

'They needed blood'
Mr Shakirov illustrated his point with an example of a gang whose arrest for the killing of 40 people in an urban district was announced on television. "The news told me they were arrested and punished," Mr Shakirov said. "But I didn't hear, for a year before that, stories about this gang terrorising the population. "That's the manner of the news presented." Mr Shakirov lost his job following Izvestiya's coverage of Beslan, which questioned the official casualty figures and ran full-page photos showing the carnage. He suggested state media had downplayed the crisis in Beslan. Mr Shakirov said that he had been dismissed from his post after Izvestiya received three phone calls from people highly placed in the Kremlin, including the deputy head of administration and the president's spokesman. "They told us that they need blood," Mr Shakirov said. "At the same time, I thought, 'what is the way out?' One way was to resist, to insist on our right to cover the events. But if I did this, all the team would be fired, as at NTV [where journalists who refused to accept changes to the TV station were fired in 2001]. "So I preferred to resign by myself." Mr Shakirov suggested that another example of the media's manipulation was the rise of Boris Yeltsin, who received massive support from state television station ORT - ironically run at the time by oligarch Boris Berezovsky, now living in exile in the UK and a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin. "If you work for Berezovsky, you are not a journalist, you are a politician, and you should work for a political team," Mr Shakirov said. "All the journalists who work for Berezovsky, their projects are part of the team of Berezovsky... "Mr Berezovsky has this electoral machine in the media... he put Russian television under control, and then started to use it for his own purposes." These purposes, Mr Shakirov said, had included competition with his enemies and running election campaigns. "The most prominent example in this case is Yeltsin's rise, which was organised by the media, by presenting his election campaign," Mr Shakirov said. "This instrument proved to be very effective. That's why these instruments change when the people in power change."

Media control
Mr Shakirov said that in Russia's media, oligarchs wanted "total control" and "professionals" like himself and other journalists were not required. "We are working in different spheres," he said. "Anyway, all of those who are engaged in this business are engaged in the business of politics." And he said that his dismissal from Izvestiya was another indication of media control by the country's government. "They didn't express any reaction to me," he said. "They influenced my owner, and told him that he needed to dismiss me." However he added that he did not think other editors in Russia's print media would be overly influenced by what had happened to him. And he said that he was hopeful what had happened would not be the end of his career. "I was lucky to survive two coups d'etat - in 1991, and under Yeltsin when he fired the Parliament," he said. "So I have seen worse times. I'm optimistic in nature. We will see."
©BBC News

HUNGARIAN POLITICS: ROTTEN RHETORIC
The antics of a disturbed neo-Nazi elicit shameful statements from a wide spectrum of Hungarian politicians.
By Balint Molnar, political analyst and journalist based, alternately, in Ottawa and Budapest.

26/11/ 2004- The brief but well-publicized moment of fame last month for a small band of neo-Nazis and their eccentric leader inadvertently ensured that a dark day in Hungarian history would this year be commemorated by mass anti-fascist demonstrations and not by a few dozen loudmouth skinheads. This is commendable. Less so is the sometimes insidious, sometimes boorish, but almost always abusive exploitation of the loaded issue of anti-Semitism by politicians on both sides of the hardened front lines.

Neo-Hungarism
Anti-Semitism has a sadly distinguished political career in Hungary. And arguably, nowhere was that career more pointless and ghastly than at its very bloody end--after the 15 October 1944 Arrow Cross coup d'etat. The Arrow Cross and their "Nation Leader" Ferenc Szalasi came to power in a German-assisted takeover, and in the few months of their reign, their name became synonymous with brutality and depravity. Their ideology, "Hungarism," proved to be a recipe for national suicide. No one was pleased, then, when this summer, out of the blue, posters touting the rebirth of Hungarism appeared on the streets of Budapest. As the media descended on the story, the people behind the posters--a small and brazen collection of neo-Nazis called the Hungarian Future Group--shot to media stardom. Their leader, 26-year-old Diana Bacsfi, proved to be a notably rich character, clearly enjoying the media's attention and rewarding them with plenty of provocative sound-bites and photo-ops. To start with, Bacsfi turned out to be an intriguing personality. A noted young poet, she also had a career as a lecturer on philosophy and ancient cultures. She has said some chilling and disturbing things about what should happen to Jews and Roma--"They should be forced to work for pure Hungarians and then pushed out of the country or eliminated"--and what, she believed, never happened: namely, the Holocaust. Little wonder that she was all over the news for much of August and September. An across-the-board consensus quickly emerged that she was a deeply disturbed individual with extreme views and a surprising knack for publicity stunts but without any significant support. Nevertheless, Bacsfi still managed to send everyone concerned into panic simply by announcing her intention to commemorate the Arrow Cross coup's 60th anniversary with a rally in front of the Terror House Museum, a downtown Budapest attraction located in a building that once served as headquarters for the Arrow Cross and later for the early Communist-era secret police. At this early stage, it would have been relatively easy for both government and opposition to create a semblance of unity by an all-party statement deploring Hungarism and pledging to defend democracy from this and other dead-end ideologies.

Cheapening the Currency
By the time both finally stumbled their way to releasing such a statement, though, it was clear that the neo-Nazi rally would be averted thanks to some inventive administrative tools and an overzealous Bacsfi, who was arrested the day prior to the planned rally. The country watched instead as politicians jumped at each other's throats with their usual zeal. The opposition accused the government of not doing enough to stop the Hungarian Future Group rally and of allowing the extremist misfits to parade around town, expediently setting the scene for the government to raise the specter of an anti-Semitic-leaning opposition at a time when re-election, despite the recent dramatic switch of prime ministers, seems as remote as ever for the Socialist-led coalition. As the deputy chairman of the conservative Fidesz opposition party, Zoltan Pokorni, put it, "Bacsfi is a virtual elephant" helping the Socialists to paint their opponents in the least favorable light and plant fear in the heart of swing voters. Not so, fought back government notables, charging Fidesz with being doubly disingenuous: first for demanding police action to shut down a legitimate, therefore constitutionally protected, demonstration, even if it took what Justice Minister Peter Barandy described as "underhanded methods" that are "not worthy of a democracy"--such as the police practice of citing traffic concerns in denying permits for various political demonstrations. The second charge was that Fidesz was, mildly speaking, equivocal in condemning extremist views. How could Fidesz leaders demand swift government action against Bacsfi and her motley crew of fellow racists, when people like Pokorni were attending the 10-year anniversary party of the weekly Demokrata, a publication that veers regularly into the muddy waters of Holocaust-relativism, hailing the Arrow Cross as Europe's last defenders and worse? And what about party leader Viktor Orban's call to his voters to subscribe to this paper? Unfortunately for Hungarians, both sides have a point. Fidesz's shrewd and cynical innuendos playing on deeply-rooted stereotypes are well documented. Orban and Pokorni may not be anti-Semites, but they are callous politicians who do not shy away from references to "bankers" and "Bolsheviks"--code words for Jews in many listeners' ears--when speaking to a partisan crowd. On the other hand--and this is a more recent phenomenon--the Socialists are increasingly coming to see the issues of fascism and anti-Semitism as something that can galvanize their widest constituency against Fidesz. Their boorish manner of addressing these issues, however, seriously detracts from the force of their otherwise legitimate criticism, and even worse, it cheapens the currency.

A Day to Forget
Consider their inept and highly distasteful invocation of the Holocaust last April, on Holocaust Memorial Day, no less, in order to bury Fidesz deputy head Pal Schmitt. Following embarrassing leaks from a Socialist campaign training session where the party's Israeli campaign adviser Ron Werber whipped canvassers into frenzy by calling for war against "the fascist Fidesz," Schmitt called on Werber to leave the country. In his reaction, government spokesman Zoltan J. Gal said Schmitt's comments on an "Israeli citizen, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day" were "repugnant," strongly implying that Schmitt's comments had something to do with anti-Semitism. This self-serving use of the Holocaust in a petty political spat elicited dismay among many liberals, who otherwise have little sympathy for Fidesz politicos. Signs are many that the Socialists latched on to Diana Bacsfi as a convenient distraction from the ongoing problems of the coalition. When freshly crowned Socialist Party chairman Istvan Hiller addressed the 10,000-plus crowd in front of the Terror House, it was hard to escape the feeling that he was already rehearsing for the elections set for the spring of 2006. Similarly, at their separate gathering on 15 October, Orban and Pokorni shrewdly played their cards yet again by laying their wreaths in commemoration of Gabor Sztehlo, an evangelical minister who saved Jews during the Arrow Cross terror, emphasizing not victims but those handful who tried to save them. In any event, the conspiracy theories being spun in right-wing papers and internet forums about Diana Bacsfi as a Socialist agent-provocateur are beyond the pale of reason. So is Orban's self-righteous indignation at being called out over his sleazy manipulation of the flame of anti-Semitism. But the Socialists would do well to consider at least the long-term damage they cause their good fight by crying wolf once too often on this sensitive issue.
©Transitions Online

HUNGARY VOTES ON CITIZENSHIP PLAN
5/12/2004- Polls have closed in Hungary in a double referendum on citizenship rights and the health care system. Voters were asked whether to offer citizenship to about 5 million ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary. They were also due to decide on whether to ban the privatisation of state health services. The vote was turned into a showdown between the socialist government, which has campaigned against both measures, and the conservative opposition. It has also stirred up powerful issues of identity, patriotism and economics, says the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Budapest.

Legacy of war
Opposition parties said extending citizenship rights would be an opportunity to reunite the nation without changing borders. Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory and a significant part of its population when its borders were redrawn after World War I and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Those campaigning for a no vote argued that hordes of ethnic Hungarians could invade the country seeking welfare payments and other privileges. In an interesting reversal of roles, the conservatives argued that further privatisation of the hospital system would increase the cost of health care and leave poorer patients unable to afford many services. The socialist-liberal coalition government said only private investment would bring in the necessary funds to improve services. At the moment, ethnic Hungarians from neighbouring Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Austria wait years to get Hungarian citizenship. The referendum would require parliament to pass laws making it much easier. Above all it would be a symbolic gesture of solidarity from the 10 million Hungarians inside the country to the millions outside, our correspondent says.
©BBC News

HUNGARY VOTE ANGERS ROMANIA
3/12/2004- Hungarians are voting on Sunday in a highly controversial referendum to decide whether parliament should draft a law on giving Hungarian citizenship to ethnic Magyars living outside Hungary's borders. The governing Socialist-liberal coalition is opposed to it, on the grounds that it might encourage large numbers of Magyars from less prosperous neighbouring countries to settle in Hungary. That would add a huge burden in terms of welfare, health and education costs. According to opinion polls, the majority of Hungarians support the initiative. But it is by no means certain that a sufficient number will turn up to make the vote valid. And even a vote in favour of granting citizenship would leave it to parliament to work out the details of the actual legislation. Although the outcome of the referendum is surrounded by uncertainty, it has already led to a dispute between Hungary and neighbouring Romania.

'Insane initiative'
Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who is facing a second round of voting in his country's presidential race on 12 December, has denounced the Hungarian initiative as "insane", and has criticised several of its provisions. "The idea that citizenship can be granted to compact ethnic groups, the way one spreads chemical fertilisers over a field, is totally incompatible with the provisions of constitutional law," he said. "Citizenship is granted to individuals." Mr Nastase is in a difficult position. Although he is ahead of his centrist rival, Traian Basescu, after the first round of the presidential contest, he needs to get support from two very different political camps to ensure his victory. Romania's ethnic Hungarians, united behind their party, the Democratic Unions of Hungarians in Romania, gained 6% of the vote in Sunday's parliamentary elections. Their party has already declared that it will give its backing - as it has done over the past four years - to Mr Nastase's Social Democrats in their effort to form a new government.

Rhetoric
But the other political factor, the ultra-nationalist and strongly anti-Hungarian Greater Romania Party, gained twice as many votes as the ethnic Hungarians. Greater Romania is beyond the pale as far as possible coalitions are concerned because of firm opposition to it from the European Union. But a substantial section of its supporters is needed for Mr Nastase's election. That may explain why he has turned up the volume of his rhetoric. And he is not alone. His Foreign Minister, Mircea Geoana, who is expected to take over as prime minister at the head of an incoming Social Democrat-led government, has implied that there would be problems for Romania's ethnic Magyars if they accept Hungarian citizenship. His comments, in turn, have been criticised by a senior ethnic Hungarian politician, Senator Gyoergy Frunda. "Mr Geoana knows very well, I think, that the Romanian Constitution allows dual citizenship. And, according to [recently] adopted changes, it grants access to public offices to people who hold dual citizenship."

EU entry
But for now, Romania's ethnic Hungarians are trying, on the whole, to keep out of the row. They are in a strong position because whoever forms the next government in Bucharest will need their support - if Romania is to have a viable government and be able to join the EU, on schedule, in 2007. In the meantime, they are hoping that the referendum in Hungary will succeed; and that the Romanian government will come to terms with that. But it is unlikely that this Sunday's referendum will put an end to the various arguments. If it succeeds, parliament may water down its broad provisions. If it fails, the whole subject of Hungarian citizenship may be revived in future if a more nationalist government is elected.
©BBC News

ROMANIA: RUDE AWAKENING
Inconclusive results from Sunday's parliamentary elections mean that Romania's future government may depend on a far-right party.

29/11/2004- The ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) gained a wafer-thin lead over the opposition in Romania's general election on 28 November, but a hung parliament may yet emerge and the opposition is crying foul. Exit polls had predicted a much clearer lead. But Monday morning brought a rude awakening for the ex-communist PSD. Partial results announced early on 29 November and based on returns from around a third of polling stations gave the coalition formed by the PSD and the Humanistic Party (PUR) about 34 percent of the vote--just one point ahead of its strongest opponent, the centrist Justice and Truth (DA) Alliance, which consists of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Party (PD). According to the preliminary results, the nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM) received around 13 percent of the vote, while the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (UDMR) got around 8 percent, easily clearing the 5-percent threshold needed to enter parliament. Both the PSD and the DA Alliance have ruled out forming a coalition with Greater Romania. The vote for president split along the same lines: The current prime minister, Adrian Nastase of the PSD, got around 38 percent and Traian Basescu of the DA Alliance around 35 percent, while PRM leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor surprised most observers by winning around 12 percent. Nastase and Basescu will now face each other in a runoff on 12 December, and the outcome may depend on how PRM supporters cast their votes. Should a hung parliament emerge, the presidential contest will be watched even more closely, since the president could play an important role in resolving parliamentary deadlock.

Who's the winner?
Prime Minister Nastase announced immediately after the polls closed that the PSD had won the election and would start negotiations for a new government. "Romania has proved once again that it is a stable democracy and that everything we've done for the country in the last four years has been worthwhile," he said. He was buoyed by the results of two independent exit polls that put his PSD ahead by between 2 and 4 percentage points. The polls put his lead in the presidential ballot at 6 to 9 points. Basescu of the DA Alliance stressed around the same time that the results of exit polls could be treacherous. "No party obtained more than 50 percent, so no one earned the right to govern Romania by himself. The battle for Romania will be in the second round of the presidential elections," he said. This assessment was borne out when partial results were made public early Monday morning, narrowing the ex-communists' lead. The co-leader of the DA Alliance, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, said he was "worried by the numerous irregularities registered during the election process." These concerns were shared by the PRM. One of the party's vice presidents said, "I'm sure we have more votes in reality. We couldn't possibly have lost half of our constituency since 2000. There were a lot of strange things that made us think about fraud." The opposition is now talking about challenging the result.

The Ukranian model?
Several nongovernmental organizations--as well as opposition politicians--had warned about potential irregularities well before the election. "The fraud could be as high as 3 percent" of the vote, Cristian Parvulescu, president of the Pro Democratia association, told the press in mid-November. "In a tight race, this could determine the winner," he added. Parvulescu said the most popular methods of cheating were the "shuttle," where a voter receives more than one ballot, and "political tourism," which allows a voter to vote more than once, in different places. PSD representatives said at the time that such scenarios were just intended to prepare the ground for contesting the results along the Ukrainian model. Ukrainian opposition supporters and international observers accuse Ukrainian election authorities of widespread fraud in favor of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the bitterly contested presidential election that has paralyzed the country for more than a week. While there have been reports of irregularities in Romania, they seem to be less widespread than some observers anticipated--but in such a closely contested election, even small numbers could determine the winner. "There were things out there that were troublesome, but it's hard to say whether they would tilt the elections," a senior Western diplomat told Reuters. There were reports that PSD voters were bused to districts in Bucharest, presumably to vote a second time. In Cluj county, some 400 kilometers northwest of the capital, one of Pro Democratia's observers was ejected from a polling station after pointing out that electoral posters were displayed near the station and that some people entered the voting booths in pairs--violations of electoral laws. A bag with 1,500 blank ballots disappeared from the Mangalia railway station on the Black Sea coast, as did dozens of voting stamps all over the country. Many voters also complained about the poor quality of the ballots themselves--some contained the same page twice or were incomplete, and some were simply falling apart.

Higher math
The list could go on, but observers say it's hard to believe such incidents could lead to a cancellation of the elections even at the local level. So the big question now is, who will form the government? Even once the votes of parties that haven't cleared the threshold for parliamentary representation are redistributed among the four parties that have, no clear majority is likely to emerge. The UDMR, which represents the ethnic Hungarian minority in Romania and has been a traditional partner of all governments since 1996, will most likely be unable to fill the role of kingmaker. That would leave that role to the far-right, nationalist PRM. Observers say the PRM might choose one of two tactics: either supporting the government in parliament without formally joining the ruling coalition, or entering into an alliance with the PSD and the PUR. Given the various statements made during the campaign, the former scenario looks more likely. Given the open hostility toward the PRM from both the European Union and the United States, either the PSD or the DA Alliance would probably first try to exhaust all other options--the main one being forming a government with the Hungarian party. It is also possible that a group of liberals who are opposed to Traian Basescu might support a PSD government. Some observers, including Robert Turcescu, editor in chief of the daily ***Cotidianul,*** even think that Basescu, should he win the presidency in the runoff, could use his constitutional prerogatives to designate a prime minister from his own DA Alliance. But others say such talk is premature. "The vote is tight and I believe we will know the future cabinet's structure [only] in a week or so," said Razvan Mitroi, head of the political department of the Antena 1 TV station.

PSD on top
The 2004 poll is the fifth since the end of the communist regime--but the first in which current President Ion Iliescu is not running. It is also the first presidential election for a five-year, rather than a four-year, term, following a change in the constitution. Iliescu has been the PSD's most important leader and spent three terms at Cotroceni Palace, the residence of the Romanian president. His most overwhelming victory was in 1990, when he got over 80 percent of the votes in the first round. In 1992 and 2000, he won second-round victories against the center-right Emil Constantinescu and the far-right Tudor, respectively. He lost the presidency only once, in 1996, to Constantinescu. Like its leader, Iliescu's party, which originated in the National Salvation Front that dominated the elections of 1990, has been the major force in Romanian politics for the 15 years since the fall of communism, going into opposition for only four years following its 1996 loss to the center-right Democratic Convention coalition.
©Transitions Online

ROMANIA UPHOLDS ELECTION RESULT
1/12/2004- Romania's electoral bureau has rejected an opposition demand for parliamentary and presidential elections last Sunday to be annulled amid voter fraud claims. The request was made by Traian Basescu, head of the Justice and Truth Alliance, who alleged that election authorities handed extra votes to his opponent. Official results gave a narrow lead to the governing Social Democrats in both the polls. European election observers have expressed concern over possible fraud. The president of the electoral bureau, Emil Ghergut, admitted that there had been mistakes in the counting of spoilt ballots. However, he said that all errors had been corrected and that the results of the election should stand. The electoral bureau voted 21 to five to reject the opposition demand. Speaking on Tuesday, centrist party leader Mr Basescu said that malpractice at Romania's Central Election Bureau gave around 160,000 extra votes to Adrian Nastase, the current Romanian prime minister. With most votes counted, Mr Basescu's party trailed Mr Nastase by around 470,000 votes.

'Sore loser'
The challenger, who is currently mayor of Bucharest, also repeated claims made over the weekend that government supporters had been bussed between multiple voting stations in an organised fraud. "We have no doubt this is fraud, [and] we want the immediate dismissal of election authorities," Mr Basescu said. The vice-president of the Social Democrats (PSD), Miron Mitrea, insisted the election was fair. "The elections were proper, despite some questionable practices," he said, quoted by the AFP news agency. "There are some politicians who are sore losers and Traian Basescu is one of them," he added. Final results in the parliamentary election, the source of most disputes, are expected on Wednesday evening. "I am no longer [just] fighting for the presidency, but to restore democracy in Romania," he said.

Observers' doubts
Suspicion has focused on the introduction of a computerised electoral roll system for voters. An expensive EU plan to introduce "foolproof" voting cards was suspended by the Romanian government before the election. Instead, voters were allowed to vote at any polling station across the country. Mr Basescu and observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) both claimed the system was vulnerable to manipulation. The electoral register of 18 million names - out of a total population of some 22 million - was declared suspect as concern mounted over the result. The OSCE has said the vote appeared to be "professionally and efficiently organised" but officials have said they have not received an explanation for the use of a centralised electoral roll. Stephen Nash, head of the OSCE mission to Romania, told the Associated Press: "In the context of a closely contested election, this has the potential to affect public confidence." He urged that any allegations should be dealt with through "appropriate administrative and judicial processes."
©BBC News

THE REVOLUTION TELEVISED(Ukraine, comment)
The western media's view of Ukraine's election is hopelessly biased
By By John Laughland, trustee of www.oscewatch.org and an associate of www.sandersresearch.com

27/11/2004- There was a time when the left was in favour of revolution, while the right stood unambiguously for the authority of the state. Not any more. This week both the anti-war Independent and the pro-war Telegraph excitedly announced a "revolution" in Ukraine. Across the pond, the rightwing Washington Times welcomed "the people versus the power". Whether it is Albania in 1997, Serbia in 2000, Georgia last November or Ukraine now, our media regularly peddle the same fairy tale about how youthful demonstrators manage to bring down an authoritarian regime, simply by attending a rock concert in a central square. Two million anti-war demonstrators can stream though the streets of London and be politically ignored, but a few tens of thousands in central Kiev are proclaimed to be "the people", while the Ukrainian police, courts and governmental institutions are discounted as instruments of oppression. The western imagination is now so gripped by its own mythology of popular revolution that we have become dangerously tolerant of blatant double standards in media reporting. Enormous rallies have been held in Kiev in support of the prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, but they are not shown on our TV screens: if their existence is admitted, Yanukovich supporters are denigrated as having been "bussed in". The demonstrations in favour of Viktor Yushchenko have laser lights, plasma screens, sophisticated sound systems, rock concerts, tents to camp in and huge quantities of orange clothing; yet we happily dupe ourselves that they are spontaneous.

Or again, we are told that a 96% turnout in Donetsk, the home town of Viktor Yanukovich, is proof of electoral fraud. But apparently turnouts of over 80% in areas which support Viktor Yushchenko are not. Nor are actual scores for Yushchenko of well over 90% in three regions, which Yanukovich achieved only in two. And whereas Yanukovich's final official score was 54%, the western-backed president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, officially polled 96.24% of the vote in his country in January. The observers who now denounce the Ukrainian election welcomed that result in Georgia, saying that it "brought the country closer to meeting international standards". The blindness extends even to the posters which the "pro-democracy" group, Pora, has plastered all over Ukraine, depicting a jackboot crushing a beetle, an allegory of what Pora wants to do to its opponents. Such dehumanisation of enemies has well-known antecedents - not least in Nazi-occupied Ukraine itself, when pre-emptive war was waged against the Red Plague emanating from Moscow - yet these posters have passed without comment. Pora continues to be presented as an innocent band of students having fun in spite of the fact that - like its sister organisations in Serbia and Georgia, Otpor and Kmara - Pora is an organisation created and financed by Washington. It gets worse. Plunging into the crowd of Yushchenko supporters in Independence Square after the first round of the election, I met two members of Una-Unso, a neo-Nazi party whose emblem is a swastika. They were unembarrassed about their allegiance, perhaps because last year Yushchenko and his allies stood up for the Socialist party newspaper, Silski Visti, after it ran an anti-semitic article claiming that Jews had invaded Ukraine alongside the Wehrmacht in 1941. On September 19 2004, Yushchenko's ally, Alexander Moroz, told JTA-Global Jewish News: "I have defended Silski Visti and will continue to do so. I personally think the argument ... citing 400,000 Jews in the SS is incorrect, but I am not in a position to know all the facts." Yushchenko, Moroz and their oligarch ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, meanwhile, cited a court order closing the paper as evidence of the government's desire to muzzle the media. In any other country, support for antisemites would be shocking; in this case, our media do not even mention it.

Voters in Britain and the US have witnessed their governments lying brazenly about Iraq for over a year in the run-up to war, and with impunity. This is an enormous dysfunction in our own so-called democratic system. Our tendency to paint political fantasies on to countries such as Ukraine which are tabula rasa for us, and to present the west as a fairy godmother swooping in to save the day, is not only a way to salve a guilty conscience about our own political shortcomings; it also blinds us to the reality of continued brazen western intervention in the democratic politics of other countries.
©The Guardian

ISLAMIC SCHOLAR CRITICISES GERMAN MUSLIM DEBATE
26/11/2004- Germany's first professor for Islamic religion has criticised talk of an alleged Islamist threat in the country amid increasing political calls for foreigners to do more to integrate themselves into German society. Muhammad Sven Kalisch, professor for the religion of Islam at the University of Muenster, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa he was concerned that the difference between Islam and the western world "is being so exaggerated in the way it is now". Kalisch said if minorities cut themselves off from society "or are perceived to be cut off" it leads to mistrust. The Turkish ambassador in Berlin, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, also warned against Muslims being "unjustly placed in the dock". He told Focus news magazine to appear Monday that the Islamist issue was being "irresponsibly exaggerated". Only 3 to 4 percent of Turks living in Germany could be counted as Islamist, he said. The comments come amid warnings of an Islamic "parallel culture" in Germany in a debate which has been sparked by violence in the Netherlands following the killing of Islam-critical film director Theo van Gogh. In remarks to be delivered later Saturday, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder appealed on the country's 3.4 million Muslims to assimilate themselves better into German society. Schroeder said the wave of violence in the Netherlands and a firebombing at a mosque in Germany show there must be no "parallel cultures" in predominately secular and Christian Germany. "There can be no room for either lawlessness nor for parallel cultures in our society," he said in the speech to be delivered during ceremonies at Berlin's Jewish Museum honouring former German President Johannes Rau. "I call on Muslims in Germany to make greater strides in assimilating themselves into German society more fully," Schroeder said.

Centre-right politicians have been making similar calls, with Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber telling the Christian Social Union (CSU) party congress in Munich Saturday that Christian values had to be defended. "Yes to openness and tolerance, no to Islamic headscarves," he said. Last week lawmakers in Bavaria passed legislation barring Muslim teachers from wearing headscarves at publicly-funded schools. Stoiber said immigrants should have to "declare their support for Germany and its basic values" and accept that Germany was a Christian country. The CSU congress agreed unanimously to support moves to cut welfare benefits for foreigners who were not willing to be integrated. Joerg Schoenbohm, the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) interior minister of Brandenburg state, meanwhile accused some foreigners in Germany of "forming ghettoes because they despise us Germans". Schoenbohm told Der Spiegel news magazine that foreigners in Germany should accept Germany's defining culture. "We shouldn't allow this common ground to be destroyed by foreigners," he said. In the debate on integration, opposition conservatives have been calling on all immigrants to be compelled to learn German. There have also been demands for a ban on preaching in mosques in any language other than German. Last week, Schroeder's Greens coalition partner called for establishing a Muslim public holiday in Germany as a reaction to violence in the Netherlands. Both Germany's Greens Environment Minister, Juergen Trittin, and the deputy chairman of the Greens in parliament, Hans-Christian Stroebele backed the move. But the proposal was roundly attacked by the opposition. Guenther Beckstein, the Bavarian interior minister, said it proved the Greens could not let go of their "starry-eyed" dream of a multi-cultural society which has long since "failed".
©Expatica News

GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER CALLS FOR 'EUROPEAN ISLAM'
29/11/2004- In Europe's largest member state, a strong debate is taking place about the integration of Muslims and Islam into society. German interior minister Otto Schily told this week's edition of news magazine Der Spiegel that his long-term goal is that Muslims in Germany accept a 'European Islam' - which respects the vales of Enlightenment and stands up for the rights of women. An intellectual-political examination of Islam is part of a programme that he wants to press ahead with for the integration of immigrants, Mr Schily told the magazine. He said that the Germany's regions should be more rigorous about the possibility of deportation when integration efforts fail. "They have to make more use of being able to deport hate preachers and similar figures than they have up to now", said Mr Schily. Germany's opposition Christian Democrats are also pushing for more discussion about German patriotism. According to German daily Handelsblatt, the CDU leader of Hessen, Roland Koch, said that the CDU should become the party "that safeguards German interests". Edmund Stoiber, leader of the CDU's sister party in Bavaria, the CSU, told the tabloid Bild am Sonntag that everyone who lives in Germany must respect the values there. "I can imagine that every foreigner who wants to become German swears an oath to our Constitution - something that is quite normal in many other countries", said the Bavarian leader. "Whoever comes to us and after two, three years is not prepared to speak German, cannot become a German [citizen]", said Mr Koch to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. The CDU wants to see a debate on patriotism at its party day in a little over a week.
©EUobserver

GERMANY MUST DO BETTER ON IMMIGRATION
29/11/2004- German employers and trade union leaders have joined forces to call for more to be done by politicians to improve the social integration of foreigners living in the country. The appeal comes amid a continuing debate on immigration in which politicians of the centre and right have been demanding more effort from Muslims and other foreigners in Germany to adapt to the German way of life. But employers' federation president Dieter Hundt and trade union federation chairman Michael Sommer said in a joint statement issued on Sunday it was up to politicians to create the conditions for a society "which offers room for different cultural identities and development opportunities". Hundt and Sommer said Germany had to succeed in giving everybody the opportunity of taking part in social, economic, cultural and political life irrespective of their origin and "with respect for cultural variety". It was also important that foreigners who had been living in Germany for a long time be given security of residency rather than have to renew short-term residence permits. Politicians have been warning of an Islamic "parallel culture" in Germany in a debate which has been sparked by violence in the Netherlands following the killing of Islam-critical film director Theo van Gogh. Last week, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder appealed on the country's 3.4 million Muslims to assimilate themselves better into German society. And just a few days later, former chancellor Helmut Schmidt said it had been a mistake to allow immigration in remarks which were heavily criticised by representatives of Germany's 2 million Turks, Germany's biggest ethic minority. The Social Democrat also attacked the idea of multiculturalism, saying it did not work in a democracy. "Multicultural societies have only ... functioned peacefully in authoritarian states. To that extent it was a mistake for us to bring guest workers from foreign cultures into the country at the beginning of the 1960s," Schmidt said. On Sunday, centre-right political leaders kept up their demands for foreigners in Germany to adopt the German way of life. The Sunday newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Angela Merkel was calling for a "patriotism debate", saying Germany's "power and public spirit" did not evolve "from the sum of individual interests but from a clear declaration to the nation and responsibility to the whole". Edmund Stoiber, the Bavarian premier who leads the CDU sister party CSU, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper foreigners applying for a German passport should have to swear an oath to the German constitution. All foreign children should be made to attend a German school, he said. Brandenburg state's CDU interior minister Joerg Schoenbohm called for "foreigner quotas" in city districts, schools and nurseries. Last week, Schoenbohm said foreigners in Germany should accept Germany's defining culture, saying "we shouldn't allow this common ground to be destroyed by foreigners". However politicians from the coalition SPD and Greens accused the centre-right of abusing the debate on extremism and terrorism. "Integration of the foreigners living in Germany has got nothing to do with international extremism and terrorism," SPD chairman Franz Muenterfering told Die Welt newspaper. "We want integration. We are a country of immigration," he said Greens chairman Claudia Roth accused the CDU/CSU of "preaching panic".
©Expatica News

ALLIANCE WITH 'EXTREMIST SCUM' RULED OUT(Germany)
29/11/2004- Seeking to end debate within his own party, the head of a rightwing political party in Germany has vowed never to enter into an alliance with what he called "extremist scum" in the radical far right spectrum. Addressing delegates to a convention of his rightwing Republican Party, national chairman Rolf Schlierer dismissed talk of an alliance with the far-right National Party of Germany (NPD) and the even more radical German People‘s Union (DVU). In a keynote address, he said both of those parties were comprised of "extremist scum who have a political philosophy diametrically opposed to that of the Republican Party". Seeking to dispel efforts to create a rightwing alliance, he added, "We do not intend to traverse this path - the way of street battles and torchlight processions that brought such ignominy upon our nation in the 20th Century." Stating that the Republican Party stands for democracy, he went on, "We cannot work with these extremist scum who openly deride democracy."
©Expatica News

ETHNIC TURK MP BLASTS EX-GERMAN CHANCELLOR
30/11/2004- An ethnic Turkish member of Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) sharply crticised remarks by former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt last week calling the immigration of people from "alien cultures" a mistake. Lale Akgun, who is the SPD's expert on Islamic issues, expressed her "deep mortification" at Schmidt's comments made to the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper and called them a "fatal political signal". "I came to Germany in 1962 and today I am 51 years old," she wrote in an open letter. "I belong to those people whom you would now retroactively deny their legitimacy to live here in Germany when you call it a 'mistake' that to have brought in people 'from alien cultures'," she added. Akgun, who has a doctorate in psychology, said "I feel deep mortification" at Schmidt's comments. She also said his remarks were also mortifying "not only to the life accomplishments of the migrants of the first generation who worked hard, but were also a fatal political signal". Akgun said the question is now no longer one about whether immigration was right or wrong, "since what were talking about now is 50 years of the history of Germany, the joint history of Germans and immigrants". She said it might be that there remained a lot to be improved regarding the social integration of many youths in today's third generation. But she also pointed out that many immigrants could point to having succeeded in the university and in their professions. Akgun's open letter comes amid the controversy stirred by Schmidt's interview remarks the previous week in the Abendblatt, when the 85-year-old former SPD leader said it had been a mistake to allow immigration and also attacked the idea of multiculturalism. He also focussed on Germans' inability to cope with other cultures.
©Expatica News

GERMANS ARGUE OVER INTEGRATION
30/11/2004- Decades of consensus about a multicultural society have been thrown into question recently as leading German politicians suggest that minorities living in the country need to do more to fit in. "The notion of multiculturalism has fallen apart," said opposition conservative leader Angela Merkel in a recent interview. "Anyone coming here must respect our constitution and tolerate our Western and Christian roots." It was just one of a chorus of voices, from left and right, among politicians and the media. The debate centres largely around the three million-strong Muslim community - mostly Turkish, with Bosnians making up the next largest group, followed by people of Arab origin. It was sparked by the killing of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh, and subsequent attacks in the Netherlands on Muslim and Christian sites. Fears that something similar could happen in Germany were fanned by a TV broadcast in which a secret recording caught an imam telling worshippers that Germans would "burn in hell" because they were unbelievers. This has been followed by a raft of new proposals for better integration of the Muslim community, against a backdrop of fears that Muslims in Germany inhabit a "parallel society" centred around mosques infiltrated by "hate preachers". "A democracy cannot tolerate lawless zones or parallel societies," declared Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. "Immigrants must respect our laws and acknowledge our democratic ways of doing things." Another politician suggested it should be compulsory for imams to preach in German, and sections of the media have judged that the debate marks the end of multiculturalism. "It's a quite frank debate on what we Germans expect of those people coming to us as immigrants," says Nikolaus Blome, commentator with Die Welt newspaper. "If multiculturalism means that it's OK for 30,000 Turks to live in a certain quarter of Berlin, and never leave, and live like they're still in deepest Turkey, then the term is now discredited."

Mood shift
The debate shows a marked swing in the atmosphere in Germany. Four years ago, a conservative politician was attacked from all sides for suggesting the country has a Leitkultur or "leading culture". As this previously unacceptable term resurfaced, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt caused further furore by suggesting that the decision to invite "guest workers" to Germany in the 1960s had been a mistake. Poor command of the German language among Muslims has been singled out for particular criticism. When tens of thousands of Muslims took part in a protest against terrorism in Cologne recently, the German politicians who addressed the crowd gave them a blunt message: "Learn German." A new immigration law which takes force from 1 January contains compulsory language and civic lessons for new arrivals, but critics point out there is nothing for people from ethnic minorities who are already here.

No help
Erol Ozkaraca lives in the Berlin district of Reinickendorf, where the population is a mix of Germans, Turks and people from the former Soviet Union. Switching off the Turkish TV channel broadcasting into his living room, and taking a contemplative drag on his cigarette, he declares: "Germany has never been a multicultural society. The concept of multi-culturalism was never given a chance here." Mr Ozkaraca, a lawyer by profession, was born in Hamburg. His father came to Germany as a student in 1949, long before the "guest workers". "These politicians say: They don't speak German, they don't want to be part of German society, and they have their own structures. But I ask: Where are the courses where we can learn German? Where is the help to integrate us, to show - you are welcome and we want you here?"
©BBC News

NEO-NAZI GANG ARRESTED FOR ATTACK(Spain)
29/11/2004- Spanish police have arrested 19 neo-Nazis for attacking a man for being "dirty". The 30-year-old victim, who is black, was beaten-up in Madrid on Friday. He has had to have surgery for his injuries. He had a broken jaw and serious cuts to his lips and bruises all over his body. It was not clear if he had been attacked because of the colour of his skin or the way he dressed. Twelve of those arrested were teenagers under 18, police sources said. Among the gang were also four girls. Many were wearing neo-Nazi insignia. Some were found with military-style knives and sprays. A magistrate ordered all members of the gang to be held in custody. The police operation comes amid rising concern about racism in Spain following the racist chants made towards black England players at a friendly match with Spain on 17 November.
©Expatica News

SPIES LIFT LID ON TRADE IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS(Spain)
2/12/2004- Spain has confirmed press reports that their intelligence agents in Sierra Leone were watching a ship suspected of being used to smuggle illegal immigrants to Europe, and expressed annoyance that the information had been made public. The reports said that for three weeks Spanish spies had been keeping tabs on the unnamed ship anchored at Freetown on suspicion that the crew were planning to take between 500 and 1,000 people to Spain's Canary Islands. Confirming the reports, the Spanish interior ministry condemned the publication of "confidential information that could endanger an operation", adding that there was as yet no indication that the ship was due to depart or that it was carrying illegal immigrants. The Spanish daily El Pais said that the Spanish foreign ministry had asked a number of West African countries, including Cape Verde, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Senegal as well as Sierra Leone, to be on the lookout for people being picked up off their coasts by the vessel concerned. In August the Canary Islands governor, Jose Segura, said a ship was intercepted as it was about to leave the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown with 500 clandestine immigrants for the Spanish archipelago lying off northwest Africa, and the vessel's captain and crew detained. The interception of the ship, the Hollgan Star, was the result of a two-month investigation by security officials in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Spain, Segura said, hinting that further smuggling attempts were being planned. "Several old ships that are being repaired for use to smuggle migrants have been detected in different parts of western Africa," he added. The would-be illegal immigrants pay people-traffickers between EUR 1,200-2,025 each for the voyage, he said. On 15 October another ship, the MV Polar carrying 176 people, was boarded off the Canaries, seen as a back door to the European Union. The use of larger cargo ships coming from the Gulf of Guinea is news, Segura said. In the past smugglers have mainly used smaller vessels and operated off the coast of Morocco, much closer to Spain. Segura speculated that migrant traffickers had adopted this new strategy after enhanced cooperation between Spain and Morocco in cracking down on immigrant smuggling. Segura said organised groups "spot an old, abandoned ship, they offer to buy or rent it from the owner, and then do inexpensive repairs." More than 11,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended in Spanish waters around the Canaries and in the Straits of Gibraltar between January and the end of September, according to official figures. There is no official estimate of how many have arrived in Spain without being detected and many immigrants die at sea -- often by drowning – before reaching coveted Europe and better opportunities than at home.
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TWO OUT OF FIVE MET OFFICERS WERE DEAF TO RACISM CLAIMS(uk)
29/11/2004- Almost two out of five Metropolitan police officers failed a secret Scotland Yard "mystery shopper" test of their attitude to complaints about racism, the Guardian has learned. Officers posing as members of the public went to police stations all over London to make complaints about alleged racist behaviour by police. In nearly 40% of cases, the complainants were fobbed off and ignored. Senior Scotland Yard sources say the storyline involved claims that officers were being racially abusive. One complainant was allegedly told told not to be silly as "police officers don't behave like that". It is an embarrassing failure rate given the culture change police chiefs have sought since accusations of institutional racism arising from the inquiry into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman admitted: "We would expect a significantly higher percentage of these complaints being recorded." But a spokeswoman for the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards, which carried out the exercise, said the figures were well up on a similar test in 2002, when only 15% of complaints were recorded, compared with 60% this time. She refused to discuss the test scenarios or reveal which police stations were targeted, but said the exercise was thorough and detailed. No officer will face disciplinary action. "Initial findings seemed encouraging. Also, this time around we were testing a new and unfamiliar part of the complaints procedure," she added. "Following the results of the tests, a number of measures are currently under way to improve the knowledge police officers and staff have of the new complaints procedures. "These include face-to-face briefings, the setting up of an advice and guidance phone line and the roll-out of an internal publicity campaign." The tests were designed to check how staff were responding to new legislation which allows for third-party reporting, where the complainant witnesses an incident but is not the victim. The measures came into force in April when the Independent Police Complaints Commission was launched. The IPCC says forces had plenty of time to inform and train officers. An IPCC spokesman said: "We are very concerned if complaints are not being properly recorded. If anyone is faced with this situation they can appeal to the IPCC. They can call us on a low-cost number: 08453 002 002." The Met's Independent Advisory Group was not told of the test or its result, nor has it been asked for any comments on measures designed to remedy the failures highlighted. John Azah, the IAG chair, said: "While we would not necessarily have expected to have been consulted before the test, we are disappointed we were not informed afterwards and given the results." Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick, who oversees changes in how complaints are dealt with at police stations, said: "On reflection, it might have been a good idea to have informed the IAG."
©The Guardian

NEW POWERS TO FORCE TRAVELLERS OFF LAND(uk)
30/11/2004- Tough powers allowing local authorities to force travellers off unauthorised sites were announced by the Government yesterday. The "temporary stop" notices will allow councils to remove unauthorised development or building work from a site and move on caravans. If travellers refuse, they can be taken before a magistrate, who can impose daily fines. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister also moved to increase support for legitimate sites, announcing that councils could apply for grants to cover the cost of residential sites. The Conservatives said the proposals were too little too late, while the Local Government Association (LGA) warned they may prove ineffective. Keith Hill, the planning minister, said: "We have made changes to the temporary stop notices so that local councils can not only stop an unauthorised site from growing, but they can require the removal of existing caravans." He added: "Local councils have asked us to empower them to deal with this problem so that's exactly what we are doing. This is a two-way process; we want to see councils taking a more proactive approach to delivering authorised sites." Ministers said houses and other permanent dwellings would be exempt from the new orders. Phillip Hammond, the Tories' local government spokesman, said the Conservatives would "if necessary, amend human rights legislation, so that it cannot be used to frustrate enforcement of the law". Chloe Lambert, the deputy chairman of the LGA, said: "Determined action by those intent on developing on land without planning permission could undermine any so-called additional powers. A clear message from a meeting we held today with our members to discuss the issue is that local authorities need stronger enforcement powers." Yesterday's announcement follows warnings that a "campaign of hatred" against travellers in some parts of the media could provoke violence.
© Independent Digital

NO OFFENCE, BUT WHY ARE ALL WHITE MEN SO AGGRESSIVE?(uk, Comment)
Turn round the questions asked of black people and you may get the point
By Gary Younge (chaired last week's Young, Muslim and British debate organised by the Guardian)

1/12/2004- Sometimes it takes so long to figure out what's wrong with a question that you never quite get to the answer. At the forum on being British and Muslim organised by the Guardian last week, participants argued that some of the questions and issues being raised would never be put to white Christians, for example. These included: "do you have a duty to vote and/or participate in British political life?"; "do you have a responsibility to inform on political or religious groups who use violence to achieve political ends?"; and "do you want integration into British society or parallel lives? Why?" The reluctance to confront these particular questions didn't stifle debate, but it raises broader issue of how and when to withdraw from problematic dialogues.

Sometimes, though not in this forum, questions can be so pregnant with assumptions that they are, arguably, better left unanswered. Not because they do not relate to important issues, but because they are so loaded with prejudice and crippled by ignorance, thoughtless in tone and reckless in content, that the manner in which they are put renders them incapable of addressing important issues. To engage with them would be to legitimise their bias. This is not an issue confined to race or religion. The victors in every battle do not just write history (and then rewrite it continually until the vanquished have either been disappeared or demonised beyond all recognition), they also frame the terms of reference for the present. Questions, and those who pose them, are never neutral, but are both informed and misinformed by the received wisdom of place and time. Nobody ever asks: "when did you first realise you were straight?" or "how do you balance fatherhood and work?" One day, hopefully, they might. But in the meantime some identities will be subject to relentless examination, while others coast by with eternal presumption. Those who ask the questions of others without interrogating themselves are effectively saying: this is our world, you're just living in it. So we inquire in our own image with all the limitations and prejudices implied. The point is not that we should ask tough questions of others - our best and only hope is that we all keep talking. But if you want a substantial answer, you must ask a substantial question. The respondent may meet you half way, but if the person asking the questions hasn't moved an inch, half of nothing will not take either of them very far.

One of the most distinguished members of the panel at the Guardian forum, academic Tariq Ramadan, argued that turning their backs on the court of British public opinion, like a republican detainee before a Diplock judge, was not an option for British Muslims. "Just because they are not asking others does not mean that the question is not legitimate," he said. "You cannot get rid of perceptions by saying that your question is wrong. It's like saying to someone who says to you 'I'm scared. I feel that you are a threat to this society'. And you say 'No, It's not good to be scared'. If I am scared, I am scared. Now try to help me to put it in another way." Mr Ramadan has a point. If you are interested in conversing with the world around you, then you cannot simply ask people to change the subject every time a subject you do not like comes up. Such pre-emptive defensiveness stands little chance of winning over potential support and shows every sign of a lack of confidence in your ability to make yourself understood. We cannot choose the terrain on which these battles are fought; nor can we dictate the rules. These are subject to negotiation. But the reason some people get defensive is because they feel that they are forever being attacked. It's true that we have to work with what we've got. But sometimes the material we are given to work with seems so lame that I am tempted to take a day off. Before there can be negotiation there must first be goodwill - the desire to fill in the gaps of knowledge and perspective. A good question does not seek agreement but engagement; a point of contact; the recognition of at least the shred of commonality with the questioned. Without that, all we are left with is full-scale interrogation - the hostile questioning of the prosecution counsel: less of a conversation than a trial by presumption.

It's time to flip the script, to lay bare just a hint of the assuming subconscious that infects the most common questions I have either been asked or heard. To ask the kind of questions of white, British people (some are just for Christians) that they often pose to "others" but are never asked themselves. I didn't make these up because I wouldn't know where to start. This is my world. For the next 500 words, you're just living in it. Do you think of yourself as white or British or both? Does it worry you that you got your job just because of your race? Where are you from? No, but really? Since this is where you live, don't you think you should try and integrate with other races more? Is your first loyalty to your God, or to your country? Is it true what they say about white guys? Given the genocide, slavery and colonialism unleashed in the name of Christianity over the last two centuries, do you feel your religion is compatible with democracy? Mr Grant, do you think of yourself as a white actor or an actor who happens to be white? I don't mind white people, but if they want to live here then why shouldn't they have to fit in with our traditions? Shouldn't the police be doing more to tackle white-on-white crime? Given the objectification of women in your culture and the rise in teenage pregnancies, don't you think it's time to ban young girls wearing make up? What do you make of the tribal conflict in Ukraine? I thought you asked for flesh-coloured tights? Don't you feel that this politically correct belief that we have to respect white people's feelings has stifled honest discussion and debate? Isn't it a shame that white people cannot pick more responsible leaders? What do you mean, you can't Morris dance? Don't you ever worry about being pigeonholed as a white person? Why aren't you doing more to check the rise in Christian fundamentalism? Who are your community leaders? Why should we balance our belief in human rights with our tolerance for Christians? What do white people think about Jews? How would you define "white" style? Mr Amis, why do you write about white people all the time? Don't you find that limiting? What are you doing for your people? Have you seen what the Bible says about women? Are you the token white guy? Don't take this personally, but why are white men so aggressive? Now the Olympics are over, can we finally admit that white people are genetically equipped to excel in archery and rowing? What is it with white people and homophobia? You know what white women are like, don't you? I understand that as a white person you come at this from a particular place, but can't you try to look at it objectively for a moment? Why do you people have such a chip on your shoulder? Don't get offended, I was only asking.
©The Guardian

WE MUST BE ALL VIGILANT OVER THE ABUSE OF POWER(uk)
The application of standards to asylum seekers which are less than those expected by other residents is an abuse in itself

30/11/2004- Speaking at a dinner at Kensington & Chelsea on 30 November Keith Best, Chief Executive of IAS, said that even in the most sophisticated democracies there lurks the potential abuse of power by Government collectively or by individuals. "Many years ago the late Lord Hailsham described it as "elective dictatorship". When a Government has a large majority and there is a weak Opposition there remain few Parliamentary checks and balances. If it is alleged that a Minister has abused his power, and the Ministerial Code of Conduct is very specific about how to avoid conflict between personal interests and public duties, there is no mechanism whereby this can be investigated in a disinterested way. There is no automaticity in the nature and extent of an investigation. Sir Alistair Graham, the Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, has expressed dissatisfaction with the ad hoc way in which Sir Alan Budd was appointed to investigate the Home Secretary and has suggested that at the beginning of every Parliament specific individuals should be appointed for that purpose. For the public to have confidence that there will be no perception of whitewash it is essential that the Government is not seen to be judge and jury in its own cause. That means an independent body not only investigating but also setting the parameters of the investigation into allegations of abuse of power. Such investigations need to be quasi-judicial with evidence taken in a recognised way and made publicly available other than for reasons of national security.

"There remains the traditional check on excess executive action, namely the courts applying the law. As the Ukraine is discovering at the present time when politics fails the courts are the final bastion of a civilised society to prevent people turning to violence to resolve their differences. In the comfort of the modern day we should never forget that our Parliamentary system is a direct alternative to settling our disputes on the battlefield: you only have to see the sword-lines in the House of Commons to realise that. The Human Rights Act and the courts have been given a bad press, not least by Ministers who feel thwarted by them. The Home Secretary has been found by the courts to have acted unlawfully in immigration matters so many times that the answer could be obtained only at disproportionate cost: asked in a Parliamentary Written Question (no. 808 on 7 September 2004).

"The value of human rights and the law generally is its universality that they should apply equally to all people, as should any rules of society. The alternative leads to abuse and discrimination of excluded groups which, logically extended, leads to the appalling obscenities of the last century. Yet we have seen in asylum policy that discrimination and exclusion from standards that you and I expect as our right. It started with removal of benefits and denial of work putting individuals and families in danger of destitution (which effectively was overturned by the courts as being incompatible with our obligations under human rights), then we had vouchers which were as good as a label around the neck in a supermarket queue, the denial of in-country rights of appeal which is an effective denial of justice as well as other matters culminating in the criminalisation of new arrivals enshrined in the latest legislation. All this, of course, is against a backdrop of some of the most prejudiced and pejorative press comments we have ever seen and ignorant statements from Ministers such as the Leader of the House who should know better.

"What is salutary is that the only checks on such abuse has been the decisions of the courts, before the Government then legislates to overcome those checks, rather than political and public outrage. What is demeaning for the Government and our country is the fact that it has stood in the dock of subjecting people to inhuman and degrading treatment. That besmirches us all. We must all wake up and be vigilant about abuse of power. Now they are coming for the asylum seekers but when will they come for us in further denial of civil liberties in the name of greater security? Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to relive them. Some of you may have seen the recent television programme "Who do you think you are?" in which David Baddiel went in search of the memory of his relatives who had escaped from Nazi Germany. Being enemy aliens, however, they were put behind barbed wire (rather like the American Japanese were on Ellis Island). In some matters our civilisation has not advanced very far.
Immigration Advisory Service

BNP RALLY BRINGS POISONOUS MESSAGE AS POLLOKSHIELDS RECOVERS FROM RACE MURDER(uk)
The Sunday Herald watches as extremist party gathers to spread racism in an area stunned by killing
By Neil Mackay, Investigations Editor

5/12/2004- It's a dreary Saturday afternoon on Glasgow's Paisley Road West. The only colour around comes from the array of tattered Union Jacks fluttering outside a few local pubs. Down the road, in the bar of The Swallow Hotel, just over 100 people – mostly men – are finishing their pints and their cigarettes and passing through an ad hoc security cordon to get inside one of the conference rooms. After a sweep with a metal detector by the burly security guards, they take their seats. On the walls there are Union Jacks, Saltires and banners promising a better life for the Scottish people. This is the BNP's Scottish end of year rally, held at what is a difficult time for Glasgow's southside. The area is still scarred by the brutal, racially motivated murder of Kriss Donald, the teenager from Glasgow's Pollokshields area who was killed by an Asian gang which set out to abduct and kill a white youth. To most people in Scotland – both whites and ethnic minorities – the BNP's actions are contemptible. Many feel the party is exploiting a tragic death for political capital. They also see the very presence of Nick Griffin, the BNP's controversial leader, at the rally as enough to undermine any attempt to build racial harmony in Pollokshields. There are those who argue that to give the party any publicity encourages the politics of hate. Others, however, believe that ignoring the BNP takes away the spotlight of scrutiny. Although the BNP say the rally is a belated nod to St Andrew's Day, the prospect of racial tensions in the area is obviously very much on their minds. When Nick Griffin was asked if he was using Kriss's murder for politically opportunistic ends, he replied: "Suppose the last piece of manufacturing industry closed on the Clyde next week. The SNP or the Conservative party would be there saying, ‘This is a bad thing.' "All political parties – when an event is happening which pertains to their core issues – are going to talk about it."

The BNP's central message is that multiculturalism doesn't work and immigration should be reversed. The party believes Kriss's murder is evidence of that. "Far from racism being something evil that only exists when people like me stir it up, it is a fundamental part of being human," says Griffin. "So when you get different groups side by side in a place that is, by Western standards, quite poor, you are going to get that kind of thing happening." Griffin's argument is that inter-racial hatred is tribal and buried in our DNA. "There is a deep-seated primal hatred of the other which you can see coming out here in Glasgow." At the rally, a show of hands reveals that this is the first BNP event ever attended by about 60% of those in the room. Griffin says party membership has grown from 1300 when he took over five years ago to 8000 today. The BNP have also made small electoral increases, and now have a number of council seats, primarily in the north of England. One of the first speakers is a former young Conservative, reflecting the party's attempt to scrub out its street-fighting past and replace it with a more acceptable image. "Fundamentalist Islam" is the party's main target, and Griffin raises the spectre of Britain developing the kind of violent ethnic strife which is now gripping the once liberal bastion of Holland. The leader, the party hierarchy and voices from the floor return again and again to the theme of the white children of today becoming a racial minority in the future. This is a party in which the concept of fear is key. The fear of militant Islam, the idea of "the sound of church bells being replaced by the call to prayer" and the terror of an al-Qaeda strike are all central messages during the rally. But the party itself seems fearful of what its members see as an increasingly antagonistic state. Members feel persecuted. They believe that the Labour Party will one day ban the movement, and they talk of losing their jobs because of party membership. The rally venue was organised in secret for fear of left-wing groups picketing the event; as a result, many of those attending were only told at the last minute where it would be held. Meanwhile, Griffin has a permanent bodyguard of heavily built men around him, and security ensures every entrance and exit is closely watched.

On the floor, members speak of their hatred of the IRA, paedophiles and Europe, and their love of the flag, the right to dissent and their country. The party faithful denounce the "liberal media" for its "lies" about the BNP. "Why do they hate us?" one activist asks. "They hate us because we love our flag and our nation." Political correctness is damned along with "spineless" politicians and police chiefs who fear being seen as un-PC. One speaker says: "What I'm saying to you is just what we talk about in the pub. Yet they call us racists and extremists?" Another speaker, to cheers and applause, says of Muslims: "They are not our people, and they never will be our people." He equates the killing of Kriss Donald with the Moors Murders. A litany of violent black-on-white crime is recounted. "Are we going to allow Kriss Donald to die in vain?" a speaker asks. The crowd shout back: "No!" The party wants all imams – Muslim preachers – to be "Western born and have Westernised moderate attitudes", and "preach in English so everyone can understand them". While Griffin accepts these policies could provoke a violent backlash, he claims: "That would be further proof of the fundamental idiocy of multiculturalism." Griffin believes Britain has the choice "between a sort of Islamic IRA operating out of ghettos in Britain, or the, still at present unthinkable, option of a massive reversal of immigration". He says there would be no forced repatriation in a BNP Britain, but all immigration would cease. Life under the BNP, Griffin admits, would be "culturally less comfortable" for Muslims. Halal meat would be banned leaving Muslims the option of "either becoming vegetarians or going back to Pakistan". The BNP leader says a "fully integrated British Asian", should be accepted in Britain. But would Griffin allow such an integrated Asian to marry his daughter? "No," he says. "And I wouldn't expect him to accept his daughter marrying my son. Either God or nature created human beings as different races. If worldwide racial integration is to be encouraged, then the end result is a world with no difference."
©Sunday Herald

CELLMATE KILLER BLAMES YOUTH JAILS RACIST CULTURE(uk)
6/12/2004- The killer of Zahid Mubarek admitted today that racism did play a part in his actions, but blamed a racist culture at Feltham young offenders' institution for fostering his prejudices. Robert Stewart battered Mubarek, who was his cellmate, to death four years ago and was given a life sentence for the crime. In written evidence he told the inquiry: "I admit that racial prejudice played some part [in the murder]. The views I had then seemed to start when I was at Feltham." "Looking back, apart from my own ignorance ... these stemmed from the large number of black inmates and general racial tension in Feltham, and the cultural differences between London's young people and those where I come from," the public inquiry heard. He continued: "About half the prisoners in Swallow unit were black and a smaller number were Asians. I wasn't used to that, and there was clearly a lot of tension between blacks and whites. "Whenever you went into a cell at Feltham you'd see graffiti like swastikas, the initials KKK and thinks like 'Kill all niggers' ... The general perception in Feltham was that all whites were racist, and the black lads didn't like the whites. If a white guy gave a black guy a 'burn' (cigarette) he'd be seen as a traitor." In fact, Stewart told investigators that he got on "relatively well" with his cellmate, but attacked him in a bid to be transferred to another prison. They had small differences, including over cell duties such as sweeping and mopping, he said, "but that is not uncommon when there are two strangers locked up together for long periods of time". The institution's only ethnic minority officer at the time, Sundeep Chahal, has already told the inquiry that he did not experience any racist abuse or "banter" from other staff at Feltham, though he did receive racial taunts from prisoners. However, Mubarek's friend Jamie Barnes said he believed the officers were racist in their outlook, and that desirable jobs in the institution's servery were more likely to go to white inmates. He agreed that officers were not racist in the way they allocated cells. Mubarek was serving a three-month sentence for stealing razor blades from Superdrug. Stewart is now a prisoner at HMP Woodhill. The public inquiry, which reopened on November 18, is continuing and is expected to last three months. Its remit is to investigate and report on Mubarek's death, the events leading up to the attack and to make recommendations about the prevention of such attacks in the future.
©The Guardian

PM DEFENDS IMAM CONFERENCE SNUB(Denmark)
1/12/2004- On the steps of the Prime Minister's official residence, Marienborg, on Tuesday, Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed 22 integration professionals for a discussion on the challenges of a multicultural Denmark. The Prime Minister took flack ahead of yesterday's Marienborg conference for failing to invite Muslim religious leaders - imams - to offer their insight on integration. Speaking with reporters after yesterday's conference, Anders Fogh Rasmussen defended that decision, and said he looked forward to additional meetings and continued dialogue with integration professionals. The PM allowed that it would be "natural" for Integration Minister Bertel Haarder to meet with Muslim religious leaders. "I'd like to meet with the imams. But as regards discussion on integration, it's not the imams we need to speak with. They don't have much grasp of integration, and if anything they're examples of poor integration. Imam Abu Laban has lived in Denmark for 20 years and doesn't speak Danish. Hopefully, he's not a role model for young immigrants," Haarder said after yesterday's conference. The Prime Minister expressed his support for a "new direction" in the national immigration debate. "It's important to shift the focus away from the heated debate on religion, and toward something that actually benefits the day-to-day work of integration. In this way, we can put more immigrants to work and offer them a more solid education - this effort shouldn't drown in the debate on religion," said Fogh Rasmussen, noting that yesterday's meeting emphasized the importance of education and new mentality in integration policy.
©The Copenhagen Post

ANGER AS 'ANTI-MUSLIM' FILM AIRED(Denmark)
6/12/2004- A group of Muslims has reported two Danish broadcasters to the police for airing the film Submission by murdered film-maker Theo van Gogh. Danmarks Radio and TV2 showed the film, which examines abuse against Muslim women, and put clips in news bulletins. Lawyer Laue Traberg Smidt, representing the group of 20 Muslims, said they were "deeply offended" by the broadcasts. Danmarks Radio said police had yet to approach them about the complaint. Van Gogh, 47, died in Amsterdam last month.

'Massive coverage'
In an open letter to police, Mr Traberg Smidt said the channels' "massive coverage of the case and its repeated use" of excerpts "seems rather an attempt to contribute to a confrontation and whip up a sentiment against Danes of Muslim faith". The lawyer said he represented a group of Danish Muslims, who wanted to remain anonymous "because they are afraid of unpleasant (reaction) in the current atmosphere". Spokespeople for both channels denied the claims. "We are not airing clips from the film to feed on sensationalism or to offend those who have been offended by it (the film)," said Danmarks Radio news director Lisbeth Knudsen. "We show these clips to put the debate over limited or unlimited freedom of speech into perspective." Van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death after receiving death threats following Submission's first broadcast on Dutch television in August. A 26-year-old Muslim has been arrested and charged with killing van Gogh.
©BBC News

ATTACKS HARDEN DUTCH ATTITUDES
1/12/2004- Head teacher Jeanne van der Voort was at home watching television when she got the news that her school was on fire. By the time she arrived at the scene in Uden, a small town in southern Holland, the building was engulfed in flames. It took firefighters until 2am to extinguish the blaze. No one was hurt, but over 100 children of the Bedir Islamic primary school were left with nowhere for their lessons. "I was crying and shouting," said Jeanne. "In Uden there was no reason to be afraid. I was shocked this could happen in Holland. It was the latest in a series of attacks on Islamic sites across the Netherlands since the murder of controversial film-maker Theo van Gogh. He was brutally killed a week earlier in Amsterdam by a man of Moroccan origin linked to extremist groups. One of Mr Van Gogh's last films had caused fury with its criticism of the treatment of women in the Muslim community.

'Emotional damage'
Police in Uden are still investigating the school fire, but the perpetrators left their motives daubed on the walls of the charred building - "Rest in peace Theo van Gogh" said graffiti next to symbols of "white power". Now the children are back at school - albeit in a temporary building. Jeanne says the older pupils are still grappling with emotional damage. Across the Netherlands, the last month has been difficult. After Mr Van Gogh's murder on 2 November, uneasy questions about the country's reputation for multiculturalism are being asked. The school fire is evidence of a terrible backlash against the country's million-strong Muslim community. Even otherwise liberal Dutch believe there is a serious problem with Islamic extremism in the country that the government has so far ignored. "Sometimes there's suffocating political correctness in Holland," says Hans Teeuwen, a comedian and colleague of Mr Van Gogh. "We're so eager to be tolerant that we're sometimes unable to deal with questions that are so controversial, so difficult." Certainly Muslims in Holland now feel under pressure. At the El Mouahhidine mosque in east Amsterdam, the men gather for evening prayers. Their mosque has been a role model for building relationships with the local community. But even they felt the change in atmosphere after the Van Gogh murder. Said, a student teacher taking part in prayers, says the police were on guard at the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan. He didn't feel any personal danger, but thinks the action of one extremist in murdering Mr Van Gogh has damaged the whole Muslim community in Holland. But, he adds, it has opened up a necessary debate about how Holland treats its different ethnic and religious groups. Said says the government is not doing enough to make life easier for Muslims. "Integration has to come from both sides. It's not one way. There are two ways and they have to be open to each other," urged Said. "By tightening up rules, you won't get the effect you want."

Crisis of confidence
The Netherlands government is now considering how to tackle this crisis of confidence in society. Ministers feel the need to show a worried population that acts like Mr Van Gogh's murder will not happen again. As Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner has overseen a series of raids on suspected Islamic radicals in Holland since the Van Gogh murder. He wants more power for police and prosecutors to act against suspected extremists. He admits there is a general feeling of insecurity, and blames his predecessors for the threat of extremism. "Maybe it's partly due to a policy in the past being too relaxed on immigration, but also too relaxed on the social effects of immigration," he said. While there is no plan for an immigration clampdown yet, talking tough is clearly the order of the day. At a specially organised pop concert in Amsterdam, performers call on the audience to fight extremism in all forms. The words of one song sum it up: "I am not black, I am not white, I'm singing the colour of my heart." But such idealism may not be enough to remove the trauma inflicted on Dutch society in the last few weeks.
©BBC News

MPs SLAM INTEGRATION PLAN FOR DUTCH PEOPLE
6/12/2004— Almost all political parties in the Dutch Parliament have strongly criticised government plans to force Dutch people with a low education to undergo integration courses. MPs of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrat Party (CDA) said the integration course and examination should apply only to non-Dutch speakers. The small coalition party D66 joined with the opposition — Labour (PvdA), populist LPF, green-left GroenLinks and the Socialist Party — in voicing strong objections. News was leaked late last week that Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, a member of the Liberal Party (VVD), was planning to force all Dutch nationals to undergo integration courses unless they have completed eight years of schooling in the Netherlands. She decided on this approach after the ACVZ, a special committee on newcomers' affairs, warned that forcing immigrants alone to undertake an integration course would be discriminatory. Her plans are part of the government's mass shake up of immigration and integration policies. Verdonk wants immigrants who don't speak Dutch well to do an integration course in a bid to solve the social polarisation witnessed in the Netherlands in recent years. And while the CDA praised Verdonk for seeking methods to obligate immigrants to integrate, the party labelled her plans to force Dutch natives to also undergo integration into society as "nonsense". It said the minister's energies should be focused on immigrants. The PvdA said Verdonk initially wanted to force some 1 million people to integrate. Referring to the recent legal obstacles that have since arisen, the main opposition party nevertheless criticised the minister for trying to broaden the target group further. Studies indicated in October that forcing permanent dual national immigrants to undergo Dutch language classes breaches the principle of equality. A European treaty signed by the Netherlands could block it from making Turkish nationals doing the course. The treaty with Turkey states the Netherlands cannot impose additional obstacles to make it more difficult for Turkish nationals to immigrate to the Netherlands, marry a Dutch national or join family already in the Netherlands. Thirdly, the cost of the proposed integration courses is also expected to be high. In response to Verdonk's latest plans, PvdA MP Jeroen Dijsselbloem said integration should only be imposed on social security recipients and disadvantaged women. If women cannot be forced to integrate, funding should be made available to offer the courses on a voluntary basis. The ACVZ has advised Verdonk that everyone with less than eight years of Dutch schooling should sit an integration exam. It said to only force immigrants to follow an integration course would be discriminatory. In practise, the majority of people told to do an integration course will be immigrants because Dutch law prohibits children stopping their education before the school year in which they turn 17. Minister Verdonk has reportedly accepted the committee's advice and is expected to explain her policy in detail to parliament on Tuesday.
©Expatica News

MODERATE MUSLIMS IN SWITZERLAND SPEAK OUT
2/12/2004- Muslims in Switzerland have set up a new organisation to make their voice heard. The Forum for a Progressive Islam is hoping to attract people from all walks of life to engage in a debate about the Muslim religion. The woman behind the forum, Saida Keller-Messahli, told swissinfo there were many moderate Muslims in Switzerland, who have had limited opportunity until now to voice their opinions. According to Keller-Messahli, there are currently many religious Muslim organisations in Switzerland but no associations for those who do not necessarily practise their religion. The forum is hoping to plug this gap and to offer a platform to anyone who has an interest in Islam. "We want to be able to pose questions, hold discussions with no taboos and criticise in an intellectual fashion," said Keller-Messahli.

Controversial issues
One of the goals is to tackle controversial topics, such as draconian punishments meted out to criminals under Sharia law. "We want to show that Islam can be interpreted in a way that is compatible with human rights," stressed Keller-Messahli. As a sign of the forum's progressive nature, five of the seven executive committee's members are women and not all are Muslims. They include an Islamic scholar, journalists and Keller-Messahli herself. One of the members, Karl Gruber, is a Catholic and a member of Zurich's constitutional assembly. Switzerland has an estimated 300,000 Muslims, and the majority, like Keller-Messahli, are well integrated. Married to a Swiss doctor, she has lived in the country for nearly 30 years. She was born in Tunisia and, after her father went blind, spent five years as a child in the Bernese Oberland thanks to the intervention of the Swiss charity, Terre des Hommes. Later she studied for an arts degree at Zurich university.

Tolerance
According to Keller-Messahli, a minority of Muslims in Switzerland have not accepted Swiss culture. "I am under no illusion that we will attract these people because they hold tightly to their view of the world. But they will have a place in the forum if they are willing to be tolerant of other people's opinions," she added. The new organisation is based in Zurich. But there are plans to open regional chapters in the future, once the forum gets off the ground. With a debate already taking place in Switzerland about whether Imams should be trained at Swiss universities, Keller-Messahli has this to say:
"Any person who can read Arabic can interpret the Koran, [although] we accept that we are not all Koranic scholars." Keller-Messahli also hopes that the Forum will provide inspiration to those living in Muslim countries, who cannot express themselves freely.
©NZZ Online

FRENCH CORSICA LAUNCHES ANTI-RACISM CAMPAIGN
2/12/2004- The French island of Corsica is planning a weeklong campaign to bridge the gaps between followers of different faiths after racist attacks, particularly against Muslims, hit records high during the past months. Corsica prefect Pierre-Rene Lemas, the highest French government official on the island, decided to champion a solidarity week, recognizing the need to create a better understanding among the multi-ethnic residents, reported Liberation newspaper on Tuesday, November 1. He agreed with the representatives of the main faiths to organize the campaign on December 13-18 across the island, particularly in schools. The meeting, held on November 29, was attended by President of the Presbyterian council of the Corsican reformed church Jean-Claude Alegre, Regional Council President of the Corsican Islamic Culture Miloud Mesgathi and the island's Bishop Jean-Luc Brunin. The representative of the Jewish community apologized for not attending over health problems. The participants also brainstormed the best way to address increasing racist attacks on the island and increasing people's awareness on their grave repercussions.

Mosque Protection
Prefect Lemas decided during the meeting to beef up security measures around mosques in the island, after a Muslim cultural centre and prayer hall in the southern Corsican town of Sartene was attacked on Saturday, November 27. Unknown assailants fired several shots at the door and the bullets would have hit Imam Mohammad El-Atrache if he had not had the good sense to flattening himself against the wall. Prefect Lemas decided during the meeting to beef up security measures around mosques in the island. The CFCM has pressed for such a measure after the attack on Imam El-Atrache, especially that the assailants daubed a swastika and the slogan "Arabi For a" (Arabs Out in the Corsican language) on the walls of the prayer hall.

Spiraling Racism
Lemas regretted that at least 40 racist acts were reported in the French island since the beginning of the year, saying all residents must renounce violence and racism. Corsica, which is home to a strong nationalist movement, has recently seen an upsurge in attacks on Arab and Muslim immigrants. On May 22, 2004, the Moroccan flag was pulled out from the country's consulate and set afire by unknown attackers. A day later, a Moroccan owner of a meat shop was assaulted. Several attacks also targeted shops owned by Moroccan immigrants on July 7. On September 3, a house, owned by a Moroccan worker, was assaulted by attackers who daubed racist graffiti on the walls calling for the expulsion of Arab immigrants from the island. On October 21, a prayer hall set ablaze by unknown assailants. The island of Corsica and region of Île de France are home to the largest immigrants' community in France where 26,000 immigrants reside, according to a study by the French national institute for statistics and economic studies. Muslims of Moroccan origin make up half of the immigrants. French experts and activists in the field of human rights have warned of the unprecedented escalation of Islamophobia and racism against Muslims in France, estimated at six million. Several mosques in France have recently come under a string of racist attacks and arsons. Last March, two mosques were hit by arson attacks in the two cities of Seynod and Annecy. ©Turks.US

DEBATE OPENS ON 'HONOUR KILLINGS'(Sweden)
7/12/2004- Delegates from around the world are meeting in Sweden to explore ways of combating so-called "honour killings". The international conference will also investigate other forms of patriarchal violence against women. The UN estimates 5,000 women are killed in the name of honour each year, mainly in the Middle East and Asia. The honour killing of a woman is usually carried out by her own relatives, when they believe she has brought shame on the family. This conference gathers key politicians from countries where such violence is thought to occur on a regular basis, and from other countries where patriarchal violence against women is perhaps less visible. They will try to map the extent of the violence and come up with ways to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Women fleeing
The Swedish government organising the conference admits that it is a tough task. Honour killings are not only a crime committed in less developed countries. This country was shocked three years ago when a 26-year-old girl, Fadime Sahendal, who was originally from Kurdistan, was murdered by her own father. He said she had brought shame on her family by going out with a Swedish man. Since then, youth shelters here say the number of young women fleeing violent men has been on the increase. The organisers of this conference are keen to underline that patriarchal violence does not belong to any one religion, and that it is wrong to perceive it to be a problem mainly in the Islamic world.
©BBC News

ALABAMA CLINGS TO SEGREGATIONIST PAST(usa)
US state with racist history votes to keep 'separate schools for white and coloured children' as part of constitution

30/11/2004- During his inaugural address in 1963, the then Alabama governor, George Wallace, took to the steps of the state capitol and made a promise. Standing on the spot where Jefferson Davis had declared an independent southern confederacy just over 100 years before, he pledged: "In the name of the greatest people that ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny and I say: Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation for ever." Yesterday it looked as if he might get his wish, after a referendum in the state looked likely to keep segregation-era wording, requiring separate schools for "white and coloured children" in its constitution as well as references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks. A narrow margin of 1,850 votes out of 1.38 million, or 0.13%, in a referendum on November 2, meant the state was obliged to hold a recount, which took place yesterday. But with no accusations of electoral fraud or any other irregularities, nobody last night expected the result to change. The ballot initiative sought to remove the most objectionable elements of the state's constitution which remain, even though they have been overridden by more recent civil rights legislation. They include passages such as:
"Separate schools shall be provided for white and coloured children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race."
And: "To avoid confusion and disorder and to promote effective and economical planning for education, the legislature may authorise the parents or guardians of minors, who desire that such minors shall attend schools provided for their own race ... "

Almost 50 years since Rosa Parks was ejected from a bus in the shadow of the governor's mansion because she would not move to the back, most people thought the amendment to remove the segregation clause would pass fairly easily. "It was more ceremonial than legalistic," said Bryan Fair, a law professor at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. "The language in the constitution was already unconstitutional and this would have brought Alabama up to date. So it was surprising that something so clear and symbolic would be even close." Even the Montgomery Advertiser, not given to radical outbursts, backed it. "Amendment 2 is a valuable cleansing of a grievous stain on the state's image," it argued in an editorial shortly before the vote. "It should be ratified." But powerful groups and personalities on the right campaigned heavily against it, claiming that the amendment opened the door to lawyers to sue the state and raise taxes. They were most incensed by efforts to remove the section that denied that Alabamians had "any right to education or training at public expense". Opponents claim education is a gift from the state of Alabama, not an entitlement. "You open up that door, that is a trial lawyer's dream, to represent clients that have unbridled opportunity for mischief in raising taxes, tampering with private and parochial schools. It's unlimited," said John Giles, president of Alabama Christian Coalition. "Activists on the bench know no bounds. It's a trial lawyer's dream." Mr Giles's campaign was assisted by the former Alabama chief justice Roy Moore, who has become a local hero since he defied a federal court order to remove a two-ton slab of granite engraved with the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the Alabama supreme court. Mr Giles said he would have been happy to see the racist language go so long as the issue of education rights remained. But many in Alabama believe the taxation argument was simply a ruse for white southerners to flex their muscles, even on a symbolic issue. After the US supreme court ordered the end of segregation 50 years ago, many white southerners simply moved their children from state schools to private academies, often referred to as "seg academies" because they effectively kept segregation intact. Since then Alabama has provided the backdrop for some of the ugliest scenes during the civil rights era, from the bombing of a church in Birmingham that killed four little girls at Sunday school to the beating of marchers on St Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. "There are people here who are still fighting the civil war," Tommy Woods, 63, a deacon at Bethel Baptist church and a retired school administrator, told the Washington Post. "They're holding on to things that are long since past. It's almost like a religion."

A statute banning interracial marriage in the state was struck down only four years ago by 59% to 41%, with a majority of whites voting against the change. This year Mr Moore's former aide, Tom Parker, was elected to the Alabama supreme court even after it became clear that he had been handing out Confederate flags while campaigning and had attended a function honouring the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. "It seems perfectly clear that a number of the people who voted against the amendment did so for purely racist reasons," said Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Centre, an anti-racist monitoring group based in Montgomery. But in one of the most lightly taxed states in the nation the argument that the measure could raise the fiscal burden went a long way, some say. "In Alabama, if an opponent can label a policy as a tax, then 99 times out of 100 the policy fails," said Prof Fair, who is an African American. "Some folks in Alabama are assiduously holding on to what they call southern traditions which are traditions of white people being superior. But racism by itself is far too simple an explanation."

Troubled past
Since Alabama was declared a sovereign and independent state on January 11 1861, it has been a hotbed of racial tensions in the US

December 1955 Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger. Her action prompted the Montgomery Bus Boycott and earned her the title "mother of the modern day civil rights movement".

December 1956 The US supreme court banned segregated seating on Montgomery's public vehicles. The Rev Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks were the first to ride a fully integrated bus.

May 1961 The Freedom Ride, an integrated bus trip from Washington DC, through the Deep South, was formed to test the 1960 supreme court decision prohibiting segregation on buses and trains. It was greeted with violence in Anniston and Birmingham. The Freedom Ride eventually resulted in the interstate commerce commission ruling against segregation in interstate travel.

1963 Birmingham bombings of civil rights-related targets, including the offices of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the home of A D King (brother of Martin Luther King Jr), and the 16th Street Baptist Church (in which four children were killed). Governor Wallace makes a speech at the University of Alabama protesting against federally forced racial integration; Vivian Malone and James Hood register for classes as first African American students.

March 1965 Six hundred demonstrators make the first of three attempts to march from Selma to Montgomery demanding the lifting of voting restrictions on black Americans. They were stopped by police at Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, the pictures of the clashes with police were broadcast across the nation and caused a surge of support for the protesters.

March 1965 The Rev Martin Luther King led 3,200 marchers from Selma toward Montgomery in support of civil rights for blacks. Four days later, outside the Alabama state capitol, King told 25,000 demonstrators: "We are on the move now ... and no wave of racism can stop us."

On August 6 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.

Sept 2000 Selma elects its first black mayor, James Perkins, with 60% of the vote

May 2002 Bobby Frank Cherry is convicted of murder for his part in the bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on September 15 1963, in which four black girls were killed.
©The Guardian

NEW ASYLUM CENTRES FACE OBSTACLES(Slovakia)
Local fears of increased crimes and diseases prevent Labour Ministry from establishing orphanage

15/11/2004- The local branch of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it would help Slovakia improve its asylum and migration policies. Given that several towns and villages in Eastern Slovakia have refused to let the Labour Ministry establish orphanages for refugee children in their areas, the UNHCR said it stands ready to make good on its pledge. The head of the UNHCR in Bratislava, Pierfrancesco Maria Natta, said in a recent visit to Košice that the UNHCR would "support all activities for the improvement of the country's asylum policies, including the building of new asylum centres in eastern Slovakia". The Labour Ministry is currently looking to establish two refugee support centres for unaccompanied minors. Only the village of Celovce near Košice has been receptive to the idea. Most of the municipalities considered as potential places to house the centre cited fear of disease and increased crime rates as reasons for refusal. The Slovak media reported that the citizens of Trencín even organized a petition against the initiative. "What happened in Trencín is the opposite of what happened in Celovce," Natta said. In Celovce, an NGO is busy working with locals to create a refugee centre. "The local mayor and the church were contacted in advance of the project, and the local population has been informed. Everybody in Celovce, as far as I know, has been open to help unaccompanied minors find solutions," Natta said. The supportive attitude demonstrated by the UNHCR is in contrast to statements made just a few months ago when the office sharply criticized Slovakia for granting the fewest number of asylums in the EU despite a sharp increase in applications. In 2004 for instance, Slovakia received more than 9,000 asylum applications but only recognized two. The 2004 figures prompted the UNHCR spokesperson, Mária Cierna, to remind the country that with 0.02 percent, Slovakia had the lowest rate in Europe. Local authorities defended themselves saying that most of the refugees coming into Slovakia see the country as merely a place of transition, and that the refugees would be heading further west to more affluent European states.

Bernard Priecel, the head of the Slovak Migration Office, told The Slovak Spectator that his office was issuing permits under the Geneva Convention, which requires signatories to grant asylum to prosecuted persons. "Slovakia does not issue permits to economic refugees, and the majority of the people who come to Slovakia tell us openly during interviews that they are heading west for better economic conditions," said Priecel November 8. "It is true that we are strict [in granting asylum], but before Slovakia turns into a country that accepts economic migrants there needs to be a political mandate. There has not been such a mandate made," he said. While the UNHCR has been critical of Slovakia's low recognition rates, EU experts recently praised Slovakia's efforts. According to a Dutch organization that specializes in refugee issues, Slovakia is the best prepared of the 10 new EU member states in terms of implementing regulations related to the movement of asylum seekers within the European Union. The evaluation, which was concluded in October, involved Slovakia's Justice and Interior Ministries and the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service, the TASR news agency wrote. Meanwhile, an influx of immigrants to Slovakia has made the country fertile ground for various local and international smuggling gangs. According to recent data published by the Slovak Interior Ministry, the police have stepped up smuggler arrests this year. Interior Minister Vladimír Palko said that in the first half of 2003, police accused 60 people of illegally trespassing into Slovakia, 11 of which were also booked for organised smuggling. In the first half of this year, police nabbed 144 trespassers, 62 of whom they arrested for organised smuggling. Slovak authorities even accused 12 Slovak police officers of involvement in smuggling refugees into the country. According to police, smugglers charge 2,500 to 4,000 per person to get them across the border. "It is evident that the Slovak Republic has become the crossroads for two smuggling routes: from east to west from Russia and the Ukraine, and south to west from the Balkans, making for a mixed flow of migrants and refugees," the Slovak UNHCR office stated in early September. "The stricter border control with Austria forces applicants to surface in Slovakia and ask for asylum here. It is clear that their intention is to continue towards countries with a better economic condition, but also with a higher acceptance rate," the UNHCR noted.
©The Slovak Spectator

SPAIN REFLECTS ON FOOTBALL RACISM ROW
18/11/2004- The racist chanting by Spanish fans at Wednesday night's friendly international in Madrid has embarrassed the government amid fears it could damage the city's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. At Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium, a couple of thousand Spanish fans hurled racist abuse at England's black players every time they came near the ball. The Spanish authorities have condemned the behaviour, but sadly the response came a little late in the day. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that the Spanish government released a press statement condemning the football fans' racist chants. This was several hours after Britain's Sports Minister, Richard Caborn, had demanded some sort of response. In the statement, the Spanish government said the events were "intolerable" and that it "condemned unequivocally" the behaviour of the "small group" of football fans who acted in such a "regrettable" manner.

Punitive measures
At a press conference on Thursday morning about an unrelated matter, I asked Spain's Sports, Education and Science Minister, Maria Jesus san Segundo, for her reaction to Spanish fans making monkey noises at black football players. "I think it's unacceptable to behave like that in a football stadium but also in any other walk of life," she said. "It shows a lack of education. We're now introducing equality lessons onto the national school curriculum. Young people have to realise that regardless of sex, colour or culture every human being is the same. "I'm also meeting the [Spanish] secretary of state for sport to discuss possible punitive measures to deal with this sort of thing in the future." It won't be that easy though. This wasn't a case of right-wing hooligans having a go. As the centre-left newspaper El Pais noted, the racist chanting came as much from groups of well-heeled young Spanish men in the crowd as from the well-known football thugs labelled the "Ultras".

Played down
On the whole though, repugnance for the appalling show of racism was notably lacking in Spain's newspapers. The incident was reported but rather played down. Easily as much column space was devoted to criticism of English forward Wayne Rooney's behaviour on the pitch as to the Spanish fans' bad behaviour off it. Outside the Bernabeu stadium on Thursday, the reaction was mixed. Alejandro, a plumber, said the event was being blown out of proportion. "The kids' chanting last night was stupid but harmless. Football is always about insulting the other team. The racism wasn't meant seriously." His workmate Miguel agreed: "We Spaniards aren't more racist than any other country. Italy has problems with football and racism, doesn't it? It's much worse than here. "I mean look at our star players Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid), Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Ronaldinho (FC Barcelona) - they're not white and we worship them."

'Fans provoked'
Alicia, a production manager, said she thought the Spanish fans' behaviour was much worse than usual because they felt the English press was looking for racism here. "All the English players arrived here in Spain wearing anti-racism T-shirts, as if this were the most racist country on earth," Alicia said. "I know this was in response to [Spanish coach] Luis Aragones' remarks a while back. But it was wrong of the English players and the English press to assume we are all like that. "So I think the fans felt provoked. They thought, 'If they want to see us as racists, then we'll behave as racists.' It's stupid but I think that's what happened." But Julia, a secretary in her 20s, said she was appalled. "I'm so upset at what happened. We all know a black player is the same as a white player. There's no difference at all," she said. Economics student Carlos said: "I was at the match last night and got really angry about what was happening. I hate the fact that this is the face of Madrid, of Spain, that was being broadcast the world over. "Most of us aren't so narrow-minded. People forget there were 80,000 fans at the stadium. Only a small minority behaved so disgustingly."

'Friendly city'
That was certainly the message that Madrid mayor, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, was keen to transmit. "One small group of people cannot be seen as representative of attitudes in Madrid and Spain as a whole," he said. "Madrid has historically been a city open to the world, a friendly city in which nobody feels like a foreigner." No doubt concerned about the possible effect on Madrid's bid to host the 2012 Olympics, he added: "Spanish football and other sports clubs have players from many different countries and ethnic groups. "Here in Madrid alone, citizens from more than 180 different countries live side by side". Feliciano Mayoral, the president of Madrid's Olympic Bid Committee, said that he "rejects and condemns racism" in any form.
©BBC News

SPANISH FA SORRY FOR RACISM
19/11/2004- The Spanish Football Association has sent a letter to its English counterparts apologising for racist chanting during Wednesday's match. The Spanish FA also apologised for similar incidents during Tuesday's Under-21 international. "The FA welcomes the response and now looks forward to receiving details from Fifa on its investigation initiated on Thursday," said an FA statement. The FA is awaiting Fifa's reply after sending them a dossier on the abuse. The apology, written by general secretary Jorge P Arias, was in reply to a letter sent by the English FA. However, the dossier sent to Fifa by the English FA highlights its concern at the lack of action so far taken against Spain manager Luis Aragones for his pre-match inflammatory remarks. And if racism is proved, the Spanish FA could face a large fine or Spain could be forced to play games behind closed doors. The FA's head of media Adrian Bevington said that had the incidents occured in England, the technology is in place to ensure most of the culprits would be caught. "If that had happened in an English stadium, I'd hope those responsible could be identified through the use of CCTV footage and then be punished and prevented from attending future matches," said Bevington. "As we found and learned, the key thing along with any penalty is that education and campaigning is the way forward too." A Fifa statement on Thursday said: "We are concerned about the latest surge of racism and harshly condemn this. (Fifa) will demand explanations from the Spanish Football Association." Fifa president Sepp Blatter said there was, "no room whatsoever for racism or discrimination in our sport". He added: "The world is already too full of conflict that has its roots in racism and discrimination. Football has a positive influence." Early on Friday, Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos apologised "in the name of the Spanish government to anyone who may have felt offended by these expressions". "I have had the opportunity to comment and discuss it with my (British) counterpart Jack Straw and I again express that Spain is a country of tolerance where expressions of racism should have no place," Moratinos said. Sports minister Richard Caborn said: "I will write to my Spanish counterpart to express my outrage. I would like the Spanish FA to condemn the scenes. "I also expect Fifa and Uefa to fully investigate the issue. "There is no place for racism in football or modern society, and I strongly believe that action needs to be taken at the highest level."
©BBC News

IMMIGRATION: HAS THE BACKLASH STARTED?(Spain)
In the wake of the controversy over racist chants at the Spain vs England match, commentators claim Spanish society is attempting to come to terms with an immigrant population which has quadrupled in the past five years. Graham Keeley reports.

24/11/2004- Much has been made of the controversy over the Spain vs England 'friendly' football match last week in which black English players were greeted with 'monkey chants' every time they touched the ball. SOS Racismo, a Spanish campaign group, warned the chants at the game were a symbol of the reaction of Spanish society to the fact it has now the fastest rising level of immigration in Europe. Campaigners fear more instances like those will follow as Spain struggles to come to terms with its rising immigrant population. "A few years ago it was bad to be a racist ... now there is more impunity," complained Begona Sáñchez, a spokeswoman for SOS Racismo. "This is not an isolated incident. It is a signal that, although the vast majority of Spaniards are not racists, this is something that is consolidating here." Campaigners welcomed the condemnation that eventually came from the Spanish authorities. But they warned that it was time that Spaniards, who were mostly upset that anybody should think they might be racists, took the threat seriously. "We have a problem with racism," said Esteban Ibarra of the Movement Against Intolerance. "Either this is stemmed now, or something grave will happen." But aside from last week's incident, what is the real situation with immigration in Spain and who are the foreigners living here? Kashif and Farisa Habib have been living in Barcelona for eight years. For them it is very much home and where they want to bring up their four-year-old daughter and baby son. Kashif, 33, has a well-paid job with a multi-national company, and 27-year-old Farisa has just left work to spend more time with their children. Both are Muslims whose families were from Pakistan but lived in Rochdale, near Manchester in the UK. The Habibs are typical of the kind of young professional family moving to Spain in increasing numbers.

The numbers
But although more and more people are arriving in Spain from other parts of Europe, the real picture of immigration is more complex. Many more foreigners earning a living here are from Latin America and Africa. The Spanish Foreign Ministry revealed the full scale of the numbers who are now settling in this country. The number of legal foreign residents soared to 3.3 million this year- four times the 1998 figure. Immigrants now represent 7.5 percent of the Spanish population of just over 42 million. In 2003, there were 323,010 new arrivals alone – a 24 percent rise on the year before. More than a third are people from the European Union. The British are by far the biggest contingent, with 105,479 permanent residents (6.4 percent of all foreigners). Next come the Germans with 67,963 (4.1 percent) settled in Spain. Other large communities are the Italians who make up 59,745 (3.6 percent), the French with 49,196 (3 percent) and the Portuguese, of whom there are 45,614 (2.8 percent). But the largest contingent of foreigners are the Ecuadorians, who make up 14.6 percent of the foreigners registered in Spain. Next come the Moroccans with 174,289 residents, or 10.6 percent and the Colombians with 107,459 people or 6.5 percent. Other large foreign communities come from Peru (57,593, or 3.5 percent), Argentina (43,347, 2.6 percent) the Dominican Republic (36,654, 2.2 percent), China (56,086, 3.4 percent), Cuba (27,323, 1.7 percent) Bulgaria (24,369, 1.5 percent) and Romania (54,688, 3.3 percent). Unsurprisingly, most immigrants move to the big cities to find work. The largest number of foreigners is in the capital, where 355,035 vie for jobs with the Spanish. Madrid's population of 'extranjeros' is predominantly from South America, though after that the number of Europeans appears to be rising. Barcelona, by contrast, has an African population which is also increasing, with 147,288 making up 16 percent of all foreigners Its place as a port may have a historical role to play in attracting more people from abroad. After these two major cities, Murcia, Alicante, Valencia and Malaga have large immigrant populations.

The illegals
Illegal immigration from Morocco and Latin America is a controversial topic in Spain. Each week many thousands of Moroccans make forlorn journeys in tiny, dangerous boats called 'pateras' across the sea to the mainland or the Canary Islands. Many have died or been arrested by the Spanish police and subsequently sent back. Often they have spent all their savings paying the human traffickers who arrange the journeys in the vain hope they could find a new life in Spain. More than 92,679 were repatriated in 2003. For the 'clandestinos', or illegal immigrants, who make it, working in the 'black' economy can be desperately hard. A 25-year-old painter from Mozambique, who arrived in Spain last year finds occasional work in Madrid, told of the difficulties. 'Miguel', who did not want to give his real name, said: "It is difficult to find work. "I have been for many jobs but when they know you have no official papers, they don't want to know. "When I did get work, the boss tried to cheat me out of money because he knew that I could not complain to the police." But he added: "I was lucky because I knew people here in Spain. If you know no-one it is very hard. I know of Africans living with up to 20 people in a room." Kashif Habib believes Spain is still adjusting to a rising immigrant population and its attendant problems. As an Asian, he has only experienced one instance of racism in eight years, but he believes some Spaniards will no doubt react against the tide of immigration. He said: "When I first arrived here, there were few immigrants from Asia, and now parts of Barcelona are like Pakistan. "I think Spain is today where Britain was in the early 1970s in terms of the numbers of immigrants living in the country and the feeling towards them. "In Britain there was a feeling of open racism whereas here it may be more or less open. But I think it is there. I believe there might be a backlash like this here in Spain."

In June, illegal immigrants staged large-scale demonstration in Barcelona, in which hundreds stormed a cathedral and staged a sit-in brought the issue to head. It proved hugely unpopular and was condemned by unions and other groups who might be sympathetic to this issue. So perhaps the backlash has started? Campaigners have long been demanding a change in the regulations governing how immigrants can get legally registered. Already, Socialist prime minister Jose Lluis Rodriguez Zapatero has promised that by next year, those with six-month contracts will be able to apply for residence and work permits. The Socialists claim this will bring many 'illegals' into the system. In exchange for legal status, they will of course pay tax and social security payments, which the state has so far missed out on. The government believes this will benefit Spain, whose birth rate is still one of the lowest in Europe; more foreign taxpayers will finance the increasing cost of caring for the country's rising elderly population. But critics have said new system will be unworkable; the 'black economy' will continue unabated, with bosses being reluctant to offer contracts to illegal immigrants is they they think they can pay less to illegals. Despite potential penalties for not providing contracts, many believe most employers will continue to avoid offering contracts to illegal immigrants. And, even if immigrants are 'legal residents', will this make any difference to how they are perceived by mainstream Spanish society?
©Expatica News

REAL MADRID RACIST CHANTS TACKLED BY UEFA
26/11/2004- Uefa will consider television evidence and "other information" before deciding whether to take action against Real Madrid for the racist chanting which marred their Champions League tie against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. Sections of the Bernabéu crowd are alleged to have made monkey chants towards Leverkusen's Brazil defenders Roque Junior and Juan dos Santos, and television cameras captured a small group of Madrid supporters making Nazi salutes. Neither incident was included in the referee's report, but Uefa is still set to investigate. European football's governing body said in a statement: "During the Group B game at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, fans were seen making Nazi salutes while racist chanting was heard." The incidents came a week after England's black players were racially abused at the Bernabéu in an international friendly that Spain won 1-0. Real Madrid issued a statement on Wednesday condemning racist behaviour, but said yesterday they were unaware of any incidents. The club added that the Uefa president Lennart Johansson, who watched the game beside the Real president Florentino Perez, had not seen problems, either. Television images, reproduced yesterday in the Spanish press, showed bare-chested members of Real Madrid's Ultra Sur group making the Nazi salute during the fixture. The Uefa announcement comes in the midst of a debate over the extent of racism in Spanish football. Spain's government was forced to apologise for fans' behaviour after the England match. The Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos revaled that he was a victim of racist chanting during Saturday's 3-0 away defeat to Barcelona. "The chants against me were racist treatment," he was quoted as saying. "They [the fans] have treated me well in Barcelona, but I do not understand what happened on Saturday. It is pity that in the 21st century these things keep occurring."
©The Guardian

FA IRELAND 'INDIFFERENT TO ANTI-RACISM PLAN'
21/11/2004- The embattled Football Association of Ireland has come under fire from another quarter this weekend: anti-racist campaigners. Sport Against Racism Ireland has claimed the association is indifferent to its campaign against racism and sectarianism in the game. The head of the anti-racist campaign, Frank Buckley, said the association had failed to engage with a 10-point plan backed by Uefa, the European football body, to counter these problems. Buckley said his group would 'bypass the FAI' and contact Eircom League clubs directly. So far three clubs - Bohemians, Shelbourne and Drogheda United - have signed up to the charter, and Drogheda has warned in its match programmes that anyone caught making racist or sectarian chants will be banned from its ground for life. Uefa provided 33,000 to each member of the pan-European anti-racist network Farenet to fight racism and bigotry on and off the pitch. 'Over the last three years we sent many letters to the FAI asking them to support the 10-point plan. 'They just seem to be indifferent to our campaign, which is all the more important after the events in Madrid last week,' Buckley said. Football associations across Europe have adopted similar Uefa-backed plans. Buckley called on the Irish association to open talks with its northern equivalent, the IFA, to combat racism and sectarianism in soccer throughout Ireland. He praised the IFA's 'Let's Give Sectarianism the Boot' campaign. Michael Boyd, the northern association's community relations officer, said it has met Buckley's group. 'A lot of its work we would see as overlapping with our own "Football for All" campaign and we should certainly meet again,' he said. No one was available from the FAI this weekend to comment on Buckley's claims. The Republic's football chiefs did put up posters for a match against Australia last year calling on supporters to stop booing players from other nations because their dislike the teams the visitors play for in the domestic game.
©The Observer

CAUGHT IN A CIRCLE OF HATE(Comment)
In Madrid and Antwerp, Russia and Corsica, racist cries are heard beyond soccer stadiums
By Will Hutton

21/11/2004- This year, the Asian Cup was pockmarked by an ugly racism. The Japanese football team was consistently and extraordinarily abused by Chinese fans. Racist chants during the final went unheeded by 12,000 Chinese police and security forces. Besides this, events in Madrid's Bernabeu stadium, where part of the Spanish crowd at last Wednesday night's fixture monkey-chanted at England's black players, look rather less extraordinary. There is a new and ugly sentiment abroad and it's not just in Europe. In Asia, Russia and even the USA, despicable prejudices about 'the other' held by the majority of the indigenous population are never far from the surface, but after a period of decline and apparent cultural agreement that they are unacceptable, they are re-emerging. One of the ways human beings have defined their identity and sense of belonging from time immemorial is by both insisting on what the tribe shares and by insisting on what the tribe is not, so validating prejudices against other human beings who offend any moral, religious or ethical code. Philosopher Peter Singer has argued that because humans are endowed with an innate moral sense, the human group within which we unambiguously acknowledge reciprocal moral claims has been expanding, from members of the same cave, to the tribe and now to all humanity. It comes as a shock to find that in 2004, he is wrong; any gains that have been made are precarious and easily reversed. Being inside the moral circle for a vocal and growing minority is conditional on the colour of your skin and, as poisonous still, on what culture and religion your skin colour might indicate you belong.

Political correctness is often attacked, but words do matter. It mattered that some time before the game in Madrid, the coach of the Spanish national team, Luis Aragones, had called Arsenal's Thierry Henry a 'black shit' and had not withdrawn the remark. If a man in a leadership position can say that and get away with it, a cultural benchmark is established. Once the sentiment is articulated, it becomes a social fact. Some thousands of Spanish fans took their cue from their team's coach and gave vent to the newly minted and legitimatised racism. But the larger question is why the feelings are there and why they seem to be mounting in so many EU member states. Spain accepts five times more immigrants than Britain; Madrid's booming economy has needed its immigrant population to quintuple to 14 per cent over the last four years. But anti-campaigners warn that racist reactions are less and less subterranean. Spain is not alone. In France, especially in Corsica, racist and anti-semitic attacks are on the rise; there have been more in the first nine months of this year than in the whole of 2003. Jean-Christophe Rufin, vice president of Médicins sans Frontière and Goncourt Prize winner, in a report last month for the French government said that if the rise went unchecked, it would ultimately be harnessed by organised political forces for menacing ends. Those convicted of anti-semitism, he found, shared common characteristics, such as a 'lack of bearings, a rootlessness, a loss of identity, a sense of social frustration and failure, a disintegrated family'. In other words, being themselves lost, they found meaning by withdrawing the moral circle from those with a different colour.

But it is Belgian and Dutch societies which are most convulsed by racism. Both have large Muslim populations concentrated in their ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam but now spreading beyond; a simmering racist reaction has been raised to fever pitch by the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic fundamentalist. Racist acts against Muslims are growing explosively, reciprocated by Muslim death threats against prominent politicians; Belgian socialist Mimount Bousakla, who criticised senior Muslim figures for not condemning the murder, is in hiding while Dutch conservative Geert Wilders, who wants the closure of radical mosques and a ban on non-Western immigration while better education and employment opportunities for Muslims are found, is under permanent police protection. Immigrant and indigenous Dutch and Belgians are redrawing the moral circle to exclude the 'other'. Opinion poll support for parties and politicians claiming to speak honestly about the situation - in other words, those who say that Muslims are the problem - is climbing to new highs. It is a tinderbox. The question is what to do about it. If Rufin's analysis is right, then part of any response must be to tackle rootlessness, fragmentation and dissociation, which is easier said than done in societies where geographical mobility is rising and mass employment in manufacturing, once a fundamental underpinning of community and neighbourhood, is declining with deindustrialisation. Globalisation and the rapid pace of change are removing the anchors of societies; rapid immigration of the type seen in Holland, Belgium and Spain only adds to the brew. The exposed and marginalised communities in host societies feel under threat; they respond by putting up a moral fence against the outsider, the threatening, free-riding 'other'.

And if the 'other' is part of the same race and culture as the targets of the 'war against terror', then there is further legitimisation of rank prejudice. Here, some strains of radical Islam have raised the temperature by effectively excluding non-Muslims from their moral circle, in some cases even appearing to endorse the beheadings and revenge killings we have witnessed in recent months. White and Islamic racism clash head to head; the result is a potential calamity. Majorities on both sides of the divide must resist the pressure to join the closing moral circle. Protestant and Catholic extremists in Northern Ireland have touched depths of inhumane depravity in their long war, as have Basque and Corsican separatists; majorities in Britain, France and Spain have understood that the depraved, quasi-racist behaviour of extremists is not representative of all Northern Irish Catholics and Protestants, Basques and Corsicans. But then they were white. Precisely the same rule applies to Muslims. We cannot allow there to be any cherry-picking about who falls inside and outside our moral circle; monkey chants at black footballers are as dangerous as Nazi insignia on synagogues or accusations that Islam is a religion disposed to murder. Every individual warrants moral respect; any qualification can only challenge that general truth. Down that route lies perdition. European societies, our own included, are being put to the test, as are others worldwide. Europe must not be found wanting again.
©The Observer

GERMAN CARDINAL LASHES OUT AT 'SECULAR EUROPE'
19/11/2004- German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a close advisor of Pope John Paul II, has issued a strong attack against "secular Europe", which he accuses of "decadence", "intolerance" towards Christians and ostracism towards God. In an interview published on Friday by the Italian daily La Repubblica, the cardinal speaks of a Europe that is living through a major transformation - from one based on Christian culture to an aggressive and at times intolerant (form of) secularism". "Secularism is no longer neutral," the cardinal said, it is beginning to transform itself into an ideology that imposes itself through politics and does not leave any room to the Christian and Catholic vision." Cardinal Ratzinger, who is considered one of the most conservative voices in the Roman Curia, heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a Church body formerly known as the Inquisition. The congregation seeks to spread sound doctrine and defend those points of Christian tradition which seem in danger because of new and unacceptable doctrines", the Vatican's website explains. His interview in La Repubblica contributed to an ongoing debate in Italy on the role of Christians in Europe. The debate was sparked by the European Parliaments rejection of Rocco Buttiglione - an Italian Catholic politician - as European Union commissioner because of his ultra-conservative views on women and homosexuality. Some Catholics in Italy now speak of feeling persecuted in Europe because of their ideas. In an apparent reference to the Buttiglione affair, Cardinal Ratzinger said God was being "marginalised" by modern day society. "It appears almost that, in politics, it has become indecent to talk about God, as if it represents an attack on the freedom of those who do not believe," he said. "A society in which God is totally absent self-destructs. We have seen this happen during the totalitarian regimes of the past century," he added. Cardinal Ratzinger reiterated his opposition to homosexuality, describing Spains recent decision to allow same-sex marriages as destructive for the family and society, but also acknowledged that Christians were finding it increasingly hard to make themselves understood.
©Expatica News

INTEGRATION DEBATE HEATS UP IN GERMANY
20/11/2004- Leading German politicians have said Muslims will have to integrate themselves better if they wish to remain in the country. This coincides with conservatives' calls to emphasize patriotism and Christian values. Speaking at his party's convention in Munich, Bavarian Premier and Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Edmund Stoiber demanded a clear commitment from immigrants to the basic values of German society. "Yes to openness and tolerance, no to Islamist head scarves," Stoiber told delegates, who unanimously voted against a Turkish EU membership and for cutting social welfare benefits for foreigners who are unwilling to integrate. Stoiber, who called on young Germans to reclaim "traditional German values" such as a willingness to perform, discipline, punctuality, a sense of duty and politeness, received backing from several other conservative leaders.

A German leading culture?
In an interview with German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, Jörg Schönbohm, the interior minister of the eastern German state of Brandenburg, rehashed demands for a so-called German Leitkultur, or leading culture, which had been at the center of a heated debate several years ago. "Anyone who comes here has to accept the German leading culture," said Schönbohm (photo, below), a member of the CSU's sister party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He added that Germans share a common language, values and laws. "We cannot allow foreigners to destroy this common basis," he said. Conservatives should also pay more attention to patriotism and Christian values to prevent voters from shifting to right-wing extremist parties as happened in recent state elections, he added. Bavarian Interior Minister Günther Beckstein agreed with Schönbohm's calls for a leading culture. "Multi-culturalism, as propagated by the red-green (German government) for years, has proven to be illusionary," he said.

Schröder warns of "conflict of cultures"
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder meanwhile also called on Muslims to better integrate themselves in German society. Schröder warned of a "conflict of cultures" and said Muslims "must clearly and without misunderstanding demonstrate that they accept our legal order and democratic rules." He said that the state had to insist on the fact that "our willingness to integrate corresponds to a willingness to be integrated on the part of those who come here." In his speech, to be delivered later on Saturday when Berlin's Jewish museum offers a tolerance prize to former President Johannes Rau, Schröder emphasized the importance for foreigners living in Germany to learn the language. "Without linguistic abilities, no integration and no dialogue can take place," he said.

Unfair treatment?
Calling on German leaders to promote active participation of foreigners in local government and volunteer organizations, Sigmar Gabriel, a former Social Democratic premier of the northern German state of Lower Saxony, said the state should also push for more immigrants in the country's police force. "The state has to say: We need you," Gabriel said. German politicians have been debating the integration of the country's estimated three million Muslims following the killing of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Islamic extremist on Nov. 2 and the resulting tension and violence in the neighboring country. But Turkey's ambassador to Germany, Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik, told Focus newsmagazine that it was unfair to put Germany's Muslim community in the dock. Saying that only 3 to 4 percent of Turks living in Germany were Islamic radicals, Irtemcelik called on politicians to work with millions of his countrymen willing to integrate themselves into German society.
©Deutsche Welle

NEO-NAZIS ON TRIAL OVER MUNICH SYNAGOGUE PLOT(Germany)
23/11/2004- Amid concern over rightwing extremists in Germany, a trial begins on Wednesday against four neo-Nazis on terrorism charges in connection with a plot to blow up a Munich synagogue last year. Prosecutors say they will seek to prove the neo-Nazis, who had obtained 1.7 kilogrammes of bomb-making TNT for the attack, were also planning other bombings in the Bavarian capital. The four men going on trial belonged to a neo-Nazi group called the "Southern Comrades" and include its leader, Martin Wiese, 28, and three of his followers, also in their 20s. According to German Chief Federal Prosecutor General Kay Nehm, the evidence shows the group were preparing to set off a bomb on the synagogue site near Munich's Jakobsplatz square to disrupt the cornerstone-laying ceremonies last 9 November. The group bought explosives in Poland and tested them in small blasts in remote areas, officials say. Police seized a total of 14 kilogrammes of explosives in September, including the 1.4 kilogrammes of TNT high explosive. The group had intended to hide their bomb in a sewer pipe under the site. In mid-August last year, the plot was cancelled after several members of the group were questioned by police. Police arrested the men in September and discovered the explosives. Nehm said the group had also contemplated setting off a bomb in the Marienplatz, Munich's main square and a magnet for tourists. It also considered attacking persons it considered leftist, including the state Social Democratic leader, Franz Maget. The date of the synagogue foundation ceremony - 9 November - is full of symbolism: It would have been 65 years after Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938, when Nazi thugs vandalised and burned synagogues all over Germany and their policy of persecution of Jews was turned into the naked violence of the Holocaust. It also marks the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's abortive Munich Beer Hall Putsch on 9 November 1923, which his fledgling Nazi party attempted to seize power violently. Today, most German Jewish community centres are under almost permanent police protection for fear of attacks by Islamists or neo- Nazis, with roads outside closed to traffic and the compounds walled off. The Munich trial opens after far-right political parties made strong gains in two regional elections in September. In eastern German Saxony state, the anti-immigrant National Democratic Party (NPD) won 9 percent, while in Brandenburg state the German People's Union (DVU) garnered 6 percent. Under Germany's proportional representation system both parties will gain seats in the state parliaments for having crossed the 5 percent hurdle.
©Expatica News

SETBACK FOR ROMA HOLOCAUST MONUMENT(Germany)
25/11/2004- Efforts to move forward plans for a Sinti and Roma Holocaust monument have become bogged down again in the German parliament over the word "gypsies". Members of all major political parties expressed dismay that no compromise has been found as yet on avoiding use of the term. A compromise plan to dedicate the planned Berlin memorial to "all persons called 'gypsies' by the Nazis" failed to win support for passage on Wednesday. At issue is whether the Sinti and Roma groupings represent all traveller peoples who were persecuted by the Nazi regime.
©Expatica News

15,000 ATTEND AMSTERDAM UNITY CONCERT
21/11/2004- An estimated 15,000 people attending a mini festival in Amsterdam have been told all communities in the city have to stand by each other in the face of the racial tensions of recent weeks. Major Dutch pop acts came up with the idea of the Stay Close! concert in the wake of the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam on 2 November. All performers emphasised at the Sunday concert that the people of Amsterdam, regardless of their colour, religion or race, have to remain close by each other. At least 20 mosques and churches around the Netherlands have been targeted by arsonists in tit-for-tat attacks since Van Gogh's assassination. He was an outspoken critic of Islam and a Muslim man, 26, has been arrested for his murder. A note pinned to Van Gogh's body with a knife warned that MPs Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, as well as MP Jozias van Aartsen, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Liberal Party (VVD), would be killed next if they did not stop criticising Islam. The artists taking part in the two-hour concert included Marmoucha dakka, Ali B., Blof, Lange Frans and Kane. The audience was a good representation of Amsterdam's 170 nationalities. People of all ages and colour crowded together in the city's Museumplein on a cold and wet afternoon to enjoy the music and support the call for harmony. The event was hosted by Dolf Jansen and Howard Komproe, who expressed surprise at some of the reactions to the killing. Referring to deputy prime minister Gerrit Zalm's "declaration of war" on extremists, Komproe asked: "We are still talking about the sober and common sense Dutch? I haven't witnessed much of this in the last few weeks." The concert was opened by drummer Marmoucha dakka, followed by rapper Ali B. who told the crowd that various Dutch artists had formed a "front" against intolerance.
©Expatica News

DEATH HIGHLIGHTS SEGREGATION OF DUTCH MUSLIMS
22/11/2004- Theo van Gogh was a kind of high-brow Howard Stern, a clown-provocateur who called one Muslim activist "Mohammed's pimp," and routinely dismissed others as devotees of sex with goats. The Dutch filmmaker and columnist, a distant relative of the great painter, was perhaps a walking warning sign of the rupture in a Dutch society known for its embrace of multiculturalism and tolerance. But when he was ritually killed on an Amsterdam street three weeks ago, allegedly by a Dutch-born Islamic extremist with ties to a global jihadi network, he became a symbol of something else: Europe's vulnerability to acts of terror and its unmet challenge of integrating the increasingly disaffected Muslim minority that lives within its borders. The aftermath of what some are calling "the Dutch September 11th" has ushered in some of the ugliest ethnic violence - and toughest government responses - in recent memory. It also has highlighted how terror networks find recruits among Europe's alienated Muslims. And it is promoting anguish among Muslim Dutch residents whose condemnation of such violence has not spared them accusing glares, public accostings and, sometimes, worse. "A guy came up to me in a coffee shop three days ago, and said: 'I hope you are not Muslim,' " recounted Egyptian-born Sayed Mansour, who has lived here since 1985. "Someone did something horrible, and the whole community is blamed." Horrible it was. After he was chased down and shot, van Gogh had his throat slit, and a note was impaled on his body threatening politicians critical of Islamic conservatives. The killing - apparently in response to Submission, van Gogh's recent film about abused Muslim women in which verses of the Koran are shown written on naked female backs - stunned and enraged the country. Twenty mosques were vandalized or burned. Several churches then were bombed in apparent retaliation. As security services swooped in to arrest terror suspects in the Hague, one detonated a hand grenade, wounding three officers. Authorities detained a Muslim translator for the Dutch intelligence agency on suspicion of leaking secrets to terror suspects. "The jihad has come to the Netherlands," proclaimed Jozias van Aartsen, a leading member of parliament. The center-right government rolled out a series of antiterror proposals that, in the words of one commentator, "make the Patriot Act look like 'Kumbaya.' " Some foreign news accounts have spoken of a "loss of innocence," but in fact the Netherlands lost its innocence about immigration and ethnic relations long ago. After decades of policies that encouraged Turkish and Moroccan "guest workers" to live apart in segregated enclaves, the Dutch government has been trying since the mid-1990s to figure out how to deal with the schism separating many of the country's 945,000 Muslims from the rest of society, even as it imposed one of Europe's most restrictive immigration laws to reduce the flow of newcomers.

In recent years, it had become clear that the country had what officials call "an integration problem." Some Muslim immigrants weren't bothering to learn Dutch, and some were embracing fundamentalist ideologies that do not share the Dutch reverence for tolerance and freedom of speech. At the same time, a crime problem among Moroccan youths fueled racism and discrimination. Flash-point incidents - antigay statements by conservative Islamic clerics, for example, or allegations of police abuse against Moroccans - have become commonplace. Experts say the divisions are exacerbated by a culture of global Muslim grievance, transmitted through the Internet and Arabic satellite channels, that includes fierce anger over Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories and U.S. actions in Iraq. In the 1960s, the Netherlands recruited uneducated guest workers on the assumption that they eventually would return to their home countries, said Han Entzinger, a professor of migration and integration studies at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. When they did not, the Dutch promoted a "multiculturalism that in fact included little respect for others and maybe even little acceptance," he said. "It was a kind of indifferent form of 'live and let live.' " The Netherlands' population of 16.1 million is one of Europe's most ethnically diverse, with nearly 3.1 million residents of foreign backgrounds, according to the national statistics office. Muslims are 5.8 percent of the Dutch population. Among the newcomers are immigrants from such former Dutch colonies as Indonesia and Suriname, as well as South Asians, East Asians and Eastern Europeans. Also among them are 352,000 Turks and 302,000 Moroccans, by the government's count. Many live in the major cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where residents of foreign origin are expected to make up a majority within a decade. Poverty and unemployment among those two groups are high. But the man charged with van Gogh's murder, Mohammed Bouyeri, 26, is not disadvantaged - he is a university-educated ethnic Moroccan who was born here and speaks fluent Dutch. He was part of a network of extremists who were under surveillance by intelligence agents, and there is evidence linking the network to those who carried out the Madrid, Spain, train bombings that killed 191 people in March. So on one level, the killing poses a discrete problem for the Dutch: how to root out terrorists in their midst. But on another level, it highlights a thorny culture clash over free speech and civil discourse.

Since the rise of right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn, who made a career out of criticizing Muslim extremism and loose immigration policies (and who was killed in 2002 by a deranged non-Muslim assailant), some Dutch people have felt free to make what many Muslims consider to be deeply offensive statements about Islam. After the van Gogh murder, the Dutch justice minister, Piet Hein Donner, was so concerned about extreme rhetoric that he proposed stepped-up enforcement of an anti-blasphemy law to curb "hateful comments." But his proposal quickly was criticized by other cabinet members, including the immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, who argued that Muslims were simply too sensitive to criticism. In a speech after van Gogh's funeral, Verdonk, a former prison warden, used the terms "us" and "them" in a manner that angered many Muslims. Although some Muslims have said publicly that van Gogh got what he deserved, the majority appear to deplore the killing. Indeed, Entzinger said, his studies show that most Dutch Muslims share the public values held by the rest of Dutch society. In Amsterdam's predominantly Moroccan neighborhood last week, a sign in a coffee-shop window said: "He was murdered for his words. Out with extremism." In another coffee shop down the street, Mohamed Kacem, 35, a Moroccan-born taxi driver, was rolling one of Holland's famously legal marijuana joints. "You have to catch the extremists and punish them," he said in fluent English. "This is not good. It's not Islam." But, he said, van Gogh's antics had long made Muslims wonder: "How far can you go in insulting someone?" "You can't murder someone for what he says," Kacem said, "but I think there should be a law against insulting religion." Prem Radhakishun, a lawyer, broadcaster and close friend of van Gogh's, said he feared the country was in for a tough time. "We're going to see extreme white people thinking that they can do [anything] they want, and extreme Muslims thinking that they have to defend themselves," he said. "I think no one has the answer at the moment."
©Philadelphia Inquirer

BOYS ARRESTED FOR MUSLIM SCHOOL ARSON(Netherlands)
25/11/2004— Three boys have been arrested for the arson attack that destroyed a Muslim primary school in the Dutch town of Uden two weeks ago. The suspects, whose ages range from 14 to 15, were arrested in the last few days. Public prosecutor Charles van der Voort told a press conference in the town on Thursday that the three are also part of a group of six teenage boys suspected of attempting to burn down the local mosque. Police have not uncovered any evidence that the six are connected to right-wing extremist groups or were involved in other attacks. The destruction of the Muslim school was the most serious incident in a spate of tit-for-tat attacks on Muslim properties and Christian churches following the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam on 2 November. A 26-year-old Muslim man was arrested for the killing.
©Expatica News

ISLAMOPHOBIA MAKES BRITISH MUSLIMS FEEL INCREASINGLY 'ISOLATED'
22/11/2004- Muslims in Britain are suffering soaring levels of Islamophobia and discrimination based on their faith, rather than the colour of their skin, a report published today says. Experts warned that significant numbers of British Muslims, particularly young men, are being marginalised by the inequalities they suffer compared with white and other ethnic groups. Of British Muslims, 80 per cent said they had suffered Islamophobia. The study, published to launch Islam Awareness Week, calls on the Government to do more to tackle discrimination and engage the Muslim community in society. Sher Khan, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "There is a real potential for Muslim people to become increasingly isolated within Britain, which goes completely against the idea of trying to create a more cohesive society. It is not going to be possible to achieve integration unless the concerns of British Muslims are addressed by the Government." But he added: "It has to be a two-way process. British Muslims have got to build bridges and be proactive in terms of integrating with the rest of society." The report, by the Open Society Institute, found that since the 11 September attacks 80 per cent of Muslims said they had been subjected to some form of Islamophobia. Two thirds of British Muslims felt they were perceived and treated differently from other groups, and 32 per cent said they had been discriminated against at British airports because of their religion.

Between 2001 and 2003, the number of Asian people stopped and searched under the Terrorism Act rose by 302 per cent, compared with 230 per cent for black people and 118 per cent for whites. The report warned: "The high number of stop-and-searches, and the gap between the number of searches and actual arrests, charges and convictions, is leading to a perception among British Muslims of being unfairly policed, and is fuelling a strong disaffection and sense of being under siege." One in three Muslims felt that the Government was doing too little to protect the rights of different faith groups in the UK. The report also found that as well as suffering overt verbal and physical attacks, British Muslims are among the most economically and socially disadvantaged groups in the country. They have the lowest employment rate of any faith group, at 38 per cent. The unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds runs at 17.5 per cent for Muslims, compared with 7.9 per cent for Christians and 7.4 per cent for Hindus. One in three Muslims of working age has no qualification, the highest of any faith group. Four out of 10 Muslim children live in overcrowded accommodation, compared with 12 per cent of the population as a whole. Two-thirds of the Muslim population live in the 88 most deprived districts of England, and as a faith group, they have the highest rates of illness. There are 1.6 million Muslims in the UK, 3 per cent of the population. The Muslim community is also one of the youngest; one-third of those who follow the religion are under the age of 16, compared with one-fifth of the population as a whole. The average age of Muslims is 28, 13 years younger than the national average. Years of social and economic disadvantage, coupled with the suspicion they have come under after the terror attacks in the US, has led to the increasing demonisation and isolation of young men, researchers say. The report concludes: "While policy is moving in the right direction, progress is still not enough to enable some of the real and rapid changes now required. "Muslim young men have emerged as the new 'folk devils' of popular and media imagination, being represented as the embodiment of fundamentalism. "To be a British Muslim is defined solely in terms of negativity, deprivation, disadvantage and alienation." It calls for better representation of Muslims in public life, such as the education and criminal justice systems, and more targeted policies aimed at narrowing the inequality gap between the Islamic community and other ethnic groups. The report also suggests offering Arabic as a modern language option in schools, and including Muslim civilisation in history lessons. For the majority of Muslims, the issue of their faith is more important than their ethnicity, the report says. The high commissioner of Pakistan urged British Muslims to do more to fit into society. Dr Maleeha Lodhi said better integration would help to "beat the extremists" - in terms of both racism towards Muslims and Islamic fundamentalism. "You can integrate without assimilating, so you are part of British society," she said.

'They were glaring at me and then picked up some stones'
Dr Sara Saigol, a hospital doctor, lives in Manchester with her husband, Khalid Anis, a dentist, and their three children. She was born in Britain and had never experienced Islamophobia until one terrifying afternoon last summer. As she walked along a main road in Manchester with her children, three men on a building site began shouting "Paki" at her. "They were glaring at me, and then started picking up stones and looking as if they were about to throw them at me," she said. "I had a double buggy and my daughter skipping behind me, so I couldn't go very fast.I was very intimidated and completely shocked. "The majority of British society is nothing like that but I couldn't believe that these men were doing this on a main road, and in a multicultural place like Manchester." She went on: "It is difficult to know ... whether it is racism based on the colour of my skin, or Islamophobia based on the fact I was wearing a hijab, but I think it was based on the way I was dressed. There has been a change in the way Muslims are perceived since 11 September 2001, and the way we are portrayed." Her husband agrees: "Our local mosque was vandalised recently and people I know have been abused in the street. "The discrimination can be very subtle. If there is a bomb attack, it is always described as Islamic terrorism, but when Amir Khan was boxing for Britain in the Olympics, he was described as being a Bolton lad; nothing was mentioned about him being a Muslim. "People ask me if it is possible to be British and a Muslim. Of course it is. I find the question ludicrous."
© Independent Digital

HAS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD OR HAS HOWARD LOST THE PLOT?(uk)
We hardly hear words like 'nigger' now for one reason: generations of politically correct people fought against them
By Johann Hari

26/11/2004- Michael Howard is playing a dangerous game. This week's Conservative party political broadcast was a naked rant against "political correctness". An array of white people - and one token Asian - were shown talking about their fear of crime. Michael Howard then explained - with a pained expression - that the reason for this terror is the "handcuffing" of our police by the forces of political correctness. Starting next year, extra measures will be put in place by the Labour government to stop the police harassing innocent black people. The reasons are stark and simple. A young black man is still six times more likely to be randomly stopped by the police than a young white guy. Black drivers of smart cars complain they are constantly pulled over for the unofficial offence of "Driving While Black". This police harassment - quite apart from being wrong and racist in itself - actually increases crime, because it makes the black community more reluctant to co-operate with police investigations. Howard knows this. He knows the new measures - which require the police to log each person they stop and take a quick note of it - were strongly recommended by the public inquiry into Stephen Lawrence's murder as "necessary to tackle institutional racism in the police force". He has decided to play politics with it anyway - and in the most inflammatory way. The Tory leader has chosen publicly to charge - in a broadcast entirely free of Afro-Carribean victims of crime - that "political correctness gone mad" is feeding lawlessness. It doesn't take an expert to join the dots between his statements: if you stop harassing black men, crime will grow. Howard likes the charge of "political correctness" so much he has decided to use it as a spear in the general election campaign. This summer, he laid out his approach in a remarkable speech. He said PC was "driving people crazy" and "playing into the hands of extremists". Yet the only evidence for this "cancer" that Howard and his army of full-time researchers could come up with was a handful of trivial anecdotes. You know the drill: a council refusing to hang the St George's flag during a football match, a few prisoners allowed to claim a "right" to hard-core porn, and so on.

Why the lack of examples with real victims? Easy: because the stories always trotted out as evidence of the excesses of PC - the banning of "Baa-Baa Black Sheep" and so on - turn out to be urban myths. Far from being a "left-wing tyranny" and "a thought-crime", political correctness exists far more in the wild imaginations of the right than in everyday life. When PC does impinge on our daily lives - as in the Government's new police proposals - there is a very good reason for it. But for all the intellectual emptiness of his speech, Howard got the headlines he wanted - "Tory boss savages PC". "Political correctness" has become a generic term used by the right to slap down the extension of equality to minority groups without seeming like monsters. Few people will openly admit they believe it's acceptable for the police to bully black men, or for gay people to be denied equal rights, or for grossly abusive terms to be used about the disabled or women. Instead, they simply sneer at everybody who actually wants to end these abuses. How do these people imagine words like "nigger", "faggot" and "kike" faded from public discourse? We hardly ever hear them now for one reason: earlier generations of politically correct people fought against them. Minorities - supported by, yes, decent left-wingers - made it clear that they were unacceptable. Michael Howard, of course, implies he would always have been on the side of decency in the past; it's just now that things are "over-stepping the mark" that he has turned against all progressive reforms. He boasts today, "I have supported all sensible measures to combat race, disability and sex discrimination. I support civil partnerships [for gay couples]." There's only one problem with this: it's not true. For him, every decent step has been a step too far. Howard personally piloted Section 28 - the most nakedly homophobic piece of legislation introduced in the past 50 years - through the House of Commons. He chided all the Labour MPs who warned that it would lead to homophobic bullying and teenage suicides as - you guessed it - "politically correct".

It gets worse. He refused - flatly, bitterly refused - to launch a public inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence when he was Home Secretary. If his stubborn policy of hear-no-racism, see-no-racism had prevailed, we still wouldn't know about the endemic racism in our police force, and there would have been even more poorly-investigated black deaths and more racist murderers walking free. (So much for him being "tough on crime".) "Censorship! Censorship!" the right cry when these facts are pointed out. "Why are you trying to silence people? Why can't people be free to use the words they are comfortable with?" This sounds appealing at first. I believe free speech is the most important right in a democracy, and if anybody wanted to enforce PC codes legally, I'd be totally against it. But in ordinary social discourse, there always have to be limits. Nobody except the BNP wants to bring terms like "Paki" back into our schools and newspapers. So, outside the far right, we are all merely haggling about where the boundaries of offensive speech should lie: a female "chairman" here, a "crippled" there. These are plodding adjustments to our speech, and they are always slowly happening. Who now, for example, remembers terms like "Hottentots" and "piccaninnies"? But that doesn't make for a rabble-enraging speech; it doesn't allow white wealthy Tories to believe they too are victims of persecution by a silent, unseen élite. So Howard ignores it. If you want to understand the nature of this anti-political correctness scam - and what it panders to - take a look at the people who are routinely praised for being "gloriously politically incorrect". In a quick search of press cuttings, I found two people who repeatedly receive this accolade: the late Denis Thatcher and the Spectator columnist Taki. Ah yes, Denis, that old cove. According to his daughter Carol, he would refer to black people as "coons", and vigorously lobbied for the white supremacist apartheid regime in South Africa. How glorious. How incorrect. And then there's Taki, who thinks he is terribly brave when he writes that "Britain is being mugged by black hoodlums" and praises the French fascist Jean-Marie Le Pen as "a hero".

Of course Michael Howard does not agree with these ugly positions. But he is knowingly using language that makes some of the ugliest people in Britain look brave for "standing up to the PC thought police". And he is desperately trying to stigmatise anybody who believes black people should be free to walk the streets of this country without the police hassling them. People who know him well assure me Michael Howard is not personally a bigot. Fine. Then he is something worse: a man who is choosing to tango with bigotry for electoral gain.
© Independent Digital

IMAMS FACE SWISS INTEGRATION TEST
24/11/2004- Islamic preachers and other spiritual leaders from abroad could soon have to take courses to help them integrate better into Swiss society. The government proposal comes at a time of growing public debate about the role of Muslims in a multicultural society such as Switzerland's. The justice ministry is planning to submit the plan to the cabinet within the next few weeks, according to the Federal Office of Immigration, Integration and Emigration (IMES). "Imams have a great influence on people whom we cannot reach very easily," said IMES spokesman Mario Tuor. "It is important that they do not only preach the Koran but that they also show the members of their community which values and rules, such as equal rights for men and women, prevail in Switzerland," he added. Under the plan, drafted last year, short-term and temporary residency permits would only be granted to applicants who have taken special integration and language courses. The regulations would also apply to Imams who travel to Switzerland to lead prayers in mosques during the holy month of Ramadan. The draft proposals specify that the courses would only be introduced if they were found to be in the public interest. Earlier this month Switzerland's Catholic and Protestant churches proposed that Imams who lead prayers in Swiss mosques should be educated at Swiss universities. Richard Friedli, professor of divinity at Fribourg University, said a study was being made into the various forms of Islam in Switzerland. Initial preparations are also underway at Basel University for the education of Imams in Switzerland.
©NZZ Online

IMAM EDUCATION IDEA TAKES STEP FORWARD(Switzerland)
22/11/2004- Swiss churches have proposed that Imams who lead prayers in Swiss mosques should be educated at universities in Switzerland. But Ueli Maurer, president of the right-wing Swiss People's Party, says that there is "no place" for Islamic courses in a Christian country like Switzerland. The plan to educate Imams was put forward by the Swiss Bishops' Conference and the Swiss Protestant Church Federation. Agnell Rickmann, secretary-general of the Bishops' Conference, said he was "convinced" it would make sense to create structures for a course for prayer leaders, in an interview with the ‘NZZ am Sonntag' newspaper. Rickmann, who is head of a working group including both Catholics and Muslims, said the training was a "reasonable demand". One of the leaders of the Protestant Church Federation, Markus Sahli, argued that for the integration of Muslims in a liberal society such as Switzerland's, it was important that their spiritual leaders were not simply "flown in from anywhere".

Customs and traditions
Sahli said that such training would familiarise Imams with one of Switzerland's languages, and with the country's customs and traditions. It would also include the role of women in Swiss society. A university education course would also help Islamic spiritual leaders to "look critically at their own position", he added. The proposal for training courses for Imams was originally an idea from Muslims themselves. Farhad Afshar, who is president of the coordination centre of Islamic organisations in Switzerland, put forward project ideas years ago to the universities of Bern, Basel, Lucerne and Geneva. Basel University looked into the plans four years ago but they were put on ice because of what were termed "difficulties of organisational integration". But now there is movement on the issue, with the idea of creating an Imam training course in the city. Two of the four political parties in the Swiss government have supported the education plans.

Equal treatment
The president of the Social Democratic Party, Hans-Jürg Fehr, said he backed "equal treatment of religions". In view of the number of Muslims in Switzerland, there was a "need for a well-educated people", he added. And Doris Leuthard, president of the Christian Democrats, said she hoped for positive results from any such training. However, Maurer from the Swiss People's Party is fundamentally opposed to the idea. "Switzerland is a Christian country," he said without compromise, arguing there was "no place" in it for Islamic courses at state universities. Maurer added that he did not believe that Imams educated in Switzerland would be any less radical than their colleagues from abroad. "A certain fanaticism is simply part of this religion. Studying in Switzerland will not change that," he added. The delicate issue of radical Islamism may come up for discussion at the winter session of the Swiss parliament in Bern. Christian Democratic MP Maurice Chervrier has urged the government to state its position, asking whether it considers radical Islamism to be "a threat" and if it will call for a study on the issue.
©NZZ Online

COMPULSORY NORWEGIAN COURSE FOR IMAMS
Norway's Labor Party has proposed a mandatory course in Norwegian language and culture for those who intend to preach religion after Islamic Council Norway's spokesman Zahid Mukhtar refused a clear repudiation of the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

24/11/2004- Islamic Council Norway (IRN) welcomes the proposal. The group has supported similar ideas before and expressed hope that this time authorities would back the idea up. "We have long wished that the imams (Muslim spiritual leaders) who come to Norway learn Norwegian and gain knowledge about Norwegian society in the course of their first year. It is extremely important when one is to communicate with the young. But we see again and again that politicians come with such proposals without realizing them," said deputy IRN leader Imran Mushtaq. Mushtaq said authorities must improve Norwegian education for all new arrivals, and Hafiz Mehboob ur-Rehman, imam at the Islamic Cultural Center, agrees. "I want to speak the language as well as most Norwegians but it isn't easy because I used up my education quota before I learned the language well enough," ur-Rehman said. "It is important to understand the language of the society one lives in. I am ready to start a Norwegian course today if I get more hours," the imam said. Labor Party leader Jens Stoltenberg said that Muslim representatives damage the fight against fear of foreigners when they create doubts about van Gogh's death. "There are limits to our tolerance. Our society is built on values that apply regardless of religious faith," Stoltenberg said, and added that he was not afraid to give the impression of following in the wake of the controversial Progress Party. Stoltenberg said that Progress Party leader Carl I. Hagen was intelligent enough to balance his criticism of Islam without falling on the side of racism, but that Hagen "builds walls where we build bridges". Stoltenberg said that the integration of immigrants was the Labor Party's new challenge, after having helped the working class and women.
©Aftenpost

IMMIGRANT YOUTH CONTENT WITH LIFE(Norway)
24/11/2004- A new international study finds that youth from an immigrant background are at least as content as their Norwegian counterparts. "Youth with an immigrant background say that they are satisfied with life. It is good for their self-image to be part of a group and they do not let condescending remarks influence their lives," said psychologist David Lackland Sam at the University of Bergen. Sam is one of the researchers taking part in the ICSEY (International Comparative Study of Ethno-cultural Youth), which examined 8,000 youngsters between aged 13-18 in 13 countries and gauges their adaptation to society. In Norway 500 teenagers living in Oslo, Drammen, Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger - with roots in Vietnam, Pakistan, Turkey, and Chile - took part. Lackland Sam believes the results are startling because they defy the conventional wisdom that immigrants have it worse than natives. On the question of how content they are with their lives, the immigrants came out on top in all countries studied. Lackland Sam pointed out that in contrast to many other studies of immigrant background, this one was controlled for the socio-economic status of parents, gender and length of residence - in other words, a minority youth with unemployed parents is not compared with a Norwegian teen with working parents. A few factors indicate that some classic obstacles have gotten worse for immigrants. "After Sep. 11, 2001 it has in many ways become more difficult to be dark-skinned. Many have also become more skeptical towards Muslims," said Viggo Vestel at NOVA (Norwegian Social Research).
©Aftenpost

HAARDER CALLS FOR MODERNISATION OF ISLAM(Denmark)
26/11/2004- Integration Minister Bertel Haarder has urged Muslims in Denmark to develop a new, modern and more pro-Western variant of Islam, which explicitly disavows violent elements in traditional sharia law "Educated Muslims should take the lead in developing a democratic form of Islam that fits in with our own democracy. A version of Islam like this would be duly respected. Anyone who clings to the undemocratic portions of sharia law will face big problems in Danish politics," said Bertel Haarder. Haarder's comments were directed primarily at Copenhagen imam Fatih Alev and former local politician Fatima Shah, who resigned from Social Democratic party politics in Herlev after openly advocating sharia law in a published interview. "In recent days, we've heard several Muslim politicians claim that sharia law is a package deal, including stoning and hand-cutting. But in so doing, they're enslaving themselves to a Muslim tradition that has no place in modern society. They must distinguish between parts of sharia - it's not like Christians still go around in sandals and tunics," said Haarder. Imam Fatih Alev rebuffed Haarder's calls for a more "Western-friendly" Islam. "He wants to forcibly integrate us on the basis of his own subjective understanding of Islam. It is patently impossible to develop a 'Christianized' Islam," said Alev.
©The Copenhagen Post

THOUSANDS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS IN LIMBO(Belgium)
23/11/2004- Some 12,000 asylum seekers and other migrants have been waiting for more than three years for their application to stay in Belgium to be dealt with. According to an article in Tuesday's edition of Flemish daily, De Standaard, the Forum for Asylum seekers and Migrants are calling for all those in such circumstances to be issued with papers. According to an official statement made last August by Belgian Interior Minister Patrick Dewael, all refugees who have applied for asylum should expect a decision within three years for families with school children or four years for couples without children or single people. But Pieter Degryse from the organisation "Refugee work, Flanders" says this promise has not been kept. Applicants' lives are extremely restricted, with many not allowed to work. Around 400 protesters recently gathered outside the headquarters of all of Belgium's major political in a bid to improve the situation. Another demonstration is planned in a couple of weeks.
©Expatica News

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY NOT EXACTLY EQUAL IN FRANCE
23/11/2004- An official report presented to the French government Tuesday paints a damning picture of racial discrimination in the workplace and recommends a series of measures including the mandatory introduction of anonymous CVs. According to the report, young people of Arab and African origin are up to five times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the French population, while their chances of even achieving an interview are severely reduced as a result of their name and skin colour. In education the number of Arabs and Africans gaining access to top flight university courses and the elite "grandes ecoles" is decreasing, while problems at primary and secondary level mean that schools are "incapable of ensuring basic literacy among non French-speaking immigrants." "For reasons linked to our history and which are the result of policies conducted over half a century, the principle of equal opportunity rings hollow in the ears of millions," the report says. "It may well be inscribed on the pedestal of the republic and the marble of our constitution, but for many it is just that - a principle - and in no way a reality. Socially relegated and geographically concentrated, these people are the ones that equal opportunities forgot." Drawn up by a comittee headed by the former president of the insurance giant Axa Claude Bebear, the study argues that it is not just bad morals but also bad economics to deprive France of a huge number of often well-qualified workers. "The situation we are in is doubly absurd. Companies are ignoring a considerable human resource, and young people - many with degrees - are excluded from our collective project," it says. Quoting recent academic studies it says that young people from so-called "sensitive areas" - the high-immigration council estates that surround most French towns and cities - are "between three and five times more likely to be hit by unemployment than others." An investigation conducted in Paris revealed that a young man of European appearance and name was granted 75 interviews when he sent out his resume, while a person with exactly the same qualifications but of North African origin was given just 14.

Unemployment among graduates of immigrant origin is abnormally high, the report says. The rate is five percent for people of French origin, 7.2 percent for foreigners from inside the European Union and 18 percent for foreigners from outside the EU. One of the biggest obstacles to any attempt to tackle the problem is France's refusal to draw up official statistics based on racial origin, on the grounds that this is an infringement of the principle of equality for all, the report's authors found. Large companies were being asked to practice non-discrimination but had no means of discovering where the problem lay. "Businesses have no idea of the number of minority members in the work force, nor the type of jobs they hold nor their level of education," the report says. The study was issued at a time of growing debate in France about whether to opt for British- and American-style "positive discrimination" in order to promote the integration of minorities. President Jacques Chirac is opposed but his ambitious rival on the right Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is in favour. Bebear's report takes a nuanced line, calling for "positive mobilisation" and recommending a series of moves to encourage recruitment among what it called the "visible minorities ... people living in France whose skin-colour distinguishes them in the eyes of most of our citizens." In order to ensure true competition among candidates for a job, all CVs sent to medium and large companies should be screened before arriving at the human resources department so that names and photographs are removed, the report says. Companies should be allowed to conduct regular statistical analyses to determine the extent and nature of immigrant employment; they should be encouraged to sponsor the higher education of promising pupils from poor areas; and recruitment to "grandes ecoles" and other elite institutions should be diversified. Bebear's study coincided with an equally scathing report from the government's financial regulator the Cour de Comptes on the failures of France's policies of integration. "The situation of a large part of the people who came in the latest wave of immigration is more than disturbing. Not only does it lead to often disgraceful situations, it is the origin ... of serious social and racial tensions which are heavy with menace for the future," it says.
©Expatica News

THE 'OBSTACLE RACE' FOR ABORTION IN FRANCE
Abortion was legalised in France 30 years ago this month. But while some 220,000 abortions are performed in the country every year, campaigners say women seeking termination face 'an obstacle race'. Karine Perret reports.

25/11/2004- Three decades after then health minister Simone Veil legalised abortion in France, women seeking a termination still face many obstacles, according to health workers and pro-choice groups. The rate of abortions has remained almost constant in the last 15 years, from 14 per 1, 000 women in 1990 to 14.3 in 2002, according to a recent government report. About 220,000 abortions are performed every year in France. "We have won a lot," said Maya Surduts, spokeswoman for a group coordinating the activities of pro-choice and family planning activities. "But obtaining an abortion still remains an obstacle race." This remains true even after a change in the law in 2001, under the auspices of then minister Martine Aubry, extending from 10 to 12 weeks after conception the period in which an abortion can be carried out. "It is a law on paper, but its application remains problematic," said Marie-Laure Brival, a campaigning gynaecologist and obstetrician who is also vice-president of the National Association of Abortion and Contraception Clinics. The first obstacle many women face, according to pro-choice groups, is the difficulty in getting an appointment to see a medical practitioner. "Because the number of doctors carrying out terminations is limited, the waiting period can easily stretch to three or four weeks, and that is too long," said Maïté Albagly, secretary general of the Movement for Family Planning (MNPF) In addition, she said, four out of 10 private clinics in the Paris region have closed abortion units in the past two years because the procedure is not considered profitable. The Aubry amendment allows girls under the age of 18 to undergo an abortion without parental permission - although the assent of at least one adult adviser is still required - but Albagly said some public hospitals and private clinics still refuse to accept young women as patients unless their parents authorise a termination. Another feature of the 2001 Aubry law was to allow doctors to administer the so-called abortion pill outside the hospital or clinical environment. The pill, known as RU486 or by its French brand name Mifegyne, consists of a molecule called mifepristone and is used in conjunction with prostaglandins to expel the embryo in early pregnancy.

But only in July, 2004, did Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy sign the decree that allows women to obtain the pill on prescription from their doctors. Surduts says the government still has not got around to allowing reimbursement for the pill by the French national health service, but a spokesman for the health ministry said a circular adding mifepristone to the list of refundable drugs is in the works. Brival said many doctors were not exactly friendly to the idea of abortion. They say women are careless about taking precautions, while in fact "two thirds of the women who abort are practising contraception". She said some clinics still refuse to admit women more than 10 weeks into pregnancy, despite the change in the law. The union of independent gynaecologists and obstetricians (Syngof) says that France does not do enough to prevent unwanted pregnancies, particularly in school, although a law passed in 2000 permits nurses in junior and secondary schools to dispense emergency contraceptives, or so-called ‘morning-after pills'. The pro-choice associations remain wary about the activities of radical pro-life groups, which they say have been encouraged by the views of US president George W Bush. In the 1990s, radical pro-lifers staged a series of highly publicised raids on abortion clinics, chaining themselves to hospital equipment in some cases. Such activities are now punishable under criminal law, but to some extent, Surduts said, abortion "remains taboo" in mainly Roman Catholic France, and there is a great deal of resistance to it.
©Expatica News

STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY(Malta)
Racism has reared its ugly head in Malta, perhaps beyond tolerable levels, Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina said yesterday. The recent frequent arrival of irregular immigrants seems to have shocked Maltese society, she added.

24/11/2004- A few years ago racism was not felt so much, the minister said, but the sudden surge of irregular immigrants in recent years seems to have created a certain animosity among the Maltese people. "The theme of this campaign represents a philosophy that is close to heart," she said. "It is by embracing every person's unique characteristics that we may grow and mature. Diversity is a fundamental element of the beauty of life, without which life would probably be very dull." The minister was speaking at the launch of a year-long awareness campaign entitled Sahha fid-Diversita' (Strength in Diversity), which will be coordinated jointly by the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Jesuit Refugee Service – Malta (JRS). The campaign, funded by the EU's Community Action Programme to Combat Discrimination, will focus mostly on schools, promoting the concepts of diversity and encouraging students to take a stand against discrimination. MLP spokesman Marie Louise Coleiro echoed the minister, saying: "It seems that in so far as we are asked to give a donation to help a distant country in difficulty there are no problems, but when it comes to sharing with needy people at close range, it's a different story," she said. Explaining that her comment was general and that there were many people who did their best to help ethnic minorities living in Malta, Ms Coleiro explained that there are others that still show discriminatory attitudes. The campaign will consist of various open-air events, conferences and seminars throughout the year. JRS' project coordinator Tesfamichael Beraki Mekonen, an Eritrean national who has been given refugee status, explained that the campaign will concentrate around an outreach programme with some 35 to 40 schools, various seminars and conferences as well as a human rights walk, which will be held on Saturday 11 December. Furthermore, a set of billboards will be set up in various prominent locations to promote the message with wider audiences. There will also be publications that will be distributed widely both inside and outside schools.

The school outreach programme will be launched in December and will include experiential learning sessions. The schools targeted are mostly secondary schools both in Malta and Gozo. The students will be given practical examples of the difficulties faced by disabled people and members of ethnic minorities. They will also be able to discuss the matter with disabled people and refugees who will attend the sessions and share their experience. JRS director Fr Pierre Grech Marguerat said his organisation was very happy to receive an invitation, by the National Commission for People with Disabilities (NCPD), to join forces on such a project. JRS has been carrying out educational campaigns on a small scale for a number of years in Malta, but nothing of this scale, he said. The Jesuit service has active projects in a number of countries, in which the beneficiaries are not necessarily Catholic or Christian. Furthermore, he added, they have been implementing a campaign at St Aloysius College over the past months. Asked whether he thought Maltese law made adequate provision to punish racism, Fr Grech Marguerat said that the law, amended two years ago did provide the necessary punishments, but was only used once when a meagre Lm10 fine was imposed. NCPD president Joe Camilleri said that the commission had always fought against discrimination, adding that the invitation to the JRS to join forces for the sake of the campaign was merely an extension of their work. In this way the commission will be making available its experience as an organisation that has worked against discrimination. He said that even though, up to a few years ago he was under the impression that the Maltese people were generally open minded, recent events have proven that there is a racist element within our society.
©Malta Independent Daily

MOSCOW SEEKS TO FORM TIES THROUGH ETHNIC RUSSIANS(Ukraine)
25/11/2004- Many people predicted that Ukraine would rapidly divide in two after it became independent in 1991 following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Foreign politicians, diplomats and experts pointed to what seemed cataclysmic political fault lines that they predicted would lead to upheaval, possible civil war, but certain division. Of its 48 million population, eight to 10 million are ethnic Russians, most of whom want closer links with Moscow. The Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovych, backed by Vladimir Putin, has ruthlessly exploited ethnic Russian passions to recreate a vestige of a Moscow-led political bloc. But many Russian-speaking Ukrainians support the opposition. The opponents in the presidential election were the pro-Russian Mr Yanukovych and the pro-Western liberal candidate, Viktor Yushchenko. The opposition accused the government and Mr Yanukovych of stealing the election, allegations supported by the EU, the US, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and Nato. Mr Yanukovych emphasised the differences between parts of the country, while Mr Yushchenko stressed the ties between all parts of the nation. In medieval times much of the territory of present-day Ukraine was the powerful state of Kievan Rus, centred on Kiev. Prince Volodymyr, the ruler of this state, accepted Christianity for himself and his people. Russia traces its existence and its church from Kievan Rus and that is why many, even liberal, Russians find it difficult to accept Ukraine's independence.

The Kievan Rus empire fell apart after Mongol invasions. Those who remained on the steppelands were joined by serfs or noblemen escaping from Polish lords or the rule of the Tsars. These people banded together in military groups who became the Cossacks to defend their lands from Tatar invaders and incursions from Russia and the Polish empire. Ukrainian protesters trace their passion for democracy to the Cossacks, who elected their leaders. In the 18th century, the Cossacks were overwhelmed and their territory divided between the Russian empire and the Austro-Hungarian empire. Ukrainians in the west were cut off from their countrymen under Russian control. The western and central regions of the country have a population that is mostly ethnic Ukrainian and Ukrainian speaking. Most of western Ukraine is Uniate Catholic. Western Ukraine was for centuries part of the Hapsburg empire and between the world wars it was part of Poland. Until Stalin annexed it at the same time as Hitler occupied the rest of Poland, the people of western Ukraine had not experienced Russian rule. Although the rulers of western Ukraine were often harsh, Ukrainians retained their language, customs and national identity. The people of eastern Ukraine were Ukrainian Orthodox Christians and spoke the same language as their compatriots in the west but gradually Russia chipped away at Ukrainian identity. Mr Yushchenko said: "When Putin speaks of his people in a country spanning 11 time zones, he doesn't talk about west and east Russians, he talks of Russians. Yanukovych speaks of different Ukrainians because he wants to divide and rule. But Ukraine is one and undivided."
© Independent Digital

NAZI VICTIMS' DETAILS GO ONLINE
21/11/2004- Biographical details of three million Jews killed in the Holocaust are to be posted on the web for the first time. Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, said it was a "duty" to ensure that the six million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis will not be forgotten. The museum called its website a "work in progress" and said it would work to retrieve the details of every victim. The database is partly based on more than two million "pages of testimony" given by survivors, family and friends. "Yad Vashem undertook to retrieve the names of the Jewish victims and to preserve their memory," the Jerusalem-based centre said. "This is the moral duty of the Jewish people - our last respects to the victims." The information can be accessed in either English or Hebrew. Details include date and place of birth, marital status, residence and date and place of death if known. There is also a link to an image of the "page of testimony" submitted to the centre. Yad Vashem has been compiling information on Holocaust victims for more than 50 years. Some 1,500 staff were put to work a decade ago to turn written testimony into digital information, spokesman Esti Yaari told the Associated Press. "We are also launching an 11th-hour drive to get more information because we realise that time is running out," she said of the remaining three million whose details are not on the site.
©BBC News

ROW OVER PORTADOWN RACISM(N-Ireland)
A Democratic Unionist mayor today defended his response to racial attacks in his area after he was urged to take a stronger line.

8/11/2004- Craigavon Mayor David Simpson disputed Sinn Fein claims that his response to a petrol bomb attack on a Portuguese family in Portadown on Saturday night was minimalist. And he also called on republicans to go to the police if they had any evidence of loyalist paramilitary involvement in racial intimidation and violence. The home of a Portuguese woman and her two-year-old child sustained scorch damage to a front window and wall in the attack which occurred on the Armagh Road at around 8.20pm. Witnesses saw a tall, thin man in dark clothing running away in the direction of Armagh Road and Church Street Junction. Police have urged to other people in the area who saw anything suspicious to come forward. Sinn Fein Assembly member John O`Dowd criticised Mr Simpson after he said a multi-cultural day was being planned in the council for young people to tackle racist attitudes. Mr O`Dowd said it was widely known that members of the Ulster Volunteer Force were behind racial attacks and unionist leaders should immediately confront the problem head-on. "This minimalist response from the Mayor of Craigavon will give little comfort or succour to those members of the migrant worker community in Portadown who are being threatened and intimidated now," the Upper Bann MLA argued. "Many people are aware that the UVF is behind a whole series of racist attacks in Portadown which has forced people from their homes and has also seen people assaulted and, in one case, stabbed and seriously injured. "The reported cases of intimidation are only the tip of the iceberg of a sinister campaign by the UVF in and around Portadown which is centred around a protection racket organised by members of that organisation."

Mr Simpson said the multi-cultural day had been planned for a long time and was not a response to the latest attack. The DUP mayor, who is also an Upper Bann MLA, replied: "John O`Dowd says the UVF is involved in racial attacks in this area. "I think the onus is on him to put any evidence he has before the PSNI, so police officers can investigate it. "As for criticism of my handling of this issue, firstly the multi-cultural day has been planned for some time. I referred to it at a recent trade union event and is not a response to this incident. "I am also holding a meeting today with local residents in the area where this attack occurred and the family. So we are taking this very seriously. "But I have to say, I normally take what John O`Dowd says with a pinch of salt." Portadown has a number of Portuguese families living in the town, employed in local factories. It isn`t the first time the community has been targeted. In August, the homes of two Portuguese families were targeted when a number of people kicked and battered in the doors of their flats in Moeran Park in an early morning attack. Members of the Filipino and Vietnamese communities have also been victims of racial attacks in the town. Mr O`Dowd, who leads Sinn Fein`s group on Craigavon Council, said today the campaign of racial harassment in the area urgently needed to be confronted and stamped out. "The Mayor of Craigavon should be taking the lead on this, not by talking about a multi-cultural event next year, but by calling the party leaders within Craigavon Council together immediately to organise a council-sponsored anti-racist rally in Portadown immediately."
U.TV

SUSPECTED RACISTS STAB LATVIAN MAN(N-Ireland)
Migrant workers attacked in Lurgan

10/11/2004- Police in Co Armagh were today hunting a gang who carried out a suspected race attack which left three Latvian men in hospital, including one with stab wounds. The men, all in their 20s, were walking through Lord Lurgan park in Lurgan at around 9pm yesterday when they were approached by several men. One of the men was stabbed in the arm. The other two victims were kicked to the ground and beaten. A police spokesman said that while detectives had yet to formally interview the three Latvians, initial inquiries suggested it may have been a racially motivated attack. Detectives have appealed for anyone in the park at around the time of the attack to contact police. Jonathan Bell, local DUP councillor and DPP member, condemned the attack and called for local residents to assist the police investigation. "The people of Lurgan must look at this as an attack on the whole community. These are human beings with human rights and this in no way reflects the feelings or attitudes of the vast majority of people in Lurgan," he said. Sinn Fein Assembly member, John O'Dowd, said it was clearly racist and totally wrong. "Those responsible for this attack are in no way representative of the local community," said Mr O'Dowd. He added: "I intend to meet up with members of local community groups, clergy and others to discuss what steps can be taken locally to prevent any reoccurrence of this attack and to try to seek to reassure other members of the migrant worker community." The attack followed the targeting of the homes of several Filipino hospital workers in north Belfast early on Monday morning. A number of houses in the Skegoneill and Fortwilliam areas were daubed with graffiti and several cars were damaged. Sinn Fein blamed loyalist paramilitaries for orchestrating the attacks. To highlight opposition to the increasing number of attacks on ethnic minorities, the Anti-Racism Network is due to hold a protest in north Belfast tonight. Spokesman Dominic Adams said: "There is no room for these attacks in our society and people should be able to live free from attack and intimidation, no matter where they come from."
©Belfast Telegraph

BLINK COMMENT: THE MENTAL HEALTH BILL(uk)
If you're not mad already, you soon will be. That's what the government's Mental Health Bill means. 12/11/2004- It has often been said that no matter how far politicians go in being tough on asylum seekers, the issue never goes away. Fears and prejudices of the public increase, the right-wing press and the Conservative Party call for even tougher action. And the downward spiral continues. So it is with public fear of the mentally ill. A diet of newspaper stories about murders, and hunts for escapee mental patients, have reinforced the fears and prejudices that focus attention on the protection of the public rather than the care and rehabilitation of those affected. The Mental Health Bill is widely seen as a populist measure aimed giving authorities extra powers to apprehend, detain and medicate anyone suffering from mental illness who poses a potential risk to ordinary citizens. We fear that not only is this a retrograde step, but that even if it wins a few favourable headlines for the government, it will fail to make people sleep easier at night.

lifetime
The killer facts are that the mentally-ill are far more likely to be a risk to themselves than anyone else, and that one in four of us are likely to develop some form of mental instability in our lifetimes. In this context protection of the public becomes a minor issue. A third killer fact is that Black African-Caribbean people, men in particular, are six times more likely to sucked into the mental health system through the current system of ‘sectioning' than white people. There is no medical evidence that African-Caribbean's are more disposed to mental illness. That means the current picture is as a result of being treated differently. In other words, racism. African-Caribbean's are also more likely to be locked up in high security facilities, and more likely to be given a higher dose of medication. So what is going on that could result in such a situation? Is it the case that when a white professional sees a black person acting, in their view, strangely they are more likely to diagnose this as mental illness? With the figures pointing to an alarming evidence of racism in the system you would assume that addressing this would be a government priority. Unfortunately not. The new draft Mental Health Bill does not even refer to tackling disproportionality in the race and ethnicity of mental health patients. Instead it seeks to sweep away the limited safeguards that currently exist to stop innocent sane people being wrongly detained and medicated.

worse
The old system required two doctors to approve a ‘section'. The government plan to abolish this method and allow one hospital psychologist to authorise detention and medication. That means the police – who already disproportionately stop and search black people – will be able to pick up anyone suspected of mental illness and cart them off to the nearest hospital. Under the proposed new system the likelihood of an overall massive increase in numbers people classified as mentally ill can be expected. The fear has to be that African-Caribbean's will be even worse hit. The Mental Health Bill also seeks to widen the definition of what constitutes mental illness. The government plan to reduce this to ‘a disturbance in the functioning of the mind.' That can mean anything to anybody. I might, for instance, consider that crowds of football fans chanting in a city centre are falling foul of this definition. The meaning of these words matters greatly. It could mean that Christian evangelicals are detained if they engage in street preaching. Speaking ‘in tongues' would almost certainly carry the risk of medication. Yet these examples not only pose no risk to the public, but are also an entirely legitimate state of mind. Just different to the norm. Paranoia is currently a major reason for sectioning. The proposed Bill is likely to make things worse. States of paranoia normally pose very little, if any, risk to the public. But even more to the point, they do not necessarily mean someone should be sucked into a mental health system. There may be good reasons why someone is paranoid, or it may be a passing phase that can be treated with sensitive support.

justice
Compulsion – the detaining and medication of patients against their will – is a highly ineffective way of addressing mild mental fluctuations. There is evidence that the mental health system itself makes people mentally ill. Basically, if you're not mad already, you will be. The government wants a proactive approach to pick up dangerous mentally-ill people before they commit a crime. But their Bill is only likely to pick up more people who need support but not forced treatment or detention. The risk of ‘miscarriages of justice' – sane people unfairly branded mentally-ill – will also increase. The Bill has been criticised by the influential Mental Health Alliance – an umbrella body representing all the top charities. They condemn the proposed law as being based on ‘prejudice, ignorance and fear rather than hope and recovery.' But not only is it ill-conceived, it's ill-executed too. Last year the government was forced to axe the Bill after it was panned by experts as a complete dogs dinner. This second version is little better. Suspecting it would be torn to threads, panicked and unusually put the Bill through an extra tier of parliamentary scrutiny. Anomalies in the legislation are now being ironed out by a Commons scrutiny committee, as MP's correct problems that Health Department civil servants did not. The Bill is now unlikely to come before parliament in the traditional way until after the general election. We do not want to see it again at all. The Bill is mad, bad, and dangerous to know. We want to live in a society that helps, not condemns people. Which understands mental illness, not breeds fear and ignorance of the condition. One that has humanity not headlines as its' motivation.
©the Black Information Link

LIVERPOOL TO OPEN SLAVE MUSEUM(uk)
12/11/2004- Liverpool is to become home to the world's first permanent transatlantic slave trade museum. The £10m centre of excellence, provisionally titled the National Museum and Centre for the Understanding of Transatlantic Slavery, aims to be open to the public in 2007. The new museum will expand on an existing gallery, Against Human Dignity, which is already part of the city's Maritime Museum. It is hoped to also introduce a new research institute which will develop further understanding of the slave trade. National Museums Liverpool director Dr David Fleming said: "We want to replace that gallery with something bigger which addresses issues of racism and makes it much more relevant to the modern world." Dr Fleming believes that the full story of the slave trade is currently not being properly addressed. Although the British side of the story is often explored, in order to correct any misapprehensions about the slave trade, the African and transatlantic version of events must also be told. The Daily Post understands that one of the most likely sites of the new museum is the old Granada studios next to the Maritime Museum. Liverpool played a prominent role in the slave trade in the late eighteenth century and the trade was central to the development of the city and its economy. Dr Fleming said: "Much of the wealth of Liverpool was based on profits of the slave trade. Remnants of the slave trade can be found in the architecture of distinguished landmarks around the city, including the Town Hall. Although slavery is still considered by many to be a very sensitive issue, NML is adamant the new centre is not intended to reopen wounds. Dr Fleming insists that guilt should not be the factor that prevents the issue of slavery being confronted. "The fact that it's an unpleasant story, and that not enough people know about it, shouldn't equal guilt. It's been unfairly neglected because of guilt," he said The new museum should be up and running to coincide with the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade and it will become a major tourist attraction. NML is positive the exhibit will prove to be a big success. Dr Fleming added: "This is an ambition of ours. NML feels very strongly about this project. It will become a must seel."
©IC Network

FA WORRIED ABOUT RACIST CHANTING(uk)
Fifa could act after England U21s subjected to racist abuse

17/11/2004- The Football Association will make representations to their Spanish counterparts ahead of tonight's friendly to ensure that there is no repeat of the racist abuse aimed at England's U21 players. Carlton Cole and Darren Bent were subjected to racist chants during the first-half of last night's 1-0 defeat, with Glen Johnson later receiving the same treatment. The actions of the Spanish fans could not have been more ill-timed after the controversy which has surrounded senior Spain coach Luis Aragones since his alleged racist remarks about Thierry Henry. The FA are therefore planning to write to Uefa and Fifa to detail their concerns following the Under-21 game. FA chairman Geoff Thompson was, meanwhile, planning to speak to his Spanish counterpart ahead of tonight's senior friendly in Madrid to stress his concern that there is no repeat in the Bernabeu. FA head of media Adrian Bevington revealed: "Geoff Thompson will be speaking to his counterpart in the Spanish FA to make him aware before tonight's match of our concerns from last night's Under-21 game. "We will also be writing to both Uefa and Fifa to make them aware of the jeering that took place during the Under-21 game. We would, of course, hope that this does not occur again this evening." A disciplinary charge could yet be brought against the Spanish FA, with Fifa revealing that any FA complaints would be "set against the background of Fifa's code of conduct". England's senior players had pointedly worn anti-racism T-shirts during their training session in the Bernabeu yesterday in the wake of Aragones' comments about Henry last month. The Spain coach nevertheless claimed his "conscience was clear" as he did little to end the row by then launching into an apparent attack on the British Empire's record in Africa. He told English reporters: "I am not a racist, but you lot will write what you want. You are like wolves after the deer. "I have a lot of black friends who have explained to me that the English were after them in the colonies."
©The Guardian

LESBIAN COUPLE GRANTED CHALLENGE TO MARRIAGE LAWS(Ireland)
9/11/2004- A lesbian couple were granted leave today to challenge the Government in the courts for refusing to recognise their same-sex marriage. Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan, from Brittas in Dublin, claimed they were unfairly denied tax relief available to married couples by the Revenue Commissioner. In the High Court today, Mr Justice McKechnie said the couple's legal team had successfully met the requirement for an arguable case and were entitled to a judicial review. He said the applicants had claimed the Revenue Commissioner's actions had violated the 1937 Irish Constitution and also had been in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. He pointed out that the case was not simply about tax bands or the extent of allowances for a married couple. He said it would have profound importance not only for same sex couples but also for society as a whole. He added that a number of deeply held customs and practices would be up for consideration with the institution of marriage at the centre of this. "It is right to say it touches on far reaching issues," he said. Justice McKechnie warned that the decision to grant the judicial review offered no comment on the ultimate outcome of the case. He reserved the questions of costs and granted senior counsel for the two women Dr Gerald Hogan four weeks to prepare a plenary summons. Zappone, a public policy research consultant and a member of the Human Rights Commission, and Gilligan, an academic, have lived together as a couple for 23 years. They are joint owners of two properties, their residential home at Brittas in Dublin and their holiday home in Cahirciveen, Co Kerry. They were married at a legal ceremony in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on September 13 last year. When they returned to Ireland they applied to the revenue commissioner for tax credits as a married couple but were told that the provision of Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 only related to a husband and a wife. While the Act did not define husband or wife the revenue commissioner said they were using the definition in the Oxford English Dictionary. Outside the court today, Zappone said she and her partner were delighted with the outcome. "Twenty-three years ago we made a commitment of life partnership to each other. We have been exceptionally blessed with our unconditional love for and our fidelity to one another. "Yesterday and today are simply the first steps to seek legal recognition of our lifelong love and faithfulness," she said. "This case is about equality, fairness and human rights as our legal team have ably outlined in the court." Zappone thanked family and friends, their legal team and Equality Authority for their support.
©Irish Examiner

DUTCH STEP UP MUSLIM PROTECTION
8/11/2004- Police patrols are to be stepped up in a Netherlands city where tensions are high after a bomb at an Islamic school. The mayor of Eindhoven has ordered extra security for mosques and schools following the blast on Monday, which severely damaged the school building. Police said the bomb could be among a series of possible revenge attacks for the killing of film-maker Theo Van Gogh by a suspected Islamic radical. Van Gogh is to be cremated in a public ceremony in Amsterdam on Tuesday. Mosques in several Dutch cities have been the targets of vandalism and failed arson attempts since he was shot and stabbed last Tuesday. Mayor of Eindhoven Alexander Sakkers said additional patrols would give round-the-clock protection for all Muslim places of worship and education in the city. They include five mosques used by the 20,000 or so Muslims among Eindhoven's total population of 210,000. The school bombing at 0230 GMT on Monday blew out its windows and doors, as well as those of neighbouring buildings, but no-one was hurt.

Attacks 'feared'
"Eindhoven is shocked, very shocked, by a cowardly deed in the middle of the night when normal citizens are sleeping," Mr Sakkers said. Ayhan Tonca, chairman of the Contact Group for Muslims and Government, told Associated Press that the Muslim community feared further attacks. He said: "We had seen a number of incidents of arson already but this was a full-scale bombing. "We can only be grateful it was in the middle of the night and not when the children were at school." Mr Tonca, whose organisation represents 300 mosques in the Netherlands, said some had already appointed their own guards during prayers. He insisted the government must do more to protect Islamic sites to prevent security fears escalating. Driss el Boujoufi, deputy head of the Ummon association for 90 Moroccan mosques in the Netherlands, told Agence France Presse surveillance had been heightened. But, he warned, most of the 90 mosques did not have the means to ensure security around the clock. A number of demonstrations are planned to coincide with Van Gogh's funeral. Several men, all believed to be Islamic radicals, have been arrested in connection with the film-maker's death.
©BBC News

BOMBING OF MUSLIM SCHOOL LINKED TO MURDER OF FILM-MAKER(Netherlands)
9/11/2004- Twelve hours after the front windows and main door of his four-year-old son's school were blown out by a bomb, Khalid Abdelrahim peered past the police barrier to study the damage. "The people in Holland are good, but the politics here is not," said Mr Abdelrahim, who fled from Iraq to the Netherlands a decade ago. "Now I will have to try to find a new school for my son." In Eindhoven yesterday few doubted that the attack on an Islamic primary school in the early hours of Monday was an act of retribution after last week's murder of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch film-maker who had criticised abuses of women in Islamic marriages. The bombers struck the Tariq Ziyad Ibnoe school at around 3.30am local time. It was not an isolated incident; in recent days there have been arson attacks against mosques in Huizen, Breda, Rotterdam and Utrecht. Posters insulting Islam that showed pictures of pigs' heads were plastered on a mosque in Rotterdam, while an immigrants' centre in Amsterdam was daubed with red paint. Yesterday in racially mixed, middle-class Frankrijkstraat, the school's lawn was covered with glass shards as children's paintings fluttered in the smashed windows. No one was injured but the blast, which local Muslims say is the third incident in a year, seemed designed to send a message. The school is one of the first Islamic schools in the Netherlands and many fear that this is just the start of attacks against the Muslim community. At the local mosque, one worshipper, who said he came from Morocco and gave his name as Mimoun, describes the growing unease of his community. "We are not safe now," he said. "If they make a bomb and put that in an Islamic school, maybe the next target will be the Islamic centre and the mosque. This was a reaction after [the murder of] Van Gogh. But why must all Muslims pay the price?"

In 2002 the Netherlands was shocked by the assassination of the maverick anti-immigration campaigner Pim Fortuyn, who was murdered in the car park of a television network. Last week a similar fate befell Mr van Gogh, a descendant of the 19th-century artist, who had made a name for himself as an outspoken commentator on social issues such as immigration. Although neither a politician nor a conventional right-winger, Mr van Gogh was an enemy of political correctness. The action that seems to have sealed his fate was the making of a film with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch MP who renounced Islam. Screened in August, the fictional work, called Submission, condemned the religion's treatment of women, and outraged Muslim groups. As he made his way to work, Mr van Gogh was shot, then had his throat slashed. His killer left a note pinned to his chest with the knife used to attack him. Police arrested a 26-year-old man of Dutch and Moroccan nationality, who is suspected of having links with extremist Islamic groups. Five others were detained after subsequent raids. While the murder of Mr van Gogh has received condemnation from all sides, there is less unanimity about who is to blame for the climate of fear. Reacting to Mr Fortuyn's success and to his campaign slogan, "the Netherlands is full", the centre-right coalition government has put immigration near the top of its agenda. It believes community relations will be eased if immigrants integrate better. But its policies have made immigration an explosive issue. The minister responsible, Rita Verdonk, has outlined plans to improve knowledge of the Dutch language among immigrants and to repatriate up to 26,000 failed asylum-seekers.

A speech made by Ms Verdonk after the murder of Mr van Gogh last week was described as "Hitlerian" by one immigrant group. Meanwhile, the Deputy Prime Minister, Gerrit Zalm, said the Dutch cabinet had declared war on Islamic extremists. Even the handling of the murder inquiry has proved politically controversial as the Amsterdam chief public prosecutor, Leo de Wit, criticised the Justice minister, Piet Hein Donner, for releasing the text of the letters left with Mr van Gogh's body. One contains a direct threat to Ms Hirsi Ali and mentions two other politicians: the Liberal parliamentary leader, Jozias van Aartsen, and the Amsterdam mayor, Job Cohen. The publication of the letters was hardly calculated to calm tensions. Mr van Aartsen later claimed that the Netherlands was in the grip of a jihad and urged increased surveillance of potential Muslim extremists. The result is a febrile atmosphere as the country prepares forMr van Gogh's cremation today. Outside the Tariq Ziyad Ibnoe school, one young man, who calls himself Mohammed A, said: "It is not just the Muslims but the Dutch, too, who are afraid - afraid of each other." He added: "There are extremists on the Dutch side and in the Moroccan and Muslim world. But these are a minority. The politicians and the media must stop inflaming the situation. What we need is to start talking to each other."
© Independent Digital

CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE AT FUNERAL OF MURDERED FILM-MAKER(Netherlands)
10/11/2004- The Dutch film-maker whose brutal murder sparked a spiral of racial violence in the Netherlands was cremated yesterday amid appeals for an end to a spate of attacks on mosques, schools and churches. On a bitterly cold Amsterdam night, the public heeded calls from municipal leaders not to turn up en masse but to follow the ceremony at home on TV. Theo van Gogh, a descendant of the 19th-century artist, was shot, stabbed and had his throat cut last week. Police later arrested a 26-year-old man who had dual Dutch-Moroccan nationality and was suspected of links to radical Islamic groups, after a shoot-out in an Amsterdam park. Anneke van Gogh, the victim's mother, told mourners that she could hardly believe the extent of her own hatred when she heard how her son died. "My body was filled with hatred - it was a completely new experience," she said. But there were concerted efforts to defuse the tensions caused by the killing that sent shock waves through the nation and has led to reprisals, including the bombing of a Muslim school in Eindhoven. Molotov cocktails caused minor damage at churches in Utrecht and Amersfoort on Monday night after six similar incidents at Muslim buildings, including the explosion in Eindhoven. No injuries were reported at any of the attacks. Yesterday, more than 70 members of Dutch-Moroccan organisations cycled through Amsterdam, wearing T-shirts proclaiming "We don't tolerate extremism", and Muslim groups agreed to distribute literature to mosques to help combat the growth of radical elements. The Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, described the bombing of a Muslim school in Eindhoven as "abhorrent" and demanded an end to the violence. He called for better dialogue between the communities and ordered police and justice officials to respond to breaches of tolerance. Mr van Gogh's coffin was draped with flowers and set alongside a bottle of wine and his tattered personal organiser for the funeral service, which was witnessed by about 500 people - about 200 of whom were from the media - at Nieuwe Ooster cemetery in Amsterdam. The Dutch Deputy Prime Minister, Gerrit Zalm, was among the mourners and a former minister, Josias van Artsen, wept as one of the film-maker's favourite songs "Perfect Day" was played. Two sisters of Mr van Gogh delivered eulogies, while outside hundreds followed the service on giant screens. They included a woman carrying a banner stating "Stop the hate" and an old man in a sweater emblazoned with "Fxxx fundamentalism".
© Independent Digital

ISLAMIC SCHOOL DESTROYED IN ARSON ATTACK(Netherlands)
10/11/2004— An Islamic primary school in the Brabant town of Uden was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night in a suspected arson attack linked to the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh last week. A fireman confirmed to news agency Novum that the words "kutmoslims" (cunt Muslims) was found on one of the school's windows. The message "Theo R.I.P" was also written on a school wall and the term "white power" was found elsewhere. The fire at the Bedir School started at about 8.45pm and flames were seen leaping out of the school roof. At about midnight the school on the Bronkhorstlaan was considered to have been completely destroyed. Police suspect arson as the cause of the fire and have confirmed that several slogans were found daubed across the main entrance of the school. School director Ismaïl Taspinar contemplated that if Van Gogh had seen the fire, he would have thought it was "horrible" also. "So I am not sure if Theo will rest in peace," the director said. Van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death in Amsterdam on 2 November and an alleged Islamic militant, 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan Mohammed B., has been arrested on suspicion of the killing. Van Gogh recently completed the film "Submission", which casts an accusing eye on domestic violence in the Islamic community. The film is considered one of the prime motives of his murder. In the aftermath of his death, a series of arson attacks have been reported at Islamic mosques and an Islamic primary school was severely damaged in an explosion on Monday morning. Eindhoven has since resolved to permanently guard several Islamic buildings. Meanwhile, Uden Mayor Joke Kersten said that threats have been made against Muslim organisations and authorities placed Islamic property under greater surveillance. Despite this, authorities were unable to prevent the suspected arson attack. Police met with the school's management on Tuesday morning to discuss additional safety measures, but no decision was made to implement intensified security. There is insufficient capacity to permanently guard the 20 Islamic buildings in Uden. Police also said on Tuesday that unknown culprits threw a bag of excrement through the window of the Moroccan consulate on the Calandstraat in Rotterdam on Monday night. No arrests have been made.
©Expatica News

THE NETHERLANDS MUST NOT BETRAY ITS LIBERAL TRADITION (comment)
10/11/2004- Many Dutch liberals fear that yesterday's public funeral service in Amsterdam was an occasion not just to mourn the murdered film maker, Theo van Gogh, but also the demise of their nation's reputation as a bastion of toleration and racial harmony. Van Gogh's murder last week by an Islamic extremist has provoked a series of attacks on mosques, culminating in the bombing of an Islamic school on Monday. Muslim institutions have been given extra protection, but the authorities admit that it is impossible to guard them all. They are not the only ones under siege. Several politicians, threatened with death by extremists, have been forced into hiding. That this breakdown in relations has occurred in the Netherlands, which only five years ago was considered the most liberal country in Europe, bodes ill for the rest of the continent. The government has pledged to arrest any Muslims who make murderous threats. It would be wrong for the Netherlands to curtail its tradition of free speech in the face of such intimidation. Van Gogh's film on women and Islam may have offended some, but he had an absolute right to make it. The government has a duty to protect anyone who faces threats simply because of the views they hold. The thousands of Dutch Muslims who have condemned the murder, but who find themselves at risk from revenge, also have a right to expect protection. The worst response would be to start persecuting the law-abiding Muslim majority in the name of rooting out fanatics. There can be no justification for treating all Muslims as potential terrorists. Sadly, public opinion in the Netherlands has been shifting to the right for some time and there is a risk that Jan Peter Balkenende's government will make the wrong decisions. His Christian Democratic Party, which came to power two years ago in the wake of the murder of Pim Fortuyn, has made a series of moves designed to appeal to the growing xenophobic and anti-Islamic rump of the Dutch electorate. In this time of crisis, the Dutch must do everything in their power to preserve their traditions of free speech, but they must not allow institutionalised Islamophobia to be the price they pay.
© Independent Digital

THE NETHERLANDS NEEDS YOU!(Editorial)
12/11/2004- The tension that has been brewing for many years in the Netherlands has reached flashpoint and the country is now rife with mistrust. The Dutch government made things worse by allowing Deputy Prime Minister Gerrit Zalm to "declare war" on extremists — only for MPs to distance themselves from his fighting talk because they were worried it would evoke an "us and them" mentality, further widening the social divide. To regain control of the situation, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is urging a population angered by the brutal murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh to remain calm and respectful of each other's rights. But the government must take a firmer stance — rather than simply urging inter-community dialogue — and instead resolutely lead the nation to calmer waters. All sides of the community are at fault — both native Dutch and the Islamic community. (The large Surinamese and Antillean communities appear not to count at all in the current climate of pitched religious tension.) There are two extreme views at the crux of the problem confronting 21st Century Dutch society:
There are people who claim the right to kill in the name of Allah to prevent freedom of speech. But then there is the oft-heard attitude that "Muslims can live here, but not next door to me". A startling recent survey also found that 40 percent of Dutch people hope Muslims no longer feel welcome here. The government needs to work harder to tackle both problems.

And where do expats stand in all this?
Many of us might consider ourselves safe from the battle because we aren't Dutch and the majority of us aren't an "immigrant" per se. We have the right passports, most of us aren't Muslims and we can leave for "greener pastures" if push comes to shove. This gives us a unique perspective on the situation. We have all felt the heat of the government's rage against immigration. We have all experienced the Dutch curiosity coupled sometimes with blatant disrespect for other cultures. Sometimes, we are guilty of the same. But those of us who have worked hard to learn the local language and fit in can be forgiven for being annoyed by the failure of many immigrants to learn Dutch and worse, scorn the basic norms and values of the country. Integration policies aimed at those who refuse to adapt to Dutch society are also enmeshing some expats who have voluntarily tried to "fit in". The anti-immigration policies of the Dutch government are a source of discontent, but are backed by a large section of the population. Social polarisation has thus become a pressure cooker and we have a right and a duty to demand the government provide both security and an environment in which all foreigners who are willing to contribute to society are given a chance to do so. The inter-cultural cold war first threatened to ignite with the assassination of anti-Islamic politician Pim Fortuyn in May 2002. Suspicion was initially focused on the Muslim community, but justice was served by the conviction of a killer, Dutch native Volkert van der Graaf. Now comes the murder of Van Gogh and again public outrage. The murder suspect Mohammed B., 26, is a suspected radical Muslim, so it is easy for some people to assume all Muslims are at least partly to blame. Dutch politicians have latched onto this conclusion and are busy demanding the government gets tough with Islamic extremism.

The Cabinet is moving to ban radical mosques and deport imams who incite extremism. It is also expanding security, intensifying the surveillance of suspected extremists and has promised to punish the arsonists. All the while, the killer and reactionary thugs who burn mosques and churches in tit-for-tat retaliation are chiselling furiously at the foundations of a society once considered the bastion of tolerance in Europe. A black pit of racism and extremism has opened up — and expats, in common with everyone else, will suffer unless the country's politicians stand true on their promises to both reach out and impose measures to enforce law and order. Expats should encourage this process by being open to dialogue and compromise ourselves. We should applaud the Islamic lobby group CMO which has unveiled plans to actively stamp out radicalism in mosques and respond to anti-Islamic attacks. We should support grassroots initiatives such as the one which saw Eindhoven residents form a symbolic human shield around the city's bombed Islamic primary school to condemn terrorism in all forms. We should applaud the Council of Churches which has opened an information lined operated by Muslims and Christians. By the same token, we should be proud to receive one of the 25,000 peace coins distributed in Amsterdam. We are here at the forefront of change and these are the reactions that must be headlined to sharpen the belief that the Netherlands will overcome the efforts of a violent few who wish to split society apart. Expats could of course take the easy option and side with one side against the other. But that famous Dutch tolerance is threatened from all sides and with a nation at a modern-day crossroads, apathy and racism must not win out.

This does not mean we should blind ourselves to the obstacles. Amsterdam University professor Meindert Fennema has pointed to the problem of criminal immigrant youth gangs "terrorising" the city of Amsterdam. The short film "Submission" — made by MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh shortly before his death in Amsterdam on 2 November — painted a stark picture of domestic abuse of women in Islamic households. It is also true that some immigrants want the financial benefits of Dutch society while ignoring the associated laws and obligations. These are huge, but not insurmountable, differences and socio-economic problems to overcome to bring the communities together. We should help remind everyone that the country thrives best when there is peace and understanding between its various communities. War, on the other hand, will only result in misery.
©Expatica News

QUEEN URGES DUTCH PUBLIC TO REMEMBER EQUALITY OF ALL
12/11/2004— During a meeting with young Moroccans in Amsterdam, Queen Beatrix has emphasised the equality of all in a bid to help restore Dutch social harmony following the murder of Theo van Gogh last week. Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen said on Wednesday the Queen had rang him to ask how she could contribute to solving the present crisis in the Netherlands. She had also wanted to express her concern over the situation, he said. Queen Beatrix visited Moroccans in a multicultural youth centre in Amsterdam West. The young people were meeting at the centre to establish a "think tank" which will advise the Amsterdam Council on issues affecting the city's youth. The Queen's unannounced visit was prompted by the death of Van Gogh and the unrest it caused. The arrested suspect, Mohammed B., 26, comes from Amsterdam West, as do several other Islamic terrorism suspects arrested in connection with the murder. And once seated between Cohen and Social Affairs Alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb at the youth centre on the Overtoom, the Dutch monarch listened behind closed doors to a discussion waged between the young people. The discussion — which was initially based on several propositions — eventually turned into a spontaneous conversation, also involving Queen Beatrix, news agency nu.nl reported. When the meeting was opened to the public, the Queen was presented with a list of 18 points advising how the Netherlands should move towards the future. Point one said that terrorism will not be tolerated. The young people taking part also suggested authorities should investigate the causes of extremism and that a mentor system should be established involving family members. Present community projects should also be intensified and expanded, they said. The Government Information Service (RVD) had indicated Thursday that the Queen would soon demonstrate her involvement in efforts to ease tensions in society, Dutch public news service NOS reported. The announcement came amid demands for Queen Beatrix to urge for public reconciliation. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende later said the Queen was sympathising with all those affected by the series of mosque and church arson attacks committed in the aftermath of Van Gogh's murder.
©Expatica News

DUTCH CITIZENS BY CONVICTION
17/11/2004- The brutal murder of Theo van Gogh and the attacks on mosques, churches and schools have shocked the country. People are afraid of increasing radicalization of religious extremists and a growth in right-wing extremism. They wonder how we can keep on countering the schocking events which have a great impact on the way in which the different etnic groups live together in the Netherlands.

That is why Magenta foundation, together with Radar , has taken the initiative to take-out a one-page big advertisement in the Algemeen Dagblad on November 17, with a statement titled 'Dutch Citizens by conviction'. 560 organizations and persons put their signature under the statement. Dutch Citizens are still adding their name to the webversion. Those signatures are shown at the bottom of the page in blue.

Dutch Citizens by conviction
The Netherlands is inhabited by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, religious and non-religious people. Men and women, young and old, heterosexual and homosexual. All people, with so many differences that sometimes you wonder, what do we still have in common?

Together we constitute the Netherlands, a country with an interesting history and a challenging future. The Netherlands is many countries and many people; a country of unity in diversity, continuously searching for a renewed identity. That goes with trial and error.

The enormous pace in which society changes sometimes leads to lack of understanding, fear and detachment: we live next to each other but not with each other, and extremism rears its ugly head. Irritations sometimes run so high that it is very tempting to take frustration out on others. Fragmentation of society is lurking around the corner, which is a downright shame, because especially those differences and similarities make the Netherlands the special place it is.

That is why we urgently appeal to everyone who feels responsible for, and involved with the Netherlands:

Give the good example: living together concerns all of us;

Be tolerant but not indifferent;

Speak freely about problems, but don't put the blame on others;

Don't exclude people but involve them in solving the problems;

Do not confuse candor with bluntness;

Do not fear differences, fear division.

Look for what unites us;

Treat others with the respect you would like to receive yourself;

Choose a worldly and livable Netherlands. To be able to live in freedom, solidarity is necessary.

That is the core of Dutch History. Let it also be the strength of our national identity.

Although we're not all born in the Netherlands, we gladly sign, as Dutch citizens by conviction.
Magenta foundation

SEVERAL THOUSANDS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST RACISM, ANTI-SEMITISM IN FRANCE
7/11/2004- Several thousand demonstrators marched through France on Sunday in a protest at racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination itself overshadowed by divisions over participation by a group with links to Islamic fundamentalists. Organisers said some 8,000 people, while police said 2,500 people took part in the the biggest march, in western Paris, boycotted by SOS-Racism and Jewish groups because of their discontent at participation by the fundamentalist linked union of Islamic organisations of France. Mouloud Aounit, the secretary general of the Movement Against Racism and anti-Semitism (MRAP), which organised the demonstration, criticised the organisations which did not take part, saying that they had chosen to keep the Jewish population "in a bunker". Fouad Alaoui, the Secretary General of the Islamic group, called the boycott "irresponsible, irresponsible, badly thought out. The fight against racism and anti-Semitism is a national cause, nobody should keep out of it." France, which is home to Europe's largest Jewish community estimated at 600,000, has seen a sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts in recent years. Some five million Muslims also live in France.
©The Tocqueville Connection

VLAAMS BLOK FACES RACISM DECISION(Belgium)
9/11/2004- Belgium's highest court is set to deliver its verdict on whether the Flemish far right Vlaams Blok party is a racist organisation. The Blok has appealed against a lower court ruling, which if upheld would leave the party facing financial ruin. The lower court found organisations affiliated to the party guilty of racism. Recent opinion polls suggest the Vlaams Blok is the most popular party in the northern region of Flanders. Should the ruling be upheld on Tuesday, the Vlaams Blok will lose access to state funding - a financial disaster which would in effect shut the party down. Its leaders are already prepared for that, making plans to launch a new party with a new name. They are toning down some of their statements and even if the verdict of racism is delivered, there is every chance the new party will pick up where the old one left off - as the most popular political group in Flanders. The Vlaams Blok makes the political establishment in Brussels very uncomfortable. They regard it as extremist and xenophobic. For years, other parties have combined to shut it out of national and regional governments. But as a tactic that has not really worked. Support for the Blok's policies of independence for Flanders and little tolerance of immigration has continued to grow.
©BBC News

COURT RULES VLAAMS BLOK IS RACIST(Belgium)
10/11/2004- Belgium's highest court has ruled that the Flemish far-right Vlaams Blok party is racist. The ruling means the Blok will lose access to state funding and access to television which will, in effect, shut down the party. The Blok was appealing against a court ruling which stated that it was guilty of violating anti-racism legislation. Recent opinion polls suggest the Vlaams Blok is the most popular party in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders. It garnered almost a quarter of votes in regional and European elections in June. The party campaigns on an anti-immigration platform. It also wants independence for Flanders, home to six million Dutch speakers. Party chairman Frank Vanhecke said he was shocked at the ruling. "Exactly 15 years after the Berlin Wall came down and the people of East Germany and eastern Europe regained their freedom, it was confirmed today that in the Belgian state, democracy and freedom of speech are under threat," he said.

'Xenophobic'
Vlaams Blok's leaders were prepared for the ruling, and are making plans to launch a new party with a new name, Vlaams Belang, or Flemish Interest, Belgian media say. The High Court's ruling is final and cannot be appealed. "In order to preserve our party members from prosecution, we are now forced to disband," said Mr Vanhecke immediately after the judgment. "Today, our party has been killed, not by the electorate but by the judges." The party had been toning down some of its statements, but there is every chance the new party will pick up where the old one left off, says the BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels. At the weekend, its members voted to modernise the party's statutes and tone down its views on immigration, saying non-European immigrants wishing to remain in Belgium should adopt Belgian rules and values. The Blok had once advocated that all non-European immigrants should be returned to their home country.

'Bury Belgium'
The Vlaams Blok makes the political establishment in Brussels very uncomfortable as they regard it as extremist and xenophobic, our correspondent adds. For years, other parties have combined to shut it out of national and regional governments, but this tactic has not really worked, he says. "We are the democratic voice of an ever growing number of Flemings who, in an entirely non-violent way, want to put an end to Belgium," Mr Vanhecke said on Tuesday. "Our electoral strength is causing panic amongst the Belgian establishment. We will establish a new party. This one Belgium will not be able to bury; it will bury Belgium."
©BBC News

BLOW TO BELGIUM'S FAR RIGHT
10/11/2004- Belgium's highest court has ruled that the country's Flemish nationalist party, the Vlaams Blok, is racist. The decision means that Europe's most successful far-right party will be forced to disband - and re-form under a new name. The ruling - confirming an appeals court judgment that the party was guilty of racism and discrimination - means that the Vlaams Blok can no longer benefit from state financing, while anyone who continues to work for it will henceforth be committing an offence. A quarter of voters in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium, support its policies - independence from Belgium and repatriation of immigrants, especially Muslims.

Growing popularity
Its popularity has surged relentlessly - from 10.4% in 1991, to 12.3% in 1995, 15.4% in 1999, and 18% in 2003. This year's 24.1% in the Flemish regional election included 250,000 extra voters compared to the previous year and made it the biggest single party. It is kept out of power only by the so-called "cordon sanitaire", an agreement among all the mainstream parties to exclude it from any coalition government. But many observers believe the cordon sanitaire itself brings the Blok votes. Professor Stefaan Walgrave of Antwerp University says it is precisely the Vlaams Blok's pariah status, perennially kept out of government, that helps to increase its popularity. "The difference here, compared to other countries, is that this party is seen as fighting against the establishment. By always being kept in the opposition it can claim to be the only party fighting for ordinary people against the political elite." But the Vlaams Blok has also taken strides to soften its image and become "respectable". Some years ago I watched Vlaams Blok skinheads urinating on a Belgian flag. Nowadays its suave, well-dressed and suntanned leaders prefer to spread the word not at raucous political rallies but at barbecues and cheese and wine evenings. At one such event last month in Schoten, a suburb of Antwerp - where more than a third of voters support the Blok - 100 party activists sipped wine and assured me: "You won't find any skinheads here".

Defending Flemish identity
Indeed, the public was, not exactly genteel, but stolidly middle-class - good burghers of Flanders outraged both by the way they feel they subsidise the French-speaking south of Belgium, and by the influx of foreigners into the country. The party's leader, Filip Dewinter, says the Vlaams Blok's goal is to defend the Flemish identity, both by securing independence from Belgium, and by keeping out immigrants. He is unashamed about singling out Muslim immigrants, and denies that this kind of talk leaves him open to accusations of xenophobia or racism. "Not at all. I think we should recognise that cultures are different and not all cultures are equal. "When I see Muslim culture I think that our culture is superior. Our values, our way of life are superior and we have to say so. I don't think the way of life of Muslims is compatible with our way of life." Floating around the cheese and wine tables was Marie-Rose Morel, who with her beauty-queen looks is the epitome of the new-look Vlaams Blok. At 32 she is the party's youngest MP. "What attracted me to the party," she says, "is that they are very straight, they don't play political games, and say what they mean."

A softening approach?
Dewinter acknowledges that this amounts to populism, "if by populism you mean breaking taboos and saying what ordinary people think, even if it's politically incorrect". The party last weekend softened its approach on immigration, and renounced its call for the repatriation of large groups of non-European immigrants "unless they reject our culture and certain European values". Dewinter told a Flemish newspaper: "A woman who wears the veil in public is demonstrating that she is not integrated and must draw the consequences." Dewinter and his colleagues were prepared for Tuesday's court ruling, already considering a new name for the party that will emerge from the Vlaams Blok's ashes. "Perhaps the Flemish People's Party, or Flemish Freedom Front, or Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest)," says Dewinter. Some even suggest renaming it simply "Vlaams Blok+". Analysts here believe that the move will simply increase its status as the underdog of Belgian politics, and persuade even more Flemish people to vote for it.
©BBC News

LET THEM IN?(Belgium)
Has the time come for Belgium's political establishment to re-think the way it deals with Flemish extremism?

November 2004- The spectacle of Flanders' racist, far right party, the Vlaams Blok, thumbing its nose at the Belgian justice system and changing its name to get around a court ruling that could have seen it lose hundreds of thousands of euros in State funding turned more than a few stomachs this week. But the fiasco of the Blok's rebirth as Vlaams Belang also brought home another very uncomfortable truth. For the foreseeable future it seems this racist, intolerant, bigoted party is here to stay, whatever it chooses to call itself. The question is what to do about it. The official response so far to the Vlaams Blok/Belang has been to adopt the 'ostrich' approach. The so-called 'cordon sanitaire' – the agreement between mainstream political parties in Flanders not to enter into power sharing pacts with the far right party – is the political equivalent of moderate politicians sticking their heads in the sand and pretending the far right Flemish extremists do not exist. The problem is of course that the Blok/Belang not only exists, it is also enjoys incredible support. In regional elections this year, the Blok emerged as the single most popular party in Flanders, a ranking that was confirmed in two separate opinion polls carried out last month. Faced with such evidence, is it still realistic to exclude the far right party from the Flemish government? The fact that it is at present barred from power is arguably one of the main reasons that support for the Blok/Belang is running so high. The situation allows the party to portray itself as a victim, persecuted by a leftist, undemocratic Belgian state - a stance that clearly strikes a chord with very many Flemish voters. The Blok/Belang's exclusion from government also means it has never really had to show how any of its ridiculous, hateful and simplistic policies might actually work in the complex political reality of top level government.

Up until now the party has essentially gained support by sloganeering, rabble rousing and mud slinging. It has booed from the sidelines rather than being obliged to come up with constructive strategies for dealing with real issues. A stint in the regional government would, one suspects, show up the party's nasty, vindictive, self-obsessed policies for the populist, hateful and above all unworkable rubbish they are. Giving the Blok/Belang what it is asking for would also oblige those who voted for the racist party to face up to their actions. One suspects many Blok voters back the party as a protest gesture, knowing there is little chance of it ever getting into power. If they actually thought they could seriously be putting far right extremists into government with a vote for the Blok/Belang, would so many of them really support the party's racist, anti-Walloon claptrap? At an international level, the reaction from Belgium's European partners to a Flemish government with far right members would be likely to be harsh - and quite rightly so. When right wing extremists belonging to Joerg Haider's Freedom Party were elected to the Austrian government in 2000, the country was branded a European pariah state. Other governments refused to consider Austrians for any key jobs in the Union's institutions and the country was shunned on the EU stage. No one suggested that the far right politicians in Austria had not been elected democratically. But other EU countries made it very clear to Austrian voters that if they wanted to use their democratic rights to make choices most people found abhorrent, they should not expect to find themselves with very many friends. Flemish voters should not be surprised at the same reaction if the Blok/Belang got into power. No-one likes being called a racist, but, as last week's court ruling confirmed, that is exactly what anyone who supports this spiteful, divisive, small-minded organisation is. So perhaps the time has come for a change of tack. Ignoring the Blok/Belang does not seem to have succeeded in laying to rest this hateful party. Perhaps it's time to give it enough rope, so it can do the job itself.
©Expatica News

MURDER OF BRITISH JEW HEIGHTENS RACIAL TENSIONS IN BELGIUM
19/11/2004- A British orthodox Jew and aide to a local rabbi was shot dead in Antwerp yesterday, heightening racial tensions in Belgium's second city after recent turbulence in neighbouring Netherlands. The Belgian authorities said it was too early to tell whether the murder of Moshe Naeh, 24, who had four children, was linked to an upsurge of anti-Semitic acts in Belgium, adding that there was no evidence of a racial or extremist motivation Nevertheless the attack has shocked the sizeable Jewish community in a city with a combustible ethnic mix, and which is a stronghold of Belgium's far-right, anti-immigration Flemish nationalist party, the Vlaams Bloc. Mr Naeh was shot in the head as he unloaded his car in front of his home. Two passers-by, who found Mr Naeh at 2.20am, initially believed him to be the victim of a car accident. He died 14 hours later in the city's St.Vincentius Hospital. Police have all but ruled out robbery as a motive, since Mr Naeh's wallet and watch were not taken.

The Belgian authorities refused to confirm that Mr Naeh had been carrying a large sum of funds from the synagogue, money which was not taken. The victim's friends denied that claim yesterday. The authorities are investigating motives for the attack other than racial ones and expect to make a statement today. Mr Naeh, a theology student who also worked at the Mercatorstraat synagogue, was a well-known member of the Jewish community and identifiable as part of the Hassidic congregation because of his dress. As the news that Mr Naeh had died reached the synagogue yesterday afternoon, Joseph Brand, a friend, said: "This was not a coincidence and this was not about money. He was 24 and not the type you would expect to be carrying money. He was a guy who just about makes ends meet. He had no real private life. He was either at home or here doing his job." One member of the congregation blamed the murder "either on racists or Arabs". But another said: "We live in peace and freedom with all our neighbours. We are not involved in politics and we respect all other cultures and all other people. I cannot imagine any reason why this should happen." Tensions have been heightened across the region since the murder in neighbouring Netherlands of Theo van Gogh, who had made a film critical of the treatment of women in Muslim society. That sparked attacks there on mosques and a school, and a mosque was attacked in eastern Belgium last week in an apparently related incident. Laurette Onkelinx, the Belgian Justice Minister, said yesterday she and other politicians had received death threats. Mimount Bousakla, a Belgian Senator, went into hiding after receiving threatening phone calls. Senator Bousakla's parents emigrated to Belgium from Morocco and she has criticised some aspects of Islam including forced marriages.

With a Jewish community of up to 20,000, and about 50,000 immigrants of North African origin, many believe the city will try its hardest to down play any racial element, for fear of exacerbating tensions. Asked if he had confidence in the Belgian investigators, Mr Brand replied: "Personally, no." Nevertheless, the type of attack did not suggest any link to previous attacks, to specific far-right groups or to Islamic terrorism. Dominique Reyniers, a spokeswoman for the Antwerp Public Prosecutor, said: "I would like to stress there is no evidence of a racially motivated crime. The investigation is following other avenues, although robbery is considered unlikely." There had already been increased security since June, when a 16-year-old Jewish student nearly died after being stabbed outside his school. Days later, a 43-year-old Jewish man was beaten unconscious. Jewish groups have said there has been a rising tide of anti-Semitic crimes in Europe since 2000, when tensions between Israelis and Palestinians worsened in the Middle East. Belgium's official anti-racism centre said in July it had registered as many anti-Semitic incidents in the first half of 2004 as in the whole of 2003. Last week Patrick Dewael, Belgium's Interior Minister, promised to clamp down on Arabic-language radio stations and websites in Belgium that were spreading anti-Semitic and anti-Western propaganda.
© Independent Digital

BAVARIA BANS TEACHER HEADSCARVES(Germany)
12/11/2004- The southern German state of Bavaria has become the latest of the country's federal states to ban Muslim school teachers from wearing headscarves. The Bavarian parliament approved the measure after Culture Minister Monika Hohlmeier argued that the headscarf was a symbol of the repression of women. Three other German states - Lower Saxony, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saarland - have already imposed similar bans. Displaying Christian and Jewish symbols will still be allowed in Bavaria. More than three million Muslims live in Germany and many have complained that the laws restrict their freedom to express their religion. In the state of Hesse, the headscarf ban applies to all civil servants. But Ms Hohlmeier said the headscarf had become a political symbol which was widely abused by Islamic fundamentalist groups and was not consistent with democracy, equality and tolerance. "It's true that the veil of Islamic fundamentalist groups as a political symbol has been massively abused," she told German television. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Greens, who rule in a coalition on a national level, voted against the ban in the Bavarian parliament, adding that it was questionable from a legal point of view. The issue has been fiercely debated in Germany since Fereshta Ludin, who was denied a job in Baden-Wuerttemberg in 1998 because she wore a headscarf in school, went to court. She argued that the German constitution guaranteed her religious freedom. Last September, the federal Constitutional Court ruled by five votes to three that, under current laws, she could wear the scarf. But it also said new laws could be passed by individual states banning them if they were deemed to unduly influence pupils. In France, there is similar controversy about a ban on the wearing of religious symbols by pupils in state schools.
©BBC News

ROW OVER PLAN FOR GERMAN IN MOSQUES
A proposal for the enforcement of German as a spoken language in mosques has erupted in Germany as politicians look for ways to reform the country's integration policy in the wake of violence in the Netherlands.

16/11/2004- A regional politician's proposal that prayers in German mosques should be said in German was greeted with dismay on Monday amid fears that anti-Muslim attacks may spread over the border from the Netherlands. Annette Schavan, the Christian Democrat education minister for the state of Baden-Württemberg and a contender for the state's premiership, made her radical proposal at the weekend because, she said, "we can no longer accept that prayers in mosques should be said in languages that cannot be understood outside the Muslim community." Schavan's proposal comes in the wake of the torching of mosques, schools and churches in the Netherlands following the killing of film director Theo van Gogh, whose work was strongly critical of Muslims. Her suggestion drew a sharp reaction from the leaders of the more than two and a half million Turks who live in Germany. "This is nonsense -- terror can be spread in any language," said Kenan Kolat, the co-president of the Turkish Community in Germany. Cornelie Sonntag-Wolgast, a representative of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) on the national parliamentary committee for domestic affairs also criticized the proposal. "We cannot suspect each and every person... of violence just because they say their prayers in Arabic," said Sonntag-Wolgast. Volker Beck, a spokesman for the Greens, the junior partner in the governing coalition, said Schavan's proposal was "completely exaggerated" while liberal FDP interior minister Max Stadler criticized Schavan, saying her proposal for the state to enforce the German language in mosques was "an offense against basic law." Werner Schiffauer, a cultural professor said, Schavan's plan was "out-of-touch and impractical", a view supported by Jürgen Micksch, the chairperson of the intercultural council in Germany. Professor Schiffauer stated that there was little money available to provide language training for the large numbers of Islamic preachers in Germany and that, in addition, many foreigners living in Germany stayed for only a short time and were dependent on mother-tongue services while they were there. However, Nadeem Elyas, the chairperson for the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, agreed with the proposal. Elyas explained that a lot of mosques already translate their prayers and sermons and offer simultaneous audio feeds in both Arabic and German. The council, he said, is made up of 19 organizations and about 500 mosque municipalities in Germany, not all of which cater for purely Arabic speakers. Elyas added that German, Turkish, Arabian, Albanian, Bosnian and Persian Muslims all worship in Germany and many have different language requirements.
©Deutsche Welle

ANGER OVER CALL FOR MUSLIM PUBLIC HOLIDAY(Germany)
17/11/2004- German opposition and government members reacted with anger Wednesday to calls by the Greens party - which serve in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's coalition - for establishing a Muslim holiday in the country. Bavarian state Premier Edmund Stoiber, a member of the Christian Social Union, slammed the idea as "sending out a totally wrong signal." Opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel - who is the daughter of a Protestant pastor, said: "Germany is a country with Christian and Western roots. This identity must be reflected in our holidays." The sharp criticism followed calls Tuesday by Greens Environment Minister Juergen Trittin and deputy head of the Greens in parliament, Hans-Christian Stroebele for a Muslim holiday in reaction to violence in the Netherlands following the killing of Islam-critical film director Theo van Gogh. "Exactly such a sign is needed given the attacks in Holland," said Stroebele, who like Trittin hails from the party's "fundi" left-wing. Muslim leaders were quoted in Bild newspaper as cheering the proposal. "It's a magnificent recommendation!" said Ali Emari, chairman of the Islamic Community in Hamburg. Askar Mahmut, General Secretary of the Turkish-Islamic Cultural Association said a Muslim holiday was "long overdue." But Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) are markedly cool to the proposal following a failed bid earlier this month to abolish the German Unity Day holiday in a bid to boost the economy. SPD Interior Minister Otto Schily slammed the proposed Muslim holiday as "absurd." Some of moderate Greens members also distanced themselves from the idea. "Nobody would dream of proposing to Saudi Arabia that they should celebrate Pentecost," noted Greens parliamentary leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt. Bild, which is Germany's biggest selling tabloid, splashed the proposed Muslim holiday across its front page. "By the beard of the Prophet - send Trittin into the desert wilderness!" declared the paper on its front page, which included a photo-montage of the minister with a turban and thick beard. A further photo-montage showed thousands of Muslims bowed in prayer in front of Berlin's Reichstag which houses the federal parliament. There are about 3.4 million Muslims living in Germany out of a total population of 82 million. In a related development, officials were considering whether to deport a Turkish Muslim preacher in Berlin for making strongly anti-German comments in a mosque which were filmed and shown on TV. The preacher, who has been identified only as Yakup T., was shown in ZDF public TV at the Mevlana Mosque in Berlin's heavily Turkish Kreuzberg district saying: "These Germans, these atheists, these Europeans don't shave under their arms and their sweat collects under their hair with a revolting smell and they stink ... Hell lives for the infidels! Down with all democracies and all democrats!"
©Expatica News

CROTIA: EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW, MARGINALIZED IN SOCIETY
Religious minority groups have signed special agreements with the Croatian government, but will this end their marginalization?
by Vedran Horvat, Zagreb-based journalist specializing in social and migration issues.

12/11/2004- A sense of optimism is spreading among small religious communities in Croatia as more and more of them are benefiting from a liberal legal regime. The passage of the 2002 Law on the Legal Status of Religious Communities was followed in the summer of 2003 by a drive to register the roughly 50 minority religions in Croatia; a large majority of these groups has now acquired the full protection of the law. This protection has been reaffirmed by special agreements concluded last year between most traditional minority religions and the government. In September, the U.S. State Department praised these developments in its annual report on religious freedom in the world. The special agreements are modeled on the three that Croatia concluded with the Holy See in 1997 formalizing the dominant role of the Catholic Church, notably in the police and armed forces. (Negotiations on a fourth agreement are still ongoing and concern the return of, or compensation for, nationalized property, a point noted in the State Department report.) That similar, though less favorable, agreements have now been signed with other religious groups suggests that a new social reality may be emerging in a country where 87 percent of a population of 4.3 million is Roman Catholic. Indeed, the Catholic Church says that the 1997 accords made the recognition of minority religions through similar agreements possible.

On the margins
But the influence of the Church--together with the high share of Catholics among the population--has also created a social climate where the formal equality of religious communities amounts to very little. Many of the small Eastern religions are still waiting, if not to be registered, then to be socially accepted. The 1991 to 1995 war in Croatia made the Catholic faith an even more salient feature of public life, firmly establishing it as the wellspring of national and cultural identity. Population shifts also swelled the number of Catholics in the country. Many minority religions felt compelled to sign the special agreements, as they provide additional guarantees of their rights in such areas as education, access to the media, or pastoral care. Of the larger minority groups, only the Jewish community is still negotiating; agreement has been delayed by the government's reluctance to return nationalized property. The fact that almost all traditional religious communities saw a need to sign these agreements points to their tenuous social recognition. The presence of religious minorities in the midst of a homogenous society still provokes ambivalent feelings. This particularly applies to new religious movements, which to a large extent have not signed these agreements. Some experts are also raising questions about the legal equality the new accords supposedly ensure. Davorin Peterlin, director of the Keston Institute in the United Kingdom, notes that in Croatia, "The Roman Catholic Church is more equal before the law. Not only because the agreements--the so-called concordats--with the Holy See preceded the law, which was then regulated based on them." According to Peterlin, the concordats are international documents and therefore have more weight than the constitution. By contrast, the agreements with other religious communities are ordinary documents to be implemented domestically. Peterlin explains, "If the government had signed the agreement with the Croatian Bishops Conference and not with the Holy See, their status would be the same [as the new agreements]." Nonetheless, he agrees that the recent law is a significant improvement. "The adopted law is a satisfactory compromise, and I think that most religious communities share my opinion," Peterlin notes.

Paul Mojzes, a well-known American sociologist of religion and editor of the journal ***Religion in Eastern Europe,*** is not surprised that not everyone is happy. He says minority religions, except for the most established ones, might even have lost ground after the fall of communism. "During the communist period, some of these churches received equality with the large communities, at least on paper. It wasn't much, but somehow it gave them a sense of recognition. Since the collapse of communism, it seems that in both majority Catholic and Orthodox countries, though with great variation from country to country, minority religious communities are being relegated to the margins and sometimes actually denied the right to operate," Mojzes says. He attributes this to "overzealous local authorities and priests, but at times high government officials [who also] block registration and deny permissions for activities for which in truly free societies permission could be obtained without difficulty." Indicative of the legal pitfalls inherent in the law is its minimum requirement of 500 members for any group to register. Groups that fall short--typically those that emerged over the last 10 years--are relegated to the status of nongovernmental organizations and are recognized as religious groups only after a five-year waiting period. Peterlin seconds the view that this is a source of unequal treatment. "The state does not have a right to arbitrate and to define the criteria (such as the number of people or theological content) of a ‘real faith'. … Not just the number of people in a community, but also the distinction between new and traditional should be irrelevant for registration," he says.

A problem of attitude
A key problem specific to the countries of former Yugoslavia is the ethnic dimension of religious identity. According to Mojzes, "Recent wars have only more strongly brought about this identification [of religion with ethnicity] because it was of mutual benefit to both the state and the Church to insist on the identity of every Croat as a Catholic. Actually, the Catholic Church among Croats is sometimes so exclusive that it seems to provide no real space to its members who are non-Croatian." This statement doesn't make sense to Bishop Vlado Kosic from the Zagreb archdiocese, a proponent of ecumenicity and dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and other religious communities. He points to the legal equality of religions and says, "As the largest religious community in Croatia, the Catholic Church broke the ice by signing the agreement with the state and thereby opened the door for others to do the same." While careful to maintain that no religious group should feel inferior, Kosic confirms that better relations exist with the so-called historical churches, that is, those communities that have been present in the area for many centuries. He adds that it is hard to maintain good relations with new religious movements since they are trying to win new members by converting Catholics. Gordan Pandza, a Croatian journalist for the daily Vjesnik who writes on religious affairs, is not convinced. He persistently warns that "The Catholic Church tends to be friendly … in public, while its true interest is the full Catholic evangelization of Croatian society, for which it uses every opportunity at all levels of society, from kindergarten to the government." One example is a recent row over optional yoga classes in schools as part of physical education, an offer the Church sought to suppress. "Minority religious groups are not a real problem for the Catholic Church and are not perceived as a serious rival as long as their influence with the young population doesn't increase," Pandza says.

Little respect
The provisions of the law and the pronouncements of Church representatives do not always fully reflect social reality in Croatia. Pandza says that the Church rarely misses an opportunity to emphasize that the beliefs of the new religious movements run counter to the spirit of Christianity and do not lead to an authentic life. In a broader sense, Pandza says, "Minority religions cannot be satisfied only with the goodwill of the government and a liberal law. More social respect and recognition, not just mere tolerance, are very much needed. This is especially true in the case of small communities such as Buddhists, Hindus, or Baha'i, which are highly marginalized." Nonetheless, the Croatian Baha'i community has been recognized under the law thanks to its decade-long presence in Croatia, despite having only 130 registered members. The largest established religious minority in Croatia has a somewhat different set of concerns. The Serbian Orthodox Church was among the first to sign a special agreement with the Croatian government. Metropolitan Jovan Pavlovic says, "So far, we are very happy with the attitude of the Croatian government toward our position in Croatia, and we welcome the ongoing process of return of property, both to us and to our believers." Despite unresolved problems relating to the return of forests, land, and real estate, Pavlovic, whose jurisdiction includes Zagreb, Slovenia, and Italy, doesn't hide his satisfaction with the recent cooperation with state ministries, notably those for education, culture, and finance. The analyst Peterlin confirms that the Serbian Orthodox Church is treated equitably. "Even though there are still some tense feelings at the local level, I think that the government is trying to implement the law," he says. Pavlovic hopes that the current Croatian government will stay the course of improving relations with religious minorities and go beyond nice gestures such as the visit to an Orthodox Christmas celebration by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. The head of the Islamic community in Croatia also says the law is being implemented fairly. Mufti Sefko Omerbasic, who represents 56,777 Muslims, points to just one problem area: "So far, only the religious practice in the army has not been regulated. This affects around 100 Muslim soldiers who cannot enjoy their religious rights to pastoral care at the moment." Omerbasic is glad that a decision has recently been made to proceed with the construction of a mosque in Rijeka, the country's third largest city. In his view, relations between the Islamic community and the Catholic Church in Croatia are cordial. "By regulating their own rights with the state, the Catholic Church helped us to find our [own] place in the law," he says. These feelings are also echoed by the representative of the 2,000-strong Baptist community in Croatia.

The long road from legal protection to social recognition
Small religious communities from the East, though satisfied with the implementation of the law, feel more marginalized than traditional groups. For example, the more-than-1,000 members of Hare Krishna in Croatia face social isolation despite the fact that the group has had a presence in the country for close to 20 years. The community's vice president, Renato Petek, says, "We have no official contacts either with the government or with the Catholic Church, except at an individual level." This could change, however, with the planned conclusion of a special agreement that would recognize Hare Krishna marriages and religious instruction in schools. Sinisa Zrinscak, a sociologist of religion and professor at the Faculty of Law at Zagreb University, agrees that legal protection and social recognition are two very different things. "Except for the minimum membership requirement for registration, we can speak of a very liberal law, even in comparison to similar legal models in EU countries. The law enshrines a broad spectrum of rights," he says. At the same time, "Social context and tradition, which shape the prejudices and attitudes toward minority religions, are far more important than legal status." The two years since the law's passage have shown that while legal equality is important, social attitudes are harder to change. Says Peterlin, "Croatian society still has great problems in recognizing the value of pluralism in a democratic sense. In the religious context, the members of minority religious communities are often perceived as suspicious or stigmatized as sectarians."
©Transitions Online

MIGROS REJECTS BAN ON MUSLIM HEADSCARF(Switzerland)
18/11/2004- Switzerland's largest retailer, Migros, says it will not impose a ban on the wearing of Islamic headscarves by its female employees. In a statement on Thursday, it said it would decide each case on an individual basis and "take into account the interests of Migros customers, management and employees". Migros added that it was concerned with the issues of hygiene and safety, as well as with protecting its staff from verbal or physical abuse. Spokeswoman Monika Weibel told swissinfo that a Zurich branch last week gave permission to one female Muslim employee to wear her headscarf to work, which may have set a precedent leading to Thursday's decision. The employee in question made the request last August, sparking an internal debate about the issue. Head of personnel at Migros Zurich, Urs Stolz, told the "Tages-Anzeiger" newspaper that some customers had reacted with "shock" when they saw the woman wearing the headscarf. But Stolz said Muslims should have the same rights as other religious groups, and "Jews and Sri Lankans wear yarmulkes and turbans at Migros without any problem." Commenting on the issue at a Catholic meeting in August, cabinet minister Moritz Leuenberger said a blanket prohibition on the Islamic headscarf would not help to build peace among religions. For its part, the Islamic Cultural Foundation in Geneva, which also administers the mosque there, said it accepted a ban on headscarves in the public administration, "but it is unacceptable that this would be extended to the private sector". In 1997, the Federal Court turned down an appeal by a Geneva teacher who wanted to wear her headscarf to work. The court said allowing her to do so contravened the principle of sexual equality. Weibel told the newspaper, "Le Temps", that the court's ruling had little relevance in Migros' case since it concerned a school "which has a mission to educate and explain practices to its pupils. "In a company it is different," she said. "We have to respect the autonomy of our employees."
©NZZ Online

RETAILER SELLS MESSAGE OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE(Switzerland)
19/11/2004- A Swiss expert on Islam has welcomed a decision by the country's leading retailer, Migros, not to ban the wearing of Muslim headscarves. But in an interview with swissinfo, Stéphane Lathion, president of the Group of Research on Islam in Switzerland, said the move was unlikely to lead to changes elsewhere. On Thursday Migros said there would be no outright ban on the wearing of Islamic headscarves, following a request by a Muslim female employee in Zurich. But the retailer said it retained the right to decide on a case-by-case basis. Lathion, a senior lecturer in sociology of religions at Fribourg University, published a book, "Muslims in Europe", in 2003.

swissinfo: What kind of message does the decision taken by Migros send out to Switzerland as a whole?
Stéphane Lathion: First of all, this is a positive step. It is recognition of the Muslim presence in Switzerland, seen here in an agreement between employees and their employer.

swissinfo: But is this decision likely to resonate in schools and public life?
S.L.: I don't think so; firstly, because in Switzerland the cantons don't have the same legislation covering religion. In Geneva or Neuchâtel, for example, secularism is understood as being an absence of all religious symbols. Migros' decision will not change this. It won't have any impact on schools either, where there are good arguments for limiting the influence of religion.

swissinfo: In your opinion, how is the headscarf issue viewed by the Swiss population?
S.L.: The situation in France has a major impact on people's thinking, especially in French-speaking Switzerland. When a row about the headscarf erupts in France, its effects are felt in French-speaking Switzerland. And supporters of a strong secular society take advantage of the situation to relaunch the debate here in Switzerland. Saying that, Switzerland is not France. I don't think you will find in Geneva or anywhere else in western Switzerland the kind of scenes wit