Category Archives: Far right racists

Fascists jump on ‘sharia law’ bandwagon

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The BNP says make no mistake: the spread of Sharia law into the urban badlands where police have lost control of the streets is the thin end of the wedge for first creating a parallel legal system for Muslims, who will then consider themselves above the law of the land, and then attempting to terrorise the rest of the country into accepting its imposition on them.”

BNP news article, 30 November 2006

Rally against the BNP in Barking and Dagenham

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is calling a counter rally and protest against the fascist British National Party’s (BNP) rally in Central Park on Saturday 9 December. We need as many anti-fascists as possible to show opposition to the BNP. The BNP will be hoping that the acquittal of Nick Griffin and Mark Collett earlier in November will galvanise their activists. The BNP has 12 councillors in Barking and Dagenham.

Further details on UAF website.

BNP on banning the ‘burka’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The British National Party has posted the resolutions adopted at its conference in Blackpool last weekend. This is the one on the “burka” – presumably it is directed at the niqab too – which was “passed by a large majority”:

“The British National Party is the party of freedom and democracy. We are also, however, the party of the British people, of British culture, of British heritage, of British traditions and of the British way of life. The wearing of the burka is not a religious requirement and is not stipulated in the Koran; it is, instead, a symbol of the wearer’s repudiation of traditional Britain. Furthermore, the burka has been used as a disguise which has enabled suspects wanted by the police in connection with serious terrorist offences to evade capture. The wearing of the burka is therefore both a political act of hostility to Britain and a serious security risk. Banning the burka will not inconvenience the indigenous British people and will increase their security and freedom from terrorism. We therefore believe this is an entirely sensible and proportionate policy.”

BNP news article, 29 November 2006

Council mosque decision ‘flawed’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A council which refused to sell land for a new mosque has been criticised for its handling of the case. Ribble Valley Borough Council provoked anger when it refused the application in Clitheroe, Lancashire, in 2004. Local Government Ombudsman Anne Seex investigated a claim that the decision was taken in response to racially motivated opposition in the area.

An application was made to buy some council-owned land for a mosque in September 2004, but was met with opposition. The British National Party was active in the area and two Muslim men were racially abused by members of the public at a council meeting on the issue. Lancashire Police apologised after its officers failed to intervene and paid £5,000 to the town’s Medina Islamic Education Centre, which the men represented.

The council deferred a decision until it had received a report on the impact of the proposal on the “social well-being” of local residents. But the planning committee decided to use the entire site for elderly people’s accommodation – even though the district valuer said the authority would make more money through the mosque plan.

Mrs Seex criticised the council for not following accepted good practice and reaching a decision that was not supported by the information the committee was supplied with.

BBC News, 30 November 2006

Parties unite to condemn BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The four main parties in Wales have united to condemn the racist British National Party for its comments attacking the National Museum of Wales over the staging of two exhibitions on Islamic culture. The exhibitions explore the contribution of Muslims to world history, science and art.

On its website the BNP states, “You may think that this is rather strange, particularly as Wales has an enormous heritage of its own, not least in the field of early Christianity.” The website goes on to refer to planning permission granted for a large mosque in Cardiff and suggests Plaid Cymru should be renamed Plaid Islam because it has several Muslim councillors.

Labour’s Deputy Health Minister and Newport East AM John Griffiths said, “This is horrible stuff. The National Museum should be congratulated for opening the eyes of Wales to the huge contributions Muslims have made in so many fields. The BNP is trying to foster intolerance and must not be allowed to succeed.”

Plaid Cymru’s Helen Mary Jones said, “There is no place in a modern, multicultural Wales for this kind of rubbish. The National Museum has a duty to inform and educate … Confining information or representation to that of any one race, language, political belief, or religion is a very dangerous prospect.”

The Welsh Conservatives’ culture spokeswoman Lisa Francis said, “Exhibitions such as this play an important role in promoting understanding, tolerance and respect for religion and culture. It is something which should be celebrated and encouraged. People will rightly be appalled at the BNP’s latest attempt to spread its pernicious, divisive, offensive and dangerous propaganda.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat culture spokeswoman Eleanor Burnham said, “Wales has a proud tradition as an outward-looking nation which has been enriched by the contributions of people from other countries and traditions.”

A spokesman for the National Museum said, “We put on these two small high-quality exhibitions at National Museum Cardiff sites for a number of reasons. The material relates to communities of Muslim background who are an important part of Wales’ history and contemporary life. It meets a wish from visitors from other communities to know more about Muslim cultures.”

Wales Onlines, 24 November 2006

Far-right Islamophobic party makes gains in Dutch elections

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Once a country renowned for tolerance of minorities of all stripes, the Netherlands now risks being known for an ugly debate over its growing Muslim population. As preliminary results emerged from general elections on Wednesday November 22nd, it became clear that a previously insignificant far-right party, the Party For Freedom, may claim as many as nine seats in a parliament of 150. The party had campaigned for a halt to all immigration, and in particular was hostile towards Muslims, calling for a ban on the building of religious schools and mosques and for a ban on veils worn by Muslim women.

At its head is Geert Wilders, a man seen by some as the heir to Pim Fortuyn – a populist politician and outspoken critic of the 1m-strong Muslim population in the Netherlands, whose anti-immigrant party won 26 seats in parliament shortly after he was murdered in 2002. On Wednesday Mr Wilders told Dutch television that “we need more decency in this country, more education and less Islam”. He is unlikely to form any part of the new coalition government, which will be led by the moderate Christian Democratic Alliance. But he may yet influence policy.

Economist, 23 November 2006

Far-right racists make gains in Belgium on anti-Muslim platform

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Vlaams BelangAnti-immigrant sentiment is spreading across Europe, boosting support for populist, right-wing parties. One of the most successful is in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Backers of the party, known as Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest Party) criticize Muslim immigrants for failing to assimilate. In the Vlaams Belang’s stronghold of Hoboken, on the outskirts of Antwerp, the party soared in local elections last month. It won 41 percent of the vote, far ahead of all other parties.

Sitting at the bar of a smoky cafe, school bus driver Eric Delawer says this working-class town used to vote socialist. But in recent years, with the influx of large numbers of Muslim immigrants, he says the people of Hoboken have turned to Vlaams Belang. “The immigrants don’t integrate,” he says. “They separate themselves from us. They want to stay among themselves. I say, if they don’t adapt to our customs, the only option is to send them back to their home countries.”

“We are not in favor of the famous multicultural society,” says Filip Dewinter, the party’s leader. “We do not have a problem with legal immigrants if they are willing to assimilate to our culture, our way of life, our values,” he says. “But we can’t allow that they come to our country, that they come to Europe, and they keep their own culture, their own religion – Islamic religion – which is not always compatible with our way of life, our culture.”

NPR, 21 November 2006

Observer stitches up MPACUK

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“One of Britain’s most prominent speakers on Muslim issues is today exposed as a supporter of David Irving, the controversial historian who for years denied the Holocaust took place. Asghar Bukhari, a founder member of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), which describes itself as Britain’s largest Muslim civil rights group, sent money to Irving and urged Islamic websites to ask visitors to make donations to his fighting fund.”

Jamie Doward in the Observer, 19 November 2006

Except that, if you read the article, you find that all this took place back in 2000. Bukhari says that at that time he didn’t realise who Irving was and now describes his actions as “gravely mistaken”. So, in other words, he clearly isn’t “a supporter of David Irving”.

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‘National Museum of Wales goes Islamic’, Nazis complain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Do the ordinary people of Wales really deserve their hard earned taxes to be squandered in grant aid to cultural bodies such as the ‘National Museum of Wales’; to be used by an apparently small out of touch elite, to promote what is seen by many as a politically motivated campaign of Islamic propaganda?”

The fascists of the BNP (“Cymru’s fastest growing and unashamably pro-Christian political party”) take exception to the staging of two exhibitions on Muslim culture at the National Museum of Wales.

BNP regional voices, 18 November 2006

Of course, we all know the distinctive contribution the BNP makes to Christian culture in Wales. Only two months ago one of their activists was convicted of racially aggravated disorderly conduct after screaming “Paki whore” and “Sieg heil” at a traditionally-clothed Asian woman in Swansea in June this year.

Church urged to ban BNP supporters from communion

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Supporters of the racist philosophies of the British National party should be banned from taking communion because their beliefs conflict with key tenets of the Christian faith, the head of Britain’s race watchdog said yesterday.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, used a speech to church leaders to criticise their silence over the BNP’s depiction of itself as a Christian-based party. Mr Phillips told the Temple Address, a high-profile interdenominational gathering, that the BNP’s policies against people of other races and other religions using the cloak of Christianity demanded a robust response from established churches.

Referring to BNP leader Nick Griffin’s acquittal last week on charges of inciting racial hatred, Mr Phillips said the church should have framed its own response. “If ever there was a moment for hellfire and damnation, this is it. At the very least, every pulpit this Sunday should have been ringing with denunciation, ministers and priests crying ‘Not in our name’ … the far right should not be able to claim Christ to their cause. But they will do if we let them.”

He added: “I feel rage that my church might expect me to be in communion with such as Nick Griffin. This is where Christ puts us to the test. In the end it is Christians who decide who shares their fellowship, and who is excluded.”

Mr Phillips said church leaders faced a choice. “Will the churches support any priest or minister who says I will not administer the sacrament to someone who blatantly rejects Christ’s teachings? Are we ready to use weapons of faith to turn these people into pariahs and outsiders?”

Guardian, 16 November 2006

‘Disgust at Muslim poppy’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“BNP National Enquires Officer and Worcestershire Organiser, Martin Roberts has assisted the Royal British Legion for the last three years in helping with their annual poppy appeal. This year he was absolutely horrified to find alongside the traditional remembrance crosses, a Muslim crescent – apparently because ‘demand’ warranted it. In all the years helping, Martin has never knowingly sold a poppy to a Muslim person, so was disgusted at this item and removed it from the box of poppies.”

BNP regional report, 16 November 2006