Category Archives: Far right racists

JC talks to new EDL Jewish division leader

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The new leader of the English Defence League’s Jewish division has encouraged British Jews to back the extreme right-wing group and “defend liberal democracy”. James Cohen, 52, who is based in Ottawa, Canada, said his dealings with EDL leaders had led him to believe they were “affable, intelligent, right-minded people” who had been “wrongly maligned” by the British media.

Mr Cohen, a writer and activist who previously lived in Israel, admitted he had “done some soul-searching” after being asked to lead the division following July’s departure of Roberta Moore. He said he hoped British Jews would join EDL members at protests and in campaigning.

But the Board of Deputies said it condemned the EDL “unreservedly”. A spokesman said: “It is clear for all to see that the EDL are solely intent on causing divisions and mistrust between different groups in British society. When they wave Israeli flags at a rally or demonstration, they do so only to goad the Muslim community and to stir communal tensions. This, and everything that the EDL stands for, is utterly abhorrent. All right-thinking people should be repulsed by extremism from any quarter.”

Jewish Chronicle, 15 September 2011

PVV politician describes Erdoğan as an ‘Islamic monkey’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Foreign affairs minister Uri Rosenthal has formally distanced himself from comments by PVV MP Raymond de Roon, who described the Turkish prime minister as an “Islamic monkey”.

The remark was made in the context of the Dutch saying daar komt de aap uit de mouw (here comes the monkey out of the sleeve) which means to reveal your true colours or intentions.

“Once again the Islamic monkey has shown himself,” De Roon said during parliamentary questions. “This time he is in Ankara and his name is Erdogan.” De Roon was refering to what he called Turkey’s anti-Israel rhetoric.

Alexander Pechtold, leader of the Liberal democrats D66, challenged Rosenthal to refute the statement. Rosenthal said De Roon had used a “misplaced metaphor”. MPs from the ruling VVD and CDA also condemned the statement.

Dutch News, 14 September 2011

Asbo for Hull EDL member who staged racist protest at world music festival

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tony ThomsenA protester with a far-right group hurled racist abuse at hundreds of people who had gathered for a world music festival.

Tony Thomsen wrapped an English flag around his head and shouted during the festival in Queens Gardens, city centre. He was part of an English Defence League (EDL) rally, a far-right group which opposes what it terms as “Muslim extremism”.

Thomsen, 40, of Rosedale Avenue, east Hull, has now been given an antisocial behaviour order (Asbo) after being convicted of being drunk and disorderly at the event on June 25.

The world music festival had been organised as part of Hull Refugee Week, which aims to challenge negative stereotypes, and attracted crowds of up to 2,000.

Ben Butler, project co-ordinator at the Asylum Seekers and Refugees Kingston Upon Hull (ARKH) group, said: “It was quite intimidating. The event was all about community cohesion and families and it was intimidating for the people who were present. What confuses me is the EDL claims to be a single-issue group, against Islamic fundamentalism.

“I can’t understand why members would turn up at a family event celebrating world music that had no religious connections and start shouting racist abuse. I get the feeling the EDL focus on Islamic fundamentalism as a bit of a smokescreen for general hatred.”

Thomsen, who recently changed his name from Tony Handley, was convicted in 2003 of daubing racist abuse on a private property in Spring Bank, city centre.

Under the Asbo, which lasts for two years, Thomsen is banned from drinking alcohol in a public place and causing harassment, alarm or distress to others. If he breaches the order, he could be jailed for up to five years. Thomsen was also fined £100 and made to pay £250 court costs after being sentenced at Hull Magistrates’ Court.

Hull Daily Mail, 15 September 2011

Paris: Muslims banned from praying in the street

Posted on by Bob Pitt

muslim of France pray on the streets of

Praying in the streets of Paris is against the law starting Friday, after the interior minister warned that police will use force if Muslims, and those of any other faith, disobey the new rule to keep the French capital’s public spaces secular.

Claude Guéant said that ban could later be extended to the rest of France, in particular to the Mediterranean cities of Nice and Marseilles, where “the problem persists”. He promised the new legislation would be followed to the letter as it “hurts the sensitivities of many of our fellow citizens”.

“My vigilance will be unflinching for the law to be applied. Praying in the street is not dignified for religious practice and violates the principles of secularism, the minister told Le Figaro newspaper. “All Muslim leaders are in agreement,” he insisted.

In December when Marine Le Pen, then leader-in-waiting of the far-Right National Front, sparked outrage by likening the practice to the Nazi occupation of Paris in the Second World War “without the tanks or soldiers”. She said it was a “political act of fundamentalists”.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s party denounced the comments, but the President called for a debate on Islam and secularism and went on to say that multiculturalism had failed in France. Following the debate, Mr Guéant promised a countrywide ban “within months”, saying the “street is for driving in, not praying”.

Under an agreement signed this week, believers will be able to use the premises of a vast nearby fire station while awaiting the construction of a bigger mosque. “We could go as far as using force if necessary (to impose the ban), but it’s a scenario I don’t believe will happen, as dialogue (with local religious leaders) has born fruit,” he said.

Sheikh Mohamed salah Hamza, in charge of one of the Parisian mosques which regularly overflows, said he would obey the new law, but complained: “We are not cattle” and that he was “not entirely satisfied” with the new location. He said he feared many believers would continue to prefer going to the smaller mosque.

Daily Telegraph, 15 September 2011

See also “Ban on praying on street draws ire of Muslims in France”, Today’s Zaman, 15 September 2011

TUC expresses solidarity with journalists attacked by EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

TUC affiliates expressed maximum solidarity with journalists who came under attack by the English Defence League (EDL) on September 3.

Moving an emergency motion on Tuesday National Union of Journalists (NUJ) executive member Anita Halpin explained how journalists going about their jobs had been abused and assaulted by members of the far-right organisation.

One journalist was sexually assaulted while another had lighter fuel poured over him and was set alight, suffering minor injuries. “We don’t want to have to add a British journalist’s death to the already too long list of colleagues abroad,” she said to a sombre hall.

Ms Halpin highlighted how NUJ activists had been identified by fascist website Redwatch. “We ask affiliates to call on police to prosecute those who attacked our members,” she said. “We won that fight against fascism and we will win this one.”

Seconding the motion RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that transport workers had refused to carry EDL members across the city on the day of the planned rally. “Our members felt threatened and we warned that members would walk out without a ballot if instructed to carry EDL members on public transport.”

“We won’t go to work if these people are there. And we won’t even use a ballot and we ask you to support us,” he said to huge applause from the conference hall. “The EDL need to be wiped out. They don’t stand for what decent human beings stand for.”

Morning Star, 14 September 2011

Australia: Greens move to censure Cory Bernardi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Greens today will ask Parliament to condemn Liberal senator Cory Bernardi for offering to help controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders in his trip to Australia.

Mr Wilders has compared the Koran to Mein Kampf, called the prophet Muhammad a paedophile and said Islam was not a religion, rather it was a totalitarian ideology.

Last week it was reported that Senator Bernardi met Mr Wilders and offered to help him when he visited Australia, prompting calls for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to dump him from the front bench.

The Age understands some Labor MPs have inquired about meeting Mr Wilders should he visit Australia.

Greens spokesman for multiculturalism Richard di Natale will move that the Senate condemn the invitation by Senator Bernardi to Mr Wilders and call on the Senator to withdraw that invitation; and if not for Mr Abbott to intervene.

”Senator Bernardi has expressed similar views in the past and there should be no room for extremists like Bernardi on Tony Abbott’s front bench,” Senator di Natale said.

The Age, 14 September 2011

EDL leader Lennon released from prison

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stephen Lennon arrestedThe leader of the English Defence League, Stephen Lennon, has been released from Bedford Prison on bail until his trial for assault at the end of this month.

Mr Lennon, who calls himself Tommy Robinson, was held in custody at Bedford Prison for a week after breaking bail conditions by attending a demonstration in London. The EDL said their leader was on hunger strike while in prison, because he was a “political prisoner” and because he believed the food served was halal.

While at Bedford Prison he is understood to have been kept in segregation both for his own safety and over concerns about disruption at the prison. A source said: “There was a big concern because he is so high profile, so they kept him away from the other prisoners.”

The source said Mr Lennon was held in an underground cell where he was allowed a television, and that his exercise was taken in a yard boarded off so he could not be seen by other inmates. They added: “His hunger strike only lasted 24 hours and then he gave up.”

Luton Today, 13 September 2011

Only lasted 24 hours and then he gave up? A case of “No Surrender Ever – until I’m feeling hungry”.

Report on EDL to be published at University of Northampton conference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A major report on the ideology, structure and development of the English Defence League (EDL) will be launched at an international conference at The University of Northampton next week.

The conference is entitled “Populist Racism in Britain in Europe since 1945” and will be held between 22-23 September.

The report, The EDL: Britain’s Far-Right Social Movement, also examines the EDL’s influence on far-right terrorism and “lone wolf” extremists. The latter are individuals who act alone with far-right extremist views; for example, Anders Breivik – perpetrator of the recent terrorists atrocities in Norway – allegedly acted alone and his manifesto praises the work of the EDL.

University of Northampton press release, 13 September 2011

Bigots ramp up Toronto school prayer protests

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Faith groups are ramping up protests against Muslim students praying in Toronto public schools as they vow to make the controversial practice an election issue in Ontario. A demonstration took place Sunday night outside the Toronto District School Board on Yonge St., and another is planned for Sept. 18 at Queen’s Park to demand an end of the prayer service.

The protests stem from a decision to allow Islamic prayer sessions every Friday in the cafeteria at Valley Park Middle School, on Overlea Blvd., which have been going on for more than a year. “We plan to keep on protesting until this practice is stopped,” said Ron Banerjee, of the Canadian Hindu Advocacy. “This is a stealth jihad that is taking place at the TDSB and not the violent jihad we had on Sept. 11.”

Banerjee said his group along with the Jewish Defence League and Costas Christian Mission are trying to get political leaders to take a stand on the issue before the Oct. 6 election.

Both Premier Dalton McGuinty and Conservative Leader Tim Hudak have said the issue will be left to the school boards and principals to manage. And Ontario Human Rights commissioner Barbara Hall has said that schools have a duty to accommodate faith needs up to the point of “undue hardship”.

Leonard Baak, president of Education Equality in Ontario, said McGuinty and Hudak “were squirming” when asked about Islamic sectarianism in schools. “Both men reveal a stunning lack of leadership on the issue,” Baak said on Sunday. “It is time for government to give all faiths equal respect and consideration.”

Toronto Sun, 11 September 2011

See also here, here and here.

TUC: NUJ to call for support against EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NUJ logoThe National Union of Journalists intends to call on delegates at the TUC conference to publicly condemn alleged attacks on the press by members of the English Defence League.

The union has submitted an emergency motion to the conference over the alleged attacks, which it claims included a photographer being set on fire and another journalist sexually assaulted at an EDL rally earlier this month.

The motion, which the NUJ hopes to have accepted and added to the agenda of the conference today, calls on TUC members to publicly condemn the actions of the EDL, as well as campaigning against far-right groups and offering assistance to affiliate unions if their members are threatened. It also calls on the police to take action to identify and prosecute EDL supporters who attack trade unionists.

The NUJ claims to have received numerous reports of journalists being harassed, racially abused, and having bottles and fireworks thrown at them by the anti-Islamic group.

The motion submitted to the TUC conference calls the alleged attacks “aviolation of press freedom and an attack on our democracy”. “Far-right attacks on media workers are aimed at deterring them from carrying out their work and are designed to intimidate trade union members and stop the media reporting on far-right activity,” it adds.

A spokesperson for the Met police confirmed that the force was investigating an allegation of assault at the rally in which a 17-year-old had his clothing set alight and suffered minor burns.

Journalism.co.uk, 12 September 2011