Category Archives: Far right racists

EDL cancels Bolton demonstration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Oldham Division

The English Defence League has announced that it has postponed its planned demonstration in Bolton on 6 March, supposedly because it would clash with a Hindu festival. According to the EDL:

“We have received information that far-left groups were planning to attack Hindus whilst dressed in EDL clothing, which may be purchased freely from our internet shop. This cowardly attack, had it taken place, was to be blamed on our organisation with the intent of discrediting our stated aim of peacefully protesting against radical Islam. Due to the respect we have for the peace loving Hindu community, we deemed it only right and proper that we cancel our own plans to ensure their safety.”

Yeah, sure. A more likely explanation for the cancellation of the Bolton protest is that the EDL leaders recognise that the gangs of thick racists who are drawn to their intimidatory demonstrations would be unable or unwilling to make a distinction between Muslims and other brown-skinned minority communities. And the suggestion that “far-left groups” were intending to disguise themselves as EDL supporters is laughable. The left has little need to discredit the EDL’s “stated aim of peacefully protesting” when the EDL’s violent hooligans are quite capable of doing that for themselves.

Update:  See Stephen Hall’s comments at Socialist Unity, 8 February 2010

And the UAF statement here.

Far-right rhetoric fuels opposition to minaret in German town

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Volklingen_minaretA small Muslim community in a western German town would like to build a minaret on its mosque. But the plan has triggered passionate opposition from locals, many of whom rely on rhetoric from the extreme right in railing against the “symbol of Islam’s quest for power.”

“Willkommen,” reads the stencilled print on the wall along the riverside boardwalk in the small town of Völklingen. Not content to just welcome its German guests, however, the message is translated into a number of languages. “Bienvenue … bienvenidos … velkommen,” it reads. And “hosgeldiniz,” a nod to the city’s substantial Turkish population.

Elsewhere in the city – particularly in the quarter known as Wehrden – Muslim immigrants may not feel quite as welcome. A small mosque on the banks of the Saar River there has applied for a permit to build a small minaret on its roof – triggering a wave of at-times vehement protest reminiscent of the fuss surrounding theNovember 2009 referendum in Switzerland to ban minarets in the country.

“I am against the Islamification of our fatherland!” reads a message, posted by “Tommy” on the Web site of the local paper Saarbrücker Zeitung. “Islam is the greatest threat facing humanity,” he adds.

The debate in Völklingen is once again showing how quickly right-wing rhetoric can cross over into the mainstream when it comes to debates on Islam in Europe. Local right-wing extremists – two of whom are in the Völklingen city council – have argued that minarets are “symbols of Turkish dominance.”

The local news paper has used the exact same rhetoric on its editorial pages. “This minaret should not be built,” the Saarbrücker Zeitung wrote in late January. “It symbolizes Islam’s quest for power and is nothing less than a provocation. In the course of the Muslim conquests, minarets were first used as watch towers and only subsequently as religious symbols. Following the violent seizure of new territories, minarets were built as manifestations of Muslim rule.”

Minaret opponents are now looking into the possibility of holding a referendum on the issue in Völklingen.

Spiegel, 5 February 2010

French Council of the Muslim Faith calls for action against Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islam dehorsA French Muslim organisation has condemned a weekend attack on a mosque north of Paris.

The phrases “Islam get out of Europe” and “France is for the French” were scrawled on the walls and entrance of a mosque in Crepy-en-Valois.

The mayor’s office of Crepy-en-Valois denounced what it called a “horrible, idiotic act”, while the French Council of the Muslim Faith said the attack was the latest in a long line of incidents that had targeted mosques in France. The organisation called on authorities to take action to end the “series of shameful and hateful profanities that target houses of prayer.”

The Council, whose members are elected by French Muslims, also called for French President Nicolas Sarkozy to back a parliamentary commission that would examine the rise of Islamophobia in France. The proposal was dropped from last week’s report that called for a ban on the full Islamic veil in official public spaces like government offices, hospitals or schools.

Last month a mosque in the southern town of Castres was targeted and had swastikas and the phrase daubed Sieg Heil on its walls.

RFI, 1 February 2010

BNP backs National Secular Society over ‘Sharia threat’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP backs NSS

The National Secular Society (NSC) has warned that Britain is “in a race” with France to see who can be the first country to formally incorporate Sharia law into their legal systems.

Although the NSC [sic] did not point out that this headlong flight into Sharia law is caused directly by mass Third World immigration, it did warn that Britain is “rushing into law a set of new regulations that will make the operation of sharia finance easier and facilitate the issuance of corporate sukuk.”

Sukuk are a broad class of financial instruments designed to replicate the economic function of bonds, but with a structure which complies with Islamic principles. The Treasury has laid before Parliament the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, Order 2010 that will clarify the regulatory treatment of corporate sukuk, reducing the legal costs for these types of investments and removing “unnecessary obstacles” to their issuance.

The British National Party is the only political party which has consistently pointed out that if a people are replaced though mass immigration, then the culture which those people created will also be replaced. The spread of Sharia law into the financial sector is only the beginning of this process. Left unchecked, Muslim numbers will soon reach the position where they will be able to demand – and get – full Sharia law implemented in Britain.

BNP news report, 31 January 2010

See also “Sharia makes its first incursion into British law”, NSS website, 29 January 2010

And Stormfront, 30 January 2010

EDL calls for ban on veil – and on construction of mosques

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The ‘English Defence League’ will now be calling for a total ban on the wearing of the Burkha, We view the Burkha as a significant threat to the national security of the UK as anyone can be wearing it without being identified, British people cannot wear balaclava’s into a bank so muslim women shouldnt be permitted to wear a Burkha either, The same rules should apply to all. We will continue to protest against the implementation of Sharia Law in the UK and Militant Islamists operating within our shores. We also call for the immediate halting of all construction on new mosques based on the fact our government has no idea who is living in this country and 80% of imams running these mosques cannot speak our language, We urge our government to launch an urgent investigation into the source of funding for all new mosques in the UK as we beleive Saudi sponsorship is funding the extreme wahhabi form of islam which is spreading around the UK, We shall never surrender!”

English Defence League statement, 27 January 2010

Spelling and grammar as in original.

Danish government urges use of existing rules to suppress veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Denmark’s government said Thursday that face-covering Muslim veils don’t belong in Danish society but no ban is needed because their use can be limited under existing rules.

The center-right government said the burqa – an all-covering dress – and the niqab face veil are “diametrically opposed” to the values on which Danish society is built. It called for the full use of existing rules that allow schools, as well as both public and private employers, to demand that students, teachers and workers show their faces.

“The use of the burqa or niqab … deprives women of the right to interact in the Danish society on equal footing with men and women who do not wear the burqa or niqab,” the government said.

The statement followed months of discussion about whether Denmark should ban burqas and niqabs – a debate also taking place elsewhere in Europe. While the debate in Europe is widespread, use of the veils is not. A report commissioned by the Danish government found that only two or three women in the country wear burqas, and perhaps 200 wear niqabs.

The nationalist Danish People’s Party – a key ally of the minority government – criticized the government’s stance and said stronger action was needed to curb the use of face-covering veils. “It is a pity that the government won’t do anything about it,” deputy party leader Peter Skaarup said.

Associated Press, 28 January 2010

Media and politicians responsible for rise in hate crimes against Muslims in London, study finds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate CrimeA rise in the number of hate crimes against Muslims in London is being encouraged by mainstream politicians and sections of the media, a study written by a former Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officer, published yesterday, says. Attacks ranging from death threats and murder to persistent low-level assaults, such as spitting and name-calling, are in part whipped up by extremists and sections of mainstream society, the study says.

The document – from the University of Exeter’s European Muslim research centre – was written by Dr Jonathan Githens-Mazer and former special branch detective Dr Robert Lambert.

“The report provides prima facie and empirical evidence to demonstrate that assailants of Muslims are invariably motivated by a negative view of Muslims they have acquired from either mainstream or extremist nationalist reports or commentaries in the media,” it says. “Islamophobic, negative and unwarranted portrayals of Muslim London as Londonistan and Muslim Londoners as terrorists, sympathisers and subversives in sections of the media appear to provide the motivation for a significant number of anti-Muslim hate crimes.”

In his foreword, the rightwing journalist Peter Oborne writes: “The constant assault on Muslims from certain politicians, and above all in the mainstream media, has created an atmosphere where hate crimes, ranging from casual abuse to arson and even murder, are bound to occur and are even in a sense encouraged by mainstream society.”

The report is based on interviews with witnesses to and victims of hate crimes, as well as police officers and former members of extremist organisations such as the British National Party. It says: “An experienced BNP activist in London explains that he believes that most BNP supporters simply followed the lead set by their favourite tabloid commentators that they read every day. When these commentators singled out Muslims as threats to security and social cohesion, he says that it was perfectly natural for BNP supporters to adopt the same thinking.”

The report says the extreme right are directing their violence more against Muslims than black or Asian Britons. “Interviewees with long experience of extremist nationalist street violence in London are unequivocal in their assessment that Muslim Londoners are now a prime target for serious violence and intimidation in the way that Londoners from minority ethnic communities once were,” it says.

The study focuses on anti-Muslim violence in London, with its authors saying they will produce one covering the whole of the UK by this summer.

Guardian, 28 January 2010

The report, Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate-Crimes: a London Case Study, is available online from the European Muslim Research Centre website.

Update:  See Jonathan Githens-Mazer and Robert Lambert, “Muslims in the UK: beyond the hype”, Comment is Free, 28 January 2010

Government criticised over failure to tackle anti-Islamic hostility

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daud Abdullah, Muhammad Abdul Bari, Inayat BunglawalaThere is growing disenchantment at the government’s “lacklustre response” to rising anti-Islamic hostility, the Muslim Council of Britain has said.

The council wrote to the home secretary on the “growing problem” after a march by the English Defence League (EDL).

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said there was a “growing disenchantment at the lacklustre response from our political leaders to speak out against anti-Muslim hatred” among many British Muslim communities.

His letter said: “Whether this exists in explicit form through the actions of far-right groups, or implicitly with hysterical headlines in our media, the policy response to any of these has been far from satisfactory. We ask you to take leadership in this matter, especially in a year where divisive elements may well flourish in the run-up to the next general election.”

The MCB accused political leaders of staying silent on the issue and said they had “ridden the wave of this disturbing trend” but failed to challenge hostility.

It hosted a meeting of Muslim groups at the weekend to discuss what it called “the growing trend of anti-Muslim hatred and violence”.

BBC News, 27 January 2010

See also MCB press release, 26 January 2010

‘We’re here because we want our country back’ – more on Stoke EDL protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Stoke

Double-decker buses started arriving at Wetherspoons in Hanley city centre shortly after noon. The passengers shouted “England, England, England” and “EDL, EDL, EDL”. Two were arrested within seconds of them getting off the bus. “I’m English ’til I die, English ’til I die,” was the next song, one of many chanted by the protesters throughout the afternoon.

Although many had travelled from the other side of the country, the Potteries was well represented. Adam Daniels, aged 23, from Tunstall, said: “We want equal opportunities. They seem to get housing before us.” Daniel Lucas, aged 28, from Ball Green, said: “The door should be shut to this country because it is full. We are a minority in our own community.”

Forty-two-year-old John Sanders, an HGV driver who travelled from Bristol, said: “I am here because Islam is taking over the country.” Former Stoke-on-Trent city councillor Jenny Holdcroft, aged 60, from Biddulph, said: “People have to come out and be strong and stand together because if not, we are going to lose this country.”

Several people hurled bottles and other missiles towards police. Some men jumped on the top of a bus stop outside Argos while two youths could be seen showing off with a police helmet on the top of the arcade roof. There was another surge towards the officers when they went to arrest those youths.

Lines of police stopped the mob walking down Percy Street and into the city centre. Thugs tried to tip over a yellow police van, brought in from Warwickshire, and one hooligan jumped on the bonnet and repeatedly kicked the windscreen until it smashed.

Paul Walker, spokesman for EDL Stoke-on-Trent, said he was upset by the trouble. He said: “EDL members have been antagonised by the police. We are not racist, not bigots, not Nazis, we are shocked how we have been portrayed.”

The Sentinel, 25 October 2010

See also Lancaster Unity, which reports:

“EDL say they support British laws and that they’re not racist or connected to the BNP, but after the EDL demo in Stoke on 23 Jan 2010, EDL supporters ‘dispersed’ into side-streets to break windows and attack cars owned by Stoke residents. EDL co-founder and convicted knife criminal Jeff Marsh filmed the police ID-ing him by name (0:02 ‘Jeff Marsh, turn round and go back’) and then filmed EDL supporters chanting ‘BNP, BNP, BNP’ (0:26). Police then chased the EDL into a nearby park where EDL accused police officers of being ‘Paki loving bastards’ (0:35), ‘Fucking cunts’, and one officer of being a ‘wanker’ and ‘Fucking paki lover’.”

Far-right Swedish millionaire gives €5m to German anti-Islam party

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pro NRWSwedish far-right businessman Patrik Brinkmann has announced he will pour €5 million into the coffers of Pro NRW, an anti-Islam populist party based in Cologne. In a report to air Sunday night on Germany‘s public broadcaster WDR, Brinkmann says he fears Germany is becoming “too foreign” and that Sharia law will be introduced in the country.

“However, there are no, or very few, politicians who take this seriously,” Brinkmann said. “That’s why I believe that a new right wing (in Germany) can not only succeed, but in five or ten years be as large as the FPÖ in Austria or the SVP in Switzerland,” he added, referring to Austria’sFreedom Party and the Swiss People‘s Party, two far-right groups which have enjoyed a certain amount of electoral success.

The millionaire, who reportedly already has ties to Germany’s extreme-right NPD and DVU parties, will finance a building for Pro NRW to be used as an anti-Islam centre.

The Local, 23 January 2010