Category Archives: Far right racists

French far-right groups block Great Mosque plans

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A French court Tuesday ordered construction work on a mosque in the Mediterranean port of Marseille to be suspended in response to legal action by far-right groups.

The court found in favor of the National Front (FN), the Movement for France (MPF), and the National Republican Movement (MNR), who accused the city of granting a veiled subsidy for the mosque’s construction, violating French law on the separation of Church and state.

Marseille city hall decided last July to break a decades-long deadlock over the future mosque by allocating a plot of land for its construction, on a 99-year lease, for a charge of €300 per year. The Marseille administrative court overturned the city’s decision, ruling that the generous conditions amounted to a subsidy in disguise, demanding that the mosque renegotiate the terms of the lease in the next two months.

Jean-Claude Gondard, secretary-general of Marseille city hall, said that the court decision would cause a delay of three to four months at most, and that a new lease would be submitted to the city council in June. He said that the city was committed to file for planning permission in the autumn, but that “the mosque’s opponents are very political, and liable to try to block the project every step of the way.”

Moulay Abderrahmane Ghoul, regional head of the French Council for the Muslim Religion, denounced the far-right lawsuit as a “xenophobic and racist political act,” but said “the city’s will to build the mosque” was not in question.

But the MNR hailed the decision as a “judicial and political victory … against the Islamization of France.” And Philippe de Villiers, presidential candidate for the Catholic nationalist MPF, welcomed the ruling, calling for a moratorium on all mosque constructions and a charter “imposing respect for the laws of the republic on Islam.”

Middle East Times, 18 April 2007

Downing Street unmoved by protests over ‘mega mosque’ petition

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Number Ten Downing Street have refused to amend a petition on their website threatening “terrible violence and suffering” against Muslims. Scores of outraged members of the public emailed Tony Blair’s website manager after a petition was posted which predicted violence unless plans for a “mega Mosque” on the Olympic site in east London was dropped. No.10’s webmaster has so far not responded to Blink’s protest, but told a concerned reader Downing Street was powerless to change the petition’s wording once it had been accepted.

BLINK, 11 April 2007

Muslims poised to seize Somerset orchards

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Over at the British National Party website, the fascists give a boost to their candidate for Yeovil Town Council, one Robert Baehr. In an attempt to provide a “progressive” cover for its racist programme, the BNP promotes Baehr as “a veteran environmentalist campaigner and former Green Party candidate”.

This is the same Robert Baehr who once explained to the Observer that he left the Greens because of their commitment to feminism and multiculturalism and because he was “worried that the orchard that he plans to bequeath to his sons will be seized by the Islamic republic he believes Britain is set to become”!

Stop the ‘cancer of Islam’ spreading in universities, urges fascist

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“… there are now huge numbers of overseas students that are swamping our halls of education. This means that the future of our country – our students – must work that much harder to achieve office and prevent the growth of the cancer of Islam spreading.”

A BNP blogger responds (rather belatedly, and with some confusion over gender) to the election of Fadhil Bakeer Markar and Ruhana Ali as, respectively, General Secretary and Education & Welfare Officer for the LSE Students’ Union.

Home of the Green Arrow, 5 April 2007

Standard remove controversial mosque poll

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Evening Standard have removed a controversial poll from their ThisisLondon website after London Mayor Ken Livingstone highlighted an email an campaign to influence the outcome.

The poll asked readers to vote whether or not they were in favour of the Mayor spending £100 million of public money on a new Mosque in East London however Mr Livingstone has repeatedly denied any public funds would be spent on the project.

Yesterday Mr Livingstone said his office has been alerted to a series of emails being sent which make what he calls “a series of false claims about the mosque proposals in such a way as to stir up communal hatred” leading him to write to Veronica Wadley, Editor of the Evening Standard.

In his letter the Mayor asked Ms Wadley to “clarify to readers and visitors to the website that the poll will be disregarded as totally unrepresentative due to the attempt to influence its outcome through untrue mass emails likely to damage community relations in London.”

In response the Standard’s Managing Editor, Doug Willis, told Mr Livingstone the poll had been “published…last September. As is normal with daily polls, it remains on the website. We have today added a sentence to the website saying that since publication of the original poll and article, proposals for this mosque have been revised.”

Mayor Watch, 5 April 2007

Netherlands – Islamophobes split over Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

geert_wildersIn the past few weeks, a debate on the alleged conflict of interest presented by the dual nationality held by two deputy ministers in the Dutch government has demonstrated the ability of right-wing Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders to set the political agenda.

But opposition to Mr Wilders is growing among fellow politicians and journalists, and even well-known Islam critics such as Afshin Ellian and Sylvain Ephimenco are now publicly distancing themselves from the PVV leader. Their opponents, in turn, are jeering at them, saying they must be scared of the monster they helped create. These developments appear to mark a new episode in the Dutch Islam debate.

An open letter to Geert Wilders published in the 12 March edition of the magazine Opinio states: “You are using pseudo-theological one-liners about the Koran and the Prophet to intentionally create as much resentment as possible among offended Muslims.”

The letter would not have created much of a stir had it been written by anyone other than columnist Sylvain Ephimenco, who in the past years has manifested himself as a sharp-tongued critic of Islam. He is one of a group of intellectuals known as The Friends of  Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who give their unconditional support to the former Somali-Dutch MP in her campaign against the “excesses of Islam.”

Geert Wilders has never made a secret of the fact that his objections against immigrants mainly concern Muslims. But he has outdone himself with his recent diatribes against Islam. He has called the Prophet Muhammad a barbarian, an aggressive warlord and says that Muslims who want to stay in the Netherlands had better tear out and throw away half the Koran.

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No.10 website carries threats of violence against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The extreme right have threatened violence against Muslims on Downing Street’s website in a protest over a proposed Mosque. The British National Party and other neo-Nazi groups are supporting a petition on No.10’s website which warns, ominously, of “terrible violence and suffering” should the so-called mega mosque go ahead. This is certain to be taken as a warning that physical violence could be unleashed against Muslims unless the dissenters get their way and defeat plans to build a mosque on the Olympic site in Stratford, east London.

Blink is encouraging readers to complain to No.10 over the reference to “terrible violence and suffering” if the mosque is built. Please email webmaster@pmo.gov.uk and ask for these words to be removed or failing that, the whole petition taken off line

BLINK, 5 April 2007

Parties unite in opposition to BNP as poll looms

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Politicians from all parties have put their differences aside in a bid to oppose the far-right British National Party. Sitting Assembly Members abandoned their campaigning and joined candidates and community members to discuss the BNP. The group is putting up a record 20 candidates in the National Assembly election, with the most high profile bid for power coming from leader Nick Griffin in the South Wales West constituency.

At a meeting in the Glamorgan Muslim Community Centre, Aberkenfig, near Bridgend, on Saturday, politicians including Environment Minister and Bridgend AM Carwyn Jones and Plaid Cymru candidate Bethan Jenkins pledged their commitment to tackling discrimination against ethnic minorities.

The Bridgend Unite Against Fascism Group, which organised the gathering, believes the BNP is a racist party which poses a threat to democracy and freedom. Unite spokesman Jeff Hurford said: “The highlight of the day was being able to get all of the parties together and a commitment to showing unity against the BNP. This all bodes well for future co-operation between the parties ahead of next year’s council elections.”

icWales, 4 April 2007