"Fumble For The Fatherland" - Boxing's Fascist Fight Night

The sport of legends Muhammad Ali and Amir Khan, is being hijacked this weekend at the world-famous Caesars Nightclub venue at Streatham in South London. This coming Sunday, the 28th February 2010, a team of eight fascist-friendly semi-professional English boxers will supporting the neo-Nazi EDL, entering a boxing ring displaying EDL logo shorts and flags for an official EBC prizefighter contest.

This far right boxing night promoted in conjunction with Mean Machine Promotions, in the nation's capital, is designed to raise the profile of the cowardly racist political organisation whose last rally in England involved storming through a predominantly Asian area of Stoke, smashing up cars, windows and passers-by in what has been described by onlookers as an anti-Muslim pogrom.

Rather than being being a cage-fighting event in a derelect warehouse akin to criminal hoodlums, the EDL's event is being held in one of London's most famous boxing venues, Caesars, advertised as "London's largest and most luxurious nightclub", and is sanctioned by the European Boxing Council (EBC).

Caesars has hosted the likes of Lennox Lewis, Lloyd Honeyghan and Gary Mason, and outside of boxing, has been used to film scenes Footballers Wives (ITV) fight sequences from the movie "Snatch" starring Brad Pitt, chat-show goddess Trisha, Big Brother's Big Mouth (Channel Four), and Most Haunted (Living TV), with their legendary Christmas parties regularly featured on Sky.

Caesars is indeed a celebrity-frequented venue, and not some backstreet dive, all the more shocking when you consider that the BNP have to make do with the less than glorious surroundings of the New Kimberley Hotel for their shenanigans.

On their social networking web pages, self-confessed boxing fan and psychotic fascist thug Liam Pinkham devotes plenty of space to the merits of his "Great White (Supremacist) Hopes" of boxing, aiming to prove to the world that Aryans pack the best punch. Following the EDL's showcase sporting event, Caesars are laying on an "exclusive afterparty" where hardcore neo-Nazis Pinkham and steroidal busom buddy Wigan Mike can chase around siliconised Page Three models all night long, demonstrating the pro-active feminism of the EDL.

Over forty EDL members have already bought tickets. Tickets for the "Fumble For The Fatherland" are being sold on Ebay through the EDL's "merchandise shop" alongside their paramilitary hoodies and assorted nationalist and racist tat at £45 each, as well as other outlets.

(Like their "multiracial nationalist" idol Nick Griffin in the BNP, the EDL seem happy to rip off their own members by charging £5 for postage per ticket).

From Bolton to Sheffield, Cardiff to Brixton, boxing gyms all across the country pride themselves in offering sports and fitness training to young people from under priviledged backgrounds. Go in any inner city gym, and you will see black, Asian and white kids training together with mutual respect and admiration. The ethos of equal competition is one sadly lacking in most other sports, and for that reason, boxing is part of the government's sports development strategy to coincide with the forthcoming 2012 London Olympics.

Despite the EDL's recent setbacks, organised racism and religious hatred is steadily increasing year-in, year-out with the spirit of fervent Islamophobia fostered by politicians, state institutions and the scaremongering tabloid media who worryingly have turned their attentions from hooked-handed foreign bogeymen to British Muslims (the "enemy within"), to shore-up public support for the War On Terror and silence critics of an extremely unpopular and bloody Afgan war with casualties on all sides.

It is the misguided belief fostered by the rightwing newspaper industry and black ops foreign office "leaks" (the whole of the Taliban have Brummie accents) that has created the environment for a resurgence of the British far right exploited by violent neo-Nazi groups such as the EDL.

Egotist and publicity whore of the EDL Trevor Kelway sees mileage in turning media attentions from race riots to ringside aggression. Eight shameless racist boxers will be taking to the ring this Sunday in London for what the EDL leadership see as both a moneymaking opportunity and a cynical PR exercise, a chance to appeal to a wider fan base who might not otherwise warm to their hardcore Hitler loving British Freedom Fighters or the EDL's violently destructive racial football hooliganism.

Whilst a handful of potential boxing starlets of tomorrow fritter away hopes of fame and fortune through mutual association with English fascism, sweating tears of endurance as lackeys for an Islamophobic masterplan, spare a thought for Alan Lake and the EDL's other weathly far right backers who will be sipping extravagantly on champage on ice, playing millionairre war games with people's minds while the cancer of organised racism takes a foothold within the grassroots sporting world.

Since the defeat in the rematch of Max Schmeling by Joe Louis (Schmeling himself refusing to join the Nazi party or sack his American Jewish manager, and hiding two Jewish boys in his apartment during the Kristallnacht pogrom), with the rise of Jewish, black and Asian ring fighters, boxing has had an estranged relationship with fascism, and may seem like an unlikely target for the EDL.

Since the New Millenium, the Lonsdale boxing brand became momentarily popular with the European far right in the Netherlands, Belgium, northern France and Germany, especially because a carefully placed outer jacket leaves the letters NSDA showing; an acronym of Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter (National Socialist German Worker), and one letter short of NSDAP, the German acronym for the Nazi Party, however the boxing world has generally embraced non-white people and immigrants (including Muslims) into its gymnasiums, alongside the white working class.

One thing's for sure, the undeniable patriotism and steadfast patriotism of Amir Khan who dedicated his victories after 7/7 to the victims of Islamic terror, will be affronted by the poisonous bile and misdeeds of the EDL, who, despite claims of being "only against religious extremism", regularly create disorder, race hatred and chaos in the city centres of England, Wales and Scotland with straight-armed Hitler salutes, banners calling for the banning of mosques, incessant racist chanting, and behind the scenes, plotting deadly large-scale race riots.

During recent invasions into British cities masked paramilitary followers of this violent anti-Islamic far right gang have physically and verbally attacked innocent (non-extremist) Muslims in the street, vandalised Islamic gravestones, and threatened Muslim taxi drivers with death, (hardly the behaviour of a genuine anti-religious extremist group).

Whatever are one's personal thoughts regarding boxing, with the Olympics approaching, it is important that anti-fascists everywhere show our massed opposition to hate-peddling British fascist bootboys infiltrating the corporate sporting world.

You can register your disapproval of the EDL hijacking boxing by contacting the venue direct and asking them to cancel the Prizefighter event (please be polite and courteous in all correspondance!!! Thanks!):

Contact:

Mr Fred Batt (Owner)
fred@caesars.uk.com
info@caesars.uk.com
Caesars Nightclub,
156-160 Streatham Hill
London
SW2 4RU

Or speak to Club Manager Vickie on 020-8671-3000
Fax: 01306-711660
http://www.caesars.uk.com/
vickie@caesars.uk.com

Mean Machine Promotions

Indymedia

Amir Khan and Frank Warren threaten Facebook with legal action

WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan

The WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan and his promoter, Frank Warren, are squaring up to the social networking site Facebook in a legal battle that could have far-reaching consequences.

The pair have engaged lawyers to threaten the US internet company with action over the use of images and names alongside material they consider to be defamatory and racist. Stephen Taylor Heath, head of sports and media at Lupton Fawcett, said that a cursory search of Facebook quickly led to "bogus" pages that used the images and names of the pair to link to material that would be "highly defamatory" if published in a newspaper or magazine.

Warren, who has fought several high-profile legal battles, is understood to be determined to force Facebook to change its policy and take responsibility for the more unsavoury opinions of its registered users. Taylor Heath has called on other sports stars and celebrities to come forward. There is a legal grey area about the extent to which the operator of a website, or the provider of community tools, can be held liable for comments posted.

"The problem is when you search for a celebrity on the site you also come across pages using the celebrity's name and image that have no official link but in some instances are full of defamatory and illegal content," Taylor Heath said.

"At the moment the owners of Facebook do not seem to be taking this problem seriously. We have written to them outlining our concerns but all we received was a standard acknowledgement. We are still awaiting a response from their legal department."

The row goes to the heart of a debate about the extent to which internet service providers, search engines, message boards and social networking sites should be responsible for material posted by users. Warren and Khan want Facebook to remove defamatory and racist material, as well as responding more promptly when it is flagged up.

Under its terms and conditions, Facebook promises to remove posts that are "abusive, vulgar, hateful or racially and ethnically objectionable". However, the sheer volume of material posted is difficult to moderate and Facebook relies on users to notify it of serious breaches.

"We want Facebook to be a place where people can discuss issues and current affairs while respecting the rights and feelings of others," the company said this year, in response to complaints from anti-racism campaigners. "However, there is no place for content that is threatening, abusive, hateful, or racially or ethnically objectionable on the site and Facebook will remove any such content that violates our terms of use when it is reported."

Following similar complaints, the Google-owned video sharing website YouTube promises to act promptly when it receives complaints about copyrighted material or videos that are offensive or glamorise violence. But it has resisted policing the site itself.

Taylor Heath stressed that his clients did not have a problem with fan sites or fair comment around the sport, but want to clamp down on comments that were seriously racist or defamatory.

The Guardian

BNP boss Nick Griffin's racist rant against boxer Amir Khan

Nick Griffin believes people like boxing star like Amir Khan should be encouraged to leave Britain.

His BNP party wants to create firm incentives for non-white Britons to leave their homeland, but he dismissed claims that Britain would lose talent. He said of Khan: "Perhaps we will lose one good boxer, but there are more important things."

Griffin spoke out at the launch of the party's manifesto in Manchester where he is their top candidate for a seat in the region for the European elections.

Yesterday the people of Oldham flocked to support the Mirror's Hope Not Hate bus. In 2001, race riots in Oldham shocked the country and the BNP see it as a fertile ground to spread hate and garner support.

Student Stephen Kennedy, 18, from Springhead, Oldham, remembers the race riots. He said: "There were burnt out cars in streets and it was a scary place to be. The BNP would just drag us back to those dark days."

Today the Daily Mirror bus is backstage at Stoke's Love Music Hate Racism Festival from 10am.

Mirror

Boxer wins praise as Muslim 'role model'

Boxer Amir Khan has been hailed as a "wonderful role model" for UK Muslims in a rebuke to a radical preacher who criticised him for wearing the Union flag.

Exiled preacher Omar Bakri Mohammad told a newspaper that the boxer was committing a sin and set a bad example to Muslims for showing allegiance to the UK flag. The comments were branded "bizarre" by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of MCB said: "Amir Khan is a wonderful role model.

"He's a hugely successful boxer, proud of being Muslim and British. I can see why that could upset Omar Bakri, but to hundreds of thousands of British Muslims, Amir Khan is a wonderful role model."

The Commonwealth lightweight title-holder is draped with the flag in photos on his official website and often wears shorts featuring the emblem.

Bakri said: "Amir Khan is not a good example for Muslims. He wears shorts with the Union Jack. That is a sin. He should not be wearing the flag because sovereignty is for God. His only allegiance should be to the Prophet Mohammed. The ideal situation would be to have a Muslim team not registered to any state so he can represent the Islamic community."

Mr Bunglawala said: "Bizarre. These comments are typical of Omar Bakri. He doesn't live in this country and frankly his views are of no concern to British Muslims."

Omar Bakri Mohammad lives in Lebanon after leaving London in 2005.

Khan, 21, is due to fight Martin Kristjansen for the WBO lightweight world championship in his home town of Bolton, in Lancashire, on April 5.

Yorkshire Post

Hope not Hate blog: Football healing Oldham's divisions

What a privilege to see Manchester in sunshine! A really beautiful day - great washes of sun across a bright blue sky as we headed up to the Oldham Athletic stadium at Boundary Park early this morning.

We were met by dozens of kids from a local primary school who are taking part in a special Football in the Community project and took a stadium tour with them.

Oldham's problems with racial tensions have been well covered and don't need re-hashing here, but these were a group of children from all different ethnic backgrounds, and the guy running the project, James Mwale, explained that football was a brilliant way to get different messages across.

If kids play together in teams they tend to stop noticing each others' skin colour, and once they get to know young people from other backgrounds they realise what they have in common. It challenges their ideas (or more importantly their parents' ideas). Their school is in an area where substantial numbers of votes go to the BNP in local elections which is why this work is so important. A couple of the kids said they had experienced racist bullying, but said the project was helping them to integrate with the other kids.

Anyway, the kids loved the stadium tour, and even the Man City and United supporters enjoyed meeting Oldham Athletic Centreback Neil Trottman - an FA cup goalscorer no less...!

It was fascinating to see what a football club looks like behind the scenes, the kitchens and TV rooms and a faint whiff of Eighties' aftershave lingering in the air.

After Oldham I wanted to go to Bernard Manning's Embassy Club with the loudhailer, but we were short of time and had to get right across Manchester to Salford by 11.45 to meet champion boxer and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan at the gym he trains at. It was a much bigger gym than yesterday's and the air was thick with fresh sweat, deep heat and adrenaline. There's something good about boxing gyms though, and I think it's the contrast to posey sort of London healthclubs, which are all lycra bodysuits, blonde wood and hairdryers. These were men and women in ordinary unfancy kit sweating their guts out on battered equipment.

Amir's workout was phenomenal: the skipping alone deserved an Olympic medal. His concentration was absolute and his feet seemed to bounce in perfect time like a metronome. He has an amazing manner about him, a very direct honesty. He leapt up into the driver's cab of the bus and signed our Hope not Hate flag and spoke brilliantly to our film crew about why racism made no sense. Even racists must have cheered when he won that silver medal. He's a one-man pint-sized retort to bigotry.

After Amir, we screeched off (well crawled) to Granada Studios, home of Coronation Street, where the bus was honoured to receive such luminaries as Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh), Kelly Crabtree (Tupele Dorgu) and Jerrry Morton (Michael Starke, or, frankly, Sinbad), household favourites one and all.

Each person spoke movingly and articulately about racism, about standing up for what you believe is right. As Tony the driver said: "Who needs a script if you can talk like that?"

Brilliant end to a top day out - thank you Manchester!

Hero of the day: Amir Khan. Beautiful boy, beautiful soul, astonishing ambassador for Britain.

Observation of the day: Among anti-racists it seems the rule is that every third man must have a beard.

Beard of the day: We're not sure if it was a beard or a cat.

Revelation of the day: The Corrie stars.... soapstars should get on their soapbox more often instead of those endless bloody clipshows of the world's 7,000 worst cop shows....

Smell of the day: Deep heat at Amir Khan's gym in Salford. It was as if the walls were drenched in it.

Tune of the day: Theme from Corrie... altogether now... "duuuh, duh, duh, duh-duh, duuuuur..."

Mirror