Man accused of hate crime in Oregon mosque arson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

CORVALLIS — Federal law enforcement authorities arrested Cody Seth Crawford, 24, Wednesday night on a federal hate crimes indictment in what they say was a racially motivated arson at a Corvallis mosque.

The arrest comes eight months after the Nov. 28 firebombing of the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center at 610 N.W. Kings Boulevard in Corvallis. Authorities quickly determined the fire, which burned the office of the mosque, was an arson.

The Oregonian, 25 August 2011

Update:   See “Suspect in Corvallis mosque firebombing will remain in jail, judge orders”, The Oregonian, 25 August 2011

Police chief’s futile bid to keep out EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The top cop in West Yorkshire has been denied powers to restrict a far-right group’s protests in Calderdale. Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police Sir Norman Bettison has told the Courier he wrote to the Home Office after the English Defence League’s demonstration in Bradford last August, suggesting measures to minimise their impact on communities in his area. But the Home Office turned him down.

“I have no power to stop them coming,” said Sir Norman, who was asked if he would consider stopping the group from protesting because of the massive cost to the force. “After the EDL’s protest in Bradford nearly a year ago I wrote to the Home Office suggesting that they could put in controls,” he said.

His proposals including limiting the number of protesters who could come. He questioned why an area that did not want the group to visit should have to put up with the disruption to the community, businesses and expense to the police and local authority. But the response he received from the Home Office was that there was no likelihood of any restrictions.

Calderdale Council estimates the EDL’s last protest in Halifax, on July 9, cost taxpayers more than £140,000 – at least £1 for every adult in the district.

Halifax Courier, 25 August 2011

London can’t afford to let the EDL march

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Dudley2Well, that’s the title given to a letter from a number of Labour Party luminaries published in today’s Guardian, which calls for a ban on the planned English Defence League march through Tower Hamlets on 3 September.

This really is a stupid and entirely counterproductive letter. It completely omits any reference to the political objective of the EDL march – namely to intimidate the Muslim community of East London – and opposes the march purely because of the cost of policing it. It seems to have escaped the attention of the signatories that there is no legal basis for imposing a ban on those grounds.

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‘Bordering on xenophobia’: Freep condemns Agema’s anti-Sharia bill

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“At a time when hundreds of thousands of Michigan families are hurting, State Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, is waging a silly anti-immigrant crusade that will do nothing but sow fear and distrust among the state’s diverse residents.”

The Detroit Free Press comes down firmly against the Michigan anti-Sharia bill.

Plymouth Minnesota: city council votes unanimously to approve Islamic centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim families in the northwest metro suburbs, who for years have moved from one place to another for prayer services, won approval Tuesday night for a mosque that will share space with Plymouth’s post office.

The Plymouth City Council voted unanimously to approve the Northwest Islamic Community Center’s purchase and move into the building. The center plans to remodel it for family activities and to serve the worship needs of about 40 Muslim families centered in the Plymouth area.

“We welcome you to our community,” Council Member Bob Stein said after the vote.

The center would be open for daily prayer and might begin a Sunday school program, said Najam Qureshi, a database manager who chairs the Islamic center’s board. Activities will be offered to the public, including tutoring sessions for kids.

The post office was scheduled to close, but the Islamic center proposes to keep open the customer service counter by leasing part of the building back to the U.S. Postal Service. Most other operations at the post office were moved last year to St. Louis Park.

The vote, which followed an hour of respectful testimony and deliberation in a meeting of about 250 people, came on the heels of a more contentious Planning Commission meeting last week. At least two people during that meeting suggested allowing the mosque would be inappropriate and even treasonous.

Star Tribune, 23 August 2011

Scottish Defence League to hold static protest in Edinburgh after march banned

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Scottish Defence LeagueAnti-racism groups are mobilising a major counter-protest after the right-wing Scottish Defence League vowed to go ahead with a demonstration in Scotland’s capital despite it being banned by the city council.

Councillors threw out the group’s application last week, claiming they were worried about risking disorder and violent confrontations, despite police saying they had “no objections” to the march.

The SDL, an off-shoot of the anti-Islam English Defence League, is already promoting the planned protest on 10 September. Details of the route and location of any rally are being kept under wraps, after an SDL meeting in a Royal Mile pub in February 2010 was ambushed by dozens of anti-racism protesters, leading to scuffles in the street.

But the SDL has received messages of support from across the UK after announcing some form of demonstration in Edinburgh would go ahead regardless. One post stated: “The march is banned. We are having a static demonstration. And most likely the police will have to march us if they want rid of us.”

The SDL spent weeks negotiating with police and council officials over its planned demo, which was due to leave from Regent Road, near the American consulate, and include a rally at the Wellington Statue at the east end of Princes Street.

Councillors said the threat of a “significant risk” of disorder outweighed concerns about flouting principles of freedom of speech by banning the march. The protest had attracted more than 1,000 complaints from politicians, anti-racism groups, community organisations and trade union leaders, who were concerned the group would trigger racial unrest. SDL representatives told the council the group had distanced itself from more hard-line members and the EDL, but left councillors unconvinced.

Luke Wright is spokesman for the Unite Against Fascism group, which is organising a public meeting in the city tomorrow to rally support for a counter-demo. He said:

“We’ve applied to the council for a counter-demonstration on 10 September after we spotted quite a bit of online activity about the SDL going ahead with a demo despite the council’s decision last week. Despite enormous public opposition including a wave of complaints to the council, and despite political opposition it seems that the SDL still do not understand Edinburgh does not want their violent racism.”

Scotsman, 24 August 2011

Update here

German anti-racists mobilise against Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The self-appointed “crusaders for a Western Christian Civilization” of the racist party “Pro Deutschland” (Pro Germany) intend to stage an “Anti-Islamist Congress” on 27 and 28 August 2011, in Berlin. Civil society protests have already prevented a similar racist congress from being held twice before in Cologne.

The Berlin branch of “Pro Köln” (Pro Cologne) is being used as a platform by former members of the “National Party of Germany” (NPD), the “German People’s Union” (DVU) and the “Republicans”. Out of all places they have chosen Berlin to rally support for a racist campaign intended to stir up hatred against migrants. They are hoping to repeat the election successes of other European right-wing populist parties in the Berlin state elections on 18 September 2011.

Another right-wing populist party called “Die Freiheit” (Freedom) is pursuing the same strategy. They have invited the racists Geert Wilders of “Partij voor de Vrijheid”/Party for Freedom (PVV), from the Netherlands; Oskar Frysinger of “Schweizerische Volkspartei”/Swiss People’s Party (SVP); and Robert Spencer of JihadWatch, USA to speak at their election rally on 03 September 2011, in Berlin.

Zusammen Handeln! (“Act As One! – Against Racist Agitation and Social Marginalization”) calls for protests against these events.

Norway: terror and Islamophobia in the mirror

Posted on by Bob Pitt

There’s an informative article at Open Democracy by Sindre Bangstad, who examines the atmosphere of Islamophobia in Norway that provided the context for Anders Breivik’s terrorist attacks. He concludes:

Anders Behring Breivik is trying to fight the course of history, but to no avail. Multicultural Norway is here to stay. Period. Several of the young people who survived the Utøya massacre have reported that they were saved by young party comrades with a Muslim minority background. Among the dead, Muslims and non-Muslims were united in their sacrifice. The testimonials of the survivors might very well contribute to the creation of a Norway in which the conspiratorial fantasies of Anders Behring Breivik and other Norwegian racists and Islamophobes will become marginalized in time. Anders Behring Breivik wanted to instigate war. His ideas will be crushed by our humanity and solidarity and our unflinching commitment not to forget the sacrifice of the many murdered in cold blood on a rainy day in Oslo and at Utøya on 22/7/2011

Finns’ negative views on Islam due to ‘harsh and negative picture’ presented by media

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Finns hold largely negative views on Islam, according to a study on attitudes to various religions. Based on their survey responses, Finns were best disposed towards Christianity, had mostly positive impressions of Buddhism and Hinduism, and felt most critical towards Islam.

Only six percent of the survey respondents thought of Islam in positive terms, with the vast majority clearly holding negative impressions – which, says researcher Kimmo Ketola from the Church Research Institute, is mostly down to the media. “There are very few Muslim immigrants in Finland compared to many other European countries. The media can convey an exceedingly harsh and negative picture of Islam,” Ketola says.

The researcher notes that Finns’ feelings about foreign religions have changed for the better over the past couple of decades, but attitudes towards Islam have hardened in the 2000s. However, Ketola says, prejudice is not so all-encompassing.

YLE, 24 August 2011

Catalan far-right anti-mosque protest banned

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Plataforma per CatalunyaThe Catalonia region of northeast Spain has banned a rally called to protest plans to build a mosque in a small town, fearing violence. The demonstration in Salt had been called for Saturday by an openly anti-immigrant party called Platform for Catalonia.

The regional government’s interior department said Tuesday it feared clashes between demonstrators and young Muslims. It said police have warned that young Muslims in Salt are reaching out to Muslims in nearby towns to convene a counter-rally for the same day in Salt.

The rally against the mosque was to be held at the spot where Muslim organizations have applied for a permit to build it.

AFP, 24 August 2011

See also Europa Press, 24 August 2011