Racist graffiti outside London primary school: Mother reacts furiously to media coverage

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daily Express Whites Not Welcome
Express reports on the ‘whites not welcome’ graffiti – omitting to reproduce the accompanying anti-Islam and anti-migrant slogans

A concerned mother has hit out at media coverage of racist graffiti at her local school after a series of articles claimed that white pupils alone were being targeted by the slurs.

Coverage of the vandalism, which was left on the entrance path to the Prince of Wales Primary School, focused entirely on just one of the messages which said “whites not welcome.”

But the mother who alerted the media to the graffiti has responded furiously to coverage by publications including the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Evening Standard who, she said, are creating “misconceptions and division.”

Jasmin Nathan, who has two sons aged nine and six at the school, sent several images of the graffiti to a number publications, including the Huffington Post UK. She has now said that she is “very disappointed and angry” that only the one image has been widely circulated.

Continue reading →

Progressive Christians should take on the Christian right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

We need to expose the truth about certain Christian groups that are happy to ally themselves with far-right politics. Foremost among them is Christian Concern (previously called Christian Concern For Our Nation).

Christian Concern claims to speak up for Christian values in public life. They are one of the main groups behind the Coalition for Marriage, which has drawn in more moderately conservative Christians and gained significant media coverage with its outrageously untrue claim that the legalisation of same-sex marriages would allow churches to be sued for not holding them. Many middle-of-the-road Christians have been happy to endorse the group’s ‘Not Ashamed’ campaign, which encourages Christians to be open about their faith.

Rumours have long circulated that the leaders of Christian Concern held a meeting by phone with Tommy Robinson when he was leader of the English Defence League. Christian Concern last month had the opportunity to get rid of these rumours, when they were asked outright by a journalist (not me) if they were true. Christian Concern’s press officer, after consulting with its leaders, told the journalist that they had no comment to make.

Christian Concern deny being party-political – they had to apologise to their supporters in 2010 when they appeared to endorse the tiny Christian party. But in 2011, the group held a meeting on ‘Dismantling Multiculturalism’ with Gerard Batten, Ukip MEP for London. Proposals they appear to have agreed on include a ban on kosher and halal food in schools and hospitals, an end to Islamic banking in the UK and a ban on non-English signs in public (Batten has since tried to play it all down, saying these were only ideas). By last year, Christian Concern’s bulletins to supporters were commenting on Ukip’s local election success in joyful terms.

Symon Hill writes at Politics.co.uk, 6 June 2014

Belfast preacher who denounced Islam as evil issues apology

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A born-again Christian preacher who denounced Islam as “satanic” and the “spawn of the devil” has issued a public apology over remarks that ended up de-stabilising Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government.

Pastor James McConnell of Belfast said he never had any intention to “arouse fear or stir up or incite hatred” towards any Muslim in the region. The preacher’s statement was issued just hours before the Police Service of Northern Ireland questioned him about his comments and allegations that he had been inciting hatred.

Continue reading →

Stevenage pub withdraws from hosting EDL members before march

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Marquis of LorneA pub will no longer host English Defence League (EDL) members before they march tomorrow (Saturday).

The Marquis of Lorne, in Stevenage High Street, had agreed to allow EDL members to meet at the pub prior to their 1.30pm march through the town. They have now withdrawn and have yet to decide whether to open their doors throughout the day.

A statement on the pub’s Facebook page reads: “We at the Marquis of Lorne agreed to the EDL starting their march here purely as a business opportunity – not for political reasons. We have now withdrawn. We apologise to anyone we may have offended over this matter.”

At present the EDL is still advertising The Marquis of Lorne as a meeting place on Facebook.

Continue reading →

The Economist defends right to incite religious hatred

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Belfast rally against racism

The Economist has just posted a comment piece (“Ulster and Islam: Minarets and steeples”) on its Erasmus blog about the controversy unleashed by Pastor James McConnell’s diatribe against Islam and its subsequent defence by First Minister and Democratic Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson. It concludes:

Mr Robinson’s defence of the right of preachers to “denounce false doctrine” was politically inept, to put it mildly, and it showed a peculiar understanding of the role of a secular politician. But in a narrow way he is right. Under any legal regime which upholds free speech, so long as it does not advocate violence, preachers (including Islamic ones) do have the legal right to denounce beliefs that they regard as false. There were hard discussions about this when Britain introduced legislation on “religious hatred” in the wake of the 2005 London bombings; and to the relief of free-speech advocates, language which would virtually have prohibited robust religious debate was struck out.

Continue reading →

EDL thug Dean Kenney admits part in Birmingham riot

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dean Kenney (2)
Dean Kenney (centre of photo) with fellow EDL thugs and (right) boasting about contaminating halal chicken with bacon

A right-wing thug who boasted of contaminating supermarket Halal chicken with bacon has admitted in court to committing violent disorder at a 2,000-strong English Defence League rally. Dean Kenney, 41, from Bannister Green Villas, Felsted, pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to taking part in a demonstration last July which saw EDL members, 300 anti-fascists and police clash in the town centre.

They marched to Centenary Square where then EDL leader Tommy Robinson delivered a speech outside the Symphony Hall. Then the violence started between EDL supporters and police wearing full riot gear. A portable toilet was tipped over spilling waste over the street and missiles were thrown, including bottles and cobblestones. It was estimated around £6,000 of damage was caused to a sign at the entrance to the Hyatt Hotel as demonstrators again clashed with police.

Continue reading →

Reykjavík: Anti-Muslim rhetoric brings gains to Progressives

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last night, the Progressive Party won two seats in the municipal elections, having won no seats on city council in the previous elections in 2010. As late in the campaign as May 23, polls showed the party still not holding enough to support to win a seat.

But later that same day, Progressive mayoral candidate Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörsdóttir announced she would reverse a decision made last year by Reykjavík City Council to grant a plot of land for the building of a mosque. Within days, the party gained enough to support to win at least one seat on city council.

DV reports that Sveinbjörg shared material on her Facebook about Muslims, allowing Islamophobic material posted on her page to stand. The aforementioned examples were posted by Skúli Skúlason, the founder of the Facebook group “We protest against a mosque in Iceland”, which has over 4,000 followers. Skúli has accused Muslims of committing atrocities in Europe, and has called Anders Breivík’s videos “a work of genius”. He has also repeatedly expressed his support for Sveinbjörg.

The night before elections, Sveinbjörg told Stöð 2 viewers she was worried that an influx of Muslims in Iceland could lead to forced marriages becoming a problem in this country, and said she wanted to “open a discussion on freedom of religion” in Iceland.

The other new Progressive councilperson, Guðfinna Jóhanna Guðmundsdóttir, told DV that the granting of a plot of land to a mosque was detrimental to Reykjavík’s housing problem. Svanur Guðmundsson, Guðfinna’s husband (and also the Progressive’s campaign manager), publicly asked, “Since when were Muslims a minority?”

Continue reading →