Muslim peace conference condemns terrorism

Thousands of Muslims have attended a peace conference in London which has condemned terrorism.

About 12,000 Muslims gathered at Wembley Arena for Islamic group Minhaj-ul-Quran's Peace for Humanity Conference. The conference launched a campaign to get one million people to sign an online declaration of peace by 2012.

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said the conference would send a message that 10 years of extremist activity should end. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri is the founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran and gave the keynote speech at the event, despite having received death threats after issuing a fatwa - or religious ruling - against terrorism last year. The cleric was repeatedly applauded during his address in which he said the "terrible" 9/11 attacks in the US had distorted perceptions of Islam over the past decade.

He told the audience: "In spite of statements and memorandum and condemnation of the terror, the voices of the 99% true, peace-loving Muslims have not been heard, they have been drowned out by the clamour and the noise of extremists. Islam has nothing to do with any act of terrorism. We reject every act of extremism and terrorism unconditionally."

The event, which took one year to organise, was attended by people from across the UK, many of whom arrived in coaches. Those who attended heard a series of lengthy and impassioned speeches, some in Arabic, from Islamic scholars denouncing terrorism and extremism.

Ghazala Hassan al-Qadri, president of the MQI Women's League, told attendees: "Islam teaches love, it teaches compassion, it teaches tolerance, it teaches mercy."

Another speaker - Egypt-based Islamic scholar Shaykh Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri - told the conference: "Islam is a religion of justice, not a religion of injustice...is a religion of manners and co-operation, not a religion of extremism and radicalisation...is a religion of forgiveness and pardon, not a religion of brutality and revenge."

The audience heard pre-recorded messages of support from, amongst others, Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, opposition leader Ed Miliband, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. And there were prayers for peace from representatives from a number of different religions including the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Rev David Hawkins, Jewish rabbis and representatives from the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh faiths.

The declaration of peace included a call for democracy and good governance in the Muslim world, respect for human rights, and alleviation of poverty throughout the world.

BBC

Islamophobia and antisemitism

There is some violent prejudice against Muslims in Britain today. But is there a more subtle insistence that they're really foreign?

The great thing about being in Dubai last week was being a foreigner once more. It's how I spent much of my childhood, how I grew up, and how I feel most at home; but it brings professional rewards as well as personal pleasures. I was for the first time in my conscious life in an environment where the most important thing about Muslims was not that they were Muslims. It gave me a moment of sudden awareness, like waking in a log cabin without electricity when all the background hum and tension of electric motors that you never normally hear is suddenly audible by its absence.

The people I was hanging out, and sometimes drinking, with were Muslim intellectuals whom I know and like in England. They're not in any way discriminated against in this country, as far as I can tell: their lives are not impeded by the kind of people who think that Muslims are a problem to be solved. The kind of crude and open prejudice that flourishes online – and go and look at comments on the Telegraph website, or the videos of Pat Condell, if you want to know what I mean – is very rare in liberal circles, and when we catch ourselves at it, we feel guilty.

But there is a more subtle and general sort of prejudice which holds that Condell is not an extremist outcast. Richard Dawkins, for example, has praised Condell, and used to sell his videos on his website, which reminds of the way that Oswald Mosley remained a member in good standing of the English upper classes until the outbreak of the second world war, despite his views on Jews.

What I realised in Dubai was that in England today Muslims can't escape being Muslims, any more than Jews in England in the 20s or 30s could escape being Jewish. They can't just be unremarkable, as Jews in England can be now.

In Dubai, or neighbouring Sharjah, being a Muslim did not matter in the same way. Obviously, people made a huge amount of fuss about Islam. But when you're in a room full of Muslim academics and students arguing about culture, or censorship, or why there is so little science in the Arab world, the arguments themselves make one thing wholly plain. Neither side is more Muslim than the other. None of the flaws of the Islamic world are essential or intrinsic to it. They may be widespread, and in some cases quite horrible. But they're all cultural and not just religious.

I don't mean by this that all the bad bits are cultural and all the good bits religious. That's both false and simplistic. Cultures can be both good and bad and both are still authentically Islamic. But the whole idea of an "essential" or "true" way of being Muslim makes little sense when looked at historically, no matter how important, indeed indispensable, that style of argument is between Muslims. The same is of course true about "real" Christianity, or, for that matter, "real" atheism.

We don't have any real difficulty accepting this about Christians in this country. Except for a few noisy bigots, it's accepted that nice, good Christians are just as Christian as nasty and vile ones: that Jesus would be just as much at home among the Quakers as in Ian Paisley's congregation; in fact most Guardian readers believe that he would like the Quakers more. Certainly this is true about Jews. No one really believes that Lionel Blue is less Jewish than the chief rabbi (unless the chief rabbi does).

But with Muslims, in Britain today, there is a feeling that the civilised, funny, clever ones aren't really proper Muslims at all. And don't think that these civilised, funny, clever people people don't notice it.

This is subtle and pervasive – more of a smell than a substance – and I'm not sure whether it's a very diluted version of the stench that comes off Condell or Robert Spencer or something essentially different. Either way, it is a smell of which I spend most of my life unaware, and Muslims notice much more often. I shall try to flare my nostrils a little more often.

Andrew Brown's Blog

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Carlisle man arrested after 'Koran burning' in city centre

A police officer next to the burning book

A man has been arrested after he allegedly burned the Koran holy book and made an anti-Islamic speech yesterday in Carlisle city centre.

One eye witness who spoke to the News & Star described seeing the man standing in the city centre, near to the market cross, loudly making anti-Islamic pronouncements in front of a large crowd. He then set fire to the book he was holding, which said the witness was a Koran, before discarding it and hurrying away.

Police arrived at the scene a short time later and are now investigating. A spokesman for the force confirmed that a man has been arrested.

The incident came just a day before a controversial American preacher, who had threatened to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in new York, was told he would barred from visiting the UK.

A spokesman for Cumbria police said today: “Just after midday on Wednesday, January 19, police received reports that a Koran was being burned by a man in Carlisle city centre. Police have seized the remains of the book and a 32-year-old male has been arrested on suspicion of using racially aggravated threatening words or behaviour. The man remains in police custody where he is helping officers with their inquiries.”

Police confirmed that the man was arrested at his home address in Carlisle.

A woman who saw the book burning incident said: “There was a big crowd gathered in the city centre and he was basically burning the Koran in the middle of town. He was carrying the book around while it was burning and then threw it on the floor for a second and then left. He was shouting anti-Islamic comments. People were horrified. It was a bit shocking to see that in Carlisle city centre. The whole thing lasted about three or four minutes.”

Meanwhile, Pastor Jones said today that he was disappointed to be barred from the United Kingdom, describing his exclusion from the country as “unfair”. Speaking after the Home Office announced it would not allow him to enter the UK, he insisted he was not against Muslims or Islam, only the “radical element of Islam.”

News and Star

Mosque protest is condemned

Portsmouth's muslim leaders have condemned those who protested outside the city's mosque.

Scores of demonstrators gathered outside Portsmouth's Jami Mosque yesterday. They were protesting after a small group of Muslims - not from the city - burned poppies in London during the two minutes' silence on Armistice Day.

The protest, led by former soldier David Tallard, congregated outside the mosque at midday and numbered only a few. It broke for Pompey's home game against Doncaster, and gathered again shortly after 5pm this time with scores more taking part.

Peace protesters who had heard about the protest also gathered outside the mosque. Shouting between the two groups then ensued with fireworks being thrown into the peace campaigners. There was a strong police presence with one man from the demonstrators being arrested after a confrontation. A poppy had also been graffitied on the mosque the day before.

The Muslim community in Portsmouth said they condemned the burning of the poppies and that they would have joined any protest, had it not been directed at the Jami Mosque. Akf Suyeb, of the mosque, said: 'When these people are pointing their fingers at us about this, it's not right. We condemn the people who burnt the poppies, and we do show our respect to the people who died in war. After all, Indian people, Muslim people, also died during the first and second world wars.'

'We should remember that. As Muslims, we are not allowed to wear images of animals, but flowers are fine. And we would have been happy to have a poppy painted on the mosque - but it was graffiti, and they should have asked our permission before painting on our building. We would have absolutely joined in a protest, because the Muslim community condemns this act, but not when it is against our mosque.'

Former soldier Mr Tallard, 25, who was injured while serving in Iraq in 2004, insisted the protest was not racially motivated despite the location outside the mosque on Victoria Road South. He said: 'It is a busy road, and someone had already painted a poppy on the outside of the mosque. This protest has nothing to do with religion. We just don't want to see poppies being burned. It's just not right.'

A coach-load of members of the English Defence League nationalist group made the trip to Southsea from London to join in the protest. The EDL has a reputation for anti-Muslim protests and acts, though the group insists it only opposes Muslim extremists.

Mr Tallard, who served as a private with the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, added: 'I don't know too much about the EDL but I do agree with some of what they say and it was good to see them here giving us their support.'

Simon Magorian, of the Unite Against Fascism group, said he believed the poppy issue had been 'hijacked' by members of the EDL. He said: 'They don't care about it, they just want to stir up as much ill feeling against Islam as possible.'

The News

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up.

We must stand together on this

Last weekend 2,000 supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) invaded Leicester. They claimed to stand up for Englishness against Islamic extremism, but in truth they came for trouble. Almost as soon as they arrived they began fighting with police, putting four in hospital, and in the process throwing army issue smoke grenades, fire crackers and ball bearings at police horses and dogs

During one charge, which resulted in a police officer being repeatedly stamped on, others in the crowd chanted "let him die". As the event finished hundreds of EDL supporters rampaged through local streets indiscriminately attacking local Asians. These were not acts of patriotism but the destructive efforts of racist thugs and football hooligans.

On October 24 the EDL plan to hold a solidarity demonstration outside the Israeli embassy to which they have invited a little-known American rabbi, in a cynical ploy aimed at cultivating hatred between Jews and Muslims.

While many in the Jewish community have understandable concerns about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, it is important to remember that the EDL are not our friends. Searchlight has been running local campaigns against the EDL, in the same way that we work to defeat the politics of hate espoused by the BNP. We seek to mobilise communities to stand together around common values which unite us. In Leicester this meant over 6,000 local residents standing together against the hatred of the EDL. One Leicester, United Together. Next week it is the turn of the Jewish community to stand united against this hatred.

Extremism is extremism, whatever form it comes in, and the EDL is a genuine threat to social cohesion and peaceful communities. And extremism only breeds extremism. The EDL set out to whip up trouble and tensions, hoping to provoke a violent reaction from young Muslims. In the short term this divides communities, in the longer term it only pushes people to more extreme groups.

But with the threat comes an opportunity and we must use the concern over the EDL to bring people together. One of the most moving movements of our peace vigil in Leicester last weekend was when the leader of the Muslim community read out a message of support from the local Jewish community. "A rock thrown at a mosque is a rock thrown at a synagogue," the message read. This produced a massive cheer and highlights what is possible when we stand together against hatred.

Nick Lowles is editor of Searchlight magazine

Jewish Chronicle

BNP activist cleared in court

A BNP activist from Lancashire who wrote and distributed leaflets which blamed Muslims collectively for the heroin trade has been cleared of intending to incite religious hatred.

Anthony Bamber, 54, told a jury his intention was to create a debate about the "crime against humanity" that was the flow of the drug on to Britain's streets. He was responsible for heading a campaign which sent up to 30,000 of the leaflets by hand or post to targeted areas and individuals throughout the north of England over a 12-month period.

Bamber, of Greenbank Street, Preston pleaded not guilty to seven counts of distributing threatening written material intended to stir up religious hatred between March and November 2008. He was cleared by a jury at Preston Crown Court of all seven counts.

Representing himself, Bamber said there had been "no unpleasant incidents or social unrest" following the sending of the leaflets. Giving evidence last week, he explained they were targeted at educated professionals such as teachers, doctors, lawyers and clerics who were unlikely to take physical retribution against Muslims upon reading the literature. His aim was to create curiosity and interest which would then lead to a debate, he said.

The former part-time lecturer of politics and economics at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston said: "It was a desire to protest at what I say is a monstrous abomination. I believe I have the right to protest about the heroin trade.

"There are 400,000 heroin users in this country which is the equivalent of the size of a city like Liverpool. Half of these people are going to die. I wanted to scream out, I wanted society to pay much more attention to the heroin trade. It is ignored."

He added: "I do not want religious war, I do not want people to hate. I intended to do something about the heroin trade. I was not a monster stirring up religious hatred. I think it should be discussed and debated, and it will come (round) to my opinion that it is a crime against humanity. I believe I was doing a good thing."

Opening the case, David Perry QC, prosecuting, said the leaflets were filled with "hate speech" in which the obvious intention was to provoke hatred of Muslims.

Following the verdict, Detective Supt Neil Hunter, of Lancashire Constabulary's Force Major Investigation Team, said: "While we are disappointed with today's decision, we accept the decision of the court. We have worked very closely with the Crown Prosecution Service throughout this inquiry and careful consideration was given before any decision to charge was made."

Lancashire Evening Post

BNP activist 'delivered anti-Muslim leaflets'

A British National Party activist delivered leaflets of "hate speech" intended to stir up religious hatred of Muslims, a court heard today.

Anthony Bamber, 54, printed and then distributed documents entitled The Heroin Trade which allegedly claimed followers of Islam were responsible for the sale of the drug on Britain's streets. It said the trade was a "crime against humanity" and demanded that Muslims
"apologise and pay compensation" for the flow of heroin from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Preston Crown Court was told Bamber, of Preston, Lancashire, targeted various people across the North West in his leaflet drops between March and November 2008, including a school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, two barristers in Manchester, and addresses in Harrogate.

David Perry QC, prosecuting, said: "The defendant distributed leaflets and letters by hand or by post which were threatening and he did so with the intention of creating or stirring up religious hatred, and the religion he directed the hatred towards was Islam. This case is about hate speech. That is speech designed to arouse hatred against members of a social group identified by a particular characteristic.

"In this case the social group is Muslims and the characteristic they share is religion, namely Islam. The objective of the letters and leaflets, the prosecution say, was to provoke hatred of Islam. The hatred was not directed just at the concept but at the followers of Islam - Muslims."

In March 2008, Bamber and another man visited Barnoldswick, Lancashire, where they delivered the leaflets by hand, the court heard. A householder in the area contacted the police, who arrived and spoke to the defendant, Mr Perry said.

"The defendant admitted he had been distributing the leaflets and he said his purpose was to promote an organisation known as the Preston Pals," the prosecutor said. The Preston Pals was a battalion which fought in the First World War which recruited its members from the city.

Mr Perry said: "They (the Preston Pals) have got nothing whatsoever to do with the BNP and nothing whatsoever to do with the hatred of Islam. Why that name was being used is not really known. The defendant also said that the leaflet was inspected by a lawyer who informed him that the material could not be interpreted as provoking religious or religious hatred."

The jury was told the leaflet said 95% of heroin traded in the UK came from the Pakistan and Afghanistan region and was a "crime against humanity". It continued: "Before the Islamic invasion it was impossible to find heroin in our land. Muslims are almost exclusively responsible for its production, transportation and sale. It is a crime against humanity because it has caused far more suffering than slavery ever did. It has led to millions of premature deaths."

Taxpayers were also victims due to the cost of policing and rehabilitation for which Muslims must compensate, the leaflet added. Muslims should be held to account with condemnation heaped upon them so that it would lead to the abolition of the trade, it concluded. The leaflet was labelled a Preston Pals publication which was "committed to non-violent democratic resistance" and was set up in honour of the soldiers in a "campaign on behalf of indigenous communities".

Mr Perry said the real intention of the leaflet was "obvious".

"It is no doubt intended to be dramatic. It is no doubt intended to capture the imagination and say 'look at what these people are doing, they are all criminals'," he said. "The crime of drug trafficking was the collective responsibility of all Muslims - according to the leaflet - and they were all being "tarred with the same brush".

He told the jury the tone of the leaflet could be seen as "militaristic and menacing" rather than promoting a non-violent and democratic cause.

"You may think it is intolerant, bigoted and intended to be divisive. It is blaming Islam with contestable and questionable assertions of facts and stoking resentment. The prosecution say that the overall message is that Muslims are killing British youths and they must themselves be made to pay and it is your duty to make them pay. They are 'the invader'."

In June 2008 the headteacher of Sedbergh School received a large brown envelope which contained a number of letters addressed to individual teachers. The letters were along similar lines to the leaflet and called for Muslims to be held to account for the heroin trade.

"We know we are asking a lot," it said. "There are many dangers with confronting the Muslim invader."

Mr Perry said: "The letter makes it clear that all Muslims are to be held to account and it makes it clear that all Muslims are culpable."

Similar material was also sent to two barristers in Manchester and addresses in Lytham and Eccleston, Lancashire, and Harrogate, North Yorkshire, the court was told. Bamber, of Greenbank Street, who is representing himself, denies seven counts of distributing threatening written material intended to stir up religious hatred.

The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.

Yorkshire Post

Lawyers body demand ban on English Defence League

The UK-based Association of Pakistani Lawyers (APL) has called for a ban on the far right wing English Defence League following report in the British media that it plans to stoke up racial disorder in Muslim dominated areas of Bradford and Tower Hamlets in East London this summer.

In a statement APL chair Amjad Malik has demanded a ban on this organisation saying it poses a threat to public order and has sinister aims.

“If British society rightly so has no place for Al-Muhejeron, so must be the case with English Defence League which should be proscribed before it’s too late as it threatens the very fabric of British society which is built on ‘tolerance’ and ‘live and let live’ principle,” Barrister Malik said.

Malik declared that the EDL group’s decision to target some of the UK’s most prominent Muslim communities including Bradford is a an attempt to provoke Muslim youth to take law in their own hands as the youth is already feeling disillusioned by past 10 years of negative campaign and governmental actions and foreign policy concerns.

“British Muslim youth feel under the cloud due to a heavy stop and search figures and usage of terror legislation against them. English Defence League has only one agenda and that is to stir public hatred and community tensions turning into riots and create a worst law and order situation having far reaching consequences for future stability in the society.”

He said this agenda of hate and despair is a ploy to divide people and communities who are living peacefully in Britain irrespective of their faith and colour.

Associated Press of Pakistan

EDL Walsall demo cancelled

The controversial English Defence League have called off a planned demonstration against a proposed mosque in Walsall after learning that the biggest single group opposed to the scheme are Muslims. George Makin reports.

The anti-Islamic EDL had announced they would hold a demonstration on June 19 against a scheme to build a new place of worship in Vicarage Close which had previously been denied planning permission by the Walsall council. Proposers of the development have announced their intention to appeal the decision.

The EDL’s proposed demonstration led to a joint statement by the leaders of all three party leaders on Walsall council, fearful of a repeat of violent clashes which have occurred at other EDL events, that the rightwing group was not wanted in the town.

During negotiations with police EDL organiser were surprised to learn the original planning application had been opposed by many Muslims in Walsall who claim there are enough mosques in the borough already.

The EDL are now planning for a demonstration in Dudley on June 19 and for another in Alum Rock in Birmingham at a later date.

The Stirrer

The Wilders/EDL final solution...

Click on image to see it full-size

Here's an interesting proposal that you might have missed, apparently from the Dutch Freedom Party's Geert Wilders, he of the golden locks and rabid Islamophobia. Wilders suggests nuking Mecca as a 'rational deterrent to radical Islamists bent on using weapons of mass destruction against America and the west'.

Wilders' rationale for such an action - if there could be said to BE any rationale at all - is that Muslim's would find their faith so shattered by such an event that they would cease to be the problem that he perceives them to be to the future of the known universe.

Personally, it's a long time since I've heard anything quite so patently lunatic, but I would have expected the Muslim world to be galvanised into similarly lunatic responses instantly and possibly endlessly, and frankly, who could blame them?

Naturally, there are supporters of the idea and, on this occasion, it's members of the English Defence League - or at least, members of the EDL's forum. Here are a few responses:

'without getting all philosophical or going into numerous negatives as to why we shouldn't & scaremongering with the typical left-wing 'consequences' speeches........I'm all for it, my own personal studies into terrorism and guerrilla warfare is that the type of people we are up against only understand power, force, brute strength.'

'I'm not making this big speech on we gotta get real tough and nasty but initially in Iraq we we're treated with dubious respect by the locals, but as soon as the majority of the anti-westerner's see with their own two eyes just how soft we we're towards them {from their viewpoint}, the liberty's towards our troops started....'

'unfortunately force is something that some people understand more than others..'

'Nuke em all thats what I say.'

'I can't see the muzzies in this country going quietly into the night if we blew the crap out of that s**thole. But one well placed submarine would make it very difficult to find out who launched it...'

'I say the only way we will find out what will happen is to give it a try!'

'The best way to do this job, would be to pack a Boeing747 with high explosives and fly the plane by remote control right into the middle of mecca during the height of the hajj. I know that there is a flight restriction over mecca, but by the time the alarm was raised it would probably be to late. Remember the twin towers. Just fly it over as a normal shedualed flight. A 747 could carry one hell of a lot of explosives and the just deny any knowlege. Just another airline disaster. The effect would be apsolutly caterstrophic.'

The EDL claims not to be racist but simply opposed to extremism. One wonders then how it can justify allowing posts on its forum that advocate destroying millions of completely innocent members of a faith of which they disapprove, that just happens to be one practised mainly by immigrants and the children of immigrants.

Or perhaps the EDL is just what we've been saying it is all along - a bunch of violent racist nutters.

Thanks to gah gah for the heads-up.

Plan for anti-Muslim march blasted

Five men have been arrested after a Facebook site was set up declaring “all Muslims should be thrown out of Wales”.

Around 150 people joined the group on the social networking site claiming they would march through the Rhondda Valleys to make their feelings known. The proposed march has been described as “mindless bigotry” by racial equality groups. But South Wales Police have now stepped in and arrested five men for religiously aggravated public order offences.

It is one of the first occasions people have been arrested over comments posted on Facebook. The group has also been removed from the site.

Police now believe the march will not go ahead, but they will be on standby in case anyone turns up. Members of the group, which was entitled Rhondda March, said they would walk from Treherbert down to Pontypridd on February 28. And the organisers declared: “We Dont Want Musslims in our country move them out they are takeing over.”

The site said the march was planned to start in Treherbert at 10am. The group’s message board was inundated with comments including “ai im in, gona put sum nails in a stick 4 the f******” and “Got my steel toe caps ready, wot a craking idea”. Another reads: “send the f****** bk. Join us u now u want 2 stand up tall”. A further message said: “Move these musslims back home”. And another read: “yeah support our local buissnes not forgin ones. Im in”.

But the comments were labelled pathetic and ignorant by equality campaigners who are demanding that the march doesn’t go ahead. Ian Titherington, secretary for anti- racist group Searchlight Cymru, said: “All this will do is cause trouble and give a bad name to the people of the Rhondda. The people in the group are just mindless bigots and it’s something the Rhondda could do without. Most of these people probably haven’t even met a Muslim.

“There aren’t many Muslims in the Rhondda but those who live there are very popular and work very hard doing hours that others won’t. And they are as Welsh as anybody else. You’ll probably find these people who have signed up going into a shop run by a Muslim and buying a pint of milk tomorrow. At the end of the day, these people are attacking their own community. It’s sad, pathetic and pointless. If this march goes ahead it will be very disappointing, the police have to make sure it doesn’t.”

Naz Malik, chief executive of AWEMA, the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association, added: “These people are just simply plain wrong and ignorant because they don’t know or understand Islam. They don’t understand that the majority of Muslims in this country are peaceful, law-abiding people who are fully integrated in British culture. If they took the time to learn about their culture they would realise there’s nothing to fear. But what they are doing is spreading the word of hate. They are just a bunch of misguided people.”

Former MP Ron Davies, who is now director for the Valleys Regional Equality Council (Valrec), is confident the march won’t go ahead. But he added that if it did, the reputation of others in the Rhondda would be tarnished

Mr Davies said: “There are one or two groups in the Rhondda which are extreme right wing, but I don’t think what has been proposed here has any serious basis. In this case, my own view is that this group of individuals are trying to talk up their own self-importance by proving they have the capacity to arrange a march. If it went ahead it would cause great effects to the people in the Rhondda who understand modern day society. But I don’t think the threat can be treated as a serious one.”

Police arrested the men, aged 27, 30, 31, 32, and 36, on Thursday. The 31-year-old was also arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs with intent to supply. The men are all from the Pentre, Ton Pentre and Gelli area of the Rhondda. They have been bailed pending further inquiries.

A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said: “The public order offences relate to comments posted on the internet. An investigation is ongoing; however it appears that the views expressed on a social networking site at the centre of this enquiry have been made by a very small number of people and do not reflect the true community spirit and cohesion in the Rhondda Valley.”

Wales Online

What's in a minaret?

A minaret isn't much to get worked up about. It is a tall, ornate tower appended to a mosque, which is sometimes used to broadcast calls to prayer. Yet, in the arguments of those who wished to ban the construction of minarets, thereby singling out Islam for restriction and opprobrium, they amount to a form of 'colonisation'. Whether that 'colonisation' is identified as a threat to conservative or left-wing values depends on the audience. Some members of the Swiss Socialists justified their support for the minaret ban on feminist grounds, and the feminist writer Joan Smith has attempted to lend this appalling stance some respectability. The Lega Nord, meanwhile, calling for a similar move in Italy, justifies the campaign on the grounds that Italy must remain, like Switzerland, Christian and white. Conservative writers like Michael Burleigh claim that it represents a stand against alleged infringements on European 'democracy'.

The language of 'colonization' is very important in the racist right's lexicon. These Lega Nord posters remind people that 'immigration' to the Americas resulted in Native Americans living in reservations - seriously implying, therefore, that white Europeans might become the victims of a genocide. It is also a language that the BNP is given to use, and of course, it was dramatically pictorialised in the icons of the anti-minaret campaign in Switzerland, with minarets depicted as black missile-like objects covering a Swiss flag, with an ominous looking woman wearing a burqa in the foreground. One cannot help but notice the 'bad faith' involved here. Muslims tend to be so targeted precisely because where they are least likely to be assertive, most isolated, and least in a position to defend themselves. They are targeted as a minority, with poor resources for mobilising on their own behalf, not as a colonial power. While we're about it, might we also notice the militarist implications of such a language? For if Europe is supposedly being colonised, in a way that threatens a fate akin to that of the injuns, then a war of liberation is surely the implied solution. The thugs marching on mosques across Britain, and the fascists who think they don't go far enough, understand this perfectly well.

A corollary implication is that those who do not rally to the war against 'Islamic colonisation', 'Islamic imperialism' or the 'Islamification of Europe', as it is variously called, are traitors. Now you might think that such language is the preserve of fascists and nutters, ultra-reactionaries, racists, EDL thugs, the BNP, etc. You would be wrong. For example, The Express, expostulating about its phoney 'revealations' about government funding for "fanatics who want to kill us", takes the logical step from its fabrications and fulminates: "It does not take a brilliant detective to work out what is going on here, just an ordinarily observant person: Britain's cultural identity is being systematically dismantled by a government of traitors." It is true that the Express takes the most extreme racist line toward Muslims of any of the tabloids, but this is an unabashed plagiarism from the pages of the British Nationalist. As it happens, the charge against New Labour is not only wrong on the facts, but it is politically perverse. No mainstream party has done more to capitulate to racist ideology than the one presently in command. Gordon Brown's dog-whistling about 'local houses for local people', following his tremendously successful 'British Jobs for British Workers' gambit, has been followed by more 'tough but fair' language and promises of concrete measures to deal with immigration. Brown is particularly concerned, after all, about 'Britishness' and 'British values'. Nothing saddens him more than the idea that we can't take some pride in the achievements of the empire, and of Anglo-Saxon culture in general. The allegation that this government is insensible of "Britain's cultural identity" (which appears to consist of being white, Christian, bigoted, ignorant, full of shit, and proud of it) is nonsense.

The main thing that vexes the Islamophobes, supposedly, is violence. If pressed, some of them will readily concede that any violence by Muslims is practised by a negligible minority and by no means incriminates the majority. (Do not even bother asking them to weigh it against the colossal violence of Anglo-American imperialism, which has incited such relatively miniscule violence as has taken place on the European continent.) The majority, though, will insist that such violence, even if practised by a minority, is driven by their commitment to doctrines that are mainstream in Islam. Thus: 'we are not against Islam, just extremism - but then, isn't Islam itself extreme'? Their attention to violent 'extremism', though, and that of the media and political class in general, is severely curtailed by their obsession with Muslims. Tell me if this sounds familiar. A man is found in possession of explosives, guns, ammunition, and other weapons. He is arrested, charged with terrorism offenses, and is convicted. But he is not a Muslim. He is white, and a BNP member, so his case doesn't grab the headlines. No one notices that the BNP has a demonstrated propensity for churning out terrorists. Let's try another one. A pair of students are severely beaten after attempting to defend a woman from a threatening gang. Suppose the gang is a Muslim gang, leering at a white woman, and the students are Ben Sherman wearing Brits on their way to play darts or something equally ridiculous. You would expect headlines from that. Predictably, of course, that isn't the case: the students are Muslims, as is the woman they were defending, and the attackers are white racists who were taunting the woman for wearing a hijab. So, it's not much cop, especially since most newspaper editors have it in their heads that wearing a hijab is itself a culpable and subversive act, which can at best be 'tolerated'. Incidents of both type are increasingly routine, as is their general oblivion in the welter of competing, largely fabricated, stories about the menace of Islam.

Given the pace of reaction across Europe, and the growing hold of this specious, essentialist garbage about Islam, it is unsurprising that an innocuous and sometimes rather beautiful structure can, if the PR is effective, become so suffused with peril and portent for so many. But the minarets are just the start of it. No Islamophobe would be content with what is, at the moment, a symbolic gesture, a super-sized fuck-you. There will be numerous intermediate steps. Sarkozy and his allies may be next with the idea of a ban on the 'veil'. Someone else may take up the original intended issue of the Swiss reactionaries, and try to outlaw halal butchery. But if the intended effect is to intimidate Europe's Muslim population and ultimately reduce their numbers, then it can only be a matter of time before 'peace walls', ghettos, and forcible expulsion are on the agenda - presuming no one lifts a finger to protest in the meantime. Some Swiss anti-racists have already taken to the streets. They are, at the moment, small in number. But they could not possibly be as small in stature, as pathetic, as ridiculous, as paltry in almost every respect, as that majority of Swiss voters who cast such a petty and vindictive vote.

Lenin's Tomb

Racism among white supremacists is getting worse, John Denham to warn

Anti- BNP demonstrators protest against the appearance of
BNP leader Nick Griffin at the BBC Centre in London in October

Racism among white supremacist groups in Britain’s towns and cities is getting worse, a Cabinet minister will warn today

John Denham, the Communities secretary, will give warning that Muslims are not the only group which can breed extremism. Pointing to recent convictions of white supremacists, and a broader rise in overt racism, Mr Denham will say: “It is important that local Muslim communities do not feel that are being singled out if other forms of extremism are a threat in the area”.

The Home Office has already been developing a new programme, called Channel, to support young people who at risk of being drawn into white racist violence. But speaking in Birmingham today, Mr Denham will unveil a new £5million fund to deal with the spectre of rising white racism. He will say that every local area country should, where necessary, have a comprehensive strategy for tackling all forms of extremism, including, particularly white racist extremism.

The warning comes amid growing evidence of racial tension against ethic minorities by whites. Last month it was claimed that white supremacist gangs with names like The Aryan Brotherhood were building up support in British jails.

In September a neo-fascist dubbed the 'tennis ball bomber’ was jailed indefinitely at the Old Bailey today for plotting a terrorist campaign for white supremacy. In August, an American white supremacist was stopped from entering the country to attend a British National Party festival in Derbyshire, after the UK Border Agency said it believed his presence could stir up racial tension.

The BBC also came under fire in October for giving a platform to Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, on the BBC television’s panel show Questiontime.

The cash announced by Mr Denham today will be in addition to the Home Office’s Prevent strategy which targets extremism among Muslim communities through local councils, schools, community groups and police. The Communities Secretary will tell a conference of 1,000 Prevent workers to “completely reject accusations that Prevent is spying on Muslim communities” and insist that the strategy can only work if it is supported by local Muslim groups.

He will say: “Any programme that is surrounded by suspicion or misunderstanding simply will not work. Despite the significant progress and achievements that have been made in the first year of the programme, controversy, criticism and lack of clarity have unnecessarily limited its effectiveness."

Telegraph

Can the BBC shirk its responsibility if anti-Muslim attacks increase?

I was glad to see the panellists and members of the audience confront British National Party (BNP) Leader, Nick Griffin, head on during the BBC Question Time, with regards to his despicable views of the Nazi Holocaust and ethnic minorities earlier this month. However, I was equally raged when asked about his views on Islam, he was left to openly preach hate and ignorance without any challenge whatsoever from neither the panellists nor members of the audience. A sad sight indeed.

While most commentators are consumed with how he came across long after the programme, with his unchallenged remarks on Islam, it will inevitably lead to more and more attacks on British Muslims. In recent months the so-called English Defence League have openly been demonstrating throughout the country against British Muslims. We have witnessed attacks on mosques in Luton, Sunderland, Woolwich and recently in Bishops Stortford. The national press are also at it. Recently the Daily Express ran with the headline, ‘Now Muslims Demand Full Sharia Law’, clearly an exaggeration. The alarming rise in Islamophobic attacks on British Muslims, sadly fanned by some parts of the media, is flourishing unchallenged by politicians as well as security forces alike.

Under the current climate it was clearly a serious error of judgement on the part of the BBC to give the BNP a national platform. Today the situation facing British Muslims is identical to that of the American McCarthyite era in the 1950s. We are merely seen through the prism of security; surrounded with suspicion and continuously faced with claims of disloyalty that our way of life is incompatible with the British way of life.

No. We are part and parcel of this society and our contributions speak for themselves - not least the Muslim soldiers who fought for Britain during the First and Second World Wars. Yet we are always misunderstood. Yes, there are a handful of Muslims who wrongly, for example, call for Shari’ah Law in the UK. But one bad apple should not equate an entire community.

The BNP and far-right fascists are concealing their true colour under a veil by attacking British Muslims and Islam (because we are an easy target), but they will soon move to the rest of the “non-indigenous” population. By allowing Griffin a seat on their flagship political programme, the BBC has given the once convicted criminal his much craved legitimacy and recognition.

Many commentators have said that ‘the only way to defeat the BNP’s ideas is by having them out in the open and properly contested’. Of course we all agree. But don’t give them a national platform with 8 million viewers. It was completely the wrong setting. If he is to be robustly challenged, let it be in local community centres up and down the country; not a short debate on a panel alongside real mainstream panellists. It has created an unprecedented interest in the BNP which the recent YouGov poll in the Daily Telegraph clearly shows. 22% of people questioned now “seriously consider” voting the BNP. The taboo of voting for the BNP vanished overnight. The BBC cannot shirk its responsibility.

During the summer I was travelling as a Global Fellow of the Prime Minister: learning about culture in India. Every Indian I spoke to said how brilliant, open and free they thought Britain was: as one student said, “The UK is the real land of opportunity.” While there, the Indian media and public were gripped by reports of racist attacks on Indian students in Australia. One student where I was teaching said: “We should cut all ties with Australia until they act.” The image of Australia is now tainted in India. Sadly, I think the image of our country will now be tainted internationally too.

As a young British Muslim, I feel the saga surrounding the BNP and Question Time marked a dark period in our country’s history. A dark week in fact for democracy. Because democracy is not about giving a platform for one to openly preach hate and vilify a whole community without debate. It sadly marked a grave period for mainstream political opinion and a rise for far-right extremism. At the end of the day: there is only one community who will suffer: the Muslim Community.

I, as well as many British Muslims up and down the country, feel let down. Let down by the silence on the panel and in the audience of the unchallenged Griffin attack on Islam, and let down by the BBC for allowing the media hype. As the Guardian wrote, it was “a once in a generation PR opportunity.”

Make no mistake. British Muslims will be left picking up all the pieces of the BBC’s decision. And frankly, from anger, the sentiment amongst British Muslims is now turning to more alienation, disenfranchisement and mistrust with resulting negative implications for our society. No one seems to be challenging the fact that the Far Right are using Muslim extremism as a pretence to gain mainstream following. It appears our politicians and the media alike do not seem to appreciate the real threat the BNP and other far-right fascist groups are posing to British Muslims and for that matter our society.

Tragically, Griffin’s appearance on the Question Time has played into the hands of those who seek to demonise Islam and its teachings. By leaving Griffin’s attacks unchallenged, the BBC has recklessly added fuel to an already ignited fire. And for that the BBC should be held responsible, if as I suspect, there is a rise in anti-Muslim attacks.

Kawsar Zaman is Vice-Chair, Youth Committee, Muslim Council of Britain

The Muslim News

BNP and Labour candidates to fight it out in Dalton town council by-election

Two parties are going head to head in a town council by-election

Labour and the British National Party are to fight for a seat on Dalton Town Council. Dan Martin, for Labour, and Mike Ashburner (pictured left, in the sexy T-shirt), Furness and South Lakeland BNP organiser, were the only two nominations received by last Friday’s closing date. The by-election is set to take place on December 10. The vacancy arose when former Dalton mayor Dermot O’Connor left the town to be nearer his family in Wigan.

Dalton town councillor Bill Bleasdale – who represents the Tories on the borough and county councils – says the town council is usually apolitical. He said: “Normally someone is co-opted straight onto the town council but ten voters can declare a by-election. Anybody from any political party can stand in a democracy. It is disappointing that there aren’t any more candidates showing an interest. The public has got disillusioned with politics nationally which is why the BNP got representation on the European Parliament. They are a protest party.”

Mr Martin, who lives in Dalton and teaches at George Hastwell School on Walney, urged voters to send a message to the BNP that “their nasty brand of politics is not welcome in this town.”

The Ulverston-born 33-year-old, whose father was a Liberal Democrat councillor in Cartmel, said: “Like everyone here, I am very proud of Dalton – and I want to fight for a fair deal for the residents here. Dalton needs a hardworking town councillor who lives here and cares about the issues that matter to families. I think the last thing we need is someone coming here and trying to use our town council to stir up trouble.

“The British National Party care nothing about the concerns of people here – they just want to whip up tension and division. Huge damage would be done to our community if we elected a member of a party that judges people because of what they are and not who they are. I believe that I can represent your interests, and send a message that says Dalton is still a welcoming town.”

Mr Ashburner, from Barrow, who admitted he has no links with Dalton, said it was the BNP’s policy to go for any vacancies that come up. He denied the party was out to cause trouble. Mr Ashburner said: “My main aims are to tackle anti-social behaviour and clean up the streets. I noticed walking around just how much rubbish there was. My other main problem I aim to tackle is the Islamification of Dalton. There are proposals to build a mosque in the area and they are currently looking for plots. I am going to make sure there is not a mosque built in Dalton.”

Cumbria County Council spokesman Gareth Cosslett said the council knows of no current plans to build a new place of worship in Dalton. He said : “Nothing is being built locally. The only thing that happens every Friday afternoon is one room in the Multicultural Centre in Barrow is used by Muslims as a prayer room. The rest of the week it’s used to teach English and a variety of other things. The whole point of the centre is to connect people and help them with social issues.

“The county council isn’t aware of anyone wanting to build a mosque in Dalton or anywhere nearby – but we’re not the planning authority. Our view would be that if they did, they would have as much right to build it as anyone would to build a church.”

North-West Evening Mail

BNP Slammed Over Anti-Muslim Pac-Man Spoof

A British National Party official has been accused of racism over an anti-Muslim message posted on the internet

Mark Collett, the BNP's publicity director, created a spoof of the Pac-Man computer game with the caption "Sortin' out Muslims since 1980" and has uploaded it to a number of websites. The image, which shows caricatures of Muslim women in veils being attacked by the computer character, is accompanied by a personal message from Collett on his Facebook page.

He wrote: "Pac-Man knows how to deal with Muslims! I made this, I hope it makes you all smile! Feel free to send it out and spread the joy."

Collett was cleared in 2006 of inciting racial hatred after a jury heard he had told a meeting in Keighley: "Let's show these ethnics the door in 2004."

But Muslim MP Shahid Malik, a minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government, has accused Collett of being "twisted" and said the game proves the BNP is racist. He told Sky News: "If this is the work of Mark Collett, it only serves as further demonstration of what a sick, twisted and vile individual he is. It is useful to highlight this type of attitude in the leadership of the BNP. It helps expose the true face of this racist and fascist organisation."

Collett's comments about "how to deal with Muslims" are at odds with his party's public statements on immigration and leader Nick Griffin's claims the party is not racist.

The policy section of the BNP website claims the party is not opposed to non-whites, so long as whites stay the majority. It states: "We accept that Britain always will have ethnic minorities and have no problem with this as long as they remain minorities."

Yet Dr Rob Berkeley from the Runnymede Trust, which campaigns to promote a multi-ethnic Britain, describes Collett's game and comments as "clearly racist". He said: "It is more evidence, if it was needed, that the BNP is a racist party, or at minimum a party of racists."

Collett told Sky News his spoof Pac-Man picture was "simply a joke" and said he did not want to "sort out" Muslims. He said: "The Pac-Man character eats ghosts, but to suggest that anyone in the BNP wants anyone to eat women in burqas is laughable. It's not suggesting that anyone needs sorting out, it was simply a joke.”

Sky News

Man guilty of stabbing 'veil martyr' to death in court

Russian-German who hated all foreigners jailed for killing muslim woman

It started with a seemingly trivial argument about a swing in a children's playground, but soon spiralled into one of the most shocking racist murders Germany has witnessed since its reunification. Eleven months later, Marwa el-Sherbini, a beautiful and well-educated Egyptian woman expecting her second child, was brutally stabbed to death with a 12-inch knife in front of judges in open court in the east German city of Dresden.

Her husband, tried to protect her and was attacked for his pains. He was left clinging to his 31-year-old Muslim wife in a pool of her blood on the courtroom floor, as their three-year-old son looked on. As he mouthed "She's dying, She's dying", Mrs Sherbini bled to death. Security guards had failed to intervene in time.

The case, which aroused scant interest in Germany at the time, provoked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Mrs Sherbini was dubbed the "veil martyr". Yesterday her killer, a 28-year-old German of Russian extraction, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Alexander Wiens stood motionless in the Dresden court only a few doors away from the courtroom where he carried out the murder. This time security has been exceptionally high, with 200 police officers standing guard.

His face covered with a hood and his eyes hidden behind sunglasses, the defendant was convicted of murder, attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm. Judges said that, because of the severity of Wiens's crime, he would not be eligible for parole after 15 years. An unemployed member of Russia's German-speaking minority, Wiens is one of thousands of Russian Germans who have moved to Germany since reunification. Many, whose forebears migrated to Russia in the 18th century, have failed to integrate into German society and are treated as outsiders.

Elwy Okaz, Mrs Sherbini's Egyptian husband, who is a geneticist, was in court to hear the verdict, still using crutches as a result of the injuries he sustained. He gave the court a tearful account of how badly their son, now aged four, missed his mother.

The court yesterday accepted the prosecution's argument that Wiens was driven by "an unbridled hatred of foreigners". The presiding judge, Birgit Wiegand, said Wiens, who, listed his activities as "drinking, smoking and gambling", had moved to Germany in 2003. She said he had described life in the country as "multicultural shit" and blamed foreigners for taking away German jobs. "He despised Muslims. In his eyes they were all Islamic fanatics," she said. "He wanted to be a perfect German."

The events that led to the tragic and brutal murder of Mrs Sherbini, a pharmacist who was working at Dresden University, began on a sunny Thursday afternoon in August last year when she strolled into a children's playground. She was wearing jeans, a white blouse and the only indication that she was Muslim was a small headscarf. With her was her son, Mustafa.

The toddler wanted a go on one of the two swings in the playground, but they were both occupied. Wiens sat on one, smoking a cigarette. Mrs Sherbini asked him in German whether he would mind getting off because her son wanted a turn. His immediate response was a torrent of insults. "You are an Islamist and a terrorist who has no business in Germany," he said, adding that she was no better than a "whore" and that her son too would grow up to be a "terrorist".

The mother was shocked and felt horribly insulted. A bystander who had witnessed the incident called the police. Mrs Sherbini was persuaded to file an official complaint against Wiens. Three months later, he was found guilty by a Dresden district court and ordered to pay a €330 (£298) fine.

Wiens refused and wrote a letter to the court which concluded: "I feel humiliated and unfairly treated by the German justice system." He appealed and the case was again referred to Dresden' district court. The following month the fine imposed on him was increased to €780. Wiens again refused to pay and launched another appeal which was heard by the city's regional court on 1 July this year.

Judge Tom Maciejewski, who was in charge of proceedings that day, has been too distraught to work ever since. He choked on his words and had to interrupt his testimony frequently when he was called as a witness at Wiens' subsequent murder trial. On the day of the killing he had assumed the case was regarding a minor offence that could be dealt with in minutes. Security was correspondingly lax.

"I registered the fact that Wiens had a bag on his lap and I heard the zip-fastener being pulled open," he said. "Then I saw him leap up and attack her with his fists. It was like a machine gun. I ran to him and tried to grab him ... and then I saw that he had this knife in his right hand."

The judge ran out of the court and tried to find help. When he walked back in, Mrs Sherbini's husband, who had by then also been knifed, was saying, "She's dying". At that moment an armed security guard ran into the courtroom and, assuming Mrs Sherbini's husband was the attacker, promptly shot him in the leg. By that time Mrs Sherbini was dead.

The shocking courtroom murder was hardly reported in Germany. The case was treated as a domestic argument that had run out of control and as a failure of court security proceedings. In the Muslim world however, it was treated as an example of German Islamophobia and provoked protests in several Arab countries.

Despite complaints that Chancellor Angela Merkel's government had failed adequately to condemn the murder at the time, Egypt's ambassador to Germany, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, welcomed yesterday's verdict."I think that getting the maximum possible sentence says a lot," he said. "I think it enables the family to feel that justice has been done."

Maria Böhmer, the German government official responsible for immigrant affairs, said the verdict sent a clear signal. "The message is: there is no place for xenophobia in our country," she said.

Independent

BNP blog condemns the contribution of Muslim servicemen

A racist website with close links to the BNP has called Islam the “Cult of the Dead Paedophile” and condemned the contribution made by British Muslim servicemen to Britain’s Armed Forces.

The Green Arrow web site, run by the BNP supporter Paul Morris, writes that “no true” servicemen would want to serve with “a bunch of moslems whose loyalty is not towards our country but to a dead pervert”.

The Green Arrow (GA) writes that front line soldiers should be concerned about serving with Muslims because they might get fragged or shot by their own side. On serving with Muslims on the front line the GA wrote: “I would be thinking fragging and friendly fire”.

And in a reference to the Muslim service personnel in the RAF, the GA wrote that they couldn’t be trusted because they come from a relgion that believes, “the primary role of a plane is to be flown into a building”.

The GA’s un-patriotic and inflammatory blog was a reaction to the news that the Armed Forces have formed a support network for Britain’s Muslim servicemen and women. The association, which aims to improve social cohesion with Britain’s Islamic communities, has been wholeheartedly supported by Britain’s top military brass.

Defence Minister Kevan Jones MP told Nothing British: “I am extremely proud of the diversity within our Armed Forces and I recognise the contribution, dedication and sacrifice of all our personnel. Muslim personnel, many of whom I have met stationed in the UK and abroad, are serving with distinction and currently hold a number of senior positions.”

General Sir David Richards, Chief of the General Staff and a former commander in Afghanistan, said: “I am a huge supporter of the creation of the Armed Forces Muslim Association. It reflects the growing numbers, importance and relevance of the Muslim soldiers, sailors and airmen serving the United Kingdom with such distinction today and, I have no doubt, in the future.”

Muslims have been fighting in Britain’s Armed Forces since 1757 when a number joined the East India Company. During World War Two many Muslims gave their lives in the fight against Nazism, including people like SOE agent Noor Inayat Khan GC MBE, one of only three women to be awarded the George Cross. Khan was tortured to death in 1944 by Gestapo agents in France.

In recent conflicts British Muslims have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. In 2006 Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, a 24-year-old military intelligence specialist, was killed while fighting in Afghanistan against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the GA is a lunatic and on the outer fringes of the BNP. However, in December last year he was invited as a “welcome guest” of Bridgend BNP. Morris’s blog is extremely popular amongst BNP internet users and has been used as a intermediary by sympathisers such as Bill Murray, former secretary of the Welsh BNP and Director of Soldiers off the Street, in their quarrels with anti-BNP campaigners over their links to the extremist party.

Update:
Liam Fox MP, Conservative Shadow Defence Secretary, has told Nothing British: All members of our Armed Forces are hugely valued regardless of their gender, race or religion. We should always celebrate the contribution they make to our national security and our national wellbeing.

Nothing British comment:
If you are prepared to give your life to help protect Britain and her national interests you are a welcome addition to our society. The Green Arrow’s crude and disrespectful remarks are un-patriotic, dangerous and divisive.

Nothing British

Nick Griffin's mother-in-law says the BNP leader is a 'racist'

Mrs Cook, 72, is the mother of Griffin’s wife Jackie. She has described her son-in-law as a “work-shy pretender” who put his politics ahead of his family. She said: “Nick is still a racist. He still holds those views – always has. He wants to see an all-white Britain, but that will never happen... he’s living in the Dark Ages."

Jackie Griffin, 46, met her husband in the late 1970s whilst he was a Cambridge student. Mrs Cook said that her daughter claimed Griffin would turn his back on the far right, but when they married in 1985 he remained active and she became the main breadwinner.

“She did everything – brought money into the house and raised the children. Nick played at his silly politics but never really contributed financially,” she told the Sunday Mirror.

Mrs Cook, who lives near Chester, added: “He pretends to be a man of the people, but the truth is he hasn’t done an honest day's work in his life. My daughter is a nurse and has always had a full-time job. She was working 12-hour shifts even when their children were babies.

Griffin lives with his wife and four children in a remote farmhouse outside Welshpool in Powys.

Mrs Cook, a widow, said her son-in-law had toned down his views in recent years. She said: “Nick’s not half as bad as he used to be, but he still believes black people and Muslims have no place in this country. He’s been forced to change his views now he’s in [the EU] Parliament, but whether that’s out of want or necessity ... you decide.”

Telegraph

Far-right supporters confront pro-Palestinian protesters

Police say no arrests made as English Defence League supporters involved in standoff at central London demonstration

Far-right supporters of the English Defence League were today involved in a standoff with pro-Palestinian demonstrators in central London. There were several brief confrontations as EDL activists chanted "We hate Muslims" and "Muslim bombers off our streets".

Hundreds of police officers kept the two sides apart as the march made its way to the Mall. Scotland Yard said there were no arrests. Around 30 police officers in fluorescent yellow jackets walked ahead of the procession as it snaked along Park Lane. Meanwhile, a long line of officers accompanied the crowd, which filled two lanes of the road. Cars queued, with traffic limited to one lane.

Pro-Palestinian protesters held up banners with slogans including 'Justice for the murdered children of Gaza', 'We are all Palestinians', 'Boycott Israel' and 'Judaism rejects the Zionist state'. People from a number of organisations and groups, both Muslim and non-Muslim, joined the demonstration, held during Ramadan every year. Coaches brought people to the event from throughout the UK.

The demonstration's organiser, Raza Kazim, from the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: "It's in aid of the oppressed people of Palestine in particular, but the idea of al-Quds is more general than that. It's for people who have been oppressed. We look through the prism of Palestine and the kinds of things that have happened to the Palestinian people. We have come out to say that we are with them."

Asked about opposition to the rally, Kazim said people including supporters of Israel usually protested. But with them, he said, were "the BNP, the EDL, the racists, the extremists - all of this unholy alliance have got together" to say oppression should continue. We are going to say: 'No, that this is not going to happen'. That is why we are here – to raise our voices against that," he added.

Motahare Yadegarfar, a 23-year-old pro-Palestinian demonstrator who had travelled to the march from Manchester, said: "We are gathered here to say we want the end of the occupation of Palestine and the siege of Gaza. We want Israel to stop killing innocent people."

She said anti-Islamic opposition to the rally was based on ignorance.

"There are some Muslim extremist groups who do things that are not Islamic," she added. "There is a lot of misunderstanding and ignorance. If they [anti-Islamic groups] got to understand what this [protest] is about, I don't think they would oppose it."

Guardian