Headlines 30 June, 2006
FRANCE NOT TO EXPEL YOUNG ILLEGALS THIS SUMMER: MEDIATOR
30/6/2006- France will not immediately begin deporting school-age illegal immigrants despite the expiration Friday of a moratorium on expulsions, a lawyer mediating the dispute said. Thousands of parents have been queueing outside government offices in recent days to take advantage of new regulations that would allow many illegal immigrants with young children who have attended school in France to obtain residency papers. "Families have till August 13 to lodge a dossier, there will be no child hunt ... there will be no expulsions this summer," Arno Klarsfeld told Sud radio. Klarsfeld -- the son of Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld -- was named by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this week to coordinate case-by-case reviews of thousands of potential deportees. The appointment was in reaction to a nationwide protest movement to stop expulsions slated to begin after the end of the academic year on Friday, with campaigners vowing to hide foreign schoolchildren in their homes. The children are from families who entered France illegally and who would normally be expelled along with their parents, but campaigners say that most of them know no other country and that deportation would be inhumane.
Bowing to pressure last week, Sarkozy told prefects -- state-appointed local governors -- to reconsider cases on the basis of new criteria, such as whether a child has "strong ties" to France. "The minister's circular is generous. Nicolas Sarkozy has told the Senate that sending back children with strong ties (to France) would be suffered as an expatriation, an uprooting," said Klarsfeld. "Children whose parents have lived in France for at least two years, who were born in France or those who came before the age of 13 and have been at school here since September 2005 -- these can be given residence papers," he said. "On the other hand someone who arrives with a child of 15, puts him straight away into a lycee and then plays a game of tag with the authorities saying you cannot touch me -- these cannot be given papers. Otherwise you open the borders to everyone," he said. French schools are obliged to take in children regardless of whether they are in the country legally. Government supporters say that blanket regularisation of all pupils from "paperless" families will encourage illegal immigration. In Paris this week thousands of parents -- mainly Chinese -- have queued up outside four processing centres in the hope of qualifying for residence papers under Sarkozy's new criteria. The Education Without Borders Network (RESF), which has coordinated the protest campaign, said it mistrusts the government's latest moves and has organised a demonstration in Paris Saturday.
© The Tocqueville Connection
LAUNCH OF THE EUROPEAN YOUTH CAMPAIGN “ALL DIFFERENT, ALL EQUAL”
The Launch
On Thursday June 29 2006 the Campaign has been launched during the June session of the Parliamentary Assembly. The first event has been the official launch inside the debating chamber, with speeches from Parliamentary Assembly President Rene van der Linden, Russian Education and Science Minister Andrey Fursenko (to be confirmed), Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis, EU Commission representative Pascal Lejeune and European Youth Forum’s Vice-President Bettina Schwarzmayr. Young people from all over Europe gathered outside the Council at 1 pm to launch the campaign with balloons and music. Music, theatre, dance, food and an exhibition on campaign activities were the theme from 18.30 onwards, when the European Youth Centre was the backdrop for an evening to celebrate the campaign.
Why the Campaign?
In 1995 the Council of Europe marked the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War with one of its most successful campaigns – All Different, All Equal. It mobilised the young people of Europe around a common aim – to stop racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and intolerance. Ten years later new issues face Europe – and a whole new generation is taking up the challenge. The new All Different - All Equal campaign launches in June 2006 – and this time the horizons are wider. This campaign aims to highlight diversity – celebrating the richness of our different cultures and traditions. It has its roots in the Council of Europe’s main mandate – to spread and protect human rights. And it will work through participation allowing everyone to play a part in building a better Europe – a Europe where everyone has the right to be themselves – to be different and equal.
Frequently Asked Questions
The “All Different, All Equal” campaign launches in June 2006 and will run for over a year. What are its aims?
“All different, All Equal” is a political campaign run by young people in the 49 countries of the Council’s Cultural Convention (designed to develop mutual understanding and diversity, open to other countries than the 46 Council of Europe member states). The aim is to mobilise young people behind a message – that all people, everywhere, have the right to be themselves and be treated with fairness and justice. The Campaign highlights the values that have driven the Council of Europe for more than 55 years – that every European has a right to a democratic voice, that human rights must be a living principle and that social justice is at the heart of a modern society.
Why is the campaign important now?
Recent events in Europe have shown that young people need not only employment and social inclusion, but that there is also a need for human rights education to cut levels of discrimination. It is also essential that young people participate in their world, in urban environments, in schools and universities and in the workplace. Too often young people feel they have no say.
Spreading the message over 48 countries is a vast undertaking. How is the Council of Europe hoping to achieve this?
The Campaign is being spearheaded by the Council of Europe from its headquarters in Strasbourg, guided by experts within the European Youth Centre who devote their lives to youth issues. But most importantly, it is backed and resourced by the governments of Europe. Each country will be carrying out a national campaign – tailoring the messages to their own particular reality. That means that the campaign will really touch the grassroots.
“All different, All Equal” is one of the slogans adopted by the Council and used for some time now. Why is it being used again?
The slogan was adopted for a major campaign in 1995, and was so successful that it became a by-word for efforts to stamp out all forms of discrimination and intolerance.
What is new about this campaign?
The 1995 campaign concentrated on fighting racism, anti-semitism, xenophobia and intolerance. This campaign is much broader. Our message is that we are all of us, all different, all equal, no matter what the colour of our skin, our culture, our religion, our physical or mental abilities or our sexuality.
Why does the campaign need to be repeated? Does it mean that 1995 was not a success?
On the contrary, the 1995 campaign was one of the most successful at European level. But in ten years much has changed: there are new challenges in Europe, and a whole new generation that can be mobilised in the fight for diversity, human rights and participation and against intolerance and discrimination.
The Campaign’s three pillars are diversity, participation and human rights. Why are they so important?
One of the great strengths of the Council of Europe is to build a Europe around core values of democracy and human rights whilst respecting difference and enjoying the richness that exists in the cultures and traditions of Europe. Nobody wants a Europe where everyone looks and acts the same, eats the same food and has the same laws. Diversity and difference are important, and should be cherished. Equally, real democracy means that everyone’s voice is heard, that everyone has a say in their lives and the world around them. That is true participation, and it is especially important for young people – many of whom are not comfortable with traditional politics. As for human rights, that is the Council’s first priority – building a Europe that respects the rights of everyone, no matter who they are, where they live or how they chose to live their lives.
Website "All different, all equal"
© Council of Europe
SPEAK NO ENGLISH (Uzbekistan)
With their crackdown on advocacy groups and international media organizations in Uzbekistan, the authorities in Tashkent have effectively stemmed the teaching of English to much of the population.
by Paul Bartlett
29/6/2006- As organizations such as the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Internews, IREX, Freedom House, and the Open Society Institute have left the country, so have many opportunities for ordinary Uzbeks to learn and hear English. The private sector has stepped in with new classes, but at up to $5 per hour they’re difficult for all but a small percentage of Uzbeks (who make on average $45 per month) to afford. The authorities seem reconciled to this consequence of their crackdown and have since reemphasized Russian instruction in schools. But learning English is associated with prosperity for many in the world, and the dwindling opportunities could have implications for the country’s future.
Thwarting reform
Since Uzbekistan became independent in 1991, international organizations such as the British Council, the U.S. Embassy’s public affairs section, and the Open Society Institute have played a major role in assisting reforms in the education sector in Uzbekistan. These reforms have often been implemented through the medium of English – via language training or subject-specific teacher training, or the development of educational materials fostering civil society. But fostering civil society is not high on the agenda these days, and these groups have become inconvenient for the regime, leaving the authorities in a dichotomous position. On the one hand, they recognize the importance of English for modernization and letting the country play an active role in an increasingly globalized world; on the other hand, they do not want people to be exposed to some of the values that English-teaching groups have traditionally promoted, such as democracy, freedom of speech, and respect for human rights. These attempts by the Uzbek authorities to curb the activities of organizations working in the education sphere are likely to keep many people from learning English to an effective level. In Uzbekistan English ranks a distant third behind Uzbek, the state language, and Russian, which has no official status but has recently been experiencing a revival in Uzbek schools, as reported in TOL by Mansur Gulomov. With increased time being given over to Russian, teaching hours need to be taken away from other foreign languages. Increasingly, to learn English to an effective level means hiring private tutors or studying abroad, options beyond the means of the vast majority of people. The result is likely to be a privileged elite with a good working level of English who will have access to the best jobs and the fruits of international trade while the mass of the population will be isolated and cut off from such chances and from the prosperity that knowledge of English can bring.
Color revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine, and, uncomfortably close to home, Kyrgyzstan, have unnerved the regime in Tashkent and led it to increase steps to suppress organizations dedicated to promoting democracy, freedom of speech, and respect for human rights. The Uzbek authorities have pursued a policy that has led to them becoming increasingly isolated from the West. The final rupture came in July 2005, when the Uzbeks served the Americans with six months’ notice to vacate the airbase at Khanabad, which they did on 23 November. Harassment of NGOs in Uzbekistan has a longer history, dating to the spring of 2004, when the OSI became the first organization to fall foul of the Uzbek authorities. The official reason given for its closure was failure to submit the necessary paperwork for registration. In the lead-up to this ruling, the Uzbek authorities had claimed that educational materials funded by the OSI for Uzbek universities distorted “the essence and the content of socioeconomic, public, and political reforms conducted in Uzbekistan” and that these materials aimed to harm the reputation of the Uzbek government. Prior to being barred, the OSI had been the country’s largest private donor, providing $22 million in assistance since 1996. The OSI had awarded a contract to Westminster International University in Tashkent in spring 2004 to provide English-language training to local NGO workers. The materials developed for the course would have been used by local English teachers to work with NGOs outside Tashkent, giving staff in this underfunded sector access to free English instruction. The project folded when the OSI was forced to shut down in April 2004. Another casualty of the shutdown were plans like those of an Uzbek woman who received OSI funding to study in the United States for her master’s degree in English teaching. As part of the deal, the teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, was to work for the OSI for two years on ESL programs. She is now working for a private language school in Tashkent rather training her peers.
Strong demand
Despite the expulsion of international organizations, demand for learning English remains strong in Uzbekistan. One organization that did not want to be identified reported that the number of its students preparing for the International English Language Testing System exam, a qualification used for university entrance in a number of English-speaking countries, quadrupled, from 95 to 245 in the first quarter of this year. The number of candidates remains high as students compete for a diminishing number of overseas scholarships and places at Tashkent’s Westminster International University, an affiliate of Westminster University in London. Into this picture of undiminished demand chasing limited supply has stepped Macmillan Publishers, a major publisher of books for English learners. The company opened a store in Tashkent in 2004 and recently launched its own language school. The school has managed to build up a cadre of students by undercutting its rivals’ prices. It’s impossible to know how many fewer English-language learners there are in Uzbekistan compared with a year ago, but it’s certain the opportunities are much fewer. In the long term, however, these attempts to stifle English-speaking organizations whose views run contrary to the authoritarian Uzbek regime will hamper the country’s development. By clamping down on foreign NGOs, many of whom were offering valuable assistance in the sphere of education, and by isolating the mass of the population from learning English effectively, the Uzbek authorities are creating a situation where the country as a whole is becoming uncompetitive in the global marketplace. Knowledge of English, as suggested last year by linguist David Graddol in the Guardian Weekly, is becoming “positioned as a generic learning skill, alongside basic literacy and maths.” By limiting access to learning English, the Uzbek authorities hope to stop the spread of ideas they describe as alien, such as democracy, freedom of speech, and respect for human rights. But at the same time they risk turning the country into an uncompetitive backwater with a workforce unable to partake in and benefit from the increasingly globalized world economy.
Paul Bartlett is a freelance teacher trainer and writer based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He formerly worked as a lecturer at Westminster International University in Tashkent.
© Transitions Online
POLICE FAIL TO ATTRACT IMMIGRANTS(Denmark)
Difficulties prevail for the National Police to attract would-be officers with immigrant backgrounds
29/6/2006- Years of recruitment efforts to attract young people with immigrant backgrounds to police forces have had little effect. In the group of 200 students set to begin their police training 1 August, only four have an ethnic background other than Danish. Peter Ibsen, head of the Police Union, is disappointed with the numbers. 'I know that there have been significant resources used to attract young people with immigrant backgrounds to create a police force that mirrors society's make-up,' said Ibsen to daily newspaper MetroXpress. While Ibsen said there is room for improvement, he warns against loosening acceptance requirements for people with non-Danish backgrounds. In order to be accepted into training, all prospective applicants have to pass both a physical test and a Danish language test, among others. 'All officers have to meet the same requirements, and that shouldn't be changed. We don't need to meet a certain quota of immigrants, therefore it is neither in their interest, the public or the police's interest to lessen the requirements,' said Ibsen. Anne-Marie Meldegaard, MP for the opposition Social Democrats, has previously suggested a special course created to help immigrants pass admittance tests, however. 'We should also ease up on the language test, so that it isn't the Danish language that keeps us from having more police officers of ethnic backgrounds,' said Meldegaard. 'If we are serious about wanting to attract more immigrants, then we need to accept that the language will follow once candidates are in school and on the job. It's on the job where true integration takes place.' The National Police force had aimed to have at least one in every 25 persons accepted into training come from an immigrant background, but in the newest cohort, the ratio is half of that.
© The Copenhagen Post
DUTCH GOVERNMENT BROUGHT DOWN IN IMMIGRATION ROW
Friday saw the Dutch Prime Minister tender his government's resignation to head of state Queen Beatrix after a controversy centered around a Somali-born former member of parliament who lied on her asylum application.
30/6/2006- The Dutch government led by Jan Peter Balkenende resigned Thursday after losing the support of its junior coalition partner in a row triggered by controversial Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, in a move that may result in early elections for the country. The reformist D66, the junior coalition party with just three of a total of 25 ministers and junior ministers in government, effectively pulled the plug on Balkenende's government when it withdrew its support in the debate over Verdonk's handling of the controversy surrounding the citizenship of Somali-born Islam critic and former lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Verdonk, nicknamed "Iron Rita" for her tough stance on immigration, announced in May that Hirsi Ali, who admitted publicly that she lied in 1992 about her name and birth date on her asylum application, could not keep her Dutch citizenship. Hirsi Ali, 36, gained international attention in 2004 after Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim extremist. Van Gogh had produced a controversial film written by Hirsi Ali about the treatment of women in Islam.
Concessions
After enormous political pressure from parliament, Verdonk softened her hardline position on Hirsi Ali. On Tuesday she announced that Hirsi Ali, who has since stepped down as a member of parliament and is moving to the US to work for a think tank, could keep her Dutch passport. Verdonk used complicated legal reasoning to justify her turnaround, concluding that Hirsi Ali actually lied about lying about her name because she could legally use the name Ali under Somali law. The minister also produced a declaration signed by Hirsi Ali in which she said that she was actually to blame for the situation and wrote she did not reproach the minister anything. However, Hirsi Ali later told Dutch media that she signed the document under pressure because she wanted the affair to be over and needed a valid Dutch passport to complete her move to Washington, where she has a job at a conservative policy institute. The mea culpa letter was the straw that broke the camel's back for the D66 party, which had already had several clashes with Verdonk. The D66 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs Laurens Jan Brinkhorst told the Dutch parliament that his party's ministers "could no longer bear responsibility for the policies of the immigration minister."
Fallout
The resignation of the government is likely to lead to new elections in October rather than the planned date next May -- and renewed debate on the Netherlands' position on the future of the EU after the public's surprise rejection of the European Constitution in a referendum last year. "The voters have to express themselves, preferably already in autumn," said main opposition Labour party leader Wouter Boss. However, there is also a slim chance the coalition parties will try to cobble together a minority government supported by various small opposition parties.
© Deutsche Welle
CABINET CRISIS AS D66 DEMANDS VERDONK'S RESIGNATION (Netherlands)
29/6/2006- The Dutch coalition government is in crisis after junior partner D66 sided with a motion of no confidence in Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk. Out-going D66 parliamentary party leader Lousewies van der Laan said on Thursday morning that her party would collapse the government if Verdonk doesn't resign. Van der Laan told parliament her party was not trying to bring down the government but Verdonk could not stay on after her "performance" in relation to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Verdonk was supported by her own Liberal Party (VVD) and the Christian Democrats (CDA) of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. The Cabinet is to announce its reaction to the D66 demand at 2pm. Balkenende faces the untimely demise of his second government if both sides stick to their guns. His first fell apart after 87 days in 2002. The current crisis arises from Verdonk's handling of the Ayaan Hirsi Ali naturalisation affair. Somali-born Hirsi Ali, a staunch critic of Islam, resigned as a Liberal MP in mid-May when Verdonk cast doubt on her right to hold a Dutch passport. Hirsi Ali announced she is moving to the US. The Netherlands faced severe criticism in the international press for what was presented as an attempt to silence her. The green-left GroenLinks (GL) tabled the motion of no confidence after a marathon debate that started on Wednesday night and ran to 5.30am. D66, Labour (PvdA), the Socialist Party (SP) and small Christian group ChristenUnie sided with the motion because they was not satisfied with Verdonk's defence of her actions. It was suggested Verdonk was more concerned about saving face than sorting out the political mess she created. The Liberal Party (VVD) said resignation by Verdonk was "completely unacceptable". Out-going leader Willibrord van Beek indicated her departure would only come about with the collapse of the entire government. "Together out, together home," he said. His CDA counterpart Maxime Verhagen agreed resignation was "unthinkable". The motion was defeated 79-64.
The debate was called after Verdonk's letter on Tuesday to announce Hirsi Ali is a Dutch citizen. An attached statement, written by Verdonk's staff but signed by Hirsi Ali, absolved Verdonk of any blame for suggesting in May that Hirsi Ali's naturalisation in 1997 was invalid. Verdonk based her initial judgement on a two-day investigation sparked by a documentary in which Hirsi Ali repeated an earlier confession that she used a misleading name and date of birth to get asylum in the Netherlands in 1992. Her name is actually Ayaan Hirsi Magan. Ali was the name of her grandfather. She is known in the Netherlands and around the world as Ayaan Hirsi Ali. In the first marathon debate on the issue in May, Verdonk insisted she had no option but to "observe" Hirsi Ali's naturalisation was invalid because of the incorrect name. MPs of most parties disagreed and passed motions calling on her to ensure Hirsi Ali remained a Dutch citizen. Verdonk was campaigning to become parliamentary party leader of the VVD at the time. She lost. Following a further investigation and a meeting of top ministers, Verdonk sent the letter and statement to say Hirsi Ali is Dutch but it was all her own fault that this had been in doubt. Left-wing MPs were critical of Verdonk in the first portion of Wednesday's debate, while the government MPs limited their contributions to asking for clarification on certain issues. But when Verdonk's turn came to speak she angered the Left further by continuing to deny she had done anything wrong. Balkenende told parliament that he supported Verdonk's letter and the drafting of the statement for Hirsi Ali because of its legal significance. Then, he accidentally dug a deeper hole for his minister when he inadvertently suggested Hirsi Ali's statement had to be one Verdonk "could live with". Later in the morning he said he had misspoken.
© Expatica News
DUTCH U-TURN OVER PASSPORT FOR SOMALI-BORN MP
28/6/2006- The Somali-born Dutch MP and critic of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is to be allowed to keep her passport and nationality despite falsifying her asylum application 14 years ago. Six weeks after announcing plans to strip Ms Hirsi Ali of her citizenship, an international outcry forced the country's hardline Immigration Minister, Rita Verdonk, to reverse the decision, which had split the Netherlands. To make matters worse, Ms Hirsi Ali's neighbours sought to have her evicted from her home, complaining about the inconvenience caused by the security needed to guarantee her safety. Once a devout Muslim, Ms Hirsi Ali lives under 24-hour guard after a death threat against her was pinned to the chest of her ally, the film-maker Theo Van Gogh after he was murdered in 2004. The former MP was an outspoken critic of fundamentalist Islam and worked with Van Gogh on the film Submission, which featured veiled women with texts from the Koran written on their flesh. The passport controversy burst into life after a television documentary publicised the fact that Ms Hirsi Ali falsified information on her asylum application in 1992. Fleeing to the Netherlands to escape an arranged marriage, Ms Hirsi Ali gave a false name and birthday - a fact she had acknowledged publicly before accepting a parliamentary seat. The naturalisation process was completed in 1997 and Ms Hirsi Ali became a member of parliament in 2002. Ms Verdonk's attempt to remove her citizenship caused uproar in parliament, prompting criticism even from political allies. In the storm that followed, Ms Hirsi Ali quit parliament and tearfully announced plans to speed up a planned emigration to the US to take up a job at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute think-tank. But the foreign media criticised the Netherlands for its failure to support a woman who had faced death threats for her criticism of fundamentalist Islam. The Netherlands parliament also passed motions calling on Ms Verdonk to ensure that Ms Hirsi Ali remained a Dutch citizen, whatever the nature of her misdemeanour. The minister paid a direct price, failing in her attempt to win the leadership of the VVD Liberal Party, despite being the favourite.
Yesterday, in a letter to the Parliament, Ms Verdonk found a figleaf to cover her change of heart, arguing that it had been legitimate for Ms Hirsi Ali to use her grandfather's name rather than her father's name, Hirsi Magen. She said: "Taking everything into consideration, I have reached the conclusion that the naturalisation decision of 1997 identifies Ayaan Hirsi Ali sufficiently and thus she did indeed correctly receive Dutch citizenship. Had it not been for the investigation I carried out, the facts that were decisive in reaching this conclusion would not have come to light." Ms Hirsi Ali, 36, said she regretted admitting lying since the name she adopted was legitimate. She said: "The name Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the name that I was permitted to use according to Somalian law and custom and which may therefore serve as the basis for the official registration of my name in the Netherlands." The minister's letter may not be the end of the matter as Ms Verdonk's many critics will seek to exploit her political difficulties. Left-wing politicians want to know if the ruling could affect the cases of at least 60 others stripped of their nationality for giving a false name during the asylum process. Yesterday's announcement followed a cabinet meeting in The Hague late on Monday. Gerrit Zalm, the Deputy Prime Minister and an ally of Ms Hirsi Ali, said he had "good hope" that the case could be finalised. Mr Zalm was leader of the VVD when Ms Hirsi Ali was recruited to run for parliament. She told him at the time that she had given a false name to get asylum in the Netherlands in 1992.
© Independent Digital
XENOPHOBIC SWISS WANT MORE INTEGRATION
28/6/2006- More than half of the Swiss population are xenophobic, according to a survey designed to allow the country to compare itself with the rest of Europe. The study, which measures the development of xenophobic attitudes and rightwing extremism, also revealed that 77 per cent of those tested want foreigners to be better integrated. Up to seven per cent find rightwing behaviour attractive, while 90 per cent reject it. Michele Galizia, head of the anti-racism unit of the interior ministry, welcomed the study, which was conducted by Geneva University with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. "We had no data on rightwing extremism and had to rely on media surveys. Now we can finally face our European colleagues and even the United Nations Council on Human Rights," Galizia said. Are the Swiss more or less xenophobic than their neighbours? "Like for everything else, they are in the middle," said Simone Prodolliet of the Federal Foreigners Commission. After 3,000 interviews, professor Sandro Cattacin's team divided 85 per cent of the Swiss and non-Swiss population into four categories. There was the "creative class" accounting for 37 per cent, who were tolerant in the face of difference and opposed to violence and intolerance. Politically leaning towards the left, its members were urban, cultured and likely to be young.
Conservatives
Xenophobic and misanthropist attitudes dominated the "conservative nationalists" (23 per cent). Politically to the right, they were less cultured and worried about the future. When dealing with society, they wanted order and would recourse to violence. "Liberal business people" (16 per cent) were scared of foreigners but accepted differences and were not misanthropist. They were in favour of justice and order, leaned towards the right and believed in the market economy. Finally, many "disorientated traditionalists" (nine per cent) held xenophobic and misanthropist views but their members were not politically active, were scared of the future and could imagine using violence as a means to an end. According to Cattacin, this last group posed a problem because they consisted of people who are often cut off from society. Furthermore, 23 per cent admitted to being anti-Semitic, which Cattacin says is a result of criticism of Switzerland's handling of the dormant accounts held by victims of the Holocaust era but also a reflection of the current political situation in the Middle East.
Paradox
While half the interviewees could be termed as xenophobic, 77 per cent wanted foreigners to be better integrated and 55 per cent wanted naturalisation to be eased. "This figure perfectly reflects Swiss ambivalence to other people," explains Prodolliet. Cattacin has another explanation for the apparent paradox. "It reveals a maturity which proves they are familiar with the migratory phenomenon. Despite their fear of outsiders, they recognise that foreigners helped to build Switzerland," said Cattacin. The ball is now in the political court. According to Galizia, the next step is "to analyse this study and see how a proper monitoring could be carried out to establish points of comparison". Cattacin would like the study to be carried out every two years, rotated among the various surveying institutes, and even the creation of a centre of competence. Galizia also said that it was necessary to find a way to share the costs of such systematic and regular monitoring among different government departments.
© Swissinfo
TENSIONS RISE FOLLOWING MIGRANT MARCH ON VALLETTA(Malta)
28/6/2006- More than 300 illegal immigrants currently detained in a detention centre on Malta escaped on Tuesday (26 June) with the aim of marching to the Prime Minister's office in Valletta. Tuesday's break out was the second time in less than a week that irregular immigrants at Safi detention centre succeeded in pulling down the boundary fences and running out of the detention centre. Those taking part in the protest were carrying banners saying "we want freedom" and "EU release us from our bondage". A large number of police officers and soldiers, some also wearing riot gear, had to intervene to control the riots and push the immigrants back to the centre. During the riots three police officers and two soldiers were injured. Five of the immigrants also suffered slight injuries. Malta currently detains illegal migrants for up to 18 months, in an attempt to discourage further landings of African immigrants on the island. Early on Wednesday (28 June), another 266 illegal immigrants landed in the southeast of Malta. In a statement the Maltese army (AFM) said that the immigrants "refused assistance since they intended to proceed towards Italy, but the boat was encountering mechanical problems." But eventually army personnel persuaded the occupants of the boat to accept their assistance. "At the end 266 were embarked and rescued by the AFM, which consisted of 263 men and 3 women from Morocco and Egypt, all in good health," added the statement. This group is the biggest one to arrive on the Mediterranean island this year. This also means that more than 600 illegal immigrants have already landed on Malta this year - a large number for an island of just 400,000 inhabitants. In other EU member states a similar picture is emerging this summer. Last weekend the Italian Coast Guard also detained nearly 600 illegal immigrants who arrived at or were near the island of Lampedusa. More than 250 immigrants, including minors, landed in the Spanish Canary Islands on Tuesday.
© EUobserver
PLAY FAIR FOR FAIR ELECTION PARTICIPATION (Macedonia, Press release)
26/6/2006- National Roma Centrum from Kumanovo is launching a pre-election education campaign called ODJAN(translated as GO). The campaign has an aim to educate and motivate Romani voters to go and vote on 5 July 2006. We are organizing the campaign through educative meetings, messages and materials trying to teach Roma citizens that they should use their right to vote at the elections and that participation at fair and democratic elections is the real way to the European integration. Election process as an important moment where freedom of expression and the will of the citizens SHOULD BE respected and promotion of mutual
understanding, tolerance and raising awareness that Roma can be equal participant in this process SHOULD BE A FACT.
Our second idea is to promote tolerance and fair elections via organizing football matches as part of our campaign. The football matches together with the young Roma football players are there to promote fair and responsible participation in the election process. Through out our campaign, we want to spread a very powerful and very important message: Stop with the manipulation of roma voters and their votes. In the frames of the campaign we will visit Macedonian cities where Roma are larger number of the population.
The football competitions will be organized in Crnik, Vinica, Shtip, Skopje, Kumanovo and Prilep and distribution of the raising awareness materials for active participation of Roma voters will be disseminate in Skopje, Kumanovo, Tetovo, Gostivar, Bitola, Prilep, Resen, Kicevo, Ohrid, Strumica, Gevgelija, Valandovo, Negotino, Gradsko, Kavadarci, Veles, Radovish, Kocani, Berovo,
Crnik, Pehcevo, Delcevo, Vinica, Shtip, Probishtip, Kratovo, Kr. Palanka i Sv. Nikole.
© email source
SOFIA MAYOR QUERIES EU PARLIAMENT ON ROMA GHETTO(Bulgaria)
30/6/2006- Sofia Mayor Boyko Borissov will ask the EU Parliament for an official statement on the postponed demolition of the Roma ghetto in Sofia's Vazrazhdane district. Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev has received a letter from the European Parliament, which calls for the delay, and Borissov plans to check whether the note is legitimate. The mayor wants to know whether the letter, signed by four MEPs, has been officially filed under a certain number, whether it is legal and expresses the stance of the whole parliament. Borissov will also ask Bulgaria's government about the power that letter holds over Bulgaria's legislation. "I wouldn't have complied with the letter if it were addressed to me," Borissov said for private Darik radio. "But since it has been sent to the PM, with a hint of ultimatum before our EU membership, I couldn't neglect it." In the letter, the European Parliament also urges for the finding of a permanent solution to the problem. The Sofia municipalities and the representatives of the Roma organizations are preparing a special group that will seek an end to the issue. Vazrazhdane's ghetto was established about 30 years ago, and currently more than 200 people live there. Most of them have houses in their native towns and villages, but there are some who have no place else to go. The decision came just days before Bulgaria takes over officially chairmanship of the initiative Decade of Roma Inclusion. On July 4 the country will step in as chairman of the multinational initiative in the place of Romania.
© Novinite
SOS! LET US SAVE RROMA CHILDREN FROM TRAGIC INCIDENTS! (Albania, press release)
Appeal that steams from a bitter experience.
26/6/2006- Albanian reality, passing through a hard transition, besides the socio- economical problems, besides unemployment, violence etc. has shocked local and foreign opinion with new, tragic incidents involving children, children that are changed in an object of frequent abuse from local or foreign persons. The tragic tableau of those Albanian children, most of them of Rroma origin has at its center their traffic towards Greece and Italy. Part of the overall number of 5000 Rroma children trafficked is the scandal relating to 510 of them, from four years disappeared without the slightest mark. A lot of Rroma children, the so-called ‘children of the road’ are disappeared from reeducation centers and societies rose from majority’s member. Those centers established in and out Albania have changed children into experimental guinea-pigs or sex slaves. Those children are trafficked at numerous private clinics; there have been subject of organ transplantations effectuated from traffic criminal nets. The case of 200 Rroma children photographed nude is one of sex scandals and a tragic fact relating children. The last case that has shocked all the public opinion is the so called ‘Pedophile scandal’. According to information of media and public opinion the scandal is realized in the center “His children” where were sheltered several Rroma children, abandoned or in hard socio economical conditions. Dolor and Indignation are naturally raised when you feel the inhuman fact of the violence and abuse practiced from those maniacs towards Rroma children. The dolor and indignation become harder when you feel the special underlining made in media on their Rroma origin.
Besides Rroma community in Albania coexist other minorities, (Greek, Macedonian, Vlahi, Bosnian, etc) but neither in the extreme cases, where persons from those communities are involved is mentioned their origin. On the contrary, when the victim or the protagonist in a case is a member of Rroma community, his or her origin is always emphasized from media. The Organization “Romani Baxt Albania” has denounced several times this fact. In continuance we have informed, denounced and appealed to different responsible institutions of Albanian Governance, to international organizations, to numerous local organizations of civil society specialized in monitoring and defending Rroma rights as well as to different embassies in Tirana.
We have informed, denounced and appealed on:
a) extreme violence realized on Rroma children from different criminal segments of the society;
b) children abuse effectuated via the so-called charity trainings and alimentary helps;
c) removal of the children from initial obligatory school and presenting them to the donor as ‘children of the roads’ and illiterate.
Those children are treated from criminal organizations as objects of a secure business. Most of those organizations, established from members of majority have realized their profits harming Rroma community for more than ten years. Several times is presented this bitter situation to foreign donors. Unfortunately, everything went at deaf ear, because of their blind faith to the so called majority partners in the programs relating Rroma community. They classified our reaction as jealousy, keeping this harmful and corruptive partnership with ghost organizations that have used, with impunity, Rroma community for corruptive aims. Like most of such abusive and criminal businesses, this corruptive net that posses human traffic and prostitution has a political support. The activity of those ghost organizations is built and run from segments connected with peoples in power in the last Socialist Governance. Persons with governance mandate and positions in the state have been an impenetrable shield in protection of most of those organizations that have speculated with project presented as helpful for Rroma community.
Relating all above, we have the entire predisposition to cooperate with whatever civil and state’s institutions, Albanian or foreign to ensure investigation and transparence. It is healthy to bring at sun light the entire abusive tableau, the corruption and backing rear of those organizations that have speculated with Rroma projects. We must change the bitter truth in a point of reference in building of a clean, fear and beneficial activity to Rroma children, the most depressed part of Rroma community itself. Conclusions ought to be derived from those tragic happenings. Scandals, corruptive behaviors, abuse, sexual violence and pedophile happened ought to serve us and determine us towards qualitative and human behaviors that will make the repetition impossible. We support all the activities, beneficial to Rroma community, notwithstanding that the operators are members of the majority or foreign donors; important is that the result must be satisfactory to our community. Is to be mentioned the contribute of European Taxpayers, in most of the cases they have cooperated directly with Local Rroma Organizations showing confidence to management and representative capacities of Rroma activists. Careful analyses of last scandals, where victims are Rroma children but and the activity was run from some Organizations of majority or foreign donors concludes that those scandals could be prevented or at least the consequences minimized if a partnership was build with Rroma Organizations, if members of Rroma community itself would have been part of the implementation staff. It is obvious that the presence of Rroma activists and organizations in implementation of projects backed from foreign donors via majority’s Organizations would have a positive psychological influence on the community. The connection, the frankness, hearing and discussing of the matters in mothers language are strong points to scent ant prevent the violence and abuse. Written or electronic media has considerably informed on the cases of sexual scandals and violence towards Rroma children. They have informed as well on the cases when Rroma community and its problems are seen and changed in a profitable business for some organizations of majorities. It is necessary to underline that Rroma organizations themselves have warned in advance on lots of scandals or dangerous activities, harmful to Rroma Community.
Yours sincerely
Pellumb Furtuna (Gimi)
© Dzeno Association
ULSTER DISTURBING DESCENT INTO RACISM(N.Ireland)
27/6/2006- The mother of race hate victim Stephen Lawrence was in the province yesterday to launch a hard-hitting report into racist violence in Northern Ireland. Doreen Lawrence's visit follows a spate of racist attacks which have seen immigrant families across the province attacked and forced from their homes. Mrs Lawrence was launching the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) publication which identified institutionalised racism in the criminal justice system and asked how it should be addressed. Racist violence has been growing at an alarming rate in Northern Ireland in recent years, not just against blacks and Asians, but almost anyone considered an outsider.
The report, The Next Stephen Lawrence? - Racist Violence And Criminal Justice In Northern Ireland, was written by Dr Robbie McVeigh and details the stories of 162 victims and survivors of racist violence across the province. Dr McVeigh said: "The scale of the violence is frightening enough but the failure of different elements in criminal justice to deal effectively with that violence is just as problematic. "It is, we believe, unambiguous evidence of institutional racism right across the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland." Secretary of State Peter Hain and the Irish Republic's Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern have also called for an end to the attacks during a meeting at Hillsborough. The SDLP's Patricia Lewsley demanded swift police action backed by strong community and political support. The Lagan Valley MLA said: "It is very important that no-one, and particularly no political representatives, provide any sort of political cover for attacks like these. "They have to be condemned without equivocation as crimes, and those who carry them out or assist them are criminals who must be handed over to the police. "That is the only way we are going to get on top of this problem. "Racists need to be stopped, not understood." Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey called on central and local Government to do more to tackle the problem. The South Belfast MLA said: "The rise in racist incidents is a public scandal. "It is an indictment of the political parties and both local government and British direct rule. "While there is some focus on the reporting of racist incidents what we need to do is have a greater emphasis on the follow-up and how we support the victims of these attacks."
United front is needed to defeat hatemongers
By Michael McHugh
Ulster's politicians must unite to combat racism, Security Minister David Hanson has said. He was speaking after a series of weekend racist attacks. A home housing Polish people was destroyed by fire in Carrickfergus, while a man was assaulted and his home set on fire in Castledawson. A Latvian man was savagely beaten in Lisburn and three women assaulted in their home in Cloughey. The minister said such attacks would not be tolerated. "I utterly condemn the attacks that have taken place over the weekend. My thoughts are with those who were attacked," he said while visiting a victim in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital. "These hate attacks have shocked and appalled all right thinking people. I call on all the local communities and the residents in those areas, to give information to the police as to who is responsible so that this is stamped out. I also call for leadership from all political representatives to form a united front on a cross-party basis to tackle this together." The minister also met with race-hate victim Stephen Lawrence's mother Doreen, who was in Belfast for the launch of a report entitled The Next Stephen Lawrence? - Racist Violence And Criminal Justice In Northern Ireland. Mr Hanson said hate crime incidents rose by 15 per cent in Ulster last year. "Hate crime is wrong and intolerance of any kind has no place in a modern society. "The Government is fully committed to confronting all types of intolerance. "The Government will continue to confront all manifestations of hate crime and I call on everyone in Northern Ireland to join us in sending out a clear message that this type of crime will not be tolerated," said Mr Hanson.
© The Belfast Telegraph
DEVOLUTION DEAL URGED TO COMBAT RACE HATE THREAT (N. Ireland)
26/6/2006- Northern Ireland’s political parties were today urged to strike a devolution deal in a bid to halt a developing race hate threat. As British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern prepare for new talks in Belfast on Thursday, Eastern Europeans have suffered a fresh wave of attacks across the North. Lithuanians, Latvians and Poles were all targeted in five separate weekend incidents. And as Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern met at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, ahead of the summit to stress the absolute deadline of November 24 for restoring the power sharing administration, they called on all sides to stand against the racists. As well as warning of the consequences of not getting a coalition government back into operation by this autumn, Mr Ahern said it was the best way to stop further attacks. “If we don’t make a fist of this by November 24 the issue of devolution will be off the agenda for some considerable time,” he insisted. “Also, racism and sectarianism, they are all endemic issues here in Northern Ireland. With due respect to Peter and the (direct rule) British ministers it’s a devolved government can really treat these issues on the ground on a day-to-day basis. “For those reasons alone…what better reason to have government up by November 24.” The minister’s call came after two houses in Dunmurry, just outside Belfast where Lithuanians were staying, were attacked last night. Earlier a Lithuanian man was assaulted in Castledawson, Co Derry, while an oil tanker outside the home of Polish people in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, was set on fire. On Saturday a Latvian man suffered head and eye injuries after being beaten with baseball bats in Lisburn, Co Antrim. One man has been charged in connection with that attack. Mr Hain insisted police were doing everything possible to hunt down those responsible, but urged all sections of the community to stand united against the scourge.
“These people have come here to do work to move Northern Ireland forward,” he said. “Northern Ireland already has a bad reputation for religious sectarianism. We will not tolerate racism. “I appeal to all local politicians, councillors, MLAs and the community themselves to make sure we work together to stamp out any of these nasty, poisonous racist attacks we have seen in recent days.” The two men also emphasised how Mr Blair and Mr Ahern will be pressing the political parties at the talks in Parliament Buildings, Stormont, to reach an agreement. Mr Hain, who has already warned he will stop the wages of Northern Ireland’s 108 Assembly members if they do not succeed, claimed more people now wanted to see devolution work. In a message to the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists, he added: “That will be the question the DUP in particular confront and the whole of unionism confronts. “Do they want to see their MLAs pack up and go home to another life after midnight on November 24 or do they want them to do their jobs to which they were elected. Mr Ahern added that from September on he expected the political talks to be conducted in a hothouse atmosphere and stressed that London and Dublin would not be swayed from their deadline. “We are somewhat under-whelmed by the progress to date at the talks, but the very fact the parties are in talking to the Preparation for Government Committee (at Stormont) is something positive itself. “It’s incumbent on them to move to a new phase and that’s part of the reason why the prime ministers will come here. “Both governments are adamant about the November 24 deadline and we expect people to come up to the mark. “Ultimately it’s a matter for them but November 24 is sacrosanct.”
© Irish Examiner
REPORT CALLS FOR REFORM IN BRITISH PRISONS
29/6/2006- An independent inquiry into the killing of a Muslim prisoner by his racist cellmate called Thursday for urgent action to correct overcrowding, understaffing and institutionalized racism in British prisons. The report by High Court Judge Brian Keith cited 186 failings which contributed to the slaying in 2000 of first-time offender Zahid Mubarek, 19, by his cellmate, Robert Stewart. ``It should have occurred to officers that there was a possibility Stewart was a racist and that he shouldn't share a cell with (a South) Asian prisoner serving his first sentence,'' Keith said at a news conference. ``At the heart of it all was a catastrophic breakdown of communications, not just between prisons but within prisons themselves.'' Keith found ``a bewildering catalog of shortcomings, both individual and systemic'' at Feltham Young Offenders Institution, where Mubarek was held. He recommended that the Home Office and the Prison Service should introduce the concept of ``institutional religious intolerance'' to combat prejudice against Muslim inmates. Keith's report said there was a ``real possibility'' that a game called Gladiator did exist at Feltham, in which prison officers placed unsuitable inmates together in the same cell to generate violence, though he found no conclusive proof. Mubarek was serving three months for theft at Feltham Young Offenders Institution in west London on March 21, 2000, when Stewart, a white man with a long record of previous offenses, beat him with a table leg. Mubarek died a week later. The judge said there was ample evidence available of Stewart's violent, racist tendencies, including his suspected involvement in an earlier killing of an 18-year-old inmate at another prison. ``If an event as rare as a homicide in prison, coupled with Stewart's suspected involvement in it and his recent behavior in custody, was not sufficient to warrant some thought being given to the risk he might pose, it is difficult to imagine what would,'' the judge's report said. ``It is easy to be wise after the event, but by the summer of 1998, Stewart should have stood out from the crowd,'' the report added. Stewart, now 25, a known racist who was later diagnosed as a psychopath, was jailed for life in October 2001 for the attack. The killing sparked anger among human rights groups and a public debate about racism in prisons and prison reform. The Howard League for Penal Reform said it hoped the inquiry would recommend a reduction in the use of prison sentences for offenders aged 18-21 and better resources for those serving jail terms. It also called for better training of prison staff and prisoners regarding racism.
The report's release coincided with the Home Office's announcement that Britain's prison population had reached an all-time high of 77,865, - about 1,700 below operational capacity. The government had initially refused demands for an inquiry into the killing, including from Mubarek's family. After a long legal battle, the Law Lords, Britain's highest court of appeal, ruled in October 2003 that an independent inquiry must be held and that the family should be legally represented. In April 2004, the government appointed High Court Judge Brian Keith to head the inquiry, which has since taken evidence from 62 witnesses, including Stewart, and sifted through 143 witness statements and 15,000 pages of documentary evidence. Delivering the Law Lords' ruling, Lord Bingham noted that during Stewart's first visit to Feltham in January 2000, an intercepted letter from him was found to contain racist language and an officer noted on his file: ``Very dangerous individual. Be careful.'' Yet when Stewart was returned to the prison the following month, he was placed in a cell with Mubarek, Bingham said. After attacking Mubarek, Stewart was moved to a nearby cell where he ``drew a large swastika on the wall with the heel of his rubber shoe; above it he wrote ``Just killed me padmate'' and below it 'RIP,''' Bingham noted. In its own 2003 inquiry, the Commission for Racial Equality identified 20 failures, including the fact that Stewart's security file, detailing his violent history, was not read by officials and that he was not seen by a doctor or a psychiatrist before the attack. ``Zahid Mubarek died because of a combination of Robert Stewart's racism and failures by the prison service to provide him with appropriate protection,'' said commission chairman Trevor Phillips. ``I am convinced that had Zahid been white, he would not have died.''
Full text: The Mubarek inquiry report Website Zahid Mubarek inquiry
© The Guardian
RACIST GANGS FORCE MUM TO FLEE(uk)
26/6/2006- A young mother has fled her city home after being plagued by gangs of youths gathering outside to shout racist abuse. Aliyah Mufkwait, a 20-year-old South African, says gangs of up to 30 children aged between eight and 16 have made her life hell at her home in Wardieburn. And she says that their parents have done nothing to reprimand the children, and often also give her abuse when she tells them to stop. The children shout offensive racist terms and tell her to "go back to her own country". Now she has temporarily left her house to seek refuge in her father's home in Leven. She is then to visit South Africa and says she dreads the thought of having to go back to her home in Edinburgh's Wardieburn Street East. Social worker Ms Mufkwait said she has had to call the police on countless occasions. The arrival of officers gives some temporary respite, but the youths always return. Lothian and Borders Police have promised to look into the issues and say there is "no place in our society" for racist abuse. Ms Mufkwait, who has a two-month-old son, says she has never experienced anything like the problems she has faced in Wardieburn. She said: "The main problem is a group of children from around the ages of eight to 16. They are always outside shouting racist things to me. It is non-stop, every day. I couldn't get a break from it at all. Sometimes there's as many as 20 or 30 of them, it's frightening." "Sometimes I'm trapped in my house with my son and too scared to go out. The parents were not any help at all. They threatened us too, saying that if we go to the council they'll make it worse. "They encouraged their children to do it and laughed with them. I just want to live my life and want them to leave me alone. It has shocked me because I've been in Scotland for almost three years and never had problems like this."
She originally moved to Edinburgh three years ago when she moved into a house in Restalrig, where she says she suffered no racism in over two years in the area. It was only when she moved in with her Swedish boyfriend Sebastian Lindqvist, 24, in Wardieburn, that she regularly became the victim of racist abuse. She said: "I don't know if I'll move back to the area now. I'm going to visit South Africa and I have to come back for my partner and baby but I don't want to live there. "They seem to be scared of foreigners. Mixing with them just seems to make them worse." Councillor Shami Khan, who has campaigned vigorously against racism, has written to the council's housing department asking them to rehome Ms Mufkwait. He said: "We can't tolerate this type of racism and harassment. She is at times trapped in her own home and scared to go out - it is unacceptable. "We are encouraging the people that do this because nothing is happening to them. This is supposed to be a cosmopolitan city - there should be no room for this kind of racism in a civilised society." Earlier this year, the Evening News published new figures that showed racist attacks had soared by 40 per cent in Lothian and Borders in the last year. A total of 834 racist incidents were reported to Lothian and Borders Police between April 2005 and March 2006 - compared to 593 in 2004/05. A police spokesman said: "Any form of racial abuse should not and cannot be tolerated. We are aware of the problems that Ms Mufkwait has been experiencing and are looking into the issues."
© The Scotsman
TACKLE RACISM YOUNG, SAYS REPORT(uk)
26/6/2006- The government must make it a priority to tackle racism in early years education if it is to encourage young people to appreciate ethnic diversity, according to a report out today. The paper, from the Focus Institute on Rights and Social Transformation (First), underlines the need to address racist attitudes and behaviour from an early age - in nurseries and children's centres, for example - and the positive impact of such an approach in combating racism throughout society. The founding members of First include its chairman, Lord Herman Ouseley, the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality. The report criticises the government's Respect agenda for being too geared towards conflict resolution, focusing on addressing antisocial behaviour on the part of nuisance neighbours and petty criminals rather than seeking to inculcate the notion of respect in errant members of society. The report, Right from the Start, calls for the adoption of "a national strategic approach" across all levels of the government to foster racial equality in early years services and settings. It says: "These early years are a period of intense learning for children and also a time when family members are most involved in their care and education ... It is therefore a critical opportunity for children to begin the process of learning to appreciate each other equally and to be positive about people who are different from themselves as well as those who are similar to them."
The report acknowledges that the election of the Labour government in 1997 heralded "a fundamentally different approach to the needs of young children", with a commitment in particular to reducing the number of children living in poverty. But it goes on to say: "[The] government has not ... paid sufficient attention to the implications of racial disadvantage, discrimination and, in particular, institutional racism in the way the early years services operate in practice. It has not made the necessary links between the way young children learn racial attitudes and behaviour and its own commitment to issues around social cohesion. "It has neither taken a lead in addressing the general reluctance to counter racism at large and the vilification of particular ethnic and religious groups and asylum seekers by certain sections of the media, nor taken sufficient and appropriate positive steps towards the creation of a harmonious society." A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) said last night: "Racism is unacceptable, and schools and early years settings have an important role to play in helping children develop the social and emotional skills they need to interact with each other." Further research to be published this week is expected to show that black children are more likely to be expelled from school for bad behaviour than their white classmates. The DfES study found that pupils from black Caribbean and black African families are catching up with their peers in GCSE results. For decades, black children - particularly boys - have struggled at school, lagging behind the national averages for exam grades. The research, to be published in full this week, will show that rates of exclusion from school are highest for black pupils, Gypsy and Traveller children.
© The Guardian
RACIST KILLING REPORT NAMES JAIL OFFICIALS(uk)
Former prisons inspector denounces promotions
25/6/2006- The inquiry into the murder of Asian teenager Zahid Mubarek by a racist cell-mate will this week name at least two officials who have since been promoted and highlight a 'lack of accountability' over the killing, The Observer can reveal. Sources who have seen the report by Mr Justice Keith said it goes into detail about individual errors or oversights and criticises management failures. A major theme of the final report from the two-year inquiry, to be published on Thursday, is understood to be that a widespread focus on 'institutionalised racism' has resulted in a failure to recognise that actions by individuals at all levels contributed to Mubarek's death. The former Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord Ramsbotham, yesterday denounced the way the incident was handled. He said that, instead of resisting an independent inquiry until ordered to hold one by the House of Lords, the government should have 'suspended a number of the relevant staff at once', including the people who had placed Mubarek in the same cell as a known racist. The officers responsible at Feltham young offenders' institution, west London, where the murder took place, should also have been suspended. Ramsbotham said the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, should have empowered him to conduct an immediate, no-holds-barred inquiry. Having earlier issued stinging criticisms of Feltham, where Mubarek was murdered hours before he was to have been freed in 2000, Ramsbotham said: 'It was a tragedy waiting to happen.' He added: 'I find it totally extraordinary that no one has been made accountable.'
Two of the people said to be named in the report - John Byrd, a prison governor who was also part-time race-relations liaison officer, and Feltham governor Niall Clifford - were promoted after the murder. In his evidence, Byrd said the need to juggle his race-liaison responsibilities with other duties had severely limited the attention he could give to race issues. During questioning, it was suggested that, even as full-time race officer, he may have been reluctant to accept the extent of racism at Feltham. In a sharp exchange, Mr Justice Keith challenged his focus during his part-time race role on compiling 'ethnic monitoring' statistics. 'Some people may say that [such a] number-crunching exercise, sitting behind a desk, is a substitute for putting the wet cloth around your head and thinking seriously, strategically about what needs to be done. Byrd rejected the idea that he had taken refuge in report-writing, but accepted that this had been his main focus, adding: 'At that time I do not think the amount of time I had allowed me to have carried out all that in-depth work.' The judge went on to say that even where ethnic-monitoring had thrown up 'areas of [racial] imbalance' in jail policies, 'I do not get a sense of anything being done in a consistent way.' He also questioned why 1997 race relations recommendations by the prison service appeared not to have been put in place until a year after Mubarek's murder. Clifford took over as Feltham's governor less than a year before the murder, with a brief to lead a three-year overhaul following Ramsbotham's call for changes. He left to take an area manager's post shortly afterward. During his appearance at the inquiry, it was suggested that by leaving, he had damaged prospects for reform at a 'dramatically failing institution', a suggestion he disputed. Ramsbotham said yesterday of Clifford's move: 'You don't promote people after something like that.'
© The Observer
BELARUS OPPOSITION ACTIVIST JAILED FOR 3 YEARS FOR SLANDERING LUKASHENKO
19/6/2006- A Belarus court sentenced opposition activist Nikolai Razumov to three years in jail for slandering President Alexander Lukashenko, rights defender Vladimir Labkovich told the AFP news agency. During the presidential campaign of opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich, Razumov said that Lukashenko was involved in the disappearance of opposition politicians Viktor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky and Yuri Zakharenko. Razumov had been behind bars since March 14. “Three years is not such a big thing, he could have been given five. But he is very sick, he has only one lung and one-third of a stomach, he has often been on the edge of life and death, and this may become his death sentence,” activist Ales Shutov told AFP. Hundreds of opposition activists have been arrested since Lukashenko, who has ruled this ex-Soviet republic since 1994, was re-elected to a third term in office in March after a much-disputed vote that sparked protests in the Belarusian capital Minsk.
© MosNews
SMK CONCERNED ABOUT TENSIONS ARISING FROM NEW COALITION(Slovakia)
29/6/2006- The ethnic-Hungarian SMK party has voiced its concerns over Slovakia's new ruling coalition, claiming that it will bring tensions to Slovakia. Robert Fico, head of the winning party in the June 17 election –has invited the Slovak National Party (SNS) and the People's Party-Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (LS-HZDS) to form a government. „The SNS and some of the Smer leaders have a national rhetoric which could raise some tensions," SMK chairman Bela Bugar told reporters. "These parties have had a brush with nationalism at all levels, so the fear is that if they fail some of the tension could acquire an ethnic nature", said Bugar. At this point, SMK will refrain from judging the new coalition in order to wait and see how portfolios and appointments are divided up and what the new cabinet will do first. SMK insists, however, that this coalition is the worst option for Slovakia. "SMK has made every effort to prevent such a line-up," said Bugar. SMK had sought to form a coalition with Smer and another rightist party. "We were actually begging the Christian Democrats (KDH) to join a government. Eventually they decided too late," said Bugar, referring to KDH's announcement earlier on Wednesday that it was willing to hold further talks with Smer. Bugar also said that his party was ready to discuss joining a coalition even with HZDS, despite potential problems with that party under the leadership of Vladimir Meciar. Smer discussions, however were won by the section of the party that preferred to work with SNS. Bugar, who is also acting Parliamentary Chairman, will officiate on Friday at a meeting of the heads of the new parliamentary parties, who will negotiate on the distribution of committees and top parliamentary posts. President Ivan Gasparovic had called an opening parliamentary session for July 12, but Bugar thinks that MPs would be able to meet as early as July 4.
© Radio Slovakia International
WILL NATIONALISTS BE BACK IN THE GOVERNMENT? (Slovakia)
26/6/2006- The nationalist SNS party has a great chance of forming a new coalition with Smer, said Jan Slota, SNS’s leader, in an interview with Hospodarske noviny daily published on Wednesday before the official announcement of the composition of the ruling coalition was made. Slota said that he had a very good feeling from the meeting, and thinks that the ethnic-Hungarian coalition would not be in the governing coalition. When asked which political party – the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia or the Christian Democrats - is more acceptable to SNS, Slota answered that it's fifty-fifty, because SNS doesn't only have national priorities but also Christian foundations. He added that he doesn’t insist on occupying any ministerial post. Indeed, employing some basic arithmetic someone can easily understand why Slota seems so euphoric about his party’s chance to be in government. The party of current Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda rejected cooperating with Smer due to the fact that their political programmes are not compatible. Christian Democrats do not want to cooperate with the party of the former Premier Vladimir Meciar who ruled Slovakia dictatorially until 1998. So what if the Christian Democrats don’t like me? I don’t understand why there is so much talk around my name. I have already said that I don’t want to be in the leadership of Parliament. I plan to dedicate myself to changing the constitution, helping Slovakia overcome the gap between herself and the most developed countries in the EU, and helping the new government work properly, said Meciar. As the ruling coalition needs at least three parties and Meciar’s participation is given as almost sure, Smer has only two options left for a third partner: SNS or the coalition of the Hungarian parties, SMK. The latter, however, doesn’t really like Smer’s plan to cancel the flat tax rate and the reform of the pension system. As for the SNS, the nationalist platform and the xenophobic comments of its leader, Jan Slota, raised a few eyebrows among the European Socialist Party to which Smer belongs. Slota, however, said that people are deluded if they think that the SNS as part of the new coalition would harm the government's international reputation.
© Radio Slovakia International
BITS FROM RUSSIA
Skinheads Systematically Attacking Anti-Fascists in Oryol
28/6/2006- Neo-Nazis are systematically attacking anti-fascists in Oryol, Russia. Around two dozen neo-Nazis attacked five anti-fascists there in early June, according to a June 13, 2006 report posted on the Russian human rights web site hro.org. The attack took place after a concert where fans shouted anti-fascist slogans. Around 100 meters from the headquarters of the regional UVD (police) the anti-fascists (two of whom were young women) were set upon by neo-Nazis, some of whom referred to their victims as anti-fascists while they were beating them. Three of the anti-fascists were injured; one was hospitalized. This was just one of a disturbing series of incidents. On May 9, a dark-skinned youth was attacked after another anti-fascist youth concert. Also in May, neo-Nazis held a march in the city, screaming "A Russian Order or War!" and "White Power!" as police reportedly looked on passively. Earlier this year, a group of anti-fascists pasting up posters were beaten up; prosecutors have reportedly dragged their feet and have only now opened up an investigation of this incident, two and a half months after it happened.
Synagogue Damaged by Anti-Semites
29/6/2006- This week, anti-Semites in the Siberian city Tomsk experienced another mental flare-up as they vandalized the city’s Great Synagogue with anti-Semitic graffiti. “This is not the first occurrence of vandalism in our city,” said Chief Rabbi of Tomsk Levy Kaminetsky. “But it is the first time vandals dared to leave their signature on the walls of the synagogue. Three years ago, anti-Semites put up a poster saying “Death to Jews” on the road near the entrance to the city. When police tried to remove it, the poster exploded causing injuries to several people. In this case, the criminals were detained and punished by 25 years of prison, but, unfortunately, anti-Semites are still continuing their filthy actions, while the authorities do not always display the required severity towards the criminals. We have just repaired the walls in the synagogue, and, it seems that the fact that the synagogue looks so good now disturbs local anti-Semites.” Rabbi Kaminetsky forwarded an official appeal to the police. The law-enforcement agencies have begun the investigation.
Nationalist Leader Visits Jewish Grave
28/6/2006- Notorious anti-Semite Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the flamboyant leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, has made a pilgrimage to his father's grave in Israel. "For 60 years, I didn't know anything about my father," Zhirinovsky told reporters in Tel Aviv, adding that he had been looking for him for a half-century. Zhironovksy's father, Volf Eidelshtein, died in 1983, at the age of 76. He is buried in a suburb of Tel Aviv. Zhirinovsky also met his cousin, Isaac Eidelshtein, in Tel Aviv. "Now all Russian Christians can vote for me," Zhirinovsky said inexplicably. Volf Eidelshtein was born in 1907 in Kostopol, which was then part of Poland and is now in Ukraine. The Nazis invaded Kostopol in 1941, killing most of Zhirinovsky's family. His father managed to escape to Alma-Ata, in Kazakhstan, where he eventually met Zhirinovsky's mother, Alexandra Zhirinovsky. After the war, under Stalin's orders, Volf Eidelshtein was sent to Poland. Zhirinovsky was a few months old at the time. In 1949, Zhirinovsky's father and uncle left for Israel. Despite Zhirinovsky's Jewish origins, he is known for his many anti-Jewish proclamations - accusing Jews of ruining Russia, selling Russian women abroad as prostitutes, hawking healthy Russian children and organs to Western bidders and provoking the Holocaust. Zhirinovsky conceded in a 2001 book of having a Jewish father, though because his mother was a Gentile, Zhirinovsky is not considered Jewish under Jewish law. Nevertheless, Zhirinovsky refused to honor a moment's silence for the Nazis' Jewish victims in the Russian parliament. He said that honoring the moment's silence would have been an insult to the millions of Russian victims of World War II. Now Zhirinovsky plans to sue Germany for having killed his family. Zhirinovsky also said he would sue Israeli doctors for failing to save his father after he was critically wounded in a bus accident. And he hinted at legal action against Ukraine, saying his family had a timber factory in Kostopol and he wants it back.
Russia Is Not Soft On Racial, Religious Crimes - Foreign Ministry Spokesman
27/6/2006- The Russian Foreign Ministry disagrees with the UN special rapporteur on racism and related intolerance, Doudou Diene, who has said that people who commit ethnic crimes in Russia go unpunished. The ministry hopes his report on this issue is going to be objective. "I would like to disagree with Diene that people who commit crimes prompted by racial, ethnic or religious hatred go unpunished. These crimes are most definitely investigated and efforts are made to find out who committed them and to bring them to justice," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin has told Interfax. He said that "modern Russian legislation, and in particular, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, offers various ways of preventing and punishing any manifestations of racism or xenophobia". "As for Diene's statement on the presence in the Russian Federation of political parties with racist platforms, I would like to say that in line with Russian legislation these parties are denied state registration. Moreover, if such a party has already been registered, its activities could be deemed illegal by the court and it could be banned," Kamynin said. Kamynin also said that it is very important here to recall other remarks made by the special rapporteur at a news conference: in his view "there is no state policy of racism, xenophobia or ethnic intolerance in Russia."
© FSU Monitor
NGOS URGE G8 FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN RUSSIA
26/6/2006- Ahead of Russia’s hosting of the Group of Eight (G8) summit next month, a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is touring European capitals to draw attention to what it says is a deteriorating human rights situation in Russia, CNSNews.com daily reports. Rights advocates said they hoped their concerns would be taken up when the heads of state of the leading industrialized nations — the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan — are hosted by the Russian government in St. Petersburg from July 15-17. A recent report by groups including the World Organization Against Torture has documented a sharp crackdown on human rights organizations in Russia. “This year is a special one for Russia in terms of its international status,” said Tanya Lokshina, director of DEMOS Center for Information and Research in Moscow. Russia holds the rotating presidencies of both the (G8) and the Council of Europe. This should mean that the Russian government operates on democratic principles, she said, but “unfortunately, this is far from the truth.” “All the democratic institutions and all the bases of a democratic society are right now being destroyed in Russia — if they have not already been destroyed.” President Vladimir Putin signed into law this year legislation placing stringent controls on NGOs in Russia and allowing the government to shut down any groups that violate mandatory requirements to file detailed accounts of meetings, members and even online activity. Lokshina said Russia no longer had a free press, independent political parties or an independent judicial system. The last remaining independent bodies in the country were the NGOs, which were now under threat. She predicted that the government would wait till after the G8 Summit before shutting down NGOs, in order not to attract further negative international attention.
Human rights organizations accuse Russian forces in Chechnya of carrying out kidnappings, executions and torture in place of using the political process for hearing grievances. NGOs operating there have been unable to get an exact count of the number of victims who have disappeared without a trace. Oussam Baissaev, an official from the human rights group Memorial, operating in some of the Chechnya-Ingushetia region, said the organization had received 3,000 letters from relatives of people who had disappeared in the last six years. But Moscow had recently admitted to the UN’s top human rights official, Louise Arbour, that there had been around 7,000 disappearances. Exact numbers were hard to obtain because people were wary and even relatives were afraid to report disappearances, he said. Another situation that has attracted the attention of human rights organizations is an escalation of racism and xenophobia in Russia. A Russian NGO called the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis said that in the first five months of 2006, 137 racist attacks had been recorded, including 21 murders, most of them in Moscow and St. Petersburg. SOVA director Alexander Verkhovskiy reported an increase in nationalistic propaganda. While the government had officially denounced racist acts, its reactions were often inappropriate and appeared opportunistic. In one case, for instance, it shut down two newspapers, using as a pretext Muslim unhappiness about the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed. But one of the newspapers had not even published the sketches, while the other only did so in part. “When you will hear talk about the anti-racial hatred or anti-fascist campaigns of the Russian government, it will be important to separate what it really is doing to fight against it and how it is using it as a pretext to pursue other goals that are very different,” Verkhovskiy said. Memorial head Oleg Orlov said European officials’ pledges to hold behind-the-scenes discussions on human rights with the Russian government had not borne fruit in the past. It was time for a more public approach. The rights campaigners said they hoped the G8 heads of state would find a way to send a clear message to Putin that they were concerned about the situation in Russia.
© MosNews
MOSCOW FAITH SUMMIT TO ISSUE MESSAGE TO G8 LEADERS
23/6/2006- A statement of universal values by some of the world’s religious leaders will be delivered to the leaders of the Group of Eight top industrialized nations, organizers of an international religious summit said Thursday, The Associated Press reported. More than 100 religious leaders are expected to gather in Moscow on July 3-5 ahead of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg later that month. “The time has come for the voice of religion to be heard,” Metropolitan Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church said at a news conference. Kirill and other Russian religious leaders told reporters that the planned gathering, which is being funded in part by the government, would help inject religious values into the St. Petersburg summit. “There is the hope and the wish that all the results, all the conclusions, all the thoughts formulated in the course of the summit will reach the heads of states,” said Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin.
A preliminary list of guests provided by Chaplin includes top Catholic officials — Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s point man for relations with the Orthodox Church, and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington. It also contains the names of Syria’s top mufti, an Iranian ayatollah, the chairman of the World Jewish Congress, and China’s Muslim, Buddhist, Catholic and Orthodox Christian officials. The delegates will draft a declaration of their common views on terrorism, interethnic conflicts and xenophobia, the summit’s organizers said. “We will meet to think about what role religion can play in world development and how we, as representatives of the world’s religions, can avoid a clash of civilizations,” said Rabbi Valery Engel, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia. The religious summit will take place amid a rising tide of xenophobia in Russia, which Kirill said mirrored problems around the world. “If one doesn’t live in a system of moral responsibility and if one lacks a moral compass, then no laws will be able to chase that demon into a bottle,” Kirill said. Kirill and other organizers advertised their summit as the largest, if not the first, of its kind. But they also acknowledged that two of the world’s best-known religious leaders would not be coming to Moscow. Pope Benedict XVI was not invited because his arrival would distract from the occasion, while the Dalai Lama was barred entry by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kirill and Chaplin said. The Dalai Lama has visited Russia in the past, but China, whom Russia calls its “strategic partner” voiced dismay.
© Moscow News
THE RISE OF THE RUSSIAN RACISTS
St Petersburg police have snared a gang connected to a slew of race murders just before the city hosts the G8 summit. But it isn't an end to the problems, says Tom Parfitt
26/6/2006- Their heroes were a potpourri of mythic Slavs, Nazis and hell-bent loners like the Oklahoma bomber, Timothy McVeigh.
The eight young men from St Petersburg - Russia's former imperial capital that will host next month's summit of G8 leaders - allegedly carried out a string of racist murders and beatings in the last three years. They were seized last month by police, following a tip-off from the city's Agency for Journalistic Investigations (AJI). Using monikers such as Fighter and Apostle, the gang members kept a low profile and did not name their group, calling it only a "terrorist attack organisation". Police believe it was a splinter formation of the notorious ultra-nationalist gang, Mad Crowd. As news of the arrests spread quickly, it was crowed in loyal media that St Petersburg's slew of race-hate killings had been stopped in its tracks. Six people have been murdered in the city since September, either because of the colour of their skin, or because they campaigned against extremists. Those cases are part of a wave of racist beatings and murders sweeping across Russia. Police suspect that besides xenophobic attacks the gang planned to launch suicide bombings during the G8 summit using belts of explosives like those employed by Chechen militants. Their leader, Dmitry Borovikov, was shot dead during his arrest when he lunged at police with a knife. Seven other gang members are now in custody and charges are expected soon as prosecutors piece together the evidence.
The gang's seizure was a coup for the hard-boiled hacks at the AJI, who groomed an informer among the young killers who is now under police protection. "There was the option to publish first, but we realised this was such serious stuff we had to take it straight to the law enforcement agencies," said the director, Andrei Konstantinov, a chain-smoking veteran who keeps a first world war heavy machine gun next to his desk. Despite questions about why journalists had to do the police's work, the capture of the group appeared a real triumph. The AJI - which is said to be close to police and the St Petersburg city government - boasted on its pages that "their arrest shows there is no mass racist movement in our city". Evidence given by gang members apparently tallies with details already known to detectives about a string of high-profile murders including: the 2004 shooting of Nikolai Girenko, an academic who had given evidence in court against racist gang members; the knifing to death of Khursheda Sultonova, a nine-year-old Tajik girl, the same year; and the murder in April this year of a Senegalese student, Lamzar Samba, 28, using a rifle emblazoned with a swastika. But amid the celebrations at the gang's defeat there are words of scepticism. "No doubt there are some real villains among them, but finding this gang was responsible for every racist crime of the last few years is remarkably convenient just before the G8 summit," said Nikolai Donskov, editor of the St Petersburg office of the liberal weekly, Novaya Gazeta.
Ali Nassor, a co-founder of the advocacy group, African Union, agreed. "It's just too much of a happy ending," he said. "When you look at the kind of stuff that gets printed here every day, at the kind of extremists whom the law never touches, then you realise what a fantasy it is that racism is solved in this city." A recent cultural awareness campaign launched by African Union in local schools drew this response from local newspaper, Novy Peterburg: "It's obvious that these black-skinned Africans are coming into our country from stagnant places that are teeming with infections. Bacteria and microbes living in Africa represent a serious danger to the health of white people." Several racist groups continue to operate with impunity. St Petersburg has a branch of the ultra-right Slavyansky Soyuz (Slavic Union, or SS) organisation, which promotes Hitler's Mein Kampf on its website. Another group based in the city is the Party of Freedom, run by former policeman Yuri Belyaev.
"The first thing these immigrants ought to think when they are leaving home in the morning is: will I die today or not?" Mr Belyaev told Guardian Unlimited. "They should move around like scared animals - creeping along besides the walls." Asked if he was a racist, Mr Belyaev said: "Yes. This is a question of taste. Some people don't like apples. I don't like negroes. They are biological parasites." Mr Nassor said that while such bigots are allowed to thrive there can be no talk of racism being defeated. "What I'd like to see is some real leadership from President Putin," he said. "Right now, it's too easy to conclude that he's keeping quiet for political gain. He knows there's a big nationalist contingent that votes for him."
© The Guardian
COMMUNIST POLICY STILL HAUNTS GYPSIES(Czech Rep.)
Doctors defend the practice on medical grounds, but others say racism motivates the operations
24/6/2006- Just hours after her second child was born, 19-year-old Helena Ferencikova's joy was dashed. In the recovery room, she discovered that the paper she had signed, not knowing what it said, had allowed doctors to sterilize her. The Vitkovicka hospital in the northeastern Czech Republic says further pregnancies might have killed her. But Ferencikova thinks the reason was her ethnicity — Gypsy. Now a court ruling and a high-profile official inquiry have backed her up, and the country is having to confront the charge that an abuse many thought had died with communism is still being practiced. The uproar goes to the broader issue of entrenched European prejudice toward Gypsies, or Roma as they prefer to be called, especially in the former communist bloc, where most of the continent's 7 million to 9 million Gypsies are concentrated. The Czech ombudsman, Otakar Motejl, began investigating allegations that Roma women and girls were being unwittingly sterilized after 10 of them approached him in September 2004. He said he received 87 complaints, nearly all filed by Roma. "The ombudsman is convinced that in the Czech Republic, the problem of sexual sterilization — carried out either with an unacceptable motivation or illegally — exists and that Czech society faces the task of coming to grips with this reality," Motejl's 74-page report concludes. Under communism, which fell in 1989, sterilization was a semiofficial tool to limit the population of Roma, whose large families were seen as a burden on the state. Today, doctors defend the procedure on medical grounds, saying it is recommended after a second Caesarean section. In the Ferencikova case, the hospital said both her births had been Caesarean, her uterus was weak and another pregnancy could have ruptured it.
Victims' advocates counter that the women have a right to choose for themselves, that they are not properly informed of their options, and that the practice is rooted in racism. Elena Gorolova, another Roma woman from Ostrava, about 220 miles east of Prague, said she was about to give birth to her second son by Caesarean section Sept. 24, 1990, when she was handed a paper and told by the attending physician to sign it. " 'Sign this or you'll die' — those were the words," she said. Gorolova and Ferencikova now belong to the Group of Women Harmed by Sterilization, an 18-month-old support group with three dozen members. Savelina Danova of the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Center said that scattered cases have been identified in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, but "nothing to compare to what happened in the Czech Republic or Slovakia." Ferencikova was the first victim to sue the hospital that sterilized her. In November, an Ostrava court ruled that the clinic had to formally apologize. The court rejected her demand for compensation, however, saying a three-year statute of limitations had expired. "We regret that the court did not take into consideration the woman's condition and serious risks posed by another pregnancy," Vitkovicka hospital spokeswoman Simona Souckova said in a statement.
© Associated Press
WELCOME BUT UNEQUAL? (Canada)
The `Canadian experience' isn't the same for everyone
24/6/2006- What's it like to be part of an ethnic minority in Canada? The experience may depend hugely on where you came from originally, what you look like, how the media view you and whether your ethnic community has a voice in the political arena. The Diversity in Canada survey, conducted with 3,000 subjects in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal last year, took a closer look at how major ethnic groups perceive their treatment by the most powerful institutions of society: police, courts, employers, media and government. Italian immigrants — the group with the longest history as a large ethnic minority in Canada — are the least likely to say they've experienced discrimination (only 22 per cent), and they express a degree of confidence in Canadian institutions that's even higher than the urban Canadian average. But their experiences are drastically different from those who belong to the more "visible" minorities who make up the vast majority of recent immigrants. More than one in three members of visible minorities report having experienced discrimination at some point: 52 per cent of blacks, 45 per cent of Chinese, 38 percent of Hispanics, 37 per cent of South Asians and 36 per cent of West Asians/Arabs.
Though Canadian-born, Giuseppe Pelligra went back to Sicily with his family at age 8, returning to Toronto in 1982 at 22, speaking not a word of English. Now 45, the Toronto restaurant owner says he has never experienced overt racism — though admitting it's "probably because I have white skin." Immigrants who choose to wear traditional dress, such as hijabs, make themselves targets, he argues. "If you wear that, you should expect you will face discrimination." Parag Tandon, on the other hand, has seen blatant racism more than once since he arrived here from India in 2001. "You bloody brown people have no concept of urban living," said a stranger whom he once accidentally bumped on the subway. Another time, while still unfamiliar with some Canadian routines, Tandon asked a gas station attendant to explain how the self-serve system worked. The attendant swore at him, adding, "Who the hell gave you a licence and money to buy a car?" But Tandon dismisses these incidents as isolated. "Canadians are the most loving, understanding people I've seen in my life, and I'm glad I'm one of them." Asked whether "the courts in Canada generally treat people fairly, regardless of their ethnic background," Chinese and South Asians were more likely than the average urban Canadian to say they "strongly" or "somewhat" agree (77 per cent and 79 per cent respectively). Other groups expressed less faith in the courts, with West Asians/Arabs and blacks rating them lower (69 per cent and 70 per cent).
Blacks took the dimmest view of the fairness of Canadian police, with only half agreeing that "police in Canada generally treat all people fairly, regardless of their ethnic background." South Asians were the most enthusiastic in their perceptions, with three-quarters rating the police as fair, well above the benchmark of 68 per cent. Chinese Canadian Stephen Lam, 62, a social worker, has worked closely with police and feels our justice system is, by and large, fair to all. "The one thing I had problems with, as to the police, was that they used to have special crime units associated with cultural groups, like the Asian Crime Unit. By doing so, they stigmatized the entire cultural group. It just wasn't good or fair," says the Markham resident, who came here from Hong Kong in 1992. Abbas Azadian, a psychiatrist originally from Tehran, feels there's an invisible social hierarchy in place in Canada, where people of Western European background tend to rank at the top, followed by Asians, with people from the Middle East and blacks at the bottom.
Suspicions following the 9/11 terrorist attacks have also made things more difficult for those of South Asian and Arab/West Asian background. (The survey was done months before the recent terrorism-related arrests of 17 Muslim men and boys.) "I have had a friend's son being stopped three times on his way home, being questioned by police for 10 to 15 minutes each time. If a white young man is taking the subway home, do you think he'd be stopped that many times? This is scary to any parent," says Azadian, a 48-year-old father of three with a practice in Thornhill. "You can say they are being sensitive, but when someone is given differential treatment for no reason other than their colour, race or physical attributes, we call it unfairness." Azadian said he hasn't had direct contact with the justice system, but has friends and clients who have. "I have positive views of the justice system. But I think the system works and is fair only when the defendants can afford to have a good lawyer," he notes. "But how many people, immigrants and visible minorities, can afford to hire a top-notch lawyer? So often, they have to compromise and make a guilty plea."
Laura Fernandez, a Yorkville spa owner who left Venezuela in 1976, says she has never experienced racism, though she has no doubt it exists here. "What has saved my ass is my white skin and green eyes. Even back in Venezuela, that's a big plus. The world seems to have a mentality that white is best. It's not right, but that's the reality. "I can camouflage," she adds. "If I didn't open my mouth, you wouldn't know I was an immigrant." Having an accent can be a special hindrance in housing and employment, notes Busha Taa, president of the Ethiopian Association of Greater Toronto. "Sometimes you call (Canadians) for jobs or an apartment. They can hear your accent on the phone and turn you down right there. And when you apply for employment and write down your (address) in a shanty part of the town, you get rejected. "There is definitely discrimination out there, but it's not something you can easily prove. It's just so subtle," says the University of Toronto researcher in sociology.
All ethnicities surveyed, except Italians, were less likely than the average urban Canadian to agree that "employers in Canada are open to hiring people from any ethnic background." Taa, 42, who fled political instability in Ethiopia in 1993, believes he experienced racism when he once applied for a tenured position. "Everything went well with my interview, and they didn't have an explanation why I didn't get it and they ended up hiring someone less qualified," he laments. "I think the system in Canada is equal, but it's the individuals who are bad in treating people equally," Taa says. "I blame it on those individuals." The media have an important role to play in promoting understanding and appreciation of diversity, he says. "The problem is when one of us does something bad, everyone in the community get broad-brushed. People don't see that the person who does drug trafficking or kills somebody is just a bad guy. It isn't because he's black," he notes. "And reporters here only show up in our community when there's a bullet fired."
Not surprisingly, how they're portrayed in the media is a concern for several ethnic communities. Nearly two-thirds of black respondents and more than half of the South Asians, West Asians/Arabs and Hispanics said mainstream media "present negative stereotypes" of minorities. The Chinese, at 44 per cent, and Italians, at 32 per cent, were least likely to report media bias. Then there's the question of who represents them politically. Nearly half of the respondents rated Canada as "good" or "excellent" in the extent to which people have an influence over how they're governed — compared with just 36 per cent of the general urban population. But, except for Italians, all the groups agreed that Canada needs more politicians from diverse backgrounds. "Politicians not only represent their own ethnic group, but everyone in their communities. But by having a diversity of people in government, it enriches the decision-making process and ensures that different perspectives are being represented and recognized. That's how we can promote harmony and tolerance as a nation," notes Azadian. "When you see someone who looks like you in the government, you see you belong here. You are no longer isolated, marginalized and not counted."
© The Toronto Star
HATE CRIMES IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE (Special Report)
by Vanja Ljujic
28/6/2006- In the last few months, we have witnessed another wave of racially motivated killings and beatings all over the continent, from frequent attacks against dark-skinned students in Moscow, racially motivated murders in London, anti-Semitic murder in Paris, to the anti-Roma attacks in Belgrade – to name just a few. Despite specific social and political contexts, particularly with respect to certain ideological and cultural differences between post-Communist Europe and Western democracies, we could argue that hate crimes in contemporary Europe, mirror, to certain extent, global 'Alle Gegen Alle' conflict. In other words, although all these attacks are happening in different social and political context, we cannot claim with unquestionable certainty that they are necessarily driven by fundamentally different reasons.
European hate crime mirrors not only current political discourse based on xenophobia, and somewhat right-wing ideology, but also the very nature of modern man driven by short historical memory, greediness, and the lack of empathy. Numberless surveys, which have recently been carried out among Europeans of all age groups, show incredible rate of close-mindedness, distrust, and passive aggression. If we leave explanatory factors such as economic crises, political instability, psychological and cultural factors, out of consideration for the moment, and focus on consequences only, we cannot escape the tedious feeling of déjà vu.
This painful human inability to learn from its own mistakes, or, should we say, terrifying human insensitivity, is probably best expressed in the words of Hannah Arendt : "It seems that a man who is nothing but a man has lost the very qualities which make it possible for others to treat him as a fellow man." It can be argued that the subject of violence may vary with regard to specific political and social context, but a very desire to discriminate, to de-personalise fellow human beings cannot be exclusively linked to a particular nation or political system. Instead, it originates in a very human nature, in its tendency to simplify, self-preserve and, last but not least – to belong.
In undemocratic and totalitarian states, these human attributes are used as a foundation for open discriminatory policies and transparent state-governed violence against out-groups. In more democratic states, however, hate crimes are not transparently and systematically governed by state. Instead, they are often encouraged, and sometimes triggered by xenophobic media reports, official statement of politicians and emigration policies.
If we are to distinguish the most striking feature of our time, it would probably be discrepancy. Discrepancy between artificial morality and actual immoral actions; between human rights rhetoric and actual daily violations of human rights; between preaching democracy and actual realisation of one's democratic rights and freedoms; between the freedom of expression and hate speech; between written quality and factual marginalization; between crucial political decisions and fundamental human logic; between brain and heart, respect and submission, dignity and obedience; between the proclaimed personal emancipation and deep feeling of personal and political inferiority of modern (wo)man.
In other words, we live in a substantially inconsistent, hypocritical and confused world, lacking basic human compass, stability and honesty. All forms of destructive paranoia, such as antisemitism, xenophobia, Romaphobia, racism and Islamophobia, derive from these inner gaps and collective despairs.
A great deal of educational, political and media programmes followed the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The fundamental credo of most of these activities was "Never again Auschwitz", "Never again Holocaust", never again in Europe. European consciousness seemed to be awaken for a while by the terrific images from "the largest and deadliest war in history". Unfortunately, our tedious reality confirms that mankind is not yet able to learn from history. On the contrary, growing antisemitism in Europe only shows that this perpetual mobile of hatred and destruction survives not only because of current political discourse, based on double standards and cheap pragmatism, but above: because of our spiritual and intellectual laziness - to resist this evil, both in ourselves and in our nearest social and political environment.
Vanja Ljujic was born in South-Eastern Serbia and now lives in The Netherlands. She is a lawyer, specialising in human rights law and is a Ph.D. candidate in political sciences. Her professional experience has been in peace education and currently she is conducting research on negative attitudes towards Roma.
© Jewish info News
MUSLIMS SPEAK ON SILENCE OVER TERROR ATTACKS (Europe)
By Scheherezade Faramarzi
25/6/2006- Europe's Muslims have remained largely silent in the face of terrorist attacks that have killed 254 people in Madrid, London and Amsterdam. Europeans want to know why. Why have so few of them publicly condemned the train and bus bombings in Madrid and London? Why have so few spoken out against the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, killed because his work was considered an insult to Islam? Talk to Europe's mainstream Muslims privately, however, and it turns out they have a lot to say. Seek them out in the neighborhoods where they live and work -- in the outdoor markets and butcher shops that sell halal meat, in the book stores that display literature on Islam and the West, in the boutiques that promote Islamic dress codes, in the Turkish restaurants and smoky Tunisian teahouses, in their schools and youth clubs -- and they denounce, the vast majority unequivocally, attacks against civilians in both Europe and the United States.
"Van Gogh was a crazy man, but no one has the right to kill anyone who says bad things about the Quran," said Mohammed Azahaf, a 23-year-old student who runs a youth center in Amsterdam. "If you kill one, it's like killing the whole of mankind," he said, quoting a line from the Muslim holy book.
Why, then, the public silence? For some of the more than five dozen Muslims interviewed for this story in Amsterdam, Paris and London, it's a sense of shame, or even guilt, that innocents have been killed in the name of Islam; they say those feelings make them seek to be "invisible." For those lucky enough to have jobs, there is little time to protest or even write letters to newspapers. For others, there is fear of being branded anti-Islam in their communities.
Dutch Muslim rapper Yassine SB wrote a song about his anger over Van Gogh's murder but scrapped plans to perform it out of fear of being ostracized by the Islamic community. He also turned down requests by a popular Amsterdam radio station to sing a song against terrorism. "If you sing that, it's like you choose the Dutch, not Muslims," said Yassine SB -- the initials stand for his surname Sahsah Bahida -- who is popular among Dutch North African youths like himself for his songs against racism. "People will say 'you are a traitor,'" said the 20-year-old musician.
In the Netherlands, Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- who wrote the script for Van Gogh's movie "Submission" -- went into hiding after receiving death threats for her condemnations of Islam. And in the United States, Syrian-born psychologist Wafa Sultan's calls for Islamic reform also earned her death threats.
But there is another reason for the silence -- one that for many overrides all others. Why, many Muslims ask, should they have to speak out against, or apologize for, actions of radicals who do not represent them -- people they do not even regard as true Muslims?
Many find the very idea of being asked or expected to denounce such acts "extremely offensive and insulting," said Khurshid Drabu, a senior member of the Muslim Council of Britain.
"I'm British," said Tuhina Ahmed, 24, a British-born Muslim in London whose family came from Gujarat in India. "I could have been blown up as well." Why, she asked, should she have to make a public statement to prove her objection to terrorism?
To many, the pressure to denounce acts of terror smacks of President Bush's warning that 'you are either with us or against us.'
"People and politicians say, 'Where are the Muslim people? Why aren't they on the streets defending themselves?' They say we should go into the streets and condemn what happened so they see us as good Muslims," said Karima Ramani, a 20-year-old Dutch born to an Algerian father and Moroccan mother. "I don't feel it's my duty. I'm not responsible for the death of Van Gogh."
Many European observers of Islamic communities agree.
"If they protest as a group of Muslims against these terrorist attacks, they take on an extra responsibility which is not theirs. So I can fully understand their reasons," said Ruud Peters, professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Amsterdam.
Yet the Internet is filled with blogs -- mostly from Westerners but also by some Muslims -- asking why Muslims are not expressing revulsion at the attacks. They see the silence as giving the terrorists strength.
"Isn't silence, justification, fear and hesitation in condemning terrorism, a factor in the encouragement of these individuals to appear on numerous platforms and satellite channels and claim that they represent a religion in the absence of active influential groups and institutions?" asked a blog entry by Ahmed Al-Rabei, a Kuwaiti journalist who works for London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
"Isn't it a tragic crime to label the millions of European Muslims as guilty because of the rhetoric of a few professional lunatics, while the rest remain silent and wallow in self-pity? We have to admit that Islam has been hijacked particularly in European countries."
Muslim leaders say they and other Muslims have marched in a number of anti-terrorism rallies in Europe -- the largest was held on the first anniversary of Madrid's 2004 bombings -- and Muslims can't be expected to pour into the streets every day. They also say they have condemned the attacks in the media. Surveys indicate a small but significant chunk of Europe's Muslim population supports the terrorists. In a poll of British Muslims after the July 2005 suicide attacks on London's transport system, 6 percent thought the bombings were justified. Another 24 percent condemned the attacks but had some sympathy with the bombers' grievances.
Many Europeans blame the Continent's Muslim leadership, which they accuse of making ambiguous and qualified condemnations that give the impression they are making excuses for the bombers: grievances over the war in Iraq or the West's support for Israel.
"It's the leaders who are most responsible," said Rory Miller, senior lecturer of Mediterranean studies at King's College, London.
Europe's Muslims, who originate from 57 countries, differ in culture, language and even the strain of Islam they follow. They came at different periods and for different reasons. Some were born here and consider themselves as much French or British as they are Muslim. Condemnations by most of the Muslims interviewed for this article had no strings attached.
Azahaf, 23, was among the thousands who marched in Amsterdam against Van Gogh's killing. "I demonstrated not for Van Gogh but for freedom to talk, to say what you want," he said.
Olivier Roy, a respected French scholar of Islam, says Muslim silence is a "classical psychology of immigrants" -- wanting to be "normal" and become mainstream. "For them, integration means to be recognized as citizens. They don't want to be recognized for their specificity."
Sue Vogel, a psychologist who practices in Muslim-populated Bdford, in central England, said that after last year's bombings in London there was a great sense of guilt among some of her Muslim patients. "I had to do a lot of work to convince them that I saw them as people, rather than as Muslims," she said.
Lamia Hamdoun, 33, a teacher at a boys' school, emigrated to England from Tunisia 12 years ago. Last year's London bombings were so overwhelming for her, she says, that she prefers to remain invisible. "When these incidents happen, I'm always scared. ... I shrink," said Hamdoun, who lives in a tiny apartment in north London with her Egyptian husband, Mohammed, and 9-month old-son, Sammy -- whose name was chosen because it's common both in the Muslim world and the West. She said she fears that her husband may be arrested in a police sweep just because of his looks or name. "I wish we could change his name so people don't know. "I just don't want to think about it, I want to just get on with my life, deal with my personal problems. It's something I can't deal with."
Many of Europe's best-integrated Muslims say their lives are so far removed from those of the radicals that it simply has never occurred to them to protest.
Alia Kdeih, 50, came to Paris in 1977, at the height of a civil war in her native Lebanon. She got her degree from the Sorbonne, married a Lebanese and presents a cultural program on the Arabic service of French government-owned Radio Monte Carlo. Her elegant Western-decorated apartment in a middle-class Paris neighborhood has only a few flavors of Lebanon. Kdeih said she will not go into the streets to condemn the attacks even though she's appalled by them -- pointing out that her identity is not defined by Islam. "It's not something I want to stress," she said. "I don't feel responsible for what happened even if they are Muslims."
© Associated Press
EU CAREFULLY CHOOSES ITS WORDS ON ISLAM
24/6/2006- Still ruffled by the furore over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons, the European Union is refining a communication strategy in an attempt to help stop disenchanted Muslim youths turning to terrorism. Questions being asked by Brussels include, how is the word Islamist understood in Muslim countries? And what does the term jihad really mean? These are just some of the questions the European Commission is trying to answer in its soon to be introduced dictionary dealing with issues sensitive among Muslim communities.
Even before the row over the cartoon, first published in Denmark last year and which triggered Muslim protests, Brussels was trying to define a common vocabulary for referring to radical Islam. Since taking over the EUs six-month rotating presidency in January, Austria has hosted conferences involving experts on Islam, religion and linguistics, and has drawn up a document which it hopes will be finalised by December. Unintended stigmatisation resulting from an ill-considered choice of words may have serious negative psychological effects and thus contribute to the process of radicalisation, the texts preamble says. It urges EU governments to ensure that they do not inadvertently and inappropriately impose a sense of identity solely linked to religious affiliation. European governments and officials are also warned not to use religious language or interfere in any religious debate as it may discredit the efforts of mainstream Muslims to curb extremist interpretations of Islam. There are three principle terms identified by the Commission for special consideration Islamist, fundamentalism and jihad. It attempts to place these words in their cultural, historical and political context in order to demonstrate how they could be misunderstood when applied to the Muslim community.
For example: Islamist terrorism should be used instead of Islamic terrorism, because the ist links terrorism to a distinct political ideology, not to a religion as a whole, and might therefore be preferable. The Commission says that the word fundamentalism must be avoided at all costs as it implies criticism of an individual or group of people who have deeply held Islamic beliefs. Finally, the word jihad can cause great offence if used out of context. Brussels points out that jihad must be used strictly to describe a war in defence of the Muslim community. Much to the mirth of many political commentators, Brussels last Tuesday was quick to distance itself from being politically correct in its efforts to spell out how and when the words Islamist, jihad and fundamentalism should be used. Its not a question of being politically correct but rather a small tool among many others for reducing incitement to radicalisation, said the Commissions Justice Affairs spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing.
© The Portugal News
EUROPE 'IGNORING TURKMEN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES'
24/6/2006- The EU has been accused of ignoring human rights abuses in Turkmenistan by considering a trade agreement with the repressive former Soviet republic despite a recent crackdown on political dissidents and human rights activists. A delegation of five MEPs returned from the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, yesterday following a fact-finding mission to see if the EU could breath life into a trade agreement with Turkmenistan and tap into the country's huge gas reserves. Until recently Brussels has resisted an interim agreement with President Saparmurat Niyazov's police state amid concerns over its dismal human rights record but in March this year the EU's foreign and trade committee voted to consider trade talks with Turkmenistan. Martin Callanan, one of the five MEPs on the fact-finding mission, yesterday accused the EU of ignoring human rights abuses for commercial benefit. "The EU is being completely hypocritical," he said. "We isolate a country like Belarus, which isn't half as repressive as Turkmenistan but the sad reality is that Belarus doesn't have lots of gas and oil reserves." In the past week, Turkmen security forces have arrested three human rights activists and four of their relatives in what campaigners say is one of the worst crackdowns on civil society since November 2002, when Mr Niyazov accused dozens of Turkmen of involvement in an assassination plot. Human rights groups fear the prisoners are being tortured.
The latest arrests began on 16 June when security forces detained Annakurban Amanklychev, 35, a human rights activist and member of the Turkmenistan Helisinki Foundation for Human Rights. No charges have been brought against him. Witnesses reported seeing five security agents plant a package in Mr Amanklychev's car, raising fears that he could be falsely accused of drug and weapons offences in order to keep him in custody. Over the next three days, two more human rights activists and four family members were arrested, including Ogulsapar Muradova, a journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "We are profoundly concerned that those detained are at risk of torture and ill treatment," said Holly Cartner, the director of the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch. "The Turkmen government is one of the most repressive in the world. It's shocking that the European Union could contemplate signing a trade agreement with a government that is so notorious for its human rights violations." Since Turkmenistan became an independent republic in 1991, a bizarre personality cult has built up around Mr Niyazov. Known to his people as Turkmenbashi (Father of all Turkmen), the "one and eternal" leader has a penchant for unusual edicts, such as banning gold teeth and renaming January after his mother. "The place is seriously sinister," said Martin Callahan. "This guy's picture is literally everywhere. Every billboard, even every official you meet has a lapel with their leader's face on it." Mr Niyazov has presided over the near collapse of a state that should be benefiting from the world's fifth largest gas reserves but is instead descending into economic freefall. In the capital, Ashgabat, oil revenue has allowed the Niyazov regime to build splendid palaces and self-congratulatory gold statues. Meanwhile, child mortality rates are on a par with the poorest African nations and women's life expectancy is the lowest in the region. Mr Callanan warned the EU that unless more pressure is applied on the regime to reform its human rights record Brussels should remain cautious of any new trade agreement. "That would send out completely the wrong signal," he said.
© Independent Digital
Poland in trouble (June)
OMINOUS BACKDROP FOR KRAKOW FEST (Poland)
Popular Jewish culture event set against rising forces of nationalism in Poland’s coalition government.
30/6/2006- When the 16th annual Krakow Jewish Culture Festival kicks off Saturday, the festivities will occur in the Polish city where there are more Jewish studies students at the university than Jews in the local community. Klezmer musicians, cooks, dancers, cantors, drummers, calligraphers and others will teach and perform to a largely Polish audience, peppered with local and diaspora Jews, scheduled to arrive from all over the globe to take part in the weeklong series of cultural events. The final concert on July 8 is expected to draw more than 10,000 people to Szeroka Street, the main drag of Kazimierz, Krakow’s Jewish district, where revelers will be able to dance late into the night. But the festival this year is taking place against the ominous backdrop of a newly elected government, led by the conservative Law and Justice Party, which came into power in 2005. The shift to the right came after 10 years of rule by leftist President Aleksander Kwasniewski, during whose term Poland grappled with its Jewish past.
Earlier this year, President Lech Kaczynski of Law and Justice formed a coalition government with the League of Polish Families (LPR) and Self-Defense, two right-wing nationalistic parties. Roman Giertych, head of LPR, comes from a line of Polish nationalist politicians and has made anti-Semitic and other intolerant remarks during his career. He also founded All-Polish Youth, the youth wing of LPR that sports a nationalist, xenophobic ideology. Andrzej Lepper, the leader of Self-Defense and Poland’s deputy prime minister, is known for his nationalist philosophy. Both LPR and Self-Defense opposed Poland’s entry into the European Union and both utilize Radio Maryja, the Catholic, right-wing station known for promoting anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, to rally their supporters. In June, following an attack on Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, and the European Parliament’s criticizing of Poland for a growing climate of racism and homophobia, The New York Times chimed in, publishing an op-ed that stated that the Polish “government’s actions give an official wink to bigotry.”
President Kaczynski has a mixed record on tolerance. While he banned a gay rights march during his tenure as mayor of Warsaw, he supported the construction of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which is set to break ground later this year. Recently, Ludwik Dorn, the Polish minister of the interior, asked the Union of Jewish Religious Communities to inform him of any anti-Semitic acts or speech, stating that he would intervene, according to Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, a social anthropologist at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Robert Gadek, one of the organizers of the Jewish Culture Festival, said he was not worried about the impact the new government would have on this year’s festivities. Forty percent of the festival’s funding comes from government sources, and that rate is fixed through next year. The festival will also receive additional money from a budget reserve fund. Gadek did say that the political reality is affecting the atmosphere in the country. “Both politicians and the society recently feel more free to express their ‘phobic’ or nationalistic attitudes because of the example that comes from our parliament and some members of the government,” said Gadek via e-mail. But he also said that the threats are working to galvanize people’s support of cultural celebrations like the festival. “There is a return once again to a big and active grassroots movement to defend and develop the civil society,” he said, referring to the post-Communist climate in 1989 when people were free to openly explore religion for the first time since World War II. “More and more people realize we need to take care about things on our own, because there is no one up there to help us.”
Some of the backlash against the government has been waged against Giertych, following his recent appointment as minister of education. The announcement was met with protests among large swaths of Polish society; thousands of people signed letters against him. Many people have indicated that they are worried about the changes he may make to the national curriculum, which currently includes Holocaust education among the required elements. “I believe that we achieved a lot in Poland after the change of the system in 1989, that we managed to build civic society, and the fact that Giertych was elected has influenced a group of people who do not share his views,” said Andrzej Folwarczny, president of the Forum for Dialogue Among Nations, a group that promotes dialogue between Poles and Jews. “I have the feeling that a result of his election is that people are starting to understand that these organizations that fight racism and anti-Semitism in Poland are important,” Folwarczny said.
Tomasz Kuncewicz, director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, the museum dedicated to preserving the memory of Jewish life in the city of Auschwitz, said that while the top level of government looks favorably on the Jews and Israel, a fundamentalist party in the coalition keeps everyone alert to potential problems. “Such a political situation seems to motivate some people to be more active in opposing xenophobia and any expressions of prejudice,” he said. But racist groups are also stepping up their activity. The Web site Redwatch, started by the British neo-Nazi group Combat 18, has been publishing the photos and personal data of members of minority groups in Poland. As a result, Jewish student leaders have reported receiving threatening text messages while homosexuals, human rights workers and journalists have been physically attacked.
Despite the political climate, Folwarczny said that the renaissance of Jewish culture is continuing. Folwarczny was recently invited to Chmielnik to celebrate “Days of Jewish Culture,” a festival that celebrates Jewish history with traditional food, music, and learning. In 1939, Chmielnik, near Krakow, was more than 80 percent Jewish. Folwarczny was impressed that, though former Jewish residents of the town had come in from Israel, the celebration was planned largely by the local Polish community, who felt it was important to remember the Jewish presence in the city. “If you go to [the festival in] Krakow, it’s impressive, it’s something special — the best-known musicians from New York, prestigious guests from all over,” said Folwarczny. “Here you have something that nobody knows about, but this is the biggest cultural event in Chmielnik all year. It doesn’t matter who is minister of education. This is all local initiative, and he can’t influence this.”
© The Jewish Week
REFUGEE FESTIVAL ENDS IN POLAND
Refugee Day - marked world-wide on June 20 - has taken on a special meaning here in Poland and has been extended into a week-long series of events.
28/6/2006- A series of events marking the Refugee Day has come to a close in Poland. In 1991, shortly after the collapse of the communist system, Poland ratified the 1952 Geneva convention. It has thus committed itself to accepting refugees, that is those who have been forced to leave their country of origin not only for political reasons but also because of racial and religious persecution. Refugee Day - marked world-wide on June 20 - has taken on a special meaning here in Poland and has been extended into a week-long series of events. This year's theme, 'Don't be afraid of us', has a special message to Poles, as Ania from Polish Humanitarian Action, the coordinator of the event, explains
"I think that the reason why we are here and why we organize this, is that we want to have a place were people from Warsaw could meet with refugees and build thetolerance and communication."
The programme of the Refugee Festival is very diverse and colourful. It includes cultural performances by refugees from various countries, music gigs, story telling, handicraft shows, outdoor activities for children, ‘Bollywood’ dance-modern Indian dance, and African dance. The highlight perhaps was the grand performance on a 10 meter radius drum, which involved 120 people...
The Refugee Festival has attracted over 4000 people, both Polish citizens and foreigners, refugees and those applying for refugee status. Their message to the Polish authorities is:
‘Be more open and flexible on the immigration laws. Coming to Poland, we are bringing not only tragic history but also rich culture and a hope for a better future."
"It is a very good occasion. It means that here in Poland we are living among our friends, our family and we are not feeling that we are away from our countries "
'”It is very fine, because we have to show the Polish society the problem of immigration in Poland, the regulations etc."
Emanuel is an asylum seeker from Cameron. He feels pretty much at home here, even though he is on a long queue still waiting for a decision from the Polish refuguee office.
"In Poland I feel at home. Here in Poland I feel secure."
© Polskie Radio
CONTROVERSIAL POLISH POLITICIAN SAYS HE IS JUST MISUNDERSTOOD
29/6/2006- Known at home as the farmer’s fanatical friend and known abroad for praising Hitler’s economic policies, Andrzej Lepper says he has been misquoted, misunderstood and misused. Yes, Poland’s deputy prime minister is a permanently tanned populist, former pig farmer and agricultural union chief who blockaded roads in 1990s protests, poured manure on local officials and accused the central bank of committing economic genocide against Poles. No, he claims, he never said, “The most dangerous nation for the Poles is the Jewish nation... They are plotting intrigues everywhere.” The quote was attributed to him by the periodical Nowiny in 1995. Asked if he is an anti-Semite, Lepper says, “I am a Pole, I am tolerant of various minority groups.” He characterizes his party, Self-Defense, as “left-wing patriots” who “support tolerance.” Agriculture Minister Lepper, 52, is not Poland’s only demonized politician: Another is Roman Giertych, 35, a right-wing advocate of a Catholic-oriented Poland. Giertych is loathed by liberals, intellectuals and, particularly, gays, whom members of his party accuse of trying to spread their “disease.” Giertych and Lepper frequently are paired together in media articles describing Poland’s alleged turn for the worse, meaning the decision in April to welcome two parties with extreme anti-E.U. stances into the government coalition. Giertych, now education minister, wants to increase patriotic and religious education in schools, which essentially means Catholic lessons. He also is honorary chairman of the xenophobic All Polish Youth, whose skinhead adherents have been photographed giving the Nazi salute.
But what of Lepper, whose party in the early 1990s included neo-Nazis and skinheads? A former communist, Lepper is more popular than Giertych. Self-Defense consistently polls at 10 percent, twice the rate of support for Giertych’s League of Polish Families. Lepper came in third in the 2005 presidential election with 15 percent of the vote, up from 1.3 percent in 1995. Observers agree that Lepper has spruced up his and his party’s image at a remarkable rate. He admits that some of his party’s earlier adherents held anti-Semitic views, but insists they’re no longer welcome. “I want to let Jews know that they can be sure that in our party we throw out anybody who shows anti-Semitic attitudes,” he said during an interview last month at his office. “We threw out those who were distributing such leaflets, and they shouldn’t be welcome anywhere.” But Piotr Kadlcik, chairman of the Union of Religious Jews in Poland, says there’s no doubt that some of Lepper’s supporters come from a nationalist, anti-Semitic base. “Lepper, he is the kind of person who if it fits his purpose to use anti-Semitism, he would use it. I don’t think he has a personal opinion on this issue. He is extremely pragmatic,” Kadlcik said. “He is a very interesting person, he went a long way in a short time. He could cause more trouble than Giertych.”
Lepper says police should combat ant-Semitism when they see it, “just as they should protect me from debasement when cartoons appear portraying me as an SS man.” Some of these portrayals stem from his past contacts and cooperation with controversial figures like U.S. political activist Lyndon LaRouche; Jan Kobylanski, a Uruguay-based millionaire who reportedly collaborated with the Nazis; and Leszek Bubel, Poland’s best-known publisher of anti-Semitic books and leaflets, including “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.” In a more current controversy, Lepper accepted an award from MAUP University in Ukraine in April. He says he had no idea the school is one of the biggest sources of anti-Semitic literature in Ukraine. “Why should I be sorry for this?” he asked. “I did not receive this degree for promoting anti-Semitic slogans. I got the degree for promoting and developing economic cooperation with Ukraine.”
When told that some Jewish leaders want him to return his award, Lepper called them “Jewish extremist” groups. Lepper’s firebrand style contrasts with that of the soft-spoken and erudite Giertych, a lawyer with two master’s degrees. Lepper never went to college. Lepper, who says his mother told him stories about how she helped Jews during World War II, says his anti-Semitic reputation is a result of media distortion. “I gave an interview with Focus magazine and I was asked if the German economy was doing well under Hitler. I said yes, but of course Hitler was a fascist, bandit and criminal,” Lepper recollected. “The headline in the article said I praised Hilter.” Lepper’s spokesman, Marcin Domagala, says journalists should focus on Lepper’s sympathy with the many Poles who have trouble paying for healthcare, rent and other necessities. “We have the highest unemployment rate in the E.U., officially at 17 percent, but it is really about 30 percent,” he said. “We have famine. There are a million hungry children and 30 percent of Polish society lives below the poverty line.” Lepper blames many of these problems on Western companies that he says bankrupted the country by stealing its assets after the fall of Communism. The populist rhetoric plays well among the disenfranchised — some of whom, critics say, are the same people who fault Jews for low wages and high prices. Domagala says Self-Defense would never cast aspersions on Jews to advance its agenda.
© JTA News
HOMOPHOBIA? IN POLAND?
EU accuses Poland of homophobia; secondary school pupils protest against the education minister; and why ex-communists like ice cold vodka and traditional Polish food, are some of the stories in the current affairs magazines this week.
23/6/2006- The weekly Ozon refutes the European Parliament’s accusations that Poland is among countries where intolerance, racism and homophobia are rearing their ugly heads. The EU Parliament’s resolution distorts the reality and paints a false image of Poland, says the weekly. It quotes the findings of recent sociological surveys which show Poles to be one of the most tolerant nations in the European Union. According to a study conducted in 10 EU member states, Poland is one of the most open societies in Europe. There are about 1 million foreigners in Poland, mainly from Vietnam, China and former Soviet republics. Racist crimes are rare and their rate is falling. Ozon argues also that the word “homophobia” is abused by the authors of the resolution. It is used to silence those who are against what they see as offensive gay and lesbian lifestyles and their demands to legalize marriages and adoption of children. The weekly says that this attitude verges dangerously on ‘homosexual terrorism’. It points out that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is banned in Poland. Homosexuals can live together and inherit from one another. The lay catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny writes about an open conflict between Polish school pupils and the new education minister, Roman Giertych, leader of the nationalist League of Polish Families. There have never been in democratic Poland such spontaneous and violent demonstrations by secondary school pupils, no minister of education has met with so much hate from youths, writes the weekly reporting on ‘Pupils Initiative’, the organizer of recent protests. Sociologists say it is a completely novel development as pupils have not played an active role on the public scene so far. Now they turned up in force in front of the education ministry building to question what they regard as controversial ideas of the new minister – like giving increased prominence to religion classes or lessons in patriotic education. Many question the moral right of a man who founded and led an extreme nationalist All Poland Youths Organization to head the education ministry. Rather than investigating who is standing behind the youths or sending the police to disperse their demonstration, the ministry officials should have simply tried to field their questions. After all these youths are the current or future electorate. This is what mature democracy is all about: we have the right to protest against the authorities and discuss with them, says Tygodnik Powszechny.
The Polish version of Newsweek believes that, paradoxically, the biggest though unintentional contribution of education minister Roman Giertych may be that his appointment has focused attention on schools and sparked off a debate on changes in the fossilized education system. Shall we witness a revolution or just cosmetic changes? Do the new education officials really care about better bringing up of young people or is it just a propaganda game and an attempt to bribe parents with the promise of more influence on what’s going on in the school and an offer of better security precautions to teachers, wonders Newsweek. Wprost writes that Poland’s present ruling circles have conservative roots and a tendency to invoke the national tradition but their cuisine preferences are quite cosmopolitan. Old Polish dishes consumed with ice cold vodka were preferred by leftist pro-European politicians. Senior representatives of the ruling Law and Justice, which calls itself a Christian democratic and farmers’ party, prefer Japanese sushi over the traditional Polish pork chop. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz is a great fan of Japanese cooking. He likes to make a break at least once a week in his busy schedule to drop in to a sushi bar. That’s when the armoured prime ministerial BMW car can be seen parked in an inconspicuous Wilcza street in Warsaw’s city center. The premier usually orders sashimi and California maki. Young Law and Justice activists go for good restaurants and Far East cuisine, but the party’s leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his twin brother Lech don’t. The latter is a president and obviously cannot frequent popular hang outs, while Jaroslaw is not much of a restaurant patron. Instead, one can often spot leading politicians of the biggest opposition party, the Civic Platform, is Warsaw’s posh restaurants and pubs, reports Wprost.
The weekly Polityka sounds an alarm that the Polish law on homeless animals is just a collection of empty words. Poland has not signed the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals yet. In some instances it is less restrictive than the Polish law, allowing the euthanasia of homeless animals, for example. But it regulates issues such as commercial breeding and trade in pets and defines shelters as non- profit institutions, eliminating to some extent corruption and illegal business in stray dogs under the label of animal shelters. To think that pedigree dogs lead a better life than mongrels is a myth in Poland. They are mass produced on dog farms at the lowest cost possible. Surplus production lands up in already overcrowded shelters. Poland badly needs a dog neutering program, sponsored by the government. It also must change a most unfortunate decree of the interior minister who re-activated the ill-famed institution of the dog-catcher in 1998. It was to be a humanitarian institution but things went dramatically wrong. In effect Poland, a country in central Europe, is where genuine dog slaughterhouses operate under the façade of animal shelters, writes Polityka.
© Polskie Radio
POLISH GOVERNMENT ‘NOT INTOLERANT OR HOMOPHOBIC’
The Polish government has protested against a resolution of the European Parliament lambasting Poland for intolerance, claiming that it was drawn up by ‘extreme groups’.
22/6/2006- Polish parliamentary speaker Marek Jurek sent a letter to the European Parliament arguing that its resolution is harmful to Poland and is promoting an ideology of homosexual groups. Jurek said that charging Poland with homophobia is unjustified and called it an aggression from extreme left wing groupings in the European Parliament.
“It’s not fully realized in Poland that this anti-Polish resolution was actually passed by socialist, communist and liberal parties. This is a part of the opinion in the European Parliament dominated by extreme groupings.”
The Polish Parliamentary speaker also said that comparing moral disapproval of homosexuality to homophobia was discrediting the Judeo-Christian tradition.
“The Christian tradition, but also Judaism and Islam show moral disapproval of homosexuality. The fact that the family is accorded a special place in legislation is not an expression of any phobia but of preference to an element on which social life is built.”
After banning the gay pride parade in Warsaw in 2004 and 2005, Polish officials allowed it to take place in the city this year. But Poland’s gay community says it has been under growing attacks from various quarters, including officials in the government, after the Law and Justice party came to power last October. Robert Biedron, a Warsaw gay activist.
“The government and the ruling parties have been turning a blind eye to homophobia and all kinds of xenophobia in Poland for a long time. I am not surprised that Speaker Marek Jurek is defending homophobia and xenophobia in Poland. I am surprised that the government, which is obliged to fight all kinds of discrimination is not doing that.”
The European Parliament was especially worried about increasing hate speak from senior politicians in Poland. The resolution points to unacceptable behavior of politicians from the nationalist League of Polish Families. Oskar Chomicki from the Poland in Europe Foundation says, however, that the resolution is unfortunate and that the accusations are exaggerated.
“Some facts given in that resolution are blown up out of proportion. There is very little ground for nationalism and xenophobia in Poland. There is perhaps some undercurrent of anti-semitism and there might be some dislike of open homosexual attitudes.”
On Friday the Parliament will discuss three proposals of resolutions put forward by the opposition Civic Platform as well as the senior ruling party Law and Justice and its partner – the League of Polish Families concerning the critical report of the European Parliament.
© Polskie Radio
POLISH POLICE ARREST 'NEO-NAZI' SUSPECTED OF ATTACK ON CHIEF RABBI
Polish police said Wednesday they had arrested a man with neo-Nazi links over an anti-semitic attack on Poland's chief rabbi, an assault that provoked a chorus of international condemnation.
29/6/2006- Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich was insulted and sprayed with tear gas in a Warsaw street May 27, the day before he was due to say the Jewish prayer for the dead at a ceremony led by Pope Benedict XVI at the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in southern Poland. National police chief Marek Bienkowski told a press conference the man detained Wednesday had admitted to attacking Schudrich after police found a tear gas canister in his home. Bienkowski did not reveal which neo-Nazi group the suspect had links with. He vowed that police "will have zero tolerance for these types of incidents," and announced that a special unit has been created to clamp down on "all sorts of attacks on religious minorities." "The chief rabbi and witnesses identified the attacker," Bienkowski added. The suspect, a 33-year-old Warsaw resident, has previously been sentenced for attacking a police officer and for destroying property during a football match. Named by police only as Karol G., he faces a jail term of up to five years if convicted. Schudrich told TVN24 private television station that he was "very grateful" to police for carrying out "a very difficult investigation." The rabbi was not injured in the street attack and went on to take part in ceremonies at Auschwitz-Birkenau led by Benedict XVI, who was carrying out a four-day visit to Poland at the time.
“Zero tolerance”
Polish President Lech Kaczynski vowed "zero tolerance" for anti-Semitism in the wake of the incident. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz told Schudrich, a US citizen, that he was "deeply shocked" by the attack. Schudrich has previously placed part of the blame for the assault on the entry of a far-right party into Poland's coalition government, saying it "empowers nationalists and those who run around shouting unpleasant things." The nationalist League of Polish Families (LPR) entered the governing conservative coalition last month and LPR leader Roman Giertych, a third generation far-right activist, was appointed deputy premier and education minister. The Israeli foreign ministry has said the ultra-Catholic LPR has "an anti-semitic ideology".
© EJP
ELIE WIESEL ACCUSES POLAND (Editorial)
By Adam Michnik editor-in-chief, Gazeta Wyborcza
28/6/2006- The influential US daily Washington Post published on Sunday a review, by Nobel prize winner and Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel, of a new book by Jan Gross, the author of Neighbors. The subject of the book, titled Fear, is the persecution of Jews in post-war Poland in the years 1945-1946. In the review, Elie Wiesel recalls his own experience from 10 years ago. His speech during the event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the pogrom in Kielce sparked - he writes - attacks across the wide range of the Polish press and those attacks were 'in fact anti-Semitic.' Contrary to what Wiesel writes, his 1996 speech - chiefly the fragment referring to the dispute over the presence of Catholic crosses at the former Birkenau camp - was criticized by many people far removed from anti-Semitism, such as by father Józef Tischner on the pages of the Gazeta Wyborcza. Moreover, Wiesel's review conveys the image of a country unable to confront the plague of anti-Semitism. Several years ago, following the publication of Gross's book Neighbors about the destruction of a Jewish community in Jedwabne, Poland became the stage of a broad debate that was ignored by neither the Polish president nor the primate of the country's Catholic Church. There is probably no other country in East Central Europe that would be accounting for the dark chapters of its own history with such seriousness and honesty. That debate was as important as the publication of Gross's book.
A couple of weeks ago rabbi Michael Schudrich was assaulted by a hooligan on a Warsaw street. This was probably not the only case in the world of a hooligan assault on a rabbi. Poland, however, is likely the only country where on the next day the president ostentatiously invited the rabbi to meet him and in front of the cameras expressed his solidarity with the victim of the assault. Anyone who writes about anti-Semitism in Poland and ignores those facts, falsifies - even if unintentionally - the truth about Poland.
© Gazeta Wyborcza
THE KILLING AFTER THE KILLING (Book review)
Reviewed by Elie Wiesel
Book: FEAR Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz By Jan T. Gross, Random House.
In 1996, Poland's prime minister, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, invited a Jewish American writer to speak at a commemoration marking the 50th anniversary of the Kielce pogrom. The speaker reminded his listeners that if Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek and Sobibor were German initiatives, the killers this time on the ground were Polish, their language Polish and their hatred entirely Polish. He took advantage of the occasion to demand that the Polish government remove the crosses and other religious symbols that, by chance, he had seen a few years before strewn in the ashes at Birkenau, where almost all the burned dead had been Jews. The next day, virulent, deplorable -- essentially antisemitic -- attacks appeared throughout the Polish press.
I was that speaker.
Some time later, the great Israeli historian Israel Gutman spoke to me briefly about the Jedwabne pogrom, in which virtually all of that small Polish town's 1,600 Jewish residents were killed in a single day in July 1941, and a new and important book, Neighbors , by Jan T. Gross, whose revelations about Jedwabne promised to embarrass Poland and jolt the conscience of the world. A professor at Princeton now, Gross is a Polish Jew who knows his subject. Neighbors -- a book of high moral quality -- described the massacre of Jews at Jedwabne as not carried out by Germans but by native Poles. Published in English in 2001, it had formidable impact in America and elsewhere. One can easily predict a similar effect and success for his new work, Fear . You read it breathlessly, all human reason telling you it can't be so -- and the book culminates in so keen a shock that even a close student of the Jewish tragedy during World War II cannot fail to feel it. Bitterness, envy, murderous rage: Everything that is low, primitive, vile and ugly in the human animal is laid bare and analyzed on these pages. Reading this book -- repugnant and revolting as it can be -- one is seized by an impulse to close it and say: No. It is not possible for so many human beings to have loosed their savage hounds on fellow human beings -- men, women, children, all of them innocent and defenseless in a place that was just waking from a long nightmare.
Fear is a word we use often in reference to dictatorships and totalitarian regimes; it is, for want of a better term, employed inadequately to speak of the Holocaust. In a dark time, on a continent overcome by the din of triumphant Nazism, fear gripped the occupied countries and all nations in Germany's shadow; but, mostly, fear gripped the Polish people, whom Hitler wanted reduced to slavery, and the Jewish people, singularly destined for isolation, humiliation and total extermination. Had these last two communities acted logically, they might have understood that they faced a common enemy and worked to combine their strengths to help each other. Unfortunately, that was not to be. Gross describes how Warsaw's onlookers watched young Jewish fighters throw themselves from burning windows during the pathetic yet glorious ghetto uprising in 1943, then applauded when German soldiers set upon them below.
But in this strongly sourced work, another fear emerges. It is that felt by Jews, not during Poland's occupation by the Nazis, but afterward, even as the country was being liberated by the Red Army. Based on official documents as well as numerous testimonies, Fear recounts events as they unfolded in 1945-46. The most heinous and outrageous cruelties, it appears, were inflicted by civilians, soldiers and policemen on a benighted population of Jewish survivors from hells near and far, who were returning sick, poor, wounded -- orphans beyond hope.
To put it clearly: Like many of us, they had thought all too naively that antisemitism, discredited 6 million times over, had died at Auschwitz with its victims. They were wrong. Only the dead perished at Birkenau; antisemitism itself survived in most places, and mostly in Poland. This is, in sum, what Jan Gross reveals in a style that is at once sober and overwhelming in its very bluntness. There were manhunts, public humiliations, insane acts of brutality. The rare escapees who thought themselves fortunate to return home found their property occupied by strangers who chased them away with scornful cries: "What, you're still in this world?" Eventually, they were made to regret their very survival. Trapping a Jew was reason enough to beat him senseless. Discover another, and pelt him with stones. This antisemitic blight, all too insidious and thorough, infected every level of the population. There were those who killed Jews in order to steal from them; others who coveted their stores and homes; others, to avenge the Jews' mythical power in communist secret circles; and then there were those who killed for the simple pleasure of it. There was the official version: Authorities minimized the tragedy's Jewishness. Even as they commemorated the dead, they forgot to mention that they were Jews. And the public version: Jews were barred from civic life -- from schools as well as public office. Traditional antisemitism, too, lived on, fueled by ancient religious prejudices as well as individual and collective hatreds.
Then there were the pogroms. First in tiny villages, followed by those in the big cities. Gross's reader is suddenly thrust into the Middle Ages. In Krakow and in Kielce, those thirsting for Jewish blood didn't hesitate to maim or murder. In these two towns, it began with that old canard claiming that Jews slaughtered Christian children to use their blood for the ritual preparation of Passover matzos. In Kielce, it was rumored, Jews had lured a Polish boy into a cave so that they could murder him. Little did it matter that there was no cave in the local Jewish Committee's building at 7 Planty Street. Little did it matter that, for centuries, the highest authorities of the Catholic Church had repudiated and condemned these accusations as stupid and malicious lies. The Polish population clung to such myths to feed their hatred and rage against the Jews, who were guilty of nothing more than having survived Treblinka and Auschwitz. And more: The Polish clergy in towns and provinces, almost to the last man, chose to guard its silence. As he has done for Jedwabne in Neighbors , Gross here shows the horror of Kielce in all its aspects. Hatred for Jews seemed to render the whole world blind. Old and young, men and women, soldiers and police -- even boy scouts -- took part in the lynchings. And spectators either applauded or did not care. How to explain so much hate, at so many levels? It is a question for the intellectuals as well as the politicians; neither could have predicted it. Gross quotes Tacitus, who once said, "It is indeed human nature to hate the man whom you have injured." Taking it one step further, the author posits that Polish antisemites detested their Jewish victims for their suffering, which caused such shame: "Jews were so frightening and dangerous, in other words, not because of what they had done or could do to the Poles, but because of what Poles had done to the Jews."
Does it follow that all of Poland was to blame? I do not believe in collective guilt. Only the guilty are guilty; their contemporaries are not. The children of killers are not killers but children. Today, a new generation will assume responsibility for its history. And yet there is this: The past lives on in the present, impossible to forget. Jan Gross forces Poland to confront that past. Just as he forces his readers. One of his saddest revelations? During the war, here and there, there were Polish citizens with generous and brave hearts who, risking life and liberty, hid and protected Jews. But rather than be proud of such acts, they preferred not to talk about them. They were afraid of the anger and the recriminations from their neighbors. ?
Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He is the author of more than 40 books, including "Night" and, most recently, "The Time of the Uprooted." This review was written in French and translated by Marie Arana.
© The Washington Post
POLISH LEADER DEMANDS APOLOGY OVER EU RESOLUTION
17/6/2006- Poland’s deputy prime minister demanded an apology Friday for a recent European Parliament resolution singling out Poland as a country where racism and homophobia are on the rise. Roman Giertych, who heads the right-wing League of Polish Families, called the report "slanderous’’ and insisted that the EU body was out of line. "I call on the parliament members to show one instance where the party leaders called for violence,’’ Giertych told a news conference. "I demand an apology from the European Parliament.
The resolution, drafted by left-wing and liberal groups and adopted Thursday, said acts of homophobia and anti-Semitism were on the rise in Poland and that leaders of the League "incite people to hatred and violence.’’ Giertych’s party promotes ultra conservative Roman Catholic values and has a youth wing that has attacked gay rights marches in Poland. Their recent entry into the government has raised concerns in Europe. Giertych, who is also education minister, argued that recent remarks of prominent party member Wojciech Wierzejski advocating violence against homosexuals had been misquoted by Polish newspapers and most likely sparked the resolution. Wierzejski has denied ever advocating violence and called the EU resolution part of an "international campaign organized by left-wing forces against the good name of Poland.’’ The resolution came six weeks after Poland’s governing Law and Justice party strengthened its government by signing a coalition deal with Giertych’s party and with the Euro-sceptic Self-Defense party.
© Associated Press
POLAND REBUFFS EU ALLEGATIONS OF INTOLERANCE
15/6/2006- Poland rejected on Thursday European Parliament criticism of an alleged rise in racism and homophobia, inviting the lawmakers to visit the country before making such accusations. The Strasbourg-based assembly singled out Poland, where a radical right-wing party joined the conservative government last month, in a resolution condemning a "rise in racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic intolerance". "I know Poland a bit better than the European Parliament does, and I have not encountered such behaviour," Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said. "When such instances do occur our constitution is ruthless and punishes activities of that sort," PAP news agency quoted him as saying on his way to a European Union summit in Brussels. EU lawmakers lashed out at the nationalist League of Polish Families, whose radical youth group has raised eyebrows when pictures were published of its members giving the Nazi salute. A party official has said police should beat homosexuals with batons if they disturb public order with demonstrations. The party has repeatedly denied charges of anti-Semitism. Authorities in Warsaw banned an annual "gay pride" march for two years, but reluctantly allowed a march this year after protests from EU officials and human rights groups.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who was mayor of Warsaw at the time, called last year's planned march "sexually obscene". Marcinkiewicz played down the importance of those events. "We will invite Euro-parliamentarians to visit Poland so they can seek out what they wrote," he was quoted as saying. The parliament called on EU institutions to monitor closely the situation in Poland, citing worrying events such a street attack this year on chief rabbi Michael Schudrich or anti-Semitic remarks aired by ultra-Catholic Radio Maryja. Poland was not the only country that came under parliament's spotlight. Belgium, France, Germany and Portugal have also seen high-profile racist or xenophobic attacks in recent months. But the debate focused on Poland, with many Polish deputies fiercely denying the allegations. "Poland and the Poles are being slandered in the European Parliament by a liberal-socialist 'internationale', which controls the world's mass media ... because the Poles believe in God and adhere to traditional values," said Urszula Krupa, a deputy from the League of Polish Families.
© Reuters
FORMER POLISH SKINHEAD APPOINTED TO HIGH PUBLIC POST
20/6/2006- The former editor of a Polish neo-Nazi magazine has been appointed as deputy chairman of Poland's public TV network, sending shockwaves through the new EU member country. Piotr Farfal has had a stellar career. The 28-year-old Pole is a lawyer. He is also a far-right political activist, a card-carrying right-wing extremist and former editor-in-chief of the Polish skinhead magazine Front, which openly supports anti-Semitism and right-wing extremist violence. And now he has been appointed as deputy chairman of the board of Poland's state-run public television. People are wondering how this could have happened -- even in a country such as Poland that is going through dramatic social and political change. Farfal, however, has powerful friends in high places. Among them is the leader of the right-wing League of Polish Families, Roman Giertych, who is also Poland's deputy prime minister and education minister in the country's new government. It was Giertych that got Farfal his appointment. Farfal says he doesn't understand all the fuss. "Of course, you can make a scandal out of it today," he said. "You can say he's 28 years old and responsible for his actions when he was 16. Okay, but where are the limits of absurdity? I was a snotty-nosed kid, who let his name be used. So, I ask again, where are the limits to absurdity?"
Youthful ignorance?
But the question is whether it was really just youthful ignorance. People are wondering if that is a suitable explanation for articles such as "Why be a Skinhead," which appeared with his byline in the April 1995 issue of Front magazine. "We do not accept cowards, collaborators or Jews," he wrote in the article. "We are the future!" In other European countries, the author of such diatribes would find himself investigated by state prosecutors and security services. In Poland, he gets appointed to a top post on state television, said Marcin Kornak, a civil rights activist. "Sixty years ago, people with these kinds of views murdered seven million people in our country," he said. "This person, therefore, has no right whatsoever to hold such an important post in this society as deputy chairman of Polish television."
Growing rightwing sentiment in Poland
Recently, the European Parliament in Strasbourg passed a resolution condemning the growing signs of racism and anti-Semitism in Poland and elsewhere. The accusations were vehemently denied by Poland's new governing coalition of populist and nationalist conservatives, The Law and Justice Party and the League of Polish Families, who are themselves often viewed as xenophobic and ultraconservative. President Lech Kaczynski, elected last fall, strongly opposes abortion and gay marriage. But the pressure is mounting against Farfal. The chairman of the culture committee in the Polish parliament, Pawel Kowal, has left no doubt that he will put Farfal's appointment on the agenda of Polish television's supervisory board and the country's national media council.
© Deutsche Welle
POLAND'S JEWISH COMMUNITY SETS UP ANTI-SEMITISM DATABASE
Poland's Jewish community is to set up a database listing incidents of anti-Semitism, which have been on the rise in the EU member state in recent months, a Jewish official said Thursday.
23/6/2006- "We have launched this initiative after the recent attack in Warsaw against the chief rabbi of Poland and also after members of our community have received threatening mobile phone text messages," Piotr Kadlcik, head of the Jewish community in Poland, told Agence France Presse. Around 20 messages have already been received since the launch of the operation named "Magen" -- Hebrew for "shield" -- was announced. "We carefully check each case before we alert the police," Kadlcik said. Poland's Grand Rabbi Michael Schudrich was insulted and sprayed with tear gas in a street in Warsaw in late May, the day before he was due to say the Jewish prayer for the dead, the Kaddish, at a ceremony led by Pope Benedict XVI at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in southern Poland. Schudrich placed part of the blame for the attack on the entry of a far-right party into Poland's coalition government, saying it "empowers nationalists and those who run around shouting unpleasant things." Early this month, Polish police arrested two people linked to a neo-Nazi website and charged eight others with collaborating on the site, police officer Pawel Biedziak said. Kadlcik said Poland, where the Jewish community numbers around 5,000, was "thankfully not yet at the same level of violence as in Germany or France," but urged the Jewish and other communities not to let down their guard against anti-Semitism. "You could say we have minor anti-Semitism, but you have to stand up to that, too," he said. The Polish authorities had asked the United States for help in closing down the www.redwatch.info website, which posted so-called blacklists of homosexuals, prominent members of the Jewish community and left-wing activists. The authorities in Poland said the site was hosted by a US-based server and outside the jurisdiction of the Polish legal system. The website was still up and running Thursday, when AFP checked. Poland's thriving pre-WWII Jewish community of more than three million people was almost entirely eradicated by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
© EJP
LIVING IN POLONIA: PREY OR PRAY(editorial)
16/6/2006- It was common in the 1980s during the years of the Solidarity struggle for political messages to be prominent in Chicago’s Polish Constitution Day Parade. With Poland having gained its freedom from Soviet oppression, there have been few political overtones to parade entries. This year’s parade was no exception to the trend of recent years, it being basically a celebration of all things Polish and Polish American. The only shouted slogans are of the "Long Live Poland" variety. There was only a minor variation for the general theme and, perhaps that is why it was so noticeable. A single float urged "Hands Off Radio Maryja," supplemented by a few signs among the crowd bearing the same message. I certainly have no argument with the right of Poles to support whatever they find pleasing to them, but I couldn’t help but wonder which Radio Maryja they were espousing. Is it the Radio Maryja as known on American radio stations or the Radio Maryja that broadcasts across Poland? They are somewhat different. Poland’s Radio Maryja is what we would call a network, transmitted all day across the length and breadth of the nation. It carries what Polish observers consider to be a Catholic message of a decidedly conservative bent, about which there is little argument. On the other hand, it is generally understood to support conservative political ideology, allegedly hand-in-hand with the Legion of Polish Families [Liga Polskich Rodzin, LPR], a party represented in the Polish Parliament. In fact, it is undisputed that LPR politicians are welcome guests on the network’s programs, while it is unlikely that leaders from other persuasions would be invited. It might be described as something like a religious broadcaster with a Fox News philosophy. It has also been accused of being openly anti-Semitic, a claim that the network has not forcefully denied.
In the United States, Radio Maryja sticks fairly well to its religious message with relatively minor lapses that are not easily observable. As a result, it understandably has a rather large and devoted following upon Polish-speaking believers. The Vatican has been openly disturbed by Radio Maryja’s operation in Poland for several years. Pope John Paul II attempted to temper the outspoken political zeal of Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, the network’s founder and leader, but with minor success. Following the late Pope’s lead, the Vatican, certainly with the approval of Pope Benedict the XVI, has ordered the radio broadcaster to get out of politics with words that are unmistakable. Pope John Paul II was especially concerned about the network’s allegedly anti-Semitic tendencies. Nevertheless, Radio Maryja has continued its criticism of Polish Jews. Whether one considers the network’s accusation that Jews are extorting money out of the Polish government to be politically commentary or bigotry, or even if one thinks there is some substance to the statement, it cannot be denied that the issue falls within the objections of John Paul or Benedict. And, so it remains confusing when Poles in America ask "Hands Off Radio Maryja." It seems unlikely that they are referring to the U.S. broadcasts, to which there has been no serious objection. But, assuming that they have the same deep respect for John Paul II as other Polonians, it is difficult to understand why they would argue with him about this particular issue. It surely cannot be about conservative Catholicism, views largely shared with them by the late Polish Pope and his successor, and about which the Vatican has not complained. One must suspect, then, eliminating the religious aspect, that they share Father Rydzyk’s politics and prejudices.
Poles, and many Polish Americans, have difficulty in comprehending the American notion of separation of Church and State. The modern Church, however, has been more accepting of the concept, ultimately realizing that interference of one in the other’s sphere will eventually boomerang and become a reverse phenomenon. It might even be expressed as "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s."
© Polonia Today
GHETTO SURVIVOR WARNS OF POLISH 'FASCISM'
24/6/2006- As a 24-year-old banished to the Warsaw ghetto with thousands of fellow Polish Jews, Marek Edelman decided that the only way to fight the Nazis was to take up arms. More than six decades later, the last surviving leader of the ghetto's courageous but doomed uprising of 1943 said he thought similar action justified in today's Poland. "If we want to save Poland, my advice would be to take up the knife and hit them where it hurts," Mr Edelman, 87, said in his flat in the central city of Lodz. His anger is directed at the conservative government, which was elected eight months ago, and two nationalist and radical Right-wing parties that were recently invited to prop it up: the League of Polish Families (LPR) and Self-Defence, whose leader has praised Hitler's economic policies.
Poland's entry to the European Union two years ago has generally been hailed as a success. But it has brought with it heavy doses of illiberalism that are embarrassing the champions of EU expansion. The nation of 40 million is in danger of becoming a hothouse of extremism and Catholic nationalism. Ten days ago the European Parliament condemned "a rise in racist, xenophobic, anti-semitic and homophobic intolerance" and urged the government to tone down its rhetoric or risk sanctions. Drawing parallels with the rise of fascism in the 1930s, Mr Edelman said: "If this coalition continues to shape the country, I truly believe that our freedom is threatened. Persecution starts with small things: first language, then beatings, then murder." This week a report alleged that the deputy chief of state television had published a neo-Nazi magazine calling for the expulsion of Jews from Poland. Piotr Farfal, 28, claimed that he had only "lent his name" to the magazine. Asked to confirm his identity on a photograph of him giving a Nazi salute, he said: "You can also use this gesture to greet someone."
Gay rights groups around the world protested after Wojciech Wierzejski, the deputy chief of LPR, speaking before the country's annual gay rights march, referred to gays as "deviants" who should be beaten with sticks if they marched without a permit. But the main focus of detractors' wrath is Radio Maryja, a popular Catholic radio station that is openly anti-semitic and racist. The station was crucial to the electoral success of the Law and Justice Party, which squeezed into power on the back of public dissatisfaction with the previous Left-wing government's corruption and poor economic management. As a result, the station has acquired a huge influence on government business. Its listeners are, like the supporters of LPR and Self-Defence, typically rural, elderly, staunch Catholics who feel betrayed by the country's free market transformation. Numbering up to four million, they pay for the station through donations and in return lap up not only the morning doses of prayers, recipes and household tips but also the evening political broadcasts and phone-ins in which government figures regularly take part.
In March Mr Edelman wrote an angry letter to the prime minister after a broadcast in which a regular Radio Maryja commentator said that Poland was "being outflanked by Judeans" who, with their "greasy palms", were "trying to extort money from our government". "I wanted to point out that the government is lending support to the most reactionary currents of xenophobia and anti-semitism," said Mr Edelman, a retired heart surgeon. "Radio Maryja should be closed down." The government rejects the charges, talking of a Left-wing smear campaign. All Polish Youth, the youth wing of LPR, says it is only by making Poland a Catholic state that its future will be secured. "We do not want to become like Holland with its free drugs and gay marriage," said Konrad Bonislawski, 23, a senior member. "Since joining the European Union we have seen attempts to destroy our Catholic values."
One of the government's most controversial moves has been to announce the reintroduction to schools of lessons in patriotism, in which pupils will celebrate their heritage through history lessons and singing the national anthem. The initiative prompted schoolchildren to form the Pupils' Initiative and to storm the education ministry this month, demanding the sacking of Roman Giertych, the education minister and the leader of LPR. "You can't teach patriotism," said Karolina Szczepaniak, 18, who attends a convent school in Warsaw. "The government is trying to force on us its religious ideas, its homophobia, its racism, as it tries to turn Poland into a Catholic state. "Look at all the cases where fundamentalists impose their ideas on states and you see how dangerous it can be."
© The Telegraph
STUDENTS DEMONSTRATION AGAINST ROMAN GIERTYCH (Poland)
In front of Ministry of Education was organized demonstration against new Minister of Education and Roman Giertych (rights wing Ligue of Polish Families) by pupils and students.
13/6/2006- In front of Ministry of Education was organized demonstration against new Minister of Education and Roman Giertych (rights wing Ligue of Polish Families) by pupils and students. Demonstration were not legalized, and there came spontanously joung people from different schools from Warsaw. During begining at 11.00 there were about 200 students together with teachers. After information announced by police, some people (teachers with students) left demonstration. There stayed bout 100 people. Some students went into courtyard of the Ministry. Police force called to abandon demonstration three time, after that started to check people. Young people from courtyard were taken into police buses and carryied into police station. I was refused by police to get next informations: how many people were taken into police station, where they were taken, why they were taken, who is responsible for the police action, how many policeman participated in the action. I have herd from policeman who told by radio that ‘demonstration is finished/resolved’. After that there stayed some individuals (around 15 people) and jurnalists. Four young people have seated on the ground in front of the building holding paper-made transparent’s against Roman Giertych. They were subject of jurnalist and photoreporters interest. After some minutes they were taken into police car by force. Without giving them any explanations why. Media and me were not informed where and why they were taken. From witnesses I have heard that some people taken by police were under 18 years old, their colleagues were not informed why and where they were taken. People arested and asked to abandon demonstration were not informed about their rights. During my research I have tried to get information who personally is responsible for police action. I was refused to get these information and police sent me to the police alarm telephone number 997. I try to check any data from Warsaws Police spokeperson and after 2 hours canot get any data. I have informed AI office immediately, were ask to write short raport, also have contact with Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights that have own observer during demonstration. She was on police station informed young people about their rights. According to her, there is 15 detainee, they are held in good conditions toogether in one room, at least 5 of them are under 18 years old. They weren’t comply for police behavior, but stressed that Ministry security officers were agresive. At this time police do not inform about any kind of accusations against them. HFHR informed that will provide legal help to detainees.
Supplement
According to information of Warsaws Police spokeperson there were 18 people detainee, 8 of them are juvenile. HFHR observer informed me that all people are free just know and there were 10 juvenile. They will be accused of participation in illegal gathering (some of them in Court for Juvenile). According to HFHR observer and my obserwation there are some doubst if there was neccesity to disrupt students demonstration by force and detain young people. Especially these who were sitting alone in group of 4 in front of Ministry. The accusation are not given just know officialy. The aim of young people were to meet with minister, but as he told he wouldn’t like to talk with people inspired by left-wing movement and homosexual organization.
© Indymedia Poland
COE SECRETARY GENERAL REACTS TO DISMISSAL OF POLISH OFFICIAL FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF A COE PUBLICATION
13/6/2006- “I do not understand how teaching tolerance can be grounds for dismissal” said Terry Davis after a meeting with the Polish Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe as a result of reports that a Polish official has been dismissed for using a Council of Europe handbook on human rights education. “I asked the Polish government to clarify the circumstances in which Mr Miros³aw Sielatycki, Director of the Polish In-Service Teachers Training Centre, has been dismissed. I made it clear that the Polish government is free to decide whether it wishes to use Council of Europe material for human rights education, but if the teaching material is optional, the values and principles contained therein are certainly not. I am very concerned about a number of incidents in various Council of Europe member states in recent weeks. Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is not showing any signs of decline, and it is regrettable that prejudiced attitudes contrary to the most basic human rights standards of the Council of Europe are apparently being endorsed and even promoted by persons in official positions. I shall not make any specific comments on the case of Mr Sielatycki until I receive an official reply from the Polish government” concluded the Secretary General.
© Council of Europe
POLAND'S BIGOTED GOVERNMENT(editorial)
11/6/2006- Some formerly Communist countries that eagerly joined the European Union are balking at the social policies that come with democracy. They are led by the union's largest new member, Poland, which is now run by a right-wing nationalist government that seems intent on violating the rights of minority groups, beginning with an attack on gays. The government is led by the conservative Law and Justice Party, founded by the identical twin brothers who now run Poland: Lech Kaczynski, the country's president, and his brother Jaroslaw, who leads the party. Law and Justice got its parliamentary majority by aligning itself with two dangerous fringe parties: Self-Defense, a peasant party whose leader openly admires the dictator of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko; and the League of Polish Families, an ultra-right-wing Catholic party. Human Rights Watch reports that a League parliamentarian, Wojciech Wierzejski, accused homosexuals of running pedophile, drug-trafficking and other criminal organizations. At his urging, the state has instructed local prosecutors to investigate homosexuals for pedophilia. President Kaczynski banned gay rights marches when he was mayor of Warsaw and members of the League's youth wing have attacked gay rights marchers. Mr. Wierzejski said that people who marched in a gay rights demonstration planned in Warsaw this weekend should be "bashed with a baton."
The problems go well beyond homophobia. The preferred broadcasting outlet of Poland's government is Radio Maryja, a Catholic radio station with millions of listeners that is openly nationalist, anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner. It has resisted admonishments from Pope Benedict to stop talking about politics. Radio Maryja's support was crucial in Lech Kaczynski's presidential campaign and Jaroslaw Kaczynski is a frequent guest on the radio station. In late May, Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, was punched in the chest and sprayed with what appeared to be pepper spray by a young man shouting "Poland for the Poles." President Kaczynski personally apologized to Rabbi Schudrich and condemned anti-Semitism. But the rest of the government's actions give an official wink to bigotry.
© The New York Times
3,000 ATTEND WARSAW GAY PRIDE(Poland)
10/6/2006- The Equality Parade, which was held legally for the first time in three years, attracted some 3,000 gays, lesbians and liberal supporters in the centre of Warsaw. Previous gay pride events were banned by the city's then conservative authorities. The march, which set off from in front of the Houses of Parliament in Warsaw, was preceded by a meeting inside the Parliament buildings, devoted to the situation of Polish gays. It was attended by left-wing politicians and representatives of Polish and EU non-governmental organisations. Right-wing politicians refused to accept the invitation to the event. The Equality Parade was protected by Warsaw police along the way, but some in some incidents, it encountered opposition from ultranationalist protesters. Some of the unltranationalists were detained by the police.
© Polskie Radio
GAY ACTIVISTS TO RALLY IN WARSAW (Poland)
10/6/2006- Gay rights activists in the Polish capital are to hold a pride rally to protest against ongoing discrimination against homosexuals. The march has been given the go-ahead by city officials after being banned for the last two years. Politicians from several eastern Europe nations are expected to attend the afternoon march. Homosexuality is legal in Poland but the gay community faces an uphill battle for public acceptance. City officials had also given the green light to a counter-protest by a far-right youth movement called Polish Youth. However, the group chose to cancel its march following an appeal by prominent right-wing politician Roman Giertych, our correspondent in Warsaw says. Gay rights activists say homosexuals in former communist Eastern Europe live in a climate of fear and hatred and are frequently subjected to verbal and physical attacks.
© BBC News
WARSAW GAY MARCH AIMS TO DRAW THOUSANDS IN GOVERNMENT PROTEST (Poland)
9/6/2006- Polish gay rights campaigners expect to draw as many as 4,000 people to a march in Warsaw tomorrow in the latest challenge to the government's support for conservative Roman Catholic social policies. The demonstrators are defying threats of violence from skinheads and soccer hooligans to stage the parade, said Yga Kostrzewa, spokeswoman for gay rights group Lambda Warszawa. Between 2,000 and 3,000 police will be on duty to prevent clashes. Gay activists say the inclusion in government of the Polish Families League, which backs Catholic social policies, has increased hostility against them. The League also faced protests last month from students, who opposed the appointment of its leader, Roman Giertych, as education minister. Israel's foreign ministry said the party has ``an anti-Semitic ideology.'' ``Poland is a conservative country and for society and the authorities the expression of views seen as normal in other countries is seen as extraordinary here,'' said Andrzej Rychard, a sociologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. ``But the dynamic is changing and tolerance is increasing.'' The Families League said it supports what it calls ``traditional values.'' The Youth of Poland, a group led by League parliament deputy Krzysztof Bosak, yesterday canceled a planned counterdemonstration in response to an appeal from Giertych, saying it wanted to avoid a physical confrontation. Last month, Wojciech Wierzejski, a deputy chairman of the Families League and a European Parliament legislator since 2004, said the gay rights march would ``spread deviance and disease,'' and protesters should be ``beaten with nightsticks.''
Church Role
More than 90 percent of Poles are baptized Catholics and the church played a key role under Pope John Paul II in bringing down communism in 1989. Benedict XVI, his successor, visited Poland last month, only his second foreign visit in a year as pontiff. The current government is led by the Law & Justice party, which triumphed in elections last September. On May 5 it formed a coalition with the Families League and agrarian, anti-European Union Self Defense party to give it a majority in parliament. Members of Law and Justice have built support by appearing on Radio Maryja, a radio station run by a priest that the Vatican criticized in April for its engagement in politics. The EU also has said it would be concerned if Poland violated the equal-rights legislation the country signed up to when it joined the group in May 2004. The European Commission, the EU's executive body, would take Poland to the European Court of Justice if the government was found not to be respecting the rights of minority groups, Katharina von Schnurbein, spokeswoman for employment and social affairs at the European Commission in Brussels, said May 16.
Eggs, Stones
Gay marchers were pelted with eggs and stones in the western city of Poznan last year and in Krakow, southern Poland, in late April. The Warsaw march will include about 1,000 people from countries such as Germany and Sweden, spokeswoman Kostrzewa said. ``We can expect that as in previous years, hooligans will come with signs, and might even try to attack the march,'' Kostrzewa said. ``In this political climate of growing homophobia, you can expect that something will happen.'' The Youth of Poland, which has also protested against abortion, had planned to gather about 500 people tomorrow for a ``March of Tradition and Culture'' before ditching the event. The group called on authorities to ban the gay parade and said parents should take steps to ``protect their children from pedophiles gathering at the Equality Parade,'' according to a broadcast on national television yesterday by leader Bosak. The original plans called for the two demonstrations to pass each other. Before the Youth of Poland march was canceled, organizers had agreed to take separate routes to reduce the risk of confrontations. As mayor of Warsaw, current President Lech Kaczynski banned gay-rights parades in 2004 and 2005, arguing that the possibility of violence from opponents posed a threat to public order. The Constitutional Tribunal ruled in January that such bans violated demonstrators' rights. Police have 2,000-3,000 officers will protect the march and related events this weekend.
© Bloomberg
HOW TOLERANT IS POLAND?(Interview)
This weekend sees the annual Equality Days, formerly know as Warsaw Pride, - a demonstration by sexual minorities that culminates in Saturday’s Equality Parade.
Gabriel Stille has talked to Robert Biedron, one of the organizers and one of Poland's most well known gay rights activists.
10/6/2006
A manifestation for the rights of minorities, as well as a celebration of the current lesbian and gay culture - that is how the Equality Days are described. Debates, conferences and a film festival are held all over the capital. This event, which attracts visitors from all of Poland as well as abroad, has this year seen a lot of attention in media, mainly due to the uncertainty whether the main event - a parade through Warsaw - would be considered legal or not. After a court decision, the march was proclaimed legal, but a statement from a parliament representative from the League of Families that such demonstrators should be met with bats, hit the international media. Politicians from all over Europe have voiced their concerns about how the rights of minorities and freedom of expression are respected in Poland. Several high ranking European politicians have also announced their participation in the parade.
How is the Parade going to be this year?
Robert Biedron, organiser: 'It looks as it will be again a huge enthusiastic manifestation of people, who want to say their "No" to breaking the fundamentals of democracy. You must remember that it is Equality Parade, it used to be a gay and lesbian parade, but it is not anymore. It became a huge manifestation of people, who want to join gays and lesbians to show their solidarity, solidarity with the situation that gays and lesbians are in today.'
The last weeks have seen other protests, students have demanded the resignation of new minister of education Roman Giertych, for his disrespectful statements against minorities and his wish to impose so called patriotic values and religious educations in the Polish school system. A counter-rally was planned at the same time as the Equality Parade - by the All Polish Youth - an organization which Giertych once founded - but after a plea from Giertych, it was recently called off. After all this attention, other demonstrations and the final calling off of the counter-demonstration, can this year's parade be called something of a breakthrough?
'Not a breakthrough, unfortunately, it is a continuation of this craziness which has been going on for the past two or three years,
where politicians are using stereotypes about different groups to generate fear toward other parts of society. The paradox is
that gays and lesbians where the first of the discriminated groups who started to demonstrate, but today more and more groups that are discriminated against and isolated are going on the streets to show their solidarity and to show their anger towards the government.'
Furthermore, Biedron stresses the importance of the political level of the manifestations - where the government of Poland should be called upon to represent and cater for the rights of all it citizens, even those who are set apart from the mainstream.
The Parade is preceded by a press conference, and a debate in the Sejm, the Polish parliament, about European policy toward gays and lesbians.
© Polskie Radio
POLAND: OFFICIAL HOMOPHOBIA THREATENS BASIC FREEDOMS
5/6/2006- Recent threats by Polish officials against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists and organizations threaten everyone's basic freedoms, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Kasimierz Marcinkiewicz. Poland's State Prosecutor has reportedly instructed local prosecutors to launch investigations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations and their "pedophilic actions." Human Rights Watch said that anti-gay actions and comments by numerous officials constitute a pattern of repression in Poland. "Poland's leaders have stoked the fires of homophobic hatred to advance their political careers," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "The continuing calls to restrict a minority's basic freedoms threaten the fabric of democracy." In a letter sent on May 12, Wojciech Wierzejski, a member of parliament whose extremist League of Polish Families party sits in government, urged the justice and interior ministries to investigate the LGBT organizations' activities and financing. Wierzejski claimed that "the homosexual community's agenda is to propagate deviant attitudes among youth, and - what is worse - they are connected to a world of quasi-criminal character, including pedophilia." The prime minister's ruling Law and Justice Party, struggling to achieve a parliamentary majority, recently formed a coalition with two right-wing parties, the League of Polish Families and the Self-Defense Party. Both have a record of nationalist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Roman Giertych, leader of the League of Polish Families, became deputy prime minister and minister of education. He has stated that, "There is no room, nor will there ever be any room for homosexual activism within the school system in Poland on my watch."
On May 19, days after Wierzejski's letter, the deputy minister of education Miroslaw Orzechowskiego, also a member of the League of Polish Families, accused the Campaign against Homophobia, a Polish LGBT group, of "depraving young people." Pointing to an international seminar on gender stereotypes that the group co-sponsored in 2005, he said the ministry would work to "prevent such organizations from getting money in the future." In recent weeks, Wierzejski has also called for a ban on a June 10 Equality March in Warsaw, warning that, "If deviants start to demonstrate, they should be bashed with a baton." President Lech Kaczynski, the former leader of the ruling Law and Justice Party, has long opposed lesbian and gay people's rights to expression and assembly. When serving as mayor of Warsaw, he attempted to ban Gay Pride marches in 2004 and 2005. He refused to meet with the parade organizers, saying, "I am not willing to meet perverts." During his presidential campaign, Kaczynski said that he would continue to ban gay demonstrations, as "public promotion of homosexuality will not be allowed." When Warsaw marchers defied Kaczynski's ban and peacefully demonstrated in 2004, skinheads associated with the far-right All-Polish Youth violently assaulted them. The All-Polish Youth is affiliated with the League of Polish Families, and was founded in 1989 by Education Minister Giertych. In April 2006, demonstrators from the All-Polish Youth also attacked a "March for Tolerance" in Krakow, pelting it with stones and eggs. "Intolerance has reached the highest levels of Poland's government, and it brings the menace of violence in its train," said Long. "Polish political leaders must condemn the voices of hatred, and affirm that human rights are for all."
Human Rights Watch called on Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz to publicly disavow all threats and vilification directed against LGBT people and LGBT organizations. It also urged him to take all necessary steps to ensure that the June 10 Equality March planned for Warsaw be permitted to proceed, and to ensure that gay pride demonstrations take place without interference or intimidation.
© Human Rights Watch
POLISH BROADCASTING COUNCIL DEMANDS STANCE ON ANTI-SEMITISM
7/6/2006- Poland's broadcasting commission called Tuesday on renegade Catholic Radio Maryja to issue a statement on an anti-Semitic commentator. A spokesman for the commission told Polish radio Tuesday that he expected a statement within the next two weeks. The commission will then decide on possible sanctions. A programme broadcast in April had sparked nationwide protests and a reprimand by the commission for media ethics. The Vatican had also reprimanded Radio Maryja for engaging in politics and warned Poland's Catholic hierarchy responsible for its supervision to safeguard the station's neutrality. Run by renegade Redemptorist priest Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, Radio Maryja has cultivated an ultra-conservative Catholic electorate for the right-wing League of Polish Families (LPR) political party and has more recently been courted by Poland's governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party. Senior PiS politicians have appeared on the station, which has declined to invite opposition politicians to its airwaves. Radio Maryja has also come under heavy fire over the years for allowing the broadcast of xenophobic and sometimes outright anti- Semitic commentary. Since May, a commission consisting of episcopal representatives and religious orders has been trying to prevent similar incidents and Radio Maryja's political bias.
© German Press Agency
POLAND'S CRACKDOWN ON GAY GROUPS
a criminal probe, and Warsaw Pride threatened with violence
By Doug Ireland
8/6/2006- Poland’s state prosecutor last week announced a government investigation of all Polish gay groups for illegal financing, criminal connections, and pedophilia. This crackdown on gay groups is only the latest in a series of disturbing developments in Poland during the last month that illustrate the continuing rise of political homophobia under the country’s new gay-hostile government led by the duo nicknamed the Terrible Twins: President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslav (below right), who controls the Polish Parliament. “The situation of sexual minorities in Poland is under a very serious attack,” said Lisette Kampus of Poland’s four-year-old Campaign Against Homophobia. The state prosecutor’s announcement of the investigation of gay groups came in response to a May 12 letter from Wojciech Wierzejski, a front-bench member of Parliament from the League of Polish Families Party, of which Wierzejski is a vice-president. Ultra-homophobic, anti-Semitic, and Catholic fundamentalist, the League recently became part of the hard-right national government led by the Kaczynski twins. A copy of Wierzejski’s letter was attached to the state prosecutor’s order. Wierzejski, in his letter, formally demanded an investigation of Poland’s LGBT organizations by the interior and justice ministers for “illegal financing,” which Wierzejski claimed was from drug trafficking. Wierzejski—a former leader of the League’s violence-prone All Polish Youth—also equated homosexuality and pedophilia. “Every police office will confirm that homosexuals are a circle that is nearly 100 percent identical to the circle of pedophiles. It is a fact that does not require any research,” Wierzejski declared, according to the English-language newspaper Warsaw Independent.
In reporting on the launch of the state prosecutor’s investigation, the quality Polish daily Rrzeczpospolita reported last week, “Every ‘detective’—even those from elite departments that combat organized crime—will now have to carefully check to see if they had any case connected with pedophiles or homosexuals.” The newspaper quoted an anonymous police officer from the state prosecutor’s office as saying, “This is absurd. We are not here to check the sexual orientation of adult people. Instead of chasing criminals, now we have to spend hours digging in papers looking for nobody knows what.” In addition, “the Ministry of Justice has ordered local prosecution offices to investigate if ‘any crimes of a pedophile nature have been committed by homosexual persons’ in their respective areas,” Michal Rolecki of the Web site http://www.gaypoland.pl/ told Gay City News. The government crackdown on gay organizations was its response to nationwide protests against the appointment of ultra-homophobe Roman Giertych (right)—chairman of the League of Polish Families—as minister of education, his reward for taking his party into the Kaczynski- led coalition government.
Demonstrations against the appointment of the 35-year-old Giertych were held in recent weeks in the largest Polish cities, including Lodz, Czestochowa, Gdansk, Katowice, Poznan, Rzeszow, Szczecin, Wroclaw, Szczecin, Bialystok, and Warsaw. The demonstrations were organized by gay groups, left-wing opposition parties, and student groups. A May 9 Warsaw demonstration (left)—which police estimated as having 1,000 participants, while organizers claimed 8,000—was led by middle and high school students, who carried banners proclaiming, “Roman, I choose to play truant” and “Roman Giertych is the Trojan horse of education.” “We’re afraid of indoctrination in the schools,” Aleksander Powlowski, a 17-year-old student and one of the anti-Giertych rally’s leaders, told the Associated Press. Wierzejski denounced the anti-Giertych demonstrations as exclusively the work of gay groups. “There aren’t enough anarchists in Poland to organize such large rallies on the streets,” Wierzejski told the daily Gazeta Wyborcza. “Homos organize those rallies using online chats and forums. They sign all kinds of appeals against Roman Giertych.” An online petition denouncing Giertych’s appointment was signed in just a few days by 60,000 people, including many academics and artists. The signatories included a number of well-known film directors, among them Oscar-winners Andrzej Wajda (left, receiving Oscar from Jane Fonda), Agnieszka Holland, and Krzysztof Zanussi, as well as Marek Edelman (right), the last living leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Giertych is also a leading anti-Semitic voice in Poland from a family noted for such views; his grandfather was the author of popular books denouncing “the Jew-Masonic conspiracy,” and his father was the League’s presidential candidate last year.
The League’s unofficial alliance with the popular and openly anti-Semitic Radio Maryja, the national Catholic radio station led by the demagogic and homophobic Father Tadeusz Rydzyk — noted for his Jew-baiting and gay-hating discourse—gives the party a high profile in national debates. Israel’s ambassador to Poland, on the instructions of his government, took the unusual step of formally protesting the appointment of Giertych as education minister because of his anti-Semitism in a meeting with President Kaczynski, denouncing “the inclusion of a party that has an anti-Semitic ideology in Poland’s governing coalition,” according to a statement released by Israel’s foreign ministry. The League of Polish Families joined the reactionary coalition government led by the Kacyznskis’ Law and Justice Party on May 5, in a deal that saw League chairman Giertych rewarded with the education post. The League won 7.8 percent the vote, gaining 40 seats in Parliament, in last fall’s elections, which saw 77 percent of Poles vote for right-wing parties ranging from conservative to neo-fascist. Giertych, a homophobic ultra-nationalist who favors a “Christian” Poland based on Catholic traditionalism, was the founder of the All-Polish Youth (Mlodziez Wszechpolska) organization, becoming its chairman in 1989. He remains its honorary chairman. The All-Polish Youth, whose ranks include many skinheads, has for years been in the forefront of violent attacks on gay demonstrations and gay public events. Its thugs were responsible for attacking gay-sponsored “tolerance” marches last year in Poznan and earlier this year in Krakow with stones, eggs, and clubs. It is today the youth arm of Giertych’s party, and its members regularly carry Nazi placards in demonstrations. One of Giertych’s first acts as minister of education was to demand a list of every Polish educational institution that had been visited by LGBT groups, declaring he “will not allow homosexual propaganda in schools.” Giertych helped organize an anti-gay march and rally for “normality” in Warsaw two years ago, at which he delivered a homophobic discourse and proclaimed, “Stop pedalowania!” This was a pun, literally meaning “Stop pedaling”—as in riding bicycles—associating gays with pedophilia because the word pedal’s colloquial Polish meaning is as a homophobic epithet.
A front-group for Giertych’s League of Polish Families, the Association for Catholic Culture—many of whose officers are prominent League politicians—last month distributed in Polish public schools an anti-gay brochure affirming that “discrimination against homosexuals, like that against people who don‘t want to work, is necessary for the public good and for the happiness of individuals. This discrimination is a defense against the pathologies provoked by homosexuality.” In 2004, just before Gay Pride Marches in Warsaw and Krakow, the Association for Catholic Culture mailed anti-gay brochures to every inhabitant of the two cities. And in 2005, the same association covered the walls of Krakow with anti-gay posters denouncing gays as “dangerous perverts.” On May 16, Giertych’s Ministry of Education held a press conference denouncing an educational program called “Do We Need Gender?” as “a depravity aimed at young people.” The program, financially supported by the European Commission’s Youth Program as well as by the Polish Education Ministry under Giertych‘s predecessor, had been organized by Poland’s Campaign Against Homophobia and co-sponsored by other European gay organizations, including BGO Gemini of Bulgaria, Diversity of Estonia, and Bost Axola of Spain. At the press conference, Giertych’s deputy said, “The rules and priorities of the program under which such projects get money need to be changed in order to prevent such [gay] organizations from getting money in the future.” The Campaign Against Homophobia’s Kampus criticized the Ministry’s statements as “untrue” and “homophobic,” adding that the program was a youth-exchange project involving 20 young European interns awarded scholarships to study topics such as “gender roles, discrimination, homophobia, and other prejudices.” Some of these European interns were assigned to Polish gay groups like the Campaign Against Homophobia.
Polish gay organizations are fearful of violent attacks on the Gay Pride March for Equality scheduled for Saturday, June 10 in Warsaw. Three weeks ago, the League’s Wierzejski—speaking of the march—told the Warsaw daily newspaper Zycie Warszawy, “If the deviants will start demonstrating, they need to be bashed with a thick club.” Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament, this week denounced Wierzejki’s statement, saying, “We are extremely concerned about the fact that the leadership of the League of Polish Families, a government party, has called openly for violence of a homophobic nature.” The Socialist group is the second-largest bloc in the European Parliament, made up of 30 social democratic, socialist, and labor parties in the European Union member states as well as Norway. Shultz called on the European Commission—which runs the day-to-day affairs of the European Union—and a plenary session of the European Parliament to take up the case of Polish homophobia. The Warsaw Pride Marches in 2004 and 2005 were banned by President Kaczynski when he was mayor of Warsaw. But last week, municipal authorities in Warsaw—where the city government is controlled by the conservatives—said they “will allow” this year’s Pride March, baptized a “March for Equality.” This authorization for the gay march came in the wake of a May 25 court decision, when Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court in effect ruled that homosexuals and other minority groups have the right to organize public rallies and marches. The ruling, which is definitive, came on a final appeal by the sponsors of a gay-organized Equality March last November in Poznan—which had been banned by city authorities, who arrested 63 marchers, some of whom received brutal treatment at the hands of police.
“Warsaw municipal authorities cannot give their consent to this year’s march!” Wierzejski growled, and he called for violent attacks on left-wing German politicians from the Social Democratic, Green, and other left parties who have announced their intentions to join the Warsaw Pride March in solidarity against the homophobia of the national Kaczynski-led government. “Once they get a few lashes, they won’t come again. Gays are cowards by definition,” said Wierzejski, who resigned from the European Parliament at Strasbourg in 2004 because, he claimed, it was “under the thumb of the homosexual lobby.” One of the German politicians included in Wierzejski’s threat—Claudia Roth, former chair of the Green Party and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag—earlier this week filed a formal criminal complaint with the Berlin prosecutor against Wierzejski for inciting violence against her. While the German prosecutor has no jurisdiction in Poland, a criminal charge could keep Wierzejski from visiting Germany, and an international arrest warrant might be issued against him. Roughly 100 TV and theater stars and other prominent figures in Germany have launched a campaign of solidarity with the Warsaw Pride March called Warsaw Pact 2006 that will send more than 1,000 Germans, straight and gay, on chartered buses to Saturday’s event in the Polish capital. (The German group's tri-lingual Web site is in English, German, and Polish.) And in France, a coalition of 40 LGBT groups and associations have called a Solidarity and Vigilance demonstration "for equal rights in Warsaw" in front of the Polish embassy in Paris at 12 noon Saturday, timed to coincide with the beginning of the Warsaw Pride march. But the U.S. national gay organizations -- HRC, NGLTF, and IGLHRC -- are continuing their anti-activist, "abstinence only" policy toward global gay issues and have failed to organize any sort of public demonstrations (despite the fact that there are Polish consulates in 12 states in addition to the embassy in Washington and the Polish UN delegation and consulate in New York.)
While “allowing” this year’s Warsaw gay march, city authorities also gave official approval to an anti-gay march organized by the League of Polish Families, and scheduled for the same time this coming Saturday, and along the same route, as the Gay Pride March. It appeared that the right-wing Warsaw city government was setting up a potentially violent confrontation by authorizing the two marches in the same place at the same time. The respected German newsmagazine Der Spiegel noted this week, “Bit by bit, Poland’s small gay rights movement is transforming itself into a larger civil rights movement against the intolerance of the Catholic nationalist coalition government. ‘The gays could be Poland’s saviors,’ writes a gleeful liberal Warsaw journalist.” And Warsaw Pride’s chief organizer, Tomasz Baczkowski (right), expects non-gays to outnumber homosexuals at this year’s parade. “Our demonstration,” Baczkowski said, “was never a carnival like it is in the West, but instead was highly political—a parade of democracy.” This year’s Warsaw Pride Equality March takes place in a context of rising government anti-homosexual propaganda. For example, this past Monday night, Poland’s state-run TVP2 television network, in a report looking at Warsaw Pride in the light of the violence committed against Moscow’s Gay Pride March on May 27, included slanderous statements about openly gay German Bundestag member Volker Beck, whose beating by anti-gay fascists when he joined gay demonstrators in Moscow was filmed and widely publicized in Europe. The regime-controlled Polish network accused Beck —the father of Germany’s domestic partnership law— of “promoting pedophilia” and of “wanting to legalize it in Europe.” The absurdly false charges against Beck -- who had said he'll go to Warsaw for the Pride-Equality march -- were made on the popular program “Warto rozmawiac” (“Worth Talking About”), which snidely asked its viewers “”whether we want such an Equality parade that promotes pedophilia” in Warsaw.
Adding to the fear of more anti-gay violence, the Polish branch of the Web site RedWatch—a self-proclaimed “white nationalist” group—has published lists of gay and left-wing activists, including photos, names, addresses, and telephone numbers, and incited violence against them. RedWatch, which operates in a number of countries, including the U.K., contains Internet links to white supremacist organizations including the Ku Klux Clan, Combat 18, and Aryan Unity. RedWatch recently published photographs of rank-and-file participants in the gay-organized Krakow “Tolerance March” earlier this year. According to Radio Polonia, “The Web site encourages everyone to assault those people physically and gives all the details by which the human rights’ activists can be recognized—including the clothes they wear and the pubs and cafés they usually go to.”
The Web site www.gaypoland.pl reported that two weeks ago, “a young left-wing and ecological activist was stabbed with a foot-long knife which narrowly missed his vital organs. The assault is obviously linked with his presence on an Internet list called ‘Krew i Honor’ [Blood and Honor’] (logo left) where Polish fascist organizations openly call for killing left-wing and gay activists. Although fascism is a crime in Poland, the police are unable to solve the problem since the server with the Web site is located in the U.S.A.” RedWatch is a branch of the neo-Nazi Blood and Honor International Movement, which is particularly active in Eastern Europe and Russia, and in countries with fascist pasts, such as Argentina and Germany (where it stages commemorations of Hitler's birthday), and which uses "Nazi rock" and "racist rock" bands to attract followers. Many of the skinheads in the Polish branch of Blood and Honor are also members of the League’s All-Polish Youth. In the wake of the stabbing of the Polish left activist, and following formal complaints to Poland's state prosecutor’s offices by some gay and left-wing activists who had been listed on RedWatch, last week Polish police arrested some dozen RedWatch and Blood and Honor militants and charged them with “propagating racial hatred and participation in a criminal group.”
© Direland
ANTI-SEMITISM LIVE (Poland)
A broadcast invoking extortionate 'Judeans' has brought a powerful Catholic radio station in Poland to worldwide attention, writes Nicholas Watt
5/6/2006- On a quiet road in the suburbs of Torun, an historic Polish city on the banks of the Vistula river, tempers are becoming frayed. "We are Catholics, go away," an elderly woman shouts as she slams shut a thick metal gate before scurrying back inside the headquarters of Poland's most popular radio station. Shooing away outsiders has become an occupational hazard for workers at the staunchly Catholic Radio Maryja, which is attracting worldwide attention after a highly provocative anti-semitic broadcast. Even the Vatican registered its unease after Stanislaw Michalkiewicz, one of the station's best known commentators, warned that Poland was "being outmanoeuvred by Judeans who are trying to force our government to pay extortion money disguised as compensation".
As Pope Benedict prepared to pay his first visit to Poland last month, the papal representative in Warsaw called on the Polish episcopate to deal with the "nagging issue of Radio Maryja". Weeks later an eight-strong panel was appointed to oversee the station, a move that failed to impress critics because Tadeusz Rydzyk, an outspoken Redemptorist priest who founded the station, will remain on board.
Tomasz Krolak, of the Catholic Information Agency, voiced fears of a "very dangerous alliance between the religious and political spheres" in light of the cosy relationship between the government and the station. His remarks highlighted widespread concern in Poland about the central role Radio Maryja plays in the country's political life. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the governing Law and Justice party and his twin brother, Lech, who is Poland's president, unashamedly court the station whose support was instrumental in their surprise election victory last year.
Poland's answer to America's conservative radio shows has a devoted daily audience of just over 1 million listeners who are attracted by a combination of folksy advice on domestic affairs, strict religious observance and outspoken broadcasts. "A Catholic voice in your home", is the proud boast of the station, which is richly rewarded by its listeners who bankroll Radio Maryja through private donations. The station kicks off harmlessly in the morning with cooking tips and prayer services. In the evening, the tone changes abruptly as commentators take their turn to spew out rightwing broadcasts and take calls from listeners horrified by the direction of their country since the collapse of communism. Stewing at home in rural areas of Poland, the listeners rage at "post-communists", a term of abuse for former apparatchiks who reinvented themselves to lead the country down an immoral and cruel "laissez-faire" path after the fall of communism.
Unlike American talkshow hosts, who know they have to remain within certain bounds, Radio Maryja regularly airs thinly veiled anti-semitic broadcasts. But these reached a new low recently when Stanislaw Michalkiewicz accused American Jewish groups of indulging in the "Holocaust industry" by seeking compensation for property seized during the second world war. Days after the broadcast, an 87-year-old retired cardiologist picked up the phone in his modest flat to dictate a letter accusing Radio Maryja of "xenophobia, chauvinism and anti-semitism". The intervention electrified Poland because the author, Marek Edelman, is the last surviving commander from the 1943 uprising in Warsaw's Jewish ghetto when the remaining survivors launched a series of audacious attacks on the Nazis.
"It is obvious that Radio Maryja and this broadcast are anti-semitic," Dr Edelman, 87, told the Guardian at his flat in the struggling former industrial city of Lodz 80 miles south-west of Warsaw. "Even if you do not use the word Jew, there are synonyms. People know what you are talking about. Radio Maryja broadcasts propaganda, hate and a misconceived patriotism, saying Poles are superior and Poland for the Poles." Puffing on his favourite Gaulloise cigarettes in his sitting room, which is decorated with images of the Warsaw uprising, Dr Edelman condemns the government for courting such a dangerous outlet. "They lend credence to this radio station. Government figures do not go to Radio Maryja to pray. They go there to make propaganda." Dr Edelman, who fought on the same side as President Kaczynski in the anti-communist underground resistance movement, believes the governing twins are not anti-semitic, though he warns them to be careful. "There are symptoms of intolerance and anti-semitism in Poland which must be combatted by the government. There are historic examples of the shortness of the path of the word to the deed."
Under attack from Jewish groups and politicians on the Polish centre ground, Radio Maryja has responded with a combination of paranoia and sneering self-satisfaction. Critics are simply "post-communist" troublemakers out of touch with Poland, unlike Radio Maryja which enjoys the support of 10 million people thanks to its sister television station, Trwam. Mr Rydzyk has apologised to anyone who felt offended by the broadcast but insists the station cannot censor its commentators. Radio Maryja demonstrated its paranoia when the Guardian called on the station, which is housed in a large, modern building amid immaculately tended gardens on the outskirts of Torun, a picturesque Hanseatic city 150 miles north-west of Warsaw.
As elderly visitors to the station's bookshop spoke of how its religious broadcasts gave them comfort, Radio Maryja embarked on some bizarre behaviour. After rebuffing our request for an interview - "we're not interested in talking," a receptionist barked over the intercom - a student from Radio Maryja journalism college tried to film us surreptitiously.
In the shadow of figures of the Virgin Mary and a giant poster of Pope John Paul II that dominates the grounds of Radio Maryja, the student darted around bushes to film us from various angles. When we failed to move on, the student ended the pretence of secret filming and marched out with another journalist from Radio Maryja's sister television station, who gave his name as Witold. Barely able to control his rage, he thrust a microphone at us to demand to know what we were doing in Torun.
"We are attacked by the post-communist media in Poland," he declared as the Guardian tried to explain itself. "We do not trust the media. We have 10 million listeners, so we have a lot of support. The other media, dominated by the post-communists, spread disinformation. You have to report [that] disinformation." At that, Witold and his cameraman turned on their heels and fled back to the safety of Radio Maryja.
The station's feud with the "post-communist" media reached new heights recently when Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's leading liberal newspaper - dismissed in the controversial broadcast as a "Jewish fifth column" - infiltrated its journalism college. Wojtek Bojanowski, a young journalist who spent six weeks as a student at the school, found that his fellow students were brainwashed into believing that the former Polish elite, who ran the country until last year's election, were ex-members of the secret police. "The college does not see things in black and white - only black," says Bojanowski, who wrote up his notes at night in the loo. Students are carefully vetted and are only admitted if they can produce a letter from their local priest confirming they are devoted Catholics. Atheists would have a tough time because the working day begins and ends with prayers at 8.00am and 9.00pm. Exams are even interrupted for prayers at midday.
Bojanowski, 21, who received threatening calls when his expose was published, fell foul of the college authorities by questioning a claim by Tadeusz Rydzyk, the station's founder, that he was a friend of the late Pope. "The college was very angry and telephoned my grandmother even though I had given a false name and not given her number. They sensed she would be a supporter and told her there was something wrong with me. She was very distressed." Seweryn Blumsztajn, a founding editor of Gazeta Wyborcza, was not surprised that Radio Maryja appeared to be copying the tactics of the communists it claims to despise. "Radio Maryja is like a sect. It is anti-democratic and very anti-semitic."
© The Guardian
GROUP FIGHTS POLAND'S 'POLLUTED' SOCCER CULTURE
4/6/2006- For Rafal Pankowski, what happens in Poland's soccer stands is far more important than anything transpiring on the field below. The sights are troubling indeed. Neo-Nazi groups have become a fixture at soccer games in Poland, waving swastika banners, even forming a human swastika in the stands. As secretary of a Polish organization called the Never Again Association, Pankowski, 30, helps monitor racist activity at soccer games and raise awareness of a trend that, since the fall of the Iron Curtain, has swept over the Eastern European nation. "Unfortunately, the football culture in Poland today is very much polluted and is very much connected with violence first and racism and xenophobia second," says the social scientist by phone from Warsaw. "It is a real problem that we will not deal with overnight, but we still think it is very important to be aware of the problem." Jews are not the primary target of the neo-Nazis, explains Pankowski, because so few Jews live in the country and virtually no Jewish players compete there. "It's anti-Semitism without Jews," he says. "It's often directed against the fans of the other team. 'Jew' is a term of abuse against them. What's happening is both anti-Semitism and antiblack racism." And it gets ugly.
"The black players have had to cope with very serious cases of racist abuse, including physical attacks during the game from hooligans on the field, and things like banana pelting and monkey chanting. These are things that have happened in Polish stadiums, so I'm afraid that racism is still very much part of football culture here." The job is not without risks. Pankowski and his colleagues, who publish Never Again, Poland's only antiracist magazine, have grown accustomed to receiving threats by e-mail, phone and letter. But all were shaken two weeks ago in Warsaw when a neo-Nazi branch published the names and addresses of anybody it disliked, including them. "Last week, a man was stabbed who was involved in antiracist activities and nearly died," Pankowski says. "All the national media in Poland has been covering the case." Pankowski's organization battles racism beyond sports, but soccer is a huge initiative. "It has an influence on society, so if we can have less racism in soccer," he says, "we can hopefully have less racism in society in general."
© St. Petersburg Times
POLISH PRESIDENT PROMISED US TO CALM DOWN EXTREME RIGHT
The last weekend has proved completely to be true the earlier AIA information on an emergency visit to Washington by the Chairman of the Polish Sejm (Parliament) Commission on Foreign Affairs Pawel Zalewski. The visitor from Warsaw has brought to the White House the personal promise of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski "to calm down" the extreme right camp leaders who have entered the coalition...
5/6/2006- According to the Polish diplomatic sources, Chairman of the Sejm Committee on Foreign Affairs Pawel Zalewski has paid a visit to the United States. The Polish press has ignored the event or simply did not know about it. Anyway, the AIA appeared the single news agency that has informed on the visit of the Polish member of parliament to Washington. Let's remind that the information on the subject is theme was published still on May 15. At the same time the same sources at the Polish Foreign Ministry announced that the White House and the US Congress have been showing discontent on the subject of the recent admition to the Polish ruling coalition of representatives of the two parties set down as the extreme right part of the local political spectrum - Andrzej Lepper from the “Samoobrona” Andrzej Lepper(Self-defense) and Roman Giertych from the "Liga Polskich Rodzin" (Polish Family Leage). There was information that Zalewski intends to go to the USA to hear out the statement of the American leadership on the "concern with the developed situation" and to explain his government’s position. Now, after Pawel Zalewski has returned from America, the content of his conversations with representatives of the US Department of State has become known. According to the Polish side, Zalewski has heard assurances that the United States consider Poland as its strategic partner in the Eastern Europe. At the same time he was told that it will be difficult for the administration to convince the Congress of necessity of expansion of cooperation with the Poles against the background of the American press reports about slipping by the Polish leadership aside the right extremism. In particular, this regards the issue of the change of the US visa policy concerning the Polish citizens -- one of the most important subject on the agenda of the Polish-American relations. According to the Polish sources, Pawel Zalewski has explained to his interlocutors, that joining the ruling coalition in Warsaw by Giertych and Lepper has been caused by a complex political situation in which the coalition has found itself and the desire of the president to avoid an early dissolution of the government and carrying out of new parliamentary elections. He has also conveyed to the American leadership the personal assurances of President Kaczynski of intention and ability "to calm down" the extreme right elements in the Polish cabinet in case they would afford any extremist statements or actions.
© AXIS
ANOTHER ARREST LINKED TO NAZI INTERNET SITE(Poland)
6/6/2006- Another person has been arrested in relation to the investigation into the operation of a Nazi Internet site. A 21-year-old from north-western Poland is being charged with enhancing hatred, participating in a criminal group and violating privacy law. The owners of the internet site have displayed the photographs and personal details of leftwing activists, most of them living in the southern city of Krakow. The list includes academics from the Jagiellonian University, students of the city's colleges and members of Krakow’s feminist and gay organizations. The website encourages everyone to assault those people physically and gives all the details by which the human rights' activists can be recognized – including the clothes they wear and the pubs and cafes they usually go to.
© Poland News
Headlines 23 June, 2006
END OF ERA FOR MACHO IBERICO AS SEX-EQUALITY LAW STARTS (Spain)
23/6/2006- Spain introduced a controversial new sex-equality law to reduce discrimination in the workplace on Friday. The cabinet gave the final approval to a law which includes a workplace provision of up to two years of maternity leave, and eight days off for new fathers. Also, any sort of discrimination against an employee for her pregnancy will be outlawed. The bill also reverses the burden of proof in discrimination cases, so that it is up to the accused to show an acceptable basis for his discriminatory action, according to Work, Social Matters and Immigration Minister Jesus Caldera. The law will ban not only direct and indirect discrimination but also sexual harassment and denigrating sex-based comments, which, according to Caldera, will be "severely" penalized. To boost women's role in the political decision-making process, the law sayd political parties are obliged to present lists of candidates at elections that include at least 40 percent women. Also guaranteed will be a balanced representation among high-ranking officials appointed to all government bureaucracies. The administration wants to achieve the same parity within four years on private-sector boards of directors. In order to reach this target, the law will offer government contracts to companies which demonstrate the highest index of gender equality. Caldera said if these measures do not work after four years, "more drastic" action could be taken. The legislation has set companies targets giving preference to women in hiring and promotions if females are not already equally represented. Measures in favour of family-job accomodation, such as the right to flexible hours, are also included. The law seeks to end the traditional discrimination against women, who in Spain earn 40 percent less than men, double the salary differential of the European Union as a whole. At the same time, women's employment rates are some 10 percent below the European average, according to statistics provided by EU. In the political arena, women hold 36 percent of the 350 seats in the Congressional lower house, while in the Senate only 61 percent of its 258 members are women, and only one of them heads a regional government - Esperanza Aguirre in Madrid.
© Expatica News
POLICE STAGE RECONSTRUCTION OF ANTWERP RACIST SHOOTINGS (Belgium)
22/6/2006- A reconstruction of the Antwerp racist shootings took place on Thursday as arrested suspect Hans Van Themsche retraced his alleged steps under the watchful eye of justice authorities. The investigating judge wanted to the test the authorities' version of events against statements given by the suspect, who fully co-operated with the reconstruction. The investigating judge, Karl Van Cauwenberghe, also said Van Themsche confirmed what authorities had initially determined about the shootings. A massive police presence accompanied the 18-year-old to ensure his safety, and a helicopter was seen flying above. A police physician, ballistics expert and psychiatrist assessed the reconstruction. Van Themsche arrived by armoured car at about 6.30am at the gunsmith's shop on the Lombardenvest, where he allegedly bought his rifle and ammunition before embarking on his shooting rampage. At the Pottenbrug, he showed police how he allegedly shot a Turkish woman and his version of events was tested against the statement of a witness. At 11.30am, Van Themsche showed police how he allegedly murdered a Malian au-pair and a two-year-old Flemish girl by shooting them in the back in the Zwartzustersstraat. A reconstruction of his confrontation with a police officer, who shot Van Themsche in the stomach was also performed. The role of the police officer was carried out by a colleague officer. The reconstruction was interrupted as a resident near where the Turkish woman was shot tried to film the reconstruction. A bullet had flown into the window of the house during the 11 May shooting. The fire brigade eventually screened the house off with a tarpaulin after the resident refused police orders to stop filming. A man was also arrested for repeatedly failing to leave the vicinity of the reconstruction. A large section of the historic city centre of Antwerp was sealed off to cars during the reconstruction, which ended at about 1.30pm. Public transport was also affected.
© Expatica News
NEO-NAZIS HELD IN CONNECTION WITH ATTACK ON BLACK YOUTHS(Germany)
21/6/2006- Two men who are alleged to have led a racist attack on six young black people enjoying a Saturday night out in Germany have been remanded in custody on charges of serious assault. Prosecutor Benedikt Welfens said Tuesday they might also be charged with sedition, the crime of causing hatred between social groups. An Ethiopian-born youth, 15, was in satisfactory condition with head injuries, possibly caused by a stone thrown by the racists. The four attackers, described by police as far rightists aged 23, 21, 16 and 15, got more than they bargained for, with a thrashing by the other black males in the group. Two of the alleged attackers needed hospital treatment. No charges have been laid against the blacks, apparently because they were acting in self-defence. The 16-year-old admitted throwing the stone and shouting "nigger." The two older white men involved, who are in pretrial detention, deny involvement but admit they were at the scene, prosecutors said. Witnesses said the men attacked the black group of four teenage boys and two girls as they were leaving a cocktail bar late Saturday night in Schoenefeld, on the outskirts of Berlin. Police said all four suspects were associates of neo-Nazi gangs in the area.
© Expatica News
3 HURT IN BERLIN BRAWL, RACIST MOTIVE SUSPECTED(Germany)
19/6/2006- Three people were seriously injured in an overnight clash between white and black youths on the outskirts of the German capital Berlin, police said Sunday. Police suspect the whites may have been racists, as two of the four arrested were neo-Nazis, and a witness said she had heard racist epithets as the fight began. Among the three worst injured was an Ethiopian youth with a broken skull. A fourth person suffered cuts. An inquiry is under way into how the late Saturday clash at Schoenefeld began. German police have stepped up patrols in the region around Berlin after black groups complained that violent neo-Nazi youths had in effect turned some housing estates and small towns into "no-go areas" for people of colour.
Bail cancelled for suspect in Potsdam attack
Judges cancelled bail Friday for a man who is suspected of beating up a black German citizen nine weeks ago. The victim, engineer and doctoral student Ermyas M, managed to record the attackers using racial insults just before they knocked him unconscious. After the recording was broadcast nationwide, federal prosecutors took charge of solving the "race-hate" crime. Two men were arrested, but judges later granted both bail. Prosecutors appealed. A state court in Potsdam, the city outside Berlin where the attack occurred on April 16, withdrew bail from one man, 29, on Friday and he was taken back into custody. Ermyas M, 37, is recovering from his head injuries but does not remember the attack. Witnesses said he had been drinking before he was attacked at a tram stop in the small hours of the morning.
© Expatica News
PASTOR PAID 'SLAVE WAGES' TO ILLEGAL MIGRANT BUILDERS (uk)
23/6/2006- The leader of a newly-formed evangelist church was preparing to face his congregation last night to explain why he illegally shipped a group of African workers into Britain so that they could help build his house on "slave wages". Pieter van Rooyen, 46, founder of the Life Church in Douglas, Isle of Man, helped get the men through Customs on the pretext that they were embarking on a business training course. Once they were on the island their employer, who boasts on his website that "the light that shines the farthest shines the brightest at home", paid them as little as £1.36 an hour for what was sometimes a 72-hour week, renovating the luxury home in Onchan. Yesterday Van Rooyen, who when not preaching was working as a senior manager with Barclays Bank, appeared at a Manx court with another South African, Jacobus Visser, 43, the owner of a building company and himself an illegal immigrant. Both men admitted facilitating a breach of the Immigration Act by faking the documents that allowed the pastor's workers to enter Britain last September. Stuart Neale, for the Manx government, told the court that Van Rooyen wanted "a cheap deal" and therefore "provided the means to get the workers there". Mr Neale said that the men were paid, in British terms, ''slave wages''. But he pointed out that their rates of pay were significantly higher than they would have received at home. The offences came to light when members of the public reported the presence of the men and contacted police.
A team of officers, supported by immigration officials, raided the house in January. Since then the five workers have returned to South Africa. Sarah Burton, for Van Rooyen, said the one-time pillar of the community had "fallen in the public eye". The married father-of-two, who has a masters degree in business administration, now faced having to explain his crime to the 800 members of his congregation. Darren Taubitz, for Visser, said his client accepted that he had been stupid to sort out the men's travel arrangements. Each of them had known they were entering Britain illegally. The High Bailiff, Michael Moyle, said the offences were committed out of greed. He gave Visser a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered him to pay £1,500 costs. The South African was also banned from the island for five years. Van Rooyen was bailed with a surety of £5,000 until July 6 and will be considered for deportation. Last night he deflected calls to his home by telling callers he would be e-mailing a statement.
© The Daily Telegraph
HEAD DENIES RACISM OVER SCHOOL PLAY (uk)
23/6/2006- A school play at the centre of a racism row will go ahead after the headteacher "emphatically denied" that a seven-year-old black boy was deliberately cast as a monkey. Mother-of-four Lorraine Rees took her son, Myles, out of the production of An Enchanted Island, accusing Ashley Down infant school in Bristol of racism. Myles was cast as a monkey, alongside one other black pupil and three white boys. Mrs Rees made an official complaint to the school, but claimed she was ignored. She told the BBC: "Everyone is aware of the racist connotations of asking a black pupil to play a monkey. "I think what the school have done is definitely racist and should never have been allowed to happen in the first place. It is just not acceptable." However, Ashley Down's headteacher, Helen Heap, today told Mrs Rees at a specially convened meeting that her investigations found no evidence of intentional or unintentional racism. Ms Heap told EducationGuardian.co.uk: "Children here were given a choice and chose their roles and there was no act of racism. What it has done is unveiled a deeply complex issue." Ms Heap said both boys had been attending school since Mrs Rees first lodged her complaint and she did not think there were plans for the boys to be removed. She said: "I am very disappointed the parent chose to have this played out in the media rather than have it resolved through other methods." Mrs Rees told the BBC her son had wanted to play the part of a hunter in the play, but was told he had to take the part of a monkey, leaving him "very upset". Staff from the school, who said no pupil was forced to play any role, met Mrs Rees, city council advisers and local charities this afternoon in a bid to defuse the row. About 25% of the school's 170 pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds and in its last Ofsted report, the school was described as a "good school and fun to be in."
© The Guardian
ACTION PLEDGE ON FASCIST WEBSITE(uk)
22/6/2006- Internet companies will be told to act against a far-right website blamed for a terrifying knife attack on a Merseyside anti-racism campaigner. Under pressure from MPs, the Home Office last night pledged to put pressure on web service providers following attacks on many activists named on the notorious Red Watch site. The companies will be urged to filter out the photographs, and even addresses, posted by Red Watch in what MPs claim is a hit list for violent racists. But, replying to a Commons debate, the Home Office said it could not shut down the website because it was based in the United States. The debate followed the vicious attack last month on campaigner Alec McFadden, who was nearly blinded after being slashed across the face at his Wirral home. The leading trade unionist also received cuts to his head, arms and wrists as he tried to fend off the knifeman in front of his horrified daughters, aged nine and 13. Mr McFadden's details had been posted on the Red Watch site, run by the fascist group Combat 18, which brands its opponents "scum" and " retards". Leading the debate, Wallasey MP Angela Eagle insisted there was "no other reason" for the website to publish Mr McFadden's details other than to incite a violent attack upon him. And she said: "Words of sympathy are welcome, but action is long overdue. The attacks have continued, despite the fact that this webstite was exposed several years ago." The MP noted that the Dutch government had recently shut down a website offering illegal free music downloads, yet Red Watch was still up and running. In reply, Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said: "The fear of attack from supporters of the far-right, spurred on by comments on the website, must be very real." However, he added: "The difficulty comes where the website is hosted outside the UK's jurisdiction, as in case of Red Watch, which is hosted in the United States. "In these circumstances, we would not have the power to close down that website or to prosecute the people who are responsible for it." Instead, Mr Coaker said he had "initiated inquiries with the US Department of Justice to establish whether hosting such a website constitutes a breach of US law". And, referring to the power for offending material to be removed, he said: "I will be raising all of these issues with the internet service providers.
© IC Network
THOUSANDS MARCH WITH FAMILY RAIDED BY POLICE (uk)
· Apology demanded for 'barbaric' treatment · Intelligence source 'not recognised' by brothers
19/6/2006- Thousands of protesters led by members of the family caught up in the anti-terrorist raid in east London two weeks ago demanded an apology from police yesterday for their "barbaric and unacceptable" treatment. The march ended in a demonstration outside Forest Gate police station, where protesters attacked the leaking of "lies and misinformation" after the arrest and questioned the failures of intelligence which led to the disastrous raid. "The police are doing their job, but they should be doing it properly," said Muddassar Ahmed, a spokesman for the march organising committee. "The intelligence agencies have much more to answer for." The Sunday Mirror reported yesterday that the source who triggered the raid was a Muslim man jailed for a terrorist offence in January, described in the newspaper as a "childhood pal" of the two brothers, Mohammed Abdulkayar and Abul Koyair. However, the family has denied all knowledge of the man. Shown a photograph of the alleged source, Jalal Uddin, a brother of the two detained men, said: "I don't recognise him whatsoever." Abul Koyair, 20, who was detained in the raid, and Mr Uddin led part of the march, and told supporters: "I just want to say thank you all for supporting our family in this very hard time. [We] don't want this to happen to other people in this community, Muslim [or] non-Muslim." In a statement, Mohammed Abdulkayar, 23, who was shot by police, apologised for not attending the demonstration and said he was still in pain. The demonstration was joined by Alex Pereira, a cousin of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by police last summer. Mr Pereira said: "We have to be united. Ten months later, it has happened again, only this time the guy is alive to tell us what happened." Mr Pereira and the brothers all wore Brazil football shirts with the name Menezes on the back, along with the number 27 - the Brazilian's age when he died.
At a separate event, Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, called for a debate on whether the police and security services should be allowed to recruit ethnic minority officers "in greater proportion than whites". He said: "Every time an operation like this [raid] goes wrong it further alienates communities who want to help in the fight against terrorism." In the speech to the social policy forum at the Government Office for London, he referred to Northern Ireland, where the law was changed to allow the police to take half of all their new recruits from the Roman Catholic community. March organisers estimated that 5,000 gathered for yesterday's protest, which was the first mainstream demonstration to take place near the scene of the raid. It drew together a diverse coalition including moderate Muslim groups, Respect, the Conservatives and Stop the War. Two elderly white women wearing floral print dresses mingled with women in hijab and men in white shalwar kameez. One of the women, Madeline Channer, 63, said: "The police were very heavy-handed and abused these two young men. I was brought up to respect the police but this sort of behaviour eradicates that respect."
© The Guardian
UK BLACK PRIDE LAUNCHES (Press release)
20/6/2006- UK Black Pride (UKBP) hosts its first annual Black Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival on Saturday August 19, 2006 at Shoeburyness, Southend-On-Sea. UK Black Pride was created out of the need to build awareness of and pride in the diversity of the Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community as well as to create a safe space for the BME community to celebrate their achievements and take pride in who they are. When we think gay or lesbian we tend to think of gay and lesbian people as a whole and not the diverse cultures within it. But, since gay and lesbian people come from a variety of backgrounds and ethnic groups, being gay or lesbian is like being a part of a culture within a culture. These differences can pose unique challenges when addressing individual needs. And often times, gay and lesbian people feel they can better relate to other gays and lesbians in their ethnic groups.
Through empowerment workshops, social functions, community education and mobilization, advocacy, and other activities - UKBP fosters pride, empowerment, and a positive presence resulting in a strong community bond. This enhances UKBP's ability to serve the needs of the community which includes elders, youth, young adults, allies, organisations and businesses affiliated with our community. The festival will be a fun-filled and informative day on the beach front and will include Music, Dancers, Drag Artists, Beach Volleyball, Raffles, Steel Pan, an Exhibition, Mr & Miss Beach Competition, and more.
© UK Black Pride
SCHOOLS ACT TO CUT INCIDENTS OF RACISM (uk)
20/6/2006- Education bosses are urging schools to prevent racist incidents in the aftermath of terror raids in Bradford. Education Bradford is contacting head teachers in response to the police operations which have increased community tension. Anti-terrorism police arrested Aabid Khan at Manchester Airport and also raided three homes and an internet caf in the city during the operation. The 21-year-old has been charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause public nuisance under the terrorism act. Now head teachers are being urged to address the issue to prevent it leading to racism in schools. Figures obtained by the Telegraph & Argus under the Freedom of Information Act reveal there have been 298 racist incidents in Bradford schools since September and another 405 racist incidents in the previous academic year. All 703 incidents were deemed to be racist after investigations by school staff. This includes physical racist abuse but the majority of incidents were verbal. Education Bradford, the private company operated by Serco which runs the district's education, is working with schools to combat racism. The firm's head of diversity Joyce Miller said it was now working on programmes in response to the anti-terror operations. Last year Education Bradford contacted schools within hours of the July 7 bombings in London. Mrs Miller said: "We thought it was likely a terrorist attack would happen and we had already began planning what our response would be. "So on the day of the bombings we sent our first e-mail to schools within hours. It was crucial that we did something within hours because it is the first few hours that are significant." Schools were urged to hold assemblies to allow pupils and staff to share their grief. Mrs Miller said there were one or two isolated incidents of racism in Bradford schools in response to the July 7 bombings. Education Bradford has been recording racist incidents since January 2004. Since September 2004 there have been racist incidents recorded at 80 different primary and secondary schools and 103 exclusions as a result of racist incidents. Of the 103 exclusions, 79 were of white pupils, 20 were of Asian origin and one was of mixed race. Only one of these exclusions was permanent. It involved a year nine white boy in February this year. There was a total of 11 girls and 41 boys excluded in 2004/5. There have been ten girls and 41 boys excluded so far this academic year. Mrs Miller said boys toward the top end of primary school were "often perpetrators" of racism but she said no one particular age group, gender or race had been identified as more likely to commit acts of racism. She said it was too early to identify trends from the results. Last year Education Bradford worked with 50 schools to help them develop race equality and action plans.
© The Telegraph & Argus
ASYLUM FEARS GROW AMONG CITY'S YOUTHS(uk)
20/6/2006- Young people in the Capital have growing fears about the effect asylum seekers will have on their future, according to a major report published today. People in Edinburgh are among the most welcoming in the UK when it comes to asylum seekers, a study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found. However, researchers found teenagers were the most likely age group to express racist views about asylum seekers, because they worried about immigrants "taking their jobs" and "getting the best houses". Many felt free to express opinions when talking about asylum seekers that would be socially unacceptable in any other context. But the study, commissioned by the Scottish Refugee Council, found the views of many young people were based on a misunderstanding of the asylum system. Many youngsters, the report said, found it impossible to differentiate between asylum seekers and other foreign immigrants. The findings have led to calls for more to be done to teach young people in particular about how the asylum and immigration system works in the UK. Miranda Lewis, head of IPPR's people and policy team, and author of the report, said: "I think one of the most interesting things we found is that it is quite socially acceptable to express a prejudice against asylum seekers that it would not be when discussing racism in general. "However, what we found was that so many people's fears are misplaced when it comes to asylum seekers, and people are not sure of the facts. "One of the main rumours that circulates about asylum seekers is that they take jobs in Scotland and are given all of the good housing, which is not the case. True asylum seekers cannot work when they come here, and are put on a separate housing list to permanent residents." She added: "The reason that the negativity comes most strongly from young people is that they are vulnerable to concerns about their future, about whether they will be able to get jobs and houses."
Despite the findings about attitudes among young people, the IPPR report found that in general, people in Edinburgh were more welcoming of asylum seekers than those in England, or those living in Glasgow, where the majority of Scotland's asylum seekers are housed. In the Capital, there are only 74 asylum seekers who receive support from the National Asylum Support Service - compared with almost 5500 in Glasgow. In the rest of Scotland, 45 asylum seekers receive support. Researchers from IPPR ran 13 focus groups in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, grouping people together from similar backgrounds, age, economic status and ethnicity. The report, launched today as part of Refugee Week, added: "Most people in Edinburgh were unconcerned about asylum seekers. They felt there were very few in Edinburgh, and were largely not worried about any impacts on the city. "They tended to think of asylum as an issue really only of relevance to Glasgow and, further afield, to London. They readily believed people living in Glasgow would be hostile to asylum seekers." Nina Giles, director of Edinburgh and Lothians Racial Equality Council, said the main issue that needed addressed was education. She said: "People are using the term asylum seekers to refer to anyone who is non-white. "There needs to be more done in education to let people know the facts. From the report, it seems that rather than this being people's attitudes towards asylum seekers only, it could be their views towards all black, minority ethnic communities. "If this is the case, it is not a good sign for our future race relations in Edinburgh, that people who are teenagers feel like this. "There are young black or ethnic minority people in Edinburgh who are looking for jobs, the same as other people, and are facing the same problems as whites." Student Salim Ali, 18, from Prestonfield says that he has suffered years of racial abuse for being Asian from people his own age. He said: "I moved to Edinburgh seven years ago from Birmingham and things are definitely worse here.
"There, there is a large Asian community, but here, we are much more in a minority. When I go out with my friends at night, people shout "Paki" at us - it's really bad. The abuse comes from people of all ages, but a lot of them are teenagers. They often mix us up with asylum seekers, they don't realise that I live here." He added: "It is very difficult for most Asians to integrate here with the Scottish community - nearly all of my friends are Asian." Edinburgh's only Asian councillor, Shami Khan, said: "It is a fear within the community that the majority of people coming from abroad are asylum seekers. "It is very worrying that there are people who are so young who think like this. "This is the age when they can build their opinions and instead, they are creating attitudes like this. If these views stick, we are going to have a very racist society when these young people grow up. "They need to be taught that asylum seekers and refugees are not here to take their jobs. "There are a lot of jobs here that are not filled by people in Edinburgh and people have to come from overseas to work in areas where Scots no longer want to work." Edinburgh City Council has a race equality education policy, providing resources for schools to integrate race relations into the curriculum. Each school also appoints a specific member of staff for dealing with bullying and racism, and schools have to adhere to a strict set of guidelines to ensure racism is not tolerated within the classroom. A spokeswoman for Edinburgh city council said: "This is extremely valuable research, contributing to our understanding of people's attitudes to groups such as asylum seekers, and how these attitudes develop. "Whilst it is heartening to read that attitudes within Scotland to asylum seekers are generally positive, discriminatory attitudes - whoever holds them - must be a matter of concern for any public body such as the City Of Edinburgh Council." The spokeswoman added: "The council is acutely aware of its responsibility under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act to promote good race relations, and is committed to developing a culture of anti-discrimination in all it does. "This research is a timely reminder of how important it is that we achieve that commitment."
'It's a taboo subject among Scots people'
Some of the views expressed in Edinburgh to IPPR researchers about asylum seekers. "They got private land, five bedroomed houses, they were given a car; these are the stories we hear, I am not sure if there is any truth in that." - (Woman, 25-50). "I think it is quite a taboo subject. Public services provision and income for asylum seekers is a taboo amongst Scots people." - (Ethnic minority woman). "I think a lot of people go through other countries to get here.They want to get to Britain." - (Woman, 25-50) "Sometimes when people raise issues on asylum seekers, the comments make you feel labelled as well because you are not white." - (Ethnic minority man) "It is same as anything with the media, bad news is good news. I think they won't tell you about the dozens of families that have been here for some time and got a nice life and their children are at school, they don't want to tell you that." - (Woman, 51+) "We are one of the richest countries in the world, so it shouldn't really be a problem." - (Young man) "We lose everything, we lose everybody, the immigration bureau lose immigrants, they can't trace them. The system is not perfect and I feel sorry for the families but there are also thousands coming in here that just simply disappear and are never seen again." - (Man, 51+)
'They come here and take our work'
Some are worried for their future while others see the issue of asylum as a point of principle. The Evening News found young people held a range of views on asylum seekers in a snapshot survey of the views of city teenagers. At the Canongate Youth Project, JP Raeburn and Andrew McBean from Leith immediately raised their fears about the effects of large-scale immigration when asked about the issue of asylum seekers. JP was at pains to point out he doesn't believe in turning away people who are in danger of persecution, but he is worried about his work prospects. The 16-year-old, from Dunsmore flats, Leith, said: "A lot of Scottish people are out of a job and asylum seekers are coming here and taking work. "I think if people are in danger of being tortured or something in their own country, they should be given a chance of asylum here, but not if they have any kind of criminal record or anything." Andrew, also 16, on a volunteer work placement at Edinburgh Leisure, added: "It would worry me if there were a lot of asylum seekers in my block of flats. I wouldn't feel safe - I like being surrounded by my own people." However, Louise Trotter, from Balgreen, a member of youth forum Young Edinburgh, sees the arrival of asylum seekers as a positive thing. The 16-year-old, who has just left James Gillespie's High School, said: "If people are having trouble in their own country, they need somewhere to go for help and Scotland should be one of those places. "Each person who comes to Scotland has something to give and Edinburgh should be one of the cities to benefit from multiculturalism."
© The Scotsman
DANISH NEO-NAZIS THREATEN IMMIGRANTS
19/6/2006- About a hundred immigrants and political refugees in Denmark have filed complaints with the police after receiving letters from a neo-Nazi group warning them to leave the country before "the war against the bastards begins," a police source said Monday. Police do not know how many others may have received the letters, which were accompanied by photographs of Adolph Hitler and his onetime deputy Rudolf Hess. The complaints were all filed within the last two months in the northern city of Aalborg, according to the town's top criminal inspector, Aage Noergaard Jensen. The letters were sent "arbitrarily to people of all nationalities with a foreign name," by a group identifying itself as "a circle of national-socialists from North Jutland," he said. Danish police said that are taking the letters very seriously, and have launched an investigation to find the authors of this "diabolical trash," Jensen said. The intelligence service of the Danish police logged 81 cases of racist aggressions -- verbal and physical -- in 2005, as compared to 53 in 2003. Denmark hosts Europe's only neo-Nazi radio station, Radio Oasien, set up by the Danish National-Socialist Movement based in Greve, south of Copenhagen. Five percent of Denmark's population of 5.4 million are foreigners, and an additional 3.5 percent are naturalized citizens, according official statistics released in January.
© EJP
FAR RIGHT BREAK INTO TV STATION (Greece)
19/6/2006- A prosecutor in Thessaloniki yesterday charged 48 members of the extreme right-wing group Chryssi Avgi after they stormed into the headquarters of the state-run ET3 television station in the northern city to protest against the police’s decision to prevent them from meeting in public. Officers had informed the members of the neo-nazi group that they were banned from gathering that evening in front of the statue of Alexander the Great along the sea front on Saturday as there was a book fair being held there. In protest, 48 members of Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn) broke into the public broadcaster’s premises to stage a short-lived protest before police moved in to break up the gathering and detain the extremists. The prosecutor charged the men with breaching the peace, illegal use of violence and weapons, causing damage and resisting authority. The suspects are due appear in court today, sources said.
© Kathimerini
GYPSY WOMEN CLAIM STERILIZATIONS CONTINUE (Czech Rep.)
18/6/2006- Just hours after her second child was born, 19-year-old Helena Ferencikova's joy was dashed. In the recovery room, she discovered that the paper she had signed, not knowing what it said, had allowed doctors to sterilize her. The Vitkovicka hospital in the northeastern Czech Republic says further pregnancies might have killed her. But Ferencikova believes the reason was her ethnicity -- Gypsy. Now a court ruling and a high-profile official inquiry have backed her up, and the country is having to confront the charge that an abuse many thought had died with communism is still being practiced. The uproar goes to the broader issue of entrenched European prejudice toward Gypsies, or Roma as they prefer to be called, especially in the former communist bloc, where most of the continent's 7 million to 9 million Gypsies are concentrated. The Czech ombudsman, Otakar Motejl, began investigating allegations that Roma women and girls were being unwittingly sterilized after 10 of them approached him in September 2004. He said he received 87 complaints, nearly all filed by Roma. "The ombudsman is convinced that in the Czech Republic, the problem of sexual sterilization -- carried out either with an unacceptable motivation or illegally -- exists and that Czech society faces the task of coming to grips with this reality," Motejl's 74-page report concludes. In all the cases, "no consent for sterilization was given that would be free of error and fully unrestrained," he said. "That's what all the cases have in common, with no exception at all." Under communism, which ended in 1989, sterilization was a semiofficial tool to limit the population of Roma, whose large families were seen as a burden on the state. Today, doctors defend the procedure on medical grounds, saying it is recommended after a second Caesarean section. In the Ferencikova case, the hospital said both her births had been Caesarean, her uterus was weak and another pregnancy could have ruptured it.
Victims' advocates counter that the women have a right to choose for themselves, that they are not properly told their options, and that the practice is rooted in racism. "I'm convinced that the doctors ... are people who have stereotypes and prejudices against Roma and who don't consider patients to be their partners but mere subjects," Motejl's deputy, Anna Sabatova, told The Associated Press. Elena Gorolova, another Roma woman from Ostrava, 220 miles east of Prague, said she was about to give birth to her second son by Caesarean section on Sept. 24, 1990, when she was handed a paper and told by the attending physician to sign it. " 'Sign this or you'll die' -- those were the words," she said. Doctors "didn't bother to explain anything to me," said Gorolova, adding that she didn't learn what had happened until a pediatrician visited her at home. "It was pretty sad to learn when you're 21 that you'll have no more children," she said. "What else was it other than racial discrimination against us? They just didn't want Roma children to be born." Gorolova and Ferencikova now belong to the Group of Women Harmed by Sterilization, an 18-month-old support group of three dozen members from the region who meet monthly. "They suppressed their feelings for years, and many of them haven't told their husbands and partners about it for fear of breaking up their relationships," said Kumar Vishwanathan, head of the Ostrava-based Life Together association, which works to reconcile Czech society with the country's estimated 200,000-250,000 Gypsies. The Czechs are not the only offenders. Savelina Danova of the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Center said in a telephone interview that scattered cases have been identified in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, but "nothing to compare to what happened in the Czech Republic or Slovakia," the two countries that were Czechoslovakia until they split in 1993. But while the Czech republic's ombudsman has confronted the issue head-on, Slovakia has been accused of ducking it. Last year, it announced that a 2003 investigation had found no crime of genocide was committed in connection with sterilizations. The Roma rights center protested, saying it had never claimed genocide.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Christopher Smith, R-NJ, said last November he was "heartened by the apparent seriousness of the (Czech) ombudsman's investigation into this difficult and sensitive matter," but dismayed that "similar issues in neighboring Slovakia continue to be met with government denials and stonewalling." He called the 2003 investigation "deeply flawed." Smith singled out Ferencikova for her courage in going public after she became the first victim to sue the hospital that sterilized her. In November, an Ostrava court ruled that the clinic had to issue a formal apology to her. The court rejected her demand for compensation, however, saying a three-year statute of limitations on her case had expired. "We don't share that view," said Ferencikova's legal adviser, Michaela Tomisova. "She will suffer for her entire life. Why is it not possible to compensate her? That's not right." Both Ferencikova and the hospital, which denied wrongdoing, are appealing. "We regret that the court did not take into consideration the woman's condition and serious risks posed by another pregnancy," hospital spokeswoman Simona Souckova said in a statement to the AP. "They've ruined my life," the slightly built Ferencikova said in an interview, sitting with sons Jan, 4, and Nikolas, 5, in her tidy Ostrava apartment. "I don't understand why they did it to me. I was so young and healthy." Ombudsman Motejl says the law should mandate informed consent and give women seven days to weigh the consequences of sterilization. The Health Ministry should publish a clear description of sterilization and its effects, and doctors should be more forthcoming with their patients, his report says. Motejl also suggests the state should compensate women sterilized between 1973 and 1991, when social workers backed by communist-era legislation would pressure Roma women to undergo the procedure by offering them money and threatening to withhold social benefits. Those victimized after should sue individually for compensation, Motejl said, though Vishwanathan says it's risky because hospitals can afford better lawyers.
The Czech Health Ministry, which set up a committee to investigate each of the cases, acknowledges that the sterilizations were carried out improperly, and will propose measures "to improve the situation soon," said Vaclav Sebor, a ministry official. But the ministry doesn't support the compensation idea, and Vitkovicka and other hospitals continue to fight and issue denials of doing anything illegal. At Municipal, another Ostrava hospital, the chief doctor at the maternity ward declined to go into details because a lawsuit by a sterilized woman is pending. But Richard Spousta told the AP: "Our view is that we were acting according to the rules." "The patients signed (their approval)," he said. "Now they claim they don't know what they were signing." Spousta said patients at Municipal are asked to sign a two-page document which gives information about sterilization and encourages them to ask questions. But Ferencikova remembers doctors telling her a few minutes before the delivery that a Caesarean section was needed and asking her to sign something. "I was in pain and was not able to read what I was signing," she said. "I just said to myself, 'You can trust the doctors."'
© Associated Press
HOW TO STOP THE EXTREMISTS(Belgium, comment)
By Aaron Gray-Block, Editor Expatica Belgium
23/6/2006- One of the most pressing questions in Belgium is how to combat the rising popularity of the nation's two extreme-right parties. In Wallonia, there is the Front National (FN), while Flanders is the stomping ground of the Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang). Both parties are categorically racist, blaming immigrants for Belgium's troubles. The Flemish Interest has been a strong organisation for several years and a poll this week by newspapers 'De Morgen' and 'La Libre' gave it 26.6 percent electoral support. It was just 0.1 percent behind the coalition involving the traditional heavyweight Christian Democrat CD&V and the smaller New Flemish Alliance NV-A. Leader Filip Dewinter hopes to be appointed Antwerp mayor after the October local council elections.
In contrast, the FN has always lagged behind the Flemish Interest in terms of electoral support. It is scarcely an organisation, has no real party structure and is often the scene of internal divisions. But despite this, the party is rising in electoral support in Belgium's French-speaking region. At the 2004 federal election, the party won 17 percent of the vote in Charleroi, compared to 7 percent at the local elections in 2000. Polls by public broadcaster RTBf are predicting continued growth, particularly in the province of Henegouwen. FN leader Daniël Feret — who was recently convicted of racism and banned from running for office for 10 years — claims the FN will become the biggest party in Charleroi at the 8 October local elections. And yet, the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled in April that policy documents by Feret and the FN in 1999 and 2002 incited race hatred. The court also said that FN policies at the 1999 elections stigmatised immigrants, particularly North Africans. The court accepted arguments from the prosecution that the FN wants to repatriate immigrants, forbid them from practising their religion and restrict their right to social security and education. "It wants a regime of apartheid," the prosecution said.
Thus alarmed by the rising popularity of both the FN and the Flemish Interest, debate is raging on both sides of the linguistic border as to how to best deal with them. In Wallonia, the Francophone media was said to have changed its strategy against the FN this week, as newspaper 'Le Soir' ran a series of analytical reports and articles about the party. Journalists had attended incognito various party meetings, where beer and racist statements were said to flow. The reporters also gave character portrayals of the politicians — and the image was decidedly unflattering.
Flemish newspaper 'De Standaard' claimed that up until now, the French-speaking media had kept a grim silence about the extreme right, stressing also that there had been few Francophone academic studies. It said the series of articles in which Le Soir was publishing suggests a change in strategy: if the FN threatens to win so many voters, then show the party in all its roughness. A denial was soon fired in return by Le Soir editor-in-chief Béatrice Delvaux, who said the newspaper was doing exactly what it had done in the past: pointing out who the real FN leaders are and how insignificant their policies are. She denied there'd been little academic research conducted and stressed that the newspaper had not ran a 'hush-up' campaign against the FN in years past.
Meanwhile, across the 'border' in Flanders, the existing policy of exclusion, i.e. the cordon sanitaire, is at threat. The sanitaire is a policy agreed by the mainstream Flemish parties not to enter coalitions with the Flemish Interest. It thereby excludes extremists from public office. But the Flemish Interest has been able to win voters by parading itself as a victim of an undemocratic battle. And the sanitaire has simply failed to stop the party's rising electoral support. Recently, it was suggested the NV-A might enter into a coalition with the Flemish Interest, while CD&V and Liberal VLD mayors have also indicated they might break the sanitaire after the local elections if they lose majority support. Local flirtation with the Flemish Interest comes despite the fact its predecessor, the Flemish Block (Vlaams Blok) was convicted of racism in 2004. The party has since tried to rebrand itself as a conservative right-wing party, but still largely focuses on traditional extreme right issues such as immigration and public safety, alongside its demands for Flemish independence. Leader Dewinter recently described the party as being "Islam phobic". The party is calling for an end to immigration, claiming that it has a negative impact on social cohesion and leads to crime. It clearly wants immigrants to abandon their own culture when they arrive in Belgium, commit no crime at the threat of deportation and loss of citizenship, is opposed to accelerated naturalisation and wants to abolish immigrant voting rights.
Flemish mayors flirting with the idea of breaking the sanitaire have said the Flemish Interest's racist policies do not apply at a local level, but such an argument simply cannot wash. Either the party is good enough to enter into a coalition with at all levels of government or not. There can be no half-way measure. But this idea of breaking the cordon sanitaire was also mooted in the past by the former editor of Expatica Belgium. He suggested it was time to give the Flemish Interest a run in office — in effect, to give it enough rope to hang itself. While I concur with Simon Coss that the Flemish Interest is a party of racist claptrap, the issue of 'letting them in' is a very dangerous suggestion. While it is right to say that with 26.6 percent of electoral support, democratically-speaking the Flemish Interest should no longer be thwarted from entering government. But the other two-thirds majority of the electorate who opt for tolerant parties should not be forced to accept the Flemish Interest being handed the keys to government.
No, the cordon sanitaire must remain in place; it is a bipartisan coalition of the willing against racism. Fortunately, the FN does not yet garner sufficient support in Wallonia to warrant talk of letting it enter office. But that day might be coming sooner than Belgium thinks. And the nation needs to have a ready-made answer: what is it going to do to stamp out the extremists? A debate to find the answer is, at least, now in full swing.
© Expatica News
PASS THIS TEST, DUTCH TELL IMMIGRANTS
18/6/2006- A draconian new law is expected to force immigrants to the Netherlands to sit a tough exam on Dutch history, geography and culture or face heavy fines. The rules, drafted by the country’s hardline immigration minister, “Iron Rita” Verdonk, and likely to be approved this autumn, will set a challenge for up to half a million mainly Muslim immigrants, including some who have lived in Holland for 30 years. The legislation, which is due to come into force on January 1 next year, requires immigrants to attend 600 hours of coursework before being tested. Failure to attend the course or pass the exam within five years will trigger an annual fine of almost £700, cuts in benefits or the termination of a residence permit. The cost of sitting the course and taking the exam will be £4,000 per person, although local authorities will pay most of the fees.
The measure is a further signal that Holland, once one of Europe’s most tolerant countries, has become the toughest point of entry for foreigners after a raft of restrictions in the past few years. “Several countries are looking at us, including Germany and the UK,” said a spokesman for Verdonk. The questions will be far tougher than the British test, Life in the UK, which was introduced for new citizens last November and poses simple queries such as “What are MPs?” Candidates in the Netherlands will be asked about the intricacies of Dutch shipping history and the country’s constitution. Questions will be asked about its harbours, dykes and churches. The candidates will also have to show an understanding of historical sensitivities in Dutch society, including attitudes towards anti-semitism and the second world war.
Andre Krouwel, an immigration expert from the Free University of Amsterdam, said that many of his own students would be unable to explain the influence of shipping history and colonialism on today’s Holland — yet both subjects will be compulsory. Krouwel suggested that a typical question could be: “How many provinces are there in the Netherlands and what are the differences between them?” (There are 12, each with different traditions and history.) A further question mooted by the Dutch immigration ministry is: “Why do the Dutch commemorate May 4 and 5?” (Remembrance Day and Liberation Day). Much of the coursework will have moral overtones, explaining liberal Dutch views on homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia. Candidates will also be assessed on a series of role plays, including how to open a bank account. The legislation now before parliament is so controversial that Verdonk may be forced to backtrack on her insistence that some naturalised Dutch citizens — immigrants who are unemployed, parents caring for children or religious workers such as imams — must also take the test.
Jeroen Djisselbloem, a Social Democrat MP, said the measures against naturalised citizens were “discriminatory”. “All other EU citizens will be exempted from this law, so actually being a Dutch national puts you back compared with an Englishman who lives in Holland,” he said. Even if Dutch citizens are exempted, 150,000 to 250,000 immigrants face the exam. Verdonk, 50, a former prison warden and head of state security, has previously angered Muslims by expelling imams accused of promoting terrorism and cancelling a meeting with Islamic leaders who refused to shake her hand because she was a woman. She has argued that a ban on burqas might be needed on grounds of public safety. In March she introduced a compulsory Dutch language and culture test for would-be immigrants before they left their home country. Many are being asked to watch a teaching video with provocative shots of gay men kissing and a topless woman on a beach to introduce them to Dutch lifestyles.
Famile Arslan, 34, an immigration lawyer of Turkish descent, said the crackdowns were dividing society between westerners and non-westerners, Muslim and non-Muslim. “I don’t feel welcome here any more,” she said. Verdonk’s bold approach has struck a chord with many Dutch people who feel that as a small country of 16m with more than 1.5m immigrants they have been too soft. A poll earlier this month found that 63% of Dutch people believed that Islam was incompatible with modern life and one in 10 openly admitted to being racist. Martijn Lampert, a research director of Motivaction which carried out the poll, said: “People are longing for a local, authentic identity. They fear it’s being threatened.” Maurice de Hond, another pollster, said disquiet about immigration had existed in Dutch society for the past 50 years.The murder in 2002 of Pim Fortuyn, an anti-immigration politician, had caused private fears to break out into the open. Geert Wilders, a right-wing politician who has received death threats after criticising Islam, said all immigration should be stopped until the problem of integration had been resolved.
© The Times Online
A JEW AND A MUSLIM DOUSE DUTCH FIRES
Amsterdam mayor, councillor defuse anti-Islam hysteria, says Haroon Siddiqui
18/6/2006- If Christians are lobbing rhetorical bombs at Muslims, who better to tamp down tensions than a soft-spoken Jewish intellectual? Job Cohen has done so as mayor of this city of 800,000, 1 in 8 of whom is a Muslim. No sooner had the long-time Labour politician and former deputy minister of justice settled into the job in 2001 — the mayor is appointed by the federal cabinet while the council is elected — than he found himself dealing with the fallout of 9/11. Anti-Muslim anger was fanned to dangerous levels by gay politician Pim Fortuyn (murdered in 2002 by an animal rights activist), filmmaker Theo van Gogh (murdered in 2004 by a Muslim), and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the "ex-Muslim" poster girl of Islamophobes (forced to resign recently as an MP for having lied on her citizenship application). Amid all the hysteria, Cohen kept his cool. First, he led street protests to condemn the Van Gogh murder. He then made a point of publicly meeting Muslims, especially clerics, considering them the key to influencing Muslims. He told the Muslims: "You are much needed in this country. You are the hope of this country." He told everyone else: "Islam is here to stay. We have to get along with each other." Cohen cracked down on petty crime, especially among young Dutch-Moroccans. But he also went after the disco owners discriminating against them. His partner in peace has been a Muslim councillor. Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb warned the Dutch against the debilitating effects of discriminatory immigration policies. He told the Muslims who were bemoaning the decadence of the Dutch that they were free to take a flight to Casablanca. I talked to both Cohen and Aboutaleb here at city hall, overlooking the Amstel River.
Cohen said the Fortuyn and Van Gogh murders "unbalanced the people of the Netherlands in an enormous way," unleashing a wave of blame. "First it was, `a little group of Moroccans are causing problems.' Then, after Van Gogh, it was, `the Muslims are causing a lot of trouble.' "Voices were raised against fundamentalist Islam and then it became a discussion about Islam itself. But nobody knew much about Islam."
What did the Hirsi Ali phenomenon say about Holland?
"It said that Holland is not the stable county that people outside of the Netherlands thought it was ... And it is still unstable. "Also, the Netherlands does not have a strong identity" — and is struggling with it.
Cohen put his mediating skills to reducing tensions between Jews and Muslims as well. Noting that "there's a lot of anger against Israel" over its treatment of Palestinians, he tried to separate that sentiment from anti-Semitism. When kippa-wearing Jews complained that they were being harassed by "some people, especially people of Moroccan background, though those were not the only ones doing it," he brought the two sides together.
The Moroccans said they faced discrimination all the time. That proved "an eye-opener." The two sides realized that "`we both belong to the group that's discriminated against. How can we do things together?'" A joint delegation of about 20 Jews and Muslims went to Morocco last month, "especially to the Jewish communities there, and had a good week."
Aboutaleb said the worst thing about the recent past has been the "total double standards" used against Muslims. People complained about Islamic opposition to homosexuality. But "what about the Torah or the Bible re homosexuality?" On terrorism, too, "it's not Islam you should discuss, but the behaviour of Muslims. The Bible has been abused by Christians. Slavery was justified with the Bible. So was apartheid — a Dutch word. The conflict in Ireland was carried out in the name of religion," said Aboutaleb.
Cohen and Aboutaleb have had an effect. The Anne Frank Centre, which tracks racism, said that of the 106 incidents of arson and other acts of retaliation against mosques following the Van Gogh murder, only one was in this city. In the municipal elections in March, the 45-year-old Aboutaleb topped the polls, drawing 10,000 more votes than the local Labour leader on the proportional representation ballot. And, according to national polls, the 59-year-old Cohen is the most popular Labour politician in Holland, a future party candidate for prime minister. This lets him take comfort that his so-called soft politics works.
"Yes, I belong to the softies. I am glad I belong to the softies. I think that's the only way you can handle issues like this."
© The Toronto Star
CASE OF ‘EXTREMIST’ PN OFFICIAL CONSIDERED CLOSED BY MINISTER (Malta)
18/6/2006- Minister Francis Zammit Dimech will not sack a member of his secretariat who publicly associated himself with the extremist and xenophobic views of the Alleanza Nazzjonali Republikana. For the minister, the case involving PN councillor Kurt Guillaumier, who is also a member of Zammit Dimech’s secretariat, is “closed”. Contacted yesterday the minister said that this week he called Guillaumier into his office and asked for an explanation of the comments the latter made during a TV programme that discussed illegal immigration. “Kurt Guillaumier told me that he disassociates himself from all forms of xenophobia. He also explained to me that the comments he passed during the Xarabank TV show were made purely out of concern for the financial situation the country is in. Kurt Guillaumier also committed himself not to participate in any public activities in the future, without prior consultation with me,” Zammit Dimech told MaltaToday. Asked whether he was satisfied with this explanation, the minister said that for him “the case is closed.” Meanwhile, the Nationalist party’s administrative council will not be meeting before two weeks to discuss whether it will actually convene councillor Kurt Guillaumier, to answer for his presence at an anti-immigration rally and for confronting PN junior minister Tony Abela live on Xarabank on PBS. Last week, PN director of information Gordon Pisani said there was a conflict with Guillaumier’s position and the PN’s beliefs. “The PN is clearly against racism and xenophobia. There is no doubt about it,” Pisani said. Secretary-general Joe Saliba has now said the issue in question is not one of discipline. “The administrative council will be listening to his version first. We’re not taking any action before that stage, otherwise we would acting just like Labour,” Saliba said.
The 17-person administrative council, which includes party leader Lawrence Gonzi, will take a decision on whether it will convene Guillaumier in its next meeting, but not before two weeks, Saliba said. “We will decide the gravity of the issue then.” There has been no form of official communication with Guillaumier, Saliba said. Asked whether the PN is still taking seriously the San Gwann councillor’s public confrontation with Tony Abela, the parliamentary secretary responsible for the army, over the subject of immigration, as well as his presence at the Alleanza Nazzjonali Repubblikana’s anti-immigration rally, Saliba said the party has to respect procedure. “We are taking it seriously, but we have to follow procedure. The process to discuss the issue will take place according to procedure.” Guillaumier earned the rebuke of many PN insiders, prompting telephone calls to minister Francis Zammit Dimech. The minister last week disassociated himself “absolutely and categorically” from Guillaumier’s comments. It seems that Guillaumier’s “satisfactory” explanation was enough for the minister to absolve his underling.
© Malta Today
POLICE TO ASK ATTORNEY GENERAL TO EVALUATE ‘INCITEMENT’ TAPE (Malta)
18/6/2006- The police are “evaluating” the speeches made by a spokesman for the extremist group Alleanza Nazzjonali Repubblikana during their 8 June anti-immigration protest held in Valletta. The Attorney General is expected to give his opinion on what are considered to be statements inciting violence. So far no measures have been contemplated although the police and the AG’s office are still somehow analysing the content of the speeches, particularly by spokesman Paul Salomone who during the demonstration attacked MaltaToday editor Saviour Balzan, accusing him of being a ‘dirty communist’ and threatening to “tie his newspaper around his neck”. Salomone also threatened Xarabank presenter Peppi Azzopardi, who was reporting the event. Salomone, who is a manager with a construction company, addressed a motley crowd of less than 200. Those in the crowd included Norman Lowell, a former BOV bank manager and now head of the white supremacist Nazi group Imperium Ewropa, and Kurt Guillaumier, former PN mayor and presently a San Gwann councillor and a member in the secretariat of Minister Francis Zammit Dimech. In the same demonstration, NGOs Integra Foundation, Third World Group, Indymedia, Malta Gay Rights Movement and Moviment Graffitti staged a peaceful counter-protest calling for a halt to racism and incitement to violence. Amnesty International issued a statement calling on the government to put combating racism and xenophobia a top priority for action.
© Malta Today
DELIVERING HOPE ON WORD REFUGEE DAY (Malta)
18/6/2006- Three ministries will be joining hands with the UN high commissioner for refugees and other non-governmental organisations next Tuesday to mark World Refugee Day under the banner ‘hope’. The ministry for home affairs, the ministry of education and employment and the ministry for social solidarity, in a rare show of unity at government level on the issue of immigration, will be commemorating World Refugee Day at a time when xenophobia and racism have dangerously reared their head in the wake of a renewed inflow of illegal immigrants. “A person who leaves everything behind, family, job, studies, home, friends, must necessarily be accompanied by an enormous amount of hope,” Dolores Cristina, minister for social solidarity said yesterday.
“We need to meet this hope and through the process of application for status, turn it into a concrete future for refugees. We know that the hope of many of those reaching our shores is to continue to mainland European countries and this Government, together with the help of UNHCR and the Emigrant’s Commission, is also working to resettle refugees in other European countries,” she said.
Education Minister Louis Galea stressed on the need to develop hope in the countries of origin of these refugees and dwelt on the importance of education as a tool to achieve cultural understanding between people of different nations, both for refugees who reside in third countries and for the countries hosting them. The representative of the UNHCR in Malta, Dr Neil Falzon stressed that this year’s theme will celebrate “the hope of refugees to start a new life in their first country of asylum, the hope to find the assistance and support to be able to rebuild their lives.” On Tuesday information stands will be put up in Great Siege Square in Valletta from 8am to 2pm and in the evening, immigrants at the Marsa open centre will be organising an event which will also include the screening of the World Cup football match outdoors for which the public is invited to attend.
© Malta Today
FRENCH MUSLIMS REGROUP WITH NEW ORGANISATION
18/6/2006- French Muslims on Sunday created a new representative group aimed at "complementing" an existing state-sponsored umbrella organisation that has been stalled by infighting. The Rally of Muslims in France (RMF) held a gathering in Paris of 200 heads of mosques and associations to establish itself as an alternative to the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) set up by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in 2003. In a statement, the RMF said it wanted to "contribute to the emergence of moderate Islam" that would respect French laws while lobbying on behalf of the country's estimated five million Muslims. The group is led by Taoufiq Sebti, the president of a regional Muslim group covering the Paris area. The head of another Paris Muslim group also participating, Anouar Kbibech, stressed that the RMF intended to be "complementary, and not a rival, to the CFCM". The CFCM has been riven by power struggles since its inception. Its president, Dalil Boubakeur, who is rector of the mosque in Paris, said an overdue board meeting of the organisation has again been pushed back, this time to early July. Boubakeur explained that CFCM members agreed to the additional delay at the request of the office of President Jacques Chirac, who next Sunday is to inaugurate a memorial to Muslim soliders who fought for France in World War I.
© Expatica News
FRENCH IMMIGRATION BILL APPROVED
17/6/2006- The upper house of the French parliament has passed a tough new immigration bill, weeks after it was adopted by the lower chamber. The bill makes it harder for unskilled migrants to settle in France and abolishes the rights of illegal immigrants to remain after 10 years. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who drafted the bill, says it will bring France into line with other countries. Critics say it is racist and accuse Mr Sarkozy of pandering to the far-right. Mr Sarkozy, who is seen as a potential contender in presidential elections next year, says France must be in control of immigration, rather than a passive recipient.
'System failing'
The proposed law also requires immigrants from outside the European Union to sign a contract agreeing to learn French and to respect the principles of the French Republic, and makes it more difficult for them to bring their families over to join them. Mr Sarkozy has argued that riots by youths in immigrant suburbs across France last November showed the system of immigration and integration was failing. He says France, like a number of other Western countries, needs to choose the immigrants it needs. Most immigrants living in France come from its former African colonies. The proposed law has been criticised by many in the region, including President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal.
Proposed new rules
Only the qualified get "skills and talents" residency permit
Foreigners only allowed in to work, not live off benefits
Foreign spouses to wait longer for residence cards
Migrants must agree to learn French
Migrants must sign 'contract' respecting French way of life
Scraps law on workers getting citizenship after 10 years
© BBC News
DID SOVIET COLLAPSE OPEN DOOR TO MODERN-DAY RACISM? (Russia)
Russian discrimination has long had an impact on ethnic and religious minorities, even as the USSR trumpeted concepts like the "friendship of nations" and the ideal of the "New Soviet Man." But the overt racial violence seen in modern-day Russia is something new. Some argue the collapse of the Soviet Union brought long-latent racism to the surface, by opening the door to uncontrolled migration, economic collapse, and the entrenched conflict in Chechnya.
19/6/2006- "Children of different nations, we dream of living in peace; In these hard times, we go to fight for happiness; On the seas and oceans, everybody who is young; Give us your hand, in our row of friendship." The 1956 "Hymn of the World's Democratic Youth" extolled the Soviet-era virtues of international friendship. It couldn't contrast more sharply with the sentiments behind a 2005 political advertisement in which Dmitry Rogozin and Yury Popov of the Motherland party chastise dark-skinned men littering the ground with watermelon rinds. Doniyor Usmonov, a native of Tajikistan who has spent most of the past 30 years in the Russian city of Volgograd, finds the changes bewildering. Usmonov remembers feeling right at home when he moved to Russia as a student in 1974. He says his ethnic origin simply wasn't an issue in the dormitory where he lived together with Russians and other students from all over the Soviet Union. "These questions about interethnic relations just didn't come up. We were one country. Nobody paid any attention to your religion or to your nation. We lived as friends," Usmonov says. Now, when studies show people of non-Slavic appearance in Moscow are almost 22 times more likely to be stopped by police for document checks, Usmonov's student memories seem almost impossibly carefree. "Then, we never worried about where our passports were because we didn't need to carry them. Today, people with our color eyes and skin can't go anywhere without documents," Usmonov says.
Purges
Josef Stalin's ruthless purges of ethnic minorities in the 1940s belie much of the Soviet myth of the "friendship of nations." Many observers in the former Soviet Union say dormant racism was prevalent among many Russians. But at the same time, the USSR did promote an enthusiastic -- if painstakingly controlled -- mixing of its many nationalities into a race-neutral "New Soviet Man," or "Homo Sovieticus." It was an idea Moscow was fond of using to compare the USSR favorably to the capitalist West, which it portrayed as fraught with racism and prejudice. Many people from the former Soviet republics and foreign countries first experienced Russia during the days of the USSR. Desire Defaut, a native of Cameroon who has lived in St. Petersburg since 1989, says for all its faults, Soviet-era Russia was by most accounts more tolerant toward minorities than it is today. "I remember when we first came to study, we were treated like the couriers who would carry Russian culture back to Africa. Today, these kids that attack us, when you ask them why they do this, they say they are against foreigners because they take our jobs," Defaut says. Ali Nassor, a journalist from Tanzania who has lived in Petersburg since 1986, says he has "lost count" of the times skinheads have attacked him on the streets. "We have come to the point where we just don't take street assaults as being a big deal here. When it comes to murder, then of course that makes the news," Nassor says.
So what happened? How did Russia change into a place where having the wrong color skin can be dangerous -- or even fatal? Some, like Nassor, say racism and racists have always been present in Russia, but was suppressed in Soviet times. "In the communist times, they didn't feel free to act -- just like the liberal people, or the democratically oriented people, didn't feel free to act. Now all these camps have gone to the extremes in a way. So the fascists feel free to act under the banner of freedom," Nassor says. The collapse of the Soviet Union has also contributed to the problem by literally opening the floodgates to uncontrolled migration. Soviet authorities maintained absolute control on people movement through residence permits and internal passports. Now, migrants from the former Soviet republics face far fewer travel restrictions, and a much greater need to go wherever they can find work -- usually the comparatively prosperous Russia. It's a situation that has fueled massive resentment toward migrants among many Russians, many of whom are themselves struggling to make ends meet.
Chechnya Campaign
Russia's ongoing military campaign in Chechnya, and the resulting rise in terrorist acts committed by Chechen extremists, has only intensified Russian anger toward Muslims and non-Slavs. Gurgen Saakian, a native of Armenia who has Russian citizenship, says Russian politicians today attempt to manipulate the race issue -- thereby making the problem worse. "Today the media and the political situation have created motives to talk about this. There are certain people, who in their misfortune, repeat what politicians say. And they think that if they are living badly today, this is because of other nations," Saakian says. But Boris Kagarlitsky, director of the Moscow-based Institute of Globalization Studies, said these things explain only part of what is happening in Russia. Kagarlitsky says the economic anxiety that some Russians are feeling has led to a predictable search for scapegoats. But just as importantly, the breakup of the multinational Soviet Union has led some younger Russians to forge an identity based on chauvinism. "This has to do with a new identity emerging in Russia. People do not feel themselves belonging to the Soviet Union anymore. They do not feel there is anything that makes you part of the same society as Tajiks or people from the southern provinces of Russia. This is the disintegration of the original Soviet identity," Kagarlitsky says. And according to Kagarlitsky, the way many young Russians are forging their identity today is rooted in the way the older generation reacted to the break-up of the Soviet Union. What Russia lacked after 1991 was a period of self-reflection and catharsis similar to what West Germany went through after World War II, and much of the West experienced in the 1960s. "Russian society found itself humiliated, offended, and internationally neglected. Russians developed a kind of victim complex rather than reexamining their own share of responsibility for what happened and why and how the Soviet Union disintegrated," Kagarlitsky says.
© RFE/RL
HARD TIMES FOR CAUCASIANS IN MOSCOW (Russia)
Residents and migrants say they are under increasing pressure from nationalist thugs.
By Vage Avanisian and Samira Ahmedbeili in Moscow, and Sofo Bukia in Tbilisi
23/6/2006- Armenia is still reeling from the brutal murder of 18-year-old Artur Sardarian last month. Sardarian, an Armenian migrant worker, was taking a commuter train home from work on May 25 when a group of lads set on him, stabbing him in the neck and then five more times in the chest. Each knife thrust was accompanied by cries of “Glory to Russia!” eyewitnesses said. The attack took place on the day celebrations kicked off for “Armenia Year” in Russia. In the Caucasus, there was shock at a murder whose motive was so patently the ethnic origin of the victim. Nor was Sardarian the first foreigner murdered in Russia since the beginning of the year – a Senegalese student and another Armenian were killed in April. The sense that xenophobic violence is on the rise is supported by data from Sova, a British non-governmental group that monitors racist attacks in Russia, which indicated that 18 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in hate crimes so far in 2006. Doudou Diene, the United Nations special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia who has just completed a report on Russia, told a press conference in Moscow on June 16 that he was concerned not only at the rising number of assaults on foreigners, but also by the increasingly brutal nature seen in these attacks. President Vladimir Putin roundly condemned the phenomenon when he met with Russian interior ministry staff on February 17. “Belligerent nationalism and attempts to provoke inter-ethnic conflict endanger the life and constitutional rights of citizens, hamper the stable existence of the state, and undermine its integrity. And, of course, it does immense damage to Russia’s image worldwide,” he said.
Although there are no precise data, non-government groups estimate that there are around three million Armenians living in Russia, the same number of Azerbaijanis and over a million Georgians. A Russian foundation called Public Opinion had done a survey which shows that about half of all Muscovites polled tends to dislike people from the Caucasus. Interestingly, those surveyed also said they thought other Russians in the capital held even less tolerant views. And as Levon Ananian, who heads the Armenian Writers’ Union, points out, that is just Moscow, “We learn from the press about the high-profile killings in the capital, but it’s clear the same is happening in remote places throughout Russia.” Moscow’s first ethnic murder this year happened on April 7 in Saint Petersburg, when a group of skinheads attacked some dark-skinned students. A student from Senegal, Samba Lampsar Sall, was shot dead, and a gun marked with a swastika was found at the crime scene. Two weeks later, skinheads dressed in black uniforms stabbed Armenian student Vigen Abramiants in the heart at Moscow’s busiest underground station, Pushkinskaya. Elhan Mirzoyev, who works as a producer with the well-known television station NTV and is of Azerbaijani origin was beaten within an inch of his life at another Moscow underground stations on April 3. The gang who attacked him said he had no right to live in Russia. The doctors who put seven stitches in his head told him it was a miracle he had survived. Although these cases clearly bore the hallmarks of racist crime, prosecutors only included the Russian criminal code clause covering ethnic crimes in their indictments only after strong pressure from lawyers for the two Armenians.
“The fact that people are being killed in Russia because of their dark hair, swarthy skin or the shape of their eyes is harming the country’s image,” said Moscow-based lawyer Simon Tsaturian, who is acting for the two murdered Armenians. “That is why some officials might be tempted to change the way the cases are presented, and put them in a different light.” Vigen Abramiants’s father Rafael agreed with this view, citing an investigator on the case who told him he had nearly lost his job after bringing the criminal action under Russian legislation covering “murder on ethnic grounds”. “What marked me most during the encounters and conversations I’ve had?" the UN’s Diene told reporters. "It is the feeling of fear and of solitude expressed by a number of foreign communities and ethnic minorities - the Africans have been very vocal about it, as well as people from the Caucasus and Central Asia… This is a very alarming sign.” Diene warned that the wave of racist attacks, if unchecked, could soon target not only ethnic minorities, but even those who lobby to protect them. He noted that Russia still lacked clear laws on discrimination, and urged the government to demonstrate a stronger political will to fight racism and xenophobia.
The mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, claims the authorities in the capital are doing their best to curb xenophobic sentiment. “We have over 100 nationalities living here, and things do happen,” he told IWPR. “But there are also cases like one where one of our policemen died protecting an Armenian family from raiders.” Ella Pamfilova, who chairs the Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights Council, a body which answers to President Putin, said the growth of xenophobia was mainly a consequence of corruption and flawed migration laws. “Adopting an intelligible law would go against the interests of corrupt groups, which exist everywhere including in government agencies,” Pamfilova told IWPR. “It’s far more convenient to have illegal people deprived of their civil rights, to rob them in markets, than to have legalised citizens who would pay taxes to the state and observe all the laws. Because in the latter case the state would have to protect their rights.” Despite President Putin’s and Mayor Luzhkov’s assurances, there are politicians and analysts in Russia and in the southern Caucasus who believe the Russian authorities are in fact encouraging radical nationalism. “In most cases, ethnically motivated crimes in Russia either go unpunished or the punishment is inadequate,” said Grigory Yavlinsky, who heads the Yabloko opposition party in Russia. “I’m sure the authorities have an interest in xenophobia being unleashed. I have no facts or evidence to prove this, but it’s quite possible that the authorities have some influence over the skinheads, and that they support and manipulate them.”
The link between the gangs of youths and nationalistic political groups is clearer. Such organisations as the Great Russian National Party, the Union of Slavs, the National Bolshevist Party and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, and others too, are all active in and around Moscow. Alexander Chervyakov, a spokesman for the Great Russian National Party, set out his group’s views in remarks to IWPR, “We are not going to let foreigners humiliate us. We are fighting against those who are trying to take our homeland away from us. We... are able to defend what belongs to us and take revenge on our enemies.” Chervyakov would not respond to questions about why young men like Sardarian and Abramiants should be considered enemies of Russia. According to Eduard Limonov, the head of the National Bolsheviks, “Being a skinhead is fashionable in Russia these days. Young people are attracted to crewcuts, black gear, big boots and a particular kind of music. It’s a modern youth movement.” Alexander Prokhanov, editor of the Zavtra newspaper which promotes nationalist views, said resentment among Russians was spurred by the hardship of daily life “People have to think about how to earn their meager daily bread at a time when foreigners are milling to and fro before their eyes. And there are many [foreigners], too many of them now,” he told IWPR. It is unclear whether such views are affecting migrants from the three south Caucasian countries as they make decisions about coming to Russia or staying there.
Ara Abramian, who heads the Union of Armenians in Russia, said that following the recent attacks on his countrymen, he had noticed a decline in the number of people coming from Armenia to look for jobs. At the same time, he said, few people were actually deciding to leave once they arrived. “The situation is difficult to judge,” he said. “People are unlikely to leave for fear of encountering skinheads in the street. Although that too plays a part.” Georgian political analyst Mamuka Areshidze pointed to the deteriorating diplomatic relationship between Moscow and Tbilisi as an additional factor affecting migrants from Georgia. “Of course political relationships play a very important part in this, and the worsening of relations between Georgia and Russia has done a great deal of damage to the many Georgians living in Russia, who are now having problems with their jobs and businesses. In terms of morale, it’s very hard,” he said. “Still, the extents of this are not so global as to force Caucasians now living in Russia to start returning home. I don’t think anyone in Russia will dare set up a united front against Caucasians.” Meanwhile, people from the Caucasus now living in Moscow either permanently or as migrant labour continue to find their own ways of dealing with hostile attitudes. Sixteen-year-old Ruslana Samedova copes by concealing her ethnic identity. She counts herself lucky to look more like her Russian mother than her Azerbaijani father. “Even my closest friends don’t know I’m Azerbaijani,” she admitted. “None of my schoolmates has ever seen my father - I’m literally hiding him from everyone. As for my Azerbaijani surname, I have to invent all sorts of stories to explain it. “If they find out I’m Azerbaijani – even on one side only – at school, that’ll be the end of me. I’ve seen how one of my classmates was driven close to suicide. Her family had to move to Baku. I don’t want to suffer the same fate.” Vage Avanesian is director of the Moscow office of the TV-company Shant. Samira Akhmedbeili is a correspondent for the newspaper Azerros in Moscow. Sofo Bukia is a correspondent for 24 Saati in Tbilisi.
© Institute for War & Peace Reporting
RUSSIAN KNIFEMAN'S CASE REOPENED
20/6/2006- Russia's Supreme Court has ordered a review of the 13-year prison term handed down to a man for attacking worshippers at a Moscow synagogue. The court said the case against Alexander Koptsev must be re-examined. Koptsev, 21, ran amok with a knife at a Moscow synagogue on 11 January, injuring nine people. He was diagnosed with a schizophrenic disorder. In March a Moscow city court found him guilty of attempting to murder Jewish worshippers during the incident. After bursting into the building he lashed out at random before being wrestled to the ground by the rabbi and his son, witnesses said. Charges against him included attempted murder "motivated by racial hatred". But in its verdict the Moscow court did not find him guilty of inciting ethnic hatred - Article 282 of Russia's criminal code. In their appeal against the verdict, prosecutors argued that it was a mistake to exclude Article 282. Defence lawyers also appealed against the verdict, insisting that Koptsev did not incite ethnic hatred. They also called for his health problems to be taken into consideration. The defence said Koptsev's eyesight was deteriorating and he could leave prison as a blind invalid in 10 years' time.
© BBC News
RUSSIA SLAMS UN OFFICIAL OVER ALLEGED RACE-HATE CRIME IMPUNITY
19/6/2006- Russia's Foreign Ministry Monday criticized a UN special rapporteur on racism over statements that Russia was not doing enough to combat racism and xenophobia in the country. UN rapporteur Doudou Diene, who recently visited Moscow and St. Petersburg, said the lack of an official state policy had created a breeding ground for intolerance. "In Soviet times, the state encouraged friendship between different peoples. It doesn't do that anymore, and as a result, there is an ideological vacuum," he said. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said Monday that all hate crimes in Russia "were being investigated and culprits were held responsible." Commenting on Diene's statement that many Russian parties ran on racist and xenophobic platforms, Kamynin said the parties in question had been denied registration or could be banned by court. "We have never denied the existence of problems in the fight against racism and xenophobia, but today almost all countries, even most developed ones, are facing these phenomena," Kamynin said. "The ability of national governments to effectively combat these crimes is most important." He said Diene's invitation to Russia "proved our readiness for cooperation and dialogue in this sphere." "The special rapporteur is right saying that the problem of racism has not only political and juridical aspects, but also an important cultural side," Kamynin said. "The Russian Federation is a multi-ethnic state, and the development of inter-cultural dialogue and encouragement of tolerance has always been a priority of our policy." He said Russia expected Diene to submit a "balanced and unbiased report" to the UN in the fall, and to give the country "realistic and pragmatic recommendations."
© RIA Novosti
REIN IN RACISM NOW, UN OFFICIAL DECLARES(Russia)
18/6/2006- With violent attacks on the rise, the state must do more to combat racism and xenophobia, a United Nations official said Friday. Doudou Diene, the UN's special rapporteur on racism, said he would urge Russia, in a report to be filed with the UN in the fall, to track the growth of racist attacks, adhere to international standards on protecting minority rights and encourage tolerance. Diene spoke at a news conference in Moscow after a weeklong trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russian officials and NGOs tend to see the current situation differently, Diene said, with authorities blaming the recent spate of attacks on a handful of marginal hate groups and NGOs saying Russia has a deeper, cultural problem. "In Soviet times, the state encouraged friendship between different peoples," Diene said. "It doesn't do that anymore, and as a result, there is an ideological vacuum." Today, racism is not an official policy, he said. But there are signs that the problem is serious: Political parties run on racist and xenophobic platforms; skinheads perpetrate violent crimes, with many going unpunished; and some police have been accused of attacking minorities.
Diene said he was especially shaken after meeting with Africans. "I met with people who have lived in Russia for 20, 30 years, and they're completely isolated," he said. "They're alone, frightened, and scared to go outside." Africans are among the many groups of dark-skinned people routinely targeted by skinheads and neo-Nazis. Eighteen people have been murdered and 147 injured in racially motivated attacks since the beginning of the year, said Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy director of the Sova center, which monitors extremist activity. Diene was also stirred by a visit to a Gypsy settlement near St. Petersburg where people were living, he said, "in horrible conditions, totally marginalized and desperate." Kozhevnikova, among the NGO representatives who met with Diene during his trip, said Sova registered at least two or three attacks every week. The actual number of non-fatal attacks is probably three or four times higher than what the center registers, she said, because beatings of illegal migrants often go unreported. Others who met with Diene included Supreme Court Chief Justice Vyacheslav Lebedev, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev, head of the presidential council for civil society Ella Pamfilova, ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, and Justice and Foreign Ministry officials, among others, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Asked if he had ridden on the metro, a frequent site of racist attacks, Diene, who is from Senegal, replied: "I would like to ride in the metro, as I do everywhere, even though I've been advised against it. But I haven't had enough time."
© The Moscow Times
SLANDER COULD BE DEEMED EXTREMIST(Russia)
16/6/2006- The State Duma will soon vote on a bill that would allow courts to shut down parties and news organizations for slandering government officials or threatening possible mass protests, deputies said Thursday. The Duma's leadership decided Thursday to send the bill -- which includes amendments to expand the list of punishable crimes under the anti-extremism law -- to the president and the Cabinet for a review, Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said. It is expected to come up for a first reading by the end of this month. Opposition politicians called the amendments an effort by a worried government to ensure the ruling class remained in power after upcoming national elections. But Gryzlov said the bill -- introduced by 14 deputies representing all the factions in the Duma -- would not punish those critical of the authorities. One amendment, however, would make it possible to mete out tough punishment to National Bolshevik Party members for their theatrical protests. Bolshevik activists chanted "Putin is the executioner of freedom" at a newspaper conference earlier this month -- something the amendment would classify as public slander against government officials and equate with extremist activity. Prosecutors could seek the closure of a political group if it or its members commit an offense more than once. Under existing law, parties can avoid legal action if they renounce members accused of offenses. Under another amendment, the legal definition of extremist activity would be expanded to include "statements" that extremist activity might take place. The provision would make it a crime for news organizations to warn that a government policy might trigger mass protests, said Igor Yakovenko, head of the Russian Union of Journalists. Yet another amendment would outlaw the printing of leaflets urging mass protests. Large protests brought to power pro-Western presidents in Georgia and Ukraine in 2003 and 2004.
The 14 deputies sponsoring the bill said in a statement on the Duma's web site that the amendments would prevent veiled attempts to stoke extremism. The deputies represent United Russia, the Communist and Liberal Democratic parties and the two factions of Rodina. Gryzlov said the bill's expanded definition of extremist activity would not encompass legitimate criticism of the government. Opposition deputies and other politicians sharply criticized the initiative as an attempt to silence them and reduce their chances in Duma elections next year. "The authorities and United Russia are agonizing and taking all sorts of measures ahead of the elections to retain their positions after the vote," Communist Deputy Viktor Ilyukhin said. United Russia, which has 304 of the Duma's 450 seats, has seen its popularity decline since it won by a landslide in 2003. Ilyukhin, who said the amendments could come up for a first reading as early as next week, said that the wording of the proposed amendments was vague and open to interpretation. "For example, I often say that the authorities are treating the nation boorishly. This or similar statements made in public about a certain official could be interpreted as slander if needed," Ilyukhin said. National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov said the authorities were trying to outlaw all criticism. "This bill is definitely aimed at us because we are the most active critical force in the country," he said. The group is well-known for its anti-Kremlin demonstrations. In December 2004, 39 Bolshevik activists in their teens and early 20s briefly seized a reception office of the presidential administration, locked themselves in and hung a poster reading "Putin, Quit Your Job!" in a window. Riot police stormed the building, beat the activists and arrested them. All but one activist were later convicted of public disorder. Last week, three activists interrupted a conference of the World Association of Newspapers attended by Putin by shouting "Putin is the executioner of freedom" and "Russia without Putin." Limonov said the group would continue its activities even if the proposed amendments were passed. "We cannot yield to schizophrenic initiatives like this one," he said. Sergei Mitrokhin, deputy head of Yabloko, which failed to win Duma seats in the last elections, said the amendments would make it more difficult for opposition parties to run in 2007. "They would cause us a lot of trouble because we are not planning to give up our oppositional rhetoric," he said. "In addition, our leaflets could be called extremist."
© The Moscow Times
FRATTINI: EUMC PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN THE EU’S FIGHT AGAINST RACISM
First visit of European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini, Commissioner for Freedom, Security and Justice to the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC)
22/6/2006- European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini, Commissioner for Freedom, Security and Justice today visited the EU’s Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna, underlining its important role in the EU’s fight against racism and thanking the staff for their work over the last eight years. Vice-President Frattini also participated in the EU seminar on combating racism and xenophobia, held under the auspices of the Austrian Presidency of the EU and co-organised by the Commission and the EUMC. Meeting with the Chairperson of the EUMC Management Board Anastasia Crickley, with EUMC Director Beate Winkler and the agency’s 37 staff members, Vice-President Frattini underlined the important role of the EUMC as provider of data and information on racism and xenophobia, and hence in the EU’s fight against racism.
Vice-President Frattini: “The European Union, which by its very nature aims to deepen solidarity and unity between peoples, must be – and is - at the forefront of the fight against all forms of racism and discrimination. This is why the EU established the EUMC as a specialised centre of competence with the task to monitor racism and xenophobia across the EU, and to formulate opinions on how to combat these phenomena. The EUMC has made a very strong contribution and provided the Union with a better understanding of how far we have come in reaching our standards and values relating to equality and respect.”
Vice-President Frattini added: “The EUMC’s important work on racism and xenophobia will remain a key priority after its transformation into the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency.”
Anastasia Crickley said: “Racism remains a major challenge for Europe. The collective experiences of fighting racism collated by the EUMC provide a sound basis for the development of practical and workable anti-racism strategies. Crucial for the EUMC, and for the future Fundamental Rights Agency is the integration of the independent voice of civil society. Their message is clear: An inclusive Europe based on justice and equality requires strong legislation, the political will essential for its implementation, and full participation by civil society voices.”
Beate Winkler: “Over the eight years of its existence, the EUMC has built up a lot of knowledge and capacity in tackling intolerance. This expertise is particularly important now as we see an upsurge of racist incidents in some parts of Europe. We therefore urge politicians to make the combat against racism a priority. We call on EU Governments to give it a clear political signal by strengthening the EU’s common legal framework through a Council Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia.”
As Commissioner for Freedom, Security and Justice, Vice-President Frattini is responsible for the EU’s action against racism and xenophobia. In this function he attended the EU Seminar on Combating Racism and Xenophobia, which took place on 20-22 June in Vienna. The Seminar sought to reopen the discussion on the proposal for a Council Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, which would ensure that racist and xenophobic behaviour is punishable as a criminal offence in all EU Member States.
© Dzeno Association
CANADA WANTS DELAY TO KEY ABORIGINAL UN TREATY
19/6/2006- Canada said on Monday it wanted the United Nations to delay a vote on a key draft treaty enshrining the rights of indigenous peoples, a document which has already taken 20 years to put together. Political opponents accused Canada's Conservative government of trying to sabotage the treaty, which is supposed to be adopted soon by the U.N's new Human Rights Council in Geneva. But Ottawa, which said the treaty could wreck talks on granting its native Indians control of land and resources, said it wanted two more years of discussions. "We think the text that has been put forward at this point is not one that satisfactorily addresses a number of issues in Canada," said federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice. Separately, officials said Canada would vote against the document unless major changes were made. The draft treaty is opposed by the United States, Australia and New Zealand, which like Canada have significant aboriginal populations. Canada has about 1.3 million native Indians, or about 4.4 percent of the overall population. Many live in poverty and suffer from ill health and high levels of unemployment. Some aboriginal activists complain about what they say is centuries of ill-treatment and racism at the hands of the majority population and want more control over the resources on their lands, some of which are home to rich mineral deposits. The government has opened land claims talks with some aboriginal bands on handing over rights to exploit resources but the negotiations generally proceed very slowly. Angus Toulouse of the Assembly of First Nations, which groups many of Canada's aboriginal groups, said the treaty would boost the "economic, political and resource rights of Canada's first nations." But Prentice -- without giving details -- said the draft document was inconsistent with both Canada's charter of human rights and its constitution. "Frankly, it's entirely inconsistent with all of the land claims policies that the government of Canada has been using for the past generation. So clearly it requires more work," he told reporters. A coalition of opposition parties, human rights activists and native groups accused Ottawa of trying to sabotage the treaty and said Canadian diplomats in Geneva were trying to have the document pulled off the council's agenda. "Canadian leadership on this issue is rapidly disappearing ... governments have had more than 20 years already. We do not need more delays and dithering from the Canadian government," said Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International's Canadian wing. The Conservatives -- who won power in late January -- are already under pressure for killing off a C$5 billion ($4.5 billion) deal struck last November between the previous Liberal government and aboriginal leaders. The deal would have pumped more money into health, education and social services.
© Reuters
THE NEW HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL IS INAUGURATED
19/6/2006- Today, June 19, the new Human Rights Council replaces the discredited Commission for Human Rights in Geneva. Its first steps will set it on the road to success or failure Will they be able to overcome the errors of the past? (omega.sunmoon.ac.kr)
Much ink has been spilt regarding its advantages and disadvantages and whether or not it will succeed in surpassing the shortcomings of the new defunct UN Commission for Human Rights, established in 1946. Created on March 15, 2006, with only the US, Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands voting against it, the negotiations in New York that led to its creation were frenetic, and on more than one occasion, it was predicted that the Council would be declared dead on arrival. The first elections to the Council, held on May 9, were compelling evidence of the steps forward that the UN made by implementing this reform: the majority of new members are countries that respect human rights; the elections were hard-fought (64 candidates for 47 seats); all the candidates agreed to promote and respect human rights and lastly, notable violators of human rights and public liberties who had stood for election, such as Iran and Venezuela, were excluded.
Glass half-full or half-empty?
Of course, the glass has to be seen half-empty as well. Countries such as Russia, China, Cuba, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have “slipped” into the new body, after using diplomacy and their strategic weight to win the minimum 96 votes. Furthermore, there is no doubt that negotiations substantially downsized Kofi Annan’s original project, put forward in December 2004. He proposed a body with less member states that would be chosen by 2/3 of the General Assembly, making it more difficult for human rights transgressors to gain access. Even so, we cannot underestimate what has been achieved by the skilful Swedish negotiator, Jan Eliasson. As the President of the UN General Assembly, he was able to push the Council forward in the face of opposition from the US representative, John Bolton, who did not make his job easy at all. We now have a body that is more complete and ready to take on the threats and abuses that human rights are still facing in the 21st century, as stated by leading figures such as Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu or the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. Fewer members (47 instead of 53), more sessions, increased room for NGOs and the possibility of suspending members are only some of the features that make this organisation more solid than its predecessor ever was.
A glass to be filled
The former Commission for Human Rights was responsible for the 1948 Declaration and was a driving force behind condemning the abuse against human dignity committed throughout the decades that followed its creation. It became gradually discredited because of the arrival of new members, such as Sudan, Vietnam, Togo, Sierra Leone, Libya and Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. The UN’s own members must shoulder the burden of responsibility here, as they agreed to, and increased the Commission’s politicisation. These same members are now responsible for turning the new Council into the promoter and defender of human rights that it has the potential to be. If democracies vote en bloc in future, they will be able to eject countries that violate human rights from the council for good.
© Cafe Babel
Headlines 16 June, 2006
HATE CRIME OR HOOLIGANISM? (OSCE region)
How the ODIHR is helping to tackle an ill-defined problem
14/6/2006- Over the past two years, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has been developing various tools aimed at fighting hate crime. But it has had to sidestep a few obstacles along the way. The two most significant stumbling blocks are the lack of an accepted definition of hate crimes within the OSCE and the dearth of statistics on such crimes in individual countries. Which raises the question: how exactly do you fight a problem that can be neither clearly defined nor sufficiently quantified? One thing that distinguishes hate crimes from similar crimes not based on prejudice is the status of the victim. "The effect [of hate crime] is more severe because the victim is not random," says Acting Inspector Tim Parsons of the Race and Diversity Unit of the City of London Police. "The victim is especially selected because of a particular trait, which often instils a sense of fear in an entire community."
The question of definition
Agreeing on what those particular traits are, however, is largely what has prevented the OSCE from coming up with an accepted definition of hate crime. "One country's hate crime is another's hooliganism," says Ambassador Christian Strohal, ODIHR Director. "We have 55 states in the OSCE and many different opinions as to what constitutes a hate crime." To get around this problem, the ODIHR developed its own working definition that takes a broad approach, offering protection to as many potential victims as possible. "Where states have legislation in place, we, of course, recognize that, and we work with them within that framework," says Jo-Anne Bishop, Head of Tolerance and Non-Discrimination at the ODIHR. "But our definition provides an important tool for our own training programmes, which are aimed at ensuring the protection of individuals. From our point of view, no one should be excluded and denied protection." But even where countries have passed laws calling for stiffer penalties when hate is a motivating factor in a crime, those laws are not always used. Police investigators often fail to recognize tell-tale signs that a crime was motivated by hate, and prosecutors often push for lesser charges instead of seeking a conviction for a hate crime. Compounding the problem is the lack of statistics available for individual countries and the OSCE region as a whole. This is particularly troubling in terms of formulating long-term prevention strategies. "If governments want to not only prosecute perpetrators of hate crimes today but to prevent further crimes in the future, they need to know who the perpetrators are and who they're targeting and why," says the ODIHR's Bishop.
Training law enforcement officers
Many of the ODIHR's activities aimed at combating hate crimes involve the collection and dissemination of information. One, however, is geared towards having an immediate impact: its training programme for law enforcement officers. The ODIHR and its team of law enforcement experts from six OSCE states - Canada, France, Hungary, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States - have developed a curriculum that draws on the expertise of law enforcement professionals from throughout the region. Using a train-the-trainer approach that is tailored to each target country, the programme teaches police officers methods for identifying and investigating hate crimes, as well as skills for sharing intelligence and working with prosecutors. "Law enforcement agencies, particularly front-line officers, have an important role to play in leading the fight against hate crimes," says Paul Goldenberg, programme manager of the ODIHR's training programme for law enforcement officers. "Police are often at the forefront of social change. They are in a unique and vital position in maintaining civil society and protecting the safety and security of a nation's citizenry." Since being piloted in Spain and Hungary in 2005, the hate-crime curriculum has been added to the regular training programme for officers studying at the police academies in both countries. The ODIHR is now expanding its programme in 2006 to include training for prosecutors, which is currently being piloted in Croatia and Ukraine. "While hate-crimes training needs to be tailored to the needs of individual countries, one lesson is universal: when hate crimes are not vigorously investigated and prosecuted, there are extreme costs," says Goldenberg. "It is not only the victims who suffer, nor is the damage limited to the group to which they are perceived to belong. It is [also] to the social fabric itself, because the message is clearly heard by the haters ... that there is an 'unremarkable' and 'tolerable' level of hate violence."
The need for information
Finding information on hate crimes is no easy task. For one thing, there has been little comprehensive research on the issue, apart from one report on racist crime by the EU's Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia and another by the US-based NGO Human Rights First. Nor is there much information available from the states themselves, as only a few of the 55 OSCE countries keep comprehensive and reliable data on hate crimes. "The lack of information available on the incidence of hate crimes means that this phenomenon is, to a large extent, hidden from the public," says the ODIHR's Bishop. "However, we are encouraged by the fact that this trend is changing, as a number of states have already appointed officials who will be responsible for collecting national data on hate crimes and sharing it with the ODIHR, which will help us to formulate longer-term strategies to tackle the problem." The first meeting of national focal points on hate crime will be organized by the ODIHR in the autumn. This will provide officials from throughout the region with an opportunity to discuss common strategies and to develop methods for improving the collection of statistics on hate crime.
© OSCE
RACISM TOPS AGENDA IN MEETING BETWEEN EUMC AND COE’S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER
16/6/2006- The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, and Director Beate Winkler from the European Union’s Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), met in Vienna today to discuss strengthening their common work against racism and protecting human rights. A variety of issues such as Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and inter-cultural dialogue are priorities for both organisations. Both organisations regard the exchange and sharing of information as crucial to effective and timely action. Thomas Hammarberg: “European governments need to take stronger action against xenophobic tendencies. Discrimination of migrants and persons belonging to minority groups in the labour and housing markets violate human rights and should be stopped. Politicians should not incite negative atmospheres towards foreigners. It is also important that school curricula be reviewed in order to promote genuine tolerance.” Beate Winkler: “Racism is a heinous human rights violation. We need strong political leadership to counter racism in all its forms. Our reports show that a firm stance by political leaders against racial intolerance can reduce racist violence and racially motivated hatred in a society.” She continued: “This is why today’s visit of Thomas Hammarberg to the EUMC is important. The EUMC and the competent bodies in the Council of Europe pursue a common goal to eradicate racism and protect those most vulnerable to racism in our societies. Each body brings its own unique qualities to the fight against racism and the protection of human rights. Enhancing cooperation will further harness these qualities and support turning international human rights commitments into effective action against racism.”
© Dzeno Association
LIFE SENTENCES FOR MEN WHO MURDERED GAY BARMAN(uk)
16/6/2006- Two men who murdered a barman in an attack motivated by "homophobic thuggery" were today jailed for life. Thomas Pickford and Scott Walker kicked and stamped on Jody Dobrowski "as if trying to kill an animal", the Old Bailey was told. Unemployed Pickford, 25, and decorator Scott Walker, 33, both of no fixed address, were told they would serve a minimum of 28 years after admitting to killing Mr Dobrowski as he walked across Clapham Common last October. Mr Dobrowski, 24, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, suffered dozens of wounds as he crossed a gay cruising area of the park. The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Brian Barker, said it was likely that both men would serve longer than the 28 years he fixed as a minimum before they could be considered for parole. He said the pair had only one intention when they went to the wooded area on Clapham Common on October 14 last year - "homophobic thuggery". "It was Jody's tragic misfortune to cross your path. You subjected him to mindless abuse and showed him no mercy. In those few seconds you took from him the most precious possessions - his life and future." Walker and Pickford were returning to a nearby hostel for released offenders from a night of drinking in Lavender Hill and decided to cross the common. On their way, Pickford tried to grab a woman in Battersea Rise as she got off a bus and verbally abused her. She later helped identify Pickford as a suspect and noticed one of the men was carrying a bottle. The pair encountered their victim and following a brief exchange of words, Pickford threw punches at Mr Dobrowski. Walker joined in the assault, and Mr Dobrowski's head, neck and body were punched, kicked and stamped on. Witnesses saw and heard the sustained assault and one who tried to intervene was warned off by Walker and Pickford. One of them warned: "We don't like poofters here and that's why we can kill him if we want." The witness, who was threatened with similar treatment, called the police. Officers arrived in the area and were guided to the scene by the witness. The officers who found Mr Dobrowski described his face as "a bloody, swollen pulp".
Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting, said that Walker had been on licence from a jail term for assaulting and threatening to kill his own mother. The licence had expired just a day before he attacked Mr Dobrowski. He said the "gentle, loveable and well-liked" barman's bereft family had only one question of the two men - why did they take his life? "The answer is because he was gay," said Mr Hilliard. Both men had been involved in an assault on another man in the area two weeks earlier. The prosecution said a witness suggested that the stocky, tattooed Walker was more aggressive. Pickford had given an account of how Walker assaulted the victim, stuffing a sock and the man's shoe in his mouth. Mr Dobrowski, an assistant bar manager at Bar Risa Jongleurs, in Camden, north London, was alive when police discovered him. He died in hospital from severe head, neck and facial injuries. Police had recently stepped up patrols on the common after other homophobic attacks. Mr Dobrowski studied biology at Cardiff University, but had decided to leave his degree course for bar work.
© The Guardian
EU VOTES TO COMBAT HOMOPHOBIA
15/6/2006- The European Union has passed a resolution to combat homophobia on the continent which would see sentences handed down for homophobic, anti Semitic, and Islamophobic offences. The European Parliament debated the increase in racist and homophobic incidents yesterday, with many MEPs pointing to the increase of violence in some member states such as Poland and Latvia. Hans Winkler State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs said that the Presidency gave particular importance to the combating of discrimination. The entire security of the EU was threatened and undermined by such violence and discrimination and it needed to be addressed urgently. He recalled that since the Amsterdam Treaty entered into force, the EU had adopted anti discrimination equal opportunities legislation which was passed in 2000. Discrimination on the grounds of gender, belief age and ability was forbidden. Mr Winkler drew attention to the work of the European Agency monitoring xenophobia and racism, but said it was important that the EU create a new agency on fundamental rights which he said, citizens both want and need. Mr Winkler that national governments were taking measures but where education was insufficient, national criminal law should apply. Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Commissioner Vladimir Spidla told MEPs that the Commission condemns all forms of homophobia, which he said flew in the face of the principles on which Europe was built. He pointed out that the Charter of Fundamental Rights prohibits any discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. In addition to legislative measures, he said, must be accompanied by other measures to stamp out discrimination and denigrating behaviour. "We are firmly convinced that the EU must be a model of the fight against racism, xenophobia and homophobia," he said.
Polish MEPs defended their countries record, Wojciech Roszkwowski said that justice requires a level-headed approach and one needs to be very careful when generalising about certain actions. He continued that there were too many contradictions within the resolution as well as equalisation on racism and homophobia with ideological differences. He attacked the Netherlands with regards to their "paedophilic party" and said that the other countries ought to look at their own countries before harassing others. Bogdan Pek said that this was very significant day for the European Parliament as it could set a new trend in the legislative fight against racism and for minorities. But he believed that his debate was turning into another fight between the political left and the political right. He said that it was unacceptable for Poland to have to be grotesquely slandered by the Left. Maciej Marian Giertych said that it would be useful for various MEPs to check their facts before presenting them in the debate. He continued that the former Communists gave the homosexual community protecting. However, the present government is a government of law and order, and order includes moral order. Former EastEnder turned Labour MEP and president on the EU's Intergroup on Lesbian and Gay Rights, Michael Cashman, said he was saddened by the comments of Polish MEPs from the League of Polish Families and the Law and Justice Party. Religion or family values, he said, represented no excuse for the promotion of hatred, discrimination and evil. "What value is there in diminishing the lives of ordinary human beings? There is none," he said. Having taken part in the Gay Pride march in Warsaw, he said that the decent reception it had received from ordinary people there had shown that the two parties he mentioned did not represent the decent, ordinary people of Poland.
Speaking for the EPP-ED group, Patrick Gaubert said: "The EU is founded on a community based on indivisible and universal rights of human dignity, freedom and solidarity. We see on daily basis that struggle against intolerance is far from over. It is upsetting to have to recall that racism is unacceptable in our societies. As Members of Parliament we must firm and roundly condemn it." He said that governments should adopt the framework decision on racism and xenophobia. He regretted, however, that Parliament was missing an opportunity to speak with one voice on these issues. This was not a left or right wing struggle, he said, adding that he understood why his group had not signed the joint resolution. Socialist group leader Martin Schulz said that when he joined the European Parliament twelve years ago, he would not have thought it possible that such a debate would be needed again. "Racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and hatred of minorities is horrifying. It should set alarm bells ringing." All democratic political forces of left and right had joined to created the EU to resolve the conflicts of 20th century, and to abandon movements based on hatred of minorities and those who did not conform. "The idea was to form a community based on fundamental rights for all regardless of belief, nationality, skin colour, origin and how they want to live... we want to organise a society where all have their place." People riding roughshod over minorities for political benefit had happened before, he said, and this was not just in the new Member States or in one country: "This is not criticism of any nations, but against the intellectual bankruptcy of people promoting such ideas. They don't belong in any society, and certainly not in this Parliament."
For the Alde group, Sophia In 't Veld said that it was "unfortunate" that it was still necessary to debate this issue. People were still being killed just because of the colour of their skin or their sexual orientation which she described as "barbarian". She welcomed the recent equality marches including the one in Warsaw which she took part in. Subsidiarity was an excuse for national governments not to act and this issue should be discussed at EU level. The EU should aim to be "the world champion" in the defence of fundamental rights. The UK Green Party's Jean Lambert welcomed the strong statements and expressed her wish for other politicians to be as clear and forthright. She said that "it is clear that no European Union Member State is free from this hatred". "We have to be clear that we won't tolerate this in our Member States", she added. Ms Lambert was disappointed that it took several deaths, even in her own country, for awareness to be raised. A main problem is the media, she said.
MEPs will call on the EU representatives at the upcoming G8 Summit to raise the issue of human rights with Russia as a matter of urgency, in particular the right to demonstrate peacefully. The House will also call on the institutions of the European Union, the Member States and all European democratic political parties to condemn all acts of intolerance and of incitement to racial hatred, as well as all acts of harassment or racist violence. The House will call on the Member States to give proper attention to the fight against racism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia both in their relations with each other and in their bilateral relations with third countries. MEPs will call on the Commission to continue developing an anti-discrimination policy alongside its emerging policy on integration. The resolution passed this morning with 301 votes in favour, 161 votes against and 102 abstentions. West Midlands MEP Mr Cashman said after the result, "This is a brilliant result and shows that the European Parliament is standing up for our citizens' rights. "It's an important political message which will serve as a clear warning to all Member States that they must fight actively to stop racism, xenophobia and homophobia. "To stand by and let human rights be abused in any Member State is to renege on EU laws and principals. We in the European Parliament will do all we can to ensure all violent acts against any minority are condemned and measures are taken to stop such actions occurring."
©
Pink News
MEPS ADOPT RESOLUTION ON THE INCREASE IN RACIST AND HOMOPHOBIC VIOLENCE IN EUROPE(Press release)
In adopting a joint resolution from the PES, ALDE, Greens and GUE/NGL political groups, by 301 in favour to 161 against with 102 abstentions, Parliament deplores the fact that the Council has been unable to adopt the 2001 Council Framework Decision on combating racism and xenophobia.
15/6/2006- MEPs urgently call on the future Finnish Presidency of the Council to the restart the work on it and on the Council to reach an agreement on explicitly extending it to homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and other types of offences motivated by phobia or hatred based on ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religion or other irrational grounds. MEPs urge all the Member States to effectively implement the anti-discrimination directives and the Commission to bring before the Court of Justice those Member States which fail to do so, and to submit before mid-2007 new legislative tools incorporating all the grounds for discrimination set out in Article 13 of the EC Treaty and having the same scope as Directive 2000/43/EC. The House strongly condemns all racist attacks, and expresses its solidarity with all victims of such attacks and their families, including:
– the premeditated murder of a black woman of Malian nationality and the Belgian child of whom she was the nurse, perpetrated in Antwerp on 12 May 2006 by a young Belgian right-wing extremist, this same person having a few moments earlier seriously wounded a woman of Turkish origin while trying to kill her;
– the murder of a 16-year-old boy in January 2006 and of a 17-year old boy in April 2006 in Brussels, expressing its indignation at some of the media coverage of these murders, which at times led to unfounded criminalisation of whole communities in the eyes of the general public;
– the rape, torture and assassination of Ilan Halimi in February 2006 in France by a gang of 22 persons of different origins, expressing its deep concern at the anti-Semitic dimension of this crime;
– the assassination of Chaïb Zehaf in March 2006 in France due to his ethnic origin;
– the brutal assault on a German citizen of Ethiopian origin, Kevin K., in the village of Poemmelte, Saxony-Anhalt, on 9 January 2006, in particular because of its racial motive;
– the horrific torture and murder of Gisberta, a transsexual living in the Portuguese city of Oporto, in February 2006, by a group of adolescent and pre-adolescent minors, urging the Portuguese authorities to do everything in their power to punish those responsible and fight the climate of impunity with respect to this and other hate crimes;
– the attack against Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland, which took place in Warsaw, as well as the declarations by a leading member of the League of Polish Families inciting violence against GLBT people with a view to the march for tolerance and equality;
- the increase in the number of racist attacks, calls and chants by fans with neo-Nazi allegiances in football stadiums;
MEPs call on the EU representatives at the upcoming G8 Summit to raise the issue of human rights with Russia as a matter of urgency, in particular the right to demonstrate peacefully. The House also calls on the institutions of the European Union, the Member States and all European democratic political parties to condemn all acts of intolerance and of incitement to racial hatred, as well as all acts of harassment or racist violence.
The House calls on the Member States to give proper attention to the fight against racism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia both in their relations with each other and in their bilateral relations with third countries. MEPs will call on the Commission to continue developing an anti-discrimination policy alongside its emerging policy on integration. Parliament stresses the need to support anti-racist and anti-xenophobic initiatives in relation to the current World Cup in Germany, and asks authorities to closely monitor, prosecute and condemn those responsible for racist acts.
© European Parliament
ISLAMOPHOBIA AND THE WEST
15/6/2006- Anti-Asian racism (especially against South Asia) has always been prevalent in the West. If media reports are to be believed, Asians have been subject to some of the most brutal acts of harassment, injustice and hostility. Well-known is the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 where the Chinese were singled out and forbidden from stepping on American soil. And this was the culmination of numerous acts of discrimination against Chinese immigrants in the United States. Another famous (or rather infamous) episode of anti-Asian racism was the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II. And done just on the basis of their ethnic ancestry! Hence, it comes as no surprise that 9/11 evoked an Anti Islamic sentiment worldwide. The concept of Islamophobia did exist long before that fateful September day, but it had never been so pronounced. Islamophobia may be understood to mean an irrational fear or hatred of the Mulims and Islam. It assumed gargantuan proportions in the West, thanks to Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda. Post 9/11, we've all seen and heard stories of how Asians in the West have had their belongings searched without prior notice to find out if they are armed, and instances of several Muslims having to flee from Europe. The question is, how much of what is reported is true? How many Asians actually feel singled out?
Indians abroad have differing views. Some say that Islamophobia does exist, but they are not immediately aware of its repercussions, while others are of the view that they do come across instances of bias against their Islam counterparts. Sudarshan George, an Indian student at Germany's Bonn University, is of the view that Islamophobia does not exist at the university level in his country. He does say, however that "there is a general feeling of hostility towards the Muslims everywhere, though subtle". A friend of his was once denied an apartment on rent, just because he was Muslim. And interestingly, after 9/11, a pair of lovers, one of them Muslim, parted ways, because the other "could not trust Muslims after what they did to America". However, Shilpa Singh, an Indian housewife in Canada, has this to say: "We have a Muslim neighbour, but none of us have a problem. And they seem to be quite happy. We regularly exchange gifts and get together for all important occasions." Medha Saran, a student in at a reputed international university begs to differ. She cites an instance where, soon after 9/11, her friend was forced to vacate her hostel room at night, just because she was Muslim! There are a few non-Muslims who have reported how soon after 9/11 they were searched at an amusement park to see if they were armed.
Then there is a bank employee in the US, Abhishek Kaul, who says that his Muslim friend has had to face abusive language at a few public places. An interesting detail comes from Maureen, a school teacher in Alabama. "There were two Muslim kids in my class. And things were absolutely fine till 9/11. But soon afterwards, a few of the parents began to demand that the Muslim kids be sent away, or else they would have to shift their wards to a different school. It took a lot of talking from my side to let them continue with the current state of affairs. But by then, both the Muslim kids were taken away from school by their parents." There is however, a unanimous view: That discrimination in some form or another does exist in the West. This is not surprising, since the West's penchant for bias is well known. It could be subtle or aggressive, but it is there all the same. A study of Asian discrimination in the West would take a lifetime. So we could arrive at a decent conclusion if we said that Islamophobia is a real threat out there in the West, and it takes varying forms. But then the average Indian does not feel threatened to have a Muslim neighbour or friend.
© HindustanTimes
R'DAM TO IMPOSE INCOME DEMAND ON RESIDENTS (Netherlands)
16/6/2006- Housing Minster Sybilla Dekker has granted the local authority in Rotterdam to set minimum income requirements for would-be residents hoping to settle in certain parts of the port city. The Minister wrote in a letter to the municipality that she was allowing the measure to enable the city to tackle poverty in some of the neighbourhoods resulting mainly from new immigrants settling there. The 'Wet bijzondere maatregelen grootstedelijke problematiek', better known as the Rotterdam Wet (Law), will be enforced in the districts of Hillesluis, Carnisse, Oud Charlois and Tarwewijk. Several individual streets are also included. Minister Dekker said it was clear these areas, mainly home to underprivileged people, have to contend with an accumulation of social, economic and physical problems. The law will require people who have lived in the Rotterdam region for less than six years to earn at least a minimum figure to be stipulated by city officials. There must be sufficient housing elsewhere for people turned away from the named regions. The permission for the income requirement runs for four years and can be extended for a maximum of another four years on request from the local authority. The local authority in Rotterdam is also taking other steps to alleviate the problems associated with poverty and disadvantage, the Minister noted. Other cities can also seek permission from the Minister to use the Rotterdam Wet to temporarily limit the influx of underprivileged residents.
© Expatica News
DUTCH MINISTERS BACK CONTROVERSIAL CITIZEN LAW
16/6/2006- The coalition government has rallied behind Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk and her controversial draft naturalisation law. Ministers said the legislation could be passed in the form laid out by Verdonk, the Immigration Minister told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting on Friday. Support from her ministerial colleagues come as her draft law, three years in the making, has come in for strong criticism from official bodies and opposition MPs. The advisory commission on foreigner affairs and the Dutch equality commission have all raised question marks about the legislation. The main bone of contention is the proposal to make all naturalised citizens, no matter how long they have lived in the Netherlands, take an integration course. Critics say this would lead to unequal treatment of different groups of Dutch citizens. The result could be protracted court cases about discrimination. Parliament has asked the Council of State to adjudicate on the issue and Verdonk said on Friday she is also waiting to receive its advice. But for the time being she said she is confident the distinction between naturalised and native-born Dutch citizens will be allowed. Not only immigrants but indigenous Dutch people too should be able to speak and write Dutch, Labour MP Jeroen Dijsselbloem said in parliament on Monday during a discussion on the proposed legislation. MPs are to discuss the issue again next Wednesday.
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DUTCH MAKE NEEDED CHANGES TO MEND THEIR TORN IDENTITY (Opinion)
By Georgie Anne Geyer
15/6/2006- One recent sunny afternoon, as the city's venerable buildings cast ever-changing reflections in the famous canals, a prominent Dutch editor was ruminating with me on the reasons behind the immigration upheavals here. "For too long, we were too much afraid to speak out on religious -- or any -- differences," Hubert Smeets was saying, a touch of sadness in his voice. "It was taboo to speak of religious, or even ethical, differences. "Remember, before World War II, 12 percent to 14 percent of Amsterdam was Jewish -- only 10 percent survived. So how can you say that, in the land of Anne Frank, you should not allow others to come?" He paused. "And then came 9/11, and all the taboos were taboo."
Suddenly the 16 million Dutch of this small, proper, prosperous country woke up to a nightmare long stirring in its unconscious. They had, without really thinking, let in 1.6 million foreigners, mostly Muslims, since the '60s; they had asked nothing of them -- no loyalty, no commitment, no cultural understanding. Many were from the most different cultures possible and had no intention whatsoever of becoming "Dutch." Unsurprisingly, to anyone not taken in by the sloppy multicultural dreams of the era, it has all taken a terrible turn -- with the vicious stabbing murder of writer Theo Van Gogh by a Moroccan immigrant, with Rotterdam and Amsterdam soon destined to be half Muslim, and with the third generation of Muslims actively alienated from the state. Smeets, one of the major commentators on immigration and editor-in-chief of the magazine De Groene Amsterdammer, then considered the results of all the good intentions. "Do the Muslims want to be Dutch?" he asked. "No -- and we don't like that. There was a poll recently on racism in The Netherlands and people were asked, Do you consider yourself a racist? And even a large number of the young said they considered themselves 'racists.' "In the 1980s," he summed up, "everybody focused on social and economic solutions. Now everybody is focused on cultural problems."
How did this supremely moral and magnanimous country come to such a point? Ironically, the answers are not what you might think. Holland's quandary today, which stands in many ways as a paradigm for Europe, is the direct result of a misplaced and misdirected guilt. They have tried to atone for the era of Anne Frank, and of Dutch colonialism from Indonesia to Surinam, by allowing thousands of Muslims and other not easily assimilated immigrants to come in with no conditions. In the end, it has only increased intolerance. The mood of the new Netherlands can be read in the words of its most celebrated immigrant, citizen and parliamentarian, the Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She has taken consistently daring stands on women's and human rights, and at the moment, through a another mishmash of contending factors, is losing her citizenship.
To The New York Times recently, she spoke the formerly unspeakable: "I am going to say something very controversial now," she said. "I think that immigrants from rural areas, most of them, are at a phase of civilization that is far behind that of the host countries, like The Netherlands, and because of that, these terrible events (like the murder of her friend Van Gogh) can occur. "Here come people from another world who are living in the period when people are lynched publicly, immigrants who have not thought about individual freedom, and it's clear to me that the Dutch and the Germans and the French all made this huge mistake, saying, 'OK, their kids will go to school and take on more liberal or secular views,' and instead you get (this murderer)." Words like these could never have been said in the old days of multicultural delusion. But such thinking is simply common sense analysis of the different stages of development that all peoples go through across history. After all, in the north of Europe, Germanic tribesmen were dancing naked around the fires when the Egyptians, the Moors and the Moguls, ancestors of many of today's immigrants, were ruling the world. Were they racist?
Since thinking is beginning to open up, let me make several "outrageous" suggestions for the future:
=Bring in only immigrants from generally compatible cultures. In Europe, this could mean middle classes from Arab lands, but not poor and uneducated villagers from the subcontinent. Distance is a great mitigator of the hatred of the other; and familiarity, without agreement on principle, does indeed breed only contempt.
=Don't feel guilty about it. Guilt is one of the most useless of emotions in foreign affairs, because the truly guilty never feel they are, and the professionally guilty liberals wind up doing foolish things. There's something dangerous about people so smug about themselves that they have lost their fear of the unknown. Beware, above all, of misplaced guilt.
=Begin a serious conversation about your own cultures. In Europe, I hear over and over from my European friends how their own identities have become so weakened, they find it hard to demand that outsiders even respect them.
=Finally, don't try to make up for your falling birthrates by bringing in people you don't even know. That is a Faustian bargain, and Holland came close to losing its soul in it. Why not try actually working longer hours, taking fewer social benefits and using more advanced technologies?
Holland IS waking up. It is now demanding much more of immigrants, cutting back immigration sharply, even showing racy films to would-be immigrants to see how they like Dutch women in bikinis and Dutch men kissing men -- "take it or stay home" is the unequivocal message. And they don't seem to feel guilty about it at all.
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SUICIDE CASE CONTINUES TO HAUNT VERDONK (Netherlands)
15/6/2006- The suicide of deported asylum seeker Andrej Donorov in 2003 continues to haunt controversial Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk. Opposition MPs reacted angrily on Thursday to Verdonk's insistence that the transfer of medical information about Donorov to Spain was satisfactory. The Dutch Health Inspectorate (IGZ) studied the handling of the case and found it was not adequate. A Ukrainian national, Donorov had schizophrenia and was suicidal when he was deported to Spain in the summer of 2003. He had been in institutions on several earlier occasions and was "seized by blind panic over his impending deportation," Socialist MP Jan de Wit said. Donorov took his own life in a hotel in Madrid on 30 August 2003. This was 10 days after his arrival in Spain and the day before his first scheduled doctor's appointment. Opposition MPs claimed the Spanish were not properly informed about his condition. The officials who received him were given a bag with medication and a two-line letter in English about his illness and suicidal tendencies. Medical experts reviewed the case and stated the suicide could very likely have been prevented had the case been handled properly. MPs of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrat Party (CDA) expressed 'disappointment' at the way Verdonk continued to insist her officials had acted adequately. Government and opposition parliamentary parties held special meetings on Thursday to discuss the issue. Under international law, the Netherlands is responsible for asylum seekers in the country's care, even those being expelled. Verdonk said initially that the deportation went according to the rules. But then she was forced to concede that three mistakes had been made. She said measures have been implemented to improve the procedure. The medical handling of the case "could have been better, but the Spanish authorities were sufficiently informed [about Donorov's condition]," the Liberal Party Minister repeated time after time in parliament on Thursday. This caused her left-wing questioners to almost lose their cool. They maintained that at least two of the four conditions laid down for the deportation of ill people had not been complied with. "It is particularly worrying that the Minister does not accept the judgement of the Health Inspectorate," Labour MP Klaas de Vries said.
© Expatica News
SELECTIVE TOLERANCE IN THE NETHERLANDS
The situation of Muslims in the country, once regarded for its respect towards minorities, has worsened.
13/6/2006- From a purely legal standpoint, the Netherlands is one of the world’s most inclusive and liberal nations. It was one of the first countries to allow same-sex marriage, to authorize the public consumption of marijuana, and to issue clear rules for the application of euthanasia. Still, in topics such as immigration, the Dutch government has received severe criticism for shying away from multiculturalism, and attempting to force new citizens to adapt European customs, causing tension and misunderstanding.
The problems hit a low-point in September 2004, when lawmaker Geert Wilders abandoned the liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Wilders, who openly opposes Turkey’s accession to the European Union (EU), had voiced displeasure over the fact that Muslims in the Netherlands were not doing enough to become properly integrated. Two months after Wilders shook the political scene, filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered. Van Gogh had directed a short motion picture that depicts a husband’s abuse on a Muslim woman, and questions the interpretation of Islam’s values. At the scene of the crime, death threats against Wilders and other public servants were found. The confessed assassin, Mohammed Bouyeri, was born in the Netherlands, from Moroccan parents, and has shown little remorse. A poll from Motivaction asked Dutch adults if they think Islam is compatible with modern European life. For 63 per cent of respondents, the answer is no. Since Van Gogh’s assassination, the situation of Muslims in the Netherlands—some of whom have been in the country for more than three decades—has worsened.
The Dutch government, renowned for its respect for homosexuals, soft drug users and people who want to end their lives has not been as accommodating when it comes to foreigners. Rita Verdonk, the minister in charge of integration and immigration, recently deported 26,000 refugees, who had been in the country for more than five years as their cases were being reviewed. Last month, Verdonk lost in the VVD’s leadership race to education, culture and science secretary Mark Ruute. An extraordinary surprise came with the emergence of a new political party, called Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD). The name immediately evokes positive feelings, but the organization—which requires 570 signatures of support to become officially registered and participate in the legislative election tentatively scheduled for January 2007—has a very unorthodox platform. Among the NVD’s proposals are legalizing child pornography, decriminalizing the consumption of all drugs, and making train travel free. Even in a liberal nation, the NVD’s birth was shocking. 79 per cent of respondents to a MijnOpinie.nl poll think the party should be banned. Lawmaker Lousewies van der Laan of Democrats 66 (D66)—which is part of the governing coalition along with the Christian-Democratic Appeal (CDA) of prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and the VVD—declared, "These people need a psychiatrist, not a political party."
Immigration has been an extremely complex topic. Although the Netherlands began to offer legal status to many foreigners in the 1980s, things have changed. In 2003, emigration exceeded immigration for the first time in two decades. If Canada, for instance, places the ability of immigrants to develop in the workplace over any ethnic or religious consideration, the Dutch appear to be trying to discourage specific groups. Verdonk’s office distributes a leaflet titled "Domestic Violence and Your Residence Permit." It is the only publication that has a picture of a Muslim woman on the cover. Earlier this month, a Dutch public servant felt out of place, rejected and marginalized. The Netherlands’ ambassador to Estonia, Hans Glaubitz, asked the Foreign Office to transfer him to Montreal, arguing that he has faced homophobia and racism in Tallin for his relationship with a Cuban man. Perhaps after a few months in Canada, Glaubitz will be in a fortunate position to explain to his government that respect for minorities cannot be selective.
© Angus Reid Consultants
CHIRAC'S MUSEUM OF EXOTIC ART PANNED FOR BEING 'RACIST' (France)
16/6/2006- Jacques Chirac's hopes of leaving a glittering legacy in the shape of a major new museum in Paris were already in trouble yesterday, with critics calling the Quai Branly patronising and racist before it had even opened its doors. The museum, dedicated entirely to non-Western arts, and set to open next Monday on the left bank of the Seine between Invalides and the Eiffel Tower, has been one of the French President's pet projects since his election in 1995. And it is likely to be one of the few lasting memorials to his decade at the Elysée Palace. But that has done little to stop critics who object to the idea of categorising African, Asian and Pacific art as separate from Western art. The museum's directors, aware of the potential brickbats, were careful to choose the title Museum of the Quai Branly to avoid any reference to primitive art. "We want to show that this type of art is equivalent to European art. We want to place it on the same level," said Patrice Januel, the museum's director and curator. However, critics have pointed to the construction of the Vegetation Wall as evidence of the project's patronising approach. The 800 square metre horizontal garden is composed of 15,000 plants of 150 species from China, America and central Europe. Some believe that the focus on vegetation reinforces the preconception that non-Western art is closer to nature and therefore "primitive". M. Chirac has long claimed a passion for non-Western art, and apparently has expert knowledge in the field. "Just like [former French president Georges] Pompidou had a passion for contemporary art, Chirac is really passionate, he's a true connoisseur of non-Western art," said M. Januel. It was in 1996 that M. Chirac announced plans for a museum "dedicated to arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas".
One of France's top architects, Jean Nouvel, has created a futuristic building to rival the Pompidou Centre, and 3,500 tons of steel were used for the metallic structure, which incorporates four buildings each with a distinct style. M. Januel says that M. Nouvel's project will appeal to everyone. "People will like it," he said, even those who loathe contemporary architecture, because of the amount of green space incorporated into the design. Members of the public have free access to the garden and roof terrace, regardless of whether they are visiting the museum. People have also claimed that the Quai Branly has robbed other museums of vital pieces. Almost 300,000 objects are now held at the Quai Branly, originating from the National Museum of Africa and Oceania, the ethnology department of the Museum of Man, and a small number of works from the Guimet Museum, which specialises in Asian art. But the museum's directors argue that the works will benefit from their transfer to the purpose-built museum, which is literally "built around the collection". M. Nouvel says he conceived the museum's design with the 300,000 works in mind. "Usually, one thinks of the display after the conception of the building. Here, we did the opposite: beginning with the collection, we constructed the museum around it," he said. Emphasising its nature as a living museum, contemporary artists have been included in the project. Eight aborigines were flown in from Australia to create a mural and Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer, has been commissioned to make curtains.
© Independent Digital
EUROPEAN UNION: DO WE WANT YOU? (opinion, France)
Immigration controls are toughening in Europe. In France a new law will give priority to immigrants with degrees, make an integration contract compulsory, abolish the right of long-term illegal immigrants to regularise their situation and restrict family reunification.
By Claudio Bolzman and Manuel Boucher
European Union states have begun to update their immigration policies, which means that French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy’s second white paper on immigration is no isolated phenomenon. As the Swedish researcher Tomas Hammar has pointed out (1), the states often address two contradictory concerns: immigration policy, which seeks to control the influx of migrants, and immigrant policy, which focuses on the life of resident immigrants, their rights and participation in public life - integration. The first approach mainly reflects the concerns of host states; the second attempts to address the needs of migrants. In the past, particularly after the second world war, comparatively liberal immigration policies have gone hand in hand with tough policies on integration, while strict immigration policies generally coincide with fairly open policies on integration. Now France and other countries, including the Netherlands, want to raise requirements for prospective immigrants, particularly the poorly qualified, and also to set higher demands for integration. They are introducing reception and integration contracts, and immigrants may be sanctioned if they fail to comply. Several countries will oblige new arrivals to learn the national language. Although European states agree on the need to restrict immigration, imposing stricter controls on the borders of fortress Europe, they are still struggling to reach a consensus on integration policy, which ranges from the award of full citizenship to nothing. Some encourage migrant participation, others want to keep immigrants as a permanent reserve of casual labour (2). The key factors are countries’ perceptions of migrants, whether they want newcomers and how long they expect them to stay (permanent or temporary residents). They have other concerns: population growth, the economy, human rights, security and their conception of the nation-state. The French sociologist Dominique Schnapper has demonstrated that each country’s attitude to immigration is rooted in the historical and political trials from which it emerged. This explains the diverse vocabularies. “For the Germans, they are always ‘foreigners’; in Britain they are ‘racial minorities’ (for years both West Indians and Indians were known as ‘blacks’). The Dutch and Swedes talk of ‘cultural minorities’; the French refer to ‘immigrants’, then ‘nationals’ or ‘citizens’. All these terms reflect the relationship to the Other, national traditions of integration and the concept of citizenship. A grasp of history is needed to understand policies on resident foreigners and the forms of the relationship with the Other. In France, the dominant force is Jacobinism, linked to a concept of the nation that began in the Middle Ages and was reinforced by the 1789 Revolution, with its emphasis on rationalism and universal values. Britain’s multiculturalism is linked to the development of parliamentary democracy; the liberal tradition of the Netherlands and Sweden account for current policies on the emancipation of minorities. In Germany history is the key factor, with the idea that the German people (das deutsche Volk) constitutes an ethnic and linguistic whole” (3).
Differing approaches
Any attempt to harmonise the handling of immigration and asylum rights must take account of specific approaches to integration (4). Sweden restricts the number of non-European immigrants but encourages multicultural citizenship for resident immigrants. Unlike other states, Sweden, in this policy, which is supported by a broad consensus, considers cultural diversity, cooperation and solidarity to be essential social values and therefore promotes equal treatment of immigrants. But equal rights do not prevent cultural differences from being recognised, and the authorities encourage immigrants to form communities and keep their mother tongue. Foreigners are entitled to vote in local elections, the naturalisation procedure is straightforward and discrimination is opposed. But there are risks: immigrant communities may turn in on themselves, the welfare state may pander to the demands of ethnic interest groups, and social and political life could split along ethnic lines. The Netherlands developed a similar approach under different historical and social conditions. Dutch society long ago adopted a system of verzuiling (pillarisation) under which the state delegated the administration of a large part of social and cultural affairs to pillars - churches and political ideologies (mainly the Catholics, Protestants and socialists). Verzuiling enabled the state to cope with many immigrants from former colonies, opening up official bodies so that the newcomers could join the system. But this has gone into reverse with the disintegration of the consensus on immigration, pressure from xenophobic groups and a growing debate on national identity. The government has adopted measures requiring greater assimilation, such as compulsory integration contracts. Immigrants’ civic rights are now conditional on production of proof of assimilation. Britain had to cope with immigration from former colonies on an even larger scale, despite the efforts of successive governments to restrict the influx of “coloured” people, a process that the French sociologist Danièle Joly (who has been working in Britain for 30 years) refers to as “institutionalised racial discrimination” (5). Britain, too, gradually worked out a policy on integration based on the recognition of multiculturalism.
But awareness of cultural diversity also signifies reluctance to treat migrants as an integral part of the nation. Britain abolished citizenship by birthright in 1983 and no longer grants nationality to people from protectorates or colonies. Immigrants and their descendants are seen as underprivileged ethnic minorities that the state must strive to integrate. Ethnic identity is registered in public records, and appears as a question on census forms. In deference to the principle of equality, measures have been introduced to combat discrimination and racism: treating communities as genuine entities contributes to their ability to organise, negotiate and mobilise their members. Even so, under cover of multiculturalism, there is a risk of institutionalising a position of social and economic inferiority. Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU and has no colonial past, advocates a degree of assimilation that does not involve much participation in public life. Promoting an ethnically oriented view of the nation, symbolised by citizenship by descent, it considers immigrants simply as a source of labour: one-dimensional citizens, of exclusively economic significance: producers, consumers, taxpayers and welfare beneficiaries (6). Although some cantons have recently granted foreigners the right to vote in local elections, political rights are still seen as inseparable from Swiss nationality, which is extremely hard to obtain, even for second- or third-generation immigrants. Several referendums have thwarted attempts to simplify naturalisation. Many people of immigrant origin, who have never lived anywhere other than Switzerland, are still foreigners. For years people tended to migrate from Italy and Spain, rather than to them, but recently the trend has been reversed. Both countries initially introduced lax rules on entry because of the demands of their economy, but disregarded integration. Several economic sectors took advantage of this. Unregistered female labour currently compensates for the acute lack of public amenities for childcare or the aged. But the gradual realisation that immigration was a permanent feature prompted measures to regularise the status of immigrants. The most recent was in Spain in 2005. It enabled migrants from outside the EU to obtain a proper work permit and gain official recognition of their civil rights, particularly to family reunification - and attracted criticism from vocal xenophobic groups.
Four key issues
Four key issues drive the debate on integration. The first, which concerns the relation between cultural and other civic rights, shows just how widely states, political parties and experts diverge, especially on how to articulate equality and difference. Some think that keeping a specific cultural identity creates a divide between the immigrant community and the rest of the nation, preventing it from fully enjoying other civic rights: cultural assimilation is necessary to achieve full citizenship. Others think that equal rights imply the acceptance of cultural differences: requiring assimilation is merely an excuse for denying other rights. The second issue turns on the relation between political rights and nationality - the formal bonds between migrants and the nation state. The predominant view is that foreigners do not qualify for the same political rights as nationals because they belong to another political community that cannot contribute, formally at least, to shaping the common will. Political citizenship, as Aristide Zolberg observes (7), is confused with nationality, excluding the Other from equal rights. But with a global market and growing numbers of people living abroad, there is good reason to argue that political rights should be dissociated from nationality, at least at a local level. Under EU regulations, citizens living in other member states are entitled to vote in local elections. A third issue arises out of the global market, which is undermining everybody’s social and economic rights. This trend may encourage some residents, as Andreas Wimmer has shown (8), to stake out areas from which immigrants are banned, the commonwealth only belonging to nationals. France’s far-right National Front calls this “national preference”. Others advocate across-the-board defence of all rights, arguing that if we start by excluding migrants, similar measures will soon apply to other social groups.
The fourth issue concerns the extent to which a democratic society may limit civil rights. As a general rule a sovereign state can, in its own interests, restrict foreign nationals’ enjoyment of basic rights. Opponents of this approach point out that immigration policies that deny civil rights trample on the most elementary human rights by creating an artificial hierarchy. There are considerable differences in the approach of European countries to immigration and integration. But the EU is trying to harmonise the policies of its member states, with the main aims of security, then combating racism and discrimination. Public opinion, though, sees increased mobility and migration, with a visible rise in human diversity, as a threat. The attacks on New York, Madrid and London worsened concerns about the consequences of cultural exchange; fear of terrorism joined other worries, exacerbated by competition between individuals and communities in a context of social and cultural disintegration. One has the impression that European policies on integration are in crisis.
Notes
(1) Tomas Hammar, ed, European Immigration Policy, Cambridge University Press Cambridge, 1985.
(2) Claudio Bolzman, “Politiques migratoires” in Manuel Boucher, ed, Discriminations et ethnicisation, L’Aube, la Tour-d’Aigues, 2006.
(3) Dominique Schnapper, “Traditions nationales et connaissance rationnelle”, Sociologie et Sociétés, vol XXXI, no 2, Montreal, 1999.
(4) Manuel Boucher, Les théories de l’intégration, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2000.
(5) Danièle Joly, “Minorités ethniques et politiques locales en Grande Bretagne” in Didier Lapeyronnie, ed, Les politiques locales d’intégration, Agence pour le Développement des Relations Interculturelles, Paris, 1991.
(6) Claudio Bolzman, Rosita Fibbi and Marie Vial, “La population âgée immigrée face à la retraite” in Hans-Rudolph Wicker, ed, L’Altérité dans la société, Seismo, Zurich, 1996.
(7) Aristide Zolberg, “L’incidence des facteurs externes sur la condition des citoyens”, in Catherine Withol De Wenden, ed, La Citoyenneté, Edilig/Fondation Diderot, Paris, 1988.
(8) Andreas Wimmer, “Der Appell an die Nation”, in Hans Rudolph Wicker, op. cit.
Claudio Bolzman lectures in sociology at Geneva University; Manuel Boucher is a sociologist and head of the Social Studies and Research Laboratory of the Institute of Social Development in Rouen
© Le Monde diplomatique.
PROFILING ON METRO CALLED WIDESPREAD(Russia)
15/6/2006- Ethnic profiling by police officers on the city's metro system compromises crime-fighting and may point to corruption, a report released Tuesday by a liberal watchdog group states. According to the study, conducted by the Open Society's Justice Initiative and JURIX, a public-interest legal affairs group, people who do not look like Russians are almost 22 times more likely to be stopped by metro police than those who do. The report also found that 3 percent of all those who were stopped in the metro had violated the law. All of those violations, the report added, could be classified as administrative. A common administrative violation is failing to register as a temporary Moscow resident. Central Asian people are often assumed to be migrant workers who have failed to register with authorities, said JURIX head Anita Soboleva. The report was recently given to Doudou Diene, United Nations special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia, a spokeswoman for the UN's Russia office said. Diene is in Moscow and St. Petersburg for a weeklong visit, the spokeswoman said. While he is in Russia, she said, Diene will meet with officials from the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police force. It is unknown whether he will discuss the findings of the study during his meeting. Soboleva said researchers monitored 15 subway stations from May to September 2005, observing 33,760 people exiting the stations. Of those, 1,523 were stopped and asked to provide identification papers, she said. While people who look like ethnic minorities comprise 4.6 percent of passengers, they accounted for nearly 60 percent of those whose IDs were checked, Soboleva said.
Yury Dzhibladze, head of the Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, said police discrimination reflected the country's xenophobic and racist environment. Dzhibladze is a well-known human rights activist. "Violence is just the tip of the iceberg," Dzhibladze said. He said that discrimination of people who did not look Russian was widespread. These people have a harder time gaining citizenship, registering as residents and, in the case of Russian citizens, obtaining status as displaced persons, Dzhilbladze said. He added that migrant laborers have few on-the-job protections. Police have the right to stop anyone they suspect of a crime or administrative violation -- including, for instance, failure to register as a temporary Moscow resident -- for an ID check. Soboleva said the study's authors had not made police corruption a central focus of their research. But, she said, interviews conducted with people who had been stopped indicate that bribery is commonplace. The report's presenters said they hoped the Interior Ministry would view the report as an invitation to collaborate on developing better law enforcement strategies. The report contains a series of recommendations for the Interior Ministry, State Duma, Russian NGOs and international observers, calling for police transparency, changes to potentially discriminatory laws and closer monitoring of ethnic profiling by police. James Goldston, head of the Justice Initiative, noted, for example, that the U.S. Customs Agency had abandoned ethnic profiling in conducting drug searches and that, since then, it had tripled its successful drug seizures. Moscow metro police could not be reached for comment. Interior Ministry and Moscow police declined to comment. Dzhibladze acknowledged that police must maintain order and that, with the conflict in Chechnya still ongoing, police might feel that targeting people from the Caucasus was more effective. Dzhibladze said that Russian ombudsman Vladimir Lukin had agreed to arrange meetings with senior Interior Ministry officials to discuss the report.
© The Moscow Times
UN RACISM EXPERT STARTS INVESTIGATION(Russia)
16/6/2006- Does the image of Russia as a hotbed of racism correspond with reality? Following a series of internationally reported killings of people with non-Slavic appearance, Doudou Diene, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia held a series of meetings in St. Petersburg and Moscow this week to investigate the state of tolerance and presence of racism in the country. Diene’s visit, which concludes in Moscow on Friday, will be followed by an extensive analytical report, with the preliminary results to be presented to the UN’s General Assembly later this year. During his visit, the UN official met with top city officials, local non-governmental organizations, human rights groups and ethnic communities. Tunkara Aliu, president of the African Union in St. Petersburg describes the state of ethnic tolerance in the city as “disastrous.” Since September 2005, five people of African origin have been killed in the city. “This wave of hostility is enormous,” Aliu said. “Beatings have become commonplace and verbal insults follow us wherever we go, be it on the street or on public transport.” Sofia Kodzova, a representative of the North Caucasus community, called for all ethnic communities represented locally to form an umbrella group and join forces to combat the problem. “The authorities ignore us and we requested a meeting with Governor Valentina Matviyenko — there was no response, no reaction at all,” Kodzova said. “But the aggression to non-Russians has reached such an alarming level over the past five years that virtually nobody can say they feel safe here if they have dark skin.”
Stefania Kulayeva, head of the Northwest Center for Social and Judicial Assistance to the Roma Community, which is part of the Memorial human rights group, said the wave of terrorist attacks that swept over the country between 2001 and 2004 and shocked the nation has left a bitter side-effect: a vicious stereotype has formed in Russian society. “A typical visual description of a terrorist in Russia is that of a person ‘with dark skin, dark hair and black eyes’,” she said. “Ordinary Russians have seen and heard that description so many times that this frightening and hated image has become deeply rooted.” Diene said the Russian authorities were open and unrestrained in their dealings with him. “I have been received by top-level officials, and have had no obstacles or restrictions on this trip,” he said. Diene’s meeting with city prosecutor Sergei Zaitsev and high-ranking members of the city government was closed to the media. In an interview with the BBC World Service after the event, Sergei Markov, deputy head of the City Hall’s External Relations Committee, described the meeting as constructive, but said the different sides put forward different views of the problem. “We have provided Mr. Diene with official statistics proving that only 0.8 percent of all crimes registered in town in 2005 were committed against foreigners,” he said. “Four crimes can be classified as hate murders. The most recent killing — the murder of a Senegalese student — is still being investigated, but all the other extremist crimes have been solved and two cases have already reached court,” he added. “That shows that the city government and its law enforcement forces are tackling the problem. Human rights groups tend to exaggerate the danger.”
Vatanyar Yagya, a veteran member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly who chairs the World Politics Department at the Faculty of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University offered a similar view. “Some of my students are Chechens, and there are no tensions in the class,” he said. “As in every big city, there are different circles in society. A lot of members of ethnic minorities hold high positions in the city’s art, business and political institutions and the city, in general, is very friendly, except for some aggressive, marginalized groups. In that respect, however, St. Petersburg is not unique.” Diene said he will very carefully study all the information gathered to prepare a thorough an unbiased report. He expressed hope that the preliminary results will be presented to the UN’s National Assembly by the end of the year. Diene spoke with fascination about the city. “The image of St. Petersburg has been tarnished by the recent attacks and the city needs to recuperate its international reputation,” Diene said. “Enormously charming, St. Petersburg will become more vibrant and internationally attractive if all foreign visitors, regardless of their race, will be equally welcome and the world hears no more reports of violent attacks on non-Russians.” Kulayeva is hopeful that the report will make a difference. “Every report makes a difference because it raises awareness and gives the issue higher visibility,” she said. “The United Nations, being a respected international organization, will be able to use its authority to urge the Russian government to develop more efficient strategies.”
© The St. Petersburg Times
DUMA MAY BAN RACIST CANDIDATES(Russia)
16/6/2006- The State Duma is considering plans to ban candidates deemed racist from running for office and to increase early voting. These measures could further marginalize government critics and lead to widespread vote-rigging, critics said. The proposals, posted on the Duma web site Tuesday, were introduced by seven Duma deputies from United Russia, the Rodina party and the Liberal Democratic Party. One amendment would allow courts to ban people or parties from running in local or federal elections if they incite racism or religious hatred or fuel other views considered extremist. Punishable actions would include not only campaign-related activity but also anything that took place years before. To take part in elections, candidates and parties would have to have a clean record for as long as the political term they seek. The Public Chamber, last week, called for similar legislation barring “extremists” from elections. Another amendment under consideration would reinstate a provision permitting more people to cast ballots ahead of election day. Early voting was widespread until 2002, when the current elections law was passed. Many political leaders, including Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, attacked early voting at the time as a means of election-rigging.
© The St. Petersburg Times
IMMIGRANTS RUN POLICE GAUNTLET IN RUSSIA
13/6/2006- Russian police are 21 times more likely to stop ethnic minorities on Moscow's underground train system than passengers with typical Russian looks, a study published on Tuesday said. "While riders who appear non-Slavic make up less than 5 percent of Moscow metro patrons, they account for over 50 percent of all persons stopped by the Moscow metro police," said the report's authors in a press release. The study was produced by the New York-based Open Society Institute -- funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros -- in conjunction with a Russian non-governmental organisation. "The disproportion ... is so massive, it cannot be explained on non-discriminatory, legitimate law enforcement grounds," the study's authors said. "The Moscow police forces are wasting their efforts by disproportionately targeting non-Slavs for fruitless stops and searches." Similar research conducted in the United States and Britain showed that police there were four or five times more likely to stop ethnic minorities than non-minorities, said the study. Amnesty International said last month that racism was out of control in Russia. In January, a man shouting "Heil Hitler!" stabbed and wounded nine people in a synagogue. Last month an ethnic Armenian man was knifed to death on a train by youths. Some commentators say many police officers hold racist views and as a result show little resolve to tackle the problem. The study's researchers stationed themselves at 15 Moscow underground stations between May and September 2005 to observe how the police operated. They witnessed 1,523 police stops and interviewed 367 people who had been stopped. Police say ethnic minorities are more likely to be illegal immigrants and are also a potential security threat. The insurgents behind a campaign of bloody attacks on civilians have the same dark complexions as many immigrants, they say. But the study found that only 3 percent of police stops resulted in any action, said the study. Moscow police routinely stop people at the entrances to underground stations and ask to see their documents. They are not required to give a reason for the stop. Doudou Diene, a United Nations human rights investigator, is in Russia this week to compile a report on racism. He is to meet officials and activist groups.
© Reuters
BLACK MAN ATTACKED IN RIGA CENTER(Latvia)
13/6/2006- Two people attacked a black man walking down Brivibas Street in Riga on June 10, police reported. Thanks to the efforts of a bystander, who chased the two assailants and captured them, the attackers have been identified and charged. At 7 p.m. two young people accosted the man with racist remarks, and hit him with a bottle. The assailants tried to flee the scene, but the victim of the attack and a passer-by caught them. The suspects were detained at the 5th department of the Riga City Chief Police Office. Though the victim noted the racist remarks, the police decided to charge the attackers with hooliganism not a hate crime, AfroLat said. The police said, according to AfroLat, that they had had no experience with hate crimes, making a case against hooliganism easier to file. At the insistence of AfroLat representatives, the police decided to reconsider their decision. Aigars Berzins, a spokesman for Latvian State Poice, said, according to BNS, that if the investigation discovers the young people had racial motives, the criminal procedure will be changed. The victim is currently undergoing a medical examination. The attackers had a criminal record, said Berzins. The Latvian branch of the European Network Against Racism issued a press release issued on June 12, demanding that the government needed to improve its ways of dealing with hate crimes. "This is yet another racially motivated attack that highlights several deficiencies in the police response and gaps in the national laws supposed to provide protection against this kind of crimes," the press release said.
© The Baltic Times
OSCE/ODIHR DIRECTOR STROHAL SAYS NGOS CRUCIAL IN PROMOTING TOLERANCE (Kazagstan)
11/6/2006- NGOs play a key role in fostering a dialogue between different cultural, religious and ethnic communities, and offer support for the OSCE's efforts to combat discrimination and promote tolerance, the Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Christian Strohal, said on Sunday. Addressing an NGO preparatory event for the Tolerance Implementation Meeting dedicated to inter-cultural, inter-religious and inter-ethnic understanding, taking place on 12 and 13 June in Almaty, he said:
"NGOs are a key factor to help governments implement OSCE commitments, and involving them in the Organization's activities is a true enrichment. The OSCE forums have given civil society a face and voice to serve as an early warning role over the years. I encourage you to keep doing so in the years ahead, and to work with us in our shared mission to eliminate all forms of intolerance and discrimination."
Political and social tensions often evolve directly from violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief and manifestations of hate. The OSCE participating States consider these violations a direct threat to stability and security in the OSCE region and a challenge to the worldwide effort to place universal human rights on a solid ground. Ambassador Strohal said NGOs help foster democratic and pluralistic societies where ethnic, cultural and religious diversity is not only tolerated but is truly and honestly respected and valued. He added: "We put strong emphasis on the need to strengthen dialogue between communities, but I also want to underline the need for dialogue within cultural and faith communities." Pointing to the need to strengthen dialogue between different cultural and faith communities on the one hand and government authorities on the other, he said ODIHR had a broad range of capacity building activities, including training for community and NGO leaders and coalition-building opportunities through meetings and conferences. Ambassador Strohal also said ODIHR plans to launch a public database at the end of the year to help spread good practices and documents from civil society.
© OSCE
OSCE SECRETARY GENERAL URGES PARTICIPATING STATES TO IMPLEMENT COMMITMENTS ON PROMOTING TOLERANCE
13/6/2006- A two-day OSCE meeting on promoting tolerance, inter-cultural, inter-religious and inter-ethnic understanding ended today in Kazakhstan with calls by Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and other participants for action by the 55 participating States to implement OSCE commitments.
"Through concrete projects and activities, OSCE Institutions and field missions are prepared to offer all necessary support to governments and civil society for the implementation of these commitments," said Secretary General de Brichambaut. "The role of the OSCE in facilitating inter-cultural, inter-religious and inter-ethnic understanding through dialogue and partnerships needs to be strengthened." Pointing to the importance of dialogue as a tool to diffuse tensions, bridge differences, discuss disagreements, identify compromises and negotiate solutions, the Secretary General added that:
"Dialogue alone cannot prevent conflicts. Governments must take concrete steps and develop measures designed to create and preserve a harmonious and inclusive society, which could enable the individual to identify him/herself with the community as a whole. There is a wide range of successful practices among OSCE participating States on different policies and measures for promoting integration that should be shared."
Meeting participants underlined the importance of human rights, fundamental freedoms and democratic institutions in creating a context for tolerance and mutual understanding. They identified an increased need for governments and civil society to further promote such understanding with a view to ensuring inclusiveness, respect for diversity and freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief. The results of the two-day discussions will help outline recommendations to further reinforce the work of the OSCE and its participating States in fighting intolerance. It will also identify possible ways for the Ministerial Council meeting, set for December, to strengthen and improve OSCE commitments in this regard.
A Special Day on tolerance and non-discrimination will be held at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw from 2 to 13 October, and a Tolerance Implementation Meeting with a focus on education will be held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 23 and 24 October.
© OSCE
CROATIA STRENGTHENS PENALTIES FOR RACIST CRIMES
11/6/2006- Croatian lawmakers have strengthened penalties against racially- and ethnically-motivated crimes, a measure demanded by the country's Serb minority and the Jewish community, a parliamentary official said Saturday. The amendment to the penal code says "every offense committed against a person because of his race, skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, religion or other particularities" will in future be treated by the courts as aggravating circumstances. The Serb community in Croatia had demanded the change because of what it said was the Croatian authorities' lack of response to ethnic violence against the Balkan state's biggest minority. Tensions between Croats and Serbs in the country have persisted since the end of the Serbo-Croat war of 1991-95 -- part of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Croatian Serbs were the victims of around 60 attacks, including murders, in 2005 and have been subjected to more than 10 since the start of this year. The perpetrators have been identified in about third of these cases. The change in the penal code came two days after the European Jewish Congress President Pierre Besnainou urged Zagreb to strengthen its laws against anti-Semitism, during a meeting with Croatian president Stipe Mesic. A week ago, two skinheads making a Nazi salute attacked a local rabbi, Zvi Eliezer Aloni, in the center of the Zagreb. The leaders of Croatia's Jewish community recently reported receiving threatening and insulting emails addressed to Holocaust survivors. In the past, African immigrants have also been the target of racial attacks in the streets of the Croatian capital.
© EJP
RACISTS BRING BELFAST TO A 'NEW LOW' (N-Ireland)
Racist thugs who chased teenage Indian cricketers through the streets of Belfast have reached a new low, it has been claimed.
13/6/2006- The young tourists were left terrified after the attack in the city centre. A house where some of the under-19s were staying was also stoned. As the tour organiser revealed the team would not have come to Northern Ireland if they had known what was in store, an Assembly member described it as another blow to an already tattered reputation. Naomi Long, an Alliance Party Assembly member, said: "This is yet another low - a racist attack on visitors to our city. Locals and visitors alike will be suitably alarmed. "This is another reminder of the need to destroy the scourge of racism in our society. "This sort of incident merely backs up our reputation as Europe`s racist capital." Five of the teenagers were chased by a gang of up to 15 towards Albertbridge Road on Sunday. As police investigated the attack, the Belfast-based organiser of the trip told how frightened the victims were. Ashok Sharma told BBC Radio Ulster he had tried to pacify them, but they were still confused at being targeted. He said: "They say if they had known this was going to happen to them, they would never ever have come in the first place." Ms Long added that it was especially appalling for guests in the city to be singled out. "People had gone out of their way to ensure the team came north of the border. What kind of stories will they go home with?" she asked. "This kind of anti-social behaviour is becoming so common as to almost be acceptable in some quarters. "Our streets, even our parks, are no longer safe. "Never has it been clearer that our leaders need to get beyond pettiness, and deal with the real scars in our society that are bringing shame on us all."
© UTV
ARCHITECTS IN UPROAR AS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT REVEALED AS BNP MEMBER (uk)
· Far-right membership emerges at hustings · Institute leaders shocked by extreme views
16/6/2006- The lofty, quietly studious corridors of the Royal Institute of British Architects in Portland Place, London, may seem a million miles from the rightwing extremes of the British National party. But it emerged yesterday that one of the candidates for the presidency of the highly respected professional body has been a member of the BNP for five years. He has also stood as a BNP candidate in a council election. The revelation of Peter Phillips' political affiliations came during a hustings debate involving the three candidates at the institute on Wednesday night. A new Riba president is due to be confirmed at the end of July. The news has thrown the profession into uproar. George Ferguson, who was president from 2003-5 and is a member of its governing council, said: "Absolute outrage has been expressed by everyone on council I have communicated with. No doubt that is a united feeling among the profession." Mr Phillips is also a Riba council member, and sits alongside Mr Ferguson on the institute's practice committee. Mr Ferguson said: "I know him only too well and I have despised many of his views for a long time. No doubt he would not have received the 60 nominations necessary if those who nominated him knew of his political affiliations. I have therefore written to him and asked him to withdraw his candidacy. Wherever he goes this man reveals misogynist and racist views. It is shocking that someone like him is in our midst. The worry is that he is trying to infiltrate a power base within one of the most important professions in the country. "On the positive side, we do have two excellent candidates for the role, Sunand Prasad, who is a brilliant architect and whose standing is a real gift to the profession, and Valerie Owen, a very intelligent, principled candidate."
Mr Prasad said: "It is good that the news is out. I'm not campaigning for him to stand down. Much though I hate what the BNP stands for and regret this man is a Riba council member, the BNP is not a proscribed political party. I just ask Riba members to look at the full reality of his views and make an assessment." The third candidate, Ms Owen, told Building Design magazine: "The institute is apolitical which is exactly as it should be given its international status." Jack Pringle, current president of the institute, said some members had called for Mr Phillips' impeachment. He added: "On council Peter Phillips has always represented rightwing views, and in particular unpleasant views on the abilities of women. Nevertheless, this is a shock. "The thing I am really disturbed about is that it has not been open. Now our members understand the full context of his views, but do so literally as the ballot papers go out. His views are totally countercultural to the profession, and absolutely antipathetical to what the vast majority of our profession are interested in." Mr Phillips said he was standing for election because the institute had "lost its way and no longer represents the interests of its members". He denied that it was anything to do with his membership of the BNP or that he should have declared his party membership. "No candidate has ever been asked to declare political allegiances. The BNP is a legitimate political party, and it is beginning to win seats." Mr Phillips also denied accusations of racism and misogyny. "I am not a racist," he said. "I was a VSO volunteer in Kenya at the beginning of my career, so I refute that. But when you express different views from people, you have to take quite a lot of abuse. I have expressed my views openly and for some time against pressure groups being funded by the RIBA. At the moment there is a particular feminist group being funded by the RIBA." Asked the nature of the group, he said: "It is an umbrella group called Architects for Change. It includes the Society of Black Architects or the Black Society of Architects, I can't remember which is which."
Architects for Change is Riba's equal opportunities forum. Mr Phillips' election website includes a list of hated "buzzwords" and phrases, including "accessibility", "diversity", "chair - as in chairman or madam chairman" and "work-life balance". He has been a BNP member since 2001 and stood in Merstham ward for Reigate and Banstead council, Surrey, in 2003. He polled 299 votes, beating Labour into fourth place but well behind the Liberal Democrat and Tory candidates. According to local anti-BNP campaigners he is known for his hardline views on race and women.
The manifesto
Peter Phillips says his profession is in danger of being dictated to by "small, unrepresentative, single-issue pressure groups" run by a "tiny number of self-appointed unelected individuals who claim to represent a particular group of people or a special interest but who have no justification for doing so". Many are over-zealous and intolerant, and "endeavour to dictate views and policies that do not accord with the wishes of the largely silent majority", he claims. "The RIBA should ensure that it is not browbeaten by pressure groups in and around the profession into introducing policies that are not necessarily in the interests of the wider membership, the profession or the industry, for fear of unfounded accusations. It is important that groups are therefore kept at arm's length, and that they are not funded by the institute." His website also calls for an end to "Buzzwords and BusinessSpeak" that "cause confusion or indicate woolly thinking".
© The Guardian
SEARCHLIGHT INVESTIGATION EXPOSES ARCHITECTS’ INSTITUTE WOULD-BE PRESIDENT AS BNP ACTIVIST(uk)
15/6/2006- One of three candidates for the next president of the Royal Institute of British Architects is a very active British National Party member, Searchlight has discovered. Peter Phillips, an architect and property owner in Redhill, Surrey, managed to obtain the 60 nominating signatures from fellow chartered architects needed to stand in the election, for which ballot papers were sent out this week. The winner, to be announced on 26 July, will serve as president of the respected institute for two years from September 2007. Phillips, who is known for his strong views on race and on women in positions of authority, is campaigning on an anti-political correctness platform against Sunand Prasad, the first Asian to stand for the position, and Valerie Owen. Yesterday RIBA told Searchlight that it was not aware that Phillips was an active member of the BNP who had stood for the party in local elections. He had not declared his support for the extremist party in the election leaflet which is sent to every RIBA member with the ballot papers.
At a presidential hustings meeting last night Phillips admitted he had been a BNP member for five years and had stood in elections. He told the progressive Archinect website that he would put more details on his own website shortly. Phillips's photo appeared in the BNP monthly newspaper, The Voice of Freedom, in March 2004 when he was campaigning in Eltham for Julian Leppert, the BNP's candidate for mayor of London. He has also been seen out canvassing in other parts of London, including Ruislip and Barking & Dagenham. He stood for the BNP in the May 2003 elections to Reigate and Banstead Council, Surrey, for Merstham ward, coming third out of four candidates with 299 votes. We understand that his offer to be a BNP candidate in subsequent elections was blocked by a then senior BNP officer.
Earlier today the RIBA distanced itself from Phillips in a statement that said: "The RIBA values the contribution to architecture and society by people of diverse origins and backgrounds, and is firmly committed to equality of opportunity. "The views that the candidates express in their election campaigns will not necessarily represent the position of the RIBA as an Institute, nor the views of its wider membership." The current RIBA president, Jack Pringle, said: "It's good that he has come clean and there's no question of him being disqualified from running. But it's important the electorate understand the context in which his views are held." Searchlight wonders how many of the 60 people who supported Phillips's nomination were aware of his political affiliation.
© Stop the BNP
THE GOVERNMENT HAS BETRAYED ASIAN WOMEN (uk, comment)
By Sunny Hundal
16/6/2006- When the Home Office launched a publicity campaign in March to raise awareness of forced marriages, I asked a friend whether she thought it would have real impact. "Maybe," she said uncertainly, "but isn't it just a case of waiting until the older generation die off?" It sounds brutal, as she admitted, but we could both see the point. But annoying cultural traditions have a distinct knack of clinging on through generations. It would be no exaggeration to say that thousands of young British Asian women are forced into marriage every year. Some of the coercion is straightforward, with the groom marriage dates and all the plans made without the explicit agreement of the bride. With most it is more subtle. They are either emotionally blackmailed into agreeing to a prospective partner or verbally harassed until they give in. Or they are simply pestered into finding a prospective partner (to be approved) so they can be married off before they're "left on the shelf".
I have seen well educated and well adjusted friends slowly become nervous wrecks as their parents pile on the pressure. It should come as no surprise that British Asian women are three times as likely to commit suicide than normal. Nearly 300 cases are reported to the Forced Marriages Unit every year and they represent only a tip of the iceberg. Last year the government held a consultation to solicit opinions on whether forcibly marrying someone off should be made into a specific criminal offence. At present guardians can only be prosecuted on charges of kidnap, false imprisonment, physical abuse or rape. As a consequence last week the Home Office decided a specific law to ban forced marriages was not needed. To put it mildly, the decision was not only a travesty but an unbelievably stupid fudge.
Forced marriages is an issue fraught with complication and emotion but it also needs serious addressing. Yet once again Labour has fallen victim to an army of Asian apologetics who prefer this muddle and like to pretend that the practice it is very rare. Complete rubbish. For example, Pragna Patel from the Southall Black Sisters, is quoted as saying on Radio 4: "We don't see the need for criminalisation of forced marriage, which is yet another way of stereotyping and criminalising entire communities at a time when there is heightened racism in this country." When a women's rights group is more worried about stereotyping than the well-being of thousands of women, alarm bells should be ringing within their offices. The arguments against criminalisation can be easily dismissed. The practice is already hidden and arguing it would be driven "further underground" make no sense.
Worries that criminalisation would deter girls from approaching the authorities is similarly facile. If only 300 cases are reported to the authorities, and most of them from the girls themselves, it becomes fairly obvious they want legal protection after exhausting all other avenues short of suicide. Most importantly, the argument that existing legislation is enough misses the point that criminalising forced marriages would very much be a symbolic move. We need a few high-profile cases of Asian parents being put in prison to make the practice a social stigma. It would also send a much stronger signal than the current fudge that calls for more "engaging with communities" and better training. These can be implemented anyway. What happens if the government money dries up?
There are so many more reasons to consider this a badly executed consultation and decision. Many of the respondents felt naming and shaming of coercive parents would lead to communities being "unfairly labelled" and creating a negative stereotype. Such daft responses are not surprising once you consider that most of those opposed were middle-aged men considered to be our "community representatives". How can this negative stereotyping get any worse when honour killings litter the media? Should the kidnapped and run-away victims be gagged if they want to speak out? Perhaps most significantly this lost opportunity has turned a blind eye towards parent-sanctioned forced rape. Where else in the western world would a government do that except when it is in the thrall of faith groups as potential vote winners? Hindu Council UK circulated the consultation document with a note stating such incidents were "highly unlikely" among Hindus when much anecdotal evidence suggesting otherwise. A Sikh friend even blogs to keep her sanity. It may be a cultural than religious issue but that is no reason for the faith organisations to plead ignorance.
Like them the government has preferred to sweep the issue underneath the carpet and ignore the legions of Asian women who are desperate for better protection. It is racism of the worse kind - a tacit acceptance that vigorously affording them the same protection as other women is not necessary because of their colour or culture. The government is also happy to wait for the older generation to "die off", but for many thousands of women that slow change will come too late.
© Comment is free - Guardian
SECRET REPORT BRANDS MUSLIM POLICE CORRUPT(uk)
Fury over internal Met study which says Asians need special training
10/6/2006- A secret high-level Metropolitan police report has concluded that Muslim officers are more likely to become corrupt than white officers because of their cultural and family backgrounds. The document, which has been seen by the Guardian, has caused outrage among ethnic minorities within the force, who have labelled it racist and proof that there is a gulf in understanding between the police force and the wider Muslim community. The document was written as an attempt to investigate why complaints of misconduct and corruption against Asian officers are 10 times higher than against their white colleagues. The main conclusions of the study, commissioned by the Directorate of Professional Standards and written by an Asian detective chief inspector, stated: "Asian officers and in particular Pakistani Muslim officers are under greater pressure from the family, the extended family ... and their community against that of their white colleagues to engage in activity that might lead to misconduct or criminality." It recommended that Asian officers needed special anti-corruption training and is now being considered by a working party of senior staff. The report argued that British Pakistanis live in a cash culture in which "assisting your extended family is considered a duty" and in an environment in which large amounts of money are loaned between relatives and friends.
The leaking of the report comes at a time when the Met needs the cooperation and trust of the Muslim community more than ever and as the force tries to contain the fallout from last week's anti-terrorist raid in Forest Gate in which a man was shot. The first version was considered so inflammatory when it was shown to representatives from the staff associations for black, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim officers, that it had to be toned down. There are 31,000 officers in the Met - 7%, or 2,170, are black and minority ethnic; among these an estimated 300 are Muslim. One Muslim officer with the Met said: "It is like saying black officers are more likely to be muggers. Today it is Muslim officers who are treated as the Uncle Toms. How can they say to the Muslim community 'trust us', when they don't even trust their own Muslim officers." Ahmanrahman Jafar, vice-chairman of the legal affairs committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said it was shortsighted of the Met to be alienating its Muslim officers at such a sensitive time. "We've got about 1,000 wrongful anti-terrorist arrests since 9/11 and I believe that if Muslim officers were involved in looking through that intelligence and understanding the context, we would have far greater efficiency in the police force and a far greater prosecution rate," he said. To support its conclusions, the report gives examples of cases in which Pakistani Muslim officers have been accused of corruption and misconduct. According to its critics, the report gives insufficient weight to the motivation of those who made the complaints or issues of institutional racism.
Superintendent Dal Babu, chairman of the Association of Muslim Officers, said the report had racist undertones. "We are gravely concerned about its contents and the message it sends to recruits and potential recruits," he said. George Rhoden, chair of the Metropolitan Black Police Association added. "We have made it clear that we disagreed totally with the conclusions ... the whole thing needs to be researched in a much more comprehensive way."
© The Guardian
INQUIRY REVEALS JAIL RACISM IS RIFE(uk)
· Ministers and warders condemned after murder of Asian teen · Fear over treatment of Muslim prisoners
11/6/2006- The inquiry into the murder of the Asian teenager Zahid Mubarek by a racist cellmate will paint a damning picture of institutional racism and of individual errors from junior prison officer to ministerial level, The Observer can reveal. The three-volume report, delivered by the inquiry chair Mr Justice Keith to the Home Secretary John Reid last Monday, will also voice concern over religious insensitivity to Muslim prisoners, as well as targeting failings in the care of prisoners with mental health problems. The Observer understands that individuals will be named for errors of judgment. In addition to strong criticism of the way Mubarek was treated at Feltham young offenders prison in west London, where he was murdered just hours before he was due to be released in March 2000, the report will include wide-ranging proposals for the prison system as a whole. It will suggest that while some improvements have been made since Mubarek's killing, major changes are still needed in the way prisons deal with vulnerable prisoners, particularly black and Asian inmates, if further such deaths are to be avoided. The report will intensify pressure on Reid and the prison service as he moves to sort out the controversy concerning foreign prisoners in a department he has publicly branded not 'fit for purpose'. By criticising not just institutional problems but individual errors, it could also lead to action against individuals within the prison service or government personnel. The report is scheduled to be published at the end of the month, and a spokesman said yesterday that Keith and Reid had agreed that no comment would be made until then.
But sources who have seen the report after it was handed to the Home Office said that it presented a picture of mistakes at all levels of authority, compounded by a lack of adequate communication and a tendency by individuals to pass on responsibility to others. The two-year inquiry heard extensive evidence of fundamental failings in the prison service, and at Feltham, in dealing with black and Asian prisoners. Central to Keith's report, the sources say, was a view that it was necessary to go beyond criticism of 'institutional' failings and recognise that avoiding such tragedies required a sense of accountability at all levels by the individuals involved. In questioning 62 witnesses, and examining 143 written witness statements and 15,000 pages of documentary evidence, the inquiry heard that the prison service had failed in its basic 'duty of care' to Mubarek. The inquiry heard evidence of a persistent culture of racism at Feltham, with little or no attention paid to race relations issues, and of a similar pattern of racial prejudice throughout the prison system. It also heard of 'gladiator games' in which some officers were accused of putting white and black inmates in a shared cell and placing bets on how long it would take for violence to break out. The report, drawing on specific inquiry evidence, is understood to conclude that responsibility for the errors leading to Mubarek's death must rest with individuals involved at every level. It is understood that some of the individuals named in the report remain in positions of at least equal seniority to those they had at the time of the murder. The government resisted the demand by Mubarek's family for a full public inquiry, and it was set up only after the Lords ruled that human rights law justified their push for such an investigation. In a statement issued after the report was handed to Reid, a spokesman for the inquiry said: 'Mr Justice Keith has looked at the evidence surrounding Zahid's death exhaustively. He has considered, in depth, the views expressed by a wide range of experts ... and borne in mind what he learned through the inquiry's own focus groups and his visits to several prisons. He hopes that throughout the process he has been comprehensive, fair and has left no stone unturned.'
© The Observer
PRESSURE MOUNTS OVER "ABORTION PREMIUMS" (Switzerland)
16/6/2006- A Swiss politician is stepping up his campaign for a change in the law to stop anti-abortionists benefiting from discounts from health insurers. Josef Zisyadis says the practice goes against the spirit of the country's mandatory health insurance system, which he says should be equal for everyone. For a number of years members of Switzerland's 40,000-strong Pro Life organisation have benefited from a preferential deal on cover over and above the basic mandatory insurance. Currently two health insurers – Auxilia and Sansan – offer cheaper premiums. By signing a voluntary declaration agreeing to renounce abortion and methadone treatment for heroin addiction, Pro Life members can obtain reductions of 10-40% on premiums, depending on age, family size and where they live. Swiss Aid for Mother and Child (SAMC) offers a similar deal to its members, but its declaration goes further to cover prenatal checks and in-vitro fertilisation. It says "several thousand" members have signed this commitment. Earlier this year Zisyadis called on the government to scrap "these dubious practices" which he said were designed to lure lower income families struggling with high health insurance premiums. But ministers said last month that they were unwilling to intervene because people had a legal right to refuse certain benefits due to them and were free to negotiate reductions on supplementary insurance cover. They said it was "pointless and untimely" to ban the practice.
Parliament
Zisyadis now wants parliament to have its say on the issue – something he hopes will happen during the autumn session. "I have a lot of support and I believe there is a good chance of getting a change in the law," the parliamentarian for the Communist Labour Party told swissinfo. So far, 14 parliamentarians have signed his motion and the National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics has also registered its disapproval. It says the practice is morally wrong and undermines the principle of solidarity enshrined in the health insurance system. "If people start saying that certain morally controversial treatments like abortion should not be part of basic insurance then the system of collective solidarity will break down," said Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, president of the commission. "It opens the door for other groups to sign declarations renouncing other controversial treatments such as organ transplantation. "We are not defending abortion: we are defending the idea that women should have a right to abortion under basic health insurance," he added.
Legal right
Both Pro Life and SAMC reject the criticism, saying they have a legal right to negotiate preferential premiums on supplementary health cover. "We would like to save costs in our basic health insurance system and to give ethically minded people the opportunity to express their objection to the existing practice of automatic reimbursement for abortions," Gerd Weisensee, head of Pro Life, told swissinfo. "These abortions kill human beings. Our conscience doesn't allow us to do so." SAMC, which earlier this year saw three insurers withdraw collective contracts with the organisation as a result of criticism in the press, is now in the process of finding new partners. Its head Dominik Müggler described Zisyadis's campaign to change the law as "absurd". He added that the ethic commission's appeal for solidarity was also wide of the mark. "Solidarity with financing the killing of unborn children is not something we can support," Müggler told swissinfo.
Declaration of intent
According to Pro Life, both Sansan and Auxilia accept the declarations of intent by members. But Sansan, which is part of Switzerland's biggest health insurer Helsana, insisted that the agreement with Pro Life was not conditional on the declaration but simply based on cost. "There are no conditions. This discount benefits all associations and businesses that sign a collective contract with us. It is independent of the statutes of Pro Life," said Helsana spokesman Thomas Lüthi. Lüthi added that should a Pro Life member have an abortion, Sansan would cover the costs as laid down by the law and this would not affect the collective contract with the organisation. swissinfo contacted Auxilia several times but failed to get an answer to its questions. Auxilia is part of the country's number two health insurer CSS.
Context
=Basic health insurance, which covers abortion, is mandatory in Switzerland.
=Pro Life members can benefit from preferential rates for additional cover, which includes treatment in private hospitals, and extra medical services.
=The Swiss voted in June 2002 to legalise abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
=Previously women in most Swiss cities could only have an abortion if an independent doctor stated that it was needed for medical reasons.
Key facts
=Those who sign the Pro Life declaration agree to renounce abortion as well as illegal drugs and treatment for heroin addiction, which is also covered by basic health insurance.
=If they or their children decide to seek an abortion or treatment for addiction, they should first consult a Pro Life medical adviser.
=If they still go ahead with either treatment, they have to resign from Pro Life as of January 1 the following year.
=The declaration also calls on parents to ensure children over the age of 12 sign a "moral charter" rejecting drug use and respecting life. If a child refuses, families have to resign from Pro Life.
© Swissinfo
HOMOSEXUALS CALL FOR MORE RECOGNITION(Switzerland)
10/6/2006- Gays and lesbians in Switzerland called on Saturday for total acceptance in Swiss society at a Gay Pride event in Zurich. They said this was their next target after obtaining equal rights with heterosexuals. Organisers said that between 9,000 and 10,000 had attended the Christopher Street Day parade, the biggest ever attendance at the annual event. But only a few hundred gays and lesbians were interested in the start of the programme when speeches were made. The Winterthur Social Democratic parliamentarian Chantal Galladé and Fritz Lehre, president of the Organisation of Friends and Parents, emphasised how important it was that homosexuality be discussed in schools. Lehre said full acceptance by society was a target in which parents and schools had a key role to play.
Not afraid
He argued that young people should not be afraid to tell their parents that they feel attracted by members of the same sex. He added that it was the job of parents to make it clear to their children that they would continue to be loved and accepted. Galladé also stressed the responsibility of schools. Schoolchildren had to be sensitised and homosexuality should not be taboo. It was necessary, therefore, to make teachers aware of the issue during their training. She said young people should feel love of the same sex was just as normal as love of the opposite sex. If this were not the case, there could be serious consequences leading, for example, to depression and even suicide. Contrary to previous years, there were not so many flashy outfits on show this year, with most people turning up in normal everyday clothing. According to one of the organisers this could interpreted as a sign that homosexuality in Switzerland is becoming increasingly taken as a matter of course and commonplace.
Context
The Gay Pride parades have their origins in New York's Christopher Street, the site of violence between customers in a gay bar and raiding police in June 1969. To commemorate the social 'coming out' of gay and lesbian communities, street parties and parades take place to celebrate a greater tolerance among the public and to demonstrate self-confidence in their homosexuality. Although usually colourful events, their political focus is the demand for legalisation of homosexual partnerships.
© Swissinfo
BLACK PARTNER A HATE TARGET, SO GAY ENVOY QUITS(Estonia)
The Dutch ambassador to Estonia, who is openly gay, has resigned from his post.
10/6/2006- Mr Hans Glaubitz had previously represented his country in Brazil and South Africa with his Cuban partner by his side, and there were no problems then. But not so in Estonia, to which he was posted last September, reported The Times. Mr Glaubitz said that racist abuse has been directed at his black partner, Mr Raul Garcia Lao. The latter has also been the target of homophobia - a strong dislike of homosexuals and their lifestyle. As a result, Mr Garcia Lao could no longer bear living in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. So, after less than a year, Mr Glaubitz quit his post. Mr Glaubitz said: 'It is not very nice to be regularly abused by drunken skinheads as a 'nigger' and to be continuously gawped at as if you have just stepped out of a UFO.' A local magazine even wrote that the appointment of a gay ambassador with a Black partner had to be seen as a Dutch provocation. That resulted in increased abuse hurled at his partner, Mr Glaubitz said. Mr Bernard Bot, the Dutch Foreign Minister, called his counterpart in Estonia to discuss the matter. A Dutch government spokesman said: 'The authorities always treated them well but there was racist and homophobic abuse on the street.' When Mr Glaubitz received his Estonian posting, the Dutch government had hoped that Estonia would be ready for a mixed-race gay couple. But events proved otherwise. Mr Glaubitz said: 'Estonian society is far from ready for two men, particularly if one of them is Black.' But it is not the end of Mr Glaubitz's diplomatic career. The Hague has granted him a transfer, and he and Mr Garcia Lao will be moving on to Montreal, the latest in a series of postings. The two met when Mr Glaubitz was serving in Havana, Cuba. He was then posted to Pretoria in South Africa in 1997, where both he and Mr Garcia Lao found broad acceptance as a couple.
Anti-discrimination laws
They may have been helped by the fact that South Africa introduced strong anti-discrimination laws after the end of the apartheid period. The laws covered racism and homophobia. Mr Glaubitz later served in Sao Paulo, Brazil, accompanied by his partner. The ambassador's experience is the latest in a number of incidents that have sounded alarm bells about xenophobia and homophobia in Eastern Europe. The US Embassy reported that it has also encountered problems in Tallinn, saying that there had been nine cases of threats being made to non-White members of the staff.
© Electric New Paper
Headlines 9 June, 2006
ATTACKS AGAINST ANTI-RACISTS MUST END – AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL(Malta)
9/6/2006- In a statement, Amnesty International’s International Secretariat said that it is concerned that a pattern of arson attacks is taking place against persons and organizations which have spoken out against racism in Malta. Amnesty International calls on the Maltese authorities to take effective steps to protect the lives and safety of those at risk of such attacks and to bring those responsible for the attacks to justice. The organization also urges the government to make combating racism and xenophobia a top priority for governmental action, in the short as well as in the long term. This statement follows the wave of arson attacks that has been engulfing Malta in the past months. Amnesty International stated that in Malta, the Jesuit Community has taken a pro-active role in speaking out against racism and in defending the human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.
In November 2005, two cars belonging to a Jesuit Community resident at Dar Manuel Magri in Imsida were set alight. In early March 2006, the front door of poet’s house was subject to an arson attack just a few days after he launched a book containing poetry which promoted tolerance and refugee rights. On 13 March, seven cars belonging to the Jesuit Community were burnt down during the night, just a few days after the launch of the Report on Racism and Xenophobia in Malta by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). The Jesuit Community is EUMC’s main contact (focal point) in Malta. On 11 April a car, belonging to a lawyer working with the Jesuit Refugee Service, was destroyed.
On 3 May, the front door of the house of the editor of the Maltese weekly MaltaToday was torched by arsonists. The editor had written an editorial on racism and immigration in the period immediately preceding the attack.
On 13 May, the home of a journalist from the Maltese daily The Malta Independent who had spoken out against the extreme right and written articles on issues relating to racism and immigration was attacked. Arsonists set ablaze five tyres filled with petrol which were placed against a back door to her house. A layer of smashed glass and petrol had been spread on the road in front of the house, presumably in order to obstruct any attempt by the family to flee, or for help to arrive. The attack took place between 2.30am and 3am.
In late May 2006, a draft Bill proposing amendments to the Criminal Code was presented. The draft Bill outlined crimes of a racial nature as including not just those perpetrated against individuals on the basis of colour or creed, but also crimes committed against a person assisting those of different beliefs or colour. The draft Bill also stated that if an arson attack had racist motives, this should be considered an aggravating circumstance. In fact, more than 60 journalists, columnists and editors from the majority of the Maltese media, together with other citizens, presented a letter to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on May 14, 2006 in a united stand against the terrorist attacks against fellow journalists. The Committee asked that the Prime Minister guarantees for law enforcement forces to offer protection to journalists and their families, and that these attacks would not stop them from expressing themselves publicly and freely.
Amnesty International said that it seems that the targets for the attacks are persons or organizations who have actively worked to protect the human rights of migrants and refugees, or who have publicly spoken out against racist and discriminatory attitudes and actions. Amnesty International is concerned that these attacks occur in a context of growing racist sentiments in Malta among non-state actors, and that racist speech and attacks are finding increasing amounts of legitimacy among the Maltese population.
In light of this, Amnesty International calls on the Maltese authorities to:
* act with due diligence to provide effective protection to anti-racism campaigners who face threats to their lives and safety. Such measures should include, where necessary, special measures of protection;
* ensure that thorough and impartial investigations are carried out into such attacks, threats of such attacks, and other harassment of anti-racism campaigners, and that anyone reasonably suspected of a crime in connection with the targeting of anti-racism campaigners be prosecuted in line with international standards;
* design and implement a national action plan against racism which actively includes as many parts of civil society as possible, including migrant communities;
* make combating racism and xenophobia a top priority for governmental action, both in the short and the long term;
* ensure that anyone reasonably suspected of a crime in connection with the targeting of anti-racism campaigners be prosecuted in line with international standards;
* fulfill their responsibility to ensure the safety and security of all human rights defenders as set out in the UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
© MaltaMedia Online
BIG DUTCH CITIES CRITICAL OF VERDONK'S CITIZENSHIP PLANS
9/6/2006- The Netherlands' four big cities have criticised minister of integration Rita Verdonk’s plan to force all immigrants to do a language test, no matter how long they have lived here. The cities – Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague – levelled their criticism of the minister in a letter to her and to the Dutch parliament that was also signed by Tilburg and the association of Dutch city councils. Parliament will be discussing the minister’s plans on Monday. A new law proposed by the minister will require that all immigrants do a language test, whether they are recent arrivals or long established. The city councils were not against ideas for naturalizing immigrants better, but they predicted that Verdonk’s plans would be beset by organisational, technical and financial problems. They also said that they were being limited in their own naturalization programmes. The councils said that an approach tailored to the needs of individuals would be more successful in helping them to participate in society. ‘The law as a whole is about passing an exam, and not about the proper goal, which should be getting more people to participate in society,’ the letter says. ‘Let’s use the money available for programmes that have real content, and let’s not be distracted by the idea of exams,’ Rotterdam alderman Orhan Kaya told Radio 1 on Friday. ‘The fact is that [this measure] will scare people off, when they should want to do a [language or naturalization] course themselves.’
© Expatica News
DUTCH AMBASSADOR TO LEAVE 'HOMOPHOBIC' ESTONIA
6/6/2006- Dutch Ambassador Hans Glaubitz is leaving Estonia because his male partner, a black Cuban, has been the victim of homophobia and racism. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague confirmed a report in newspaper 'NRC Handelsblad' about his decision. The Ambassador's partner was subjected to verbal ha
