Police asking people to snoop on relatives has been criticised as unworkable and unrealistic.
Yearly Archives: 2014
French minister backs football headscarf ban
France’s new sports minister Thierry Braillard has backed the French Football Federation’s decision to uphold their ban on headscarves for players despite pressure from FIFA.
Last Sunday on beIN SPORTS, FIFA president Sepp Blatter declared the FFF had no choice other than to follow his organisation’s directive that women players should be allowed to wear head coverings during official games.
The FIFA ruling is contrary to French law, however, with all signs of religious affiliation, regardless of the denomination, banned in official state-connected institutions.
“The position taken by the FFF and its president Noel Le Graet has our wholehearted support, because it would be necessary to remind Mr Blatter that the French state has declared its attachment to the values of the Republic and that Republican principles, notably the principle of an entirely secular state, are in force in sporting arenas,” the freshly appointed Braillard told RTL.
This war on ‘Islamism’ only fuels hatred and violence
Tony Blair’s anti-democratic tirade chimes with David Cameron’s toxic manoeuvring at home and in the Muslim world. argues Seumas Milne.
Ofsted hunt for Islamist ‘infiltration’ was harrowing says headteacher
A Birmingham headteacher whose school was among 18 in the city inspected as part of an investigation into alleged infiltration by Muslim fundamentalists has described the experience as harrowing.
Christine Quinn, the executive principal of Ninestiles academy, in Acocks Green, confirmed that Ofsted inspectors commissioned by the education secretary, Michael Gove, had visited the school before the Easter break.
She said the inspectors had insisted they had not received any complaints or concerns about the Birmingham school, which received Ofsted’s highest rating of “outstanding” last October, but that she understood it was in the context of investigations into Operation Trojan Horse, an alleged Islamist plot to take over schools in Birmingham. The visit was a surprise, she said, and “somewhat harrowing, in that it was unlike any other inspection”.
The inspectors checked whether the school taught citizenship and sex education, she said. “They were trying to establish whether we had the mechanisms in place to know if elements of radicalism or extremism were in our school, and whether we knew how to recognise it, and that we had an extensive policies on citizenship, personal, social and health education – those sort of things – to counteract any such elements.”
Inspectors also wanted to know how Quinn could be sure that any guests invited to speak at the school were bona fide and that teachers could not “sneak them into a lesson unnoticed”. In addition, the Ofsted representatives wanted reassurance that the school carefully monitored who it let rooms to, and which charities benfited from pupils collecting during bake sales and other fundraising drives.
Quinn said she had yet to receive the inspection report after the inspectors’ visit, but “the sooner all the reports are published, the better for all schools in Birmingham”.
Other schools investigated in recent weeks have complained about the behaviour of Ofsted inspectors.
Athens mosque blocked again
The saga of the Athens mosque, the realization of which has been delayed for years and seemed a settled issue last November, continues. Work for the construction of the Muslim temple has been blocked again, this time by political maneuvers and an appeal presented by a university teacher, two navy officials, a cultural association and the ultra-conservative bishop of the Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, all of whom are against the presence of the worshipping place in the Greek capital, the only one in Europe still without a temple for its more than 200,000 residents of Muslim faith.
Precisely because of the legal recourse – and the fear that a judge may rule for the complainants – the infrastructure ministry has made it known that it has not yet signed the contract to carry out the 946,000 euro project on which the tender was won five months ago by the consortium composed of four of the largest Hellenic businesses: Aktor, Terna, JP & Avax and Intrakat. The preceding four tenders for assigning construction were not successfully completed since the participating companies withdrew after threats and intimidation received from extremist right-wing groups, like the neo-Nazi Chrysi Avgì (Golden Dawn) party and residents of the Votanikos neighborhood, where the place of worship is supposed to be built, all of whom are contrary to the presence of Muslims in their zone in fear that it could become a gathering place for Islamic extremists or even a “den of terrorists”.
Far-right campaign against Muslim councillor falls flat
Police investigating a city councillor for sending an allegedly racist message on social media have dropped their case against him.
Dipu Ahad, who represents Newcastle’s Elswick ward, was quizzed by Northumbria Police after members of the public complained he had retweeted an image racially targeting the far-right English Defence League. But the case was dropped over a lack of evidence and Mr Ahad denies the tweet had racist overtones.
He said: “I’m glad that the Crown Prosecution Service have seen sense and they realise what I do in the community and that the tweet wasn’t racist. I’m not saying that I didn’t retweet it, but sometimes you tweet something and it comes up as a link and the picture doesn’t come up. This has been a campaign against me from the far right. It is sad that the police have questioned me over this.”
The message is alleged to have been shared on Twitter by the Muslim father-of-two on March 10 and contains an image of a loaf of bread containing the words ‘white’ and ‘thick’ on its packaging. Shortly afterwards, he was questioned by the police and spoken to by senior staff at Newcastle City Council after two members of the public complained.
New probe launched into Birmingham Trojan Horse leaks
Officials at the Department for Education and Ofsted are under investigation over leaks in the Trojan Horse inquiry.
Birmingham Council leader Sir Albert Bore said the Cabinet Office was investigating the unauthorised release of information to a national newspaper. He spoke after reports claimed that six city schools were to be put into special measures following the Trojan Horse probe.
“Leaks to the press at this time are in my view wholly reprehensible and completely unacceptable,” Sir Albert said. “A leak inquiry is being undertaken by the Cabinet Office which I understand will be thorough.”
The Sunday Telegraph revealed that six inner city schools would be put into special measures when Ofsted published its findings early next month.
The feisty baroness defending ‘voiceless’ Muslim women
The Daily Telegraph publishes a puff-piece on Caroline Cox, the woman who invited Geert Wilders to the House of Lords. Some defender of Muslims.
Education trust accused of Islamist ‘Trojan Horse plot’ receives hate mail
The trust that runs schools at the centre of claims of a Islamist “plot” in Birmingham says it has received hate mail after a series of leaks purporting to come from Department for Education and Ofsted investigations were published in the media.
Park View education trust, the governing body of the Park View, Nansen and Golden Hillock schools in Birmingham, said that the leaks and disclosures were “causing unwarranted and unnecessary alarm amongst families who are seeing reports of their schools ‘closing’ and teachers being ‘removed’ alongside any number of other sensational allegations.
“And just this morning one of our schools received hate mail, which we can only conclude is a direct consequence of media reporting,” it said.
Inside the far-right group spreading fear through Muslim communities
Australian Defence League president Ralph Cerminara
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation profiles the EDL’s sister organisation, the Australian Defence League.