The leader of France’s nationalist Front National is meeting Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch anti-Islam party PVV, on Tuesday and the two will hold a joint press conference about their plans for the European elections.
The aim of Marine le Pen and Wilders is to create a strong anti-EU block within the European parliament. Wilders has spoken several times of his efforts to form a pan-European grouping.
Remains of the nail bomb that Pavlo Lapshyn planted outside the Kanz-ul-Iman Central Jamia Mosque in Tipton
Pavlo Lapshyn had been in Britain for just five days when he murdered grandfather of 23 Mohammed Saleem by stabbing him in the back as he made his way home after Friday prayers. The 25 year-old white supremacist had moved to Birmingham where he had been awarded a placement to further his engineering studies.
Following his trial counter terrorism officers said that he had acted as a “lone wolf”. But detectives found literature and images related to PoU [the neo-Nazi paramilitary group, Patriot of Ukraine] and fascist Dynamo Kiev supporters on Lapshyn’s Russian Facebook page and on a pen computer drive when they raided the home he shared with a fellow student in Small Heath, Birmingham.
Investigations by counter terrorism officers found that Lapshyn was not a member of any of these groups and that no one else was involved in the murder of Mr Saleem, aged 82, or the bombs that were set off at three Midland mosques.
But Lapshyn was influenced by the ideologies of right wing extremists in Ukraine. Neo-Nazi literature and racist chants popular with Dynamo Kiev fans were among the disturbing set of literature found at his home in Small Heath, Birmingham.
Detectives also found a folder marked “White World” on Lapshyn’s computer which included a violent video game called “Ethnic Cleansing” featuring ‘soldiers’ from the PoU. Another audio file entitled “You Must Murder” contained more racist rants by East European extremists calling for a violent race war.
Demonstration against the ‘Charter of Values’ in Montreal in September
The Toronto Star has a hard hitting editorial on Quebec’s so-called Charter of Values, which the Parti Québécois government has insisted it will try and force through the National Assembly.
The Orlando Sentinel has a good editorial condemning the Volusia County school textbook campaign. It argues:
“This concocted controversy calls to mind another appeal to antipathy toward Muslims – the ongoing effort in the Florida Legislature to ‘protect’ state courts from the non-existent threat of Islamic Shariah law.”
See also “Christian history taught before Islam in state curriculum”, Daytona Beach News-Journal, 9 November 2013
Police made one arrest this afternoon during a demonstration by the English Defence League (EDL) in Shotton Colliery, County Durham.
There was also a counter protest by the Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Association.
A spokeswoman for Durham Police said that some 200 people were involved in the demonstration, which took place in the centre of the village between 1.30 and 2.30pm this afternoon.
When asked to rate their feelings for atheists and Muslims, fewer than one-third of U.S. adults fell on the favorable side of the scale.
As part of its 2013 American Values Survey, the Public Religion Research Institute asked respondents to use a 1 to 100 scale, with 100 being the most favorable, to rate how they feel about various groups.
Twenty-nine percent rated atheists 51 or higher, while 27 percent rated Muslims above 50.
Muslims received an average rating of 42.4, ranking them second-from-last on the list, just below atheists but above communists. Christians received the highest average rating, 74.6.
The Times has an interview with Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, who among a number of other ill-thought-out opinions calls for the “burka” to be outlawed.
The second Islamophobia Awareness Month has been launched. The month-long campaign will see activities and projects held throughout Britain to combat the continuing rising tide of Islamophobia.
Islamophobia Awareness Month is being spearheaded by the Enough Coalition Against Islamophobia, the Muslim Council of Britain and ENGAGE, and other partners.
At the DHL Global Mail plant in Hebron, Kentucky, 24 Muslim workers took a break to pray. They say it cost them their jobs. The company denies any wrongdoing.
At a news conference Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the workers were fired unjustly. “These workers contend that they were dismissed from their jobs for asserting their right to a reasonable accommodation for their religious practices including daily prayer,” said Karen Dabdoub, executive director of CAIR-Cincinnati.
Exeter EDL News has an excellent piece demolishing the EDL’s justifications for their forthcoming protest in Exeter, as presented in their video promoting the event.
Exeter EDL News points out that most of the EDL’s accusations against the University of Exeter are lifted straight from a witch-hunting article posted on the website of Sam Westrop‘s misnamed organisation Stand for Peace.