Poland in trouble (July)
POLES FEAR PURGE BY ‘PARANOID’ TWINS
30/7/2006- The founder of the Solidarity movement that brought democracy to Poland has hit out at the twin brothers running the country as they prepare to mount a purge of thousands of people suspected of links with the communist-era secret police. Lech Walesa, a Nobel peace prize winner who was president from 1990-95, said he was so worried at the course his country has taken under President Lech Kaczynski and his identical twin Jaroslaw, the prime minister, that he was considering a comeback. “I don’t like the current situation in Poland and I have to engage again. I have no other choice,” said Walesa, 62, who recently described the Kaczynskis as “troublemakers who should be ousted from power as soon as possible”. Sixteen years after the collapse of communism in Poland and more than two years after the country joined the European Union, the Kaczynskis, 57, are reawakening old suspicions by threatening to sack secret police collaborators. Civil servants, diplomats, teachers and journalists are among those who face vetting in the purge, which critics warn will turn into a witch-hunt. Under a “transparency law” being pushed through parliament, more than half a million Poles named in secret police archives face checks. The files of those found to have collaborated with the former Polish KGB, known as the SB, will be made public and employers will have the right to dismiss them. A list of all former secret policemen and their informants is to be published on the internet. “I have nothing to hide but I don’t like the fact that my government is prying into my life like this,” said Ewa Milewicz, one of Poland’s most respected political journalists, who opposed the Soviet regime. Until now the so-called transparency legislation has applied only to ministers, members of parliament and senators. Before running for office they have had to reveal past links with the SB. Anyone caught lying has faced a 10-year ban from public life. According to the Kaczynskis, the law has failed to get rid of a vast and shadowy network of former communist agents “poisoning Poland”. “There is a network of connections in politics, business and the media which must be exposed,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski said. “The influence of people from the security services weakens society. These networks must be destroyed.”
Those who know the brothers well are not surprised by the tough new law. They say that since they achieved fame at the age of 12 by starring as twin troublemakers in a cult film, Two Who Stole the Moon, the Kaczynskis have been driven by virulent anti-communism and fervent Polish patriotism. Their parents were resistance fighters and intellectuals who fought in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. They read the twins patriotic history books as bedtime stories and nurtured their antagonism towards the Germans and the Russians. An uncle died in a Nazi concentration camp while another relative was shot by Soviet executioners. Asked about his childhood under Soviet occupation, Jaroslaw recently said they lived in “real fear”. The twins — who speak on the phone up to 10 times a day and are said to finish one another’s sentences — remain deeply suspicious of Germany and Russia. Notoriously thin-skinned, the president cancelled a meeting with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, after a newspaper in Germany compared him to a potato. “These are people with a limited sense of humour and many complexes,” said Walesa. “It was an embarrassing response but that is what you get from people who lack the necessary stature.” Walesa, who has known the twins since their days in the Solidarity movement, once sacked them as presidential advisers. “I threw them out of my office because they destroy more than they achieve. I didn’t like their conspiracy theories. They were always suspecting people, always involved in intrigue,” he said.
Whereas Lech, the president, has a family of his own, likes music and films and is more gregarious, prime minister Jaroslaw is obsessed with politics and locks himself in his office alone for hours, plotting. No one is allowed to interrupt him except for Lech, who once admitted that his brother makes 90% of their decisions. “Jaroslaw is the leader but they both have a chip on their shoulder and suffer from something resembling a persecution complex,” said Jan Rokita, a leading opposition politician who has known them for nearly 20 years. “Because of their family history they always feel wronged. They feel that everyone is against them.” The twins’ hostility is not confined to former foes. They are gearing up for clashes with EU states that regard them as homophobic and ultra-nationalistic. As mayor of Warsaw, Lech — whose only physical difference from Jaroslaw is a small mole on his cheek — banned a demonstration by gays, saying: “I have nothing against them protesting as citizens, only as homosexuals.” Both brothers want Poland to be more assertive in the EU, arguing privately that it should adjust its liberal western values to accommodate Poland’s Catholic conservatism. The biggest source of tension between Europe and the Kaczynskis is their coalition partners. Unable to reach agreement with Poland’s liberals, the twins’ Law and Justice party formed a government with two right-wing parties whose intolerant views have caused widespread dismay. The League of Polish Families, led by the deputy prime minister and education minister Roman Giertych, has been branded anti-semitic by the Israeli government. Giertych denies holding anti-semitic views but the Israelis refuse to have any dealings with him.
Michael Schudrich, Poland’s chief rabbi, who was punched and pepper-sprayed this year by a nationalist thug chanting “Poland for the Poles”, said anti-semitism had been given a legitimate platform since the twins had allowed the League into government. A senior League member described gays as paedophiles who ought to be “bludgeoned”. Those who know the Kaczynskis from their days in opposition say they are deeply conservative Catholics but deny they are homophobic. Few, however, dispute that their outlook is insular. Although both are fervent supporters of the US, neither speaks a foreign language. They dislike travelling and take all their holidays in Poland with their mother. Except for their love of Russian vodka, Hungarian wine and Charles de Gaulle, the pair have little interest in anything foreign. “They live in a different era. Their views and politics are anachronistic,” said one editor whose past will be checked under the new law. “They have divided Poland. There is an atmosphere of paranoia.” He added: “The country is at a crossroads. Either we look inward and towards the past or outwards and to the future. The twins want the former. I want the latter — which in their eyes makes me suspect as someone who doesn’t love Poland.”
In duplicate
LECH KACZYNSKI:
+Banned gay parades as mayor of Warsaw
+Called on Germany to pay £28 billion in war reparations
+Announced this weekend he would campaign for the return of the death penalty in the European Union
JAROSLAW KACZYNSKI:
+Said: “I am for tolerance but against propagating homosexuality”
+Accused many Polish journalists and academics of accepting money from Germany
+Suggested that the Polish opposition was organised by the German security services
© The Times Online
POLISH LEADER BACKS DEATH PENALTY
28/7/2006- Polish President Lech Kaczynski has called for EU member states to reintroduce the death penalty. He said countries which had abolished capital punishment had "given an unimaginable advantage to the perpetrator over the victim". It was "the advantage of life over death", he told Polish public radio. Most west European countries abandoned the death penalty in the 1960s. Its abolition is one of the conditions of EU membership. Mr Kaczynski called for a review of that policy. "We need to discuss this in Europe. I think that over time Europe will change its view in this regard," he said. "European civilisation has roads that lead us into the future, but it also has blind alleys - and this is one of them." It is not the first time that Mr Kaczynski has defended capital punishment. The issue was raised by his conservative Law and Justice party, which came to power after the parliamentary and presidential elections last year. Lech Kaczynski founded the party with his twin brother Jaroslaw, who was voted in as prime minister earlier this month. Their conservative traditionalist agenda has raised concerns among some of Poland's EU partners.
© BBC News
ATTACK ON MOROCCAN ACTOR (Poland)
24/7/2006- Police in northern Poland are holding four men in custody for brutally attacking a Moroccan actor during a festival which was meant to make young Poles more aware of the dangers of racism. Eyewitness reports suggest that the attack on the Moroccan was an act of racism. This report is by Bogdan Zaryn. Police reports state that Moroccan actor identified by the police as Abdel M. was brutally stabbed several times and lost consciousness while being rushed to a hospital in northern Poland. He is a member of the Migrator troupe of refugee actors who took part in an international theatre festival, where they performed a play about how it feels to be a refugee in Poland. After the play the Moroccan actor was approached by several men and hit over the head with a bottle and stabbed repeatedly. Simon Mol, the Cameroonian head of the theatre troupe said that this incident had all the makings of a racial attack.
‘There were a lot of people and then one of the actors called me that a guy is lying in a pool of blood. I had to rush there , he was lying there and the ambulance was there. He was unconscious and they were trying to revive him. I spoke to him when he regained conscious and he told me that they said a specific remark was made before he was attacked so he asked him why , because you are dark, you are black. And before his was attacked he told me that his attackers said there were too many foreigners” This asylum seeker, who did not wish to be identified by name, has been waiting for his refugee status. He thinks that Poland is seeing an increase of violent, bitter attacks on foreigners. “I have been year for two years. The situation is getting more and more increased because personally I have been attacked on several occasions. I have met some of my friends some of them who are black and they have been complaining that they have been attacked by racists”
Police in the Northern city of Olsztyn say that the four men involved in the attack were previously known to law enforcement authorities Olsztyn police commissioner Jolanta Szymulewska Ozioro disagrees with claims of racial violence. “The four men in custody didn’t belong to any specific organization like skins or any nationalist groups. They have criminal records and are known to police. According to our investigation it doesn’t seem at the moment that it was a racial attack.’ Since EU accession, Poland has seen an increase in the number of asylum seekers. Maria Pamula from the United Nations high commission for Refugees argues that Poles do welcome asylum seekers and refugees. “We’ve done an inquiry among Poles right after Refugee day and as far as we know 72% of our society is willing to accept refuges from another country and think that Poland should accept refugees. So I think that the general attitude is rather positive towards refuges or asylum seekers” So far police are qualifying the attack on Abdel M as a brutal act of violence brought on by too much alcohol. But observers say that the incident has once again focused public attention on the status of refugees in Poland and society’s attitude to them.
© Polskie Radio
POLISH SCHOOLS CHIEF FIGHTING ‘DEVIATION’
20/7/2006- Poland’s new education minister lashed out yesterday at what he called moral "deviation" in the country’s schools and called for more patriotism in teaching. Roman Giertych, the head of the small, right-wing League of Polish Families, said in parliament that the Polish schools must end "a pathology that hinders normal students from normal learning." He said he opposed antihomophobia education under the previous left-wing government — which, he said, included "German transsexuals" teaching Polish children about sex changes at summer workshops in 2005. "Those golden days of various forms of deviation have ended and will not return," Giertych said. Robert Biedron, the head of Poland’s Campaign Against Homophobia, called Giertych’s remarks an example of hate speech that demonstrated the league’s manipulation of fears of homosexuals to build its political base. Giertych also slammed education under the previous government of ex-communists, who were swept from power in elections last fall. Giertych instead called for education based on "traditional models" stressing patriotism. It’s "about raising children to love the homeland, not the Soviet Union," he said in a jab at the ex-communists. Poland was run by Moscow-backed communists in the decades after World War II until the collapse of communism in 1989-90.
© Associated Press
'TERRIBLE TWINS' TAKE POWER AND DECLARE WAR AGAINST EU LIBERALS (Poland)
They oppose homosexuality, suspect foreigners, are almost telepathic and promise to defend their culture. Poland's new leaders are setting off alarm bells
20/7/2006- The Kaczynski twins, the most bizarre political partnership in Europe, assumed power formally in Poland yesterday after parliament approved Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s appointment as Prime Minister. Mr Kaczynski, whose brother Lech is President, will accentuate the country’s status as one of the most awkward members of the European Union. In an inaugural speech yesterday he promised to make Poland a big country that would count in Brussels while protecting its culture and morals against EU liberalisation. Marriage should remain a union between a man and a woman, he declared. “We won’t let ourselves say that black is white,” he said. “We are going to protect this foundation of social life.” Homophobic, intolerant, ultranationalist and always eager for a scrap with Poland’s neighbours, the twins are sending alarm bells ringing in and out of the country. “He will be a bad Prime Minister,” Donald Tusk, the leader of the opposition Citizens’ Platform, said, “and he will have an unprecedented concentration of power at his disposal.” The former President and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, who was once advised by the twins, described them as polarisers with a destructive energy. He said: “I didn’t like their conspiracy theories. They were always suspecting people, always involved in intrigue.” To reduce confusion Lech Kaczynski did not appear yesterday in the presidential chair to cheer on his brother. The prospect of television cameras swivelling between the two men would have detracted from Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s moment of glory. Jaroslaw Kaczynski has been sensitive about world reaction to twins taking over the running of a country and since last autumn has resisted offers to become Prime Minister. Look-alike rulers have occurred only in fiction, such as Antony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda or in Hollywood films.
On the face of it the blueprint for Poland that Jaroslaw Kaczynski presented to parliament was a sensible centre-right programme. To reduce Polish dependence on Russian oil and gas he favoured nuclear energy development and was counting on the supply of Norwegian gas. To retain a strong Polish currency he pledged to cap the budget deficit. He also promised to reduce the housing shortage and combat unemployment rates of 22 per cent. Yet the twins, 57, are famed for their fractiousness. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, deploring the declining Polish population, made it clear yesterday that Poland would remain hostile to abortion. And critics had no doubt that his Government would seek to exclude homosexuals from the teaching profession. Lech Kaczynski ordered the police to break up a demonstration by gays during his tenure as Mayor of Warsaw, declaring: “I have nothing against them protesting as citizens, only as homosexuals.” That sentiment was shared by his brother. Indeed, the views of the new Prime Minister and the President are so similiar that they often finish each other’s sentences. The only way to distinguish them is by a small mole to the left of Lech Kaczynski’s nose and the cat hairs on Jaroslaw’ Kaczynski’s clothes. Lech is married with a daughter, but his brother lives with their mother in a house full of cats. Their mother, Jadwiga, a retired professor of literature, shaped their politics. She was a nurse in the Warsaw Uprising against the Germans in 1944 and nurtured their antagonism to the Germans and the Russians, who failed to go to the assistance of the Poles. When a Berlin newspaper recently mocked their relationship to their mother, Lech Kaczynski demanded an apology from the German Government, compared the article to the ravings of Der Stürmer, a Nazi-era newspaper, and refused to attend a meeting with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and President Chirac of France. Neither twin is keen on foreign countries. Lech Kaczynski proudly declared that his experience of modern Germany was limited to the lavatories of Frankfurt airport. The brothers are also convinced that Moscow is using its energy supplies to pressurise Poland. “I want us to be proud of being Poles,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski said yesterday. Polish foreign policy, he said, would focus on strengthening democracy in Ukraine, play a creative role in resolving the crisis in the EU and stand firmly alongside the US. “Poland is not a nation of deserters,” he said, referring to his commitment to keeping troops in Iraq. That may yet be a divisive issue in the future. One of his coalition partners, the volatile pig breeder Andrzej Lepper, argues in favour of a withdrawal.
The key may lie in the 45 minutes that separated the births of the brothers. Jaroslaw is the older, dominant twin — the strategist and plotter. Lech is more gregarious but also more submissive. Sometimes he will pick up the phone before it rings, knowing that his brother is calling.
In their own words
“In Poland there are many people who behave as if they are independent academics or journalists but they are in fact on the German payroll”
“The opposition front has been put together by the German security services”
Jaroslaw Kaczynski
“I am for tolerance but against propagating homosexuality”
“We will see the full disintegration of the Russian Empire and distance ourselves from the Russian threat”
“History doesn’t show a relationship between physical stature and political skill”
Lech Kaczynski (who is 5ft 5in)
© The Times Online
POLAND’S POPULIST CARAVAN
The Kaczynski twins' duopoly is pulling Polish politics to the right, but they are beginning to face the pressures of power, reports Krzysztof Bobinski in Warsaw.
14/7/2006- It is an irony worth savouring. Poland, which marked its final break with its claustrophobic Soviet bloc past by entering the European Union in May 2004, now risks heading back to the isolation which marked the post-war communist period. The twin brothers Kaczynski – Lech, Poland's president, and Jarosław, who on 14 July 2006 is sworn in as prime minister after the summary dismissal of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz – are ruling the country with the support of the populist right, and risk isolating their country in relation both to their European partners and to the United States. The brothers embarked on their conservative revolution when their Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (Law & Justice / PiS) party won legislative and presidential elections in September-October 2005 on promises to crack down on corruption and aid those excluded from the benefits of the post-1989 switch to a free-market system. After the ejection of Marcinkiewicz, the party's original nominee as prime minister, it now looks as if the PiS revolution is to be accelerated.
Ambition and constraint
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, a rightwing provincial politician, had been brought in to head the government when the brothers decided initially that voters would not accept twins occupying the top two posts in the country. For a time, Jarosław Kaczynski took a back seat and watched as Marcinkiewicz pursued increasingly pragmatic policies which recognised that inaugurating a “fourth republic” – to emphasise even further the break with the post-communist era, and Kaczynski code for a conservative moral revolution – risked destabilising the country and undermining its moderately successful economic record (including low inflation, and annual GDP growth of almost 5%). Marcinkiewicz, who struck a chord with the population and far outstripped the twins in opinion-poll popularity, was also dismayed at the coalition partners which PiS foisted on him as the price of a stable majority in parliament. These were the rightwing nationalist Liga Polskich Rodzin (League of Polish Families / LPR) headed by Roman Giertych and the populist Samoobrona (Self-defence) led by Andrzej Lepper, a potato farmer who also speaks for those who have not done well out of the post-1989 changes. And as Marcinkiewicz was being ditched, his deputies Roman Giertych and Andrzej Lepper were in Częstochowa, Poland's national shrine at ceremonies celebrating Radio Maryja, a rightwing fundamentalist Catholic radio station with a million loyal listeners who vote the way Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, the Maryja director, tells them to. Rydzyk and Radio Marya played and continue to play a key role in building support for the PiS government and its allies. It wasn't meant to be like this. PiS and its present great opposition rival the Platforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform / PO) went into last autumn's elections promising to establish a grand coalition government.
But PiS's unexpected if narrow victory in the parliamentary election and, Lech Kaczyński's presidential win over the PO's Donald Tusk two weeks later, put the two parties on a confrontational course which made a post–election alliance impossible. Lech Kaczyński promised that once elected he would look after the poor and dispossessed who since the fall of communism had been cheated by the "elites". This line made a rapprochement with the populists and the rightwing nationalists possible. But Kaczynski's assertion that a PO victory would open the way to dangerous "liberal" experiments closed the door to a deal with the pro–market Civic Platform. The break left the PO unable to mount a serious challenge to their erstwhile partners, rather like the way the Democrats in the US are unable to make a credible case against George W Bush's Iraq policy. The Kaczyński twins, having acquired full power, now stand at a crossroads. Their record to this point has shown them to be suspicious of the outside world and keen to see conspiracies at home aimed at derailing their attempt to uproot corruption. They want to build a lasting ruling majority based on an appeal to the poor and the anxious, who were tempted to support the twins for the same reasons they had earlier backed the former communists: a hope that the twins could guarantee welfare security. The brothers' instinct has also been to garner as much power as possible by bringing independent institutions under the control of their party, placing their supporters in key positions in the publicly-owned TV and radio stations, and accusing those who seek to defend the very idea of the division of powers as being supporters of post–1989 governments which were tainted by corruption. The brothers do not command majority support in the country. A mere quarter of Poles thought that the takeover of the country by the twins was a good thing; almost two–thirds didn't like the idea. This reflects the balance of feeling in the country about its new rulers.
Poland in the world
If Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński chose to rule Poland from the nationalist and populist right, seeking to bolster their credibility with Radio Maryja by contesting the tolerant gains Europeans have made in questions of morality, they will become increasingly isolated at home and abroad. And young Poles will continue to go abroad en masse to less claustrophobic political climates. In the four days between his nomination and his formal appointment as premier, Jarosław Kaczyński gave two signals that his ability to grasp the realities of government at speed is no less than that of his predecessor Marcinkiewicz. First, Kaczyński has appointed a mainstream economist, Stanisław Kluza, as finance minister – a sign that he will not yield easily to inflationary policies which, given the demands of his electorate, could blow the budget wide open. Second, Jarosław was quick to take a telephone call from Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, in a time of worry that relations between Poland and Germany were spinning out of control after a satirical article in the German newspaper Tageszeitung. The article, mockingly critical of the twins, led the Polish president to call off a trilateral summit with Jacques Chirac and Merkel, and left the Polish authorities demanding that the German government "do something" about its publication. The fact that both sides later said the conversation marked a "new beginning" in relations between the two countries may indicate that in foreign relations, Kaczynski may yet allow pragmatism to rule.
But a twofold dilemma remains: that the brothers' psychological make–up militates against more open policies, and that their promises to their voters on economic issues and to their key allies like Radio Maryja on "moral" ones make a shift to the centre in domestic and foreign policy very difficult. Poland's partners in the European Union are for the moment aghast at developments in the country. The brothers' efforts to change the moral climate in Europe on issues like tolerance of homosexuality have provoked outrage among liberals and the left throughout the continent. And the United States, which the brothers (like many Poles) look to as the ultimate guarantee of Poland's security is also worried, because Washington doesn't want the country to have bad relations with Germany now that Berlin is once again its favoured partner. Nor does the US want to be identified with a government which has Roman Giertych, the leader of the LPR – a party with anti–Semitism etched in its DNA – as education minister. Moreover, Israel has openly stated that it will boycott the education ministry as long as Giertych is at its head. The Kaczyński twins' primary motive has been to seize the levers of power rather than to respect the niceties of democratic institutions. Their political momentum until now has been fuelled by their righteous sense of zeal in rooting out corruption and the "evil networks" they see as parasites on the country. In this sense they are extremists - and it is rare for a democracy to be ruled from either extreme without endangering its democratic institutions. An opening to the political centre is badly needed in Poland.
© Open Democracy
EVEN AS PROBLEMS OF HATE PERSIST, POLES SAY ANTI-SEMITISM LABEL UNFAIR
17/7/2006- They are despised by many. They face discrimination and stereotyping, and feel overwhelmed by the prejudice against them. They want to be seen as individuals, not as a group, and they want the media to stop slandering them. No, not Jews, not Israelis. Think Poles, some of whom feel under siege for group allegations of anti-Semitism. Joanna Owsiana, is a Jewish studies major at Jagiellonian University in Krakow who in May participated in the March of Remembrance and Hope, which brings young people together of all faiths in Poland to promote tolerance. Her counterparts from the United States and Europe were open-minded, but she said a Polish-born Holocaust survivor living in Israel declared “she hated Poles and labeled them all as anti-Semites. “I told her I was not responsible for what Poland did 60 years ago. My grandfather’s family hid Jews from the Nazis, but she didn’t want to hear about that,” Owsiana said.
Much has been made since the fall of communism of the persistence of Polish anti-Semitism, and many Poles feel that try as they might, they cannot throw off this label. They argue that the real Poland is represented by young women like Owsiana, and not by marginal hate groups that one could find anywhere. Working against them is evidence that anti-Semitism is a persistent problem in Poland. The Polish anti-racism organization Never Again estimated that Poland has hundreds of anti-Semitic Web sites and is home to an increasing number of neo-Nazi groups. According to a 2005 Anti-Defamation League survey of 12 European countries, Poland ranked between first and third place among nations with negative stereotypes about Jews. Less known are current intensive efforts by the Polish government to combat anti-Semitism with police training, school programs and public statements in support of Polish Jewry. Little media attention is paid to the hundreds of grass-roots efforts by Polish Catholics to promote Jewish-Polish dialogue and the perseveration of Jewish heritage. There are also reportedly more students studying Jewish history and the Holocaust at a university level than anywhere else in Europe. Instead the press has focused on Education Minister Roman Giertych, the honorary chairman of the xenophobic All Polish Youth, known for its hatred of Jews and other so-called foreign elements. Making sense of the two extremes in Poland is difficult for Jews and non-Jews alike, as was evident at the recent weeklong Jewish cultural festival in Krakow, a homage by Poles to their former Jewish neighbors whose culture was nearly extinguished by the Nazis and the Communists.
Jan, a 30-something Israeli visitor, said, “I feel confused. It’s like they shot us in head and now they want to dance to our music.” He was referring to Poles who collaborated with the Nazis, the 1946 pogrom in the city of Kielce and a government-sponsored anti-Semitic wave in 1968. There were about 14,000 people, mostly Poles, at the festival’s final jam session, where some of the world’s best klezmer bands performed. Many Poles attend because it’s a free music event. But out of the dozen partyers interviewed by JTA, all said they were there because they wanted to learn more about Jews. Agnieszka, a 27-year-old from the city of Czestochowa, was typical. “I wanted to visit the festival because I am interested in Jewish culture. It’s my first time and I am really excited,” she said. Asked if she had ever met a Jew she replied, “Not really, but I suspect that some roots of my family belong to Jewish culture. I would like it to be so.”
But what about those Poles outside of the touristy Kazmierz district where the festival is held? In the working-class neighborhood of Podgorze, a group of teenagers who looked liked like poster boys for a skinhead magazine responded amicably to questions about the festival. “Jews are ordinary people,” said one tattooed teen. “We have no problems with Jews,” noted his shirtless friend. A third shaven-headed young man said that there certainly were anti-Semites in Poland, but added, “Everyone complains that Poland is the worst country. It’s not fair.” Amid another group of young men, grumpy and hot in the unrelenting Krakow heat, Kamil Kacmarczyk, 19, told JTA, “Jewish people are smart and witty. I love the nation of the Jews. It’s not popular to say this, but their extermination was also partly Polish fault.” Further down the main shopping street was Halena Ilinska, 70, who revealed the deep ambivalence of her financially downtrodden generation. “I love the idea of the Jewish festival, I like the songs,” she said. But reflecting on Jews, she said, “Politically I don’t like them. They have money and can do things with it. We are in a poor country and we are made to feel inferior.”
Her displeasure was nothing compared to the man who could be dubbed the Jew-hater of Krakow. Sitting on a bench in Podgorze’s main square, the 79-year-old conspiracy theorist was smartly dressed. He refused to give his name but was willing to be photographed, while letting go a stream of invective: “Jews are so rich, we are so poor. They take our money. Seventy-five percent of the Communists were Jews. And now, a lot of the government is Jewish. They don’t have Jewish names, but the president, he is really Jewish.” Regarding the Holocaust he said, “Maybe Hitler killed too many of them, but the Jews should have been taught to live like decent people.” His tirade was made only a few minute’s walk from the ghetto and Plaszow forced labor camp memorialized in “Schindler’s List.”
Back at the festival, Monika, 19, was shaking her booty to the Mick Jagger of klezmer, David Krakauer. She planned to take festival’s tour of the former Nazi Jewish ghetto “so I could learn what happened to all the Jews who used to live here.” Six decades is a long time for Jews to have to wait for Monika, and not the park bench lunatic, to be the dominant force in Polish-Jewish relations. But as positive images of Jewish contributions are now more central to Polish education and culture, from the Krakow festival to myriad government-sponsored programs unearthing Jewish history, there is hope that a new generation of Poles will be known for their tolerance instead of their anti-Semitism.
© JTA News
POLISH FOREIGN MINISTRY TO ASK ISRAEL TO ELABORATE ON CRITICISM OF POLISH EDUCATION MINISTER
The Israeli foreign ministry has announced that Tel Aviv does not want to have any contact with the Polish minister of education. A spokesman for the Israeli ministry has described the League of Polish Families, of which minister Roman Giertych is the leader, as a party ‘with an anti-Semitic platform’.
This report is by Michal Kubicki.
10/7/2006- What are the likely consequences of the Israeli stand for Polish-Israeli relations? When Roman Giertych’s nationalist League of Polish Families joined the government coalition in May, Israel expressed its concern, pointing out that the League was a ’vehicle for anti-Semitism’. This led to assurances from Polish president Lech Kaczyński that Poland would continue to fight anti-Semitism side by side with Israel and preserve the memory of the Nazi genocide during World War II. An important part of these efforts is an educational programme, within the framework of which thousands of Israeli youths visit Auschwitz and other sites of former Nazi concentration camps. In the latest development, the Israeli ambassador in Warsaw David Peleg expressed the view that the Polish Education Ministry cannot be a partner in the organization of such visits. Israeli Embassy spokesman Michal Sobelman explains. ‘The news that Giertych is the education minister was received in Israel with astonishment. This ministry is in charge of the Israeli-Polish youth exchange programme and the minister is an heir of a certain anti-Semitic ideology, of a party which was founded by his grandfather and which fought against the Jewish minority in Poland before World War Two’. The spokesman for the Israeli Embassy referred to Roman Giertych’s grandfather edrzej Giertych, one of the closest associates of Roman Dmowski, the founder of the National Democrats who looked forward to a racially united ‘Poland for the Poles’ and resented the presence of Jews in the Polish lands.
Roman Giertych, also is also deputy prime minister, told Polish Radio that to blame anyone for the political views of one’s ancestors is ridiculous. ‘A situation in which a person is described on the basis of the views of a grandfather is absurd. My grandfather was one of Roman Dmowski’s friends. He fought for Polish independence. It is true that some of his views were controversial but how can I be made responsible for these views’. Marcin Sobczyk of the Warsaw Independent news service thinks that Roman Giertych’s reasoning would have been correct if it hadn’t been for some of his own remarks. ‘He would be right if he was only an heir to a certain ideology and if he had revised that ideology; he would be correct in stating that he’s not responsible for the anti-Semitism of his grandfather and of Roman Dmowski, his political forefather. Unfortunately, the situation is that Roman Giertych and his colleagues, like the infamous Wojciech Wierzejski MP, have in the past made statements that can be seen as strongly anti-Semitic. The fact that they are now part of his government and feel they have to be more serious is too little to wipe out past nonsenses that they were writing and saying’. It would be a pity if the youth exchange programme was to suffer in the wake of the current tension. Matthew Day of Poland Monthly is afraid that the Warsaw government will reject the criticism of the Israeli side. ‘There can be smoothing of the way through diplomatic channels but I’ve got a feeling that the Polish government will say it’s not a problem for us. I have a feeling they are going to say: look, Mr Giertych hasn’t made any anti-Semitic comments himself so that’s the problem’.
An important test in Polish Israeli relations will be a state visit to Israel which the Polish president is expected to pay in the autumn. According to Marcin Sobczyk this will probably be the most important foreign visit during president Kaczynski’s entire term. ‘The president must disregard any temporary shakeups, he should go and repeat what he said in the past, that he’s not an anti-Semite, he likes the Jewish nation, he appreciates its input into Polish history and politics. He must go and say these words regardless of the fact that in a way he supports Giertych in government.’ The Polish government is to ask the Israeli ambassador in Warsaw for an elaboration of his criticism of the government minister.
© Polskie Radio
NATIONALIST LEADER GIERTYCH REJECTS ANTI-SEMITISM - WHAT ABOUT HIS PARTY?(Poland)
11/7/2006- Ceremonies have taken place in Jedwabne on Monday to mark the 65th anniversary of the tragic death of its Jewish inhabitants at the hands of their Polish neighbors. The Jedwabne mass murder has cast a shadow over Polish-Israeli relations for long decades. Five years ago, President Aleksander Kwasniewski apologised for the German inspired killing of some 400 Jews by the Poles during World War Two. Representing the Polish authorities at yesterday's remembrance ceremonies has been deputy premier Roman Giertych. Roman Giertych's appearance in Jedwabne had been a public manifestation of his views on Jewish issues. The Deputy premier and education minister, hailing from the nationalist Legaue of Polish Families (LPR) had been the target of Israeli criticism for his alleged anti-Semitic sentiments expressed in the past and family record for such views. Though unofficial, pressure had been exerted on Warsaw authorities to recall Giertych from his post. Addressing the media gathered in Jedwabne Giertych said he had come to repeatedly search for understanding with Israel. ' I wanted to firmly state there is and cannot be any place for anti-Semitism in Poland. Hence my extended hand and an occasion for prayer, reflection and remembrance of those who had been cruelly murdered at a time when the Polish state, being torn apart by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, could not provide effective protection for them.'
Israeli ambassador to Poland David Peleg says the statement corresponds directly with declarations by Polish president Lech Kaczynski. ' When I met with president Kaczynski about six weeks ago, he emphasized to me and then also publicly that there is no place for anti-Semitism in Poland. We very much welcomed his statement which we trust will also be translated in the various fields of life here (in Poland). Of course, we think that anyone and anywhere who speaks against anti-Semitism is doing a good thing.' Putting no doubt to Roman Giertych's intentions, the question arises whether the statement in Jedwabne has been only of personal nature and a reflection of the Warsaw government's stand, or is it also shared by the League of Polish Families chaired by Mr. Giertych and the All Poland Youth, an organization closely linked to his party. Ambassador David Peleg. ' We do not have any personal quarrel with Mr. Giertych. The issue is of his party and its ideology, which dates back to pre Second World War time with statements of senior members of the party until these days. Also with the activities of the youth movement which he recreated a few years ago, which makes very extreme statements. So, I think the issues he should address himself are the issues of his party and the youth movement and their activities.'
Now it remains for Roman Giertych to show whether his statement condemning anti-Semitic practices has only been a politically correct verbal declaration, or if he will prove its worth by eradicating them from his own party ranks. It would be most unfortunate to leave an unnecessary thorn in the generally good Polish-Israeli relations, especially in view of the October scheduled visit to Tel Aviv by Polish president Lech Kaczynski.
© Polskie Radio
CASHMAN ASKS POLISH PRESIDENT FOR EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL MINORITIES(Press release)
Cashman asks Polish President for equal rights for all minorities. He has written to the Polish President urging him to condemn homophobia and homophobic violence in his country.
10/7/2006- Michael Cashman, Labour MEP and President of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights, has written to the Polish President urging him to condemn homophobia and homophobic violence in his country. Michael said:
"President Kaczynski recently made a statement condemning anti-Semitism in his country. I naturally welcome this statement but have written to the President to urge him to make a similar statement concerning homophobia, a form of prejudice and discrimination which is still prevalent in Poland".
Michael took part in the recent Warsaw Equality march which, although banned for two consecutive years in 2004 and 2005, took place without major incident and with the overwhelming support of Polish citizens. It was Mr Kaczynski himself who banned the previous marches when he was mayor of Warsaw. Despite the march going ahead, there has been widespread concern about the recent increase in homophobic and discriminatory comments by prominent Polish politicians.
"I know that hate speak and defamation against the LGBT community by Polish politicians, including prominent government ministers such as the education minister Mr Roman Giertych, is not representative of the vast majority of decent, tolerant Polish people's feelings - my personal experience at Warsaw pride confirms this" said Michael.
However, the European Parliament recently adopted a resolution which stated its concerns about the increase in homophobic violence in the EU and made specific reference to Poland.
Michael continued:
"If President Kaczynski truly wants to defend human rights and minority rights of Polish citizens he must clearly and absolutely condemn homophobia and homophobic violence" "I hope my letter will put pressure on President Kaczynski and convince him of the importance to speak out against discrimination and ensure Poland respects her obligations under international and EU law."
Text of Michael's letter:
Dear President Kaczynski,
"We, the officers of the European Parliament's intergroup for Gay and Lesbian Rights, take note of and welcome your statement that "there is no place in my country for anti-Semitism" at a recent ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of an anti-Semitic massacre in Kielce.
We call on you to make a similar statement on homophobia and homophobic violence in Poland. An explicit statement on your part - condemning homophobia and saying that it is not welcome in Poland - will go a long way to restoring international confidence in Poland and her respect for her obligations under international and European law, especially concerning fundamental human rights and non-discrimination.
We urge you to make such a statement and look forward hearing your defence of homosexuals and lesbians in the same way as your defence of victims of anti-Semitism".
Letter ends
Some comments by prominent Polish MPs:
The League of Polish Families (LPR) Deputy Wojciech Wierzejski encouraged the use of force if gay activists organize their annual Equality March in Warsaw by saying "If deviants begin to demonstrate, they should be hit with batons"
Mr Roman Giertych, Education Minister and Member of the ultra-right League of Polish Families recently sacked the Director of the Polish In-Service Teachers Training Centre for the publication of "Compass: a manual on human rights education with young people". This booklet, used as a teaching aid and produced and recommended by the Council of Europe, promoted equality for homosexuals and spoke out against discrimination towards homosexuals. Consequently, there has even been talk of banning the distribution and sale of COMPASS in Poland. He has also alleged called the EP's resolution "slanderous".
The President, who has a dubious record of banning tolerance marches in the past (he banned the marches planned in 2004 and 2005 when he was mayor of Warsaw), has condoned these statements with his silence.
© PSE Group
GAY ARMY TV SERIES AXED IN POLAND BEFORE BEING SCREENED
12/7/2006- The Polish commercial television channel Polsat has dropped plans to screen the Danish gay reality TV series Gay Army, amid fears that the company would be hit by a massive fine from the Polish media watchdog National Radio and Television Council. It was two weeks ago that Polsat announced that it would be screening Gay Army, a hit in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The six-part show follows a group of gays who are sent to a “boot camp” for training. By the end of the series, the hope is that they will be able to fight with “real” soldiers. Although unseen in Poland, Gay Army is said to have attracted a number of complaints to the National Radio and Television Council who announced that it would be “monitoring the show”. The National Radio and Television Council has the power to fine a television channel up to one million PLN (€250,000, £170,000, $USD 320,000) if it finds a programme objectionable of indecent. Polsat decided to drop the series, due to a “significant number of viewer protests”, on the same day that the National Radio and Television Council announced it decision to closely monitor the series. Earlier this year, Polsat was fined £1 million PLN when Polish feminist Kazimiera Szczuka mocked what she claimed was a bigoted children’s presenter on the Roman Catholic-controlled TV Trwam. The Council ruled that the remarks by Ms Szczuka had “offended religious feelings”.
“However absurd may it seem protesting a performance before actually seeing it has already become a Polish political custom under the conservative right,” the Polish website GayPoland writes. “Over the past few years several performances in public theatres have been cancelled by local councils in Warsaw and other Polish cities when the right-wing council members decided the performances were “indecent” without actually seeing them. Polish gays are furious that Gay Army, an often funny reality show that does not push any limits in mainstream European or United States, has been axed. The are claiming double standards – and homophobia – from the government’s watchdog Council. Polsat show soft-core heterosexual porn programmes after 11.30pm – the time slot that was scheduled for Gay Army, which cannot be seen as pornographic in any way.The has never been any Council reaction to the current erotic programming of Polsat – nor, as far as is known, any viewer protests. Gay Army, made by Mastiff Media – a Danish company, stars as the drill instructor Tony Rosenbum, who was the real live United States Marine warrant officer in the 2002 America reality show Celebrity Boot Camp.
Is Gay Army “indecent”? Judge for yourself ... click HERE for a page of video clips from Kanal 5 Sweden who have transmitted the series.
© UK Gay News
WILL THE OFFICE FOR COUNTERACTING DISCRIMINATION DUE TO RACE AND ETHNIC ORIGIN BE ESTABLISHED IN POLAND?
On 3 July, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights approached Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz with an inquiry regarding the status and course of work on the establishment of the office for counteracting discrimination due to race and ethnic origin. Although Poland, as a member of the European Union, is obligated to form an independent office dealing with such issues, up till now this has not been done.
By Marta Lempicka/HRH Warsaw
7/7/2006- Article 13 of the Race Equality Directive 2000/43/EC states that each Member State of the European Union shall designate a body or bodies for the promotion of equal treatment of all persons without discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin and shall ensure that the competences of these bodies. These include providing independent assistance to victims of discrimination in pursuing their complaints about discrimination, conducting independent surveys concerning discrimination, as well as publishing independent reports and making recommendations on any issue relating to such discrimination. The Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Status of Women and Men was supposed to carry out preparations for the establishment of an appropriate office and temporarily, until its establishment, perform its tasks. The office was never formed. In the fall of 2005, the office of the Plenipotentiary was dissolved and its competences were transferred over to the Department for Women, Family and Counteracting Discrimination within the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, excluding however the issues regarding racial and ethnic discrimination. It this situation there can be no mention of the Polish government fulfilling the obligations imposed by the EU Directive. It his comments to the HFHR letter, the spokesperson for the government, Konrad Ciesio³kiewicz, told the Polish Press Agency that in the government’s opinion there is no need to establish a separate office, since the issues associated with ethnic groups lay within the competence of the Ministry of Interior and Administration.
The letter from the Board of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights to Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
© Human Rights House Warsaw
POLISH MEP PRAISING GENERAL FRANCO SPARKS PARLIAMENT CLASH
4/7/2006- A Polish MEP has sparked a sharp exchange of views in the European Parliament with his comment that Europe needs more politicians like Spanish dictator General Franco, as deputies debated the lessons learnt 70 years after his coup in Spain. Maciej Marian Giertych, a Polish non-attached MEP from the League of Polish Families, a ruling coalition party in Poland, broke rank from his European counterparts who condemned General Franco and his dictatorship during a plenary debate on Tuesday (4 July). In his speech on the subject, Mr Giertych praised the Spanish right-wing powers and in particular general Francisco Franco for stopping the spread of communism to western Europe in the first half of the 20th century. "The presence of such personalities as Franco, Salazar or DeValera in European politics guaranteed Europe's preservance of traditional values. We lack such men of action these days," said the Polish deputy. "We observe deep sorrow some attempts for a historical revisionism which tends to criticise all that is traditional and catholic while portray in a positive light all that is lay and socialist." "Let's not forget that Nazism in Germany and fascism in Italy were also spiced up by socialist and atheist taste," Mr Giertych added. His speech was followed by a furious outcry from the German socialist leader Martin Schultz. "What we have just heard is Mr Franco's ghost. It was a fascist speech and such a statement has no place in the European Parliament," said Mr Schultz, while shouting "You are Nazi" to some protesting Polish deputies. The centre-right leader Hans Gert Poettering also denounced such statements, saying that while he himself is a catholic, he condemns any dictatorship even if it was trying to create conditions to support catholic ideals. Over the past few months, socialist and liberal MEPs have several times criticised Polish government members, particularly for their views and policies on gays and lesbians. Talking to journalists after the debate, Mr Schultz said "we can still see people like that spread around Europe" and argued "We need to create strong international pressure to fight against such tendencies as we are definitely not going to tolerate them."
© EUobserver
NEW POLISH COALITION JEOPARDIZES ISRAELI COOPERATION ON HOLOCAUST EDUCATION
9/7/2006- Israeli officials are refusing all contact with Poland's new education minister because he leads a right-wing party they consider anti-Semitic, a policy that could hinder cooperation in the area of Holocaust education, officials said Sunday. Jerusalem is stopping short of a formal boycott of relations with Roman Giertych, but has decided instead to shun any dealings with him, said Tali Samesh, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "The Polish education minister is the president of a Polish party ... that is an anti-Semitic party by definition, therefore we are not interested in having contacts with him," Samesh said. "We are not initiating anything with that minister." Poland plays a pivotal role in Holocaust remembrance because Nazi Germany set up many of its death camps on occupied Polish territory. Under communism, Poland's authorities downplayed the Holocaust; but since communism callapsed 16 years ago, Poland has made great strides in promoting Holocaust education and has built strong ties with Israel. Giertych, who heads the League of Polish Families, was not immediately available for comment. His party, known by its initials in Polish LPR, is a small ultra-Catholic and nationalist party that joined the governing coalition in early May. That deal has sparked street protests in Warsaw and other cities. The Jewish community is also concerned because the party has a far-right youth wing, the All-Polish Youth, with members who have used Nazi slogans and gestures. The League itself is ideologically linked to a pre-World War II party, National Democracy, that led successful efforts to limit the numbers of Jews at Polish universities and segregate them from Christians.
"We have a standing policy not to talk to LPR members, and this goes back before the formation of this coalition," Israel's ambassador to Poland, David Peleg, told The Associated Press. "I am not going to meet or to talk to Mr. Giertych." The governing Law and Justice party, a socially conservative party, formed the coalition with the league and another small party, Self-Defense in May. Peleg said he has expressed his displeasure to Polish leaders over handing the party the ministry that forms the "core" of Polish-Jewish and Polish-Israeli relations. The ministry oversees Holocaust education in Poland, youth exchanges and the annual March of the Living, a Holocaust remembrance march at Auschwitz-Birkenau that draws thousands from Israel. Peleg said Polish leaders have told him they might move all Israel-related matters to a different ministry to make Israeli-Polish cooperation on such matters easier -- a move he supports. A new prime minister and Cabinet are expected to take office in coming days after Law and Justice accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz on Saturday.
© Associated Press
Headlines 28 July, 2006
GREECE TRANSFIXED BY MURDER THAT EXPOSES ETHNIC DIVIDE
28/7/2006- Five schoolchildren have been charged with killing a young boy in northern Greece in a case that has transfixed the nation and heightened ethnic tensions between locals and immigrants from former communist countries. Alex Mechisvili, 11, a Georgian immigrant, disappeared on his way home from school in January in the town of Veria. Despite an extensive two-month search of abandoned buildings and nearby rivers by police, his body has never been found. The bizarre saga has been marked by the attempted suicide of Alex's mother this week and spiralling conspiracy theories. Five boys – two Greek, one Romanian, and two Albanians - have been charged with premeditated murder and abuse of the dead. Stephanos Zarkazias, the assistant prosecutor, has also filed charges of negligence against the suspects’ parents. But the charges have failed to quash rumours in the town, fuelled by the boy's mother, Natela Ichuadze, and her Greek husband, that underworld gangs could be behind Alex’s disappearance, and that the police investigation is being hindered in high places. The allegations have formed the bulk of the daily Greek reporting on the issue, as the Veria police show signs of being swamped by what has become Greece's highest-profile criminal case in years.
The boys charged yesterday, aged 11 to 13, were first questioned in June but authorities gave few details of the case because they are minors. When questioned initially they told police they fought with their schoolmate and beat him into unconsciousness, leaving his body in a basement but moving it the next day to another location. The next day, after being sent home, they retracted their stories, alleging that the answers had been given under the pressure of interrogation. Police again searched for Alex's body after the retracted admissions, but found nothing. Lawyers and child psychologists appear nightly on television alleging that mere juvenile delinquents could not have masterminded such a gruesome crime. Alex’s Greek stepfather, Dimitris Sainis, told a Greek television station that the arrests were an important step in finding the truth "But I do believe other, older, people were involved," he added. "I cannot accept that five children committed the perfect crime and managed to hide the body so well." Mrs Ichuadze has made regular television appeals for information and carries a sign through the streets of Veria asking about the whereabouts of her son. She has gone on record as saying that she believes the parents of at least one of the Albanian defendants know more than they have let on to the police. Ever since Alex disappeared, she has clung to hopes that he may be alive somewhere. Those hopes appeared to have been dashed earlier this week when the Veria police told her bluntly that there was little, if any, hope of finding Alex either alive or dead. On receiving that news, she walked home and swallowed a bottle of tranquillizers. Doctors at the end of this week pronounced her in satisfactory condition. The news of Mrs Ichuadze's apparent suicide attempt triggered a mass demonstration of sympathizers in Veria last night. The demonstrations have carried an undertone of ethnic resentment, as Albanian migrants are believed partly responsible for rising crime in most parts of Greece.
Thousands of migrants from Albania, Bulgaria and other former communist countries have been entering Greece since the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s. Most have established themselves as part of a hard-working labouring class. But others have been blamed for sharply rising crime rates in the north of the country. Stavros Georgiou, an Athens-based lawyer for one of the defendants, exchanged blows with an angry resident who shouted to a television camera that "high-powered lawyers from Athens" were attempting a cover-up. When questioned by reporters after the incident, Mr Georgiou evaded questions about why he and other well-known lawyers were regularly flying up from Athens to defend a handful of local boys whose working-class families could not be expected to come up with their hefty fees. The issue has fuelled media speculation that the lawyers are being paid by hidden hands. About the only concrete piece of evidence so far is that Alex, as a sensitive, music-loving student, was bullied by local gangs last year.
© The Times Online
FIRST 49 SAME-SEX COUPLES REGISTER AS PARTNERS(Czech Republic)
27/07/2006 - The first 49 same-sex couples had their partnerships officially recognized in July, the first month after the law on registered partnerships took effect in the Czech Republic, the daily Pravo reported Thursday. "I´m surprised by this number, which seems high to me, since one week before July 1 the registry offices had not yet had enough information on how to proceed," Gay and Lesbian League spokesman Martin Strachon told the paper. Men prevailed among the first same-sex couples. Nine couples were registered in Prague, and eight in Ostrava, north Moravia, and Usti nad Labem, north Bohemia. Jana Talmanova from the Old Town Hall registry in Prague´s centre said that 30 couples have already planned to get registered during August and September. There are 14 registry offices, one in each of the country´s regions, where same-sex couples can register. People who register as same-sex partners have the word "partner" written in their identity cards instead of "single." Last July, 6,961 traditional, mixed-sex marriages took place, Pravo writes.
© Prague Daily Monitor
ATHENS MOSQUE APPROVED(Greece)
Government chooses Elaionas; Muslim community happy with decision
26/07/2006 - The first state-funded mosque in Athens will be built in Elaionas, near the city center, the government decided yesterday, in a move that seeks to bring an end to 30 years of negotiations and failed projects. There are some 200,000 Muslims living in Athens but efforts which began in 1976 have yet to result in the construction of an official place of worship for them. The Inner Cabinet yesterday approved plans by Public Works and Environment Minister Giorgos Souflias to rectify this. The plan foresees the construction of the mosque on a site currently used by the navy, which is less than a kilometer from the metro station being constructed in Elaionas. The area had been proposed by Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Church of Greece, as an alternative to a proposal to reopen an Ottoman mosque in Monastiraki Square. Christodoulos also offered 3 hectares of Church land in Schisto, northwestern Athens, for the construction of Athens’s first Muslim cemetery. The Panathinaikos soccer club is also constructing a sports complex in nearby Votanikos as the whole area undergoes a major redevelopment.
The site that has been set aside for the mosque covers some 7 hectares but the project does not include the construction of a cultural center, which some Muslims had requested. The Muslim community, however, said that it approved the plans. “We agreed with Archbishop Christodoulos’s suggestion of Elaionas as it is a central location and will be accessible by the metro,” Nayim Elyadour of the Muslim Union of Greece told Kathimerini. Since the first proposal by Arab ambassadors in Greece 30 years ago, a number of efforts have been made to get construction of a mosque under way. In 1983, Saudi Arabia made its own proposal to the Greek government but that did not lead anywhere until 2000, when a law was passed allowing the creation of a Muslim cultural center in Paeania, east of Athens. But after a number of objections from locals and the Greek Church, the project was scrapped. “The matter was revived by Education and Religion Minister Marietta Giannakou, to whom we submitted on April 4 a petition signed by 10,000 people,” said Elyadour. “We are pleased with Mr Souflias’s proposal; however, we have been hearing about a mosque in recent years but have yet to see one,” he added. No date was given for the completion of the mosque but the government has decided to use state funds for the project.
© Kathimerini
FOREIGN VOTER DRIVE MEETS WITH 'MISERABLE' RESULTS(Belgium)
25/7/2006- The new-found right to vote at October's local elections has failed to excite Belgium's foreign residents, who have stayed away from registration centres in droves. Less than a week before the deadline, just 2,338 non-EU nationals living in Flanders have registered to vote. That represents just 5.48 percent of the target population. Left-wing Spirit Senator Fouzaya Talhaoui said the figures were "miserable" and accused the government of taking insufficient action by failing to invest in information campaigns. On a local level, she said cities with Socialist SP.A mayors made some efforts to address foreign residents, but cities with Liberal VLD mayors deliberately opted against urging foreigners to vote. But Flemish VLD Interior Minister Marino Keulen rejected the criticism, claiming that foreign residents are simply disinterested in voting, newspaper 'De Standaard' reported on Tuesday. He said in Wallonia — where an active government information campaign was waged — the registration drive also met with little success. The federal Parliament approved at the start of 2004 legislation granting non-EU nationals who have lived in Belgium for five years the right to vote once they have registered with electoral authorities. Among the Flemish parties, only the Socialists and Spirit supported the controversial legislation. The green party Groen! was not represented in the federal parliament. But the registration figures have disappointed. Leuven and Ghent have performed best with 10 percent of eligible foreign voters registering. Antwerp came in second with 6 percent. Municipalities such as Mechelen,Oostende and Sint-Niklaas recorded zero percent, while in Genk, the 3 percent figure was also disappointing.
© Expatica News
NGOS APPEAL TO PROSECUTOR OF KRASNODAR KRAI CONCERNING ATTACK ON SUDANESE STUDENT(Russia)
27/7/2006- On 26 July 2006, a number of civil and human rights organizations of the Krasnodar Krai appealed to the prosecutor’s office concerning the attack on 04 July 2006 of Sudanese student Mahdzhub Ali Babikir. The appeal included the demands to look into race as a probable motive of the attack, to carry out an efficient investigation among acquaintances of the assailant, and to study the literature found at the place of the assailant’s permanent residence. The attack on 04 July 2006 happened at approximately 11:30pm. The victim is a 21-year-old Sudanese student of Kuban State University and was attacked near the university’s dormitory in Krasnodar, in the south of Russia. Babikir received three stab wounds with a kitchen knife in his lungs and small intestines. He was lying on the ground for approximately three to four hours and lost more than 3.5 liters of blood. According to the foreign students in Krasnodar, when they tried to call Babikir's cell phone the morning after the assault, a stranger, who introduced himself as “a skinhead from Moscow,” answered the call and promised to kill them as well.
Krasnodar Central Area Police Department states that the detainee is a 19-year old resident of the area known as "Enem" on the outskirts of Krasnodar. Police stated that he stole the cell phone from Babikir after the attack. Several days later, law enforcement agencies had a four-minute-long meeting with the rest of the Sudanese students in Krasnodar, during which they showed them a copy of the assailant's student ID with a Celtic cross drawn on it; the Celtic cross is a well-known Nazi sign. The Sudanese Embassy and Babikir's relatives were informed about the incident. At the moment, the victim’s parents are waiting for a Russian visa to come to Russia. On 23 July 2006, Babikir was transferred to the common ward after having spent about 3 weeks in a coma in the intensive therapy ward. Police are questioning him now.
According to officials, this attack does not have to do with hate crimes, rather it has to do with foreign students and other resources. However, the assailant is alleged to be a member of the so-called skinhead mobs and football hooligans groups in Krasnodar that express very outward nationalistic views; a picture of a Celtic cross on the assailant’s student ID as well. Friends of Babikir claim that 04 July 2006 was the first time Babikir had ever visited the disco near university’s dormitory. In their appeal, “GROZA – Krasnodar” and other organizations expressed their readiness to invite hate crimes experts to investigate the case and assured the prosecutor that are going to cover the Babikir case in the mass media. To address this and many other hate crimes against foreign students in Russia, the coalition of organizations like the Youth Network against Racism and Intolerance (YNRI), Green Alternative (GROZA-Krasnodar), Youth Group for Tolerance “ETHnICS” and others have recently launched the program, “Foreign Students’ Rights Defense.” This program includes a support hotline, website, online consultations, and awareness-raising and information campaigns.
Initiative group GROZA-Krasnodar and YGT “ETHnICS”
© email source
JUDGMENT GIVES HOPE TO FAMILIES OF 5,000 'DISAPPEARED' CHECHENS (Russia)
28/7/2006- The Russian government has been held responsible for the death of one of Chechnya's thousands of "disappeared" people for the first time, a judgment that will embarrass the Kremlin. The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that Russia bore direct responsibility for the presumed murder of a 25-year-old Chechen, Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev, who it said was probably executed by Russian troops in 2000. The order to execute him was captured on camera by a television crew, but like many of "the disappeared" his body has never been found, and there is no concrete proof that he is dead. Human rights groups contend that up to 5,000 Chechens have disappeared since 1999, when Russian troops entered Chechnya for the second time in five years to quell separatist rebels. They have long been pressing for the Kremlin to be held to account, and hailed yesterday's judgement as a breakthrough. "This is a landmark judgement with major importance for the hundreds of other Chechen disappearance cases still pending before the court," said Ole Solvang, executive director of Russian Justice Initiative. Mr Solvang's organisation helped Mr Yandiyev's mother, Fatima Bazorkina, take the case to the Strasbourg court. She has been trying to find out what happened to her son for the past six years and said she hoped the ruling would finally spur the government into launching a proper investigation. The judgment also puts the Russian army in a difficult position, since the officer who gave the order to kill Mr Yandiyev is now in command of all Russian forces in the North Caucasus, and is widely considered a national hero.
On the face of it, the matter seems an open-and-shut case as much of what happened was caught on tape. Mr Yandiyev, who may have been fighting with separatist rebels, is shown in the custody of Russian forces. Dressed in camouflage fatigues, he is seen in a heated argument with Col-Gen Alexander Baranov. General Baranov is then heard to lose his cool and say: "Take him away, damn it, finish him off there - that's the whole order. Finish him off, shoot him damn it!" The young man is shown being led away. It was the last time he was seen. His mother's attempts to discover the truth have been stonewalled by the authorities, and General Baranov, who has been questioned twice over the matter, has denied he sent Mr Yandiyev to his death. He argues that his "intervention" was meant to calmMr Yandiyev down, and that the soldiers were not his direct subordinates and therefore could not have taken orders from him. The European Court disagreed, and said Russia had used "lethal force" and flouted the European Convention of Human Rights on six counts. It awarded Mr Yandiyev's mother £24,000 in damages plus costs. Russia has three months to appeal against the judgment, but if it remains in force it must come up with an action plan to show such an incident can never occur again. Mr Solvang called for a criminal investigation to be launched into General Baranov's role in the incident.
© Independent Digital
FOUR SUSPECTS CLEARED IN RACIST ATTACK(Russia)
27/07/2006 - A St. Petersburg jury has cleared four young men in the September stabbing death of a Congolese student, the second time in four months that a jury has freed suspects in racially motivated killings. Last year's attack was one of dozens against African students and other dark-skinned people in St. Petersburg, which has gained notoriety as a hotbed of racist violence. While St. Petersburg authorities finally appear to be taking the violence more seriously, the latest verdict shows that ordinary people do not see racism as a problem, said Desire Deffo, a leader of the local African Unity group. "We still have a lot of work to do," he said by telephone Wednesday. After Tuesday's verdict, Prosecutor Dmitry Mazurov called the jurors "simple folk" who were unable to objectively evaluate evidence. "Evidence for them is a bloody knife with fingerprints on it," Mazurov said in comments broadcast on Rossia state television late Tuesday. As evidence, prosecutors had presented the student's clothes, on which they said fibers from the suspects' clothing had been found. However, the suspected murder weapons -- a knife and a rock -- remain missing, and no bloodstains were found on the suspects' clothes. Prosecutors plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Congolese student Roland Epassak, 29, was attacked by four young men on the night of Sept. 9 near the building where he lived, prosecutors said. The attackers struck him on the head with a rock and then began punching and kicking him. After Epassak fell to the ground, they continued beating him and stabbed him several times, including in the throat. One of the four defendants, Andrei Gerasimov, was accused of stabbing Epassak at least seven times. The other suspects were Yury Gromov, Andrei Olenev and Dmitry Orlov. The suspects are 19 to 26 years old. Epassak died from the stab wounds five days later in a hospital. Prosecutors initially said the attack was not racially motivated, angering African and Asian students and prompting about 50 of them to march in St. Petersburg the day after Epassak died. The attack was eventually classified as a hate crime.
The suspects were detained in late September, and city prosecutors later announced they had admitted to killing Epassak. All four, however, declared their innocence in their July 20 closing statements to the St. Petersburg City Court. They denied having racist sentiments and noted that the suspected murder weapons had never been found, Strana.ru reported. They also pointed out that no blood had been found on their clothes. Following the acquittal, around 50 people present in the courtroom to support the suspects applauded loudly for several minutes, and a few shouted "Thank you!" and "Way to go!" Interfax reported. The defendants had faced sentences of up to life in prison if convicted. A woman who answered the phone at the Congolese Embassy in Moscow said no one was available to comment.
St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko on Wednesday expressed disappointment with the jury and called the acquittal a "very bad and incorrect decision for a racist crime." "I was kept informed during the entire investigation," Matviyenko told reporters, Interfax reported. "The work was done very professionally, and the suspects' guilt was proven." Matviyenko, echoing the lead prosecutor, accused the jurors of being poor instruments of justice. "People end up [on a jury] unprepared from a legal standpoint, and their decisions very often are made on an emotional level," she said. Proponents of judicial reform, however, say prosecutors and investigators often put together slipshod cases and lack the professionalism needed to fight their cases before juries. Since 1993, when jury trials were reinstated after a break of more than seven decades, the acquittal rate has been much higher for defendants tried by jury than by judges. Last year, every sixth person tried by a jury was acquitted, while only 3.6 percent of those tried by judges were cleared, according to statistics provided by the Supreme Court. In previous years, the difference was even greater.
A St. Petersburg jury in March cleared a young man of murder charges in the stabbing death of a 9-year-old Tajik girl, finding him guilty instead of hooliganism. In May, St. Petersburg police arrested and charged several members of the Mad Crowd group on charges of inciting teenagers to attack the girl, Khursheda Sultanova, and her family. The suspects are also believed to have taken part in the June 2004 fatal shooting of Nikolai Girenko, a sociologist who pioneered a method for classifying ethnically motivated crimes and had testified against nationalists in court, as well as the 2003 killing of a Chinese citizen and a 2003 attack on an Armenian. Police say the suspects have admitted their guilt. Nineteen people have died in racially motivated attacks this year, a group that monitors extremist activity said Wednesday. Another 166 people have suffered injuries in attacks in 22 regions, the Sova Center said, Ekho Moskvy reported. Most of the attacks took place in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and they are becoming increasingly vicious, it said.
© The Moscow Times
PLANNED GRAVEYARD DESECRATED(Denmark)
An uncertain future looms for a Muslim cemetery which has been dogged by vandalism
24/07/2006 - The first Muslim cemetery in Denmark has already been struck by several incidents of vandalism - before it has even been opened. The cemetery plot in Brøndby, southwest of Copenhagen, has had swastikas painted on it. Similar vandalism has also taken place at the Islamic religious community centre in Copenhagen. The planned cemetery has already had its first test grave dug and the Islamic Burial Foundation is searching for a gardener to care for the property. 'This is a very, very bad start,' said Kasem Ahmad, chairman of the foundation, to daily newspaper Politiken. 'I am losing faith that this project will ever be realised.' Ahmed said a car has also been seen on several occasions driving recklessly across the field and that rumours have been circulating that it is being used to race on. The vandalism has cast an uncertain future over the cemetery, according to Ahmet Deniz, deputy chairman of the foundation. He said the cemetery would not be put into use until the foundation could be certain that the vandalism would be stopped. 'It must be very intolerant people who can't accommodate anyone other than themselves. They aren't thinking about the fact that they are ruining their own land and the opportunity to live in a country with different types of people,' said Deniz. The Islamic Burial Foundation has only contacted the police on one occasion. Members of the foundation are now trying to find the funds to hire a security crew to monitor the location. Bertel Haarder, minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs approved the request to establish the cemetery in April 2006.
© The Copenhagen Post
SEVEN SEEKERS(Latvia)
A group of migrants meets indifference, indecision, and finally, a kind of acceptance in Latvia.
By Elizabeth Celms, journalist based in Riga.
24/7/2006- Introducing herself, a smile briefly flashes across Zenita’s strained face. Minutes before she had been at a Riga clinic, having shards of bomb shrapnel removed from her leg; shrapnel lodged there for five years. “This is her first visit to a doctor since leaving Somalia,” says Sarma Eglite, who rescued Zenita and her six companions from homelessness a few days before. “He says she’ll be limping for the rest of her life.” Eglite helps Zenita into the front seat of a Volkswagen van. The back is stuffed with crates of food and a used refrigerator being delivered to Zvanieki, the Christian organization which took in Zenita and her companions. I ask Zenita if the bandaged area hurts much, and her grimace again becomes a smile. “It’s good,” she says. On 5 August 2005, seven Somalis stepped off a cargo ship in the port of Riga. They had hoped to seek political refuge in Sweden, but somehow (no one really knows how) ended up in Latvia. After wandering Riga’s streets for hours, the group eventually found the Latvian Red Cross where they sought food and aid. Two of the Somalis speak English, albeit poorly, making it almost impossible to communicate with authorities. The rest spoke only a dialect of Amharic, a language indigenous to Ethiopia. Once an interpreter had been located in Estonia, border guards began questioning the migrants about their identities. But having no travel documents, there was no way for the state to even prove the Africans were Somali, as they claimed. Therefore, officials were forced to place the group in Latvia’s Illegal Migrant Center in Olaine, where they were held for nearly a year. “They should have never been put in Olaine, it’s a prison,” says the Rev. Juris Calitis, who, in mid-July, agreed to shelter the Somalis at the Zvanieki organization’s home for children with domestic problems.
“[Olaine] is filled with illegal immigrants who deliberately break the law to make a buck. You can’t put asylum seekers together with those prisoners. It’s insane. No other country in Europe would find that acceptable.” But Ilmars Mezs, director of the International Organization for Migration’s Riga office, says the Somalis’ legal situation was both unprecedented and complicated. “Normally in such a case we would return the asylum seekers to their native country. But we can’t return these seven to Somalia because, due to the country’s chaotic situation, there are no ministries that would accept them. Until the situation in Somalia is resolved, we have no choice but to keep them.” Latvia has the lowest number of asylum seekers in the European Union, says Mezs, with some dozen or so registered each year. “There are no communities here to help asylum seekers, so they don’t come. Plus, Latvia is one of the poorest EU members.”
In 2005, according to the State Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, 20 people applied for asylum in Latvia,. As is usual in EU countries, the vast majority of applications were turned down: 18 of the 20 applications were rejected by the Refugee Affairs Department. Between 2002 and 2005, the department granted a lower level of legal protection, known as alternative asylum seeker status, to nine refugees: three from Belarus, and six from Russia. While in Olaine, the seven Somalis were treated as “illegal immigrants.” All of their possessions, including medication brought from Africa, were detained. They were prohibited from leaving the center grounds, where they spent day and night – save one hour of “outdoor exercise” in a 50-square-meter yard – confined to their sterile rooms. They had no contacts outside prison, no lawyer – although they constantly asked for one – and no idea what would happen to them. On 8 July this year, nearly a year after the group arrived in Latvia, Olaine was forced to release the Somalis. Their term at the illegal migrant center, extended twice, was finally up. With no money, visas, or place to go, the seven retraced their path to the Red Cross, but because they didn’t have medical cards, they were turned away. The group next tried a homeless shelter and were rejected once again, leaving them nowhere to sleep but Riga’s parks. Learning of the Somalis’ situation from his daughter, Calitis proposed bringing the lost group to Zvanieki. Within hours, Eglite was on her way to pick them up. “You can imagine how bizarre it all must have seemed,” says Eglite. “This strange woman asking you to get into her van, all the while saying ‘It’ll be okay.’ The seven climbed in and were driven two hours from Riga.
A place to call home
Retracing that journey with Zenita a week later, I watched her eyes dart back and forth, taking in the rolling countryside: birch trees, reed-swept lakes, and the occasional stork’s nest. After 11 months spent staring at pasty walls and a dead horizon, the sight must have been surreally beautiful. “We’re finally here,” says Eglite, pulling up to a rustic, lakeside farmhouse. A group of freckled children and lanky teenagers leaps off the front porch to greet us. Zenita smiles back, this time without strain. If they could, says Foad, a bright 17-year-old who speaks impressive Latvian, the Somalis would stay at Zvanieki permanently. “Compared to Olaine, this is paradise,” he says. “We live like a family here – with the children, Sandra, Reverend Calitis.” Foad’s entire family was killed in Somalia. “I had nothing left there,” says the teenager. Listening to Foad, I’m touched by his gentle use of the Latvian language. He pronounces each word with care, making sure to place the accent on the appropriate syllable. I ask where he learned such good Latvian. “Hours of watching TV in Olaine,” he replies.
On 13 July, Calitis and Sandra Dzenite, a volunteer at Zvanieki, drove the seven to Riga where the Refugee Appeals Council would finally determine their legal status. “Our Somalis were almost sick with nerves,” Dzenite recalls. “They couldn’t sleep the night before.” But having hired a highly recommended lawyer, who had won a similar case eight years ago with a Pakistani immigrant, Dzenite and Calitis were hopeful. And their faith was rewarded. After hours of deliberation, the council declared that all seven Somalis would receive alternative asylum seeker status, and with it Latvian residency, the right to look for work, and, until they find jobs, a monthly stipend equal to the minimum wage. “By law their status is temporary – until Somalia obtains a stable government, and then they have to go back,” says Mezs. “This, of course, could take five or more years … who knows?”
The council had already rejected the refugees’ application for this status twice before, leading Calitis to believe it was Dzenite who finally swayed the council. Hoping to obtain legal guardianship of the two youngest Somalis – Nasir, 16, and Aziza, 15 – she was allowed to speak at the hearing. “Our lawyer said it was her speech that won the case, because it was so humane,” Calitis says. “She spoke of them as individuals with unique personalities. Each Somali she mentioned was humanized and the council reacted to that.”
I wasn’t surprised. Dzenite’s eyes alone exude a magnetism of kindness strong enough to sway anyone in her favor. “They are not just ‘illegal immigrants,’ ” she says. “They are people.”
The struggle yet to come
It would be easy, but wrong, to call this a happy ending for the Somalis. In truth, their reality is daunting. Since EU accession, Latvians have become increasingly wary of foreigners. The situation is especially hostile for black minorities, with a string of racially-motivated attacks reported in Riga over the past year. The most recent incident occurred on 10 June, when two young skinheads attacked a black man on a busy downtown street. Riga police initially filed the case under “hooliganism,” spurring members of AfroLat, Latvia’s African-Latvian Association, to protest. The organization pointed out the assailants had allegedly hurled racist epithets at the man. “The police should understand the nature of this crime,” says Chris Ejugbo, AfroLat chair. “Officers need to be educated. For them to classify this as an act of hooliganism is wrong.” Two days later, the Latvian branch of the European Network Against Racism, an umbrella group of EU civil society organizations, issued a press release condemning the police’s response to the attack. “This is yet another racially motivated attack that highlights several deficiencies in police response and gaps in the national laws, which are supposed to provide protection against this kind of crime,” read the press release. Only then did officials reclassify the attack as a racially-motivated incident, a crime which carries stiffer penalties than hooliganism.
According to Ieva Retsna, head of the Latvian State Police press and public relations bureau, Latvia has three racially-motivated attacks on record, all of which were originally classified as acts of hooliganism. Although this number may seem negligible, it has to be remembered that there are very few racial minorities resident in Latvia, and many incidents go unreported. Until this intolerance subsides, the Somalis’ integration is sure to be difficult. Indeed, Calitis has already been subject to harsh criticism and verbal attacks for taking in the refugees. And Somalis can’t stay at Zvanieki forever. While Aziza and Nasir will be cared for by Dzenite, the rest will eventually have to look for work. “I just cannot imagine what kind of work they will find,” confesses Mezs. “Doors will be closed in their faces. At least for the first year or so, until they learn the local language, they will be very much dependent on NGOs.” However, according to Calitis, the older Somalis in the group have already been offered jobs at a local lumber mill. Perhaps most promising for the Somalis’ future is their formidable eagerness to survive. “We will take whatever jobs Latvia offers us,” says Selam, at 40, the oldest of the group. “We need the language, first, to communicate. Then we must search for work. We have to help ourselves.”
© Transitions Online
WHO WILL BE THE PEOPLE'S CHAMPION NOW? (Netherlands)
We ask who is waiting in the wings to take up the populist banner for the general election in November now that Leefbaar Nederland and the LPF are on the way out.
27/7/2006- It looked as if the traditional political parties in the Netherlands were in trouble in the early part of the decade. After eight years of the consensus driven 'Purple' coalition between Labour (PvdA), Liberals (VVD) and Democrat D66, ordinary people in the street felt locked out from the corridors of power in The Hague - and they were ready to force themselves back in. The Trojan horse was to be a new kind of party, Leefbaar Nederland (Liveable Netherlands - LN). Founded in 1999 by Jan Nagel and Henk Westbroek of the successful Leefbaar parties in Hilversum and Utrecht, LN wasn't going to be fettered by either left or right-wing philosophies. The main elements of its programme for the general election in May 2002 were: more of a say for ordinary people (at the expense of the traditional parties); less bureaucracy; and a more balanced (selective) asylum policy. Having the outspoken 'professor' and writer Pim Fortuyn at the helm significantly increased the party's appeal. Early predictions were that LN could win up to 20 seats.
Pim factor
But everything went wrong three months before the election when the party executive sacked Fortuyn after he called for an end to immigration and for the removal of the anti-discrimination clause from the Constitution. Prosecutor Fred Teeven replaced Fortuyn as leader. LN won two seats while Fortuyn's new political party, Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF), won 28 of the 150 seats in parliament. Although Fortuyn was assassinated nine days before the election, his party joined a centre-right coalition in triumph. The celebrations were short-lived. The government collapsed ignominiously 87 days later due to LPF infighting. The LPF managed to hang on to eight seats in the subsequent election in January 2003. Leefbaar Nederland lost both its seats. Opinion polls have consistently suggested the LPF, which has been reduced to six seats by further wrangling, will join LN on the political scrap heap after the election next November. Hit by a serious debt problem, LN has decided to dissolve; the LPF has chosen to fight on and appoint a "big name" to lead its election campaign. Yet it faces competition from a host of other groups and personalities who hope to capture the 'people's vote'. Here's a rundown of the main contenders:
Geert Wilders
A Conservative with an striking coiffure, Wilders (42) from the south-eastern city of Venlo presents himself as the natural successor to Pim Fortuyn - the new voice of the common man and woman of the Netherlands. Wilders is probably the second best known Dutch politician internationally after Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Both are former members of the Liberal Party (VVD), both are critics of fundamentalist Islam, both are against immigration from Muslim countries, and both had to go into hiding after Muslim Mohammed Bouyeri murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November 2004. Two months before the killing, Wilders split with the Liberals over the party support for EU-accession talks with Turkey. He recently set up the Partij van de Vrijheid (Party of the Freedom) to contest the election in November. As has occurred frequently since Leefbaar Nederland rocked political certainties in the Netherlands, opinion polls were wildly enthusiast about the latest political contender. Wilders was tipped to win anything up to 30 seats. More recent surveys suggest he may get eight seats - still impressive for a new party.
Marco Pastors
Given to wearing pinstripe suits in imitation of Fortuyn, Marco Pastors, 40, is a man with a mission - to bring the 'Rotterdam approach' - law & order, and compulsory integration for immigrants to the rest of the country. Pastors took over the leadership of Leefbaar Rotterdam after Fortuyn was murdered. The Fortuyn revolution began in the local elections two months before the national poll. Although Leefbaar Rotterdam was the largest group on the city council, Pastors never stopped seeing conspiracies and imagining the established parties were out for revenge. One sign of this, as far as he is concerned, was when he was forced off the city's executive council for speaking his mind about Muslim immigrants, despite an agreement not to. A second sign was the local election in March this year when the Labour Party beat Leefbaar Rotterdam into second place. Pastors effectively abandoned any responsibility for the future government of the city. He has set his mind to continue the Fortuyn revolution on the national stage with a new political party. He is known to have approached several like minded Fortuynists, including the LPF's Joost Eerdmans and former immigration minister Hilbrand Nawijn (ex-LPF). But his attempts to lure Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk away from the Liberals have failed so far. Details about the new party remain sketchy.
Hilbrand Nawijn
The head of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) from 1988 to 1996, Nawijn became the LPF's immigration minister in the short-lived 2002 coalition government. He introduced the uncompromising approach to immigration and asylum that Verdonk now follows. Consequently, Nawijn took great pleasure in calling on Verdonk to strip Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali of her Dutch nationality for lying about her name. When not scowling about things he objects to, like lying asylum seekers, Nawijn is usually seen sporting a self-satisfied smirk. Elected to parliament with a huge personal vote in 2003, despite being on the bottom of the LPF list of candidates, he left the LPF in January 2005 in a row about his close ties with Filip Dewinter, leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang party in Belgium. His new party, Groep Nawijn, won five seats on Zoetermeer city council in March. However, it emerged in late July that Nawijn was one of the candidates being considered as the election leader for the LPF. Nawijn confirmed he was interested.
LPF survivors
Most commentators - and opinion polls - suggest the LPF is washed up. The countless internal rows, frequent leadership changes and occasional mad-cap antics of its MPs have destroyed its credibility. That is the majority view. There is a minority opinion, held by a handful of LPFers, that the 2006 election can be a new beginning. Current leader Gerard van As has said the party will soon come with a new name and exciting new leader who will thrill the electorate. According to reports the 'new' name for the Lijst Pim Fortuyn is likely to include the name Fortuyn. And one of the three candidates for the leadership position is Nawijn, who left the LPF because his colleagues didn't like him hanging around with the leader of the right-wing Vlaams Belang.
Van As may be confident the LPF will survive; some of the other MPs are not.
* Justice spokesman Joost Eerdmans is being courted by more than one suitor.
* Matt Herben, twice called upon to lead the LPF and twice ditched for being ineffective, has faded into the background.
* MP Max Hermans is also being wooed by other parties, and his personal LPF website no longer works.
* MP Margot Kraneveldt resigned her seat in early July and rejoined the Labour Party. Her replacement, Gonny van Oudenallen, was expelled by the LPF over questions about her financial dealings while a councillor in Amsterdam. Van Oudenallen is now sitting as an independent, unconcerned by the prospect of losing her seat in November.
A snap-shot of the main contenders for Fortuyn's crown. The Dutch public will have to decide which, if any, are worthy to wear it.
© Expatica News
VERDONK PLANS TO BLOCK FORMER ILLEGALS(Netherlands)
21/07/2006 - Minister of Integration Rita Verdonk told Dutch national daily Trouw on Friday that she is looking into ways to make it difficult for people who have been picked up for living illegally in the Netherlands to return, even legally, to the country. A person’s record as a previous illegal resident may in future also be considered when they apply to visit the country, the minister said through a spokesman. People wanting to visit the Netherlands for work, study or family reasons can still attempt to re-enter the country legally by applying for a temporary residence permit. A measure introduced earlier this year requires people wanting to settle permanently in the country to pass a course in Dutch language and culture. At present people who have been deported after getting caught living illegally in the country can still apply for a temporary residence permit. Among others, school student Taïda Pasic from Kosovo, whose deportation weeks before she was due to wrote her final school exams caught the headlines, recently successfully applied for a temporary residence permit to study in the Netherlands. She is to study law in Leiden. Verdonk says she wants to sharpen up the rules covering applications for temporary residence permits to ensure that former illegal residents are excluded. Her intention is to discourage illegal residence in the country, her spokesman said. He added that the idea came from a memorandum on illegal residence produced last year by her department. The Pasic case had not played a role, he said. Around 100,000 people are estimated to be living illegally in the Netherlands presently.
© Expatica News
SOUL SEARCHING FOR A NEW DUTCH IDENTITY
In search of a new identity, Dutch society is facing many challenges. Two political murders within two years and growing tensions among ethnically Dutch and their Muslim compatriots require a critical self-evaluation. An active younger generation is voicing the need for change in the political landscape and a growing representation of immigrants has altered the political climate. Tolerance is no longer a trademark of the Netherlands. The future needs to determine whether integration will continue to be a goal, or whether a new form of a stratified society will shape the new Dutch identity.
By Marietje Schaake, a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow and works free-lance in the public field designing concepts for political engagement and organizing events
Global events have local impact. The Netherlands and its political climate of the past five years have proven just that. The Dutch situation has become of international interest, following two political murders and a NO vote in the referendum on the European
Constitution. The vote and other tensions are seen in the context of Western European societies’ challenge to deal with ‘Radical Islam’ and the public’s fear of Turkish accession to the EU. On 5 April 2006 the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations explicitly mentioned xenophobia and a hostile climate against Muslims in the Netherlands.2 The Netherlands was described as a searching nation.3 Ironically it was during that same time when French Senators visited the ‘problem areas’ of Rotterdam, and expressed admiration for the Dutch way such urban problems are tackled.4 Recent developments and popular Dutch sentiment are more in line with the American interpretation of Dutch reality; a nation struggling to redefine its core values.
In the aftermath of 9/11 and two political assassinations soon thereafter, Dutch society underwent fundamental changes. To understand the social change, a closer look should be given to the March 2006 municipal election turnout and recent initiatives of the younger
generation. A review of these two cases of public mobilization will give insight into society’s response to a polarized climate and reactionary politics. Is this the beginning of a paradigm shift, or is it just the craze of the day? The question is whether we should continue to strive to accomplish integration or whether is it more realistic to work on an open but stratified model. The answers to these questions have global relevance as the challenges that the Dutch face on a micro level are applicable also to most EU countries.
The process of establishing a new Dutch identity is in full swing and not nearly completed. Identity by nature is fluid, yet a more defined sense of what binds all Dutch citizens, is needed. When this Dutch identity takes on a more inclusive and solid form, the Dutch will be better able to understand their position in the European Union. This will be instrumental in understanding the possibilities of EU Expansion.
Welcome to the Netherlands
A culture of unlimited freedoms for some, Sodom and Gomorra for others. The Dutch culture and economy for centuries developed as a result of global trade. The tolerant image of the Dutch is attributable to their historic desire to be open to other cultures in order not to shut off possible trade partners; an economic motive. Dutch society was divided in three dominant groups with Calvinists, Catholics and socialists living separately in their own strata. This phenomenon of parallel societies became known as stratification and lasted until the 1960s. The motto was ‘live and let live, but not in my backyard’. Catholics, Protestants and socialists had their own political parties, schools and communities. Tolerance existed only within these subcultures and not between them.
In the 1960’s, the Netherlands needed cheap labor and recruited temporary workers from the poorer regions of the Mediterranean as ‘guest-workers’; initially mostly Italian and Spanish men, but later more and more Turkish and Moroccan workers. No government initiatives existed to integrate immigrants which resulted in little interaction between the Dutch and the newcomers. Immigrants from different backgrounds and with different religions continued to live in their own growing communities. No structural program to integrate these guest-workers into Dutch society was created. No ‘Dutch dream’ was formulated, let alone communicated to the
newcomers. They effectively became new strata in society. After World War II, public-opinion deemed it politically incorrect to differentiate people according to ethnicity. Doing so was perceived as an intrusion by the government. This caused additional reluctance in policy-making to initiate integration policies targeting minorities. It was not until the 1980s that minimal integration policies were formulated. Prior to that, the simple assumption was that the guest-workers would eventually leave. Many, however, ended up staying. Family-reunification was unavoidable and meant citizenship was granted to immediate relatives of thousands of guestworkers.
Today, a realization reigns that a new Dutch identity and new policies are needed to effectively include all Dutch inhabitants. Had such policies been implemented earlier, they would have forced the Dutch themselves to think about what binds them together while trying to communicate their identity to others. To this day, many first generation immigrants from Turkey and Morocco do not speak Dutch, and ironically, those who came here to work are now scoring highest in unemployment figures. The intake of immigrants has been sharply reduced over the past five years. In early 2006, a new government funded film portraying images of the ‘liberal Dutch culture’ was distributed to 138 Dutch embassies, to be seen by those who consider applying for a visa. The film is part of a larger program of acquiring citizenship, aiming to stimulate the integration process of newcomers once they are granted a visa. Part of the process of acquiring citizenship is the so called citizenship-test. Both film and test send a message of discouragement as even many
ethnically Dutch citizens would not pass questions such as ‘How did nutmeg come to the Netherlands?’
Two Political Murders and the Death of ‘Tolerance’
The 9/11 terrorist attacks sent a shockwave throughout the world. In the Netherlands, it helped introduce fear as a dominant factor in a traditionally peaceful, almost boring, political arena. A year and a half after 9/11, popular newcomer to Dutch politics, Pim Fortuyn, was assassinated by an anonymous left-wing radical.6 Fortuyn’s rhetoric on ‘Muslim terrorism’ and ‘failed integration’ of immigrants had won him the 2002 municipal elections in the second largest city in The Netherlands, Rotterdam. The city had been ruled by social
democrats for more than a century and has a majority immigrant population. Fortuyn served from 14 March 2002 until he was murdered on the 6th of May of that same year, days before his party’s likely victory on the national stage. During his campaign, he declared himself the next Prime Minister of the country and made it well-known he feared for his life. His outspokenness caused him to be celebrated and hated at the same time. Although his party, Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF), failed to consolidate continuity after his murder, it secured 26 out of 150 seats in the national elections which meant Fortuyn could have indeed become Prime Minister. The massive vote for Fortuyn and his party has been dubbed the ‘white middle finger’ and it is known that many who voted for his party did so out of protest of the assassination. Although his assassin turned out to be a left-wing animal rights activist 6, political rhetoric following the murder suggested radical Muslim immigrants were to blame.
Political murder in peace time had not occurred in the Netherlands since the 1584 assassination of Dutch founding father Willem de Zwijger. This helps explain the intense reactions to the second political murder in two years. Movie director and professional provocateur, Theo van Gogh was assassinated on 2 November 2004. He was shot while riding his bike and subsequently stabbed to death by a Dutch Islamic fundamentalist of Moroccan decent, Mohammed Bouyeri. The murderer left a message to society promising more bloodshed pinned to Van Gogh’s chest with a dagger. Ironically, at the time of the murder, Van Gogh was working on a movie about the murder of Fortuyn. His earlier movie criticizing the position of women in Islam, ‘Submission’, was explicitly mentioned by Bouyeri as a motive to kill him because it portrayed verses of the Kuran on the bodies of naked women. Van Gogh produced this movie together with controversial Member of Parliament, Ayaan Hirshi Ali, who has been living under heavy protection ever since.7
The response to the murders of Fortuyn and Van Gogh was one of disbelief; the Dutch struggled to accept that such acts could take place in the Netherlands. They characterized the murders as ‘un-Dutch’. But weren’t these ‘un-Dutch’ murders the product of a ‘tolerant’ Dutch society? Did Dutch tolerance stand for open-mindedness and inclusiveness, or had it become synonymous with indifference to others? An intense re-evaluation and search for a new Dutch identity that unveiled the ignorance of the political establishment towards societal reality began.
Reports of the Dutch intelligence service show that radical funding pouring into mosques, schools, and the existence of terrorist recruiters were not un-Dutch.8 The Dutch interpretation of tolerance had effectively casted a blind eye to dangerous developments on it own soil. The Netherlands had bred extremists that fall outside the alleged category of uneducated immigrants. Van Gogh’s assassin Mohammed Bouyeri was highly educated, spoke Dutch fluently, but turned radical. Some suggested he could have been more susceptible to professional recruiters as a member of a minority in search for his own identity. Bouyeri himself denied this and proclaimed that he acted only in the name of Allah. It became painfully clear that terrorism was no longer un-Dutch. With the murders of Fortuyn and Van Gogh, tolerance as it was known to the Dutch was murdered too. The Netherlands, traditionally known for its tolerance, witnessed ‘retaliation’ attacks on mosques and even Islamic elementary schools. Perpetrators did not try to hide their
motives leaving such messages as ‘Rest in Peace Theo’. The sense of fear resulted in a tendency to block changes. This helps explain why the recent referendum on the European Constitution resulted in an infamous ‘NEE’ from the Dutch and why the discussion of a Turkish accession to the EU became such a topic of heated public debate.
Political Participation of Immigrants
Historically immigrants were barely represented in political institutions on both the local and national level. Political representation can give immigrants more visibility in political life and could help bridge the divide in society. The municipal elections of 7 March 2006 displayed a major shift in the votes of the immigrant community with a surprising tendency to vote for the Labor Party (PvdA). While Labor’s strategy of moving towards the center right worked, coalition parties across the entire spectrum lost as a result of a variety of unpopular measures. The shift in voting behavior can be attributed to a reaction against the insensitive immigration policies of the current administration, led by Minister Rita Verdonk. ‘Iron Rita’ is notably the most controversial and certainly most threatened minister. At the same time her no-nonsense approach is highly valued by many. This tension exemplifies the polarization in the Netherlands. Traditionally the low political participation level of immigrants was attributed to their lack of integration into Dutch society. This time however, voter turnout among immigrants was unexpectedly high. Responses to this shift formed a heated debate, specifically over the result of voting along ethnic lines. The turnout during the municipal elections has been dubbed the ‘black’ middle finger.
Referring to people having voted along ethnic lines, Minister Verdonk said,”Many immigrants in the voting booth choose the (false) safety of old politics.” “However, the ‘easiest choice’ in this field is often not the best.”9 Wouter Bos, head of the Labor Party and
likely new Prime Minister, pointed to this risk as well, contributing it partly to the inexperience of new politicians.10 Many inside his party felt uncomfortable with their leader’s statement; the party had, after all, gained popularity thanks to the recent voting dynamics that he seemed to criticize. New influences in society challenge Dutch secularism rendering a new and effective reestablishment of the principle vital. Commentators claim that the problem lies with finding the right representatives in the Muslim community. Vrijssen states: “All cabinets have attempted to make contact with the Muslim world according to the old model of talks with the Catholic, Protestant, and social democratic pillars. This used to lead to consensus. Now it leads to distance." Minister Donner remarked: “We can not talk to Muslims about terrorism, because we do not want to relate religion and terrorism,”11 underlining the need for a clear definition of secularism.
The media warned that the ‘black’ voters might form a block. Others speak of a democratic answer to the political developments in the Netherlands. Haci Karacaer, director of Milli Görüs Northern Holland, attributed the tumult around the election to a perception of “an attack to the established political interest”. It proves, according to Karacaer, that the presence of immigrants in Dutch politics is of a permanent nature. He asserts that the discussion is not so much whether immigrants should vote for immigrant representatives, but whether those elected are qualified. “The realization that immigrants are a power factor is confronting. It seems to hit hard in parts of The Netherlands.”12 The ethnic divide would have been certain, had all the votes gone to Islamic parties, but these have not yet been effectively established. Yet, many immigrants were candidates on the list of the Labor Party, and many proved to have large constituencies. Interestingly it is the Labor Party that is largely blamed for the lack of integrating immigrants during the many years that they were part in government. The massive shift of votes is probably mainly a reaction to the policies of the current administration, by Dutch and immigrant voters.
Professor Paul Scheffer interprets the outcome of the municipal elections not as a victory of integration, but points to the risk of ethnic islands taking shape. “The municipal elections were not a celebration of democracy. (…) After the white middle finger of 2002 now the black middle finger of 2006. Action and reaction, the outcomes belong together and indicate the polarization stemming from urban problems. The explanation for both outcomes is the same: fear for change and a call for protection.” According to Scheffer “the coexistence between ethnic and political lines is not good for the belief in democracy.”13
Rebels with a Cause; Initiatives by the Younger Generation
The Netherlands has a debating culture. On several platforms and podia, such as debating houses, there are daily discussions on every political, cultural and socio-economic topic imaginable. These debates have a highly intellectual character and risk lacking practical
impact. The accession of Turkey to the EU has been a recurring topic over the past three years.14 Other topics such as political leadership and innovation, and radicalization have been extensively discussed in public discourse as well. Hope lies in attempting to involve as many people as possible, from different layers of society, and underlining the need for action to result from debating. By doing so, a more inclusive debate for the development of a new Dutch identity can take place. Initiatives taken by the younger generation are indicative of their determination to deal with societal problems, and as such promising. Today’s youth take a unique approach as they talk, debate and rap about political topics in a way that differs from older generations. There is a natural urge to break away from the political establishment into a progressive new era. Some examples from the wide variety of initiatives exemplify what is becoming a movement for change.
Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch students collaborated in creating a platform called ‘Ben je bang voor mij?’ [Are you afraid of me?]. The group organizes events that confront people with the fear of ‘the other’ that has surfaced after the murder of Theo van Gogh. Another initiative called ‘HappyChaos’ is an organization that started hosting ‘symposium parties’ in 2001 on various topics ranging from freedom of expression to democracy as a product for export. Politicians, journalists and academics hold debates in nightclubs and dance afterwards. ‘CoolPolitics’ is a company that organizes debates on pop concert stages and has a program on MTV which discusses political issues in a context which youth can identify with. A foundation called ‘Wonder’ is a loose network of young professionals and students that plays practical jokes to raise awareness. As a cross-over of Dutch and Muslim traditions, in December of 2005, volunteers filled shoes of children in mosques with a present from the Dutch Santa Claus. Furthermore they initiated the ‘BurgerBuddy’ [civilian buddy project], linking civilians to politicians to pragmatically close the gap between politics and the people.
‘Towards A New Start’ (TANS) is a group of highly educated Moroccan immigrants, attempting to create a more positive image of Dutch-Moroccan youth to counter their negative stereotype. ‘LuxVoor’ is a group of people in their 20s and 30s from different political backgrounds that generated large media discussion along with 300.000 hits on their website after the publication of their manifest for a new political landscape, which cuts through established parties, published in one of the major newspapers, De Volkskrant, on March 18th 2006.
Popular attention for such initiatives helps explain why politicians are eager to be hosted on the stages that these young people set; delighted to show they too are there to make a difference. Critical questions and heated discussions are the result, generating media
coverage. These initiatives show an urge among the young generation to ‘do something’ and to contribute in their own fashion. Noteworthy is that a relatively large representation of Moroccan immigrant students can be found in these initiatives. Immigrants of Turkish descent participate as well, but seem more reluctant to break away from the various close-knit subcultures they are part of. Their involvement in public debate is more focused on Turkey’s bid to the EU. As the debate on Turkish admission is closely related to a debate on Europe’s identity, it could help motivate more young Turkish-Dutch to enter the discussions on Dutch identity. Projects and initiatives like these add to a sense that there is a search for a new Dutch identity. Related to this question, is the challenge of how the Netherlands fits within Europe, and what will change on a day to day basis if for example Turkey enters the Union.
Discussions among young people hold key clues for defining a new Dutch identity such as: inclusiveness, an open debate, new ways to practice politics and how to manage challenges in society. A discussion on the effectiveness of the abovementioned initiatives broke out in the media over the past months. Some claim it is too much the product of popular culture, without a long lasting impact. Others encourage all initiatives, arguing every little bit helps. The risk of talking without reaching feasible results is present, but at least there is initiative and participation. These various initiatives by the often elitist younger generation are beginning to look like a
movement. Despite the great variety of projects, similar objectives are: opening a dialogue, getting topics out of the taboo sphere, generating thought, making a difference, breaking through conventions, and at the same time having fun. Most of these projects are innovative and creative.
What’s next?
It is clear that the aftermath of 9/11 and the political murders in The Netherlands have caused a chain of action and reaction in the public debate. The municipal election turnout and the initiatives of the younger generation stand out in this complex debate. They send a hopeful message of the possibility of change, coming from the bottom up. Besides these developments, a set of structural changes needs to take place. Recognizing and challenging fear for ‘the other’ is essential. The most important legacy of Pim Fortuyn is that he wanted to uncover the discussion from the veil of political correctness. When both immigrants and the majority culture open up to putting the real issues on the table, we can begin to move forward to a solution. Currently, people seem to withdraw back into their communities at the risk of a new form of strict stratification being created. A new immigrant or Muslim strata would risk becoming a ‘ghetto’. It is time to take responsibility for the past, but move on into a common future.
The proposed idea of the Dutch government to send criminals with dual citizenship back to their country of origin does not tell the right message. It suggests that immigrants do not belong to the Dutch society, and that it does not have responsibility for all its citizens. Citizenship under the rule of law should be one identity everyone shares, and trusts. Over the past years a trend of immigrants re-migrating to their countries of origin, as well as Dutch people migrating indicates unhappiness or disability to adapt to this culture. For the immigrants who decide to stay, integration will be a key factor. Part of the theory of Francis Fukuyama perfectly describes the situation of the Netherlands. He pleas for an emphasis on citizenship and the development of a modern national identity; a society with the same rights for everyone.15 After all, the challenges coming from within the current Western European societies in facing their minorities need to be overcome within these same societies. It is time for a critical look inwards. The core values of freedom and equality have to be clarified and emphasized. Concretely, the stimulation of opportunities for increased education and employment, and participation in society; rather than making people dependent, will be a first step. Within opportunity-enhancing programs, accountability needs be a central driving factor. The role of politicians and lawmakers is to create a framework in which all people living in the Netherlands will be included with equal treatment and opportunity.
The question is how to effectively integrate ethnic minorities in all parts of society. Will we continue to strive for full integration or will an openly stratified society be a more feasible and likely outcome? We have to be realistic and pragmatic without losing hope. The newly elected politicians and representatives and the younger generation will certainly continue to contribute to the debate.
Youth initiatives should be taken seriously, and are a welcome development in the creation of the new Dutch identity. When a new identity is shaped, it will be possible to look towards newcomers and start a reasonable debate about the accession of candidate countries, such as Turkey, to the EU.
Notes
2 Senator George Allen said about European American relations: ‘A Europe preoccupied with tensions within its own society, is a weak partner for the US, not in the least when facing the global challenge of radical islam’. Furthermore the lack of equal opportunity for immigrants is critisized by Robin Niblett of CSIS.
3 Tom-Jan Meeuws, ‘Racisme + Europe = terreur’, (‘Racism + Europe = terrorism’), NRC Next, April 7 2006, p. 7
4 Mark Duursma, ‘Hadden wij maar wijkpolitie’, (‘If only we had neighborhood police’), NRC Next, April 7 2006, p. 9
6 Volkert van der Graaf
7 Her direct way of opening up the debate on the oppression of Muslim women earned her the title of European of the Year by Reader’s Digest, as well as many enemies. Time magazine saw her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005.
8 AIVD (Dutch Intelligence Service) Report, ‘De geweldadige jihad in Nederland; actuele trends in de islamitisch-terroristische bedreiging’, (‘The violent jihad in the Netherlands; current trends in the islamicterrorist threat’), March 2005
9 http://www.justitie.nl/organisatie/verdonk_nl/column/, March 22nd 2006
10 ‘Bos op het matje’, (‘Bos needs to explain himself’), Het Parool, March 25th 2006
11 Eric Vrijssen, ‘Andere moslims’, (‘Different Muslims’), Elsevier, 29 oktober 2005, p 27
12 Froukje Santing, ‘Nederland doet ‘benepen’ over allochtone stem’, (The Netherlands is being petty over the immigrant votes’). NRC Handelsblad, March 21st 2006, p 8
13 Paul Scheffer, ‘De sputterende emancipatie machine’, (‘The struggling emancipation machine’), NRC Handelsblad, March 18th 2006, p 15
14 The European Stability Initiative (ESI) has extensively mapped the Dutch debate on the discussion of Turkish accession to the European Union.
15 Francis Fukuyama, ‘The Future of Democracy. Culture and Immigration.’, Nexus Lecture 2005, www.nexusinstitute.nl
© email source
GERMANY SIGNS NAZI FILES ACCORD
26/07/2006 - Germany has signed an agreement to open for research purposes vast Nazi archives containing millions of files on Holocaust victims.So far, only survivors and their relatives have been able to get personal information from the archives. For many years, Germany had argued that giving wider access would violate its privacy laws. In May, the 11-nation commission in charge of the Nazi records decided that they would be opened to the public. The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Berlin on Wednesday. It has to be ratified by all the 11 members of the commission. This is not expected to happen before the end of the year. "Once the last country ratifies (the new agreement), then the archives will be opened," chief archivist Udo Jost told Associated Press news agency.
Meticulous information
The 47 million files stored in the spa town of Bad Arolsen hold meticulously recorded information on forced labourers, concentration camp victims and political prisoners. In grey, bureaucratic language the Nazis documented everything - from the number of lice on a prisoner's head to the exact moment of their execution. The archives have been used to help people trace their relatives, but were kept closed to protect victims' privacy. The files contain also the names of collaborators, homosexuals and prostitutes. Much of this information may be incorrect - the Nazis often had an interest in defaming their victims, the BBC's Ray Furlong reports from Berlin. That is the challenge the archive now represents for historians. The archive is administered by the International Tracing Service (ITS), an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The commission responsible for the ITS is made up of Germany, Belgium, Britain, France, Israel, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland, the Netherlands and the US.
© BBC News
FIGHTING RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS WITH MUSIC(Germany)
23/07/2006 - Being on the far-right fringe is 'in' these days -- at least in certain eastern German states. So the club, Culture on the Road, is stepping in, fighting intolerance, violence and racism through music. In eastern Germany, skinheads and others attracted to the far-right are not in the minority. For example, in local elections in Saxony in 2004, almost one out of every four first-time voters chose the rightwing NPD party. One reason for the party's good performance in the elections is that it provides jobs to the young. The club, Culture on the Road, is trying to take on and embrace the diversity of youth culture. It doesn't matter whether it is punk, hip hop or black metal -- anything is better than the right fringe. The club offers information, holds discussions and workshops keeping in mind, the style, music and political background of the diverse youth movements.
A record as a tool
It is DJ training class at a special school for the learning-disabled in Blankenhain in the eastern German state of Thuringia. And instead of math homework, the students sit curious before two turntables. Peer Wiechmann shows the students how to lay a record down and find the right beat. "You take your hand and lay the record, here and there," he tells the kids. "At first, try to be relatively even so that you produce a real beat. And after you feel more secure, try and lay another down and get another beat to overlay on the first." Everyone gets a change to try it. Bastian, 14, is really getting into it. "It is really interesting to do it yourself," he said. "And also to get tips and learn something new from someone with experience. Weichmann answers all the kids questions, shows tricks. But he also knows that he is no DJ.
Youth culture is tolerant
Wiechmann comes from the Weimar-based Network Against Rightwing Extremism who issued the contract for the event. Afterward, he picked up his team in Berlin on the way to Blankenhain. "We have a strong sense of camaraderie and commitment," he said. "And we try to capture the children through music and dance. Youth culture is essentially by its nature tolerant, diverse and international. That is what we communicate and everyone seems to like that. " Culture on the Road is a colourful team of 15 young people. Several members of the group have studied political science and are especially familiar with right-wing extremist ideology. Others come from different youth scenes such as hip hop, techno or metal. An American member of the group played in a punk band for years. She offers day-long workshops with music.
In the east, hating foreigners is normal
Silke Baer is responsible for the concept. She wants with the project above all to reach those young people in the new eastern German states, where she says that the group has learned through experience that "seeing foreigners as the enemy is an absolutely normal thing." "We go into this region and talk with kids about youth culture through political discussions," she said. "In this way, we try to bring them closer into the democratic fold." That most youth culture comes from abroad is one point, she says. Another is the history of such movements. For example, hardly any kids know that the punk movement of the 1970s arose out of the high unemployment in the younger ranks in the UK. This is something that Baer knows only too well. "The important thing is that there is first access to the young in order to be able to work with them," she said. "And it is just these projects, in our experience, that help the young become more open and be ready for future conflicts."
Not a one-time thing
And it is also important to be consistent and not have such projects be a one-time occurrence otherwise they will be in vain, said Glaser. That is a danger in many communities with empty cash registers who have already stricken youth programs from their tight budgets. Corinna Hundshagen, the director of the Blankenhain school says that her staff wants to remain on the ball. "I have already spoken to Peer Weichmann and requested that at the very least, he should remain in contact," she said. "We want to do certain projects still with our local youth club. We have made a start and now we have to see how we can move forward."
© Deutsche Welle
FRANCE'S FIRST BLACK NEWSREADER IS THE NATION'S NEW TV HEART-THROB
27/07/2006 - France is just wild about Harry. Since Harry Roselmack took over reading France's most-watched TV news bulletin a week ago, he has been a runaway success. So much so that viewers are already beginning to forget that he is black. Roselmack's presence on the screen - the first non-white to present a French mainstream TV news bulletin in prime time - was originally news in itself. His professionalism and refreshingly snappy style of presentation has since won him praise for his journalistic ability. TF1, the most popular French TV channel, says that it has received a few vicious messages from racist die-hards. Otherwise, the reaction from viewers has been positive. After just one week, Roselmack, 32, is well on the way to becoming one of the best-known faces in France and a national heart-throb. With 7,400,000 viewers a night (42 per cent of the audience), he is comfortably ahead of the ratings for summer news bulletins.
During the rioting by multiracial suburban youth gangs last November, French TV companies were much criticised for their failure to present an ethnically diverse picture of French society. Although journalists of Arab or African origin - including Roselmack - have presented the news on minor channels or out of prime time, the main bulletins have been an all-white preserve. After the riots, President Jacques Chirac urged all the French media to hire journalists from ethnic minorities. TF1 announced in March that it had hired Roselmack as its summer news reader because he was "a very good journalist".
Roselmack's ability is clear. He has brought a more rapid, less cloying and personalised style to the TF1 news. The bulletin's veteran presenter, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor likes to lounge seductively between the viewers and the news. Roselmack is more direct and packs in more information. His former colleague as presenter of news on the youth-oriented cable channel, i-television, said: "He is just being Harry. He is not playing at being someone else. He is hugely talented and has enormous common sense... He goes straight to the heart of the subject." Born on the West Indian island of Martinique, which is part of France, Roselmack was brought up in Tours on the river Loire.
He says that he is not interested in succeeding as a "black journalist", only as a journalist. On his first night, however, he made a telling point. His bulletin included an item on a black woman who had been refused a job as a hairdresser because of the colour of her skin. This was a relatively banal, local newspaper story which would not normally have made the national TV news.
© Independent Digital
FRANCE TO GRANT PAPERS TO 6,000 IMMIGRANTS
24/07/2006 - Seeking to defuse one of the most politically sensitive issues since taking office, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that he would grant residency papers to about 6,000 illegal immigrants, but he also said that more than twice as many would be expelled. About 14,000 illegal immigrants have requested papers since Sarkozy last month announced a one-time legalization procedure for families with children in French schools. Another 6,000 requests were expected by the Aug. 14 deadline. About a third of the applications will be accepted, Sarkozy predicted - many more than the 2,000 mentioned by Interior Ministry officials when the measure was first announced last month. There are about 4.5 million immigrants in France, government statistics show. The Interior Ministry estimates that an additional 200,000 to 400,000 foreigners are in the country illegally. The announcement came as Sarkozy, the leading candidate of the governing center-right party in next year's presidential elections, faced criticism from both ends of the political spectrum. The opposition Socialist Party denounced the expulsion of families as inhumane, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front, accused Sarkozy of being too soft. "We have to be doing something right," Sarkozy said at a news conference Monday. "We're being criticized by the extreme right and the extreme left."
For months, France has been embroiled in an emotional debate about whether families of illegal immigrants with school-age children should be expelled or given amnesty. The government at first had said that it would expel the children and their parents after the end of the school year. Sarkozy has long taken a tough line on immigration. But after parents and teachers began hiding children at risk of expulsion, he established a number of conditions that would justify a one-time legalization of immigrant families. In a memo to the police, Sarkozy said that families could qualify if the parents had been in the country for at least two years and the children were either born in France or less than 13 years old when they arrived and had been in a French school since September 2005. In addition, the family would have to show "a real will to integrate," a condition that has prompted opponents to denounce Sarkozy's conditions as arbitrary. So far Sarkozy has taken comfort from the fact that voters appear to back his method of a case-by-case legalization.
Sixty-two percent of the French back this approach, according to an opinion poll by the Ifop institute poll, while only 29 back a general amnesty of all families of illegal immigrants. But government officials acknowledge that the issue remains potentially explosive one a year before elections. While French voters appear to be in favor of stemming illegal immigration, especially following riots in immigrant suburbs in November, individual cases of schoolchildren have won sympathy. Sarkozy said that the ruled out a general amnesty for immigrants with children enrolled in school. Such a policy would inevitably increase illegal immigration, because it would encourage people to enter France illegally and use their children as a means of getting papers, Sarkozy said. Sarkozy said that four waves of amnesties over the past two decades, in which tens of thousands of immigrants were legalized by successive Socialist governments, had created what he called "today's time bomb."
"It's not me who has created all these illegal immigrants," Sarkozy said. "The Socialists have left us this time bomb that we now have to defuse." He pledged to stick by plans to expel 25,000 illegal immigrants this year, compared with 20,000 last year. His comments come as much of Europe is struggling with a tide of illegal immigrants, most recently thousands of Africans trying to enter the European Union via the Mediterranean. But some of France's neighbors appear to have chosen a different path. Italy gave residency papers to 500,000 illegal immigrants this year, while Spain legalized some 570,000. Even Germany is considering an amnesty for some of its 150,000 to 250,000 illegal immigrants.
© International Herald Tribune
FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER STANDS BY DEPORTATION OF CHINESE STUDENTS
24/07/2006 - French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday waved aside protests about the planned deportation of two Chinese students whose fight to stay in the country sparked a demonstration last week. Fengxue Cai and Zhiyian Ni, both 19, are at the centre of a debate in France about the treatment of children of illegal immigrants who are enrolled in French schools. Sarkozy, a right-wing frontrunner in French presidential elections next year, announced that the "two young Chinese, about which we have spoken a lot" would be deported. "One of them entered France in 2004 at the age of 17 ... his parents' papers are not in order. They do not have any minors in school. They do not have any strong attachment to our country," he said. "There are 1.3 billion inhabitants of China. If we grant regularisation in this type of situation, then there are no limits." Last Friday, a Paris court had freed the Chinese teenagers from a detention centre and allowed them to return to their parents until July 29. They are both students at a technical school in Paris. On Wednesday, campaigners had gathered at Roissy airport in Paris to protest against their deportation. In June, Sarkozy bowed to pressure about the deportation of children of illegal immigrants and told authorities to reconsider some cases based on new criteria, such as whether a child has "strong ties" to France. Some illegal immigrants with children in French schools are to be given residency rights. New requirements include showing that one of their children was born in France or arrived before the age of 13, has been at school in France for two years, or has no link with the country of his or her parents. Sarkozy on Monday also defended the recent high-profile deportations of 19-year-olds Animata Diallo from Mali and Moroccan Abdallah Boujraf.
© The Tocqueville Connection
CHALLENGES: REGIONAL GAP AND ROMA PAIN(Slovakia)
New government promises to have sympathetic ear for the complaints of vulnerable groups
24/07/2006 - CRITICS and supporters of Robert Fico's government alike, state officials and non-governmental organisations, the Roma communities and the majority population, Bratislava and Košice all agree that bridging the gap between the malnourished East and the well-heeled West and improving the situation of the Roma will be among the most challenging tasks of the new government. The government has responded to the challenge by putting regional disparities high on the country's to-do list, while the media is eager to hear what the specific steps will be. Roma activists have already called on the new government to be more sympathetic to the problems of the Roma community. The Council of Non-Governmental Organisations of the Roma Communities sent an open letter signed by 31 Roma leaders to the Fico team, calling for temporary balancing strategies, solutions to housing problems and the development of grassroots projects within the Roma communities.
According to the Roma leaders, "634 Roma settlements, many of which lack basic infrastructure systems, potable water, electricity, gas, as well as Lunik IX of Košice, continue to demonstrate the unfavourable situation of the Roma in Slovakia." The Slovak Spectator spoke to Ben Slay, Director of the UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS about the problems of disadvantaged groups in Slovakia and the increasing regional differences.
The Slovak Spectator (TSS): The Roma community expects the government to keep its campaign promises and improve the lives of the Roma in Slovakia. They demand solutions to the problems of social housing for disadvantaged groups and support for the health and education of the Roma. What, in your opinion, are the most pressing tasks for the new government?
Ben Slay (BS): UNDP has analysed the determinants of vulnerability among such groups as the Roma, and has presented its findings and policy recommendations in various reports, most recently in "At Risk: the Roma and the Displaced in Southeast Europe". The report deals with the Roma and the displaced in an important neighbouring region, and many of the recommendations apply to Slovakia as well. Some of the key recommendations include: Development programmes should not focus on particular groups per se but rather address the needs of the whole community. This is the best way to integrate the Roma into the social and economic mainstream. In order for development policies and programming to succeed, they must take into account local and territorial specifics. Such area-based community-focused approaches have the highest potential to integrate - and not segregate - vulnerable groups. A good example of such programmes is "The Cserehát Programme" that we have launched with the Hungarian government in north-eastern Hungary.
TSS: Deputy Prime Minister for National Minorities Dušan Čaplovič said the government plans to apply temporary balancing strategies to help the community. Can balancing strategies and affirmative action help the community to get closer to the mainstream? Can you give us some positive examples from other European countries?
BS: Various forms of positive discrimination have been employed successfully in many countries, both in Europe and elsewhere. In the United States, the creation of a large Black middle class since the 1960s has been due in part to affirmative action programmes, particularly in education, employment, and contracting. However, in many countries even the beneficiaries of these special programmes resent the "onus" that sometimes accompanies them, and the suggestion that success is due to government favouritism rather than individual accomplishment.
In Slovakia, policy makers and communities must strike a delicate balance between targeting special assistance for Roma and other vulnerable groups on the one hand, versus creating ethnic-based entitlements that are resented by both non-recipients and, in some cases, recipients as well. The focus should be on vulnerable groups and poor regions, not ethnicity or skin colour.
TSS: The new government declared an effort to fill the gap between the underfed eastern parts of the country and the wealthy West. What, in your opinion, are the greatest challenges the new government will face in this area?
BS: The reforms introduced by the Slovak government suggest that a consistent, ambitious set of tax, labour market and social policy reforms can significantly reduce unemployment and raise incomes for many low- and middle-income households in a relatively short period of time.
This particularly applies to Slovakia's depressed eastern regions, where most of the Roma communities are located, and where solutions to development problems could take decades. What we are seeing now is that in spite of the growth in employment and household incomes, some low income households no longer receiving social benefits have not benefited correspondingly from Slovakia's employment growth, and have thereby fallen deeper into poverty. Integrated area-based development programmes can help with eradicating disparities.
TSS: What were the most important steps that the past government took to lift the less developed regions to the level of the Bratislava region? What were the most important developments of the past four years?
BS:The set of tax, social policy, and labour market reforms introduced by the Slovak government during 2002-2006 were intended to boost economic and employment growth in Slovakia by strengthening the role of market forces and work incentives. They succeeded in accelerating growth in GDP and employment, strong increases in foreign direct investment, declining unemployment rates and improvements in Slovakia's fiscal position. Importantly, these measures were supplemented by initiatives targeted at high-unemployment regions. Opponents claim that these measures have exacerbated problems of inequality and regional disparities, and this can not be ruled out. However, the data currently available generally do not support such charges.
© The Slovak Spectator
HAMZA TO CHALLENGE CONVICTIONS(uk)
28/07/2006 - Radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza is to launch a courtroom bid to challenge his convictions for incitement to murder and race-hate offences. Lawyers on behalf of Hamza, who was jailed for seven years in February, will be applying for leave to appeal at a hearing before three judges in London. The case at the Court of Appeal will be heard by Sir Igor Judge, Mr Justice Gray and Mr Justice McCombe. Hamza, 48, was convicted by an Old Bailey jury of 11 out of the 15 charges he faced. During his month-long trial, the prosecution alleged Hamza was a recruiting sergeant for global terrorism. In sermons at the Finsbury Park mosque in north London and in Luton, Blackburn and Whitechapel, east London, "he was preaching terrorism, homicidal violence and hatred", it was said. Sentencing Hamza, trial judge Mr Justice Hughes said he had "helped to create an atmosphere in which to kill has become regarded by some as not only a legitimate course but a moral and religious duty in pursuit of perceived justice". The judge added: "No-one can now say what damage your words may have caused. No-one can say whether your audience, present or wider, acted on your words." But he added that his views had caused "real danger to the lives of innocent people in different parts of the world". Hamza was convicted of inciting his followers to murder non-Muslims and Jews. He was also convicted of stirring up racial hatred and possessing a terror "manual", the Encyclopaedia of the Afghani Jihad. The manual featured a dedication to al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and a list of potential targets, including Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. Hamza claimed the case against him was politically motivated and the police made up a case out of nothing. After his arrest he declared: "I have never wanted to or encouraged anyone to hurt British people."
© The Guardian
LAWRENCE MURDER SUSPECTS MAY FACING STABBING CHARGE(uk)
28/07/2006 - The five suspects in the Stephen Lawrence case could be charged with a serious violent offence which prosecutors have failed to consider fully, lawyers for the murdered teenager's father said yesterday. A senior police officer who reviewed the heavily-criticised initial investigation into the 1993 murder believes that evidence exists which could lead to the chief suspects being prosecuted for conspiracy to stab or commit grievous bodily harm. The five men, Neil and Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight, David Norris and Gary Dobson, are alleged to have been members of a gang, set up by the Acourt brothers, called "the Krays"; anyone hoping to join its ranks had to commit a stabbing. David Clapperton, a former assistant chief constable of Kent Police, has advised the legal team for Neville Lawrence that the charge could be brought with the help of a new investigation.
It follows a claim that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not consider asking for new evidence to prove the offence during a £4m reinvestigation of the stabbing completed in 2004. Mr Clapperton said: "I believe there is evidence out there waiting to be obtained from witnesses which would allow a charge of conspiracy to stab to be brought against members of the gang. It is known that in order to become a member of the suspects' gang, you had to stab someone." The claim came as Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, declared that his force would "never let up" in its efforts to catch those responsible for the murder of Stephen, who was stabbed in Eltham, south London, in April 1993.
Sir Ian's comments, to the Metropolitan Police Authority, followed the screening of a BBC film on Wednesday which uncovered claims that the original investigation into the murder was subverted by a corrupt officer receiving money from the father of one of the suspects, David Norris. Neil Putnam, a corrupt detective turned whistleblower, claimed that John Davidson, a former detective sergeant, had admitted "looking after" Mr Norris and that the allegation had been covered up by Scotland Yard. Mr Davidson denies the claims. Sir Ian, who was speaking after the Yard confirmed it has asked the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate the allegations, said the force had taken extensive steps to root out corruption. "While these events cast a long shadow they do have very little resonance with the current state of the Metropolitan Police," he said.
Lawyers representing Neville Lawrence said they had been told by the CPS in recent weeks that charges of conspiracy to stab were not considered by the team which assessed the evidence of Operation Athena Tower - the extensive reinvestigation of the Lawrence case led by John Grieve, the former head of the anti-terrorist branch. Mr Lawrence, who is involved in legal action to force the CPS to disclose its documents in relation to Operation Athena Tower, said he believes that the service missed a "golden opportunity" to bring charges after the reinvestigation. Mr Clapperton, who is advising Mr Lawrence's legal team, said there was already evidence in the public domain which would support a conspiracy to stab charge against the five suspects. He said footage from a 1994 video, in which the five suspects are heard discussing their violently racist views and seen practising the use of knives, alone provided "30 per cent" of the evidence required for the charge. A spokeswoman for the CPS said yesterday: "We considered whether there was sufficient evidence to prosecute anyone individually or as part of a conspiracy to commit serious assaults in connection with these incidents, and concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to do so."
© Independent Digital
NUJ CALLS FOR RIGHT-WING SITE BAN AFTER JOURNALIST ATTACKS(uk)
27/07/2006 - The NUJ (National Union of Journalists) has warned of increasing threats to journalists whose details are being posted on far-right and neo-Nazi extremist websites such as Redwatch. Redwatch, which has been running for at least two years, lists photographs, addresses and contact details of anti-fascist protesters which the site claims are "for reference purposes only". A delegation of MPs and union activists met with Government ministers last Thursday to discuss possibly banning the site — which has been accused of inciting violence against anti-fascists. According to the NUJ, journalists from the Yorkshire Evening Post, Birmingham Post and Mail, the Sunderland Echo, Liverpool Echo, Wales on Sunday and Sheffield Star among others, have appeared on such sites.
Yorkshire Evening Post NUJ father of chapel and anti-racism campaigner Pete Lazenby appears on the site's home page behind what appears to be a gunman's target with the slogan: "Remember places, traitors' faces, they'll all pay for their crimes." He says he was "verbally attacked" by a known neo-Nazi following his appearance on Redwatch and said newspaper publishers have a "moral obligation" to lend their support to the campaign. He believes that journalists involved in exposing the criminal activities of extreme right-wing groups as part of their work are "prime targets" on the site, which identifies four other journalists from the YEP alone. He said: "It's their [publishers'] staff who are being threatened and their weight and prestige would add enormously to the campaign in their staff's interest and as a moral obligation.
"It's happened so often now when appearance on the site is followed by violence that we believe it is responsible for acts of violence." Most recently anti-fascist campaigner and president of Merseyside TUC Alec McFadden was slashed across the face with a knife at his home in front of his two daughters after appearing on Redwatch.
Tim Bowdler, chief executive of Johnston Press which owns the YEP, said: "It is a matter of concern and one which we are looking at from a company perspective.
"My concern is one which relates primarily to our own journalists and to ensure that their wellbeing is assured. Having given the matter careful thought we will decide what the best approach is." NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear has written to the Newspaper Society, the Society of Editors and Johnston Press, asking them to add pressure on the Government. He requests the organisations write to the Home Secretary John Reid, Vernon Coaker, the MP for Gedling, as well as Hilary Benn, the MP for Leeds, with a view to taking civil action against those administering the site. Two years ago a hit-list of targets on a secure email network linked to Redwatch was passed on to the Government, but ministers said it was difficult to take action as the site was hosted in the US. The Association of Chief Police Officers is currently working with the Home Office to see whether the existing legislative framework is sufficient to close the site which is hosted abroad. Redwatch's sister site in Poland was closed, setting a precedent. Redwatch did not respond to Press Gazette's questions.
© Press Gazette
THESIS HIGHLIGHTS GAMING 'RACISM'(uk)
26/07/2006 - A student of the University of British Columbia has published a thesis outlining his view that far too many videogames currently demonstrate traits of racism, pervading negative representations of ethnic minorities and doing little to subvert unjust stereotypes. Robert Parungao, a 23 year-old Sociology graduate spent eight months analysing the games he spent more than 100-hours playing, in order to come to the conclusion that the titles under analysis were in places 'racist'. Parungao played Kung Fu, Warcraft 3, Shadow Warrior and Grand Theft Auto 3 as part of the research process, according to UK site Eurogamer.net. "Film and television come under greater critical scrutiny so civil rights and minority groups can voice their concerns and effect some change. But videogames have generally been seen as kids' toys. There aren't the same mechanisms or critical forums to encourage game designers to evolve," writes Parungao, though he also notes that games have in the past been criticised widely for violent and sexual content. GTA, for example, includes "non-white characters who are mainly triad members, Yakuza gangsters, latino gangs or black hoods," Parungao notes. "These stock characters are seen in a lot of games and function as narrative obstacles to be overcome, mastered or ultimately blown to smithereens by the white hero." He also points to a 'nonsensical Asian stereotyping', citing the Chinese Shadow Warrior villain Lo Wang, who apparently screams "just like Hiroshima" when firing his rocket launcher. The thesis concludes with Parungao expressing his desire to see games 'improve' as a fan of the medium.
© Ferrago
MET FACES INQUIRY OVER LAWRENCE COVER-UP CLAIMS(uk)
26/07/2006 - The Metropolitan police is to face an investigation into allegations that it covered up testimony that the killers of Stephen Lawrence were shielded by a corrupt detective. The Independent Police Complaints Commission's action has been triggered by a BBC programme tonight about the unsolved murder of the black student in April 1993 at a south-east London bus stop. Five white youths were named by locals as being responsible for the murder, including David Norris, whose father, Clifford, was a notorious gangster suspected of corrupt links with some police officers. In the programme a former officer, Neil Putnam, alleges that John Davidson, a senior detective in the first inquiry into Stephen's death, had a corrupt relationship with Clifford Norris. He alleges that when he told his bosses that corruption had been a factor behind the botched murder inquiry, it was covered up. Mr Putnam says his information was kept from Sir William Macpherson's public inquiry into police failings. The Lawrence family had alleged officers corrupted by Clifford Norris had helped shield the prime suspects. Mr Putnam is described as a witness of truth by the Met, whose testimony gained corruption convictions against other Met detectives. Mr Putnam himself was convicted of corruption after confessing to offences. The IPCC deputy chairman, John Wadham, said: "There are two serious allegations in this film and we will be asking the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to record the misconduct complaints. We would then expect the MPS to refer them back to the IPCC for us to decide how they are investigated."
Doreen Lawrence, Stephen's mother, said: "We are the ones, as the family, who have had to sit back and suffer all these years. I hope that the IPCC will prove that they are independent and will investigate the corruption." Stephen's father, Neville, described the allegations made in the programme as "very disturbing", but added: "It shows that the issue of police corruption can no longer be ignored. It must now be investigated. We are ordinary people and thought there was corruption but could not prove it and we would not make such a claim unless it could be proved." Richard Stone, adviser to the Macpherson inquiry, reacted with anger: "It is infuriating to be made aware, seven years after the inquiry ... an officer ... was asking to meet Sir William. [Putnam] was considered a reliable witness ... who convicted almost all those he named." In a statement Scotland Yard denied covering up crucial information. It said that following his arrest Mr Putnam gave anti-corruption officers information about Mr Davidson being corrupt, but did not provide a link with Mr Norris. It said that during a corruption investigation there had been no evidence of ex-detective sergeant Davidson being involved in corrupt activity within the Lawrence inquiry "or doing anything to thwart the investigation". Mr Davidson, who now runs a bar in Spain, denies any wrongdoing and was never prosecuted for any alleged offence.
© The Guardian
SEPARATE KILLINGS OF TWO ASIANS 'RACIALLY MOTIVATED'(uk)
24/07/2006 - Shezan Umarji lay dying in a Preston street as gangs of men continued to brawl around him, fatally stabbed. The 20-year-old died after a fight between Asian and white youths broke out in the early hours of Saturday. Hours later, in Huddersfield, police arrived to find a 41-year-old taxi driver with such severe head injuries that he also only lived a short while longer. One was a young call centre worker, the other a middle-aged father. All that appeared to connect them was that they were both Asian and their attackers were "racially motivated". Police figures for last year show that Shezan Umarji's home town of Preston has the highest rate of reported racist incidents in the country. Mr Umarji's cousin, Shohel Umarji, 26, described him as a young man who was popular and much loved by his family. Only a week earlier he had celebrated his sister's wedding: "Shezan was a very good lad. He was a respectful person. He was respected himself and he respected other people, young and old. He's not a drug dealer, like some rumours have said, he's never been in trouble," he said. "He was studying for a business degree and had a bright future ahead of him."
Having initially played down suggestions of a racially motivated attack, Lancashire Police said yesterday it was increasingly looking like that was the case. Eight men were in custody. Detective Superintendent Graham Gardner said: "The extent of the abuse, who said it and who it was directed at is by no means clear. Nonetheless, racist abuse was used and therefore I have declared it as a racial investigation," he said.
Mr Umarji, according to friends, lived with his family near the increasingly infamous Callon estate in an area of Preston with high unemployment and problems with crime and drugs. He had, friends said, "dreamt of getting away from the street". One of six children, he had attended a local grammar school and started at university before opting 18 months ago to take a job in a Halifax call centre. Yesterday, police were holding eight men in custody. West Yorkshire Police were called to the Golcar area of Huddersfield later on Saturday night. They arrived to find a 41-year-old with serious head injuries who was pronounced dead on arrival at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. "The victim is a Huddersfield man with wife and children. It appears he was attacked by about six white people after being called out on a job. He was beaten up but we have yet to establish whether any weapons were used in the attack. We are treating this as a racially motivated attack," said a police spokeswoman. Four males and a female, between 16 and 19 years old, have been arrested in connection with the attack.
© Independent Digital
FATAL STABBING ROCKS TROUBLED ESTATE(uk)
Police play down talk of racial gang war after Asian youth dies in brawl
23/7/2006- Police and community leaders in Preston, Lancashire, appealed for calm last night after 20-year-old Shezan Umarji was stabbed to death amid running battles between white and Asian youths early yesterday. The young man was attacked outside his home in Fishwick View, on the city's deprived Callon housing estate. Shock, anger and threats of retaliation reverberated in the community yesterday. A close friend of Shezan's told The Observer: 'We have lost a very close friend. He was like a brother. We won't let this go. His dreams were to get away from the street. He was a funny, kind character. He had a normal life, playing football and cricket and chilling.' The family released a photograph of Shezan taken last weekend at his sister's wedding. Around 40 men, some of whom were armed with knives, bottles and baseball bats, were involved in the fight at around 1.45am yesterday. Witnesses said the attacks continued even when police and ambulance workers were trying to save Shezan's life, and told of vicious retaliation against the father and younger brother of a white man believed to have been involved. They said a middle-aged deaf man who tried to stop the violence was badly beaten. Police confirmed four other people were injured but said they were all later released from hospital. Around five streets of terrace houses were cordoned off yesterday as police conducted a search involving forensics officers and sniffer dogs. Valli Patel, a county councillor who was with the young man's parents, brother and two sisters when they were informed yesterday morning, urged any witnesses to come forward. 'They are utterly distraught, it is a huge shock to them,' he said. 'The Asian community is close-knit and everyone will gather round to help and support them, but at the moment they are numb.'
Community leaders played down any suggestion the attack may have been racially motivated but police sources said it appeared the battle was between Asian and white youths, some armed with baseball bats. Councillor Taalib Shamsuddin denied racism was involved. 'There were two groups. It was a hot night and there were people who were drunk. It's as simple as that ... The early indications are that this wasn't a systematic racial issue. It was a disagreement between two guys that got out of hand.' Jeannie Goodwin, a 66-year-old who now lives in the Scottish borders but was visiting her daughter and granddaughter, said the area had changed beyond recognition over the years. 'I lived here for 30 years and I can't believe how much it has deteriorated,' she said. 'It's not quite the Bronx, but it's not far off it ... When I lived here we always had Asian neighbours and we all got on really well. We all used to babysit for each other, but in the last 10 years that has all changed.' A young mother-of-two living across the street from the spot where the fatal attack took place described how police and paramedics had to fight through the rival groups to get to the dying man. 'Everyone was standing around him still screaming, crying and fighting,' she said. 'Someone said it was over drugs and about bikes ridden on the estate.' Last night Superintendent Peter White of Lancashire Constabulary said around 80 officers were involved in the investigation. He said there would be a heavy police presence on the estate last night and over the next few days but stressed there was no evidence to suggest it was a racist attack.
© The Observer
MUSLIMS ON FRONT LINE AS RACISM RISES ACROSS EU
26/07/2006 - Racism, xenophobia and far-right extremism are on the rise across Europe, according to a comprehensive survey which found that Muslim communities face mounting discrimination and prejudice. The report, by non-governmental organisations in 20 EU countries, criticises governments for losing interest in the battle against racism, and says the political reaction to terrorist attacks has made life harder for ethnic minorities. The inquiry by the European Network against Racism highlights a trend towards "increased tolerance for discriminatory behaviour particularly against immigrants and Muslims". It adds that "a lack of political will to address racism is sometimes evident and disturbing". The section on the UK, compiled by the Runnymede Trust, chronicles the reaction to the July 7 terror attacks in London last year concluding that new immigration and security policies have helped create a situation in which racism has flourished. The report on France describes immigration policies as being "at the heart of institutional racism" in the country. In Germany almost 15,000 refugees had their asylum claims revoked last year, compared with 577 in 1998. Anti-terror crackdowns have led to racial profiling which, by the nature of stereotyping, impacts on the wider ethnic minority groups, the report says. "Since January 2005 police in the Netherlands can ask for proof of identity. The UK also reports an increase in the disproportionate use of 'stop and search' against minority groups.
"Muslim women were disproportionately affected by an ordinance proposed by the Mayor of Treviso [Italy] in 2004 that forbade the covering of one's face on municipal territory." Across the Continent researchers found evidence that police forces have failed in their duty to investigate and prevent racist crime. "Sometimes racially motivated crime is simply not taken seriously," says the document, adding that police are "reluctant to record a crime as such, as highlighted for instance in the reports on Hungary and Lithuania. In some cases police might not recognise the racist element and treat an incident as hooliganism." Even more worrying is the growth of extremist political forces. The report notes: "A rise of right-wing extremism, as well as other forms of nationalism, is evident in a number of countries, such as Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Malta and Slovak Republic. "The use of the internet as a tool for the dissemination of racist sentiment, crime and propaganda is particularly worrying given that internet crime is not often recorded and the legal difficulties that have been experienced in challenging internet-based criminal activity."
Victims of racism range from Europe's Jewish communities to its Roma minorities. But a separate document on Islamophobia reports a dramatic increase in incidents against Muslims, particularly in France. It says: "The rise of intolerance and discrimination towards Muslims has risen in the last year and the underlying tones of Islamophobia have infiltrated all forms of public and private lives for Muslims in Europe."
* A jury in St Petersburg has acquitted four people charged with the murder of a 29-year-old student from Congo who was beaten to death last year. Racism, xenophobia and far-right extremism are on the rise across Europe, according to a comprehensive survey which found that Muslim communities face mounting discrimination and prejudice. The report, by non-governmental organisations in 20 EU countries, criticises governments for losing interest in the battle against racism, and says the political reaction to terrorist attacks has made life harder for ethnic minorities. The inquiry by the European Network against Racism highlights a trend towards "increased tolerance for discriminatory behaviour particularly against immigrants and Muslims". It adds that "a lack of political will to address racism is sometimes evident and disturbing".
The section on the UK, compiled by the Runnymede Trust, chronicles the reaction to the July 7 terror attacks in London last year concluding that new immigration and security policies have helped create a situation in which racism has flourished. The report on France describes immigration policies as being "at the heart of institutional racism" in the country. In Germany almost 15,000 refugees had their asylum claims revoked last year, compared with 577 in 1998. Anti-terror crackdowns have led to racial profiling which, by the nature of stereotyping, impacts on the wider ethnic minority groups, the report says. "Since January 2005 police in the Netherlands can ask for proof of identity. The UK also reports an increase in the disproportionate use of 'stop and search' against minority groups. "Muslim women were disproportionately affected by an ordinance proposed by the Mayor of Treviso [Italy] in 2004 that forbade the covering of one's face on municipal territory."
Across the Continent researchers found evidence that police forces have failed in their duty to investigate and prevent racist crime. "Sometimes racially motivated crime is simply not taken seriously," says the document, adding that police are "reluctant to record a crime as such, as highlighted for instance in the reports on Hungary and Lithuania. In some cases police might not recognise the racist element and treat an incident as hooliganism."
Even more worrying is the growth of extremist political forces. The report notes: "A rise of right-wing extremism, as well as other forms of nationalism, is evident in a number of countries, such as Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Malta and Slovak Republic. "The use of the internet as a tool for the dissemination of racist sentiment, crime and propaganda is particularly worrying given that internet crime is not often recorded and the legal difficulties that have been experienced in challenging internet-based criminal activity." Victims of racism range from Europe's Jewish communities to its Roma minorities. But a separate document on Islamophobia reports a dramatic increase in incidents against Muslims, particularly in France. It says: "The rise of intolerance and discrimination towards Muslims has risen in the last year and the underlying tones of Islamophobia have infiltrated all forms of public and private lives for Muslims in Europe." * A jury in St Petersburg has acquitted four people charged with the murder of a 29-year-old student from Congo who was beaten to death last year.
© Independent Digital
RACISM IS UNDERMINING FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN EUROPE(Press release)
ENAR launches 2005 Shadow Reports on Racism
25/7/2006- A report by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) has found that in 2005 racism was on the increase and that “more extreme forms of racism are coming to the fore”. The ENAR report Racism in Europe draws on 20 national shadow reports prepared by ENAR members across the European Union. The reports present an overview of recent political and legislative developments as well as of manifestations of racism in employment, housing, education health, policing, racist violence, access to goods and services, and the media. The reports take stock of the responses of Member States and the European Union, and find that much remains to be done in the fight against racism in Europe. The reports demonstrate the common experience of racism across the EU today, even if manifestations vary in different contexts and change over time. In the words of ENAR’s Chairman Bashy Quraishy: “The ENAR Shadow Reports 2005 are a mirror of what is happening in European societies. We tell it as we see it. For that, we are grateful to the work done on the ground by thousands of dedicated souls as well as to those who collected this valuable information and provided us with a very useful tool.” Since 2001 ENAR has produced country reports concerning developments relating to racism and discrimination in Europe. This is the second year in which a comparative analysis has been prepared and published by ENAR. ENAR is pleased that its reports are being used by many international organisations, EU institutions and Member States as a key source of information and analysis.
© EUropean Network Against Racism
DEATH THREATS RAISE ALARM(Canada)
A U.S. white supremacy leader issues a call to arms against a Canadian judge and others
27/07/2006 - The Canadian Human Rights Commission has stepped up security for staff working on hate crimes in the wake of death threats from an American white supremacy leader. The same threats, written over the jailing of Londoner Tomasz Winnicki, prompted an American communications company to shut down one of the largest U.S. white supremacy websites yesterday. Vanguard News Network is described by U.S. anti-racism advocates as one of the most active and popular white supremacy websites. But yesterday afternoon it was taken offline because of concerns raised in Canada over threats posted by its leader, Alex Linder. Linder issued a call to arms on his website against Federal Court of Canada Justice Konrad W. von Finckenstein, members of the human rights commission and Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman. "Killing Warman, 'judge' von Finckenstein, or any of the jews who make up the dictatorial 'human rights' council . . . would be a genuine act of patriotism," Linder declared. "That . . . is VNN's view . . ." The threat was posted last week.
"We are reviewing it. We are taking it seriously," said Andrew Baumberg, spokesperson for the federal court. The human rights commission has taken several steps, spokesperson Kathrin Stokes-Bonhomme said yesterday. "Decisions have been made to add security for staff working on hate crimes," she said. She refused to elaborate.
The commission and Warman both drafted letters to U.S. police and the Internet service provider for Vanguard News Network after Linder's call to arms. "This is a direct incitation to murder," said Warman, a human rights advocate who targets Internet hate sites. Vanguard News Network also posted death threats from its members, including one saying outlaw bikers had been offered money to kill Warman and his family. "Money CAN buy justice . . . (Warman) is going down," the message stated. Many Internet service providers have policies prohibiting the posting of threatening information. "The site has been taken down," confirmed a spokesperson for the Internet service provider yesterday afternoon.
Linder could not be reached for comment by phone and did not answer e-mail inquiries. The Southern Poverty Law Centre, an anti-racism group in the U.S., describes Linder as a rising white supremacy star and "the operator of a gutturally racist website that is close to breaking into the big time by becoming one of the 10,000 most-visited pages on the Net." Vanguard News Network is the same website that hosted Londoner Winnicki's long-running tirade against non-whites and non-Christians.
In 2003, Warman filed a complaint with the human rights commission that Winnicki was breaching the Canadian Human Rights Act by likely exposing certain groups to hatred and/or contempt. Winnicki was called before a human rights tribunal last summer. He was also ordered by a federal court to stop posting hate messages until the tribunal reached a decision. Winnicki refused and two weeks ago was found in contempt of court and jailed for nine months. Meanwhile, in April, the tribunal ruled he had indeed broken the act. He was ordered to pay $11,500 in fines and compensation.
© The London Free Press
BAR PUNISHED FOR NO-BLACKS POLICY(Canada)
Longueuil Venue must pay $25,000; Quebec rights tribunal sides with two men who were refused service due to skin colour
27/07/2006 - The Quebec Human Rights Commission has condemned the blatantly racist policies of a Longueuil bar that refused to serve two black men because of their skin colour. In a July 7 decision, the commission ordered the Resto Bar Le Surf on Chambly Rd. to pay $12,500 each to Seydou Boubacar Diallo and Mamadou El Bachir Gologo. The two men, of Malian origin, were told Sept. 13, 2003, and again six days later, that the bar had a no-blacks policy. "The barmaid refused to serve me. I asked why and she said, 'Because you're black.' It was as explicit as that," Diallo, 33, said yesterday. Most of the $25,000 in damages is to be paid by co-owner Christian Lemyre, who instituted the discriminatory policy, and by the numbered company to which the bar is registered. Barmaid Anne-Marie Lyne Lussier, busboy Serge Tanguay and doorman Bertrand Fontaine are to contribute $2,000 each. The commission also recommended the bar prohibit staff from engaging in any type of discrimination when dealing with customers. The bar has until Aug. 4 to comply or decide to contest the decision before the Human Rights Tribunal.
Gologo, a civil engineer who is working in northern Quebec and had not learned of the decision, was first turned away by a bouncer on Sept. 11, 2003. When he returned with Diallo two days later there was no bouncer at the door, but a waitress inside refused to serve them. Lemyre appeared and told the men the bar decided to stop admitting blacks because black gangs had been causing trouble at bars in the area, and several had closed as a result. "I tried to explain that I am not a gang member. I told him I was studying and showed him my (Universite de Montreal) card and licence," Diallo said. Black friends of his had been going to Le Surf regularly, Diallo said, but began to be turned away about two months before his own encounter. On Sept. 19, Gologo and Diallo returned to the bar with a Journal de Montreal reporter who disguised himself as a black man. A busboy told the men staff had orders not to serve blacks, Latinos or members of certain other ethnic groups until the bar's problems were resolved. "There were blacks here all the time, but it got to the point where there were too many," Lemyre later told the Journal reporter, Stephane Alarie.
His policy was not racist, he insisted, but a business decision. Black men had committed holdups and used counterfeit $50 bills at his bar, he said.
"It's rare that one sees a commercial establishment practise and admit so publicly and openly a policy of systematic denial of service to people of black descent," said Fo Niemi, head of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, which lodged the complaint. "This decision is an important milestone in the fight against racism in Quebec." Diallo, who works for a private security firm and lives in Contrecoeur, said he hopes the victory will inspire other blacks to rise against racism. "I know a lot of people who have been victims of similar actions but have not come forward," he said. "These people have to understand that no matter how long it takes or the outcome, they have to assert their rights." Lemyre could not be reached for comment yesterday.
© The Montreal Gazette
Gay pride Latvia
PROTECT THE RIGHT TO GAY PRIDE (Latvia, commentary)
The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner says the gay pride day events in Latvia are deeply worrying for all who value tolerance and respect for human rights.
By Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Strasbourg.
Editor's note: A march of gay and lesbian groups through Riga planned for 22 July had to be abandoned when the city council refused to grant permission for the event. Angry scenes occurred as anti-gay protestors attacked other gay-pride events on 22 July, resulting in the arrests of more than a dozen protestors. Similar violence broke out last year, when the march was allowed to go ahead after a court overturned the city council's ban.
27/7/2006- The local authorities in Riga cited security concerns when banning the gay pride parade planned for last Saturday, but their decision ultimately rewarded the extremists who had previously threatened to attack the manifestation. What followed was even worse. The gay and lesbian activists who went ahead with previously scheduled side events – a conference in a hotel and a gathering in an Anglican church – were verbally insulted and physically attacked by homophobic demonstrators. The gay pride day supporters, including a Dutch member of the European Parliament, were attacked with eggs and rubbish as they were trying to leave the venues. Some of the organizers were trapped inside the hotel and had to be rescued by the police. Despite a request for protection several days prior to the events, the police presence was small and passive. While several attackers were arrested in the end, the initial police inaction raises questions about whether fundamental human rights concerns, including sexual minority rights, are fully mainstreamed into police instructions and training. It cannot be stressed enough that a ban on gay pride demonstrations undermines some of the most basic human rights principles. Latvian society at large is being sent the signal that – even in the 21st century – something is very wrong with belonging to a sexual minority. That message is immoral and inhuman.
The fact that some people harbor homophobic prejudices is no reason to limit the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of others. The responsibility of governments is always two-fold. First, they must allow such demonstrations, and secondly, they must do their utmost to protect them. In Moscow, too, the first ever gay pride parade was denied permission by the authorities in May. When some activists nevertheless went ahead with the peaceful march, they were brutally attacked by homophobic extremists, with little protection being provided by the police. Romania’s second gay pride march also devolved into a homophobic riot in June. In Poland, the leadership of the League of Polish Families, a government coalition party, has called for homophobic violence and the state prosecutor has recently announced an investigation of all Polish sexual minority organizations for illegal financing, criminal connections, and pedophilia. The increasing level of intolerance and aggression against homosexuals is a major cause for concern. Hate speech and violent acts against sexual minorities are still frequent in many countries of the Council of Europe – often with total impunity. Sadly, some priests have also given direct or indirect support to homophobic ideologies, thereby delaying the necessary attitude change in a number of countries.
The time has come to change all this. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against the criminalization of homosexuality. It has also taken a clear position against unequal ages of sexual consent for heterosexuals and homosexuals, exclusion of homosexuals from the military, and deprivation of child custody as well as social benefits for same-sex partners. European and international norms are clear, and the non-discrimination provisions in international human rights law do cover sexual minorities as well. Their right to freedom of expression and assembly cannot be restricted. Statements of principles, international conventions, and rulings are useless if they are not followed by action. To turn gay pride days into a persecution of activists is not moving any country forward. Rather, it is bringing back memories of an era we all wish to forget. It is my conviction that several European governments need to revisit their list of international legal commitments, and seek to train judges, prosecutors, and police officers on the practical implementation of these basic human-rights principles. Politicians, educators, and leaders of religious communities will need to work together with non-governmental organizations and journalists to root out homophobia from across Europe once and for all.
© Transitions Online
RIGA GAY PRIDE: IT'S WORSE THAN MOSCOW (eyewitness report)
by Nikolai Alexeyev GayRussia.ru
22/7/2006- It is astonishing. It’s worse than Moscow. There is total chaos here. The police seem very weak and disorganized. The fascists are able to act at will. And Latvia is in the European Union. The police presence outside the Reval Latvia Hotel, where a press conference and and alternative event to the banned Pride march is being staged, is symbolic. Small and inadequate. We are under siege by a mob of some 70 fascists.
“A small number of neo Nazis have now infiltrated the hotel,” said Peter Tatchell of the gay human rights group Outrage! “We fear that they are calling on their mobiles to coordinate a fascist attack on the hotel. A group of anti gay right wingers got into the hotel lobby. They have just been evicted. “The fascists are very well organized, he continued. “They have a military-style operation. They seem to know everything Mozaika has planned and are able to disrupt every event the moment it starts.” One of those assaulted was the openly gay pastor Rev Maris Sants. The Police refused him protection as he went to his car, where he was attacked. “People attending the press conference had to be rushed out into waiting vans to be ferried away from the baying homophobic crowd,” said Mr Tatchell. “Earlier today, the church service Rev Sants held in support of Riga Gay Pride was attacked by a dozen neo-Nazis. Worshippers were pelted with shit and rotten fruit. “Despite previously requesting police protection, no police were present to protect the congregation. Dutch MEP Sophie In’t Veld was one of the worshippers prevented from leaving the church by the homophobic vigilantes. “The inaction of the Latvian police is scandalous. They seem to be doing the absolute minimum” said Mr Tatchell.
It feels like Moscow all over again. Homophobic mobs are roaming the streets of Riga with apparent impunity. As the Moza¨©ka organizers, together with the Tatchell and myself, left the press conference, we were followed by fascists in a van. The who pelted the car with eggs. “Thankfully, they had only eggs, not bricks or guns. t was really scary as they zapped our vehicle. They chased us through the streets until we got to the Reval Latvia Hotel” said Mr Tatchell. “Gangs of homophobes are roaming the streets of Riga, looking for gays and lesbians to attack. There is a police presence outside the Reval Hotel but not elsewhere.”
As I write this report, a bus with 40 policemen has just arrived, two hours after the first protests – and despite having been requested several days ago by the organisers. The speeches of local politicians and foreign politicians are coming to an end at the hotel. There are about 100 gays and lesbians who are here celebrate what should have been Riga’s second Gay Pride. Protesters outside the hotel have now started to attack those leaving. There appears to be little co-ordination between the police and the hotel. The police are reacting very slowly to the protesters and appear to be not too concerned about the safety of the participants. The first taxi that was trying to take one of the organisers, was attacked by the protesters who pushed the cars, and threw eggs – all under the eyes the police who did nothing. Journalists were also attacked with eggs and water on them and on their cameras. Protesters were targeting anyone leaving the hotel. An elderly woman holding an icon in her hands lay on a car with a bottle that she called “sacred water”. It is not yet clear how gays, lesbians and their friends will evacuate the building. Today, Latvia does not show the face of a modern and democratic country within the European Union. Instead, Riga is showing the face of homophobic fascism, threatening its citizen and their guests, members, including Members of the European Parliament.
© UK Gay News
GAY PRIDE ORGANISERS "TRAPPED" IN RIGA HOTEL(Latvia)
Rescued by Cabinet Minister
22/7/2006- Organisers of Riga Gay Pride have been "rescued" after being trapped for hours in the in the Reval Latvia Hotel, with "hysterical" protesters surrounding the building. Sources say that the deputy Prime Minister had ordered that the organisers are to be "rescued". A senior member of the Latvian cabinet arrived at the hotel this evening , spoke to the trapped organisers who, with police protection, left the building and were whisked away to safety in a special bus. "We had not choice but to book a safe room," said Juris Lavrikovs, one of the organisers and a staff member of ILGA-Europe. He was speaking before the Government "rescue" "We are all safe, but the hysterical crowd are still outside – we do not know when we will be able to leave," he added. Many of those attending the Pride function managed to leave the hotel by various side entrances. But the protesters, who were staging an illegal demonstration, soon got wise and blocked all entrances, leaving about a dozen inside. Mr. Lavrikovs said the the protesters outside the hotel were holding an illegal demonstration and that they had done considerable damage.
© UK Gay News
ANTI-GAY PROTESTERS THROW FECES AT GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS(Latvia)
22/7/2006- Anti-gay demonstrators hurled feces and eggs at gay rights activists and their supporters who were leaving a church service in the Latvian capital on Saturday. About 20 protesters had gathered outside the Anglican church in Riga where gay activists, who had been denied a permit to stage a gay pride parade, were attending a service. A handful of the protesters lobbed eggs and emptied bags of feces on the churchgoers as they walked out the building. "I think Latvia got a little smaller today," said Anglican Latvian-American pastor Juris Calitis, who said he, too, was struck by waste. He accused Latvian churches of stirring up anti-gay sentiment in the Baltic country. One of those attacked by the protesters was European Parliament member Sophie In 't Veld of the Netherlands, Calitis said. About 300 anti-gay demonstrators, including skinheads and Christian groups, gathered outside of a Riga hotel later on Saturday to protest a gay pride gathering inside that organizers staged in lieu of the parade. Protesters wore T-shirts with anti-gay slogans and shouted "No pride," "God bless Latvia," and "Latvia's shame," at gay-rights activists and hotel guests as they entered and exited the hotel. Police detained about 10 protesters but let many instances of egg-throwing go unpunished. "They are doing what they can. I have nothing more to say," state police spokeswoman Sintija Kajina said of the officers' tactics. A Riga court on Friday upheld a city council decision not to allow the gay pride parade to be held in the capital this weekend, despite overturning a similar ban last year and allowing the city's first ever gay pride parade to take place. "The goal of the parade was to raise awareness of the issue and capture the attention of the media, and in both respects we have exceeded expectations," said Katrina Schwartz, a spokeswoman for one of the parade organizers, Mozaika. "Our larger goals were to raise social awareness, educate the public and promote tolerance, and obviously we have a long way to go." The Latvian Parliament last month tailored its employment laws to exclude protection of homosexuals against workplace discrimination. Lawmakers also took the first steps last year toward establishing a constitutional ban against same-sex marriage. German tourist Lothar Kittstein, 35, said he was shocked by the protesters, many of whom were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with sexually explicit anti-gay messages. "I've never seen something like this. It's like the Middle Ages," he said.
© Planet Out
LATVIAN GAY PRIDERS HIT WITH EGGS AND EXCREMENT
22/7/2006- Gay pride participants said they were pelted with eggs and bags of excrement on Saturday as they left a service at the Anglican Lutheran church in the old town of the Latvian capital Riga. The Reverend Maris Sants, co-organizer of the gay pride festival, told Reuters that security police had been informed about the church service but failed to provide protection. "There were seven or eight of them waiting for us outside the church and as soon as we came out I was hit with a bag full of sh*t and had to go wash up," Sants said, adding that several other people were hit by similar projectiles and eggs. Police later confirmed that five people were arrested in connection with the incident. A Latvian court upheld on Friday a ban on a gay pride parade in the capital imposed by centre-right leaders for what they said were security reasons. Organizers of the festival decided to go ahead with other activities surrounding the event. The European Union, the European Parliament and civil rights groups have criticized Poland and Latvia for banning gay pride marches and for worrying signs of growing homophobia, mainly in new EU members in central and eastern Europe. At a news conference for gay pride, Spanish European Parliament member Raul Romeva said the European Union was founded on equal rights and freedom for all. "We are asking for more respect, including respect for our sexual orientation," he said. Outside, some 80 protesters had gathered to shout derogatory names at people representing the Organizers of the festival. Antons, 27, who declined to give his last name but is a member of anti-gay protest group No Pride, said he was protesting against the popularization of homosexuality. There has been scant comment by politicians on the gay pride events, but Interior Minister Dzintars Jaundzeikars earlier this week said the parade should be canceled for security reasons. Last year, Latvia's first gay pride parade was met with fierce protests from hundreds of people.
© Reuters
MOB ATTACKS GAYS AS POLICE LOOK ON (Latvia)
22/7/2006- Dozens of gays, barred from holding a pride parade, were attacked by a right wing mob at a church in the Latvian capital on Saturday. Hundreds of skinheads, members of the extreme nationalist group ANSS and members of the Orthodox Church surrounded the small Anglican church in central Riga as about 50 gay rights activists and their supporters held a prayer service for LGBT rights. When the service ended some of the congregants managed to get out a back door unscathed but subjected to verbal abuse. Others, including the pastor who led the service, opted to remain in the sanctuary hoping the crowd outside would disperse. Instead, they found themselves bottled in as the protest crowd swelled. Finally they were allowed to leave by the front but were forced to run a gauntlet where they were pelted with bags of excrement and verbal abuse. "Homosexuals are dirty sinners, ANSS leader Viktors Biese told the Agence France Presse. " They are immoral people and they don't have a place in normal society. We have to stop them now. We can't wait until they start demanding the right to get married and adopt children." People who had been in the church said that police stood by and did nothing to stop the attack. The city refused on Wednesday to grant a parade permit citing security reasons following a recommendation from Latvian Interior Minister Dzintars Jaundzeikars. Friday the Administrative Court in Riga refused on Friday to grant gay rights groups an injunction ordering the city to grant a permit for the parade. Pride organizers said they would not violate the ruling. Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said Friday that it was unacceptable for the Riga City Council to refuse the parade permit. Last year gays went to court and got an injunction after the city also refused a parade license. The march was marked by violence and a number of protestors were arrested.
© 365Gay.com
NEO-NAZIS THREATEN LATVIA GAY PRIDE
18/7/2006- Latvian authorities are considering cancelling this weekend’s Latvia’s Gay Pride in the capital of Riga amid threats of violence from Christians, nationalists and neo-Nazis. Responding to these homophobic threats, the Latvian authorities are threatening to ban the Riga Pride march on public order grounds, claiming it is the “biggest security risk” since Latvia won its independence from the USSR. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of OutRage! will join Saturday’s march in solidarity with Latvia’s beleaguered but defiant lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. He said: “It is scandalous that a member state of the EU is giving in to threats and blackmail by religious fundamentalists and the far right.” He was commenting on the failure of the Latvian authorities to issue a march permit to the Riga Pride organisers. “It echoes the bad old days of Soviet tyranny,” added Mr Tatchell. “The government of Latvia has a duty to resist threats of homophobic violence, protect its gay citizens and safeguard the right to peaceful protest. “Riga Pride is a litmus test of Latvian democracy,” he said. Latvian police arrested a number of protesters at last year’s parade in the country. Some thirty or so gays and lesbians marched through the centre of Riga. However, hundreds of demonstrators including some from the far right lined their route. Protestors hurled rotten eggs and insults into the parade and several of them were arrested by the police. The celebration of gay rights had previously been cancelled by the city’s Chief Executive, Erik Shkapars but the decision was over turned by a local judge who issued a order forcing the city to allow the march to take place. The judge claimed that banning the march would be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights of which Latvia is a signatory to. Last month, the European Union passed a resolution to combat homophobia on the continent which would see sentences handed down for homophobic, anti Semitic, and Islamophobic offences. Gay activists in Moscow were attacked last May after the Russian gay pride was banned and attendees of the Warsaw and Bucharest gay pride were threatened with violence.
© Pink News
LATVIAN CAPITAL BANS GAY PRIDE
Organizers plan to file appeal
20/7/2006- City authorities in the Latvian capital on Wednesday denied a request by several gay rights organizations to hold a parade here this weekend, saying they could not guarantee marchers' safety. "The city council met and decided not to allow the gay pride parade to take place because of security concerns,"said Sandra Grinberga, a city council spokeswoman. Parade organizers lamented the decision and said they would file an appeal with the Riga administrative court later Wednesday. The court overturned a similar ban last year and allowed the city's first ever gay pride parade to take place. "We think this is a huge blow for democracy in Latvia. The city council is caving in to extremists and this sets a very bad precedent," said Katrina Schwartz, a spokeswoman for one of the parade organizers, Mozaika. Schwartz said the decision calls into question Riga's ability to host a NATO summit later this year, where alliance leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush, are expected to attend. "If the city council is being sincere and stating that they literally cannot guarantee security for this event, then I think that absolutely the Latvian government and NATO have to be reconsidering the country's preparedness to host the NATO summit," Schwartz said. Anti-gay demonstrators have gathered every day this week outside the city hall building to lobby against the parade taking place. Latvian Interior Minister Dzintars Jaundzeikars urged the city council not to allow the parade, saying police could not guarantee the marchers' safety. Many of the leaders of Latvia's churches have also condemned the planned march, saying it promotes homosexuality and an immoral lifestyle. The organizers were expecting about 500 marchers this year, including several dignitaries from Sweden and Denmark. At last year's parade, thousands of people lined the streets in Riga's Old Town center to watch about 30 people march a few blocks to attend a church service. Many onlookers shouted insults and carried anti-gay signs, and some hurled debris at the marchers. Latvia's gay and lesbian community has struggled to find a political voice after having been forced underground during nearly five decades of Soviet occupation, which ended in 1991. The country's Parliament took the first step last September toward approving a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage when it sent the proposed ban to a committee for review.
© Express Gay News
LATVIAN PRIEST STRONGLY SUPPORTS THE RIGA GAY PRIDE
From Riga, Maris Sants answers criticism and give his view about the second Gay Pride
17/7/2006- A few days before the second ever Gay Pride Parade takes the streets of Riga, GayRussia.Ru has met Maris Sants. The Anglican Priest told us more about his life and the reasons of his support to the gay movement. He also answered thr critics that were published recently in the Russian gay internet about his initiative to hold a service at the Anglican church after the human rights marche.
GayRussia: Can you tell us a bit more about your background?
Maris Sants: I am 40. I was born in a communist family. When I was 12, I recognized that I was gay and I tried all sort of therapy to change my sexual orientation. I visited several psychiatrists and pshychologists in six different countries. When I was 17, after I tried a lot of doctors who did not succeed in changing me, I became Christian. At that point, I understood that if people cannot accept me, and I cannot accept myself, then, god will accept me. Finally, I became christian only because I was homosexual. When I was 25, I went to the Theology Faculty and then, I became priest. When I was 33, I started to understand that god has no problem with my sexual orientation. I understand that the problem comes from people who do not accept us. But when I was 36, I was excommunicated from the church by the Archbishop of Latvia because of my homosexuality.
GR : Last year you held a service at the Anglican Church which closed the first Riga Pride. Why this initiative ?
MS: I believe that there is nothing is nothing wrong in being gay. Churches are doing a very wrong things. Probably in 10 or 20 years, they will have to excuse for having burned and stoned so many of us in the past. I believe that God is different. God knows that being gay is not a choice.
GR : Will you organize the same next saturday for the second pride ?
MS: Yes. There will be a service. It is taken out of the official schedule because of fears of aggressions. But anyone who wish to attend can get the schedule from the organization committee. Unlike last year, the pride will be separated from the service. In fact, last year the police asked me that all the pride participants go to the church for security reasons. They wanted to avoid having people being attacked in the streets at the end of the pride. There was no intention to end the pride in the church.
GR : Some says that your service is a “provocation”...
MS: I believe that holding a pride all over the world is a provocation and, to there is nothing bad in it. We provoke the hyprocratique society and the hypocritique church. By doing that, we just ask them to change. Yes, it provokes a debate in the society; and this is the pruprose. I think Jesus was very provocative. I am convinced he would have gone together with Russian gays to bring flowers to the tomb of the unknown soldier in Moscow. He would provoke the society.
GR : After some disputes within the Latvian gay community, two applications were submitted to the city council. Finally, a few days ago, both sides agreed to organize one united pride event. Are you really all united ?
MS: It’s a very complex question. Some people hate Christianity because of the current policy of the church. There are 3 organizations around the pride. Two of them are does not support anything connected to the church. Last year they were happy because the church helped us all to organize the pride. Last week, we have signed an agreement in which we agreed not to criticize each other in the public space. So, I am not going to criticize them even if they criticize me. I don’t want to break my agreement.
GR : In Latvia, despite the troubles of the first pride, no one says that a gay pride should not be organized. What would you say to the Russian gays who are opposed to any marche for their human rights ?
MS: I would say that honnesty is a value. Trying to pretend that you are not gay is a sin. People should respect those who are out and fight for the rights of the community. Because of such people who are fighting, there can be places where gays can meet. I think they have to respect those who fight for gay rights. This is a very important things which benefit to everyone. I have faced lots of agressions from gays and lesbians who think that I am doing everything wrong, but because of this we have a church that bless same sex unions.
GR : Site gay.ru has reported that organizers of the Riga pride have refused to allow you to organize a service at the Anglican church this year. Can you explain the situation ?
MS: It’s totally wrong. No one has never asked me not to organize this service. Only part of the organizers have published something negative about the service. In fact, I found out about this while reading this news published by gay.ru No one told me anything directly.
GR : Would you say that there is a division between the Russian minority and Latvian in the gay community ?
MS: Not in the church. My Russian is not as good that I would like and this is the reason why I cannot do a service in Russian. In fact, I have married some Russians same sex couples and I did the services in Russian. In our congregation, there are lots of Russian people. In the community probably there are some divisions, like in the society. A work of integration should be done in the future. But definitely, I can say that there is not a hatered between Russians and Latvians. Some clubs are more Russian oriented and vice versa.
GR : How many people do you expect at the Pride ?
MS: I would say around 300 but I don’t know. By the way, my mother will be coming to the pride. She said that she prefers to be with gays than with homophobs. I expect around 80 people at the service.
© Gay Russia
Headlines 21 July, 2006
EVICTION THREATS OF ROMA IN BULGARIA CONTINUES UNABATED
On July 19, 2006, international human rights organisations, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), appeal to stop the planned eviction of Roma in Dobri Jelyazkov Sofia, in a letter addressed to the President and Prime Minister of Bulgaria. On 12 July 2006, the district government sent letters to sixteen Roma families living on Dobri Jelyazkov street, Sofia, requiring them to leave their homes within 10 days or the municipality would issue an order for their summary eviction, despite the fact that the communities have lived on this land for several generations. In the absence of reasonable justification, adequate notice, consultation with the affected families, compensation and any provisions for alternative housing and social support for the families, such an eviction would amount to a gross violation of Bulgaria’s obligations under international human rights law.
Full text of the letter (Acrobat pdf format)
© European Roma Rights Center
OUTRAGE OVER SHOW BY HITLER'S SCULPTOR(Germany)
19/07/2006 - An art gallery has provoked outrage in Germany by staging the country's first post-war exhibition of Hitler's favourite sculptor, Arno Breker. Breker was to Nazi sculpture what Leni Riefenstahl was to film and made a fortune from Hitler's love of his work, which features enormous, naked Aryan models. Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, planned his grandest buildings to be decorated with Breker's distinctive pieces. Breker, who died in 1991 aged 91, has never been fully rehabilitated in the eyes of the German public and the decision by cultural authorities in the northern city of Schwerin to host a major retrospective, which opens on Saturday, has caused upset. While Gunter Grass, the author and Nobel laureate, said the exhibition could answer questions for Germans still struggling with their troubled history, opponents within the arts establishment argue that any re-examination of Breker comes too close to rehabilitation of a figure whose work embodied the racist mentality of the Third Reich. Klaus Staek, the president of the German Academy of Arts in Berlin, has cancelled his own show at Schwerin's Schleswig-Hostein Haus gallery in protest. "It is important to me to take a stance," he said. "It was Breker who gave a form to the human image held by the Nazis, their racism." But the organisers of the exhibition, entitled Up for discussion; the sculptor Arno Breker, said they wanted to provoke a debate, not rehabilitate the artist. Much of his work for the Third Reich was destroyed but surviving figures include those at the venue for the World Cup Final on July 9, the Olympic stadium in Berlin.
© The Telegraph
ANTWERP MOVES TO BAN FOREIGN PARTNER WEBSITE(Belgium/Netherlands)
18/7/2006- The Antwerp City Council is investigating whether it can take legal action against the website buitenlandsepartner.nl, which advises Dutch residents to bring their foreign partners into the Netherlands via Belgium. Visitors to the site can find a handbook advising people who wish to bring foreign family members to the Netherlands to take up (temporary) residence in Belgium first. That way, they can sail around the Netherlands' tight immigration laws. A short stay in Belgium, for example Antwerp, means the less strict Belgian laws regulating residency permits for a partner from Morocco or Turkey, for example, are applied. The 'Handbook for the Belgium route' gives a detailed overview of Belgian laws and regulations regarding registration, marriage, family unification migration and social security. It also gives practical tips. "In Belgium, you don't need to satisfy an absurd income demand for family unification or undergo chaotic integration," the website says. Antwerp Population Alderman Erwin Pairon said the website — which is administered by the group Stichting Buitenlandse Partner — is "riff-raff" material, Dutch and Belgian media reported on Tuesday. He said the number of Dutch nationals registering as residents in Antwerp in recent years has increased markedly, blaming the 'Belgium route' as one of the prime reasons. In January, Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk and Belgian Interior Minister Patrick Dewael had reached an agreement aimed at closing the loophole in regulations.
© Expatica News
STUDENT TAIDA GETS PERMISSION TO RETURN(Netherlands)
19/07/2006 — Kosovar Taida Pasic is returning to study law in the Netherlands less than three months after Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk forced her to leave the country. The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) has given a positive recommendation in response to an application by the University of Leiden, spokesperson Martin Bruinsma for the Ministry of Justice said on Wednesday. Pasic, who wants to study law, lodged an application at the beginning of July for permission to come to the Netherlands. The application was processed within a few weeks as is the case with other students, Bruinsma said. "She meets all the conditions to study in the Netherlands."
The Kosovar now must apply for a student visa. This should be a formality. She came into conflict with Verdonk and the IND earlier this year because she was accused of abusing the system. Pasic successfully obtained her Dutch VWO secondary school certificate recently. She sat the exams in the Dutch embassy in Sarajevo. She had to leave the Netherlands at the end of April after a court sided with Verdonk's contention that she was in the country illegally. Her family sought asylum in the Netherlands when Taïda was 12. She went to school and learned Dutch quickly. She left with her family voluntarily in 2005 as the IND refused to grant them asylum status. She returned on her own a short time later to finish her VWO course. Verdonk branded Pasic a fraud for returning to the Netherlands on a tourist visa after accepting EUR 7,000 to continue her schooling in Kosovo.
© Expatica News
HOSPITAL BUYS PLANE TICKETS FOR ILLEGALS(Netherlands)
18/7/2006- AMC hospital in Amsterdam has come up with a novel solution to help illegal immigrants who have finished with medical treatment – a plane ticket to their country of origin. "Patients who have finished treatment normally speaking go home or to a retirement or after-care centre. That is not possible for illegal immigrants who don't have health insurance. At the same time it is difficult to just put them out on the street," AMC spokesperson Frank van den Bosch said. Newspaper 'Parool' reported there is no agency charged with taking over the care of these people. As a result they often end up staying in hospital longer than medically necessary. Van den Bosch said this is bad for the patient and bad for the hospital. "They are in the wrong place with us. They are taking up an expensive bed and it is bad for the atmosphere on the ward when patients stay unnecessarily long in hospital." He said staff at the AMC had "moved heaven and earth" to find a structural solution, without result to date. Occasionally, drastic steps are taken in individual cases. "We pay sometimes for a plane ticket to the person's country of origin if the appropriate care is available there." Agreements have also been made with the Salvation Army about providing help to some discharged patients. Patients in need of after-care are sent to a nursing home. "AMC and the nursing home jointly cover the costs, with the support of the health insurance industry's bad debtors fund, for the cost of the admission," Van den Bosch said. A bed in the AMC is five to six times more expensive than a bed in a convalescent home. He emphasised that the emergency measures been taken by the hospital are not long-term solutions. "It is obviously too crazy for words that a hospital has to pay other healthcare institutions and for plane tickets."
© Expatica News
POLISH WORKERS FREED FROM SLAVE CAMP IN ITALY
19/07/2006 - Italian police have liberated 113 Polish workers from forced labour camps in southern Italy where they were reportedly raped and tortured if unwilling to work, with four cases of suicide being investigated. "We are talking about conditions similar to those of concentration camps where people were not only exploited for their work but also kept in a state of slavery," Italian prosecutor Piero Grasso said following the operation on Tuesday (18 July), according to Reuters. The "labour camps" located in Puglia region were run by three Poles, two Ukrainians and one Algerian who even called each other "kapos," the term for guards in Nazi camps, Poland's national police chief Marek Bienkowski told reporters in Warsaw. The joint Polish and Italian investigation dubbed as "Promised Land" has led to the arrest of 20 people for human trafficking and deprivation of freedom, while seven suspects are still at large. Over 1,000 Poles may have fallen victim to the criminal ring managing the camps and their recruitment, the Polish news agency PAP reported. The Polish workers were forced to work for up to 15 hours per day for a salary of less than one euro per hour. They were kept in rooms without light or heating where they slept on the floor and were guarded by armed men to prevent them escaping home. They received little more than bread and water and had to pay for it as well as for accommodation which led many of them into debt. They also had to pay a €20 fine if they fell sick. Police said there were cases of forced prostitution, rapes and beatings, while a few workers committed suicide with investigators looking into details.
© EUobserver
CABINET INSPECTORS VISIT MIGRANT CENTRES(Italy)
19/7/2006- Government-appointed inspectors travelled to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday to visit a detention centre for would-be immigrants, known as temporary reception centres (CPT). The inspection was ordered by interior minister Giuliano Amato last month after widespread criticism from human rights groups, the media and members of his own centre-left coalition over the alleged inhumane conditions and human rights abuses on migrants at the centre. No access to the CPT has so far been granted to the media and non-governmental groups. Lampedusa is the first Italian territory to be reached by boats from Tunisia or Libya and thousands of migrants attempt the perilous journey every year. The detention centre, which was built to house approximately 190 people, is often near collapse during summer months, when as many as 500 migrants have been reported to arrive in the space of just one day. The CPT currently houses 400 people. Overall, more than 10,000 would-be immigrants landed on Lampedusa last year. Lampedusa's CPT is inside the island's airport and is strictly off-limits to non-employees, rights groups including Amnesty International have denounced. The interior ministry commission visiting the centre is led by UN representative in Rome Staffan De Mistura, an expert in humanitarian emergencies. Other inspectors include representatives of the main charities working with immigrants in Italy, such as Catholic groups Caritas and Comunita di Sant'Egidio, as well as filmmaker Gianni Amelio, whose 1994 film Lamerica recounted the plight of Albanian migrants who travelled to Italy in search of a better future. Many of those who make the journey are believed to pay upwards of 1,000 euros each for the chance to reach Italy, but the journeys are often in unsafe and overcrowded boats. Many die on the way and others perish when smugglers push them abroad far from shore in a bid to avoid capture.
© Aki
MALTA MIGRANTS ALLOWED ON SHORE
21/7/2006- A group of African migrants who had been stranded off the Maltese coast for eight days are being flown to Spain. The 51 migrants were allowed to disembark at La Valletta on Friday after Madrid agreed to take on most of the group who are mainly from Eritrea. While Malta said it would take three migrants, the others will be taken in by Spain, Italy and Andorra. Since January almost 1,000 immigrants have landed on Malta, which has a total population of 400,000. Spain is also dealing with its own immigration crisis in the Canary Islands, with some 11,000 African migrants arriving on the island chain so far this year. Malta had initially refused to allow the ship to dock, saying the Africans were rescued outside its territorial waters. Three of the migrants, a pregnant woman, a mother and a baby, were allowed ashore on Tuesday for medical treatment. It had said the men, women and children were the responsibility of Spain or Libya since the boat was Spanish and the migrants were picked up in Libya's search-and-rescue zone. Ten migrants, originally destined for Libya, will now be taken on by the United Nations refugee agency. Intervention by the EU helped to resolve the crisis.
Criticism
Malta has received strong criticism from human rights groups for its actions during this crisis, says the BBC's Danny Wood in Madrid. But Malta, which joined the EU in 2004, says it has no more capacity to deal with illegal immigrants and has been pressing the EU to help. The European Commission's leading role in resolving the crisis is a sign that the EU is getting serious about helping member states with illegal immigration problems, our correspondent says. "Europe has finally realised our limits. This has been an example of collaboration and how such a burden can be shared," Malta's Foreign Minister Michael Frendo said. On Wednesday, a plan to create rapid reaction teams of border guards to deal with European Union immigration crises was unveiled by the European Commission. Meanwhile, the Spanish crew which rescued the migrants last Friday have been hailed as heroes in Spain. "What they did shows the sort of men they are," Pepi Irles, wife of the boat's captain, told reporters. The Spanish government said it would award the crew a merit medal for saving 51 lives, Reuters news agency reported. One of the ship's crew members said that after their experience at sea together, the migrants were like his family and he was sad to see them go, our correspondent says.
© BBC News
BID TO SOLVE MALTA MIGRANT CRISIS
19/7/2006- International efforts are under way to resolve a stand-off between Spain and Malta which has left 51 African migrants stranded at sea since Friday. Malta is refusing to allow a Spanish trawler which picked up the migrants to dock, drawing criticism from the UN. European Union Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said he had spoken with Spanish, Italian and Maltese ministers. He said the trawler had done a "fantastic" job but that Malta needed help to deal with migration pressures.
Pregnant woman
The Maltese government is insisting the Eritrean men, women and children on board are Spain's or Libya's concern, since the boat is Spanish and the rescue was made in Libya's search-and-rescue zone. A Spanish junior foreign minister, Bernardino Leon, said that two Spanish inspectors who boarded the vessel on Tuesday had reported that conditions for the immigrants were beginning to get worrying. The AFP news agency says a pregnant woman and mother and child were temporarily taken off the trawler to receive medical treatment, but were taken back later. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has told the Maltese authorities to let the migrants disembark urgently. But the government of Malta says it has no more capacity to deal with illegal immigrants and has been pressing the EU to help.
EU mission
Mr Frattini said the European Union was about to launch a mission to patrol the Mediterranean near Malta, as he announced plans to set up a system for sending rapid reaction border guard teams to countries facing a migration crisis. He added that the Spanish minister of foreign affairs had proposed a solution to the current standoff, but he said he did not want to predict what the final outcome would be. Almost 1,000 immigrants have landed on Malta, which has a total population of 400,000, since January. Spain, meanwhile, is dealing with its own immigration crisis in the Canary Islands, with some 11,000 African migrants arriving on the island chain so far this year.
© BBC News
MIGRANTS STUCK IN MALTA STAND-OFF
18/7/2006- Malta is refusing to allow African migrants aboard a Spanish trawler to dock, drawing criticism from the UN. Some 51 people, most from Eritrea, were rescued by the Spanish on Friday and have been aboard ever since. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has told the Maltese authorities to let them disembark urgently. But Malta, which feels it is being overrun by African migrants, believes Libya should deal with the problem as they were picked up in their waters. The UNHCR has described the situation as an "emergency". "Many of them could surely ask for refugee status, we cannot let them in limbo," the UNHCR's Neil Falzon told the AFP News agency. The Maltese authorities sent food, water and medicine but have so far refused to allow the migrants to disembark. The government of Malta says it has no more capacity to deal with illegal immigrants following a large influx this year and has been pressing the EU to help. Almost 1,000 immigrants have landed on the small island since January. Most set off in small boats from Libya, hoping to reach Italy and Europe's mainland. Maltese foreign minister Michael Frendo said he was having talks with his Spanish counterpart. Mr Frendo said that with some exceptions, Malta felt "alone and abandoned" by the EU on the immigration problem, and he urged the start of joint patrolling this summer. An old school near the capital Valetta has been converted to house migrants. Earlier this month more than 700 people were reported to be staying there. But our correspondent Michael Buchanan said the building had health and sanitary problems because of the overcrowding.
© BBC News
FORMER CHANCELLOR TO OVERSEE ANTI-RACISM GROUP(Germany)
16/7/2006- Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder made a rare public appearance this week to announce that he's taking over the reins of an anti-racism group that fights xenophobia and anti-Semitism. For the first time since he left office 10 months ago, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder made a public appearance this week in Berlin. He spoke this time in a new capacity as head of a national iniative called "Gesicht Zeigen!" (Show Your Face!), which acts against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. In response to a series of violent crimes by right-wing extremists in the early 1990s, Schröder's former spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye founded "Gesicht Zeigen!" in 2000. He was aided in the endeavor by Paul Spiegel, former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, who passed away in April 2006. Heye said Schröder had always made sure that programs to battle right-wing extremism were always well-funded by the government. "I think that demonstrates that the society, and its political representatives, have a clear picture of where tolerance for intolerance should end," said Heye. Schröder's predecessor as head of "Gesicht Zeigen!" was Johannes Rau, who served as federal president during the former chancellor's term. The organization needed some time after Rau's death in January 2006 to reorient and find a suitable successor. "It is a great joy for me to be able to continue the work of two really great democrats," commented Schröder, referring to Rau and Spiegel.
Tempering positive World Cup impressions of tolerance
Schröder was encouraged that the World Cup had given Germany the opportunity to show itself to the world as an open, tolerant country. "Those who went abroad during the World Cup, as I did, sensed that an entirely new view of Germany had developed," said Schröder. "Now it's important to continue implementing what became visible to others in everyday life." Founder and chairman Uwe-Karsten Heye's view of the current situation in Germany was a bit more sober than Schröder's: "There are places where people with darker skin -- African-Germans and African-Europeans -- shouldn't go," he said, repeating the warning he had made several weeks before the World Cup. Heye said he felt it was necessary to refer to the so-called No-Go-Areas again, since he had the impression that the issue had been ignored since the furor surrounding it died down days ahead of the World Cup. One of the most visible projects "Gesicht Zeigen!" sponsors is an annual, one-week campaign against racism, which coincided this year in March with the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Sophia Oppermann, the organization's managing director, explained that a bilateral discussion series in cooperation with five different embassies is another key element of their program. Yet another highlight was a four-year exchange between foreigners living in Berlin and German students, she added. "The Berlin immigrants went to high schools and vocational schools in the Brandenburg area to talk with the students about a particular topic," said Oppermann. "The classes were then invited to Berlin for an inter-cultural tour of the city, a visit to a mosque, and other things."
© Deutsche Welle
GERMAN AGENT SUSPECTED OF SERIAL MURDER
17/7/2006- Authorities have quizzed an agent in Germany's domestic security agency is connection with a series of killings targeting foreigners. Prosecutors said that the unnamed man had been suspended from duty but was not in detention after a search of his apartment failed to link him directly to any of the nine victims. Police were alerted to the agent after he was spotted leaving an internet cafe in the northern city of Kassel one minute before the owner, a 21-year-old Turk, was shot dead there on April 6. Two days earlier, another Turk aged 39 was shot and killed in his kiosk in the city of Dortmund. All the victims were shot with a Czech-made 7.65mm Ceska 83 pistol in what prosecutors called execution-style killings. Eight of those killed were Turks, one a Greek. Police are baffled by the murders, which began in September 2000 and have targeted the owners of small businesses in six cities, including Hamburg in the north and Munich in the south. Nothing was stolen and the victims appeared to have offered no resistance. Prosecutors said they could not explain why the agent had failed to reported being in the internet cafe, despite a request from police for witnesses to come forward. The victims appear to have been chosen at random, Dortmund prosecutor Heiko Artkaemper said after eighth killing in April. The only thing the victims had in common was that they were foreign and operated small businesses like kiosks or Turkish food outlets, prompting the German media to dub the case the "Kebab Murders." Police said there was nothing to suggest a political motive, blackmail or drugs involvement. Authorities have offered a reward of 30,000 euros ($36,000) for information leading to the arrest of the gunman.
© Expatica News
INVESTIGATION AFTER TORCHING OF ANNE FRANK’S DIARY (Germany)
German police are investigating after a village gala ended with the torching of a copy of Anne Frank's diary in a scene reminiscent of Nazi book-burnings.
16/7/2006- More than 100 villagers had gathered on June 24 to celebrate the summer solstice in Pretzien, a village south of Magdeburg in the east German state of Saxony-Anhalt, with a dance and a bonfire. Details of the evening have only emerged this week. According to the 'Tagesspiegel' newspaper, three local far-right extremists present in the crowd, aged 24, 27 and 28, threw both a US flag and 'Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl' onto the pyre with one man saying: "I commit Anne Frank to the fire." The scene was evocative of the infamous bonfires organised by the Nazis in 1933 in Berlin and across Germany to rid the Third Reich of "degenerate books". At that point, a local official stepped in and put an end to the party. But members of the crowd then played football with the charred remains of the famous book, which follows the true story of a young Dutch Holocaust victim hiding out from the Nazis before eventually dying in a concentration camp. A spokesman for Saxony-Anhalt's interior ministry said the celebration had been funded by the far-right group "Heimat Bund Ostelbien" (The East Elbian Homeland Federation). He said: "The example of Pretzien is particularly alarming as never before had a far right group been incorporated into village life and treated like a perfectly normal association. "The problem is that there are too few democrats in the East with the courage to stand up to it and prevent it."
State Interior Minister Holger Hoevelmann from the Social Democrat party (SPD) called the extremists' behaviour "an assault on human culture". And the local branch of the SPD party demanded that Pretzien mayor Friedrich Harwig, a fellow member of the Social Democrats, resign because he did not intervene at the event. Harwig, who in the past has been accused of having ties to the far-right scene, has resigned from the party but refuses to quit as mayor. Juergen Falter, an expert on the far-right at the University of Mainz, said it was no accident the men had targeted Anne Frank, who died aged 15 in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, and Germany's chief post-war occupying power, the United States. "The two acts go together: right-wing extremism is at the same time anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism," he said. Thomas Heppener, Director of the Anne Frank Centre in Berlin, called the incident "an outrageous scene" and has filed a legal complaint. Uwe Hornburg from the state prosecutor's office who is investigating the men on suspicion of inciting racial hatred said he was appalled, adding that he had never seen anything like it in his entire life.
© EJP
MPS IN MOVE TO CLOSE FAR-RIGHT WEBSITE (uk)
20/7/2006- A far-right website that lists the addresses of politicians, teachers and trade unionists is facing closure after a series of attacks on anti-racist campaigners. A delegation of union activists and MPs will meet Home Office ministers today in the wake of the latest incident in which anti-fascist campaigner Alec McFadden, president of Merseyside TUC, whose details are listed on the extremist Redwatch site, was stabbed in the face. "He was very lucky not to be blinded," said Angela Eagle, MP for Mr McFadden's Wallasey constituency, who is heading tomorrow's delegation. "This happened on his doorstep and in front of his daughter ... It is just one of several incidents linked to the website that I have heard about in the past few weeks in the north-west." Redwatch carries hundreds of pictures and details of anti-fascists, many taken during protests against the far-right British National party, with the slogan: "Remember places, traitors' faces, they'll all pay for their crimes." Two years ago the Guardian revealed that many of those featured on Redwatch had already suffered threats, intimidation and violence. A secret hitlist of targets on a secure email network attached to the site was uncovered and passed to the government. Ministers promised to act but because the site is hosted in the US, efforts to close it have failed. However, it has emerged that Redwatch's sister site in Poland was closed down last month following cooperation between police there and in the US, and yesterday ministers confirmed they were in touch with the US authorities in relation to the UK site. "We have initiated inquiries of the US department of justice to establish whether hosting such a website constitutes a breach of US law, regulations or industry good practice," said a spokesman. "The Home Office is working with the Association of Chief Police Officers to review the position on this type of crime but we believe the existing legislative framework is sufficient to deal with the problem." Ms Eagle, whose details are also on Redwatch, said that a Liberal Democrat councillor in Liverpool had been threatened by racists linked to the website.
© The Guardian
CRITICISM FOR NEW MUSLIM ORGANISATION(uk)
19/7/2006- A new Muslim organisation created to represent the "silent majority" of British Sufi Muslims and tackle extremism has been dismissed by the Muslim Council of Britain as unrepresentative and divisive. The MCB rejects claims by the Sufi Muslim Council (SMC), which was launched today, that existing Muslim organisations have not done enough to tackle radical extremism within the Muslim community. The SMC launch in Westminster was attended by politicians of all parties and was endorsed by Ruth Kelly, the communities and local government minister. Ms Kelly told the meeting: "We must work together to protect our young people from recruitment to violence and help them reject forces that seek to destroy our wonderfully diverse society. That is why we are looking to organisations and individuals across the Muslim communities to be vocal and challenge the ideology of the extremists." The group says up to 80% of Britain's 2 million Muslims come from the Sufi tradition, which is a mystical and personal interpretation of Islam and largely apolitical. One of the SMC founders, Haras Rafiq, says: "Up to now they [Sufis] have lacked a [representative] voice, and the intent of forming this council is to provide such a strong voice." Mr Rafiq, who served on the government's Muslim taskforce, created to tackle Islamic radicalisation following the 7/7 London bombings, says the SMC is seeking to fill a "vacuum" within the Muslim community. "Unfortunately, many UK Muslim organisations lack the courage to stand up and speak forthrightly about extremism," he told Guardian Unlimited. His appearance last Friday on a Channel 4 documentary, Who Speaks for British Muslims?, which accused Muslim leaders and government officials of pandering to Islamic extremists led to an extraordinary attack by the MCB. In a press release, the MCB accused Mr Rafiq of being part of a "motley crew of discredited figures" wheeled out to support the "ludicrous arguments" of the programme. The journalist who presented the documentary, Martin Bright, was labelled an "Islamophobe" seeking to divide British Muslims.
When contacted by Guardian Unlimited, the spokesman for the MCB, Inayat Bunglawala, claimed Mr Rafiq was an "unknown". "Who is he? Who does he represent? Let's wait and see just how many groups affiliate to his group, but at the moment it's obscure and unknown." The SMC says it has already formed a partnership with the British Muslim Forum, a group representing around 300 mosques, mainly outside London. Mr Rafiq says the SMC would be prepared to work with all faith communities, including the Jewish Board of Deputies, to help fight the "evil ideology that is gathering momentum within the community". "There is an urgent need for the British Muslim community to engage in an internal debate to isolate the ideologies that falsely claim to represent Islam, to develop a strong field of moderate, intellectually astute, forward-thinking leaders and scholars who can promote the moderate values of civic society, engagement and diversity which characterise classical Islam," he said. The MCB says its criticism of Jewish groups in Britain and its boycott of Holocaust memorial day reflect the anger of British Muslims at the actions of Israel and their desire for justice for the Palestinians.
© The Guardian
FAMILY OF MENEZES CONDEMN DECISION NOT TO CHARGE POLICE OFFICERS(uk)
18/7/2006- The family of Jean Charles de Menezes yesterday condemned the decision not to charge any of the police officers involved in shooting dead the Brazilian as "completely unbelievable". Instead, the Metropolitan Police is to be charged with breaking health and safety laws, for which it could be fined. The killing of Mr Menezes, an electrician, has become one of the most controversial shootings in policing history. It revealed the existence of a secret "shoot-to-kill" tactic against suicide bombers, and has put the job of Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, under threat. Alex Pereira, a cousin of Mr Menezes, said it was "completely unbelievable" that no charges were being brought against individual officers. He said he had spoken to the Menezes family in Brazil: "They are shocked about the decision. They are completely disappointed about what they heard this morning." Patricia da Silva Armani, another cousin who lived with Mr Menezes in London, said: "I am very disappointed. I was expecting a negative reply and it is shameful. My cousin was shot, they took his life inside an Underground station. "The authorities, in reality, they did not have any shame. I feel sickened by that." Last night the Menezes family were considering whether to apply for a judicial review of the CPS verdict, or to launch a private prosecution.
Mr Menezes was killed a day after four men failed in an attempt to set off bombs on a bus and Tube trains in London. He was mistakenly identified as one of the terrorist suspects, and a firearms team was told by their commanding officer to stop him from entering Stockwell Tube station. An inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which was sent to the CPS, criticised the Met for its organisational failure in terms of surveillance and communications between the command centre and the officers on the ground. In its long-awaited announcement, the CPS said there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute any of the individual officers involved in the operation for murder or manslaughter. The officers who shot Mr Menezes thought he was a suicide bomber and feared that he would "blow up the train, killing many people", said Stephen O'Doherty, a senior CPS lawyer. The Met will be prosecuted for allegedly not taking reasonable steps to protect Mr Menezes, under Sections 3 and 33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The trial is unlikely to begin until late next year. The decision to use health and safety legislation to bring a prosecution against the Met was widely criticised. Lord Harris, a Labour peer and former chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "The decision to prosecute the Metropolitan Police under health and safety legislation is a ridiculous cop-out, which will satisfy no one. "To suggest that a health and safety prosecution is the correct response when there was insufficient evidence to accuse any individuals of negligence seems perverse." The London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, said: "Health and safety legislation was simply not drawn up to deal with policing a city facing the terrorist threat of 7 July ... and it makes absolutely no sense to apply such legislation in the case of such an extreme situation." Scotland Yard said it was "concerned and clearly disappointed" at the CPS decision to bring charges under health and safety laws. However, it said it was "pleased" that individual officers had not been charged. The two officers who fired the fatal shots are expected to be back on firearms duty within weeks.
© Independent Digital
FURY OVER Ł50 CHARGE TO JOIN GAY PRIDE MARCH(uk)
18/7/2006- The organisers of one of Britain's best-known gay pride marches have been accused of profiteering after insisting that all those who take part must pay £50 for the privilege. Next month's 10-day Manchester Pride festival, now in its 12th year, is expected to attract 100,000 people to the city centre. But for the first time, organisers are insisting that the costs of crowd control and additional policing, which have grown with the event, demand that individuals or non-commercial groups on the event's march through the city must pay. The decision has angered many in the lesbian and gay community. Gordon Pleasant, one of the organisers of Manchester's first Mardi Gras parades in the early 1990s, said he was particularly appalled at the idea of those with HIV and Aids being asked to pay. "I always believed that you could not put a price on certain things, like human dignity and pride," he said. "Charge the commercial companies who want to take part in the parade and advertise themselves, by all means - but not the individuals who want to walk in the parade." Manchester Pride, which organises the three-day weekend festival and has raised more than £400,000 for charities in Greater Manchester over the past three years, insisted the flat charge of £50 plus VAT was justifiable. "I would love to throw the biggest and best event in the world, but you are acutely aware that every pound you are spending is a pound less going to charities," said the event's chairman, Andrew Stokes. "These things always have a cost attached and there are all sorts of health and safety costs. And, while it is not directly attributed to this, we don't currently have a parade sponsor. " Businesses will be made to pay far more to join the march - a total of £1,250, for which they can be seen to demonstrate their commitment to equal opportunities for lesbian and gay employees and customers. But the £50 charge, which comes on top of the £15 entry fee to the gated site on Canal Street, where the main three-day festival known as the Big Weekend takes place, is out of keeping with the "village", according to many who have attended from the start.
"Those early years were great, it was a real charity event with everyone having a great sense of community," one festival regular said. "Now it's too big and commercial. The biggest amount of money made is by the businesses and not the charities, which is after all what it's all about. It should be about gay pride and not about money." Canal Street's struggle to retain the essence of its lesbian and gay culture is a familiar one. The popularity of hen parties, an indirect result of the street's promotion by the TV drama Queer as Folk, was seen to be damaging the atmosphere for which it was once known. Four years ago the event, then known as Mardi Gras, was temporarily abandoned amid claims that the police were being homophobic by limiting an alcohol tolerance zone in the city centre to Canal Street rather than a wider area. A compromise was reached. To mark the enactment of the Civil Partnership Act, this year's Manchester Pride will include an event at which lesbian and gay couples are invited exchange vows at Manchester Register Office on 24 August.
© Independent Digital
OFFICIALS MISTRREAT ST. PETERSBURG'S ONE MILLION MUSLIMS, LEADER SAYS (Russia)
21/7/2006- Dzhamaleddin Makhmutov, the deputy head of St. Petersburg's Al-Fatkh Muslim Organization, said this week that police and other officials in Russia's northern capital now practice "systematic discrimination" against the one million Muslims living there. Makhmutov's comment came during an interview he gave to the Portal-Credo.ru religious news service in which he described the recent harassment against himself as well as the official mistreatment other Muslims there have experienced both individually and collectively. Earlier this month, Makhmutov said, he had received a call from the militia asking him to come in for questioning. When the officer refused to say what the case was about, the Muslim leader took his name and number, saying he would come in when it was convenient for him. Shortly thereafter, three young men appeared at his apartment, presented official identification, and demanded that they be admitted. Makhmutov asked that whether they had the sanction of the procuracy or a court for such admission. They said they did but refused to show it to them. Makhmutov said that he told them that if they did not leave within five minutes, he would call the militia. They left, but the next day he called the officer who had called him before. That militiaman again said Makhmutov should come in but gave no more information. And now Makhmutov has filed a complaint with city prosecutors. The Al-Fatkh leader said that what had happened to him was part of "the systematic discrimination of Muslims" in St. Petersburg. Various police officials harass the community with calls, and in one case at least, these calls caused one elderly Muslim to have a heart attack.
What is especially disturbing, Makhmutov continued, is that the authorities focus their attention on Muslim citizens of the Russian Federation and typically ignore Arab Muslims in the city who often preach a variety of radical Islam that is very much at variance with the traditional Islam practiced in St. Petersburg. Officials don't take any measures against these radicals, Makhmutov said, aadding that he "does not understand why the authorities are not interested in conducting a struggle" against such Islamist radicals, given the stated policy of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. Another way in which the St. Petersburg authorities are discriminating against Muslims, Makhmutov insisted, was in their continuing refusal to allow the Islamic community there to expand the one mosque in the city or to build additional religious centers. For 12 years, he said, Muslims there have sought land for the construction of a new mosque, but they have been kicked "like a football" from one office to another and then told that "there is no land." Given that nearly one-quarter of the population of St. Petersburg is now Muslim, Makhmutov said, the Muslims ought to have more than one mosque, which often cannot hold all those who show up for prayers. Indeed, they should have one-quarter as many mosques as the Orthodox Church has churches. Official attitudes toward the Muslim community there are also reflected in two other situations, Makhmutov argued. On the one hand, city officials have been unwilling to help the local medressah to find a building the Muslims can afford to rent or to subsidize more expensive quarters.
And on the other hand, when the local Muslim community organized a meeting in June on "Islam Against Terrorism," officials of the city "orally" said they would come but did not in the event show up. Thus, it appears to the community that city officials is "not interested in the life of Muslims," except as an object of harassment. The Portal-Credo.ru interviewer then asked him whether all this might be part of the run-up to last weekend's G-8 meeting in St. Petersburg. Saying that he did not know, Makhmutov acknowledged that "it is possible that someone had made such a decision." Now that the G-8 meeting is over, he said, he hopes that St. Petersburg officials will end the discrimination against Muslims that they have practiced up to now. In the meantime, he said, he and his fellow Muslims in Russia's northern capital will "sit quietly" and hope for the best.
© FSU Monitor
NGOS CALL G8 SUMMIT AN OPPORTUNITY LOST(Russia)
19/7/2006- U.S. President George W. Bush met the heads of leading nongovernmental organizations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel singled out NGOs as an issue that worried her. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife offered legal aid. Western leaders took turns at the G8 summit showing support for Russian civil society. Yet NGO leaders expressed skepticism Tuesday that the high-profile gestures of support would convince the Kremlin to ease tough new rules regulating their activities. "I have no hope in the West's ability to reverse the Kremlin-led crackdown on NGOs," said Irina Yasina, deputy head of Open Russia, the philanthropic foundation set up by jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Moreover, given authorities' nervousness about any perceived outside pressure, the outpouring of support might only further harm NGOs, said Yasina, one of 15 NGO leaders who met with Bush in St. Petersburg on the eve of the Group of Eight summit on Friday. On Monday, the last day of the summit, Cherie Blair, a human rights lawyer, met with NGO representatives in St. Petersburg and told them that British lawyers could offer assistance in any appeals to the European Court of Human Rights. "She said the British lawyers might help us if the government denied NGOs accreditation or attempted to block their activities," said Alexander Petrov, deputy director of the Russia office of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, who attended the meeting of 20 people. A contentious NGO law, which went into force in April, requires organizations to re-register with the authorities, imposes onerous regulations and places restrictions on foreign grants. The legislation drew stinging criticism from rights activists at home and abroad for giving officials broad authority to decide which NGOs would be allowed to register and what activities they would be allowed to engage in.
Merkel made a point of telling journalists Monday that she had no intention of lecturing President Vladimir Putin about democratic values but that she was determined to bring up the issue of NGOs in Russia. At a news conference closing the summit, Putin said he had no problem with Bush's NGO meeting and noted that he had met with a group of NGOs in Moscow last week. "The more we work with civil society, the better," he said. A Kremlin spokesman on Tuesday declined to comment about the Western leaders' support of NGOs. The office of national ombudsman Vladimir Lukin also declined to comment. The NGO law was passed amid Kremlin concern about the role that NGOs played in peaceful uprisings that overthrew long-serving governments in Ukraine in 2004 and Georgia in 2003. Duma elections are set for next year, followed by a presidential vote in 2008. The Western leaders who fretted about Russian NGOS and even discussed their concerns with Putin missed a chance to bring about meaningful change, said Tatyana Lokshina, head of rights group Center Demos, who met with Bush. "If the Western leaders were really concerned with the challenges facing Russian NGOs they would have consolidated their support behind them. But this did not happen," she said. She said several NGOs had urged the seven visiting world leaders to sit down with them for a joint meeting, but no meeting had been held. Looking ahead, the main thing Western leaders can do now to assist NGOs is to "explain to Russian authorities that blocking free speech on Russian television is unacceptable," Yasina said. "We should not put too much hope in the West to build a democratic society in Russia, but NGOs can't do anything while the government maintains a monopoly on broadcast media," she said. The main national television channels are controlled by the state or state-owned companies.
Whether the West's support will ease pressure on NGOs depends on two things: how high a priority the Kremlin will place on suppressing independent groups and how far the West is willing to go in confronting the Kremlin over civil liberties, said Oleg Orlov, head of rights group Memorial. "If the Kremlin firmly decides to squash independent groups, the West would not be able to change things," he said. He and Petrov said NGOs would probably only start to feel the full impact of the new law later this year, once international attention shifts away from Russia after the G8 summit. Putin's top aide on human rights, meanwhile, announced Monday in St. Petersburg that the NGO law would soon be amended to take into account the concerns of several NGOs. The aide, Ella Pamfilova, did not name the NGOs but said their concerns would be compiled and presented to Putin. Orlov dismissed the announcement as an attempt to make a good impression on the visiting world leaders. "If they wanted a better law, they would have called on NGOs to participate in drafting it in the first place," he said.
© The Moscow Times
CHERIE (BLAIR) COURTS TROUBLE AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME IT'S WITH THE KREMLIN(Russia)
The Prime Minister's wife is offering free legal aid to the very organisations that President Putin wants to clamp down on - and she has her husband's blessing
18/07/2006 -CHERIE BLAIR risked the wrath of the Kremlin yesterday when she offered a group of its fiercest critics free legal aid from her chambers to challenge a Russian law that restricts the work of NGOs. The Prime Minister’s wife, a QC specialising in human rights, broke away from the final day of the G8 summit in St Petersburg to meet 19 prominent rights activists in a deliberate snub to the Kremlin. Although it was technically a private meeting, Tony Blair made it clear before leaving St Petersburg yesterday that his wife was acting on his behalf. “The purpose of her visit is to show the importance we attach to these issues,” he said. The meeting in itself was enough to infuriate President Putin, who has been anxious to prevent criticism of his democratic record overshadowing the summit in Russia’s debut year as host. But Mrs Blair not only expressed her personal support for the groups — which accuse Mr Putin of trampling on civil rights and silencing the independent media — but she also offered to help them to launch a legal challenge to a law, approved by Mr Putin in January, that imposes draconian restrictions on NGOs in Russia. “She asked whether we intended to challenge the law at the European Court of Human Rights,” Yuri Vdovin, the host of the meeting and deputy head of an NGO called Citizens’ Watch, said. “She mentioned that the chambers where she works could help us if we don’t have the resources,” he said. “I think it’s going to be free . . . she knows she earns more than we do.” Sasha Petrov, the deputy director of the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch, joked: “I don’t think she came here to search for new business.”
The offer was particularly controversial in the light of the “spy rock” scandal in January, when Russia accused four British Embassy employees of illegally funding Russian NGOs. The Kremlin says that the law is needed to prevent foreign governments using NGOs to foment a Ukranian-style Orange Revolution in Russia. It declined to comment on Mrs Blair’s meeting, but Mr Putin expressed irritation last week after the British Ambassador addressed a meeting of opposition and rights activists in Moscow. Mr Putin also embarrassed Mr Blair on Saturday by making a barbed comment about the Lord Levy scandal when asked about British criticism of his democratic credentials. Mr Petrov said that the meeting with Mrs Blair had been arranged in April, when she met the head of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch in London. She began the meeting yesterday by saying that she had informed the other leaders’ wives, including Lyudmila Putin, that she was going to meet some NGOs. “I know the organisations here represent a broad spectrum of the kind of work civil society is doing in Russia — issues in relation to tolerance, to mutual respect and, of course, ensuring that the state fulfils its human rights obligations,” she said. “As a human rights lawyer myself, I am really delighted to be able to come and hear something of your experience and to celebrate the work that you carry out,” she said. “I believe passionately that civil society is very much a part of civilised society.”
Reporters were denied access to the rest of the meeting, and Mrs Blair’s only comments afterwards were that it had been very interesting. But participants said that she had expressed particular interest in the new law, under which NGOs must re-register with a new regulatory body that can shut them if it deems them a threat to national security. Yuri Schmidt, a lawyer who defended Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oil tycoon who is in jail, said that he had told Mrs Blair that Russia was not a democracy. “We have an authoritarian regime here,” he said. “There is no separation of powers. The Kremlin rules the country. The Duma is a rubber-stamp body and there is no real discussion there.” Among the participants were representatives of the most famous human rights groups in Russia, including Memorial and the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers.
© The Times Online
IMPROMPTU PROTESTS BREAK OUT IN PETERSBURG(Russia)
17/07/2006 - Communists, nationalists, anarchists, AIDS activists and anti-globalists held marches, rallies and a rock concert over the weekend in a motley mesh of angry, sometimes violent protests as G8 leaders convened in a nearby palace. Estimates of the number of protesters detained Sunday ranged from the mid-30s to high-40s. Some protesters were held for blocking a road. Others were detained after taking part in impromptu, unsanctioned protests that attracted no more than 50 demonstrators in their 20s and 30s. People who appeared to be police informers filtered through crowds of young demonstrators asking seemingly innocuous questions about protest times and locations and then relaying that information to the police. There was widespread speculation among protesters that their mobile phones had been tapped. Several protests were preempted by the police.
On Saturday, one- to two-dozen protesters were beaten and arrested by police. Others were briefly detained. Demonstrators came from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk, Omsk, Perm, Krasnodar and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and from Western Europe. Their targets encompassed nearly everyone and everything: capitalists, fascists, President Vladimir Putin, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, the politics of global energy markets and the Group of Eight, which Russia presides over this year, to name a few. The Communists' sanctioned protest appeared to draw the most pyrotechnics. After meeting in front of the Oktyabrsky concert hall Saturday, left-wing radicals and pensioners set out on a 20-minute walk to the site of a planned rally. They were joined by members of the Red Youth Avant-Garde, the Communist Youth Union, the National Bolshevik Party, the Rodina party's Left Front, the United Civil Front and Oborona, a youth movement inspired by revolutionary groups in Ukraine and Belarus. Student activists from former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov's People's Democratic Union also took part. "We're not happy that the seven richest countries rule the fate of billions of other people in the world, and that they rule in their own favor," Communist organizer Vladimir Fyodorov said.
Sounding two-parts Marxist and one-part nationalist, Sergei Stroyev, a middle-aged Communist Party member, added: "Capital presides over national sovereignty. Financial structures are attempting to establish control over our natural resources. Right now, roles are being assigned to players in the global market, and Russia is being given a purely raw-exports role. We oppose that." Other demonstrators, sounding a refrain that has resonated with millions of Russians since the 1991 Soviet collapse, took issue with the tiny pensions the elderly must live on, rising housing costs and the injustice of a government, they say, that has forgotten the country's most helpless. "It's hard living on your pension," said Alexander Vinogradov, 58, of the Russian Communist Worker's Party. "Most pensioners keep working after they retire. At 7 a.m. in the metro, most people going to work are middle-aged and elderly, but in the evenings, the cafes and restaurants are chock-full of young people." Yury Glushakov from Belarus said his protest group, Razom, had come to protest Russia's support for Lukashenko. He added that he took part in protests against Lukashenko in central Minsk after Belarus' parliamentary elections in March, which Western governments said had been rigged.
Others voiced support for Lukashenko. One woman, Valentina Syskina, 60, said she respected the Belarussian leader. Oddly, she also wailed against the hypocrisy, as she saw it, of Russia belonging to the G8. "I don't know who's lying to whom," Syskina said. "Doesn't Europe know what the situation is like in Russia?" Communist organizers had warned marchers to stay on the sidewalks and not to fly their flags. But the crowd of 300 to 400 marchers paid no heed to the admonitions, spilling onto Ligovsky Prospekt and waving dozens of mostly red flags. Their march was repeatedly interrupted by OMON riot police. At least eight police buses were brought in to escort the march down the street. Each time police stopped the crowd, protesters chanted "Revolution!" "Freedom!" "Russia without Putin!" or "Away with the fascists!" At one block, protesters tried to break through a police chain, sparking a brief skirmish. At the intersection with Nevsky Prospekt, the city's main artery, a larger scuffle broke out. Several women let out shrieks as the riot police descended on the crowd, several Red Youth Avant-Garde and National Bolshevik Party flags were toppled and several marchers were hauled off to the police buses. Anastasia Udaltsova, wife of Red Youth Avant-Garde leader Sergei Udaltsov, recalled that 10 members of the left-wing group were detained. As her husband was crossing Nevsky Prospekt, she said, a man ran up and began choking him, prompting other Red Youth members to help Udaltsov. A fight broke out, and the protesters were taken away by police. Udaltsova said she believed the scuffle involving her husband had been provoked by an undercover police officer. She added that she had seen police officers circulating pictures of her husband with instructions to detain him.
When the marchers finally reached their rally at a park, they were met by State Duma Deputies Oleg Smolin and Viktor Tyulkin. Soviet war songs blared through loudspeakers. Later, a few rock bands performed. Activists from Left Front and Oborona were detained as they exited the rally. Witnesses said they were attacked by men in civilian dress who beat them and then drove them away in cars with official police license plates. Police spokesman Pavel Klimovsky said Sunday that 29 people had been held at the march and charged with obstructing traffic and resisting police. Klimovsky said five had been released and five had been officially arrested. The others' fate, he said, had yet to be decided in court. A sanctioned protest organized by the Russian Social Forum, an anti-globalization group, was relatively calm. The protest took place in a stadium far from the city center -- and inside a large cage, where authorities could presumably keep a close eye on the situation.
Organizer Corinne Clement, the director of the Moscow-based Institute for Collective Action, said there had been fears of violence breaking out between protesters and police but that such problems had been avoided. Vladimir Soloveichik, another organizer, suggested the United States should put more pressure on Russia, The Associated Press reported. "I don't want to give advice to the American government, but in my view people can't be free if they support a dictatorial regime in another county," he said. Families and young people nearby seemed oblivious to the stadium demonstration as they strolled along boulevards, rollerbladed and listened to a brass band playing "La Cucaracha." Clement said that despite being forced to meet outside the center, organizers still managed to garner some press attention. "We can still show that we're trapped, that Russia is a prison," Clement said, referring to the metal pen demonstrators had been squeezed into. "And we can demand the release of the prisoners."
© The Moscow Times
RUSSIA STREAMLINES IMMIGRATION LAW(interview)
15/7/2006- A new immigration law will grant migrants legal status
The RF State Duma passed in the second reading a raft of bills designed, among other things, to streamline registration procedure for foreign nationals and stateless persons. To this end, in particular, amendments were suggested for the Federal Law on the Legal Status of Foreign Nationals in the RF. Opponents of these innovations are warning against an influx of migrants from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a union of former Soviet republics, who will crowd Russians out of the labor market. Furthermore, they are convinced that criminal elements will come flooding to Russia. This view is categorically rejected by human rights organizations that, unexpectedly for many people, threw their support behind the new law. Their position is spelled out by Svetlana Alekseyevna Gannushkina, chairman of the Civil Action Committee and member of the Council for Promotion of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights under the auspices of the Office of the RF President.
Svetlana Alekseyevna, the old Law on the Legal Status of Foreign Nationals was only adopted four years ago. Was it so bad that "revolutionary" amendments became necessary?
That law was absolutely unenforceable, as I told President Putin in the Kremlin. He replied to the effect that a law was like a car: It had to be driven about for a while and then if something was not quite right, it could be fixed. Well, it turned out that it was impossible to drive that car since it was unable to move in the first place. But we've got to move ahead no matter what. We warned six years ago that the pending law would only breed corruption. And now MPs are saying the same thing. The old law benefited unscrupulous employers who, for example, hired construction workers who could be paid peanuts or nothing at all. We know about many cases when employers, reluctant to pay their workers, told police that there was a group of illegal aliens living on their premises.
Will the amendments correct the present situation?
The new law can rectify the situation. It enables a person to live in Russia without having to give bribes: A person entering the country will only need to apply for a temporary residence permit. This applies to foreign nationals coming from the CIS with or without a visa.
Does the new law also extend to our compatriots abroad - i.e., those targeted in Russia's repatriation program?
It does. They will be able to apply for temporary residence permit; their registration will be prolonged until they acquire this permit. Earlier, a person wishing to legalize his status in Russia had to collect a raft of documents, including medical certificates and personal income statements. While he was getting one, another would expire, as would the term of his legal presence in the country. Now there is no need to submit all of the documents at once: For a start, it is enough to present an ID, application, migration card, and tax certificate. Then medical certificates are collected. The Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) may be acquired in a year. Incidentally, we are drawing the bill's authors' attention to the need also to amend the Tax Code. Under the provisions of the present Tax Code, persons who do not have permanent registration may not acquire the ITIN. Unfortunately, the law does not say how a person past working age can acquire the ITIN. It should take into account pensioners and housewives, who are supported by their husbands.
Next, the new law eliminates some conflicting procedures. E.g., a migrant applying for a residence permit was to present information about the amount of money on his bank account: In some parts of the country he was supposed to have enough money to last him for a month; in other regions, for six months, and in Moscow, for three years. As of now, there will not be quotas for employment of migrants from CIS countries (except for Turkmenistan and Georgia): An employer only needs to notify the relevant authorities about this.
Here is yet another important problem. In 2002, there were several million compatriots in Russia who did not have Russian citizenship. Following the adoption of the Law on the Legal Status of Foreign Nationals, these people, some of whom had lived for up to 10 years in the country, suddenly became illegal aliens. What is to be done? Our committee believes that provisions should be made in the law introducing a special ID document for stateless persons temporarily residing in Russia. For example, a family entered Russia a long time ago and has since lost their U.S.S.R. passports. What are they? Stateless persons. They have no legal IDs. Or maybe the adult members of a family acquired Russian citizenship before 2002, but the police officials did not explain to them that they should have included their children into their citizenship application form. So when that child comes of age and applies for an internal passport, he will discover that he never had acquired Russian citizenship. So he ends up without a passport.
How many such cases have there been?
A lot. I can cite a Russian boy from Turkmenistan: We have been working on his case for over a year now. It will now be taken up on the governmental level. I have already met with Viktor Ivanov, a presidential deputy chief of staff, on the issue. The boy came to Russia 10 years ago and finished school. But then he was ordered by court to return to the place of his permanent residence - Turkmenistan. Everyone understands that this defies common sense. IDs for stateless persons are necessary to prevent the recurrence of such situations.
Migration is an acute problem throughout the world. What is the most optimal way of tackling it?
The migration problem will never be solved completely. Yet it also depends on how energetically we will address it. Assimilation is not compulsory. But integration is not necessarily assimilation. For instance, in New York, ethnic minorities are integrated but not assimilated. I, for one, do not like this very much. I would prefer a melting pot situation.
But is this a viable option for Russia? There is a feeling that this pot would be prone to an explosion.
It is explosive but we tend to blow the problem out of proportion. I took part in a radio show and a young man phoned in and asked in horror: "What is to be done? We have Talibs lurking around in the bush." It turned out that he went to a park and saw Tajik children there. Tajik children usually speak Russian. If they do not, the school and kindergarten are to blame or these children were likely not admitted to either. One family I know went to Germany. Amazingly, they had no problem placing their child in a kindergarten there, free of charge. Germans have quotas for "special" children - foreigners who don't speak the language or mentally handicapped children, etc. But in Russia, in the wake of a bomb attack, one school teacher brought a girl in front of the class and said: "I want everyone to know that Madina is Chechen."
Russia and the EU have just signed a readmission agreement.
If it goes into effect, this country will find itself in a very difficult situation, like Poland now. All asylum seekers in the West who got there via Russia will be returned without consideration for their applications. Given that the Russian Federation grants asylum almost to no one, they will once again end up as illegal aliens here. Some of them will be subject to extradition to their home countries, as is now happening with a group of Uzbeks whose extradition is being demanded by Tashkent for subsequent prosecution and execution. It is also important to bear in mind that Russia still does not have a fortified border with Kazakhstan: It is extremely difficult to stop the flow of illegal migrants from the east.
© The Moscow News
EU SEEKS RAPID REACTION TEAMS TO DEAL WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
20/7/2006- The European Commission has unveiled plans for rapid reaction teams of border guards to police Europe's frontiers, as Spain and Malta haggled over who should deal with a fresh wave of illegal immigrants. Under the plan, the teams could be called in by an EU member state needing temporary assistance for such things as identifying people, managing risks, medical help and interpretation. EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said the experts would be drawn from national border guard services and seconded to a member state in need of more help by the newly created EU border agency. Frattini said he wanted to see a permanent team of 250-300 specially trained officers, who could be dispatched from their home member states within 10 working days of receiving a request for help. "We need a reinforced and more efficient fight against illegal immigration, fundamental for the credibility and coherence of our immigration and asylum policies," Frattini said. "By being tough on illegal immigration we prevent immigrants from being exploited and we remove the key pull factor for illegal immigration."
Improving EU coordination
The plan is part of a wider package of proposals aimed at improving coordination between EU members, which also focuses in particular on a code for short-stay visas for third-country nationals. If the proposals are approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, they would make it much easier to carry out operations similar to a technical assistance mission slowly getting off the ground in the Canary Islands. The Spanish islands off the northwestern coast of Africa are facing waves of clandestine immigrants with more than 10,000 estimated to have arrived by sea since the beginning of the year. The EU borders agency is running a mission to help the Canaries with identifying immigrants and repatriating them as well as monitoring the Senegalese and Mauritanian coasts.
Help for Malta
Malta could also soon receive EU help in the form of Italian and Greek patrols for East African immigrants trying to reach the tiny Mediterranean island from Libya. However, some member states hold reservations towards the mission as long as Libya does not give permission to patrol in its waters, Frattini said. The difficulty of coordinating the struggle against clandestine immigration has been highlighted recently by the plight of 51 Eritreans who were picked up by a Spanish trawler off Malta but whom Valetta refuses to accept. After they remained five days adrift on the trawler, Madrid pledged Wednesday to take in some of them but insists that from a legal point of view it should be up to Libya and then Malta to handle them. The diplomatic standoff signals a tough new policy by Malta, the EU's smallest member state, which claims it already has more than its share of clandestine immigrants -- more than 2,000 -- seeking to reach Europe from Africa.
© Deutsche Welle
OUTRAGE AT RACIST RINGTONE IN SOUTH AFRICA
18/7/2006- A racist mobile phone ringtone has been condemned by South Africa authorities in the city of Cape Town. The lyrics are in Afrikaans and advocate violence against black people in derogatory terms. Lionel Louw, chief of staff in the office of the premier of the Western Cape, said the originator of the ringtone could face prosecution. But it may be difficult to trace the culprit as the file has been distributed via wireless technology. According to a computer engineer, such technology makes it possible for any computer user to record any type of ringtone. If the file is distributed via Bluetooth it is very hard to trace especially if the user clears the activity logs. The lyrics of the song, according to a local newspaper, refer to a black person as a "kaffir" - an outlawed and derogatory term in South Africa. It describes how such a person should be tied to the back of a pickup truck and dragged around while driving. The chorus has a blatantly racist tone and ends with a call to set dogs on the black person. Some people, amused at the lyrics, have passed it on via wireless technology. But it has outraged a growing number of South Africans, including human rights activists, since its existence has become public knowledge. Dr Lionel Louw, chief of staff for the Office of the Premier in the Western Cape and representative of the Moral Regeneration Movement, said: "The Office of the Premier roundly condemns this ringtone that is circulating. "The form of behaviour reflected in the ringtone is criminal and its perpetrators will feel the full might of the law." "It is a minority who participate in promoting this, and such views are not the reflection of the majority." Given South Africa's painful past of racial conflict and discrimination, the existence of such offensive lyrics should be a cause for concern.
© BBC News
CITY'S WHITES 'TOO RACIST' TO TRY ABORIGINE(Australia)
19/07/2006 - The inhabitants of a tropical Australian city are furious after a judge ruled that they were too racist to give an Aboriginal offender a fair trial. Relations between the Queensland city's whites and its minority Aboriginal population have been strained in the past. But the town has reacted with outrage to a decision by Tony Skoien, the acting chief judge of Townsville's district court, to move a trial to the state capital, Brisbane, on the grounds that it would be impossible to find a jury that was not prejudiced towards Aborigines. The furore revolves around the case of Patrick Lex Wotton, 38, an Aborigine who is accused of leading a riot in late 2004 on Palm Island, a run-down indigenous settlement near Townsville. Judge Skoien handed down the ruling after being presented with a survey commissioned by Wotton's defence lawyers. This showed that only five per cent of those polled had a positive view of Palm Island's Aborigines and found ingrained racism among many of Townsville's people.
© The Telegraph
TO HEIL WITH MUSLIMS - WHITE SUPREMACISTS ARE COURTING AN UNLIKELY ALLY: THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY(Canada)
18/07/2006 - Ontario MPP Kathleen Wynne's invitation to speak at the conference "Christians-Muslims Relationships in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective" came from a constituent she knew well. The event, hosted by the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, sounded promising. "I'm very interested in interfaith dialogue, between Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jews, all of us," says Wynne. She agreed to participate. Official invitations were sent out, with Wynne's name as well as that of keynote speaker William Baker. Then Wynne got a call tipping her off about Baker. He had written the anti-Israel book Theft of a Nation, and once chaired the U.S. Populist Party, which nominated former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke as its candidate in the 1988 presidential race. An occasional lecturer at the Crystal Cathedral -- the California mega-church from which televangelist Robert Schuller broadcasts the Hour of Power -- Baker resigned in 2002 after his neo-Nazi ties were publicized.
Wynne acted quickly. She refused to share the stage with Baker. He was dropped from the conference, to be held on July 16. Another Toronto event at which Baker was to speak this month -- the 18th Annual Islamic Dawah Conference -- appeared to follow suit. But why was a man with suspected neo-Nazi ties booked to speak at two Muslim conferences in the first place? The events were par for the course for Baker, who founded the group Christians And Muslims for Peace (CAMP), and has been touring American campuses, meeting with Muslim student groups. According to CAMP's website, topics include "the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Kashmir, and U.S. Foreign Policy and Islam." Baker isn't the lone example of the radical right attempting community outreach among Muslims. In fact, experts point to a developing alliance between Muslim extremists and neo-Nazis, and the far right isn't denying it. "U.S. Nazis don't consider Islamic people the enemy," says August Kreis, head of Aryan Nations, a neo-Nazi group based in Lexington, S.C. "We want them to join us." It's a bizarre coalition, and underlying the newfound rapport is the adage, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Both count as their chief antagonists the Jewish people, the state of Israel, and the U.S. government.
In Toronto, Tarek Fatah, communications director for the Muslim Canadian Congress, was first to sound the alarm about Baker within his community. Fatah had heard Baker speak at a U.S. mosque and was "appalled." "It was the whole notion that there's a conspiracy against Muslims, and Muslims should face up," he says. He counts Baker among the pretenders who "act as though they're friends of the Muslim community, but come from the Christian right and use the community to propagate their own point of view." But Tanweer Zaman, secretary and treasurer of the Forum for Social Studies -- the host of the Islamic Dawah conference -- says Baker, who recently visited Sudan, simply wanted to share his experiences. Zaman says the speech was titled "Can Christians and Muslims live together?" In his defence, Baker, now 66, has said he quit the Populist Party due to the infiltration of racists. He says he had no knowledge of the 1984 platform, which included a call to repeal the section of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits segregation in public places. But the party was started by Willis Carto, the dean of U.S. anti-Semitism and founder of the Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review. And the platform was introduced at a convention Baker chaired.
In any case, George Michael, a professor with the University of Virginia's College at Wise who studies the convergence of militant Islam and the extreme right, sees greater cause for alarm elsewhere. Revisionist history has found an outlet in parts of the Middle East -- as have Klan proselytizers like Duke, who in 2002 presented a lecture in Bahrain on "Israeli Involvement in September 11." President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has called the Holocaust "a myth." So has Muhammad Mehdi Akef, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. In March, Syrian President Bashar Assad told PBS, "If you ask many people in the region, they would say the West exaggerated the Holocaust." Still, rhetoric aside, there's little to indicate any real operational alliances, says Mark Potok, intelligence director for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, a watchdog that monitors organized hate. "When all is said and done, for American neo-Nazis, Muslims are, quote, 'mud people.' It's hard to get beyond that." At the end of the day, the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy. "Last night," says Kreis, "I spent two hours talking to a Palestinian, out of Canada, and yes, I'd invite him into my home." He pauses, then adds: "As long as he doesn't try to marry my daughter."
© Macleans
'HEROIC' HATE FIGHTER BRINGS THE BATTLE WEST(Canada)
16/7/2006- At Queen's University, Richard Warman was happiest on a theatre stage. The Ottawa lawyer now spends much of his free time and his own money as an anti-hate crusader, on the warpath against neo-Nazis and hate messages on the Internet. Warman, in town to testify at a human rights tribunal into the alleged online hate activities of a Tofield-area man, celebrated a landmark victory Thursday after a complaint he filed led to the jailing of a white supremacist. The Federal Court incarcerated Tomasz Winnicki, of London, Ont., for nine months for violating a court order to stop spreading hate messages against Jews, blacks and immigrants on the Internet. It's all in a day's work for Warman, who has filed more than 15 human rights complaints since being called to the bar in 2001. Before his most recent victory, he counted four wins and settled two other cases through mediation. Several decisions are pending. Warman takes his inspiration from human rights commission lawyer Eddie Taylor, who argued the case against the Heritage Front -- a group of neo-Nazis then active in Toronto -- in the 1990s. Warman went to the hearings and watched Taylor in action. "One of the things he wanted to do to neo-Nazis was make it so expensive and painful for them that they would never want to come back in a professional context," Warman said. And so, his human rights crusade against hatred began.
"The impact of his work is quite incredible," said Bernie M. Farber, the CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress who has worked with Warman for years on hate-crime complaints. "He's a hero. He's an individual who single-handedly takes on hate mongers and curbs the discourse of hate mongers on the Internet." Warman spends five to 10 hours a week of his own time investigating hate crimes while holding down a day job in Ottawa. He was once a Canadian Human Rights Commission investigator, and has spent weeks in Alberta over the past several months on complaints he filed against Edmonton-based Western Canada for Us, and its alleged co-founders, Glenn Bahr and Peter Kouba. Warman targeted the group over the rapid growth of its neo-Nazi, white supremacist postings on the Web. Warman files complaints because those found guilty under Canadian human rights legislation are subject to permanent cease-and-desist orders and fines. "By knocking them off the Internet permanently, you've put a major restriction on their ability to communicate and organize," Warman said. His efforts to quash those hate speech elements, while not well-known, are appreciated by local minority groups. "We always take comfort when the general population within a community takes a stand against racism and hateful speech," said Shaukat Moloo of the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities. "We are comforted when someone stands up and challenges them ... by using the due process of law." His efforts, however, do not always draw such positive energy.
He is not Jewish, nor a member of a minority targeted by the groups he goes after. "I'm as WASP as it gets," Warman said. But he has been the subject of numerous death threats and must take precautions for his own personal safety. He does not talk about his current day job, where he lives, or his family. He is, however, more willing to talk about his past. He visited South Africa in 1995 and in 1998, as official apartheid rule ended. Seeing South African life shaped his views on racism against blacks and its lasting effects. His legal work is a far cry from his formative years spent as an actor working on a theatre degree from Queen's. The drama in his life is now fueled by his unrelenting determination to fight hate speech in Canada. "It's still theatre, just in a different playhouse, if you will," Warman said.
© Edmonton Journal
POLICE ACCUSED OF TORTURE, CANNOT BE PROSECUTED(usa)
19/07/2006 - A group of Chicago police officers systematically tortured suspects in the '70s and '80s, but the alleged crimes are too old to prosecute, according to a special prosecutor's report released today. Concluding a four-year investigation, prosecutors say Cmdr. John Burge and four officers under his authority used violence to get confessions from African-American suspects. The report says the officers, who are white, electrocuted suspects, beat them, played mock Russian roulette, and in at least one case, suffocated a suspect with a plastic typewriter cover. Prosecutors say they investigated more than 100 complaints against Burge and his officers. Three of those cases warranted criminal charges. "There are cases, which we believe would justify our seeking indictments for mistreatment of prisoners by Chicago police officers," prosecutor Robert Boyle said. The statute of limitations on those alleged crimes, however, has since run out. "We have considered every possible legal theory that would permit us to avoid the effect of the statute of limitations on any prosecution," prosecutors said, but, "regrettably, we have concluded that the statute of limitations would bar any prosecution of any offenses our investigation disclosed." Burge was fired in 1993 for the torture of Andrew Wilson. Wilson, who was convicted of murdering two police officers in 1982, said that Burge and two other detectives had electrocuted and beat him. Burge was never charged with any crime. He is currently living in Florida and collecting a full police pension. His lawyer says Burge is innocent. Burge's alleged activities changed the way Illinois punishes its most serious crimes.
After evidence showed that police had tortured death-row inmates into making false confessions, former Gov. George Ryan suspended capital punishment in Illinois and cleared death row. The prosecutor's report criticized then-police Superintendent Richard Brzecek, calling his response to the torture allegations a "dereliction of duty." Brzecek had called for an investigation into the allegations, and today said that he was being used as a scapegoat to protect Mayor Richard Daley, who had run the local prosecutor's office at the time some of the allegations had taken place. "They can blame me all they want," Brzecek said today. "I know what I did." Today's report cleared Daley. Prosecutors say Daley's only mistake may have been that he assigned the investigation to others in his office and that he should have looked into it himself. The transcript of Daley's interview was not included in the 1,600 pages of documents released today. Some of the alleged victims called this case a slap in the face to every African-American in Chicago. "I've been through hell, and it's been painful for me every day of my life," said Anthony Porter who was on death row, just days away from a lethal injection when his execution was stayed. Lawyers are now calling for a federal investigation. "We are not going to rest until people go to jail," lawyer Flint Taylor said. Several of the alleged victims have filed civil suits. This case has also gained the attention of an anti-torture panel at the United Nations. In May, that panel said the investigation needed to go further, and that the United States should insure punishment for law enforcement officials who mistreated suspects. Chicago police have since adopted new guidelines for questioning suspects, including videotaping all police interrogations
© ABC News
Headlines 14 July, 2006
NEARLY WEDS; COUNTRY'S FIRST SAME-SEX UNIONS(Czech Republic)
12/07/2006 - A halo of flashes from news cameras hovered over the couple standing in the middle of a ceremony at the town hall one recent morning, the din of clicking shutters nearly drowning out their voices when they finally said "I do." A clink of champagne glasses, then applause and endless congratulations. The couple looked relieved it was over. As they left the building, the reporters trailed close behind, eager to snatch one more quick comment, one final picture. This wasn't some celebrity wedding, though it seemed like one. At 9:30 a.m. July 1, Pavel Sýkora, 39, and Miloslav Sejkora, 53, became one of the first three gay couples in the country to enter into a registered partnership, gaining instant fame for a few minutes.
They were unprepared for all the media interest. "I'm not any sort of activist," Sýkora said when it was all over. "We weren't looking to attract so much attention. We just wanted to make it official." For gay and lesbian couples across the country, the day of Sejkora and Sýkora's ceremony was historic. The Czech Republic passed a law in March establishing registered partnerships that went into effect July 1, making the country the first in the former Eastern bloc to put its registered partnership law into practice.
No longer a taboo
Same-sex couples who become registered as partners now have some of the same rights as married couples, including the right to an inheritance, the right to receive information about each other's health and the option not to testify against each other in court. But gays and lesbians still cannot adopt children. Although many same-sex couples choose to register as partners in a ceremony that resembles a wedding, such events are not necessary. Entering a registered partnership can be as simple as signing a contract in front of a town hall registrar. Martin Strachoò, spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian League, said it will take a while before same-sex couples here have the same rights as married, heterosexual couples. "The timing has to be right," he says. "It takes a while for a society to be ripe for such changes." Strachoò said Czechs have come a long way in terms of tolerating gays and lesbians since the 1989 revolution. "Under communism, homosexuality was a taboo," he said. "Now people here seem to be pretty accepting."
Other post-communist countries are also on the way to giving gay couples more rights. In Slovenia, for instance, a law on registered partnership will come into effect July 23. As of 1996, Hungary has allowed same-sex couples who live together to obtain some of the same rights that heterosexual couples enjoy, regardless of whether they are registered. The majority of the original 15 European Union countries allow some form of registered partnership or marriage for same-sex couples. Holland leads the way, having given a number of rights to same-sex couples living together as unregistered partners in 1979. Registered partnership was established in 1998, and marriage for same-sex couples, including the right to adopt children, in 2001. The only other countries in which same-sex partners can marry are Canada, South Africa and Spain. Same-sex marriage is also legal in several U.S. states, namely Vermont and Massachusetts.
As elsewhere, years of political struggle in the Czech Republic preceded establishing registered partnership. The law approved in the spring took 11 years to come to fruition. The country remains divided on its support of same-sex unions. But according to some surveys, more than 60 percent of Czechs are in favor of allowing registered partnership. Conservative Civic Democrats (ODS) and Christian Democrats (KDU-ÈSL) were consistently against passing the registered partnership law. "It's not a tragedy that this law was passed, and we have nothing against homosexuals," said KDU-ÈSL spokesman Ondøej Jakob. "We just think this law is unnecessary." Czech bishops' conference spokesman Martin Horálek is more critical. "The law is a mistake," he said. "It devalues the institution of marriage. The traditional family in our society is under threat." Some say it's too late to save the traditional family in a country with a 40 percent divorce rate, where one-third of all children are born out of wedlock. "This is reversed logic," said Horálek. "It's because the traditional family is being eroded that we need to protect it."
An emotional ceremony
Same-sex couples can now register at 14 different town halls across the country. So far, town hall registrars are saying that not too many couples have rushed to do the ceremony. They seem to be waiting until the dust settles. The Kladno town hall, where Sejkora and Sýkora had their ceremony, was an exception. Jaroslava Vròáková, the town hall's registrar, says about 17 ceremonies for same-sex couples are scheduled through the end of the summer. "Everyone from Central Bohemia comes here, so that's probably why we have so many," said Vròáková. Most of the 17 couples, she said, have been waiting for the chance to register as partners for a very long time. "One couple has been together for 10 years," she says. "They're certainly not having second thoughts." Vròáková said she was surprised by the amount of media interest that Sejkora and Sýkora's ceremony generated. "The older gentleman [Sejkora] was especially upset," she recalled. "I had to offer him a shot of slivovice before the ceremony. I thought he was going to pass out when he saw so many people."
He didn't. But Sejkora's nerves were evidently shaken. After the ceremony, he stood in the sun outside the building, nervously smoking cigarettes, surrounded by well-wishers. "It's terrible. It's terrible," he kept repeating. "What's terrible?" his friends would ask. He just gestured back to the town hall. "Back there. All that media." But the situation wasn't too different for the couple who registered in Ostrava on the same day half an hour before Sejkora and Sýkora. The first few weddings inevitably generated the most interest. Vròáková said a registered partnership ceremony that happened several days later was much calmer than the July 1 ceremony. Sýkora, for his part, appeared to take the situation in stride. He said that although he hadn't sought all this attention, he's happy to be able to be so open about his relationship with his partner. "The biggest challenge by far for many gay people continues to be admitting their sexual orientations to themselves," he said. "It took me 32 years."
© The Prague Post Online
IN THE CENTRE OF CHISINAU THE FASCISM REVIVES(Moldova, editorial)
12/7/2006- The newspaper "Timpul" is well known for its ultra-right views. It openly promotes the idea of recreation of Great Romania in the pre-war boundaries. It supports any political forces, which serve this idea. The Alliance "Moldova noastra", for example. Lately, "Timpul" increasingly frequently is orienting towards the social democrats of Edic Musuc. And this is quite strange. Previously, SDPM [social democrats] wasn't noted in the unionism. The broken-out scandal is the especially unfavourable to this party, because the social-democrats from all over the world are united in their attitude towards the World War II and its results. The social-democrats everywhere are convinced antifascists. The affair with the publication "Timpul" may have a serious impact on Musuc and its party. However, these are their problems - of Musuc and SDPM. The discussion now deals with other issue.
On 23rd of June the newspaper "Timpul" published an article dedicated to the 65th anniversary from the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Under a very characteristic title: "65 years ago the sky was Romanian". At its basis - recollection of Romanian pilots, who bombed Basarabian cities on 22nd of June 1941. They were bearing death and destruction, but in the article they appear different from whom they really were - aggressors and occupiers, but heroes-liberators.
Up to 1944 Romania entered into fascist Hitlerist coalition. Bucharest was ruled by Nazi-dictator, war criminal marshal Antonescu. One may consider himself as much as desired a "good Rumanian", but to associate oneself with THAT Romania - that is a moral perversion.
During the Romanian administration of 1941-44 in Basarabia and Transnistria, the Jews alone were destroyed more than 300 thousands. Terrible evidences about the outrages of Rumanian soldiers and officers are preserved. Here is one of the rather widespread "entertainments". After catching a child "not of the right" nationality - Jew or Gipsy, they could through him up him in air and with the pleasure shoot the living target. Even Hitler gave as example to his troops the army under the leadership of Antonescu. The mass shootings of Jews in Dubosari, shook the world not less than Babi Yar. And the Chisinau ghetto differed little less from the Warsaw one. The German people repented in front of entire world for Hitler's crimes. The German government, regardless of political colour, does everything so that the neo-Nazism would not raise its head. In the FRG any manifestations of sympathies to the fascist period, to Hitler are severely suppressed by the state. Neo-Nazi organizations and their publications are cast out of the framework of lawfulness. They are out of the law. If in the speech of an official at least a slender hint slips to the idea about the racial superiority, to the intolerance towards the migrants, then that official would be deprived of his position at once.
It is interesting that Rumania - even if with difficulty, albeit very late - also condemned the Antonescu regime and Holocaust, recognizing its participation in it. This means that the Romanian nation already began to get rid of the complexes. This is a long, painful, difficult process. But it already began! It's true - only on the other side of Prut. The journalists of the newspaper "Timpul", who are associating themselves with the Romanian nation, until now are ready to justify the military crimes, Nazism, xenophobia. Approximately likewise the poet Nicolae Dabija behaved, who in his articles - already in the 21st century! - supplemented and developed Hitler's racial theory, by condemning the mixed marriages.
Revanchism - does not pertain to the European values
As it seems, Romania striving into Europe must condemn itself such kind of publications. Or, at least, shall not stimulate their appearance. The truth is that the cycle of scandalous programs, of similar content to the publication in "Timpul", shown on the municipal public channel "Euro-TV-Chisinau", was produced and freely rendered by Romanian colleagues.
From the editorial staff
Probability, the reaction of foreign embassies won't be late. And, if this shall occur, the answer is known beforehand. In the free civilized world it is not acceptable to justify the fascism and military crimes even by "high" national ideals, which the newspaper "Timpul" and its political patrons are moved by.
Sergey NIKITIN, Puls
© Puls
RUSSIA’S HEALTH MINISTRY LIFTS GAY BLOOD BAN
19/07/2006 - Gay Russians are to be allowed to donate blood, the country’s Ministry of Health has stated. The department reacted to campaigning from GayRussia activists Nikolai Alexeyev and Nikolai Bayev, PinkNews.co.uk reports. Nikolai Alexeyev said: “The General Prosecutor recognized that there is nothing in the law which prevents gays to donate their blood. As a result, his office has asked the Ministry of Heath to cancel its instruction made in 2001 which forbid gays to give their blood.” Gay people were initially forbidden from being donors and were viewed as high-risk groups along with drug addicts and prostitutes. “The Health Ministry has informed us that this instruction will be shortly amended and gays will not be forbidden anymore to give their blood,” Nikolai Bayev has said. “A symbolical discrimination will end. This is probably the first positive news for gays from Russian justice since 1993 with the decriminalization of male homosexuality.” However, the group refused to attribute the decision to the central government, still reeling over their lack of support during last May’s Moscow Gay Pride march. The announcement follows similar plans in France and Australia as well as protests in America and the U.K.
© MosNews
AUTHORITIES EXPECT NO HATE CRIMES WILL TAINT G8(Russia)
13/07/2006 - St. Petersburg, which has witnessed many attacks on African, Central Asian and other dark-skinned people in recent years, will be safe for everyone during the G8 summit, police said. Thousands of officers, including reinforcements from the regions, will patrol the city through Monday. Police will also patrol dormitories where foreign students live and check documents more frequently, representatives of the African community said. Authorities' assurances have prompted at least one advocate for dark-skinned people to question what officials have been doing for the past several months, as skinheads have ramped up the violence.
"The authorities can provide protection when they want to," said Gabriel Kotchofa, president of the Foreign Students Association in Russia. "That's the main conclusion to be made." Pavel Klimovsky, an Interior Ministry spokesman, noted that the stepped up police presence cost more money. While Klimovsky did not provide any figures, he did say extra funds had been allocated for the police during the summit. Besides paying for extra officers working longer hours, Klimovsky said, officers brought in from the regions had to be fed while they were in the city. Still, racist and xenophobic attacks remain a concern.
There were 137 racially motivated attacks, including 18 killings, in Russia from January to May of this year, according to the Sova Center, which monitors extremist activity. Twenty-four of those attacks, four of them killings, took place in St. Petersburg. Francois-Xavier Tulikunkiko, chairman of the African Unity group in St. Petersburg, said most important for Africans and other non-Russian nationals in St. Petersburg, summit or no summit, was bringing the perpetrators of hate crimes to justice. That includes, he said, getting the authorities to recognize hate crimes as hate crimes -- not "hooliganism," a lesser charge officials often level against skinheads. Ren-TV reported this month that the city was seeking hot dog and ice cream vendors with non-Slavic appearances to give St. Petersburg a more multicultural look. A spokeswoman for the St. Petersburg administration would not confirm the report.
Stefania Kulayeva, head of the Northwestern Center for Social and Legal Protection of Roma, offered a different assessment from Kotchofa's, saying the police were not doing enough to protect Gypsies and others from xenophobic and racist attacks. She cited neo-Nazi propaganda that, she said, was being openly sold in street kiosks. "Two days ago, we were in a store and easily bought a CD called 'The Skinheads Are Coming,'" Kulayeva said. The album featured songs calling for the murder of migrants from the Caucasus and Jews, she added. "It doesn't look like the police are more worried about these things than usual, and they're usually not too worried," she said. Gypsies and other migrants living in illegal settlements had been advised by police not to venture into St. Petersburg during the summit, Kulayeva said. Klimovsky, of the Interior Ministry, said police had not warned anyone to stay out of the city. But he did note that St. Petersburg authorities had asked residents to look "neat" during the summit.
© The Moscow Times
GLAZYEV BEATEN ON WAY TO FORUM(Russia)
13/01/2006 - State Duma Deputy Sergei Glazyev was knocked unconscious Wednesday as he headed to the closing day of an opposition conference, the latest in a series of attacks that the opposition blamed on the authorities. Glazyev, a Rodina member who was to deliver a speech at "The Other Russia" conference, was getting into his car when an assailant struck him with a blunt object and left him unconscious. "The authorities are switching to repression. One of us was beaten up today to prevent him from coming," former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told the conference.
"There is a war going on against us," said Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion turned liberal politician. "This is a war being carried out by a government that doesn't want to listen to other voices." Hundreds of opposition leaders and activists gathered for two days at a Moscow hotel to protest President Vladimir Putin's authoritarian line and make their voice heard before the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, which starts Saturday. Conference leaders appealed to other G8 heads of state to pay attention to "full-scale political repression" of those who opposed Kremlin policies. "Systematic repression against the Russian opposition has become, in fact, the prelude to the G8 summit in St. Petersburg," they said in a statement. "It is apparent to us that the campaign of repression is centralized and by all means sanctioned by the political leadership of our country." The appeal asked the world leaders at the summit to demand the release of all political detainees and an end all to unlawful actions against the opposition. Participants agreed to meet again in September.
Glazyev will be off his feet for a few days but is expected to fully recover, said his spokesman, Sergei Tkachyk. He said there was no proof that the attack was linked to Glazyev's participation in the conference. But many attendees saw the attack as evidence that the Kremlin was doing all it could to prevent the gathering from being a success. Late Tuesday afternoon, four members of the National Bolshevik Party were seized at the hotel, handcuffed and taken away by plainclothes officers. Two were later released, while the third remained in custody on suspicion of public disturbance Wednesday. An officer took the camera of a German photographer who tried to photograph the detentions.
Two conference participants, National Bolshevik activists Georgy Kvantrishvili and Mikhail Gangan, told of how they hid in friends' apartments in Samara in the days ahead of the conference and took a bus to Moscow to avoid showing their passports at the train station. They said police had raided their apartments and seized computers, CDs and DVDs. "I don't think the police are going to bother us in Moscow, but I'm sure we'll get arrested as soon as we return to Samara," Kvantrishvili said. The conference, which attempted to unite the splintered opposition, put hardliners like National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov and Viktor Anpilov, head of Working Russia and an admirer of Josef Stalin, in the same room with Soviet-era dissidents, human rights activists and liberal politicians like Kasyanov and former presidential candidate Irina Khakamada. Several Western officials attended, despite warnings from the Kremlin that their presence would be considered an unfriendly act. Edward McMillan-Scott, a European Parliament member from Britain, said Wednesday that Russia "is once again a threat to Europe's stability and security." "It is a country led by a regime that is selfish, corrupt and which is unreliable," he told the conference. "'The Other Russia' is a Russia which is democratic, prosperous and free."
Putin accused the West of interfering in Russia's internal affairs by sending their officials. (See related story, page 1.) He also expressed ignorance about the purpose of the conference. "I don't know what this alternative summit is. I've never heard that some of our political opponents inside the country want to use it to push their views regarding the domestic situation," he said. Kasparov said the authorities were pretending that the opinion of civil society was not important. Limonov said a political crisis would be the only way to change the government. Kasyanov agreed with Limonov, and the two shook hands. Surprised participants applauded and laughed.
© The Moscow Times
'THE OTHER RUSSIA' MAKES ITSELF HEARD
12/7/2006- Despite a concerted government effort to keep them from meeting, hundreds of opposition leaders and activists convened Tuesday for an unprecedented conference meant to dispel the happy image of a democratic Russia that the Kremlin plans to broadcast during the G8 summit. "The Other Russia" conference immediately precedes the summit of the Group of Eight heads of state in St. Petersburg, renowned for being Russia's window on Europe. The Other Russia, taking place in Moscow, ends Wednesday; the G8 summit begins Friday. On Tuesday, authorities massed more than 100 riot police and dozens of barking German shepherds outside the Renaissance Hotel, where the event was held. They also posted a metal detector. Meanwhile, reporters from state-controlled television stations were nowhere to be seen, while journalists from Western countries, Japan and Latin America bearing notepads, television cameras and long-range lenses turned up. "We want to send the message that the West should not believe what Kremlin officials are going to tell them at the G8 summit," said Garry Kasparov, the chess champion-turned-liberal reformer and one of the conference organizers. "Putin should stop pretending that he is the leader of a democratic country," Kasparov added. "There is a completely different Russia that wants its voice to be heard." Kasparov spoke to reporters between crammed conference sessions that many attendees were forced to watch on television screens outside the main hall.
The first day of the meeting drew ultranationalist Eduard Limonov, head of the National Bolshevik Party; Viktor Anpilov, head of the Working Russia party and an open admirer of Josef Stalin; and liberal leaders such as former presidential candidate Irina Khakamada and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, among many others. Also crowded into the hotel's hot and smoke-filled conference facilities were government representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries, and a hodgepodge of so-called ordinary people who have a gripe with the Kremlin, including the mother of a man killed after Chechen rebels took over the Dubrovka theater in October 2002. The eclectic mix of politics and personal styles -- with Limonov sporting his signature spectacles, Kasyanov donning a pressed suit, and Khakamada exuding the air of a seasoned campaigner -- reflected opposition figures' need to unite against the Kremlin, said Georgy Satarov, head of the Indem think tank and another conference organizer. The conference also represented an important opportunity for NGOs and opposition groups to speak out in a country where the airwaves are controlled by the state, said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki group. "The Other Russia" comes at a time when dissent is steadily being squeezed out of Russian politics: Recent measures spearheaded by the Kremlin and the State Duma bar parties from forging coalitions and running candidates with other affiliations. Reformers say both measures compromise opposition forces' electoral prospects.
Also, to qualify for elections, parties must now have more members than in times past, and a new anti-extremism law is likely to be used to sideline any candidate deemed threatening to the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, critics contend. A new law dictates that the country's 450,000 NGOs register with the Justice Ministry, which will closely monitor their financial activities. Veteran human-rights activist Sergei Kovalyov of the group Memorial accused authorities of projecting a false image of a democratic Russia. In recent weeks, President Vladimir Putin has given prominent speeches praising the independent press, NGOs and U.S. President George W. Bush. Satarov further accused authorities of barring many would-be attendees from reaching the conference, saying activists had been forcibly taken off trains or arrested, or had drugs or explosives planted on them. Some activists, Satarov said, were beaten. United Russia did its part to help steer attention away from "The Other Russia," organizing its own business forum, with the lobbying group Delovaya Rossia. The forum featured several government officials. And outside the hotel, not far from the militia, the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group held a rally decrying opposition leaders' effort, they said, to create an unfavorable impression of Russia. "They are doing their best to try to make sure this conference doesn't take place," Satarov said, noting that the camouflage-clad security forces outside showed up uninvited.
Although Igor Shuvalov, Russia's G8 envoy, had said Moscow would regard Western officials' attendance at "The Other Russia" as an "unfriendly gesture," British Ambassador Antony Brenton and Daniel Fried, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European affairs, among others, came. Fried said that, far from being an unfriendly gesture, American officials were simply interested in Russian civil society. "I'm impressed that [attendees] really believe in democracy," he said. Alexei Simonov, head of the Glasnost Defense Foundation, said authorities were fearful of the future. Marina Litvinovich, an activist and public-relations specialist who was mysteriously beaten unconscious this year, told attendees she hopes none of them encounter the same fate she did. It was left to Tatyana Karpova, whose son died at the Dubrovka theater, to remind activists of the very personal implications of living in a country where authorities, she said, do not believe they are accountable to the people. "The powers that be have been pulling our leg for years -- nobody has been punished for this terrorist attack," Karpova said. "But beginning this year, we don't belong anymore to that category of citizens who listen to the authorities."
© The Moscow Times
SOME RUSSIAN PR FIRMS FUNDING SKINHEAD ATTACKS ON OPPONENTS
12/7/2006- Some Russian public relations firms are paying skinhead groups to attack the political or business opponents of their clients, a development that does not bode well for future but one that at least some Russian officials say is beyond their ability to do much about, according to a Moscow journalist. In an article in the current issue of “Politicheskiy zhurnal,” Grigoriy Nekhoroshev, that weekly’s deputy chief editor, outlines what he says is evidence of this development beyond the charges and countercharges that appear on Russian websites. From Nekhoroshev’s account, it appears this trend arose in Russia when radical extremist groups offered their services to those in positions of power in politics and business at the beginning of this decade. At that time, the skinhead group “Unified Brigade 88” offered to break up meetings of the opposition for 200 to 300 U.S. dollars. A little later, he continues, the leader of the Russian Project – Great Russia told an “Izvestiya” journalist that his group could carry out “a serious progrom” for 300 U.S. dollars. And in 2003, skinhead groups appear to have been recruited by a PR firm in St. Petersburg to stage an action in support of an official others hoped to discredit.
Sometimes this use of black PR resembles but with an ugly twist the kind of dirty tricks that unfortunately occur in other countries as well. During the recent elections to the St. Petersburg assembly, opponents of one candidate posed as his supporters and offered to give gifts to school children as long as there were no Jews among them. Nekhoroshev then describes his own investigation of black PR activities in the northern capital and the reaction of one senior official there. PR operatives there told him that “to order a demonstration” against one or another business or in front of a course, now “costs 1500 dollars” in St. Petersburg. During the recent electoral campaign there, he continues, some PR firms provided funds for the publication of a newspaper called “Narodniy nablyudatel’” – which one of the people who worked on that paper not long ago said was a direct Russian translation of the notorious Nazi newspaper “Volkisher Beobachter” of the 1920s and 1930s. That some firms and some officials or businesses might stoop to such actions, however noxious, is perhaps not surprising, Nekhoroshev suggests, but the remarkably relaxed reaction of at least one senior official in St. Petersburg to such activities is extremely disturbing.
Nekahoroshev says that he interviewed Vadim Tyul’panov, the chairman of the legislative assembly of St. Petersburg, about the use of such groups to promote nationalism or anti-semitism or to discredit others by suggesting they support such programs when in fact they do not. “It is completely stupid if you complain about bad weather,” Tyul’panov reportedly replied. “The same thing goes for complaining about black PR that I think always was, is and will be. Just like bad weather.” And he said that it was hardly surprising that it occurs so often in such a “politicized” city as his own. If Tyul’panov’s attitude is typical of officials in St. Petersburg, it is unlikely that the government there will do much to try to prevent the growth of such activities, and because of the dangers that presents, Nekhoroshev ends his essay with an appeal to PR professionals to take a clear stand against the use of extremist groups in this way.
© FSU Monitor
MERKEL LAUNCHES SEARCH FOR NEW INTEGRATION POLICY(Germany)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday launched a drive to find ways of better integrating immigrants in the European Union's most populous country.
14/7/2006- Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday said immigrants should be prepared to work to fit into German society and gave her government a year to find ways to right a widely perceived lack of integration. "Those who want to live among us must accept that this will involve a certain amount of effort," the chancellor told a one-day national conference on integration in Berlin. The meeting include 85 invited guests, including representatives of immigrant groups, national, regional sports and business officials. The meeting came two months after Germany's 16 states decided to make foreigners pass language tests to qualify for German nationality amid concern that existing policies had failed to create a cohesive multi-cultural society. But Merkel said Friday's meeting was more about ways to encourage foreigners to learn the language and the culture of their new home than about imposing new rules. "We discussed ideas like adding Turkish subtitles to German movies to help those who have not quite mastered the language, and to enroll children in kindergartens so that they can learn at a young age," the chancellor said. Her minister delegate for integration, Maria Böhmer, this week proposed giving immigrant families free access to pre-school child care to allow their offspring to learn German before they start school. A report published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in May noted that the school results of children from immigrant families in Germany were poorer than in most industrialised nations. The findings and outbreaks of violence in schools in areas with high immigrant populations fueled a debate about whether Germany had an alienated immigrant youth population capable of the strife seen late last year in French suburbs.
Merkel in no hurry
Merkel said she would not be rushed on finding a new policy framework for the country with its 15 million citizens of foreign origin. "There is no point in putting ourselves under pressure. We can take one more year and come up with a workable strategy," the chancellor told reporters. The conference was billed as the first of several such meetings and brought together politicians, leaders of immigrant populations, businessmen and trade unionists. Merkel hailed it as a "historic event." Labor Minister Franz Müntefering said the business world was invited to give its input as job creation was considered a vital part of integration. "Every job (filled by an immigrant) is a practical example of integration," he said. The conference was welcomed by Kenan Kolat, the leader of Germany's Turkish community, which is the biggest outside Turkey. "For once the political class is speaking to immigrants instead of speaking about integration," he said. But, opposition parties in government are skeptical that the integration efforts will lead to anything concrete, and Germany's Islamic Council and the Central Council of Muslims have complained that they were not invited to the summit. The government estimates that 15 million people living in Germany, which has a total population of 82 million, have an immigrant background of some kind -- either with roots outside the country or as ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union.
© Deutsche Welle
IMMIGRANT CHILDREN TO START LEARNING GERMAN IN KINDERGARTEN
11/07/2006 - Days before a summit on integration of immigrants, the German government says it wants immigrant children to begin learning German as early as kindergarten. German newspaper Die Welt reported Tuesday that the government hoped to pass a declaration on Wednesday that would pave the way for children with immigrant backgrounds to begin learning German at a pre-school age. Called "Good Cohabitation -- Clear Rules," according to the paper, the document comes just days before a so-called "integration summit" in Berlin -- the first of its kind. Some 70 participants will join Chancellor Angela Merkel who has initiated the event and invited representatives of immigrant associations and religious groups, economic leaders, and politicians to attend.
Integration deficit for second and third generations
Currently some 15 million people with an immigrant background live in Germany. It is expected that, by the year 2010, every second person younger than 40 in big cities will belong to this group. The document cites "a considerable integration deficit among second and third generation immigrants", the paper reported. The government expects immigrants to be "willing to accept Germany's Basic Law and the entire legal system without reservation" and hopes that learning German will help immigrants "visibly show their sense of belonging to Germany". This requires "self-initiative, hard work and personal responsibility", according to the statement.
Two-sided responsibility
However, pointing out that integration is essentially a two-sided affair, the government has called on German citizens to demonstrate acceptance, tolerance, civil engagement, and a willingness to honestly welcome legal newcomers to their country. The integration document outlines six major areas where action is needed in order to better integrate Germany's immigrants: Further developing integration courses; teaching German at a young age; securing education opportunities and increasing job chances; improving the situation for women and girls; locally supporting integration; and strengthening civic organizations.
© Deutsche Welle
ITALY'S PREMIER DENOUNCES GRAFFITI
12/7/2006- Premier Romano Prodi on Tuesday denounced a swastika and other graffiti scrawled on doors and walls in a Jewish neighborhood of Rome overnight, when soccer fans thronged the streets to celebrate Italy's World Cup triumph. Some of the graffiti was painted on a door along a wall near outdoor tables of a trattoria along the main street of the Old Ghetto, as the neighborhood is known. Graffiti was also spray-painted on a motorscooter saddle and on name plates and intercoms on apartment building doors. Prodi condemned the anti-Semitic graffiti in a letter to the president of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities. He expressed his government's solidarity with the Jewish community and denounced the ``ignoble gesture of hate and intolerance which strikes not only you, but all the Italian people.'' ``I reiterate with force and indignation these words: Similar gestures will not be underestimated and will not be tolerated,'' said Prodi, who leads a center-left government. The neighborhood, where many in Rome's small Jewish community live or work, is a few minutes' walk from Circus Maximus, the ancient Roman entertainment area where more than 600,000 fans held a jubilant rally for the players of the national team, which won the World Cup on Sunday. The Monday night festivities lasted into the early hours of Tuesday. Police inspected the graffiti later in the day and prosecutors opened an investigation. Swastikas and extremist soccer fans have occasionally mixed in Italy. Fans for one of Rome's teams, Lazio, waved swastika flags this past season at a game where rival club supporters held red Communist flags. Also expressing indignation over the graffiti was Italy's head of state, President Giorgio Napolitano. The president called for ``mobilization against any resurgence of anti-Semitism and racism'' in Italy, which is predominantly Catholic. Interior Minister Giuliano Amato, whose ministry includes state police forces, visited Rome's main synagogue as a sign of solidarity and denounced those who drew the swastika as ``imbeciles.'' ``I'm ashamed as an Italian that as an interior minister I have to deal with this,'' Amato told reporters. Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, said ``the guard must not be lowered'' in the fight against anti-Semitism.
© Associated Press
BRNO POLICEMEN PROSECUTED FOR TORMENTING ROMANY(Czech Republic)
07/07/2006 - Two municipal policemen from Brno, south Moravia, are being prosecuted on suspicion of having tormented a young Romany man last Friday, the daily Pravo reports today. The police are suspected of abuse of public office, Andrea Prochazkova from the Brno police told the paper.
One of the municipal policemen suspected the Romany of having attacked and robbed his son and other kids at the end of the school year, and that is why he and his colleague detained the young man. However, instead of taking the suspect to the police station, the policemen drove him to the town´s outskirts where they allegedly beat him up. They also reportedly put an unloaded gun into the Romany´s mouth and pulled the trigger. The municipal police allegedly wanted to force the Romany to confess to the assaults, Pravo says. "If they [the policemen] are found guilty, we will draw personnel conclusions from it," Zdenek Novak from the Brno municipal police told Pravo.
© Prague Daily Monitor
ANTILLEANS ACCUSE GOVERNMENT OF RACISM (Netherlands)
12/7/2006- Pressure group for the Caribbean Dutch OcaN is accusing the Dutch authorities of racism. The organisation yesterday lodged a complaint to the National Bureau Against Racial Discrimination (LBR). The complaint follows the assault of a 49-year-old Antillean man in Papendrecht on 20 May. Only last weekend, public broadcaster NOS reported that the perpetrators were members of an extreme right-wing group. The Public Prosecutor (OM), however, declined to confirm this. OcaN, an official dialogue partner of the government, is angry that the assault "was hushed up" by politicians in The Hague, the mayor of Papendrecht, police and the OM. "Why this deafening silence surrounding this horrific attack from MPs, ministers and mayors?, OcAN chairman Roy Pieters wondered. "Is this assault by any chance less dreadful than the attack with fatal consequences on Theo van Gogh?", he ventured. Muslim critic Van Gogh was killed by a terrorist in November 2004. According to Pieters, denying that the incident involving the 49-year-old Antillean ever took place is "ten times worse" than the actual crime itself. "This was no standard fight. This man was beaten into hospital with broken ribs and other injuries. We expect the same protection as every other Dutch citizen". In 2003, Antilleans formed 9 percent of the Dutch prison population, with 20 percent of all Antillean youths crime suspects. Partly because of this, the Netherlands is working on a regulation banning the islands from sending youngsters across the ocean if they have no prospect of employment or education. OcaN feels such proposals have instigated "a witch hunt" against Antilleans.
© NIS News Bulletin
PARLIAMENT APPROVES MODIFIED INTEGRATION LAW(Netherlands)
10/07/2006 - It seems likely that the controversial integration law will come into effect on 1 January as originally planned. MPs in the Dutch parliament approved a modified version of the legislation on Friday. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's minority coalition government was ratified on the same day. Fatma Koser Kaya of the Democrat D66 party was the only MP to vote against the legislation that was drawn up by Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk.
Opposition parties, Labour (PvdA), Socialist Party (SP), green-left GroenLinks, D66 and Christian group ChristenUnie would have preferred to delay the vote until after the summer to await advice from the Council of State. The Council has been asked whether forcing naturalised residents to take an integration course is discriminatory. The law states that newcomers and certain groups of 'oldcomers' must pass an integration exam on the Dutch language and culture. Candidates can face sanctions if they do not pass the test within a certain period of time. Many people will have to pay for the cost of the course and exam themselves. Verdonk wants to introduce the law on 1 January and local councils need the intervening months to lay the ground work for the courses.
A compromise was agreed last week under which the most controversial article on integration for established and naturalised immigrants was removed from the legislation to await the Council of State's ruling. The legislation can be amended in the autumn based on the Council of State's findings. Other changes give local councils more say on the content and allow more people to benefit from cheaper courses. The concessions were sufficient for the PvdA, SP, GroenLinks and ChristenUnie to support the integration law.
The government Christian Democrat (CDA) and Liberal (VVD) parties also had reservations but the changes persuaded them to vote for it, as did the populist LPF, Christian SGP and independents Hilbrand Nawijn and Geert Wilders. The left-wing parties are still critical of elements of the law. "But better something than nothing," said MP Naïma Azough (GroenLinks). Labour's Jeroen Dijsselbloem noted the target group covered by the law is much smaller than Verdonk had originally envisaged. It is estimated that roughly 250,000 people who have already settled in the Netherlands will have to take an integration course, along with new arrivals. When Verdonk started work on the law three years ago, she had a figure of 800,000 in mind.
© Expatica News
RACE ROW LECTURER RETIRES EARLY(United Kingdom)
13/07/2006 - A university lecturer who insists that black people and women are genetically inferior has taken early retirement after a lengthy campaign to get him sacked. Frank Ellis, a lecturer in Russian and Slavonic studies, provoked widespread criticism after he told the Leeds University student newspaper that he supported the theory developed by Richard J Herrnstein and Charles Murray in their 1994 book The Bell Curve that white people are more intelligent than black people. He also said that women did not have the same intellectual capacity as men. In March the university described his views as abhorrent and suspended him. Last night it said he had taken early retirement. "However, in bringing forward the retirement a year sooner than Dr Ellis wanted, the university agreed to pay him a year's salary and to make a contribution towards his legal costs," it said. Student leaders welcomed his retirement. The case was the first of its kind since the Race Relations [Amendment] Act came into force in 2002. It requires universities to promote racial equality. He first came to prominence six years ago when he spoke at the American Renaissance conference, described by anti-fascist campaigners as a three-day US rally bringing together the scientific racism movement. Those present included groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
© The Guardian
HSBC FOUND GUILTY OF RACISM OVER KILROY-SILK BACKER(United Kindgom)
14/07/2006 - A branch of one of the world's biggest banks has been found guilty of racism after a senior member of staff told a colleague she would be voting for Robert Kilroy-Silk at the last general election because she said he promised to "get rid of the foreigners". The remark was overheard by another employee, who sued the bank, HSBC, for race discrimination. Ruby Schembri, 35, a Maltese national, reported the remark. This week an employment tribunal ruled the remark could be construed as racist and ordered HSBC and the supervisor to pay compensation. The case is one of the first to find that a comment not directly made to another person can constitute racism.
Ms Schembri, who lives in Welwyn Garden City, north London, claimed that Debbie Jones abused her by stating in her presence "I am against immigration" and "I hate foreigners". In her witness statement, Ms Schembri, who came to Britain with her husband in 2004, said the incident took place on 19 April last year. She said she was in a back office at the bank at about 9.15am when she heard Ms Jones and Rosemary Johnstone [an assistant manager] discussing the election. She said: "Debbie asked Rosemary if she supported the Tory or Labour Party and bluntly stated, 'I am against immigration'. My ears pricked up and then Debbie added 'I hate foreigners'. I was shocked and offended. Debbie made her statement with real conviction." Ms Johnstone had made no reply. Ms Schembri added: "I found Debbie's racist comment to be offensive and very hurtful. I left the room and was on the counter. I began to cry." The case follows that of De Souza v Automobile Association in 1986, which found that the expression "give the typing to the wog" was not racial discrimination, even though it caused the victim distress, because it was not aimed at her.
In her witness statement, Ms Jones said that all she had said was that she would vote for Mr Kilroy-Silk because he would get rid of immigrants. She denied using the word foreigners. But the tribunal considered her contemporaneous statement, made in 2005, when she admitted she had said she would vote for Mr Kilroy-Silk because he "would get rid of the foreigners". The tribunal chairman said it was reasonable to infer that the remark showed a "substantial dislike of foreigners". Lawrence Davies, of Equal Justice Solicitors, yesterday called for the De Souza decision to be removed from British law. He said: "The intention or aim of the maker is irrelevant, it is sufficient that it caused offence." A spokesman for HSBC said that Ms Schembri had won on just one of five grounds, and that Ms Jones had since been given race awareness training.
© Independent Digital
RACISM DEBATE 'EXCLUDES HINDUS' (uk)
11/7/2006- Hindus in the UK feel not enough effort is being made to include them in anti-racist initiatives, a report from the Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) says. About 800 Hindus were surveyed for what the HFB says is the first targeted research project on the community. The government-sponsored report is due to be launched on Tuesday by Secretary of State for Communities Ruth Kelly. Ms Kelly said the research raised "important issues" between Hindu communities and the government. "All of us, including central government and public services, have a role to play in helping Britain move towards an inclusive society, based on mutual respect, tolerance and understanding between people of all faiths," Ms Kelly said. Hindu Forum of Britain spokesman Ramesh Kallidai said the report showed the UK's third-biggest faith group still faced "multiple disadvantage and discrimination". "The Connecting British Hindus report is one of the first sources of authentic and credible information that will seek to understand some of these issues," Mr Kallidai said.
'Dialogue'
The report was carried out by researchers from race think-tank the Runnymede Trust. They found that the UK's 500,000 Hindus were generally well-integrated into British society, but many objected to being described as "Asian" preferring a more distinct identification as either "Hindu" or "Indian". "Hindu communities should be supported in playing a fuller role in society through improved capacity for leadership, community engagement and better understanding of Hindu beliefs, cultures and perspectives," the report stated. A key finding was that Hindu community organisations needed to build dialogue with other faith groups, especially Muslim. Robert Berkeley of the Runnymede Trust said they hoped the report would shed some light on the ongoing debate about the role of faith communities in relation to the state. "By considering the needs of Hindus in Britain we hope to be able to offer a view of faith-based communities which gives a different perspective and encourages appropriate responses," Dr Berkeley said. Other recommendations in the report included further research into Hindu communities, improving teaching about Hinduism in schools, media and leadership training for community organisations and developing means of engaging more Hindu women.
© BBC News
RACE CRIME FIGURES 'WERE WRONG' (United Kingdom)
10/07/2006 - The Home Office has published revised figures on race crime in England and Wales after admitting statistics published in March 2006 were wrong. New figures show black people remain three times more likely to be arrested than white people. The statistics for 2004-05 found black people were also six times more likely to be stopped and searched. The Home Office apologised for errors, which it said had inflated racist incidents in some police force areas.
The latest figures on race and the criminal justice system in England and Wales come amid concern of an increase in racism since the 7 July attacks. Figures for racist incidents since the bombings have proved contradictory, with some measures showing increases in racial tensions and others showing a more mixed picture. According to the Home Office's revised report, the number of stops and searches rose by 14% over the year. Under standard police powers, stops of black people rose by 9%, of Asian people by 11.5%, of white people by 15% and other ethnicities by a quarter. Critically, the figures show that twice as many Asian people were stopped than white people. Stops and searches under terrorism-related powers rose overall by 9% - although there were falls in stops of Asian and black people - 5% and 7% respectively.
Black people remain more likely to have made a complaint against the police compared with people from other ethnic backgrounds, the statistics show.
Crime figures
Examining the level of race-related crime, the report found that incidents recorded by the police increased by 7% between 2004 and 2005. owever, the British Crime Survey (BCS), a parallel but separate study, suggests the level of racially-motivated crime is falling - from 206,000 incidents at the end of 2004 to 179,000 in the following year. The BCS figures are drawn from a continuing survey of actual experiences of crime, rather than incidents recorded by or reported to the police. Ministers suggest the increase in reported crime means people are increasingly likely to come forward after being attacked.
The wrong figures
The figures replace errors in statistics published in March which were then quickly withdrawn. The incorrect report suggested that the number of racist incidents in some police areas had risen dramatically. Dorset Police were reported to have recorded a 556% increase in racist incidents compared with an actual rise of 56%. North Yorkshire's rise was put at 224% rather than the actual 33%. The overall change in racist incidents was originally put at 12% rather than the actual 7%. A spokesman for the Home Office apologised and said officials had completely rechecked the data with police chiefs before having it approved by individual constabularies. The report also noted however that the criminal justice system had increased the proportion of minorities in its ranks, albeit with mixed results. Almost 11% of Probation Service staff are now from a minority background, along with 4.4% of prison officers. However, just 3.5% of police officers were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Almost 8% of the British population were from an ethnic minority background, according to the 2001 census.
© BBC News
IMMIGRATION AMNESTY IS RULED OUT(United Kingdom)
12/07/2006 - An amnesty for illegal immigrants has been ruled out by ministers at the end of a review of UK border controls.
Immigration Minister Liam Byrne asked officials to report on the issues surrounding the controversial idea. Now he says he has rejected the move and instead will unveil plans for "fair but tough" enforcement of the rules. Meanwhile, campaigners for an amnesty have said it is unrealistic to think that about half a million "irregular migrants" can readily be deported. When John Reid became home secretary in May he said the Immigration and Nationality Directorate was "not fit for purpose" and ordered a review of how things were done. His criticisms followed the crisis over more than 1,000 foreign prisoners who were released without being considered for deportation. An immigration chief also admitted little effort was made to track down illegal immigrants who lose touch with the authorities.
Tools for the job
Mr Byrne said the review of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) was almost complete. "We can say that we will be ruling out an amnesty and will be instead bringing forward plans over the next two weeks for fair but tough enforcement of the rules," he said. "We'll not only strengthen our people but the tools they have to do the job." Mr Byrne stressed the immigration department had made progress, with asylum applications down 72% from their 2002 peak and more failed claimants being deported. "That didn't happen by accident. It took a lot of people a lot of hard work," he said. "We will be pressing on, not going backwards."
Amnesty plans
The government estimates there are up to 570,000 illegal immigrants in the UK. Mr Byrne's decision to rule out an amnesty came as a campaign group published detailed proposals for the move. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) said illegal immigrants who had been in the UK for at least two years should be allowed to stay. And any illegal immigrants with no serious criminal record should be given the right to stay permanently after they had spent seven years in Britain, it said. Habib Rahman, chief executive of the council, said a solution to the illegal immigrants in the country had to be found now. "It's a political reality that around half a million irregular migrants can't readily be deported and EU migration alone cannot be relied on to fill the jobs many of them are doing," he said. "It's time to get real - put this beyond politics and start talking practical solutions. "In the end a system that denies full rights to all migrants in the UK is both socially unjust and is creating losers all round." The report comes after MigrationWatch UK claimed it would take 20 or 30 years to build enough social housing for illegal immigrants if there was an amnesty.
© BBC News
MINISTERS URGED TO OFFER MIGRANTS AMNESTY(United Kingdom)
11/07/2006 - Tony Blair will be urged today to lift the threat of deportation from all illegal immigrants who have been in Britain for at least two years, and offer them the chance to remain permanently. The plea from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) follows growing calls for ministers to offer a one-off amnesty to hundreds of thousands of "irregular" workers known to be in the country. The council argues there are "pressing human rights reasons" for the dramatic move, which would tackle exploitation of migrant workers and improve community relations. The group also maintains that the step would boost the economy by saving the country the cost of deportations, and bringing illegal workers into the tax system.
The most recent Home Office estimate suggested there could be between 310,000 and 570,000 unauthorised migrants, including failed asylum-seekers, people who have overstayed work or student visas and trafficking victims. However, a senior immigration officer sparked uproar in May when he confessed he did not have the "faintest idea" how many there were. In its report, to be debated at a parliamentary meeting tomorrow, the JCWI calls for the Government to consider a "one-off regularisation". It suggests migrants who have lived in Britain for seven years and do not have a serious criminal record should be granted automatic indefinite leave to remain. Those who lived here at least two years, and can prove they are in work or have family links, should get five years' temporary permission to stay, with the eventual prospect of indefinite leave to remain.
Habib Rahman, chief executive of the JCWI, said: said: "The starting point must be rights for all migrants. In the end a system that denies full rights to all migrants in the UK is both socially unjust and is creating losers all round." The Transport and General Workers' Union welcomed the proposals. Jack Dromey, the union's deputy general secretary, said: "Our country and our economy need migrant workers. It is impractical and immoral to suggest that we deport half a million people." Last week, however, a poll by the pressure group Migrationwatch found that more than 70 per cent of people disagreed with an amnesty for illegal immigrants. The idea has also been fiercely opposed by the Conservatives, despite the launch yesterday of a major national consultation aimed at dropping the party's hardline rhetoric on immigration in favour of a "civilised" policy.
Tony Blair will be urged today to lift the threat of deportation from all illegal immigrants who have been in Britain for at least two years, and offer them the chance to remain permanently. The plea from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) follows growing calls for ministers to offer a one-off amnesty to hundreds of thousands of "irregular" workers known to be in the country. The council argues there are "pressing human rights reasons" for the dramatic move, which would tackle exploitation of migrant workers and improve community relations. The group also maintains that the step would boost the economy by saving the country the cost of deportations, and bringing illegal workers into the tax system.
The most recent Home Office estimate suggested there could be between 310,000 and 570,000 unauthorised migrants, including failed asylum-seekers, people who have overstayed work or student visas and trafficking victims. However, a senior immigration officer sparked uproar in May when he confessed he did not have the "faintest idea" how many there were. In its report, to be debated at a parliamentary meeting tomorrow, the JCWI calls for the Government to consider a "one-off regularisation". It suggests migrants who have lived in Britain for seven years and do not have a serious criminal record should be granted automatic indefinite leave to remain. Those who lived here at least two years, and can prove they are in work or have family links, should get five years' temporary permission to stay, with the eventual prospect of indefinite leave to remain. Habib Rahman, chief executive of the JCWI, said: said: "The starting point must be rights for all migrants. In the end a system that denies full rights to all migrants in the UK is both socially unjust and is creating losers all round."
The Transport and General Workers' Union welcomed the proposals. Jack Dromey, the union's deputy general secretary, said: "Our country and our economy need migrant workers. It is impractical and immoral to suggest that we deport half a million people." Last week, however, a poll by the pressure group Migrationwatch found that more than 70 per cent of people disagreed with an amnesty for illegal immigrants. The idea has also been fiercely opposed by the Conservatives, despite the launch yesterday of a major national consultation aimed at dropping the party's hardline rhetoric on immigration in favour of a "civilised" policy.
© Independent Digital
AUTHORITIES PARTLY BLAMED FOR RISE IN RACIST INCIDENTS(Russia)
11/07/2006 - Violent racism and xenophobia continue to mar Russian society as an increasing number of dark-skinned foreigners suffer attacks by skinheads and other radical groups, according to a study released on Monday. More than 100 ethnically motivated crimes have been committed since the beginning of this year, claiming the lives of 18 people and leaving some 160 injured, the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights said in a semiannual report. That was eight more deaths than during the same period last year.
While the government has started paying more attention to the problem, law enforcement agencies are still reluctant to vigorously prosecute hate crimes, allowing the free circulation of anti-Semitic and racist literature and letting many leaders and activists of hate groups go unpunished, said the bureau's head, Alexander Brod. "Cases of xenophobia, anti-Semitism and people getting killed are increasing in a catastrophic way," said Gasan Mirzoyev, a lawyer and member of the Public Chamber, a government-created public oversight body. "The authorities must address this problem more actively. Otherwise, we will lose the country."
Viktor Dashevsky, deputy head of the Moscow Anti Fascist Center, said prosecutors were reluctant to classify ethnic-based crimes as such, writing them off as hooliganism or refusing to investigate the cases altogether. Brod said hate crimes were harder to investigate and bring to court than hooliganism cases, which often prompted prosecutors to take the easier path and classify ethnic-based attacks as hooliganism. Xenophobic sentiments are rooted in the economic difficulties the country suffered following the 1991 Soviet collapse, causing many Russians who were struggling to make ends meet to blame ethnic minorities for their problems, Brod said.
Boris Yakemenko, a history scholar at the Peoples' Friendship University and author of a book on racism in Russia, lamented that in the absence of a strong democratic opposition, several liberal parties and groups have been joining efforts with radical leftist organizations such as the National Bolshevik Party, headed by ultranationalist writer Eduard Limonov. Representatives of the party as well as Working Russia party leader Viktor Anpilov -- an open admirer of Josef Stalin, who historians say killed millions of his own people and deported and persecuted hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities -- are scheduled to attend an opposition summit Tuesday that has been organized by democratic movements.
© The Moscow Times
SWEDISH INTEGRATION ATTEMPTS 'ARE DIVISIVE'
13/07/2006 - Sweden should scrap the Integration Board in its current form and transform it into an introduction board that would focus on providing for new immigrants’ immediate needs, the country’s discrimination commissioner said on Wednesday in Dagens Nyheter. Masoud Kamali sharply criticized current integration policies, calling them divisive. The population is divided up into “Swedes” who are going to integrate the group “immigrants.” The report that was the grounding for Swedish integration policies was coloured by its focus on “immigrants’ deficiencies,” he said. The structural obstacles against integration are not noticed, and that is why all organizations and authorities that work with divisive policies toward integration should be scrapped, Kamali said. He said the goal for general social policies must be to decrease economic inequalities and fight structural discrimination, to create similar possibilities for everybody and to have a global perspective. The Swedish Migration Board’s report on integration for 2005 said there was a 17 percent difference between the number of employed people 20 to 64-years-old who are foreign and native to Sweden. In 2005, 81 percent of native Swedes between those ages were working compared to 64 percent of those born outside of Sweden.
© The Local
FUN PARK TURNS DOWN HEADSCARF WOMAN(Sweden)
07/07/2006 - An amusement park in Gothenburg found itself in a tough spot earlier this year after it did not hire a 21-year-old Iraq-born woman because she wore a head scarf, it has emerged after the woman spoke to the press. Duaa Daebes was among some 6,000 applicants vying for a job at the Liseberg park in January. After being called in for a second interview, she was told that while she was qualified for the work, she would not be hired because her head scarf conflicted with the park’s dress policy. “I felt really, really hurt,” she said in Göteborgs Posten on Friday. “It felt like he was sitting there and tried to come up with other reasons why couldn’t get the job, but the only thing he came up with was my head scarf.” She went home and called the government discrimination ombudsman (DO) and told them what happened. The DO sent Liseberg a copy of the complaint. ”He said the clothing policy would be changed so that it would be alright to wear a head scarf because of religious reasons and that I could have a job,” Daebes said. “I also was to get 15,000 kronor as compensation for the insult.” Lasse Zagai, Liseberg spokesman, said the park’s uniform policy has been changed for the better. The park is even providing a long-armed shirt and a head scarf in Liseberg colors. “It was incredibly dumb of us to not employ someone because of certain clothing,” he said.
© The Local
SMK CONCERNED ABOUT MINORITY RIGHTS (Hungary)
10/07/2006 - HUNGARIAN Coalition Party (SMK) leader Béla Bugár informed President Ivan Gašparovič on June 30 of his party fears that the status of ethnic minorities in Slovakia could deteriorate under the new government. The SMK is also concerned that the post of minister for education was given to a nominee of the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS). “You remember when the SNS had this post [while it was in the governing coalition between 1994 and 1998]. Minister [Eva] Slavkovská destroyed all the progress that had been made in minority education,” Bugár told journalists after meeting with the president. He added that although the 1994-1998 period is in the past, the SMK will stay alert and will watch what happens, the TASR news wire reported. Gašparovič has said he is convinced that no major changes will occur in education or minority rights. “For my part, I will certainly make sure that all rights belonging to ethnic minorities are guaranteed,” he said.
© The Slovak Spectator
RACIST WEB POSTINGS LAND WHITE SUPREMACIST IN JAIL(Canada)
14/07/2006 - For the fi rst time in Canada, a white supremacist has been jailed for ignoring a court order to stop spreading hate messages against Jews, blacks and immigrants on the Internet. The Federal Court incarcerated Tomasz Winnicki of London, Ont., for nine months for contempt of court for refusing to cease his "vile and unrelenting message of hatred." Winnicki, who is in his early 30s and immigrated to Canada with his parents when he was a child, has described himself as London's "biggest hater." Justice Konrad von Finckenstein sent Winnicki to jail for fl outing a Federal Court order last fall to stop his Internet postings while a complaint against him wound its way through the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The court ruling is considered unique because it is rare for people to be jailed in the absence of a criminal conviction and nobody has been sentenced for contempt of court for defying an order to stop posting hatred on the Internet, said commission lawyer Monette Maillet.
"Hopefully, it will send a message to people that, fi rstly, they should not be practising hate in Canada and secondly, if you are going to do it and the courts tell you to stop, they mean it," said Leo Adler, director of national affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Toronto, a Jewish human rights organization. Adler estimated about two dozen people in Canada have been jailed for hate crimes on the Internet, but they were all criminally convicted. Police in London have never laid criminal charges against Winnicki, despite pressure from Jewish groups. Adler said websites promoting hate have increased signifi cantly in the last few years, with the most recent count at about 6,000.
Winnicki's lawyer, Dominic Lamb, argued in court there is no proof Winnicki posted the messages, and someone else posing as him could have done so. Furthermore, even if Winnicki did post the messages, they could have been edited, Lamb said. "In my view, none of these arguments are sustainable," wrote von Finckenstein, noting Winnicki had never previously raised the possibility of someone else making the postings in his name.
In April, the Canadian human rights tribunal ruled against Winnicki and fi ned him $6,000 for his "vicious and dehumanizing" messages. Winnicki "called for the forced expulsion of non-Caucasian people, he threatened violent action against the targets of his hatred and enthusiastically supported a 'racial holy war' in which all non-Caucasian people will be destroyed. He made use of exceedingly gruesome photographic imagery to draw in his readers and to communicate his messages of hate all the more powerfully," said the human rights ruling. The complaint against Winnicki was fi led by Richard Warman, an Ottawa lawyer who is pursuing about a dozen cases in his personal quest to stop Canadians from posting hate on the Internet.
Winnicki's case ended up in the Federal Court because the human rights commission asked a judge last year to issue an injunction ordering the hate-monger to cease his activities until the tribunal made a ruling. Von Finckenstein ruled Winnicki's postings after the injunction were every bit as offensive as his earlier messages. "They have the same vile content and the unrelenting message of hatred for Jews and contempt for people of the black race and/or immigrants," the decision said. "They send a persistent vile message, which in essence suggests that there is a Zionist conspiracy, that Jews dominate all levels of government, that those of the black race are lazy, AIDS-infected, criminals and welfare cheats, that all non-white immigrants fall into the same category and that multiculturalism is a policy conceived by Zionists to perpetuate non-white immigration.
© The StarPhoenix
SERPENT'S EGG (usa, opinion)
By Chris Floyd
14/7/2006- Over and over, the Bush regime and its media apologists have peddled the same mendacious line in defense of their war crime in Iraq: "We're fighting the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them over here." But in fact the occupation is breeding a cadre of vicious terrorists intent on bringing death and destruction back home to America's streets, using the deadly skills they've learned -- in the U.S. military.
Hundreds, possibly thousands of neo-Nazis and "white power" extremists have infiltrated U.S. forces in a deliberate strategy to get training in weapons, urban warfare and covert operations, the Pentagon's own investigators report. These homegrown terrorists -- avowed enemies of democracy, committed to sparking the same kind of horrific civil war in America that President George W. Bush has spawned in Iraq -- have wormed their way into some of most elite military units, as well as filling up the ordinary ranks with cretinous "race warriors." This infestation is being actively abetted by the Bush regime. Who says? Well, Defense Department investigator Scott Barfield, for one. "Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members," Barfield told the Southern Poverty Law Center in a report issued last week.
In the last year alone, Barfield identified 320 white power extremists at a single U.S. army base, Fort Lewis in Washington state; only two were discharged. Some were part of just one neo-Nazi cell that has burrowed into five bases spread across the entire country, Barfield said; many of its members have joined the hundreds of known neo-Nazis now schooling themselves in Bush's master class in carnage. The infiltration is part of a concerted strategy by the neo-Nazi movement to use Bush's war for terrorist training -- much as their extremist brothers in al Qaida are doing. In magazines and web sites, they pass along handy hints and exhortations to their cloaked comrades in the field and potential recruits at home. "Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman's war," writes Steven Barry, a former Special Forces officer now serving as "military unit coordinator" for the neo-Nazi National Alliance, The New York Times reports. "[The race war] will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and 'cleansed,'" writes Barry, as if he were channeling one of the deadly Iraqi militias sponsored by the Bushists in their self-confessed "Salvador Option" -- an undercover program named for the right-wing Central American death squads armed and trained by the Reagan-Bush administration in the 1980s, as The New Yorker reports.
"Join only for the training, and to better defend yourself, our people and our culture," says another all-American goosestepper, Army engineer and Iraq war veteran John Fain. "We must have people to open doors from the inside when the time comes." But it looks like some big-time insiders are already opening those doors. The percentage of "moral waivers" being granted to recruits for past misdeeds -- and for previously disqualifying factors such as violent extremism or gang membership -- has "more than doubled since 2001," the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Some recruiters are even helping skinheads cover up their telltale Nazi tattoos to get them into the military, Barfield says. Meanwhile, officers in the field are routinely failing to report obvious neo-Nazi activity, and those now-uncovered tattoos, when they spot them. It's a far cry from the crackdown on extremism in the last decade, after the first great white-power infestation of the military during the Reagan-Bush years. When skinhead troops from the elite 82nd Airborne Division randomly murdered a black couple in 1995 to earn their neo-Nazi "spider web tattoos" for killing non-whites, the Pentagon brass began turfing out hatemongers and banning racist associations; one general even ordered his 19,000 men strip-searched for extremist tattoos, the SPLC reports.
Now, the brass help hide those same inky taints of evil, and knowingly send "race warriors" to occupy an Arab land, to storm Iraqi homes. How many "spider webs" have been earned with Bush's blessing as these extremists lord it over the "non-whites" in their power? The tacit acceptance of neo-Nazis in the military is part of a broader pattern at work in the Bush imperium: the "mainstreaming" of right-wing extremism in U.S. society, an alarming development well documented by journalist Dave Neiwert on his Orcinus blog. White-power advocates once stuck on the lunatic fringe now appear on network television as respected spokesmen on the "immigration question." High-profile Bush-backers in the mainstream media -- Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh and other gasbags -- routinely tout "fantasies" of ethnic cleansing, concentration camps and death for "traitors," i.e., anyone who opposes the hard-right line. Bush himself has openly embraced religious extremists like the "Dominionists," whose rabid doctrines of Christian nationalism are scarcely distinguishable from the religious perversions that undergird most neo-Nazi philosophies. In its heedless lust for loot and dominion, the Bush faction will use anyone: neo-Nazis, neoconservatives, theocrats, dictators, death squads, nutballs. The blowback from this nest of vipers will poison American life for generations -- but of course the Bushists don't care. America is nothing to them but a cash cow and a billy club. Let the stupid rabble worry about war-trained Nazis in the streets; the Bush elite will be safe and cozy in their gated, guarded mansions.
© The Moscow Times
'WHITE SUPREMACISTS' FACE DEATH PENALTY FOR US PRISON MURDERS(USA)
13/07/2006 - A white supremacist prison gang known as the Aryan Brotherhood maintains its grip on gambling and drug trafficking both inside and outside the walls of America's penitentiaries, by murdering anyone who gets in its way or dares to cross its leadership, a US prosecutor told a jury this week. Details of the gang's modus operandi, which included smuggling weapons concealed in genitals and sending messages between prisons with disappearing ink made from urine, were disclosed in closing arguments at a trial of four alleged leaders of the gang in Santa Ana, California.
It is the first of several trials expected in the wake of a federal investigation into the gang that ended in 2002. Forty men were arrested at that time, of whom 16 could face the death penalty, making it one of the biggest capital punishment cases to reach the American courts. Prosecutors allege that over a period of 32 years, the gang was responsible for 30 murders. In the dock in Santa Ana are the now middle-aged men, who prosecutors say were among the most important leaders of the Brotherhood. They are Barry "the Baron" Mills, Tyler "the Hulk" Bingham, Edgar "the Snail" Hevle and Christopher Overton Gibson. After four months of testimony, the case could go to the jury at the end of this week. "These men ran the Aryan Brotherhood," the US District Attorney Terri Flynn said in closing arguments this week. "They imposed murder when necessary to keep the goals of the Aryan Brotherhood operating as they should."
Experts say that the gang was founded in the late 1950s at the San Quentin penitentiary in California, when white inmates banded together to protect themselves against blacks and Hispanics, who outnumbered them. In the mid-1960s, the group named itself the Aryan Brotherhood, thus formalising its espousal of racism and white supremacy. Its chilling and self-explanatory motto reads: "Kill to get in; die to get out". Prosecutors have painted a picture of a gang that quickly moved beyond self-protection to the aggressive pursuit of criminal enterprises inside prisons around the country as well as on the outside. Its leaders recruited the most violent inmates to help boost the gang's strength. Murder was the tool used to ensure loyalty and punish betrayal. "Even its own members weren't safe," said Ms Flynn. Mark Potok, an expert on gangs at the Southern Poverty Law Centre, said that over time criminal profit became more important than racism. "The Aryan Brotherhood is very active in the production and distribution of drugs, especially methamphetamine," he said. Members committed other crimes, including theft, assault and murder.
Gang members released from prison are expected to continue working for the organisation, ensuring that the gang's criminal activities spread far beyond the prison system. Duties are likely to include supplying drugs to comrades still behind bars. "It is a hard fact that most of the AB will be paroled or discharged at some future date, and in view of members' lifelong commitments, it would be naïve to think [any gang member] would not remain in contact with his brothers," concluded an FBI report on the gang from 1982, released under Freedom of Information laws. "The rule of thumb is that, once on the streets, one must take care of his brothers that are still inside. The penalty for failure to do so is death upon the member's return to the prison system."
Jurors in Santa Ana heard how the four defendants sent messages to gang members in other prisons using the urine-manufactured disappearing ink and used runners - usually the girlfriends of inmates - to bring weapons to the prison, concealed in the anus or vagina. Prosecutors showed membership lists and a code of conduct making it clear that every member should generate income from criminal activities. In her closing arguments, Ms Flynn also spent several hours describing in detail five of the alleged murders. In one case, she said, the assailant stabbed the dying victim so many times and so violently that his knife left scratch marks on the ground beneath him. When he was done he licked the victim's blood from his hands. The court also watched five prison surveillance videos showing some of the alleged murders being committed.
At the core of Ms Flynn's case has been the assertion that a message sent by two of the men on trial - Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham - to fellow gang members at a prison in Pennsylvania in 1997, contained an order to start a race war. Riots that immediately broke out in the prison resulted in the deaths of two black inmates.
© Independent Digital
MOVEMENT FOR SLAVERY REPARATIONS GAINING MOMENTUM ACROSS COUNTRY(USA)
10/07/2006 - Advocates who say that black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath are quietly chalking up victories and gaining momentum. Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has been transformed in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into sophisticated, mainstream movement. Most recently, a pair of churches apologized for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay black church members.
The overall issue is hardly settled, even among black Americans: Some say that focusing on slavery shouldn’t be a top priority or that it doesn’t make sense to compensate people generations after a historical wrong. Yet reparations efforts have led a number of cities and states to approve measures that force businesses to publicize their historical ties to slavery. Several reparations court cases are in progress, and international human rights officials are increasingly spotlighting the issue. “This matter is growing in significance rather than declining,” said Charles Ogletree, a Harvard law professor and a leading reparations activist. “It has more vigor and vitality in the 21st century than it’s had in the history of the reparations movement.”
Church, state actions
The most recent victories for reparations advocates came in June, when the Moravian Church and the Episcopal Church both apologized for owning slaves and promised to battle current racism. The Episcopalians also launched a national, yearslong probe into church slavery links and into whether the church should compensate black members. A white church member, Katrina Browne, also screened a documentary focusing on white culpability at the denomination’s national assembly. The Episcopalians debated slavery and reparations for years before reaching an agreement, said Jayne Oasin, social justice officer for the denomination, who will oversee its work on the issue. Historically, slavery was an uncomfortable topic for the church. Some Episcopal bishops owned slaves — and the Bible was used to justify the practice, Oasin said. “Why not (take these steps) 100 years ago?” she said. “Let’s talk about the complicity of the Episcopal Church as one of the institutions of this country who, of course, benefited from slavery.”
Also in June, a North Carolina commission urged the state government to repay the descendants of victims of a violent 1898 campaign by white supremacists to strip blacks of power in Wilmington, N.C. As many as 60 blacks died, and thousands were driven from the city. The commission also recommended state-funded programs to support local black businesses and home ownership. The report came weeks after the Organization of American States requested information from the U.S. government about a 1921 race riot in Tulsa, Okla., in which 1,200 homes were burned and as many as 300 blacks killed. An OAS official said the group might pursue the issue as a violation of international human rights.
Expanding interest
The modern reparations movement revived an idea that’s been around since emancipation, when black leaders argued that newly freed slaves deserved compensation. About six years ago, the issue started gaining momentum again. Randall Robinson’s “The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks,” was a best-seller; reparations became a central issue at the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa; and California legislators passed the nation’s first law forcing insurance companies that do business with the state to disclose their slavery ties. Illinois passed a similar insurance law in 2003, and the next year Iowa legislators began requesting — but not forcing — the same disclosures. Several cities — including Chicago, Detroit and Oakland — have laws requiring that all businesses make such disclosures.
Reparations opponents insist that no living American should have to pay for a practice that ended more than 140 years ago. Plus, programs such as affirmative action and welfare already have compensated for past injustices, said John H. McWhorter, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute. “The reparations movement is based on a fallacy that cripples the thinking on race — the fallacy that what ails black America is a cash problem,” said McWhorter, who is black. “Giving people money will not solve the problems that we have.” Even so, support is reaching beyond blacks and the South.
Katrina Browne, the white Episcopalian filmmaker, is finishing a documentary about her ancestors, the DeWolfs of Bristol, R.I., the biggest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She screened it for Episcopal Church officials at the June convention. “Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North,” details how the economies of the Northeast and the nation as a whole depended on slaves. “A lot of white people think they know everything there is to know about slavery — we all agree it was wrong and that’s enough,” Browne said. “But this was the foundation of our country, not some Southern anomaly. We all inherit responsibility.” She says neither whites nor blacks will heal from slavery until formal hearings expose the full history of slavery and its effects — an effort similar to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission after apartheid collapsed.
© Lawrence Journal World
FRENCH FAR-RIGHT LEADER HAS 'EASY' DEFENCE ON NAZI APOLOGIST CHARGES: LAWYER
12/07/2006 - The French far-right party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen can expect an "easy" defence to charges that he morally defended the World War II German occupation of his country, his lawyer said on Wednesday. A judge earlier this week ordered that Le Pen, leader of the National Front party, be charged at a Paris court with "complicity in apologising for war crime" and in disputing the facts of crimes against humanity by the Nazis. The charge relates to comments attributed to Le Pen in a far-right publication in January 2005. Le Pen was quoted making the mistaken claim that the German Gestapo secret police had prevented a massacre of civilians in France during the war. In the same article, Le Pen claimed that the German occupation of France "was not particularly inhumane". His lawyer Wallerand de Saint-Just told AFP it would "very easy" to defend Le Pen on the charges, since the remarks were made informally after an interview with a journalist from the publication had officially ended, and were not meant for publication. The lawyer added that the comments were not strong enough to constitute an offence.
© The Tocqueville Connection
100 YEARS ON, CHIRAC SAYS SORRY FOR PERSECUTION OF DREYFUS(France)
13/07/2006 - The centenary of the Dreyfus affair was marked by President Chirac of France yesterday as he paid homage to the innocent Jewish officer whose spying conviction tore France apart, and called for vigilance against modern French racism and intolerance. In a solemn address in the courtyard of the École Militaire, where Captain Alfred Dreyfus was publicly disgraced in 1895, M Chirac paid tribute to the officer whose name came to symbolise the anti-Semitism of the French Establishment. The appeal court exonerated Dreyfus on July 12, 1906, after he had spent four years at the notorious Devil’s Island jail off French Guyana. He was twice convicted by military courts and spent six years campaigning to prove his innocence. M Chirac’s gesture was the most unambiguous attempt by a head of state to honour a man who remains suspect to the far-right and to ultra-Catholics.
The military, whose officers fabricated charges against Dreyfus, has never made its peace with the affair. As recently as 1994 an official army historian described Dreyfus’s innocence merely as “the generally accepted thesis”. Descendants of Dreyfus attended the ceremony, with relatives of Émile Zola, the writer whose incendiary newspaper article J’accuse awakened the country to the injustice of Dreyfus’s conviction for spying for Germany. With his dignity and patriotism, Dreyfus was an exemplary officer who had strengthened the Republic, M Chirac said. “The combat against the dark forces of intolerance and hate is never won. We must remain vigilant,” the President added in his televised speech.
The remark was directed at the racial tensions that continue to afflict France, as manifested in last October’s riots in immigrant estates, in the doctrines of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the popular far-right leader, and in attacks on Jews and their institutions. This year Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, cited Dreyfus after a 23-year-old Jewish man was kidnapped and tortured to death on a housing estate. Since his election in 1995 M Chirac has gratified Jewish associations, rights activists and historians with his unqualified condemnation of the sins that the Republic committed against Jews. His predecessor, the late François Mitterrand, argued that the nation was not responsible for the crimes of the puppet state of the Second World War that sent more than 70,000 Jews to their deaths in German camps.
The French Fascists of the 1920s and 1930s and the collaborators of the Vichy state are seen as the ideological heirs of the anti-Dreyfusards who clamoured for the captain’s conviction in the 1890s. M Chirac recalled that France had been bitterly divided by the affair. “On one side there were those who believed that the interest of the State and the honour of the army should prevail over everything. For them, even innocent, Dreyfus must remain guilty,” said the President, using the present tense. “On the other side are those who consider that France would grow by recognising that an error had been committed.” M Chirac disappointed campaigners calling for the officer’s remains to be taken from the Montparnasse Cemetery and placed in the Panthéon, the burial place of national heroes. The President argued that Dreyfus was a victim, while the Panthéon is for achievers.
© The Times Online
FRANCE WARNS OVER AFRICA MIGRANTS
10/7/2006- Europe must be careful not to turn itself into a fortress just to keep out immigrants, a French minister has said. Addressing a European-African migration conference, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the concept of zero immigration was a dangerous myth. Ministers from 57 European and African nations are meeting in the Moroccan capital Rabat to discuss ways of dealing with migrants. Increasing numbers of Africans are coming to Europe in search of work. Delegates are discussing human trafficking and security but also ways of alleviating the poverty which causes many migrants to seek a better life. Already this year at least 8,000 African migrants have reached Spain's Canary Islands alone. Hundreds more have landed on Malta and the Italian island of Lampedusa.
'El Dorado'
Speaking at the opening of the two-day conference, Mr Sarkozy, who is known for his hardline view on immigration, warned that it would not be in Europe's interest to turn itself into a fortress. But he warned that Europe could not absorb all those who saw it as an El Dorado - a move which, he said, would destabilise the continent. The failure to offer opportunities to African youth today would spell disaster for Europe tomorrow, he warned. Mr Sarkozy, who has been widely attacked for drafting a controversial new law to curb immigration to France, also called for a new financial institution to help African migrants in Europe to send money home. Delegates also heard a statement from French President Jacques Chirac in which he called for a joint approach to tackle illegal immigration "with respect for human dignity but with firmness". Illegal migration required an "energetic fight against trafficking networks" along with "co-operation to improve border surveillance," he said, while stressing the need for Europe to enter a development partnership with Africa. "Let us offer Africa's youth a future of dignity. Then it will not risk resorting to violence and extremism, or choosing, en masse, the paths of exile," he said.
'Managed' migration
The Rabat conference is supposed to develop a common approach between Europe and Africa - tougher policing and action against human trafficking but also measures to deal with the poverty and conflict which drive would-be migrants to seek a better life elsewhere. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said that the movement of both refugees and migrants was frequently rooted in the broader problem of under-development. Presenting delegates with a 10-point action plan, Mr Guterres urged governments to work together to protect the rights of both refugees and migrants. "I hope that this conference will enable the states of Africa and Europe to formulate cooperative approaches to the challenge of development - approaches which can help us to create the conditions that enable people to migrate out of choice, rather than necessity," he said. Europe talks increasingly about managed migration, choosing the migrants it wants to fill gaps in the labour market. But African countries fear that means they will lose their best and brightest, slowing down their development still further. Morocco is the jumping-off point for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal and Mali, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But many get to Morocco only to find they cannot go any further - the land routes are closed and there are more patrols at sea. The Moroccan authorities do not want them there. They have stopped granting residence permits even to statutory refugees. Many of the migrants complain of racism and violence. They stay because going back would be worse - for some because their countries are at war, for others because the shame of admitting defeat is simply too great to be borne.
© BBC News
FUROR OVER A FRENCH IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN
08/07/2006 - France's immigration debate heated up Friday with opposition Socialists demanding to know how many undocumented immigrants the government plans to deport before the start of the new school year. Under recently tightened immigration rules, the government has begun tracking down families lacking residency papers through children registered at French schools, vowing to expel them during the summer holidays. "We want to know under what conditions and how many people will be expelled," said Christophe Caresche, a Socialist legislator for Paris.
The new policy has already led to a handful of deportations and threatened to split families according to who has papers and who does not. To assuage critics and the news media, the government said in mid-June that it would grant residency papers to a limited number of families on a case-by-case basis. But that has brought a crush of anxious immigrants to government offices around the country hoping that they might be granted residence papers before the August deadline. The Interior Ministry estimates that there are between 200,000 and 400,000 illegal immigrants in the country.
Immigration opponents worry that the government is backing itself into a huge regularization program in which it will be forced to give residency papers to tens of thousands of people. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has dismissed such fears, saying that the number of illegal immigrants granted papers would be very small. "There isn't a country in the world that believes that you have to give permanent papers because a child attends school," he was quoted by news agencies as telling reporters on Friday. "A massive and total regularization would lead to the sort of catastrophe we know today." But that has led Mr. Sarkozy's political opponents to ask how many he plans to deport.
"It's the policy that has created this situation," Mr. Caresche said, insisting that some prefects have been given monthly deportation quotas. The debate is playing out against the backdrop of next year's presidential elections, in which Mr. Sarkozy is a candidate. After the wave of vandalism and violence that swept the country last year, Mr. Sarkozy vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, charging that many of those taking part in the disorders had been in France illegally. He promised to increase deportations by 5,000 to 25,000 this year. That position played well with France's conservative electorate and even helped Mr. Sarkozy win supporters from the anti-immigration far right. On June 30, he pushed through a new immigration law that gave the government more control over whom it allows into the country and increases its powers of expulsions. Most importantly, the law did away with a longstanding policy that granted residency papers to immigrants lacking them after 10 years in the country.
France has watched for months now as the drama unfolded, with newspapers giving prominent play to cases of schoolchildren threatened with expulsion even though they had lived most of their lives in France. Some opponents of the new law even began sponsoring children of immigrants without proper papers in an attempt to protect them from deportation. Since French schools ended last week, illegal immigrants and their children have been lining up outside the government offices across the country hoping to save their families from deportation under tightened immigration laws.
Hopes were buoyed Thursday when the head of the Paris police said that "several thousand" families would be given residency permits. Mr. Sarkozy rejected that comment on Friday, telling reporters, "Those who talk about numbers today are talking about things they know nothing about." He said the number of people given papers would be decided "once all the dossiers have been studied." But the Socialists see in the debate the seeds of another government crisis that could help them win the presidency next year. With tempers mounting along with summer temperatures, Mr. Sarkozy may be forced to back down on his deportation vows. A Socialist spokesman, Julien Dray, predicted that Mr. Sarkozy would be forced "to oversee massive regularization," much to the dismay of the Interior Minister's political supporters. "The sort of figures that officials are talking about are some 40,000 residency permits," Mr. Dray told Reuters.
© The New York Times
EU AND AFRICA JOIN FORCES TO TACKLE IMMIGRATION
10/7/2006 - Almost 60 European and African countries are meeting in Rabat, Morroco for a major conference on immigration, following a radical rise of illegal migrants flowing to the EU from the south. European Commission vice-president Franco Frattini believes the event could produce concrete measures tackling the "uncontrolled migration movements" between the two continents, which he argues would be "in the interest of all parties involved, including first and foremost migrants themselves."
The meeting has been organised as a response to last September's incident in Morocco where hundreds of African migrants tried to break the border fence separating the country from two Spanish enclaves - Ceuta and Melilla, with five people being shot dead and dozens wounded. Since then, the immigration flows to Europe have grown stronger, particularly from Mauritania, close to Spain's Canary island borders where around 9,000 people have landed this year. This is over double the figure for the whole of 2005, according to the Financial Times.
The EU argues the main response should be more financial aid to the region, with the bloc planning to grant €18 billion to Africa between 2007-2013. "The only long term and sustainable response to migration pressure is not putting more barriers in place, sending people back or selective migration policies. The true response is investing massively in development," argues EU development commissioner Louis Michel. However, EU member states have so far failed to hammer out their own common rules on how to deal with immigrants and asylum seekers. The commission itself stumbled over the issue when Mr Frattini's so-called list of safe countries - from which the bloc would not recognise asylum seekers and refugees - faced criticism from other commissioners and had to be withdrawn in May.
Human rights organisations argue Europe should be careful and distinguish economic migrants from political refugees who face life-threatening risks if returned to their home countries. Also, NGOs suggest Europe should clamp down on violence against immigrants and improve basic legal assistance and interpretation services for them in places like Tenerife, the capital of the Canary Islands. "The EU and its member states must abandon the illusion that it is possible to stop people with ever tougher controls," commented Dick Oosting from Amnesty International's EU office in Brussels. He added that "the politically correct statements" produced at events such as today's conference in Rabat "can no longer hide that there is a deep divide between Europe's repressive immigration agenda and Africa's interest in increasing development aid and opening legal channels of migration."
© EUobserver
FAR-RIGHT RISES IN CENTRAL EUROPE
11/7/2006- Far-right parties are gaining popularity in Central Europe. Slovakia provides the most recent example, where a new government coalition has formed that includes an extreme-right party that has rabidly xenophobic views and speaks fondly of that country’s pro-Nazi wartime government. Though Slovak elections were won by the leftist Smer (Social Democratic) party, it needed coalition partners to form a government. A key party chosen last week was the Slovak National Party. This party not only sympathizes with the fascist World War ii government of Jozef Tiso, infamous for having paid the Nazis to send 70,000 Jews to death camps, but is itself extremely hostile to the large gypsy and Hungarian minorities within Slovakia. It is known to have proposed such ideas as interning the gypsies in camps. Slovakia’s embrace of extremism follows on the heels of a similar situation in Poland, where a coalition government was formed in early May in which the far-right, ultra-Catholic League of Polish Families joined with a populist party and conservatives. The popularity of extremists is increasing in Europe because of widespread dissatisfaction with the way more liberal governments are handling problems such as unemployment and immigration. The right-wing groups promise a solution.
When Jan Slota, leader of the Slovak National Party, was asked by the Slovak Spectator a month before the elections about the threats his party intends to protect the Slovaks from, he replied: “The Slovak National Party sees the trends in the world today, such as Muslim fundamentalism, as very dangerous. Slovakia is an overwhelmingly Catholic country and is disturbed by the flow of Muslims to France, Germany and England, where a great many now live” (May 20). This type of thinking resonates increasingly with Europeans, and not only those of Central European countries. Western Europe has also seen an increase in popularity of parties espousing nationalist policies such as those aimed at curtailing immigration.
The Financial Times of July 7 warned of the dangers:
Set in the context of recent events in Poland and the rise of Jorg Haider’s Freedom Party in Austria in 2000, the concern now is that we are seeing the start of a trend in which each success for an extremist party in one country emboldens and helps legitimize extremist parties in others.
During the election campaign in Slovakia, leading figures in the Slovak National Party successfully countered charges that their presence would be unacceptable abroad by pointing out that Brussels had been forced into a humiliating climb-down in its brief attempt to isolate Austria in 2000 and had done nothing significant in Poland. So far, these groups have been junior partners to more mainstream parties who say they can prevent extremist rhetoric from translating into government policy. But if this trend continues, it may only be a matter of time before such a party becomes the leading force in government. If that happens, modern European history will have entered a new period. A “new period” in European history is indeed about to begin. The political success of hard-line nationalist leaders reflects a mood of dissatisfaction among many Europeans. There is a desire for strong leaders, who promise solutions. We can expect such trends to continue in Europe, making conditions ripe for the rise of a powerful leader prophesied to lead a united Europe and have unprecedented impact on the world scene.
© The Trumpet
Headlines 7 July, 2006
BISHOPS URGE ASYLUM SEEKERS END 'IMMORAL' HUNGER STRIKES (Belgium)
7/7/2006- Belgian bishops have urged illegal immigrants to end their hunger strike protests being staged at various churches across the country. The bishops also said if they refuse to end their hunger strike, the illegal immigrants should continue them elsewhere. However, the bishops also advised parish communities against calling in police, unless there are serious health and safety risks. The bishops expressed understanding that the illegal immigrants had opted to go on a hunger strike on the belief that their demands were not being heard. "But, as we had earlier declared, we cannot endorse this form of protest. It is morally unacceptable that a person should place his life at threat in this way. And inciting others to so the same, is even less defendable," the bishops said. There are an estimated 150 people currently on a hunger strike in Belgium, some of whom haven't eaten for 15 days. Most of the hunger strikers are situated in Wallonia. Church sit-in protests and hunger strikes by illegal immigrants demanding residency have been waged since October 2005 at various locations across Belgium. Currently, protests are being staged at 41 locations. And protestors with the group UDEP — which supports the demands of illegal immigrants — and the group Antwaarps Asiel demonstrated outside federal Parliament in Brussels on Thursday. About 20 protestors symbolically gave their ID card in the Park of Brussels to the asylum seekers, news agency Belga reported. Leader of the Flemish green party Groen! Vera Dua expressed her support for the asylum seekers in a speech. The protest was planned to coincide with the Parliament vote on proposed reforms to the nation's asylums law. The protestors claim the plan represents a hardening of existing regulations. Thursday's planned vote, however, was postponed until next week.
© Expatica News
FAR-RIGHT GROUP CONVICTED FOR GAY HATE PAMPHLETS (Sweden)
6/7/2006- The Swedish Supreme Court has convicted four right-wing extremists under hate crime laws for distributing anti-gay pamphlets outside a school. The four handed out the leaflets together with three others in Söderhamn, 250km north of Stockholm. The leaflets claimed, among other things, that "HIV and AIDS appeared early in homosexuals, and their promiscuous lifestyles have been one of the main reasons for this modern plague gaining a foothold." All seven young men were convicted of agitation against minority groups in the district court. Four of them took the case to the Court of Appeal, where they were found not guilty. The appeal court referred to the case of pastor Åke Green, who was cleared of agitation against minority groups after an anti-gay sermon. Judges in that case found that although he had broken Swedish law, the right to free speech in the European Convention of Human Rights took precedence. Prosecutors appealed the Söderhamn case to the Supreme Court, which reimposed the four men's convictions. However, the they were given lower sentences than in the district court. A 25-year old from Sundsvall who at the original trial was given two months in jail was sentenced to a suspended sentence and fined 100 days' salary. A 25-year old from Gotenburg was given the same sentence in the district court, and also received a suspended sentence and a fine from the Supreme Court. A 19-year old from Sundsvall had the original punishment of one year's probation reinstated, and a 21-year old, also from Sundsvall, was given a suspended sentence and a fine, as in the district court.
© The Local
MALTA ALARMED BY MIGRANT INFLUX
4/7/2006 - The government of Malta says it has no more capacity to deal with illegal immigrants, following an influx of unprecedented proportions this year. Almost 1,000 immigrants have landed on the small island since January - the equivalent, says Valletta, of about 30,000 immigrants arriving in Spain. Most set off in small boats from Libya, hoping to reach Italy and Europe's mainland, but end up in Malta. Malta is now demanding immediate EU help to deal with the problem.
Overcrowded centre
There are more than 700 immigrants at a centre near the capital Valletta - an old school whose classrooms have been converted into tightly-packed impersonal bedrooms. The place has sanitary and health problems because it is massively overcrowded, full of young African men, none of whom it seems actually want to be in Malta. Most hoped to reach the European mainland, but ended up in Malta because of bad navigation or desperate need. Maltese Foreign Minister Michael Frendo says his country now faces the greatest immigration problem in the EU. "If the Spanish have had 10,000 in the Canaries, we can say we have had the equivalent of 96,000, taken on the density of population, and we are now at the limits of our capacity." "Malta desperately needs help to deal with the people here and to stop more from arriving. And if it doesn't get it, many Maltese people fear the effects the immigrants will have on their small, homogenous nation," Mr Frendo says.
© BBC News
AMNESTY FOR 'THOUSANDS' OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (France)
6/7/2006- French officials said Thursday that thousands of illegal immigrant families with children enrolled at French schools are to be given legal status, following a grassroots campaign against their deportation. "We know that we are going to grant residency papers to several thousand families," Paris police chief Yannick Blanc said in an interview appearing in Le Monde newspaper. A nationwide protest movement has sprung up over plans to expel thousands of illegal immigrant families whose children are in French schools, with left-wing politicians, media and sports stars among tens of thousands to sign a petition pledging to protect them from what they call a "manhunt." The children are from families who entered France illegally and were facing expulsion with their parents at the end of the school year, but campaigners say that most of them know no other country and that deportation would be inhumane. Bowing to pressure last month, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy - the centre-right frontrunner for next year's presidential election - told regional authorities to reconsider cases on the basis of new criteria, such as whether a child has "strong ties" to France. Thousands of parents have since been queuing up outside processing centres - clutching their children's report cards and sports trophies - in hope of qualifying for residency papers. The new requirements include showing that one of their children was born in France or arrived before the age of 13, has been at school in France for two years, or has no link with the country of his or her parents. Blanc said 2,300 families had so far been given appointments, with more to come, although he warned that not everyone would qualify. Because French schools are obliged to take in children regardless of whether they are in the country legally, the government says that to give residency rights to all pupils' families would encourage illegal immigration.
The Education Without Borders Network (RESF), which has coordinated the protest campaign, estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 children of illegal immigrant families are in the French school system. RESF says the government's move concerns only a fraction of families facing expulsion and has vowed to keep up the pressure. Blanc said the campaigners' fears that children would be tracked down over the summer months were "illegitimate" and "verging on slanderous" towards the police, saying officers in the capital did not arrest minors. Under fire from critics who draw a parallel with the hunt for Jewish children during World War II, the government has symbolically appointed lawyer Arno Klarsfeld - son of the French Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld - as mediator with the families concerned. Blanc stressed there were no plans for a blanket amnesty of France's estimated 200,000 to 400,000 clandestine immigrants - as under the Socialist government in 1997-1998 when 80,000 people benefited from the measure. Under Sarkozy's authority, France has vowed to step up the rhythm of illegal immigrant deportations to 26,000 this year. Parliament also last month approved a new immigration law - attacked by the left-wing opposition - which seeks to encourage more qualified workers to come to France and tightens entrance rules for other foreigners.
© Expatica News
MAJORITY 'OPPOSE MIGRANT AMNESTY' (uk)
A large majority of UK residents are against offering an amnesty to illegal immigrants, a poll suggests.
6/7/2006- The YouGov survey for the think-tank MigrationWatch, which campaigns against mass migration, suggested 72% opposed the move, with 11% in favour. Three-quarters of the 2,400 people surveyed felt too many immigrants were coming to the UK. Immigration Minister Liam Byrne last month refused to rule out an amnesty but says there are no plans for one. Responding to the new poll, Mr Byrne said the government remained committed to removing people who were in the UK illegally but it welcomed legal migrants. "The intention of the government's policies is not to increase or reduce the number of people coming to the UK," he said. "Rather, its aim is to ensure that those who can contribute most to the UK are selected for entry and that the country takes in only as many people as our economy needs at any one time." But Tony Blair this week said that allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the UK would mean "a lot more" would come.
'Expensive'
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, told BBC Radio 4's Today amnesties simply did not work. "There have been five amnesties in Italy in the last 20 years and six in Spain and each time there have been more applicants so that's practical proof that amnesties encourage more illegal immigration," he said. Amnesties were also expensive, he said. While £500m might be gained from people beginning to pay taxes, the net cost was between £500m and £1bn a year because people began claiming benefits. Sir Andrew said there should be tougher penalties for employers hiring illegal workers. That would make work for illegal immigrants dry up and they would then "drift" away. If they did not, then the situation would remain the same but not get worse. There could be a three-month period where anybody would be allowed to leave Britain without being arrested for immigration offences.
Job gaps
Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, said Britain faced a choice between deporting half-a-million immigrants and granting an amnesty. Uprooting immigrants' families would be immoral and impractical, he said, and would leave great holes in Britain's workforce, he argued. Mr Dromey asked: "Who would cook, who would clean, who would work in care homes, who would work in agriculture?" The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants called for a serious debate about "regularising" illegal immigrants. Deportations meant sending people back to destitution, they said. And it challenged any political party ruling out an amnesty to say how they would increase the current deportation rate and how they would pay for it.
© BBC News
BLACK COMMUNITIES REJECT TREVOR PHILLIPS FOR TOP EQUALITIES JOB (uk, Press release)
A new poll has found that Black communities overwhelmingly gave the thumbs down to the prospect of CRE chairman Trevor Phillips taking over a new equalities body.
5/7/2006- The Commission for Racial Equality chief is believed to have been interviewed this week for the chairmanship of a new ‘single equalities’ organisation, which comes into effect next year. But a poll on the Blink website shows that less than 3% of respondents backed Mr Phillips for the position, compared to a 40% support for Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti. Anti-racist groups believe the results confirm a widespread view within Black communities that Mr Phillips has damaged the drive for greater race equality since taking over the CRE in 2003. Today the black-led human rights group The 1990 Trust, and Operation Black Vote, publish a hard-hitting critique of Mr Phillips’ reign. They are concerned that the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) already lacks credibility after consultations showed Black communities rejected the concept of lumping together seven different equalities issues. If Mr Phillips were appointed as CEHR chair, this would be the final nail in the coffin for the single equalities body, they campaigners conclude. Karen Chouhan, of The 1990 Trust, said: ‘The internet poll, whilst not scientific by any means, does reflect what we’ve heard from Black communities across Britain. Namely that Trevor has sadly lost the confidence of many within the Black and Muslim communities. ‘We have seen a never-ending stream of headline-grabbing comments from him which do not focus on the issues that matter, and actually do damage to the interests of people who look to the CRE to protect them from race discrimination.’ ‘Telling Muslims they need to be more British in the face of rabid Islamaphobia was one of many ill advised comments. From his claim that “multiculturalism is dead”, to the resurrecting of the outmoded term “coloured”, Mr Phillips has given succor to opponents of greater race equality and dismayed many Black people.’
The Blink poll has received over 300 votes. Ms Chakrabarti got 43%, former CRE chairman Lord Herman Ouseley scored 36%, ex-trades union leader Sir Bill Morris 17%, and Mr Phillips trailed on just 4%. Campaigners do not believe Lord Ouseley or Sir Bill have applied for the CEHR chairmanship. Black community activists believe the poll results reflect a commonly-held view that Mr Phillips pursued a government agenda too closely, while evidence from various studies shows patterns of race inequality getting worse. A frequent criticism is that Mr Phillips comments around integration and citizenship appears to ‘problematise’ Black communities for not doing enough to integrate, when he should be fighting for policies which would make a real difference in tackling racism in employment and public life. Mr Phillips’ focus on the integration agenda was evident from the interim report of the Equalities Review (ER) of government policies he leads. Black groups believe the ER fails to address the root causes of racism and represents yet another missed opportunity to achieve race equality in our lifetime. It would be a disaster if this agenda was replicated in the new CEHR. Simon Woolley, of Operation Black Vote, said: ‘This new equalities body cannot work unless we have a chair that can carry all communities and the different equality sectors. ‘Other sectors have reservations about Mr. Phillips but are afraid they will be called racist if they voice their opinions. In terms of race relations under Trevor´s watch - not nearly enough progress has been made.’
Notes:
1. The 1990 Trust is described as a Black-led human rights organisation. Operation Black Vote campaigns for greater Black political representation and civil participation.
2. The Blink poll was first published on 28th June, and is still active. Only one vote is allowed as ‘multiple voting’ has been prevented. 3. The results, at 10am today, was Shami Chakrabarti 134 (43%), Lord Herman Ouseley 114 (36%), Sir Bill Morris 53 (17%), Trevor Phillips 10 (4%). There were a total of 311 votes cast.
4. Blink is a Black news website published by The 1990 Trust. It has 1.7m hits per month and it’s editor is Lester Holloway.
5. The 1990 Trust and Operation Black Vote have a long record of voicing the views of Black communities throughout the government process of creating the Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
6. The study ‘Our Rights Our Future’ published in June 200, by The 1990 Trust revealed in detail the views of Black communities towards the CEHR proposals.
7. The 1990 Trust carried out two national consultations with Black communities over the proposals, each involving ten regional consultation meetings with hundreds of Black organisations representing thousands of members / users.
8. Mr Phillips began by supporting the CEHR proposals. When anti-racist groups demonstrated Black community opposition to the plans, Mr Phillips changed his mind describing them as “bad for race equality” and a “train wreck waiting to happen.” Given his CEHR candidature one can assume he has traveled full circle and is now back in favour of the proposals.
9. The 1990 Trust campaigned for the CEHR to have a statutory race committee and minimum Black representation on the board. The government rejected these ideas despite granting them to disability.
10. Mr. Phillips did not actively lobby for these demands. He is on record as saying ‘We’ve got to enhance the legal powers we’ve got at the moment. If that isn’t what takes place then I’m not interested.’ In fact the CEHR will have LESS powers to enforce race laws than the present CRE.
© Black Information Link
TREVOR PHILLIPS WOULD BE "FINAL NAIL IN CEHR COFFIN" (uk, Opinion)
Is Trevor Phillips the right candidate to lead the new single equalities body?
4/7/2006- The 1990 Trust and Operation Black Vote give their verdict on whether the Commission for Racial Equality chairman is the best figure to lead the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR). This might seem like a question about personalities. It is not. Actually it’s a question of policies, and of whether the new will have the confidence of Black communities. Today marks the last days of interviews for potential CEHR chairmanship candidates. At stake for the hopefuls is the prestige of running Europe’s biggest equalities outfit – a £70m monolith which lumps together race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disabilities, religion and human rights. Whoever leads it will undoubtedly be a political big hitter. But ironically what is most needed is not politician or spin-master.
Isolated
Being able to play the media is a secondary consideration. In fact chasing headlines could be the last thing the CEHR chair should do. The priority must be to command credibility from the various equalities lobbies and from the public at large. This comes not from name-recognition, but from a policy approach which chimes with communities. The people who most need protection from discrimination do not want the CEHR chair to be following a –maverick agenda or to religiously tow the government line, but a good team player who can bring communities from all strands along with them. Another important quality for the position is someone who develops the different strands of equalities rather than adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
Eskimos
Someone who respects and listens to the grassroots equalities lobbies – the people involved in challenging inequality on the ground, the organisations with grassroots networks. The statement ‘multiculturalism is dead’ was an opportunity for some to attack the ‘race relations industry’ and all who fight for Black people’s rights. And someone who commands respect from ordinary citizens. For the Black community, this question cannot be divorced from the fact that the CEHR’s creation, and the CRE’s abolition, has dismayed many Black people. Fears about a hierarchy of equalities developing have not been assuaged. Public consultations have shown Black communities to be even more opposed to the concept of a single equalities body than others. The reasons are simple – we have fought blood, sweat and tears to win the present safeguards against racism: the CRE and four race relations acts. We do not want the gains of the last 30 years to be washed away by a colour-blind approach to equalities.
Train-wreck
The consequences of institutional and personal racism abound in every sphere of life: Black unemployment double that for white people, and hugely disproportionate outcomes in education; criminal justice; mental and other health areas to name but a few. Our experience has been that whenever race has been merged with other equalities subjects – especially when local authorities axed race committees and units in the 90s – race has fallen down the agenda and often come to rest at the bottom. We have heard no arguments about why this same experience won’t repeat itself in the CEHR. And there is every reason for believing that it will be repeated. Black communities have already been denied the modest demand of a statutory race committee or any guarantee about minimum Black representation on the CEHR board. At the start of the CEHR process Trevor Phillips was in favour of the government proposals. He even remarked: “It doesn’t matter whether it is full of Eskimos, the question is: does it have the powers to enforce the law?”
Opportunism
Then, as Black communities showed their opposition to the proposals, he changed his tune. He said the plans were "bad for race and bad for equality" and would leave the new body unable to tackle racism. He said the CEHR was a “train wreck waiting to happen”, yet now he apparently wants to be the driver. This smacks of opportunism and double standards. Black communities have been told that no statutory committees are needed because the CEHR will operate on a ‘multiple identities’ basis, and even if any equalities-specific committees are created when the body starts work in six months time it will be temporary. The government created a statutory disability committee but did not apply the same standards to race. The reason for this was that disability organisations lobbied hard while Trevor was no-where to be seen. Trevor Phillips began by fully supporting this government approach. Black communities told him the ‘multiple identities’ philosophy only took us so far.
Exclusions
In the event we got a CEHR that has marginally less powers to enforce race laws than exist at present, with no guarantee of a race committee to keep the issue on the agenda. The statistics of race hate alone show why the increased Government attention to race equality is needed: the British National Party’s vote has grown at each election in the last six years and with 90,000 votes across the capital last year. The BNP were only denied a London Assembly seat because they narrowly missed the five per cent threshold. Their vote is being aided by sustained tabloid vitriol against asylum seekers. African-Caribbean boys continue to face discrimination in education with disproportionately high levels of school exclusions. All these areas needs a tougher regime of enforcement, yet Trevor Phillips has made a virtue of what is simply a decline in legal enforcement by claiming, in the foreword to his 2004 annual report, how much taxpayers money he saved by settling cases out of court.
Paradigm
How different this is from the vision of the CRE’s founders who saw an organisation combating racism through establishing case-law. In the same foreword Trevor says the highlight of 2004 was ‘the issue that gave the CRE the greatest number of column inches in 2004 was the debate we started about multiculturalism’. This was not quite how Black communities saw it – they saw a CRE chairman playing to the media and allowing papers like the Daily Mail to declare that ‘multiculturalism is dead.’ This was merely an opportunity to attack the ‘race relations industry’ and those who fought for Black people’s rights. Of course, this shift met delight at the likes of the Daily Telegraph. The BNP welcomed the ‘multiculturalism isn’t working’ speech a ‘paradigm shift’. This was a ‘significant day’ according to the fascists. Many of the column inches Trevor delights in were highly damaging to Black communities.
Stereotypes
Repeating claims that ‘we are becoming more segregated residentially’ Trevor shed some more light on what a rejection of multiculturalism would look like. A ‘modern highway code for multi-ethnic Britain’ would develop new ‘rules of the road’. For example: ‘is it really offensive to call someone “coloured”…’ and ‘should councils print all their important documents in several languages to encourage participation or is this encouraging separatism?’ and ‘are there any circumstances in which we sacrifice freedom of expression to protect the minority from ridicule?’ Again, these comments may have generated acres of newsprint but set back the movement to create real race equality by decades. The right-wing press loved the resurrection of the word ‘coloured’, with the implication that those who object are too sensitive or have a chip on their shoulder. His comments about translating council documents played to the gallery who believe this practice is all ‘political correctness gone mad’ and a reflection on ethnic minority communities not bothering to learn English. Once again, his intervention reinforced factually incorrect myths (most immigrant communities do learn English, and their English is pretty good by comparison with many indigenous people), as well as perpetrated hoary old stereotypes and right-wing hobby-horses.
Pronouncements
The powerful in society loved it, while the most vulnerable saw someone who’s pronouncements did nothing to improve their condition, and actually reversed it. It is easy to see how this process of repositioning the CRE – to make multiculturalism rather than racism the main focus of attention, blaming the victims rather than the discriminators for social disadvantage and downplaying the need for legal action – has ended in the nonsense of the ‘Equalities Review’. Leaving aside, for a moment, Trevor’s record in turning the CRE into a vehicle for attacking multiculturalism and the dearth of enforcement actions that were taken to court-none in the last financial year - under his watch, he has also just authored one of the most derided so-called investigations into inequality in years. The ‘Equalities Review’ was invited by the Prime Minister to investigate the long term causes of disadvantage and produce a report that could inform the work of both the new Commission and the Single Equality Act that the government is committed to introducing. Its panel was only five-strong – one of whom resigned before the report was published – and unrepresentative of experience in the field.
Slowly
Its ‘interim report’ is an exercise in prettifying inequality by suggesting it is the result of random life chances and that, in any case, we are all making a steady journey towards equality anyway, that people may "by choice and talent, travel life's road more quickly or slowly than others [and] some individuals, and some groups disproportionately, are forced along a tougher, less direct path, from which it becomes hard to rejoin the main road. We may all still be travelling in the same direction, but some of us much more slowly." The report barely mentions discrimination (the very word ‘racism’ appears once) and comes close to implying people choose to be unequal or that their culture somehow holds them back. It blames the victims of discrimination for precipitating it, with repeated quotes along the following lines: 'a true attempt to remedy an unjust equality may appear to be the action of self-interested groups to close gaps for which they in part are themselves responsible'. Inequality is put down to whether or not a person suffers a particular life event – a ‘trigger episode’ - such as the birth of a child or preschool experience. The obvious fact that while sometimes events may appear random, in reality they are linked through structural disadvantage is ignored.
Demands
What explains, to take only one of many possible examples, the pay gap, domestic violence or sexual assaults faced by the millions of women who don’t have children is left to the imagination – its not in this report. Nor is what to do about discrimination – basic demands of equality campaigners are dismissed in short order. These criticisms alone are significant reasons why Trevor is not suited to leading the CEHR, but there are many other reasons too. Chief among them are the fact that his frequent headline-grabbing statements appear to focus on peripheral subjects rather than addressing the question of what policies the government can introduce to make race equality in our lifetime a reality. So for example in June last year he said that reality TV helps race relations by “introduc[ing] the majority of the British public to people they never normally would meet.” Okay, but what about reversing the tide of anti-asylum legislation? His attack on “corporate multi-culturalism” and people who wear “historical identities as badges” earlier on the same year knocked race campaigners. But what about making anti-terror legislation fairer so that it prevents terror but does not isolate Muslim communities and feed Islamophobia?
Demonising
He blasted the ‘the almost casual acceptance that the majority of children in the African Caribbean community grow up without a father-figure.’ But what about disproportionate black school exclusions? In 2004 Trevor blamed "backwards attitudes" of African communities resulting in the spread of HIV-Aids in Britain. But what about reversing the media’s demonising of Muslims and other Black communities? Writing in The Sun, he called for all readers to “wear their poppy with pride” on St George’s Day. But what about legislating to curb the far-right who fuel violent race attacks? In 2003 Trevor called for Muslim extremists to be deported, saying: “The faster [Home Secretary] David Blunkett can deport them the better. Every time Abu Hamza or Sheikh Omar do their thing in front of the television cameras, Muslims suffer in dozens of places in this country.” We agree but we would also like our race leader to have been vocal about the unacceptable detentions in Belmarsh, Guantanamo Bay or extraordinary renditions?
Fascination
He attacked “Evangelical African churches that see it as acceptable to traumatise a child, claiming they are ridding her of evil spirits”, feeding a fascination with so-called voodoo killings. Trevor has a long track record of raising his profile but not speaking to the issues Black communities need addressed. Quite simply we want someone with our interests at heart. The CEHR is now inevitable despite widespread opposition from Black communities. The wrong chairman will be the final nail in the coffin for attempts to make the CEHR a credible or indeed to have any kind of equality champion. The process of appointing a chairman is being conducted behind closed doors by civil servants and hired consultants. Some say a deal has already been hatched with Trevor as Chair and Bert Massie- from the Disability Rights Commission his Deputy. We still want the CRE to be retained, alongside the CEHR. But the CRE will need to be beefed-up. Since 2003 the CRE has virtually ended its effective legal representation for individuals fighting race discrimination cases.
Sleepwalking
Even the Daily Telegraph noted: ‘in his first few months in the job [Trevor Phillips] has taken over the chairmanship of the commission’s legal committee and cut back drastically on the number of racial discrimination cases it brings.’ This must change. Is there really only one case against race discrimination in Britain worthy of CRE legal representation? As the Commission’s 1998 report points out – the last with Sir [now Lord] Herman Ouseley as chair – ‘in several key cases the Commission’s support for appeals against tribunal decisions resulted in significant decisions clarifying or extending the scope of the Race Relations Act’. If the CRE is not pursuing these cases how can we expect a CEHR with Trevor at the helm to enforce discrimination law on race, or any other equalities subject? His claim, last year, that Britain was ‘sleepwalking to segregation’ by communities choosing to ‘live with our own kind’ laid the blame of separation at the doors of Black communities rather than analysis the experience of council housing allocations policies; safety-in-numbers to protect against violent race attacks; and social exclusion to the poorest areas mainly as a result of racism in education and employment. In his speech he referred to research by Professor Ceri Peach, suggesting it showed that ‘less than 10 per cent of ethnic segregation is explained by economic factors; much more is down to history and choice’. He was flatly contradicted by the same researchers. Ceri Peach said: ‘segregation is actually declining as people from ethnic minority backgrounds become wealthier and move out of city centre areas’ (www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk). The most detailed recent research, by Dr Ludi Simpson at Manchester University, showed that ‘racial self-segregation and increased racial segregation are myths for Britain (Observer 25 September 2005). There are many challenges facing the CEHR and many hopes that the Discrimination Law Review will render anti-discrimination law more effective and consistent. The future of race equality and equalities in general is bigger than anyone person. We need confidence, understanding, vision and success. Trevor’s stewardship of the CRE has not seen tangible improvement in race relations, rather society pointing the finger towards Black and faith groups -particularly Muslims- as the sole problem.
© Black Information Link
ISLAM IN BRITAIN
A year after 7/7, Muslims cannot be complacent about extremism
4/7/2006- In the anguished weeks of debate and foreboding that followed the London bombings last July, dire predictions were made. British Muslims would become the targets of widespread intimidation and hate campaigns as the backlash against extremism took hold. Young British Muslims, it was said, would become further alienated from mainstream society, retreating into a paranoid world of conspiracy theories and religious fanaticism. The community would run into growing hostility and discrimination as perceptions of them as a Fifth Column closed opportunities and people’s minds. They would become isolated and embittered. The predictions were wrong. British society, and London in particular, rose above crude revenge. Politicians, faith groups and ordinary citizens reached out to the Muslim mainstream in support, sharing their bewilderment and supporting them in the painful selfexamination of why their faith had bred such violence. There were some isolated hate crimes, but no general spiral into communal violence and entrenched hostility. A year on, many of the questions remain, however. How great a pull does religious extremism exercise on Britain’s 1.8 million Muslims? How integrated or alienated do young Muslim men feel in Bradford, Dewsbury or Leeds? What help can the police and the public expect from Muslim leaders in identifying extremists and encouraging integration and moderation?
In the largest survey yet undertaken of Muslim attitudes, the Times/Populus poll has revealed myriad views, some alarming, others profoundly reassuring, that point to a Muslim community in Britain that is as varied as it is vibrant. Indeed, in many respects the phrase “Muslim community” is itself misleading. Some of those questioned feel fully part of the British mainstream. Others see only hardship and discrimination around them. On key questions relating to integration, Western values, public morality, education and opportunity, Muslims often hold views very similar to those of their non-Muslim compatriots. But like the British mainstream, those views can differ greatly according to the age, social position and earnings of the respondents. In other words, British Muslims are, in many respects, as much British as they are Muslims. Generalisations about “the community” therefore risk being trite. It is, nevertheless, worth underlining some of the more striking results from this survey. The first is that nine out of ten respondents believe that Muslims make a valuable contribution to British society, and two thirds say that their community needs to do more to integrate with it. That is heartening. A high estimation of self-worth is a prerequisite for the moral underpinning necessary to become a good citizen. To respect the society in which one lives — and to wish more fully to be part of it — is the best defence against the kind of marginalised revulsion in which extremism flourishes.
Just as heartening is the finding that almost nine out of ten British Muslims have close personal friends who are not Muslims. That is the human face of race relations, the warmth behind abstract statistics. The reverse figure — only one in three of the general population has Muslims friends — is, of course, explicable by their higher numbers and the geographic concentration of Muslims. And Muslims who do feel part of the British mainstream clearly understand the dangers to themselves and to society posed by religious extremism. More than half say the Government is not doing enough to combat extremism, a higher proportion than among the general population. And half the respondents say that it is acceptable for the authorities to monitor closely what is preached in mosques — though, understandably, far many more object to the police viewing Muslims with greater suspicion because of the 7/7 bombings.
Yet there are some findings that are alarming and underline the danger of jihad thinking. However much the Government insists that foreign policy cannot be skewed to cater simply for one group, the Muslim insistence on the “umma”, the global community of Islam, has led more than half to see the War on Terror as a war on Islam. And though only 16 per cent believe the bombers’ cause was just, some 13 per cent consider them to be martyrs. That is not a statistically insignificant figure. It translates as 234,000 people, almost the population of Bradford. Britain’s many Muslim associations, bodies, societies and mosques that claim to speak, often cacophonously, for their religion, must do more to get this figure down. The majority of Muslims must be prepared to show leadership and not allow themselves to be intimidated by a raucous minority. British Islam has its own need to win the “hearts and minds” of adherents, and to ponder its place in a largely tolerant society. The less Muslims retreat, the more they will advance.
© The Times Online
BLAIR SAYS MUSLIM LEADERS MUST DO MORE(United Kingdom)
5/7/2006 - Tony Blair vented his frustration at Britain's Muslim community yesterday, saying its leaders had to do more to attack not just the extremists' methods, but their false sense of grievance about the west. He told the Commons liaison committee that too many Muslim leaders gave the impression that they understood and sympathised with the grievances, an attitude that ensured the extremists would never be defeated. Mr Blair insisted government alone could not root out extremism.
He was responding to criticisms, some from some Muslim Labour MPs, that the government's drive to integrate the Muslim community after the July 7 bombings last year was dissipating into a public relations exercise. Sadiq Khan, Labour MP for Tooting, claimed the Muslim community was "frustrated and disappointed" that the government had failed to implement the recommendations by a government taskforce. Shahid Malik, MP for Dewsbury, said there had at least been a communications failure.
The former home secretary David Blunkett admitted that the Home Office had been diverted from the integration drive by other crises in the ministry. Former Home Office minister John Denham said members of the working group felt overwhelmingly that "they were brought in for short-term purposes, their reports have not been followed through, and most of their recommendations have not been implemented". Mr Blair's spokesman said the taskforce had produced 64 recommendations, of which 27 were from government, and 19 of these had been implemented, or were being so.
Mr Blair said: "The government has its role to play in this, but the government alone cannot go and root out the extremism in these communities." He said there was an impression Muslim leaders sympathised with extremists' grievances, but disagreed with their methods. He said he was happy to meet the taskforce to review progress but rejected its call for a public independent inquiry into July 7 as a huge diversion of resources. Mr Blair's remarks were rejected by the mainstream Muslim Council of Britain. Its spokesman, Inayat Bunglawala, said: "Many Muslims across the UK believe that the UK's participation in the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq and the resulting carnage we have seen in those countries have been a key contributory factor in the radicalisation of some young Muslims." The shadow attorney general, Dominic Grieve, said: "If we are to succeed in promoting better integration, and with it a reduction in Islamophobia, this requires a major effort. There is no evidence of the government making a really positive contribution to achieving this outcome.
© The Guardian
PROTECTION OF HUNDREDS OF ROMA RENDERED HOMELESS IN KALININGRAD REGION (Russia)
7/7/2006- The Open Society Justice Initiative and the European Roma Rights Centre today condemned the forced eviction and destruction of homes belonging to more than 200 Roma, including over 100 children, in the village of Dorozhnoe, in Russia's Kaliningrad region. From May 29 to June 2, authorities bulldozed 37 houses belonging to Roma families and set fire to the ruins. The destruction followed flawed proceedings in the Russian courts that denied the Roma fundamental due process. Over 100 of the displaced Roma, who had lived legally for years in their homes, are currently in tents and other temporary shelters and are being threatened with physical expulsion from their land. Others have fled elsewhere or been expelled from the area.
"This wanton attack on the Roma of Dorozhnoe must cease immediately," said Dimitrina Petrova, Executive Director of the European Roma Rights Centre. "The Russian authorities must provide the now-homeless Roma with humanitarian aid and adequate compensation for their losses, and restore legal title to their property." Regional authorities began their eviction campaign by initiating court proceedings to have the Roma families' ownership of their homes declared illegal. An attorney with the Justice Initiative and local counsel appeared before the local high court to assist the families in securing legal title to their properties. But in proceedings that violated fundamental standards of due process, the court issued decisions on May 3, 2006 rejecting the families' claims and opening the door to the forced evictions that would follow. The Justice Initiative then filed a request for interim measures with the European Court of Human Rights, which was denied. The Justice Initiative will pursue an application with the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of several of the families. "The destruction of this community is especially brazen at a time when Russia holds the presidency of the G8 and is hosting the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg," said James A. Goldston, Executive Director of the Open Society Justice Initiative.
Additional information is available at www.errc.org and www.justiceinitiative.org.
© Dzeno Association
PUTIN WAGS A FINGER AT EUROPE (Russia)
6/7/2006- President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday took issue with Britain for granting asylum to a senior Chechen rebel and scolded Europeans for ignoring neo-Nazi marches and violations of the rights of ethnic Russians in Baltic countries. While Putin did not explicitly cite Britain, the target of his criticism was clear. "It is difficult for us to explain the refusal of certain countries to extradite those suspected of being implicated in terrorism, not to mention granting them political asylum," Putin said in a speech at the seventh session of the Conference of Prosecutors General of Europe at the President Hotel. "In such cases," Putin said, "the corresponding international agreements should be followed precisely and unfailingly." Forty-four prosecutors, including British Attorney General Peter Goldsmith, attended the conference, which was organized by the Council of Europe and was expected to include discussion of wrongly prosecuted suspects, witnesses, juveniles and prisoners. Russian authorities have been infuriated with British officials for granting asylum to Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev, who is wanted in Russia on suspicion of murder and kidnapping. Earlier this week, Russia refused a visa to Tom de Waal, a former Moscow Times correspondent from Britain who wrote extensively on Chechnya and was an expert witness for the defense at Zakayev's 2003 extradition trial in London. Responding to Putin's remarks, the British Embassy in Moscow sought to distance the British government from Zakayev's case. "As we have said many times, extradition in the United Kingdom is a matter for the independent legal system, not for the government," an embassy spokesman said. "It is not a political decision. It is taken on legal grounds, in line with the U.K.'s international obligations."
Putin also warned Europeans against using human rights issues as an instrument for putting pressure on Russia. The president scolded foreign officials for permitting Nazi demonstrations in a Council of Europe member state, referring to an annual march in Latvia commemorating Nazi Germany's Waffen SS. Latvia has come under fire from Russia for seeking to marginalize, politically and legally, its substantial Russian minority. "It is difficult for us to understand why in some countries officials turn a blind eye to the violations of the rights of Russian-speaking citizens," Putin said. "Why do they break up anti-fascist demonstrations but ignore marches of former Nazis? The fight against all manifestations of Nazism is the direct responsibility of every state." Yury Chaika, recently appointed the prosecutor general, said the main function of his office was protecting individual rights. Chaika used the conference to boast of his accomplishments since taking office less than a month ago. Oddly, Chaika then turned to the tenure of his predecessor, Vladimir Ustinov, noting that from 2001 to 2005, the Prosecutor General's Office investigated nearly 6 million complaints from citizens claiming rights violations during criminal prosecution or court proceedings. "Almost 1.5 million of the complaints had grounds for the prosecutors to interfere, and the citizens' rights were restored," Chaika said.
© The Moscow Times
NGOS URGE G8 TO REPRIMAND RUSSIA
6/7/2006- Leading nongovernmental organizations appealed Wednesday to Group of Eight leaders to address at the G8 summit next week what they called Russia's rapid democratic rollback and rampant human rights abuses. At a meeting held a day after President Vladimir Putin defended Russia's human rights record, the groups listed what they called gross and systematic rights violations and called on the international community to press Russian leaders to return the country to a democratic path. "A gulag has been created in Russia. ... The most horrific crimes in the Soviet Union took place in the gulag, millions of people were killed there and human rights were violated," said Lev Ponomaryov, of the group For Human Rights, which monitors abuses by law enforcers. "Today we can already apply the term gulag to the Russian penitentiary system." Ponomaryov charged that all kinds of abuse, including physical and mental torture and even extrajudicial killings, were commonplace, and said Russia's prison system was worse than it was in the 1960s and 1970s under Leonid Brezhnev. "Today people are not only tortured with impunity ... but also killed," he said. Valentina Melnikova, head of the Union of Soldiers' Mothers Committees, which advocates for soldiers' rights, said Russia could not hope for progress until it abolished compulsory military service. The poorly trained and underfunded army suffers from vicious bullying and sees some 3,000 noncombat deaths and up to 50,000 noncombat injuries among soldiers and officers every year, she said. "The most important evil, which makes the Russian soldier a slave, is being preserved -- compulsory military service," Melnikova said. "It's not a duty, it's not an obligation, it's the use of force -- the state is simply continuing to take live young men, their lives, their health, their blood."
Natalya Taubina of the Public Verdict, which monitors police abuse, lamented that the law enforcement system was poorly funded, had insufficient training and poor management, which breeds corruption. Prosecutors are often reluctant to press ahead with cases in which their colleagues or other law enforcers face charges, resulting in impunity, she said. "Today the system is in crisis and urgently needs to be reformed," she said. Defense lawyer Ernst Cherny accused the Federal Security Service, or FSB, of manipulating juries and trials in order to ensure the conviction of academics and scholars, some of whom have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms on charges of spying. The scientists, which include arms control researcher Igor Sutyagin and physicist Valentin Danilov, were innocent, Cherny insisted, but the FSB had sought their conviction to demonstrate the effectiveness of its work. "The FSB ... infiltrates its agents into juries and prevents normal justice from being done," Cherny said. "The lawlessness and the impunity of special services only leads to their further degradation." Speaking at the opening day of the so-called Civil G8 meeting Tuesday, Putin also defended a controversial law on nongovernmental organizations, which some NGOs warn could result in their shutdown.
© The Moscow Times
PUTIN SAYS NGOS WON'T BE CRUSHED(Russia)
5/7/2006- President Vladimir Putin, who has been lambasted around the world for a new law regulating NGOs, walked into a massive room full of NGO activists Tuesday and pledged he would personally ensure the law was not too onerous. "This law was meant to create order in this sphere, not to stiffen" regulations of nongovernmental organizations, Putin told the crowd of several hundred activists gathered at the World Trade Center Moscow complex. "If we find that there is, in fact, a stiffening of the regulations, I myself am ready to act to initiate changes, including those you recommend." Putin's comments at the Civil G8 conference followed carefully worded remarks from human rights activists Yury Dzhibladze and Claire Rimmer, who is from Britain. Without singling out Russia, the two activists, directly addressing Putin in front of conference participants, asked the president to address government-NGO relations, xenophobia and public oversight of law enforcement, among other issues, at the upcoming G8 summit. In a thinly veiled attack on the Kremlin, Dzhibladze also cited several threats to NGOs: stricter registration and accounting requirements, which are contained in the new NGO law; GONGOs, or government-organized NGOs, thought to be a reference to the Kremlin-created Public Chamber; and the linking of criticism of the government with extremism or terrorism, which has been proposed in a State Duma bill. Neither Dzhibladze nor Rimmer mentioned the word Russia -- except when Rimmer briefly brought up Chechnya -- but it was clear to many in attendance that the country they were most concerned about was the one they were in. This was not lost on Putin, who reserved his most impassioned comments for the two activists. Responding to Dzhibladze and Rimmer, Putin promised that human rights would be discussed at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, which runs July 15-17. But he admitted to being ashamed that, on the summit agenda, the subject falls under the "Miscellaneous" heading. He hinted that many countries were reluctant to discuss human rights. "Everyone's ready to talk about human rights in other countries, but no one wants to talk about human rights in their own country," Putin said. Putin said the NGO law, which went into effect in April, had been reviewed by experts from the Council of Europe and that their suggestions had been taken into account. Speaking during a lunch break, Dzhibladze said he was pleased that his comments had elicited a strong reaction from Putin, but he added that the president was incorrect in saying that Council of Europe officials had signed off on the NGO law. "We had read the experts' conclusions, and there was a clear argument that the law does not correspond to European standards and norms," he said. But Dzhibladze said he was glad the president had promised to make changes to the law, if need be. "We'll get him on that," he said.
In his opening remarks, Putin also addressed environmentalists' opposition to nuclear energy, saying other G8 countries would oppose getting rid of nuclear power plants because no good alternatives had been proposed. As he spoke, six demonstrators in dark T-shirts, each bearing a single Russian letter, stood up on their chairs and screamed, "Nyet AES," or "Say no to nuclear power stations." Putin and Ella Pamfilova, who heads the presidential council for civil society and presided over the conference, thanked the protesters. The protesters came from the environmental group Ekozashchita, or Ecodefense. When it came to some of the other activists' comments, Putin struck a more conciliatory note than he had with Dzhibladze and Rimmer. After Geert Ritsema of Greenpeace asked the president to seek measures limiting the sale of genetically modified crops, Putin signaled support, saying he felt surrounded "by kindred spirits." "In negotiations about Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, we are being forced to give up the right to inform people about" genetically modified foods, Putin said. Putin did not name the countries opposed to mandatory labeling, but he noted, "We insist on norms suggested by NGOs." The president avoided responding directly to a comment by Joost van der Meer, director of the Moscow branch of AIDS Foundation East-West, who asked Putin to put preventive treatment and support services for AIDS patients on the G8 agenda. Van Der Meer added that G8 countries should back programs for drug users, prostitutes, gays, prison inmates and other marginalized groups. Seizing on van der Meer's mention of drug users, Putin said AIDS should be discussed in the wider context of heroine smuggling and financing for terrorist activity. Putin ended his remarks by addressing business leaders who had asked G8 leaders to help fight corruption, which impedes commerce. "I ask business to join in [the fight] by not contributing to corruption. Don't bribe anyone. Don't give them money unnecessarily" Putin said, eliciting laughter from the audience.
NGOs' recommendations for G8 summit
• A moratorium on new nuclear power stations. Some G8 governments -- including Russia -- see nuclear power as a promising alternative to oil and gas. But the NGOs said it was not a safe source of power.
• A special tax on oil production, the proceeds of which would go toward fighting climate change. President Vladimir Putin, who attended the forum, was skeptical. Russia is the world's second-biggest oil exporter.
• An extra $10 billion per year from G8 nations for programs to ensure everyone has access to education.
• Stepped-up efforts to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS. The NGOs also said the G8 should be held accountable for previous commitments it had made on tackling the disease.
• International financial and trade organizations like the World Trade Organization and the World Bank should be reformed because they are entrenching poverty and inequality.
• Adopt international standards on human rights. NGOs said human rights were being sacrificed in the international war on terror. They singled out Iraq and Chechnya as examples.
© The Moscow Times
