How stupid are EDL members? (Part 643)

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The EDL battles to stop more mosques being built in, er, Narnia...

@everythingedl

The Reality of Right-Wing Nationalism Hits Norway

75 years ago this October, my grandfather, the son of Jewish immigrants to London's poor East End, took to the streets with thousands of others to stop the ultra-nationalist British Union of Fascists from marching through a largely Jewish area.
The event turned into a pitched battle, with Oswald Mosley's fascists and the Metropolitan Police on one side, and locals, Jews, Irish, socialists and communists on the other. The fight (which became known as the Battle of Cable Street) ended with victory for the anti-fascist side, with the fascists and police beaten off the streets.

Following the Holocaust, Fascism became a dirty word, but Nationalists have continually tried to detoxify their brand and reinstate themselves into the mainstream. Mosley returned in the 1950s, this time labelling black immigrants, rather than Jews and Irish, as the main "threat" to the "British way of life". In the late-60s, Conservative MP Enoch Powell became famous for predicting that mass immigration would lead to "rivers of blood". Through the 70s, right-wing nationalism and street-thuggery rose in the form of the National Front, but the movement was resisted on the streets, and finally dissolved in the early-80s as a new, multicultural music scene brought young black and white people together socially. By the 90s, nationalism seemed to be a thing of the past, but the 9/11 attacks gave the racist right a chance to re-brand as an anti-Islam force. Nearly ten years on, and we can see that the "Islam is a threat" message has worked its way from fascist meeting rooms into the political mainstream-right in Europe and the US.

Gradually, the anti-Islam message has morphed back into a more traditional anti-immigration message, being amplified by the right-wing tabloid press here (and Fox News in the US). The nationalist, anti-immigration message isn't easy to sell; it relies on persuading people that the past (or rather, an imaginary, idyllic past) is being replaced by a more dangerous future as immigrants join their society. Prior to 9/11 it seemed that the Western World had moved beyond irrational fear of foreigners, and that society's liberal tendencies had prevailed; but we soon learned that race hate and xenophobia weren't far beneath the surface; that US and European society had changed less since the 1940s than we'd convinced ourselves.

When the drum of fear and hate is being pounded consistently, the infection will naturally spread. For most fear-infected morons, the outlet of Twitter or a blog is enough. But it's inevitable that angry or mentally-disturbed individuals like Anders Behring Breivik will become infected too, and violence will follow, as it did last Friday in Norway. Breivik's choice of target, the mainstream, liberal Norwegian Labour Party, was a natural one for anyone understanding the history of European nationalism. He chose a multicultural youth camp, something designed to ease racial tensions in Norway, but also proof (in Breivik's confused world view) that evil forces were trying to dilute Norway's racial and cultural past into something new and alien.

Whether Breivik acted alone, it can be stated with certainty that he was influenced by master-manipulators of the nationalist movement. It's already been established from his own blog (English translation provided by @Dilmunite) that he admired the far-right English Defence League; according to many EDL Facebook posts, Breivik had many EDL Facebook friends, and attended an EDL rally in the UK in 2010. I'd recommend following @BanTheEDL and @EverythingEDL on Twitter for a collection of evidence linking group members with Breivik.

Another key Breivik influencer was someone I've often mentioned: Pamela Geller, a self-appointed "defender" of America against "creeping Islamification". Pamela spent the weekend tweeting new myths distancing herself from the terrorist, for her army of moron followers to disseminate.

In my Twitter feed, I've long watched morons large and small disseminate misinformation about Islam, Muslims and immigration. Their purpose was to spread enough hatred widely enough that sooner or later someone would take action, and set a chain of violence underway. It looks as though they found a new disciple (though not their first - right-wing terror plots have long been of concern, especially in the US), and no doubt other "white heroes" are watching and contemplating whether to follow Breivik's example (as was clearly his intention).

Western governments now need to decide whether Islamaphobic lies and smears equate to hate speech, and whether to prosecute the most virulent of these liars. The shock following the Norway attacks will quickly pass, and lack of action against armchair-nationalist morons by governments will result in more confidence in the nationalist movements, and inevitably more violence.

Many thanks to Moron Watch for this article.

So, who are the English Defence League exactly?

You have probably read all about the planned EDL protest in Leicester on Saturday, but do you know what the group really stands for? Adam Wakelin reports on their short but stormy history

If the cause was different, you might be tempted to call it a rainbow coalition. Football hooligans, neo-Nazis, gay rights activists, disillusioned BNP supporters who think the nasty party's gone soft and more besides: protest movements have seen some rum old alliances down the years, but nothing quite like the disparate bunch who gather under the English Defence League banner.

You could equally call it an unholy alliance, if it weren't for the fact that the EDL has Christian and Jewish supporters and has been trying to encourage Hindu and Sikh youths to join the group's protest in Leicester this weekend.

What binds them all together? A common enemy. Islamic fundamentalism.

"We are fighting an extreme interpretation of Islam, people who have no qualms about killing themselves and other people in the process," says Guramit Singh, event organiser and EDL spokesman.

"It's a grass roots social movement."

Prime Minister David Cameron has a rather different view. "Dreadful people," was his verdict on the EDL during the election campaign.

Journalist Matthew Taylor, who followed activists earlier this year for an exposé in the Guardian, said the group acts as a "lightning rod for people with a range of grievances who appear to be coalescing around a rampant Islamophobia."

"At each demonstration I attended, I was confronted by casual – often brutal – racism, a widespread hatred of Muslims and often the threat of violence," he wrote.

And on Saturday, they're coming to Leicester.

So what is the real driving force behind this group that will descend on our city in a couple of days, provoking a counter Unite Against Fascism protest, and costing hundreds of thousands of pounds to police? Who are the EDL?

The English Defence League was born in the aftermath of an ugly demonstration by a small extremist Muslim group in March last year against homecoming troops parading through Luton. Its growth since then has been rapid. The EDL now has between 200 and 300 divisions across England, claims Guramit, and is affiliated to similar defence leagues in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Links have also been forged with groups in Europe and the USA. Luton was the "spark that ignited the fire," he says.

People were sick of the creeping Islamification of Britain and the failure of mainstream politicians to protect our "democratic freedoms" from the medieval dogma of militant Muslims and their Sharia law, reckons Guramit, who got involved with the EDL when it marched through his home town of Nottingham last year.

"There are more than 100 Sharia courts practising on a daily basis," he claims.

Sharia law is a "racist, fascist, paedophilic law", he insists; a law which condones child marriage, imprisons women behind burkhas, legitimises female circumcision and wants to take over the world.

Actually, it doesn't. Sharia courts in the UK don't trample over the laws of the land. They're mainly a forum for resolving matrimonial disputes. In truth, they're the Islamic equivalent of Relate.

The idea that the EDL arrived out of nowhere is wrong, reckons Simon Cressy, a journalist for the anti-fascist monitoring organisation Searchlight. Simon, not his real name, has been keeping a watchful eye on the EDL since day one.

The rump of the EDL, he claims, is a shotgun marriage of football hooligans and extreme right-wingers who have been lurking in the shadows for years. Its self-proclaimed leader is a man who is said to have taken the name of a notorious Luton Town FC football hooligan, Tommy Robinson, as his pseudonym.

Searchlight claim the man behind the pseudonym has a BNP past and a conviction for assaulting an off-duty police officer. "The EDL has quite a lot of unsavoury characters, not the sort of people you want to congregate around," says Simon.

Football hooligan firms are the foundation of the EDL, claims Simon. They use Facebook and established hooligan networks to organise.

The EDL, which has no formal membership structure, has also been a magnet for neo-Nazis and older National Front thugs who've found themselves marginalised by the BNP's desire to present themselves as more respectable.

But it would be wrong to dismiss them as a simple replay of the far-right street movements of the past.

"Black and white unite in Leicester," says the EDL poster for this weekend's protest. The group has launched a Jewish section, with its own Facebook page. There is also a "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender division," says Simon, but their presence has noticeably thinned at recent marches.

"The EDL has made a number of representations to Hindu and Sikh youths in Leicester to come out and march," he says.

Taking a stand against Islamic extremism might be the rallying cry, but Simon claims it's just a front. "The majority of the EDL will be in Leicester for one reason," he says. "They will be there to get drunk and have a fight. They are not serious people with a political agenda."

Surprisingly, Guramit makes no attempt to play down the football hooligan element of the EDL. If anything, he's rather proud of them.

"Most of the main football firms in the country are involved," he says. "It's the only time football hooligans have come together. One Saturday they are kicking the s*** out of one another, the next weekend they are buying one another a drink.

"At the end of the day, we need our army," says Guramit. "We don't need counsellors and school teachers against militant Muslim youth, we need our army, so I don't have a problem with them. It's nothing to me if they want to have a fight on a weekend basis. Some of them are friends and brothers to me."

Guramit has visited Leicester "four or five times".

He says he's seen three to five-year-olds in burkhas and talks of no-go areas that have been "ethnically cleansed" by Muslims. Which is a bit odd because anyone who lives here and strolled through those "no-go areas" won't have seen that.

"In some areas of Leicester there are more burkhas than baseball hats and that shouldn't be allowed," he says. "I'm not really a PC sort of person" says Guramit. "I may say things that other people might find offensive."

Proof of that can be found on a video of him posted You Tube.

Guramit, brandishing a megaphone at an EDL rally, can be heard bellowing: "God bless the Muslims. They'll need it for when they're burning in ****ing hell".

And he's their official spokesman, someone who addressed that braying crowd as "one of the 12 leaders of the English Defence League".

It was a slip of the tongue, says Guramit. He missed a word out. He meant to say "Muslim extremists... burning in ****king hell".

It's interesting that Guramit sees extremists everywhere. Could it be that it takes one to know one? "I say an eye for an eye," he says. "If people want to behead me and take my mum and my grandma as war booty then I'm going to fight them."

Take your mum and grandma as war booty? What? In Nottingham?

It could happen, believes Guramit. If people don't take a stand, he claims, Britain will become an Islamic state.

"As a British-born Sikh I've learned about the 10 Gurus that sacrificed themselves to save India from militant Islam. Everything they fought for is being washed away by the third Jihad. I'm against any fascist ideology that wants to take over my life and my family's life."

The EDL's core support "appears to be young white men who are often fuelled by drink and sometimes drugs", according to Matthew Taylor's report in the Guardian.

Simon, from Searchlight, says most are working-class, male and aged 16 to 40. Strongholds are Yorkshire, Lancashire, Birmingham and London. That's where the vast majority will be coming from on Saturday.

Professor Colin Copus, director of De Montfort University's local governance research unit, has interviewed 25 EDL supporters for a research project. Only half could be described bellicose nationalists on the fringes of the far-right, he says. Others were ordinary people who had voted for all of the major parties in the past.

For many the EDL was an outlet for their dissatisfaction with the "privileges" given to minorities by governments and public sector organisations. There was also a strong sense that such groups were almost above criticism.

They might not be the angry brigade who go on marches, says Prof Copus, but it showed how the league had tapped into growing resentment felt by a relatively broad base of followers.

"In some respects it's a sign of how fractured and frightened some elements of society are," he says. "They will associate themselves with groups they wouldn't normally associate with because they are worried about what they see as a greater problem."

The EDL's Leicester division usually brings 30 to 40 supporters to a demonstration, claims Guramit. He expects up to 200 local activists in a crowd of about 3,000 when it mobilises in the city.

Simon believes the EDL will be "lucky" to get 1,000 out on to Leicester's streets.

The EDL is already struggling to carry the weight of its contradictions and conflicting agendas, some observers claim, with friction between the hooligans and the right-wing elements.

At a recent rally in Bradford, dubbed 'the big one', only 700 turned up. Marches and demos might have seen the EDL commandeer acres of newsprint, but the tactic already seems to be running out of steam.

The idea of spending two hours on a bus and being corralled into a corner of a city centre for another two hours, before getting back on the bus is rapidly losing its appeal for a lot of EDL activists, says Simon.

That doesn't mean Leicester can afford to be complacent.

"The number of arrests (on an EDL rally) doesn't really tally with the amount of disorder," he claims. "I was in Bradford and I saw what the EDL was like and what the locals were like. The police momentarily lost control. They just wanted to get the EDL in and out with the least amount of fuss possible.

"The BNP has had to adapt and portray a more moderate image. The EDL don't have to answer to anybody. They can get away with doing what they want – they don't want respectability."

In total, Matthew spent four months filming the EDL for his Guardian report, The English Defence League Uncovered. He said it had only been possible to record some of "the most alarming scenes" with a hidden camera.

He joined EDL supporters at a pub in Stoke in January for their first demonstration of the year.

"They had spent the past four hours drinking," he wrote. "The balcony around the top of the cavernous pub was draped in flags bearing the names of different football clubs – Wolves, Newcastle , Aston Villa – and the chants 'we all hate Muslims' and 'Muslim bombers off our streets' filled the air.

"The atmosphere was tense, and not just because of the growing anti-Islamic rhetoric. The pub was packed with rival football gangs from across the Midlands and the north of England. Twice, fighting broke out as old rivalries failed to be subdued by the new enemy – Islam."

It will get ugly if the EDL an United Against Fascism are within shouting distance of one another, believes Simon.

"I feel sorry for the people of Leicester that they've got to put up with this in their multi-cultural city," he says. "I'd appeal for locals to stay indoors. Don't attend the counter-demonstration. Don't get involved."

If you doubt the wisdom of that then Guramit makes it crystal clear.

"We're here for peace," he says. "But we're ready for war."

See Matthew Taylor's film for the Guardian here.

Leicester Mercury

Six held after allegedly burning Qur'ans

• Internet footage shows Islamic holy book on fire
• Warning 'provocation' will increase risk for UK troops


A security expert warned yesterday that the alleged burning of two Qur'ans in northern England risked making Britain more of a terrorist target and endangering British troops.

Police have arrested six men over the apparent burning of the Muslim holy book behind a pub in Gateshead on the anniversary of the 11 September attacks on the United States.

Police refused to say whether those arrested were connected to the far right English Defence League (EDL). A witness said the pub had been the subject of police attention because some customers were alleged to have links to the EDL.

A threat by an American pastor to burn the Qur'an in the United States on 11 September led to warnings from US military chiefs that such an act would endanger troops fighting in Afghanistan, and to an intervention by president Barack Obama. Eventually the pastor called off his planned burning.

Video of the Gateshead incident, posted on YouTube, shows two men with headscarves covering their faces, wearing tracksuits and trainers, and dousing what appears to be the Qur'an with petrol before setting light to it as several others look on. They utter verbal abuse and others are heard to shout, "This is for the boys in Afghanistan; September 11 international burn a Qur'an day", before another book is thrown onto the small fire. At one stage the burning book is kicked.

Police say that a tip-off from a member of the public alerted them to footage of the video, which was posted on the internet.

Rachel Briggs, a senior research fellow with the Royal United Services Institute, said the posting of videos showing the Islamic holy book being burnt in Britain risked further endangering UK troops. "The people who would put our boys in danger are looking very carefully [at] what happens in the UK," she said. "This sort of provocation will have an effect. It plays into their narrative of Jihadist grievance. Whether it's in the UK or US, it's significant because it is happening in the west."

The burning took place in the car park of The Bugle pub on Leam Lane in Gateshead. A barman, who refused to give his name, said it had been targeted by police in the past because some customers had links to the EDL, and that officers' inquiries led them to the pub last Wednesday. The barman said: "The police came to the pub and searched it. We were closed for hours. They took my mobile phones, some empty boxes the phones had been in, some CDs and DVDs, and all the tea towels. They arrested me and another man and took us to the station. They were asking questions about who had been burning the book."

The EDL claims to be a peaceful organisation opposed only to Islamic extremism. However, many of its protests have involved incidents of racism, violence and Islamophobia by some of its supporters.

On its website the EDL says it "does not condone the burning of any religious books … "

The six men were arrested on suspicion of stirring racial hatred, police said, which is outlawed under the 1986 public order act. They were not arrested for the actual attack on, and burning of, the Qur'an, but in connection with the posting of the video.

Section 21 of the 1986 act reads: "A person who distributes, or shows or plays, a recording of visual images or sounds which are threatening, abusive or insulting is guilty of an offence if he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred, or … racial hatred is likely to be stirred up."

The Guardian

20 arrested at another peaceful EDL protest

A second "peaceful" demonstration by the English Defence League descended into violence on Saturday when 500 members of the Islamaphobic organisation were bussed into Dudley to protest against the building of a "super mosque" - even though plans for the development were abandoned weeks ago.

20 arrests were made when the EDL tore down barriers and attempted to break out of the car park set aside for their protest. EDL members offered violence when police moved in to contain the attempted breakout, and according to Sky News many more could have been arrested, given the level of disorder. It is reported that the EDL ripped drainpipes from nearby houses to use as weapons, and hurled house bricks at the police.

When the rally ended there was a stand-off with police as the EDL boarded their coaches, said reporters with the Stourbridge News, and a "couple of hundred supporters" attempted to make their way through the town centre to an anti-EDL rally organised by Unite Against Fascism. The UAF rally passed off peacefully.

Journalists covering the EDL rally were targets of foul-mouthed abuse, along with the police. Several report that the EDL engaged in openly racist chanting, and police are investigating damage to a Hindu temple, believed to have been caused by EDL members.

Several EDL supporters required treatment by police medics.

A previous 1500-strong EDL demonstration in Dudley cost the local council over £150,000 and resulted in 12 arrests. Last week EDL supporter Kevin Smith, 52, of Brierley Hill, was found guilty of religiously aggravated intentional harassment after putting a pig's head on the wall of Dudley central mosque. Smith was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

Muslims account for about 2.5% of the population of Dudley.

Geert Wilders to spread his anti-Muslim movement west

An anti-Muslim populist in the Netherlands is forming an international alliance to spread his message across the west in an attempt to ban immigration from Islamic countries, among other goals.

Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom party, told the Associated Press that he would launch the movement late this year, initially in five countries: the US, Canada, Britain, France and Germany.

"The message, 'stop Islam, defend freedom', is a message that's not only important for the Netherlands but for the whole free Western world," Wilders said at the Dutch parliament.

Among the group's aims will be outlawing immigration from Islamic countries to the west and a ban on Islamic sharia law. Starting as a grassroots movement, he hopes it eventually will produce its own lawmakers or influence other legislators.

Ayhan Tonca, a prominent spokesman for Dutch Muslims, said he feared Wilders message would fall on fertile ground in much of Europe, where anti-Islam sentiment has been swelling for years.

"So long as things are going badly with the economy, a lot of people always need a scapegoat," Tonca said. "At the moment, that is the Muslims in western Europe." Tonca called on "well-meaning people in Europe to oppose this."

Known for his bleached-blond mop of hair, Wilders is a shrewd politician who has won awards in the Netherlands for his debating skills and regularly stands up for gay and women's rights.

But he rose to local and then international prominence with his firebrand anti-Islam rhetoric that has led to him being charged under Dutch anti-hate speech laws and banned from visiting Britain until a court there ordered that he be allowed into the country.

Wilders said he hopes to position the alliance between traditional conservative parties and far-right wing groups, saying that in Britain there is "an enormous gap" between the ruling Conservative party and the far-right BNP: "The BNP is a party that, whatever you think of it, it's not my party I think it's a racist party," he said.

Wilders, who calls Islam a "fascist" religion, has won increasing support the Netherlands in recent years even while he has been subjected to round-the-clock protection because of death threats.

His Freedom party won the biggest gains in a national election last month, coming third with 24 seats in the 150-seat parliament, up from the nine before the election.

However, mainstream parties will not form a coalition with Wilders, leaving him on the margins of Dutch politics for the next parliamentary term.

Wilders is due to stand trial in October on hate speech charges stemming from his short internet film Fitna, which denounced the Qur'an as a a fascist book that inspires terrorism. The film aroused anti-Dutch protests around the Muslim world, and he was banned for several months from entering Britain.

But he is unrepentant and said he now wants to take his message outside the Netherlands. "The fight for freedom and (against) Islamisation as I see it is a worldwide phenomenon and problem to be solved," he said.

Wilders declined to name any of the other founders of the organisation he is calling the Geert Wilders International Freedom Alliance. He has been criticised for running his party as a one-man show.

Guardian

Well go on then, eat your hat

A vicious little BNP racist runt, hiding behind the nom-de-plume "Rugfish", "writes" regularly for the cowardly Paul Morris's "Green Arrow" blog - you know, the one where all these "patriotic heroes" keep their identities well hidden while they indulge their fantasies on the only place they dare - the Internet.

Rugfish is an averagely characteristic member of the Paul Morris gang, which in itself is averagely characteristic of the BNP generally, being obsessed with such heady concepts as "Islamo-fascism", the "Islamic Jackbooted Labour Government", "Marxist Conservatives", and on and on into the BNP night.

We're all used to his spittle-flecked rants, his racism and his hatred, but his dyslexia is something new.

Now it's been no great secret that the Muslim community around King's Lynn, Norfolk (around 70 strong) have been looking for premises in which to set up an Islamic centre - essentially a sort of community centre for Muslims. To that end they have been raising money among themselves, had spotted a building that would fulfil their needs, and made a planning application to the local council.

Naturally, this upset the local racists in the BNP, including the decidedly non-Norfolk Dave Fleming (who hails from Northern Ireland), and, naturally, they objected. Not, you understand, on the grounds that the Islamic Centre would be used by "the darkies" - no, Fleming and company were worried about "parking problems" and "air quality".

The strange thing is that when Fleming's candidature for North West Norfolk was announced on the BNP website, on February 12th, the BNP was claiming that Fleming and his friends had "successfully submitted an objection to a planning application for an Islamic centre in King’s Lynn".

It's strange, because the application wasn't even considered until Monday - March 1st.

Fleming and friends soon left their deep-seated worries about "parking problems" behind as they got to the heart of what it is they really object to. The BNP website reports Fleming thus:

“..any Islamic project threatens social cohesion because Islam sequesters and segregates finances, social interaction, and the general conduct of both working and domestic life, to avoid contamination by non-Muslim practices.

“Islam governs all aspects of a citizen’s life, and permits little, if any, departure from its rules.

“Islam does not permit half measures in its daily practice and observance; however, half measures are permitted by Islam if they are necessary to work towards a life in full accordance with Islamic law..."

How this bigot was allowed to address the planning committee in these terms without being ejected is anybody's guess.

The BNP website reports that Fleming's objection was carried by the planning committee by 9 to 7 - “Yes to Fenland; no to Fenistan”, said Fleming, perhaps, not being a local himself, unaware that King's Lynn is part of Marshland, not Fenland.

If the application fell due to the BNP's racist objections then somebody has some explaining to do - but there may have been other, legitimate grounds on which the application failed. The BNP, who cannot seem to move their lips without uttering a lie, may simply be claiming credit for a victory that isn't theirs. Either way, the racist, bigoted nature of their objection puts the decision to refuse the application in some doubt, since we know that it is going to be appealed, and Fleming's disgusting performance will be cited as part of the appeal.

What has this to do with the idiotic cretin "Rugfish" and dyslexia?

Well Rugfish, having read the BNP report of Fleming's "victory" and doubtless having got his hands very wet and sticky, seems to have convinced himself that King's Lynn and west Norfolk is awash with BNP councillors. Mistaking "a delegation of BNP parliamentary candidates" for "councillors", he excitedly penned a typical "Green Arrow" fantasy entitled "I'm ready to eat my hat", exulting:

So the first rejection, as reported on the BNP Website, was carried marginally by BNP Councilors on a vote of 9-7 against but they were nearly outdone by the Nothing British Non-Patriotic Conservative Party Councillors (what do they conserve?), however with much argument, British National Party Councillors won, and the people of King's Lynn can rest a few more weeks until the Islamic Labour Party gets its Jack Boots on and kicks them into touch.

No, you cretinous little twit. The BNP has no councillors anywhere in Norfolk, and as long as we draw breath never will.

Simon Darby, BNP leader, interviewed by pupils in their classroom

A senior official in the British National Party was invited to address a classroom on whether the hijab should be banned, The Times has learnt.

Simon Darby, the BNP’s deputy leader, was phoned by 14-year-old students in Rochdale, Lancashire. The pupils, supervised by a teacher, asked him questions over the phone about the French ban on the hijab. The BNP’s policy is to ban Islamic dress in schools.

Andy Rymer, the head of Matthew Moss High School, told The Times that the students were doing a project on news reporting and had suggested contacting the BNP. He said: “We ask kids to be critically curious. This was something they were interested in and wanted to check out. They did so in a supported way with an intelligent teacher.

“(The school) is not encouraging people to contact or spread the philosophy of the BNP. Equally we have a significant number of kids in here for whom those issues are very real.”

However, the move raised concern from some parents and Paul Rowe, the area’s Liberal Democrat MP who separately participated in the discussion.

Mr Rowe said that there were plenty of other political parties that could have been consulted and that it was “inappropriate” for students to discuss issues with the BNP. He said: “I’m concerned that anybody is giving succour to the BNP.”

Some Asian parents at the school, in the Castleton area of the town, spoke of their concern at allowing the BNP a voice in the classroom.

Jamil Khan, whose daughter wears a headscarf to school, said: “I do not feel comfortable with the presence of the BNP in the classroom. They are extremists, full stop. They can only paint the picture one way.”

However, many parents said that they were happy to leave the matter to the discretion of the teacher and the school. Its governors said that as long as the issue was handled carefully, there was no reason to exclude the BNP as the party was active in the area and students would come across it eventually.

Ted Flynn, a governor and local councillor, said: “I’ve no sympathy with the BNP at all. But the pupils are intelligent enough not to be wavered by Nick Griffin and his compatriot’s opinions.”

Mr Raymer said that a group of Asian students were undertaking a project on news reporting and had decided to investigate the British reaction to the French Government’s decision to ban the hijab from schools.

He said they were not satisfied by Mr Darby’s response on the issue as he referred to British school uniforms.

Mr Raymer said: “At the end they were angry their question hadn’t been answered properly. The discussion turned to how journalists operate to get answers.”

On his blog, Mr Darby said: “It was reassuring to think that even in 2010 politically correct Britain there are still teachers who insist on the old adage that if you don’t have access to all the information, you will never come up with the right answer.”

It comes as a government review is due on whether BNP members should be prevented from becoming teachers. Police and prison officers are already barred from joining the party.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: “We trust head teachers as professionals to ensure appropriate visitors are invited into their school and that pupil welfare and safety issues are considered.”

The spokesman said the promotion of partisan political views was forbidden, adding that there were safeguards in law to guard against biased or unbalanced teaching.

The Times

Scottish Defense League plan Edinburgh demonstration

Anti-racist campaigners have organised a series of counter demonstration tactics for next month's Scottish Defence League (SDL) protest in Edinburgh. The controversial anti-Islam group is planning a demonstration in the capital on 20 February.

Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance have asked central pubs and bars in Edinburgh to ban the SDL from their premises before the demonstration.

The SDL is a sister organization of the English Defense League who describe themselves as anti-Jihadist and anti-Islam extremists.

“We are ordinary, non-racist citizens of England and supporters who have had enough of being treated as second-class citizens to the Jihadis in our own country,” the English Defense League (EDL) state on their website.

Opposing parties, such as the UAF (Unite Against Fascism), disagree. In a statement released on 20 December 2009, the UAF describes the Scottish Defence League as “a racist group with links to the fascist British National Party (BNP). The SDL is an offshoot of the English Defence League, which has a track record of whipping up race hatred against Muslims and against Asian people in general."

In response to such classifications, Mickey Smith, who is the Cardiff Organiser of Casuals United (the online web portal of the English, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Defense Leagues) says: “SDL has been set up as a non-sectarian protest group to protest against militant Islam in partnership with our English, Welsh and Irish partners.

"The people who have launched their vile accusations or racism at us are hardcore Communists, enemies of Britain. We are non-racist, non-political, we are simply against radical violent Islamists, and we demand that the government protect us from these people.”

The SDL held a demonstration in Glasgow on 14 November 2009 (picture, above), which they reported to be a success. However, Unite Against Fascism, a campaign against the BNP and other far-right groups, reported that the attempted demonstration in Glasgow was a failure as the SDL “was heavily outnumbered by anti-fascist protesters taking to the streets."

Among these protesters was Scotland's Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who spoke at the Glasgow SDL counter-rally and said: “To the BNP, to the Scottish Defense League, to the English Defense League, to any racist Defense League, you are not welcome in Glasgow. You are not welcome anywhere in Scotland.”

The UAF invite the public to email or text in to add their signatures to the statement, which further reads: “There is no place for racists or fascists in Edinburgh’s multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious community. That is why we stand in solidarity with Edinburgh's Muslim community and against the poisonous bigotry of the SDL.”

The EDL and SDL alike have recently opposed groups such as Islam4UK which is led by Anjem Choudary.

Recently on their website, “UK Casuals United,” the English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish Defense Leagues posted an open letter to Anjem Choudary and the members of Islam4UK, offering to fund his relocation to a Middle Eastern country where Sharia Law is practiced and urging him to give up his British passport and citizenship.

The EDL further insists that they are not a fascist or racist organization, however video tapes from past marches and demonstrations show EDL protesters making Nazi salutes.

The Journal

Scary Saturday - updates on the EDL's Birmingham awayday

Birmingham Disunited as concert cancelled

Plans for a Birmingham United concert on Saturday to celebrate the city’s diverse multicultural heritage have been cancelled after the City Council, acting on police advice, refused to sanction the event. Unite Against Fascism have condemned the move.

The Birmingham United concept was designed to provide a positive counterweight to the planned English Defence League demo – and underline the fact that the city was not a “no go” zone for members of any religious or ethnic group.

Efforts to secure the backing of the local authority ultimately came to nothing when on Thursday they confirmed their refusal to sanction a booking at the Council House. This was despite the fact that local MP's including Richard Burden, Khalid Mahmood and John Hemming had supported the idea.

The possibility of an event on other dates or at venues outside the city centre were floated, but Stirrer editor Adrian Goldberg rejected these ideas as “spectacularly missing the point".

He said: “The whole idea was to capitalise on media interest in the EDL demo by showing how ordinary Brummies could come together and celebrate their multicultural identity. We needed to be where the cameras were - or else it would have just been ignored.

“A city centre venue was also vital to send the message that town isn’t a ‘no go zone’ for Muslims and other minority groups.

“As for the timing of the event, in theory we could have a Birmingham United event any day of the year, but as a taxpayer in the city I don’t see why I should be denied access to municipal facilities just because a group from outside the area, with a dubious agenda, wants to demonstrate here.

“This sends the message that those who seek to disrupt our city with divisive messages are given priority over positive community-minded initiatives.

“The whole idea for Birmingham United arose because of what I regarded as the lack of civic leadership in the city over this issue. Sadly, the delay and obstruction our team experienced in trying to establish the event only confirmed my worst fears.”

Mike Wongsam, regional chair of Unite Against Fascism, said his group wasn’t planning a counter demonstration on Saturday - despite frequent police references to the contrary - but had instead urged supporters to back Birmingham United.

He said: “In Birmingham, we now have the deplorable situation where a rally aimed at promoting harmony and unity among our communities is prevented from taking place, whereas the EDL are allowed to conduct their demonstration of hate and division despite their previous events invariably leading to violent disorder."

Superintendant Jez Moore of West Midlands Police commented: “Our view was that it was better to have the event outside of Birmingham [city centre] for operational reasons."

* * *

Demo ban calls grow louder

Labour councillors and Methodists have joined the calls for a ban on tomorrow’s demo in Birmingham against Islamic “extremism”. Meanwhile Broad Street boss Mike Olley has warned protestors from the English Defence League they are only welcome if they respect the area’s cosmopolitan flavour.

Deputy Labour Group leader Ian Ward said: "This is an open and shut case - these thugs are coming in to Birmingham from outside to cause trouble, create violence and intimidate people in our home town. Well over 2,000 local people have written to the council to register their opposition, so why on earth aren't they doing anything?

"This is a public safety issue. These people are determined to bring their hatred and aggression to our city, and Birmingham City Council needs to take the lead and publicly call for them to be stopped. This Council needs to act now. They shouldn't dither, they shouldn't pass the buck, they shouldn't just hope it all goes away, we need firm action now to prevent these vicious thugs from trying to turn our city into a war-zone.

"They banned a march in Luton and we need to make clear that they should do the same here, and firmly say no to hatred, violence and intimidation on our streets."

Ward is echoing the view of Liberal Democrat leader Paul Tilsley, leaving the Conservatives as the only group on the City Council in favour of the demo.

Three leading city Methodists, Revd Bill Anderson, Revd Ray Gaston and Revd Neil Johnson also wanted it banned.

They’ve sent a letter to the Police Authority, saying: “Following their provocative presence in the city on August 8th we feel strongly that the relevant authorities should do their utmost to prevent this group coming into the city again.

“Their sole aim is to create tension and to intimidate and provoke the people of Birmingham with racist and Islamophobic abuse.

“The EDL has been banned from congregating in Luton by the Bedfordshire Police and we see no reason why the West Midlands Police authority cannot take similar powers to protect our city from attempts to undermine community relations and promote hatred against our city’s Muslim citizens.”

Meanwhile Broad Street manager Mike Olley has poured scorn on the EDL’s claims that they’ve negotiated a deal with West Midlands Police for an escort from the entertainment district to Lancaster Circus.

“There appears to be some confusion between the commentary of the English Defence League, as outlined on their web site and the perceptions of the Police,” commented Olley. “My understanding is that there has been limited communication from the EDL with the Police. If this is the case I trust the EDL will make every effort to correct this.

“Accordingly I would urge the EDL to establish a firm line of communication with the Police to sort out what is intended. A march between Broad Street and Lancaster Circus may look appealing on a map but would be entirely impractical due to the road layout in Birmingham.

“Broad Street is a cosmopolitan entertainment district and enjoys a marvellous array of fine venues. We welcome only those who wish to responsibly enjoy themselves and respect all others in the pursuit of relaxation and entertainment.”

The EDL insists its motives are peaceful, and denies that it is racist or Islamophobic.

The Stirrer

See also EDL climbdown over police escort

France shocked by attack on Muslim war graves

ABLAIN-SAINT-NAZAIRE, France (AFP) — Vandals desecrated 148 Muslim graves in France's biggest war cemetery, hanging a pig's head from one tombstone and daubing slogans insulting France's Muslim justice minister, officials said Sunday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed "profound outrage" at the "sordid" attack on the Muslim quarter of the Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery, near the northern town of Arras on Saturday night. He vowed that those responsible would be punished.

The cemetery is France's biggest military graveyards and commemorates tens of thousands of victims of a series of long and bloody battles for control of northern France at the start of World War I.

The attack came almost exactly a year after a similar incident in which neo-Nazi vandals scrawled swastikas on 52 of the cemetery's Muslim graves.

"This is the most inadmissible kind of racism and the president of the republic shares the pain of France's entire Muslim community," said a statement issued by the presidency. France's Muslim community is Europe's largest at around five million. "This hateful act is also a attack on the memory of all veterans of World War I, beyond the faith of each one," the statement added.

The state prosecutor for Arras, Jean-Pierre Valensi, said "the slogans directly target Islam and they gravely insult Rachida Dati, the justice minister," who is the daughter of north African immigrants. He said a pig's head was hung from one of the graves.

Dati issued a statement condemning a "hateful act" that "hurts the memory of our dead, of the veterans who gave their lives for France".

"Through its racist connotations, it is an assault on the values of the republic and an insult to all French people."

Muslim community leaders were allowed to visit the scene on Sunday. "This is shameful to see," said the regional head of the French Council for the Muslim Religion, Bahssine Saaidi. "We need to work together... to stop this problem of racism," he added.

"These are probably the tombs of heroes who fell in combat. This is a hateful, scandalous act, an insult to all Muslims," Dalil Boubaker, rector of the Paris mosque, told France Info radio.

The MRAP anti-racism group said the attack was "a worrying sign of an ill that is gaining ground with a degree of impunity: islamophobia" and warned that France needed to face up to the problem.

SOS Racism said it was taking legal action to demand the dismantling of the neo-Nazi group behind the April 2007 attack on the cemetery.

Two youths aged 18 and 21, both members of the group, were jailed for a year over that attack. A 16-year-old also received a six-week prison sentence.

The Elysee said Sarkozy had called for a swift inquiry and "for those responsible for this act to be punished as they deserve."

Around 100 French gendarmes were at the site to gather evidence. Jean-Marie Bockel, the secretary of state for veteran's affairs, said the government would review security at Notre Dame de Lorette.

"This is horrific, and for the 90th anniversary of the end of the 1914-1918 war. This is worse than the last time, it is abominable," said Jean-Paul Doue, one of 3,800 volonteer honorary guards at the cemetery.

Inaugurated in 1925, the Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery houses the remains of some 40,000 soldiers, half of them in named graves. The Muslim quarter includes 576 tombs, grouped together and turned towards Mecca.

Prior to 2007, there were four incidents involving the desecration of Muslim graves in northern and eastern France in 2004, and one in 2003.

There have also been several attacks on Jewish graves in cemeteries across France in recent years.

AFP

BNP man’s death - sub judice no bar to BNP hate campaign

The death of a Stoke-on-Trent BNP activist in what police are describing as a “dispute between neighbours” has been hyped out of all proportion by the BNP and its adherents, despite the paucity of details so far released.

Keith Brown had apparently been involved in a long-standing dispute with his Muslim neighbours, which resulted in an altercation on July 6th. During the fracas, Mr Brown was stabbed and died. A number of people were arrested and later released on police bail, and Habib Khan charged with murder. Khan appeared before North Staffordshire magistrates and was remanded to appear at Stafford Crown Court on Monday July 16.

Beyond stating that Mr Brown’s death came about as the result of a dispute between neighbours, Staffordshire police have released few other details. How the altercation arose and who instigated it is not known - these are facts that will be established at Mr Khan’s trial, and until then - quite properly - any speculation or apportioning of blame is prohibited by the rules of sub judice.

However, the fact of one of their own having allegedly been murdered, and allegedly by a Muslim, has proved more than the BNP and its fanatical following can bear, and the party set out to capitalise on the tragedy of Mr Brown’s death.

Very quickly the BNP website, ignoring the fact that nobody accused of a criminal offence may be presumed to be guilty until a jury finds them so, was talking of a “gang of Muslim thugs” and detailed a number of (unproven) allegations made by Mr Brown against his neighbours, saying:

The months of anguish continued for Keith, abuse, assaults and smashed windows until finally the inevitable but entirely avoidable happed. Last Friday afternoon witnesses saw Keith and his neighbours in yet another flare up. Keith had just returned from picking up his three youngest children from school when he was confronted by a group of Muslim men outside his house. Whilst Keith was remonstrating with these men another Muslim man crept from behind a car and plunged a large knife in his back.

Clearly, the BNP does not require anything so mundane as a trial to establish guilt - but then, fascists have a track-record of never greatly bothering themselves with such fripperies wherever they have gained power.

Whether the allegations and summation of events as given on the BNP website is true or not is neither here nor there. The fact is that they have no business being aired in public when the guilt or innocence of a man charged with murder depends upon him coming before an unbiased jury. No newspaper would dare to publish the version of events appearing on the BNP website without a heavy degree of qualification - such that the reader would be in no doubt that the newspaper was publishing allegations, and not established facts.

Even before the BNP website had published its version of events, the party’s keyboard army of bloggers and forum trolls were hard at work hyping their dead comrade into some kind of hero who had fallen in an undeclared race war - one even managing to compare his death to those of the British soldiers who fell at the Battle of the Somme. Calls for revenge came thick and fast, and for once the mask of respectability was discarded as the open racism and hatred of the average BNP member spewed on to the Internet.

We have no more idea than the average BNP member of exactly what led to the death of Keith Brown. Whether his death had anything to do with his politics, his neighbours’ religion, or really was simply a dispute between neighbours that - regardless of politics, religion or race - escalated into violence, are matters that will be established in a court, and not on the poisonous blogs of BNP members.

We hope that all right-thinking people will agree with us that anybody committing an act of murder, whatever the circumstances, deserves the appropriate punishment - as do those who wilfully ignore the long established principle that a person is presumed innocent until proved guilty, and that to presume guilt and to make public utterances to that effect is a contempt of court proceedings likewise deserving of the appropriate punishment.

British government says Jewish-Muslim inter-faith dialogue vital

The British government has revealed that it wants an inter-faith framework to bring the country’s Jews and Muslims closer together.

Hazel Blears, the Labour Party chairman, told a conference of UK rabbis and imams in Manchester on Monday that the Government wanted the event - and a further conference run by Jewish and Muslim women later this week - to be the springboard for greater inter-faith cooperation between the religions.

The relationship between the British Jewish and Muslim communities has long been icy cold, with disagreements mainly over perceived Islamic anti-Semitism and disputes over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict leading to virtually no public dialogue between the faiths.

Only recently have relations appeared to thaw, with the first ever speech by Inayat Bunglawala, assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, to a Jewish community group in London calling for major reconciliation.

Speaking to the National Imams and Rabbis Conference on Monday, however, Blears said the event, held in Manchester, should be a springboard to future cooperation. The conference is held to promote rare scholarly dialogue between Islamic and Jewish leaders.

"The Government sees this conference, and the women’s conference, as being the next step towards establishing a nationally recognised framework for interfaith dialogue and co-operation between the Muslim and Jewish communities," Blears said, in a speech to the conference entitled ’Building Alliances, Respecting Differences.’

Good place to live

Also in her speech, Blears said that - despite the threat of racism, Islamaphobia and anti-Semitism - Britain remains a good place to live for ethnic minority communities.

"I do not deny the pernicious influence of racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism," she said. "I know that many families have suffered at the hands of racist bullies and thugs. I do not dismiss the threat to community cohesion presented by the BNP (British National Party) and other right-wing organisations. But Britain remains a fair, tolerant country, where communities respect one another and people live in peace.

"That success is anchored in a simple approach: we respect religious differences, but are united in a transcendant belief in democracy, human rights and the rule of law. No religion should face persecution or prohibition by the state. But no individual citizen should face barriers or discrimination within their religion either. We have a right to religious freedom, and we all have a right to other freedoms too, including free expression, but not at the expense of other people’s rights and freedoms."

Moderate image

Earlier this month, Bunglawala ended years of glacial relations between Muslims and Jews by appearing to call for reconciliation between the faiths in an interview with the European Jewish Press, which followed his address to the Jewish Community Centre for London.

In the interview, Bunglawala declared that there was "an enormous amount" that Muslims could learn from the way Jews have integrated into the UK, demanded an end to Islamic anti-Semitism, and hinted that the Muslim Council of Britain could recognise Holocaust Memorial Day for the first time.

The move by Bunglawala towards reconciliation is likely to be partly motivated by a desire to be seen in the moderate camp of the British Muslim community, and shed the MCB’s previous image of being too extreme.

The MCB has recently fallen out of favour with government ministers in the UK, who regard it as doing too little to combat Islamic radicalism within Britain. Ministers are currently working on a way of getting a greater amount of ethnic minority funding straight to communities themselves, and bypassing big organisations which they fear are doing too little to combat extremism.

European Jewish Press