Category Archives: UK

Anti-fascists to gather at Griffin and Collett retrial

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Islam Out of BritainYorkshire anti-fascist activists will gather at Leeds Crown Court this morning when two leading BNP members arrive to face a retrial on race-hate allegations. BNP leader Nick Griffin and party activist Mark Collett have been summoned to reappear at the court, which cleared the pair of two charges back in January but failed to reach a verdict on two other indictments.

The case arose from remarks made by each individual during speeches to supporters back in 2004, which were secretly recorded by a documentary team and broadcast on national television. After describing immigrants to Britain as “cockroaches,” Mr Collett ended his address by appealing to fellow party members to “show the ethnics the door in 2004,” while Mr Griffin was filmed branding Islam a “wicked, vicious faith.”

Anti-fascist campaigners have called on local people to show their opposition to the racist politics of the BNP by rallying outside the court building this morning from 9am. Urging the largest possible turnout, Yorkshire and Humberside UAF chairman John Campbell said: “It is vital that we have a large united presence at this peaceful anti-fascist rally.”

Teaching union NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates added: “These public demonstrations against the BNP and its leaders send a clear message that the pernicious views and activities of such groups will not be tolerated. NASUWT is participating in this demonstration because those who support racist and fascist agendas must be exposed and opposed.”

Morning Star, 1 November 2006

Wales TUC joins Muslims in fighting racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Wales TUC joined forces with the Muslim Council of Wales (MCW) last night to recruit more Muslims into trade unions and battle racism. In a joint statement pledging to work together to combat the scourge of Islamophobia, they said that “WTUC and the Muslim Council of Wales will work together in support of workplace justice and against Islamophobia.”

The statement notes that, “by combining together, we will be able to achieve more towards those objectives we share in common than we can do by acting alone.” It stresses: “The shared belief of the MCW and Wales TUC in justice, equality and opposition to prejudice is matched by our belief that these objectives can be better achieved in the workplace. We believe it is in the interests of workers to join the appropriate trade union at their workplace and that employers should recognise such unions.”

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Sun scaremongers over ‘Hook son’s job on the Tube’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hook's Son“The terrorist son of hook-handed Abu Hamza has been working on London’s Tube, The Sun can reveal. Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, 25 – a convicted fanatic who has glorified suicide attacks like the 7/7 slaughter – was rumbled by Underground workmates when they saw his picture in The Sun.

“They went straight to bosses, who told Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, 25, to sling his hook. But last night fury erupted over the security shambles that led to the convicted terrorist being granted astonishing access to London’s Tube network.”

The Sun, 31 October 2006

The “convicted terrorist” label stems from the fact that Mohammed Kamel Mostafa served three years in prison in Yemen from 1999-2002 for a terrorism-associated offence. Regarding this case, the US State Department wrote:

“Eight Britons and two Algerians who were arrested in December 1998 were tried from February to August 1999 in Aden on charges of possessing illegal weapons and explosives and conspiring to commit terrorist acts. The 6-month trial did not meet minimum international standards for due process. Defense lawyers claimed that the prosecution lacked adequate evidence, and that the defendants were tortured, sexually abused, and denied access to their lawyers….”

US State Department reports on human rights practices, 2000: Yemen

Fascists defend right to incite hatred against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The retrial of the Free Speech Two, Nick Griffin and Mark Collett starts in Leeds tomorrow (November 1st). Both men are facing charges of using words likely to incite racial hatred for daring to criticise the failed experiment of multiculturalism and describe the alien religion of Islam as a ‘wicked faith’. A charge which seems utterly ludicrous in the context of all that has been perpetrated in the name of Allah at home and abroad in recent years, never mind the centuries of conflict and bloodshed in the Middle East, North Africa, Iberia and the Balkans.

“For daring to stand up and tell the truth about the threat in our midst the two accused could face up to seven years in prison in a court in a supposed western democracy where ‘the truth is no defence’; a situation akin to the Inquisition or the witchcraft trials of the 17th century.”

BNP news article, 31 October 2006

Mangera Yvars interviewed by Guardian

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Abbey Mills Islamic CentreJonathan Glancey interviews Ali Mangera and Ada Yvars Bravo, the architects responsible for designing the proposed Markaz at West Ham.

The piece is informative, and broadly sympathetic. “We’re trying to design a welcoming and beautiful building,” Mangera is quoted as saying, “yet at times I feel I’m being accused of designing a bomb factory.”

But you do despair of ever reading an article on this issue which avoids recycling the stuff about the FBI claiming that Tablighi Jamaat is a recruiting ground for al-Qaida, or how 7/7 bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan reportedly attended the Dewsbury Markaz.

Guardian, 30 October 2006

London likes multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MayorMost Londoners believe multiculturalism is good for the capital despite the recent row over Muslim veils, according to a new survey.

The MORI poll for the Greater London Authority showed 70 per cent of residents felt London was a better place to live because of its “mix of cultures, languages and ethnicities”. Thirty-seven per cent said the diversity of the capital was “a very good thing” and 33 per cent “quite a good thing”. Seven per cent said it was “quite a bad thing” and six per cent a “very bad thing”.

Ken Livingstone said: “It is good to see Londoners have not been deflected from their enjoyment of multiculturalism by the intolerance we have seen from politicians over recent weeks. Londoners support a basic principle: we all have the right to be ourselves as long as we don’t interfere with the rights of others. That tolerance and respect for individual choice unites us and underpins our success as a global financial centre, welcoming companies and their staff from every part of the world.”

The poll found nearly three quarters of voters believe Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war led to the 7/7 terror attacks last year.

Evening Standard, 30 October 2006

Muriel Grey on ‘Enlightenism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muriel Grey joins the massed ranks of those defending the Enlightenment against religious belief in general and Islam in particular. Apparently, Enlightenment values are compatible with describing the Aishah Azmi case in the following terms: “some woman (we think – for all we know it could have been Paul Gascoigne under that niquab [sic]) was claiming her right to mumble lessons at children while wearing a bag over her head.”

Sunday Herald, 29 October 2006

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‘BBC deputy chief refuses to rule out letting a woman read news in a veil’ shock

Posted on by Bob Pitt

One of the BBC’s most senior executives has defended the corporation against accusations that it is “crammed full of soft liberals” obsessed with pushing a politically correct agenda. In an exclusive interview, Mark Byford, the deputy director-general, has hit back at suggestions that the broadcaster is too sensitive to the feelings of Muslim viewers and that it has an inbuilt anti-Christian bias.

Sunday Telegraph, 29 October 2006

Mark Byford may be ambiguous about the possibility of the BBC hiring a niqab-wearing woman newsreader, but his boss Mark Thompson explicitly rules it out. See Mail on Sunday, 29 October 2006