Combating the BNP - Part II

In the last part of the series, the author concentrates on what steps the mainstream political parties and opinion makers must take to combat [the] BNP and challenge them head on the issues that give them support from parts of our community.

I think of one organisation in particular that claims to speak for British Muslims and has for a number of years now been issuing 'advice' to the Government on how to tackle Islamic extremism. It condemns Islamist terrorism but at the same time produces documents demanding vast changes to the way society is run, whether than be in education, employment, or the public sphere in general, while routinely denouncing anyone who dares to question its agenda as 'Islamophobic' and 'racist'.

I think of a group that deliberately fosters a sense of Muslim self-pity and a victim mentality (just as the BNP deliberately fosters white self-pity) at the same time as showing its own very flawed commitment to social cohesion through, for example, boycotting Holocaust Memorial Day.

The disgraceful slandering of anyone who dares criticise Islamist politics, or even specific aspects of Islamic doctrine as 'Islamophobic' and 'racist' is all too common, not just among Muslim activists but also among large segments of the so-called 'left', as is the manipulation of the discourse of anti-racism in an attempt to further an Islamist agenda.

Such false accusations of bigotry and racism have been thrown at perfectly decent and anti-racist individuals, and have the potential to ruin their lives and careers. When the 'race card' or in this case the 'religion card' is played too often, people start to get fed up. There is a real danger that people are starting to feel 'well, they're going to call me racist anyway so I might as well vote for the BNP'. And it's not just with the issue of Islam that this is happening.

There seems to be a consensus view among many who are known as 'Guardianistas' that patriotic sentiment and concerns about immigration and social change are intrinsically founded upon racist sentiment. People who express national pride are at best sniffed at with an arrogant and superior contempt and at worst are automatically assumed to be mindless, unenlightened bigots. As Graeme Archer put it in his excellent article on 'Creating the BNP':

you decide to make people feel guilty about symbols of national unity: only racists fly the flag, that sort of thing; you write long, hand-wringing articles in the press about ‘reclaiming’ the flag, which never quite spell out that which is obvious from your tone: that you have an instinctive disdain for the working-class, with their unthinking loyalty to country. Those flags! Flying from council-house windows! You never reflect on what would have happened to Britain in the mid-20th century were this not the case.

The supreme irony of this attitude is that in a clear example of condescending racism, these same white liberals are happy to support communalism among Britain's ethnic minorities and to glory in uncritically promoting and embracing separatist and supremacist attitudes from minority communities that they would denounce in white Britons. Such people are rightly described as being 'wracked by guilt and contempt for their own intellectual heritage', and the liberal Muslim author Tarek Fatah's experiences of Canadian society are equally true of our own:

[T]here is a tremendous amount of white guilt. The intelligentsia in this country in a selfish way tries to assuage this guilt. It caters to the most idiosyncratic behaviour of the immigrant and practices the racism of lower expectations. It sets standards of behaviour for our community, but when dealing with immigrants and especially the Muslim community, it does not expect them to live by the same standards.

This is a very real problem, one of a large number that need addressing if the BNP are to be sent packing, as they rightly should be. The deligitimisation of patriotism, the claims that reasonable concerns about immigration and its effects are 'racist', and the uncritical celebration of any culture and group bar that of the white British majority are all helping to feed into the rise of the BNP.

If mainstream politicians and opinion makers are serious about combatting the BNP, an organisation that remains ideologically racist and which is founded on neo-Nazi principles, they need to start addressing the concerns that have led to a significant number of people seeing it as 'speaking for them'. The Labour Party should particularly take note, given that 59% of BNP voters feel that Labour 'used to care about the concerns of people like me but doesn’t nowadays'. In tandem with this, anti-racists must continue to expose the true nature of the BNP, which is, as my recent report for the Centre for Social Cohesion shows, that it remains a party dedicated to racism and apartheid policies, and a party with numerous ties to neo-Nazism.

You can read the first part of the series here

eGov monitor

Facebook Race Wars

[This post contains language that may offend some visitors.]

Racist groups are operating on Facebook to recruit members, threaten individuals and incite religious and racial hatred Student can reveal.

An investigation conducted by Student found groups on the popular social networking site supporting the British National Party (BNP) and promoting Islamophobia as well as one group pushing extremist Islamic views. All three groups include members from UK universities.

There are over 100 pro-BNP groups on the site, with the largest of these, ‘Vote BNP’ boasting over 9,000 members. Another group, entitled ‘BNP is not racist (kick out muslims that r racists)’ calls for ‘muslim haters’ to ‘stand and fight’ and heralds the return of ‘White Power.’

Last year The Media Guardian reported that the five main BNP groups on Facebook counted 377 members, although individuals often join multiple groups. Student can reveal that this number has risen to over 20 000 in the space of just 12 months.

Other racist groups on Facebook include the highly controversial ‘Fuck Islam’ forum which states that ‘we are here to help Muslims leave their abusive and false religion’ and calls for the religion to be ‘smashed into pieces.’

The ‘Fuck Islam’ group has 1261 members, including students from the Universities of Manchester, Nottingham, Glasgow and Leicester. It was shut-down earlier this year, but re-opened on 8 August with a statement maintaining that ‘we’re here to stay.’

While there are numerous anti-Islam groups operating on Facebook, ‘The Ultimate Muslim Warriors’ is a radical pro-Islamic group which aims to advance the religion across the world.

The group is just shy of 6000 members and while it is not openly racist, it includes a thread on the discussion board with members and administrators supporting terrorist attacks on the West and the stoning of adulterous women. There are also posts praising the collapse of the American banking system with members proclaiming a recession will signal the beginning of Islamic rule and shariah law in the West.

Facebook is used by 85% of UK university students and is the leading social networking site in the country, overtaking MySpace in April of this year. On average, 132.1 million unique visitors use the site per month, making it a prime target for racist organisations wishing to perpetuate their ideas.

Facebook’s terms and conditions state that user groups can be removed for sharing anything seen as “harmful, threatening, hateful or radically or ethnically objectionable.” However, critics suggest that the social networking site has been slow to block groups inciting racial hatred.

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) joint general secretary, Denis Fernando questioned Facebook’s commitment to keeping racist comments and groups off their site telling Student: “Why have Facebook not acted on this clear contravention of its terms and conditions? It should not allow anyone to breach the most fundamental terms of a site – causing offence and inciting ethnic attacks.”

Despite numerous counter-groups such as ‘Ban the BNP from Facebook or we all walk,’ and ‘Delete Fuck Islam,’ which have been in operation for over a year, Facebook has yet to remove the racist comments and propaganda from its site.

Nick Armstrong, a partner at law firm Charles Russell said: “The danger with these sites is that they are so big that a complaint might not be acted on fast enough.”

In 2006, the Government passed the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. Under this bill, it is an offence to threaten people because of their religion, or to stir up hatred against a person because of their faith. The bill also specifically mentions that “threatening words will be classified as criminal.”

Based on this criteria, comments such as “Islam is a disgusting disease of the mind and it needs to be stopped, down with Islam” on the ‘Fuck Islam’ group, and “burn the fucking bastards...I live in Walthamstow where the three of the London bombers were from so I probably got more hate than anyone. Any muslims want some, come and find me, I’d love to fuck you up” on the ‘BNP is not racist’ group, can be viewed as contravening the law and inciting racial hatred.

Not only are these racist groups present on Facebook, but Student can reveal that the BNP are actively recruiting party members using the social networking site. There are links to the BNP Youth on their groups, while BNP activists send round personal messages asking young people to join. Indeed, an activist known as Alex E urged students to join the party on the ‘BNP is not racist’ group, writing on the ‘wall,’ ‘message me with your location and your county. Together we hope to end mass immigration and deal with the anti-white racists.”

Edinburgh University student Freya Hylton, who was invited to join the ‘Vote BNP’ group told Student: “ It is disgusting that these groups are active on Facebook, so many students love the site but until they ban racist groups, they are indirectly fostering violent views and openly giving voice to dangerous ideas. Something needs to be done to free Facebook from factions who incite backward and despicable racist views.”

The BNP maintain that they are not a racist party and have gained a voice through the legitimate democratic system – a suggestion critics have questioned considering the ‘Vote BNP’ group’s statement that there must be ‘no anti-BNP propaganda on the wall. Any such posting will be deleted or marked as irrelevant.”

The administrators of the ‘Fuck Islam,’ and ‘The Ultimate Muslim Warriors’ groups were contacted but refused to comment on Student’s racism claims. Facebook was contacted with reference to the groups but did not respond.

Student

Councillors vent anger at the BNP

Stoke-on-trent city councillors launched a furious attack on the British National Party (BNP) at a meeting yesterday. The tirade came after BNP councillors demanded an apology from elected mayor Mark Meredith for refusing to include them in discussions about policy-making.

Councillor Alby Walker, leader of the BNP Group, said: "More than 8,000 people voted for the BNP last May and Mr Meredith is saying to each and every one of them that they don't count."

Mr Meredith said he would always treat individual BNP city councillors with respect, but he would not tolerate the far right party's policies. He refused to apologise and said: "I believe the BNP is a divisive party."

In May's local elections, the BNP gained three more seats but lost sitting councillor Steve Batkin in Longton North. Soon after the election fellow Longton North councillor Mark Leat was removed from the group after internal disagreements, leaving the BNP with six out of 60 councillors.

Councillor Mike Tappin, leader of the Labour Group, told yesterday's meeting: "Let the word go forth from this time and place that we intend to defeat everything the BNP stands for."

Last month the Standards Board for England - which polices the behaviour of local politicians - refused to investigate allegations Mr Meredith was publicly disrespectful to BNP councillors by refusing to work with them.

The BNP argued the mayor's stance breached the code of conduct for councillors, which says local politicians must treat others with respect - including people with opposing views or from other parties. The board accepted Mr Meredith's actions could have breached the code of conduct, but it concluded the allegations were not serious enough to justify an investigation.

The Sentinel

Stars unite in anti-BNP campaign

Falklands hero Simon Weston has added his voice to a campaign against the BNP in the Assembly elections. He has been joined by Twin Town star Rhys Ifans.The pair have added their support to the campaign by Unite Against Fascism.

The group claims that in English towns where the controversial party has been successful, racist attacks have increased. Unite wants to stop the BNP securing any seats in the Assembly next Thursday.

Simon Weston said: "I am against bigotry of all forms and I hate people using race to whip up fear and intimidation. I urge people not to propagate that kind of rhetoric."

Notting Hill star Ifans added: "To Nick Griffin and the BNP - the ethnic communities you dare to vilify in Wales are speaking Welsh, feeling Welsh and will forever be welcome in Wales."

South Wales Evening Post

Sickening racist response to assault on mother and baby

As BBC News Scotland reports a serious sexual assault on a refugee mother AND her baby son, habitues of the Nazi Stormfront website - hangout of BNP leaders and members - plumb new depths of bigotry and hatred.

From BBC News Scotland: "An asylum seeker and her baby were sexually assaulted as she took the child out in his pram, police said... Police believe the assault, which happened on the cycle path between Plean Street and Dyke Road, was racially-motivated. A group of about four men threw stones at the pair and kicked the woman. One man exposed himself and sexually assaulted the woman. He then assaulted the child and attempted to perform an indecent act on him." Full story here.

The Stormfront reaction?

The Iceni: I See the police are treating it as racial then...Lets see, no witnesses, and an asylum seeker.. might help with her claim, Trauma etc...Plus I doubt many White men would find an Algerian woman complete with headscarf particularly erotic unless they were drugged up..I might be wrong but I dont think we will see this story again...The police have to treat drivel like this as though its a crime of the century...

always white: I don't believe the story.

The Iceni: Me neither, they should treat all the Black on White rapes as racial if they treat this as one....Wouldn't that be a sight to behold...

The Oakleaf: To be honest, I couldn't care less. I doubt the perpetrators were white. ...

whiteandalive: Nor do I on this. This don't go on in London or anywhere else. I've never heard of Whites raping or sexually assaulting Black Women let alone a Muslim Algerian and her child. Its more like a story to get a nice council flat and British Citizenship.

Cliveyboy: I think it likely the police said the woman claimed or reported this, but the BBC, which is institutionally racist against White Males, reports it as fact.

de ecxidio: Our very own Duke 'rape' case, perhaps. More likely total BS, though. The timing is certainly suspect. Wonder who put her up to it? Like we can't guess.

People very like this are probably seeking election to YOUR local council. They wear suits and bright smiles and claim to be simple patriots. The truth of them is very different. Do you really want bigots just like this representing YOU and YOUR district?

Voice of reason

Truth is clear - BNP just want to stir up hatred

by Gordon Brown

I want to congratulate Searchlight and the Daily Mirror for organising this fantastic Hope Not Hate nationwide tour.

Celebrities including the Sugababes, actors from Coronation Street and The Bill, Amir Khan and Corinne Bailey Rae have rallied to support the campaign and stand against the bigotry and racism of the BNP.

More important, thousands of people in towns and cities right across Britain have backed the campaign too.

Just a few days ago 50,000 Searchlight newsletters were delivered in Sandwell in the West Midlands Black Country. Another 20,000 were put through doors in Dudley a few days earlier.

The story has been the same across the country - ordinary people from all races and religions, from all ages and backgrounds, coming together to celebrate what's best about modern Britain and tell people the truth about the BNP. And that truth is clear. The BNP are not a mainstream political party but a group of extremists trying to stir up division and hatred in those communities they are targeting.

WE all know there are problems in Britain. Our country is not perfect and we've still got a lot of work to do but the BNP don't have the answers. The vast majority of the British people know that support for the BNP is completely incompatible with the true nature of Britishness and the great British values of democracy and decency, freedom and fairness, tolerance and equality that the rest of us stand for.

Where we want to unite our country around the great British beliefs we all share of liberty for all, responsibility by all and fairness to all, the BNP want to divide our communities on the basis of the colour of your skin, where you were born or what you look like. They oppose any racial integration and even mixed marriages. They want to create a country where ethnic minorities are second under the law. They believe that people should be given preference in the jobs and housing market, and even in choice of schools on the basis of the colour of their skin, regardless of their ability, talents or contribution.

That is not what the vast majority of British people believe. We don't care what you look like or what colour you are - if you work hard and do your best, you can be part of our community. That's what matters to me. We're in it together and we work for each other. To me, that's what's best about Britain. That's what living in Britain is all about. And May 3 gives us all the opportunity to speak up for the great British values we all share, to make a stand against the BNP, to vote for hope - not hate.

Mirror

Magic bus - last stop against racism

After 14 days, 1,700 miles and greeting thousands of supporters, the Daily Mirror's Hope not Hate bus pulled into its final destination yesterday.

The double decker roared into Glasgow's city centre and was met by Gordon Brown and Big Brother's Jermaine Jackson - who are backing our anti-racism message. In a speech made from the top deck, the Chancellor praised the Mirror's campaign to cheers from the crowd of hundreds below.

He said: "Glasgow is saying there is no place for racism in our society. "There is no place for discrimination and there is no place for prejudice. There is no place for bigotry."

The Mirror has had a huge amount of support from local communities on our two-week journey from Dagenham, through to the opening of a Sheffield mosque, a visit to Leicester's Golden Mile and a food festival in Birmingham. The bus also visited shopping centres, deprived estates, cathedrals, football grounds and white, black and Asian communities. It was welcomed everywhere it has gone.

Yesterday Jermaine Jackson added his voice to the campaign. From the top of the bus he thanked Mirror readers for standing up against the racist bullying in the Celebrity Big Brother house, where he was a contestant earlier this year. He applauded our campaign that celebrates all that is great about Britain's diversity.

Jermaine said: "I'm proud to support it because racism has been bred in the hearts and minds of so many people in the past, and it's important to look to the future and promote hope. The younger generation have got it right on target. We've got to get the message out there that we are all God's children, and there are many different cultures in this world."

After listening to Jermaine owners of traditional clothing shop, Slanj, gave the star a plain black isle kilt and sporran. He joked: "I won't be a traditional Scotsman because my mother told me I should always wear underwear."

Celebrities who supported the campaign include Kelly Holmes, Corinne Bailey Rae, Rio Ferdinand, the Sugababes, UB40, Amir Khan, Shilpa Shetty and Ms Dynamite.

Nick Lowles, from Searchlight, co-organisers of the bus, said: "As the BNP prepares to stand in more council seats than ever before, with a record number of council candidates, the Hope not Hate bus has brought a vital message of hope to communities across the country."

Mirror

Look closely. We’re all going colour-blind

My 84-year-old Yorkshire father and I know better than to talk about race. Doors will be slammed, Christmas could be spoilt as it was once 20 years ago when I stormed out of the house after remarks by my uncle that I won’t repeat because such poisonous, hardcore bigotry no longer has any place in public discourse, and quite right too.

These days the racism of old people makes me sad more than angry. It is possible to understand — without in any way excusing — the views of someone who lived all his life in a homogeneous white, working-class community, didn’t go abroad until he retired, who saw maybe two black faces a year.

My father shakes his head over the Daily Mail and tells me the country is ruined: by which he really means, all certainty and familiarity is gone, the landscape now is alien, unsettling, frightening. He is more mystified than outraged why his grandsons’ primary school classes contain mostly black faces.

Then he’ll confound me by overtipping his African mini-cab driver because he was a “lovely fella” or I’ll find him chatting about cricket with our elderly Jamaican decorator and after he’s packed up, Dad carefully examines the kitchen paintwork and says reverently: “Now, he’s a proper craftsman.”

Meanwhile, my children understand that racism is the most heinous playground crime. They have grown up with Black History Month, assemblies on Nelson Mandela and our groovy new school building is named after the black Crimean nurse Mary Seacole (the children’s other suggestion was Rosa Parks). I feel with absolute conviction if they or any of their friends join the Army and find themselves training a bunch of recruits, they will not spur some laggard through the assault course by calling him a “black bastard”.

For all we love to label our young people toxic degenerates, in one regard they look down at us from the loftiest moral heights. In all surveys, the young’s tolerance of other races and intolerance of racism itself far outstrips the adult population: 82 per cent of under 18s, according to a National Research Centre poll, claimed they are not at all racially prejudiced, compared with 69 per cent of adults. While this reveals nothing about their actual behaviour, it reflects that racism is now taboo.

This week the writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, reflecting on the remarks by Patrick Mercer, the Tory homeland security spokesman, and the CCTV footage of a black woman, Toni Comer, being beaten by a white police officer, wrote: “The filth of racism has washed back, but now there’s no concern, no shame, no real opposition.” But who could possibly agree?

No act of perceived racism now goes without exhaustive analysis. Mr Mercer was summarily sacked by David Cameron just three hours after his remarks. Only a few months ago — in what seems now like some lurid dream — the nation’s media and political leaders ceased discussion of the Iraq war or loans for honours to debate the implications for race (and international) relations in Jade Goody calling the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty a poppadom on Celebrity Big Brother. The 30,000 people who complained to Channel 4, the tens of thousands more who voted to ensure Shilpa won the show, were not letting racism pass by unopposed.

My father’s old monocultural generation is dying; the blithely colour-blind young are ascending. Those in the middle, the generation now running the world, are left questioning our own attitudes, trawling for prejudices, trying to make judgment calls in an atmosphere where to err is to be history.

It is seldom acknowledged that we grew up in a deeply racist climate, where our country was affiliated with South Africa (try explaining apartheid to an eight-year-old: it is almost beyond their imagination), where blokes in pubs joked about Paki-bashing, the top sitcom Love Thy Neighbour spoke cheerily of “nig-nogs” and “darkies”. As a nation we have progressed a long, long way so very fast. And although we still have far to go, are these slippages really very surprising?

Patrick Mercer’s mistake was to be a 51-year-old man who assumed promoting and fairly treating black NCOs under him — as many of them have testified — exonerated him of all racism. In his day in the Army, his actions probably made him a cutting-edge progressive officer. But he was not schooled enough in modern antiracist nuances to appreciate that the insults “ginger” and “black” don’t come with equivalent volumes of oppression.

And his remark that some black soldiers “used racism as cover for their misdemeanours” was the most problematic. Is it possible ever to say this publicly now? Even on a day when Lord Levy’s supporters suggest the inquiry into his role in cash-for-honours is fuelled by an anti-Semitic desire to hang a rich, prominent, influential Jew up to dry?

Or when a drunken, aggressive woman, who has been ejected from a nightclub and then vandalised a car, claims the policeman who thumped her arm to stop her grabbing his genitals did so because she was black? The fact that this case — disturbing as it is to watch any woman being hit by a man — has not been whipped up into some South Yorkshire Rodney King moment does not demonstrate indifference to state, racial violence. Rather it shows, I’d bet, that black people themselves realise they don’t need such a lousy figurehead as Toni Comer.

And whether the Army let “black bastard” foul the barrack-room air seems as nothing compared with its huge unchallenged inequalities: that Gurkha soldiers have only now been granted the same pension rights as the British men they died beside. And this was not after a sudden lightning bolt of racial justice but because our Army is undermanned and needs to attract foreign nationals.

It is one thing for David Cameron to keep step with the latest antiracist language, another to pledge action against the huge, institutional injustices: that twice as many black British men are in prison as at university, that gun crime is little addressed by white politicians since its victims are almost all black, that a whole generation of black boys is tumbling, unchecked, through the education system into low-paid jobs, unemployment or crime. These are the sticks and stones that hurt more than any name.

Times Online

Leading British institutions gripped by racism rows

Three British institutions are engulfed by race rows - but the protagonists all deny any charges of bigotry

Britain's institutions stand accused of fostering a climate of casual racism after a series of race rows yesterday provoked clashes between MPs, academics and leaders of the black and Asian communities.

In the most high-profile case, David Cameron, the Tory party leader, was forced to sack his frontbench spokesman on homeland security, Patrick Mercer, because he suggested that being called a "black bastard" was part and parcel of life in the Army for ethnic minority soldiers.

Shortly afterwards the Independent Police Complaints Commission announced that it was to investigate the brutal assault of a black teenager by a white police officer outside a Sheffield nightclub.

In Manchester, a magistrate who was overheard talking to a colleague about "bloody foreigners" in private after a hearing was reprimanded by the Judicial Appointments Commission but allowed to return to work.

In Oxford, a university professor was forced to defend himself after students protested at his outspoken comments on immigration.

Last night MPs and leaders of Britain's ethnic minority communities said the incidents, although all unconnected, painted a picture of resurgent racism at the heart of British society which needed to be tackled.

Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: "Racism is sneaking back in to mainstream respectability and this is very dangerous. It is not isolated incidents ... it's been happening for some time. In some aspects, it's coming through on the back of Islamophobia and in other ways, it is mainstream, old-fashioned racism."

Michelynn Lafleche, director of the Runnymede Trust, a think-tank on ethnicity and cultural diversity, said that while significant steps had been made in the fight against racism much of the legislation had failed to make a mark on British life. She added: "The fight against terrorism ... gives people the excuse to step back 40 years in time and say it is OK to say these things when it is not only morally reprehensible but often illegal. We may have the legislation in place, but it is of great concern because too often we are not seeing that permeate into our everyday lives."

Many institutions have tried to implement the recommendations of Sir William Macpherson of Cluny who published a landmark report into the death of Stephen Lawrence. But almost 14 years after the black teenager's murder and eight years after Sir William's report Britain is still trying to combat racism in society.

Critics seized on Mr Mercer's comments as evidence that the Tory party is one of many institutions still plagued by such problems.

The Labour MP Shahid Malik said they showed the Tories remained the "nasty party" and had not changed under Mr Cameron's leadership. "It doesn't matter what they tell you, they still are the nasty, racist, sexist, homophobic party they have been for many, many, many years," he said. "It is going to take a long time to weed out the inherent racism that actually exists in that particular party."

However, the Tories are not the only political party facing accusations of fuelling racial tensions. Earlier this week the Home Secretary John Reid faced criticism after promising to make life difficult for illegal immigrants in Britain. He came under fire after pledging a crackdown on foreigners who "steal our benefits".

Darcus Howe, the prominent journalist and broadcaster, believes there is a new-found confidence among the right when discussing racial issues in Britain. He described the latest race rows as "very disturbing" saying there was no one to speak up for black and working-class people.

"This is not the same country I came to 50 years ago. I have great sympathy for the whites because everything has been swept away by Mrs Thatcher and now Tony Blair but there is nothing to take its place."

Some commentators believe the 9/11 attacks led to a dramatic change in race relations in Britain. Ahmed Versi, editor of Muslim News, said: "Respectable figures in British society have begun to speak in a way they never would have spoken in before 11 September. I believe the rise in much of the right-wing discourse we hear from these prominent people, was triggered by the events of 11 September, and fuelled by fear and ignorance. It is becoming much more normal to use racist, Islamophobic discourse."

Lee Jasper, Secretary of the National Assembly Against Racism, said Mr Mercer's comments followed David Cameron's own reference to multiculturalism as a "barrier to cohesion" which he said was designed to make headlines. "It is this approach that results in a full-scale Tory attack on the principle of black self-organisation," said Mr Jasper.

He added: "While we welcome the resignation of Patrick Mercer, we remain deeply sceptical about the Tory party's commitment to root out racism within the party itself."

The politician

Patrick Mercer, the Conservative homeland security spokesman, was sacked by his party leader, David Cameron, yesterday after claiming it was acceptable to use the phrase "black bastard" in the Army. He later said: "I very much regret the interpretation that has been put on my comments."

The policeman

PC Anthony Mulhall has been removed from frontline duties after allegedly beating up a black woman outside a nightclub in Sheffield. A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "The force is outraged at... the possible suggestion that this may be linked to any kind of racist incident."

The professor

David Coleman of Oxford University has provoked student anger after it emerged that he was a co-founder of the anti-immigration pressure group Migrationwatch. He has said that immigrants contribute the equivalent of "a Mars bar a month" to Britain. Yesterday he defended his views.

The colour divide

* African Caribbean pupils are up to six times more likely to be excluded from school than white pupils, but no more likely to truant

* 70 per cent of all ethnic minorities live in the 88 most deprived areas, compared to 40 per cent of the general population

* Prisoners from ethnic minorities accounted for a fifth of the male prison population, 12 per cent of whom were Black British

* The number of arrests for black people is three times higher

* 87,000 members of ethnic minorities say they have been a victim of racially motivated crime, the latest figures show

* 49,000 of those say they have been a victim of violent crime

* The average wage for ethnic minorities is £7.50 per hour, compared to £8.00 for whites

* Just over a fifth of people in England and Wales live in poverty, compared to 40 per cent of African Caribbeans and 8 per cent of whites in 1997

(Figures from 2004)

Independent