FPÖ leader StracheThe southern Austrian state of Carinthia was long a source of inspiration for right-wing populists across Europe. As early as 1989, the Freedom Party of Carinthia (FPK) briefly nabbed the governor's mansion in the state. In 1999, the right-wingers – behind the charismatic leadership of Jörg Haider – emerged victorious in state elections once again, and have managed to hold onto the state since.

Until Sunday, that is. In a key state election seen as a bellwether for the Austrian general election approaching in September, Carinthian voters delivered a painful blow to the FPK, the state chapter of the national Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). Sunday evening exit polls indicated that the FPK managed a mere 17.1 percent of the vote – a veritable collapse since their 45 percent result four years ago. It was the largest vote-on-vote disintegration ever seen in postwar Austria.

The Social Democratic party SPÖ won with 37.1 percent of the vote, while the center-right ÖVP landed in third place with 14.2 percent.

Sunday's result – combined with their meager 8.2 percent showing in the other Austrian state election on Sunday, in Lower Austria – does not bode well for the right-wing populists this autumn. "It was a clear rejection and a … clear demand for a restart," said a visibly irate FPÖ head Hans-Christian Strache on Austrian television on Monday morning.

Spiegel, 4 March 2013

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Alabama Democrats aren't shedding any tears over state Rep. Richard Laird's decision to leave the party this week.

Laird, of Roanoke in east Alabama, announced Monday that he was becoming an independent. On Friday, Democratic leaders rebuked Laird for sending an offensive email to legislators and constituents prior to his party switch.

On Jan. 23, Laird sent an email to a group of recipients that included House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, state Rep. Duwayne Bridges, R-Valley, and state Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison. Also copied on the email was Mellie Parrish of Lineville, a member of the Randolph County Democratic Party Executive Committee.

The message contained a picture of President Obama kissing Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi on the cheek, with a caption that read "the only time you'll see a Muslim kiss a pig."

Al.com, 9 February 2013

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A candidate for Bob Katter's fledgling political party declared his preference for buying ''guaranteed non-halal meat'' so his money does not ''go to the Muslim community''.

Jamie Cavanough, who is standing for Katter's Australian Party in Sydney's most marginal federal seat, Greenway, is under fire for the apparently divisive comments he made to a community forum in one of the city's most ethnically diverse areas.

Katter's Australian Party played down the comments on Friday, describing them as a non-issue.

Mr Cavanough made his comments on Saturday, less than a fortnight after controversy in the Greenway community over plans for a supposed Muslim enclave, dubbed ''Halal housing'', in Riverstone.

Mr Cavanough posted on the Riverstone Community Group forum, which has 732 members on Facebook: ''Can anyone advise me where I can buy Guaranteed NON halal lamb for Australia day.''

When a forum user suggested he might try a butcher, Mr Cavanough replied: ''have not asked yet, just wondering if anyone new [sic] of any, I would prefer to always buy non halal as proceeds of halal goes to the Muslim community.''

And in a separate post, Mr Cavanough called on people to sign a petition against a supposed plan by the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to scrap the name Australia Day in favour of Harmony Day, saying ''the Muslim church is in favour of this''. The Prime Minister's office confirmed there was no such proposal.

Mr Cavanough told Fairfax Media he was simply looking for a better deal on meat and his comments were not racially motivated.

''In my view, and it's not the view of any party, I want to be able to purchase a product that has not been faced to a god that I don't believe in and blessed,'' he said.

Sydney Morning Herald, 25 January 2013

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Labour's NEC has rejected Ken Livingstone's request for Lutfur Rahman to get back into the Labour party.

The NEC's organisation sub-committee was setting the process for selecting a Labour mayoral candidate in Tower Hamlets. He or she is now expected to be chosen in April, to give them time to build up a head of steam against Lutfur, who was sacked as Labour candidate in the 2010 mayoral election for his close links to an Islamic fundamentalist group, the Islamic Forum of Europe, which believes in turning Europe into a sharia state. Lutfur is also backed by a group of powerful local businessmen.

Labour MP, Tom Harris, congratulated Labour's NEC in a tweet: "Well done Labour's NEC for rejecting Ken Livingstone's request for Islamist Lutfur Rahman to get back into our party."

Politics UK, 16 January 2013

This report is evidently based on a blog post by that poisonous little shit Andrew Gilligan, whose reputation for accurate journalism is, shall we say, poor. So we should perhaps suspend judgment until we get information from a more reliable source. As for Tom Harris, he's the man who tweeted this response to initial news of the massacre carried out by Anders Breivik.

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The face of the master race?A mental health nurse has set up a new far right political party. Dr Andrew Emerson has joined other former BNP members to create Patria, which means homeland in Latin, which calls for Britain to withdraw from the EU, to repeal the Human Rights Act, to end all immigration and to repatriate non-British residents.

The group – which includes Ian Johnson from the New Forest who stood as a BNP candidate for Havant in the 2005 – will be fielding candidates in local and general elections. They left the far right BNP after becoming disillusioned with the way it was run.

Dr Emerson said: "Racism is a made up word. It's code for anti-white, anti-English. The people who accuse us of being racist can't explain what they mean by the word. What they mean is they’re against the English people standing up for themselves and their own rights in their own country. No other country in the world would allow the kind of immigration that we have seen over the last 10 to 15 years."

Liberal Democrat Faith Ponsonby represents Battins ward on Havant Borough Council and is a member of Havant Multicultural Forum. She said: "As far as human rights and immigration are concerned, we've always been a country which has welcomed refugees, from political and religious persecution. I'm actually descended from the Huguenots who came to this country in the 18th century from France.

"We welcome people who have been persecuted and this country has benefited from them. We have benefited from the skills they have brought here and what they have achieved. Personally I love the buzz of walking round places like London where there are different people from different countries who want to live here and contribute to our economy.

"I know people are concerned about immigration and people taking from the country but I feel that the benefits from multiculturalism are huge."

Dr Emerson, of Chichester, and Mr Johnson have stood as BNP MEP candidates.

Portsmouth News, 10 January 2013

Patria held its inaugural meeting in Dorset on 10 December. One attendee reported that the meeting "was kept deliberately small", which is another way of saying that very few people turned up. Details of the organisation's founding members can be found here.

Since then, Patria's leading team has shrunk somewhat. Both its chairman Richard Franklin and deputy chairman/press officer Colin Poulter have disappeared from the "Who we are" section of the Patria website. In Poulter's case, it appears that objections were raised to his alleged membership of the Church of Scientology.

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Under the upbeat headline "Kev Carroll Becomes British Freedom Chairman", the British Freedom party reports the rather less positive news that their previous chairman, Paul Weston, has in fact resigned.

According to the BFP, Weston has "stepped down to concentrate on a literary contribution to the battle against Britain's national trajectory". Which I suppose is another way of saying that he has, quite understandably, decided that the BFP is a complete waste of time.

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The Arab Spring, as it is now globally called, from its inception represented a strong desire of the people to reclaim for themselves the political system by improving the Constitution. Whether it was Tunisia, Libya or Egypt or the different factions in the political arena itself, the focus of everyone’s demands was projected onto the process of Constitution-writing. It is this major departure from previous upheavals in the Middle East that makes Arab Spring a very special moment in Middle-Eastern history. And by placing emphasis on the current exercise of Constitution-drafting as an exercise of realizing the society’s expectations, we give the movement the dignity it deserves.

It is not surprising that in an age of globalization, the majority of the viewers of the Arab Spring on media channels are not from Middle-East. These viewers are mostly from countries with an established tradition of liberalism and democracy who watch daily the comparison of the nascent Egyptian Constituent Assembly with the robust institutions that have developed in their own countries. This is clearly a fallacy, for how can a new democracy, either in its vision or implementation, compare to democracies that have been established, if not less, then atleast for half a century. Most importantly, this is not how the Egyptians themselves look at the whole process which culminated in the referendum. They do not have in their mind the German Constitution, the Indian Constitution and even less, the American Constitution (the present German and Indian Constitutions are about 60 years old whereas the American one is over 200 years old). They remember what the arbitrary and corrupt regime established under their previous Constitution, that is, the 1971 Constitution, when they engage in debate to shape the new one. And in order to truly appreciate the significance of the entire movement, we must look at the Constitution that was ousted.

The Constitution of 1971 also envisaged a democratic system, guaranteed fundamental rights and declared the Sharia as principal source of legislation. However, the constitutional provisions were sold out by the laws that were enacted by the executive with the help of a rubber-stamp legislature.

The Fundamental Rights (such as freedom of speech and liberty) were qualified by phrases like “according to the law”, whose vagueness created room for the regime to completely deny these protections through the enactment of rigid laws. The entire constitution was an act of skullduggery with all the major rights and provisions being subordinated to laws and thus subverting the very idea of a society having a constitution.

The year 2007 saw Mubarak attempting to become democratic by offering to democratize the society. But why was Mubarak of all people democratizing the society? And if Mubarak democratized the society, then what is happening since the last two years? Besides a slew of amendments, the key amendment was Article 76, which was a 709 word article whose sole purpose was to engineer one of Mubarak’s sons to the Presidency by creating a very high technical requirement in terms of support of officials and registered parties to contest elections. This article also served the purpose of preventing any Muslim Brotherhood member or any other person who could put a serious challenge to the regime from contesting the elections.

It is these reasons that made people wary of the regime and the 1971 Constitution. And it is these actions that have become the background against which the Egyptians are judging their new Constitution.

The next entry will continue the discussion, dealing with role of religion, civilian-military affairs and the nature of State institutions in 1971 Constitution.

References:

http://www.constitutionnet.org/files/Egypt%20Constitution.pdf

http://muslim-academy.com/egypts-new-constitution-writing-the-beginning/

 

About the author

VasantAgnihotri

I am a student of law in Calcutta, India, and I am interested in history, politics and philosophy. I do not hold any religious beliefs but I respect the beliefs of others. I am much interested in the Islamic religion, and the history and politics of the Islamic world.

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A majority of  the Western European population belongs to Christianity. Representatives of political parties use their beliefs to convince the electorate to vote. There are political parties that are being represented by the Muslim people as well.

As a religion, Islam has always been regarded as a synonym for fundamentalism and aggression. People who are influenced by the media without knowing what Islam really is, view it in this negative light. Along with Christianity, Islam is the second biggest monotheistic religion in the world and the main story of God is very similar to that of Christianity. Muslims in Western European countries are often disregarded because the majority of people have negative thoughts towards Islam. When it comes to the United Kingdom, for instance, in the 1960s, a large number of Muslims came to the U.K. and accepted offers for work. According to the Office for National Statistics, figures from 2001, most of the Islamic communities came from East Africa, South Asia, and many of them from Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and the Balkans (especially after the 1990s).

Islamic party of britain

So, the situation has been significantly changed in the last fifty years considering the mixture of nationalities and religions in Western Europe, especially in Great Britain. People, using tools of mass media and different information channels, formed strong prejudices towards Islam as a religion and the Muslim people.

As a way of convincing the people that Islam as a religion that has nothing to do with the promotion of aggressiveness and terrorism and, on the other hand, for helping the Muslim people that live in Great Britain, the Islamic Party of Britain was established in 1989. The main goal of the party was to encourage public debate about the Islamic alternative. A majority of the population was targeted to convince them to forget about prejudices and non-tolerance for the Muslim people, but the party fought for Muslims to gain confidence in political discussions, creating different policies that aimed at the promotion of positive attitudes towards sustainable development.

The main motto of the Islamic Party was to provide accurate, well-presented information about Islam to the general public. Furthermore, the main objectives of the party were to give the Muslims in Britain a voice in matters relating to the future of the British society. This party was different from the others since it confronted widely-used ideologies of capitalism and communism.

Considering the pros and cons for establishing a party related only to religion, this party didn’t seem to have high ambitions related to becoming one of the leading parties in the country. According to its activity period, this party was active until 2006. Following its record, it hadn’t been active in any of the European Parliament groups; neither had it formed an election group within Great Britain.

About the author

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Bulgarian xenophobic party Ataka (Attack) wants the Parliament to pass a moratorium on the construction of mosques in the country.

In a statement sent to the media, the marginal ultra-nationalist formation has reminded that Bulgaria has the highest number of mosques per capita in Europe.

"Let us follow the example of democratic Switzerland, where there is a ban on the construction of new mosques," the party says.

Referring to the "radical Islam" trial recently launched in the town of Pazardzhik, Ataka states that Islamists have been active in the country since 2008.

The party further claims that the ruling centrist-right GERB would "side with Islamism and terrorism" if it does not endorse the moratorium on mosques.

Ataka has also bashed Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov over visiting Ankara, pointing out that Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan "is an Islamist."

In May 2011, Ataka supporters shocked Bulgaria, as the party's rally protesting against the use of loudspeakers by the Banya Bashi mosque in downtown Sofia got out of hand and its activists assaulted praying Muslims in front of the mosque.

Novinite, 1 October 2012

The Swiss ban is of course on the construction of minarets, not mosques as such.

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Police are looking into whether or not to launch an inquiry into Facebook posts made by Finns Party municipal election candidate Amon Rautiainen. The Kotka candidate reportedly criticised Islam and said it would be "patriotic" to eliminate Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen.

Among the more inflammatory comments allegedly made by the Finns Party standing for election in the southeastern municipality of Kotka was a call for Muslims to be cooked alive.

He was also said to have written that it would be "patriotic" to execute Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen, leaders of the National Coalition and Social Democratic parties respectively.

Rautiainen however removed the provocative texts Monday, claiming that he did not know that they would be publicly available on the social networking site. He said that he regretted the posts and that they had been written on the spur of the moment.

"I wrote the posts with humour and in the heat of the moment," he said. The Finns Party member said that he was not opposed to any ethnic group but that he was extremely concerned about the spread of extreme Islam.

Police are currently considering whether to open an investigation into the updates.

Yle, 24 September 2012

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Walsall Labour Party is giving its full support to a peaceful demonstration celebrating community strength and tolerance being held in Gallery Square on Saturday at 11am.

The "We are Walsall" rally is being held to counter the racism of the English Defence League who are bussing in people from across the country to incite hatred of the town's Muslim community.

Cllr Tim Oliver said it is fantastic that so many community groups, churches, temples and members of political parties are joining together to oppose the EDL's message of hate, and instead celebrate the town's tolerance and understanding.

"We in the Labour Party were the first to warn about this vile group and its plans to come to Walsall in July.

"Since then the leaders of all the borough's main political parties have condemned it and people from so many diverse and varied backgrounds have come together to organise this peaceful statement to show our communities won't be divided by the hatred of outsiders.

"As a party we have made representations to the council and the police on how we can minimise the threat and disruption the EDL want to bring to our streets. 

"Given that past protests by the EDL in areas like Dudley have become drink-fuelled, violent rampages we are very concerned that the site of their demonstration will take place so close to bars and we would urge that landlords either shut for the day or refuse to serve them."

The "We are Walsall" rally will be joined by local Labour MPs David Winnick and Valerie Vaz, who will stress the rally's message that the people of Walsall won't be divided."

Cllr Oliver added "The best response to the EDL is for the people of borough to join the peaceful rally and send an overwhelming message that they are not welcome in our town."

Walsall Labour Party press release, 25 September 2012

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Earlier this week the English Defence League's political wing, the British Freedom party, announced the appointment of their new South West regional organiser. She's an EDL activist from Bristol named Chelsea Anne White.

White's explanation of her decision to join British Freedom features the usual anti-Muslim rhetoric – "mosques, we don't want them and we don't want burka-clad women on our beaches.... We don't want animals sent for halal slaughter".

However, in a statement on her Facebook page outlining what motivates her longstanding support for the EDL, White makes it clear that her Islamophobia is part of a wider philosophy that differs little from the traditional skin-colour racism of the far right:

"WHEN YOU'VE BEEN AROUND IN THE E.D.L. FOR AS LONG AS SOME OF US ANGELS....YOUR ANGER CHANGES FROM BEING OUTRAGED TO A CALM RESOLVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT....WE SEE IT DAY IN DAY OUT....INJUSTICE....WE LIVE IN A COUNTRY....OUR COUNTRY.. WHERE IF YOUR WHITE AND ENGLISH YOU DON'T COUNT FOR MUCH BECAUSE THE VOTE IS IN THE AREAS THEY HAVE FLOODED WITH IMMIGRANTS."

You might think that a party which claims its hostility towards Islam has nothing to do with racism would balk at appointing such an obvious racist as its public representative. But then, given BF leader Paul Weston's own views on the "ethnic cleansing" of the "indigenous race", that would be a bit hypocritical, wouldn't it?

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More people would support a political party that pledged to stop all immigration or promised to reduce the number of Muslims than one that encouraged multiculturalism, a survey conducted in the wake of the Olympics reveals.

Despite London 2012 being heralded as a celebration of a diverse society, the research suggests much of the electorate remains open to views traditionally associated with far-right groups.

The survey, conducted by YouGov with 1,750 respondents, found that 41% of people would be more likely to vote for a party that promised to stop all immigration, compared with 28% who said they would be less likely to support a group that promoted such policies.

In addition, 37% admitted that they would be more likely to support a political party that promised to reduce the number of Muslims in Britain and the presence of Islam in society, compared with 23% who said it would make them less likely.

Matthew Goodwin of the Extremis Project, an independent group monitoring extremism and terrorism that commissioned the research, said that, although Britain lacked a successful extremist political party, much of the public was susceptible to far-right ideology.

He said: "The results clearly point towards enduring public anxieties over the performance of mainstream political and business elites, immigration and also the role of Muslims and Islam in society."

In Europe, far-right parties have gained an increasing foothold, with Marine le Pen's National Front recently polling 6.5 million votes and a poll in Greece indicating that support for the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn has grown to 10.5%, up from 7% at the last election. However, the fiercely anti-Islamic Freedom party of Geert Wilders won only 15 seats in last week's Dutch elections, compared with its previous 24 seats.

The UK poll results suggest, however, that Britain may struggle to host far-right groups capable of such popularity, revealing a striking generational divide in attitudes towards multiculturalism. It found that large majorities of 18-to -24-year-olds rejected radical rightwing policies, with 60% saying that a party campaigning to halt all immigration would make them less likely to support it or that it did not matter to them.

Less than a quarter of 18-to-24-year-olds said they would be more likely to vote for a party that promised to halt all immigration, compared with more than half of those aged above 60. Similarly, 27% of the younger age group said they would vote for a party that campaigned to reduce the number of Muslims, compared with 49% of those aged over 60.

Goodwin, a lecturer at Nottingham University, said: "While we see further evidence of an emerging generation that is more tolerant towards – and accepting of – immigration and diversity, there remains clear potential for a party that … promises to halt immigration, reduce the number of Muslims and prioritise traditional British values over other cultures."

Observer, 16 September 2012

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Glen Jenvey, the self-styled terrorism expert responsible for the Sun's fabricated "Terror Target Sugar" story about a supposed Muslim extremist hitlist (although he now denies this), recently posted a glowing account of the English Defence League and its membership ("I was amazed at the grass root support of EDL and the British Freedom Party which is a new political party which has been now merged with the EDL leadership ... it was made up of every race as they have a open membership which is not reported in the UK media").

And now it appears that Jenvey has taken his admiration one step further and joined the British Freedom party. They have crossposted an article by Jenvey on their website denouncing the sale of halal meat, with an introduction describing him as a British Freedom member.

Given his record, British Freedom might be advised to be a bit wary of Jenvey. A few years back he announced his conversion to Islam, and joined Anjem Choudary's group, only to subsequently declare that this had been a sting operation aimed at exposing Choudary and the terrorist threat he supposedly represents. Before that, Jenvey claimed to have infiltrated the Tamil Tigers.

However, in view of his long history of stoking Islamophobia, which includes an appearance in the notorious documentary Obsession – Radical Islam's War Against the West, there are perhaps stronger grounds for accepting Jenvey's new affiliation as genuine.

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A prominent Phoenix tea party leader who believes Muslims cannot be trusted to be loyal to the United States and should not be working for the federal government is incensed with U.S. Sen. John McCain's defense of a top State Department official and is eying a recall drive against Arizona's senior senator.

Wes Harris, the founder and chairman of the Original North Phoenix Tea Party, said he plans to take out a recall petition against McCain. While Harris has many problems with McCain, a mass email he sent out focused solely on the senator's recent defense of Huma Abedin, a top aide to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Harris accused Abedin of having ties to an Islamic extremist group, and he objected to the fact that a Muslim was working for the State Department in the first place.

Harris said he believes Muslims' loyalty to the U.S. is questionable because their ultimate loyalty is to the Quran and Islam, which he described as "more a fascist type of organization."

"Have you ever read the Quran? I suggest you do so, because anyone that is a Muslim is a threat to this country, and that's a fact," Harris told the Arizona Capitol Times. "There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. If they are Muslim they have to follow the Quran. That's their religion and that's their doctrine."

Harris said he plans to circulate recall petitions against McCain. In his email, he said, "We must find a way to get rid of this embarrassment."

The email Harris sent includes a forwarded item from the blog Bare Naked Islam that castigates McCain for defending "Islamic enemies of America" and attacking U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican and tea party favorite. The blog piece ends by saying, "Go to hell, Senator, it's time for you to take your final dirt nap."

Harris said he believes Abedin has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. But ultimately, he said it doesn't matter whether she's linked to the group or not because he doesn't believe Muslims should work for the federal government.

"Is she a Muslim? Is she an active Muslim?" Harris said. "I rest my case. That's all she needs to be."

Arizona Capitol Times, 23 July 2012

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The vicious campaign against Tory Party co-chairman Sayeeda Warsi, led by the Sunday Telegraph and backed by the Labour Party (see here, here and here), has suffered a setback.

The BBC reports that Warsi has been cleared of any serious breach of the ministerial code over an official trip to Pakistan. The prime minister's adviser Sir Alex Allan found she had committed only a "minor" breach for failing to declare she had been accompanied on the trip by her business partner Abid Hussain, with whom she had set up a restaurant supply company called Rupert's Recipes.

In his report, Sir Alex said: "Baroness Warsi has accepted that she should have made officials aware of her business relationship with Mr Hussain, and has apologised for the oversight. But, as she says, this was not a trade-related visit; Rupert's Recipes does not do any business in Pakistan and there was no financial benefit to either Baroness Warsi or Mr Hussain; Mr Hussain was not a member of the official delegation, no part of his travel or other costs were met by the British government, and no arrangements were made by her office or the British High Commission for Mr Hussain to meet leading politicians."

He added: "I am satisfied that, had she declared her business relationship, that would not have been seen as a barrier to Mr Hussain helping to organise the visit. Nonetheless, she should have been more aware of the perception of a conflict of interest, and the potential criticism which could arise."

Sir Alex advised the prime minister: "Any action you decide to take in the light of the facts of this case is of course a matter for you, but I record my view that the breach of the code was a minor one, and that Baroness Warsi did not use her office for personal financial gain."

In a statement Warsi said: "I have always maintained that I have never misused my ministerial office for personal or financial gain. The allegations on this matter were untrue and unsubstantiated, and I am pleased that Sir Alex Allan's report has confirmed that."

Nobody acquainted with the facts of the case could have believed that Allan's investigation would reach any other conclusion. Warsi's opponents must have known that. Their aim, however, has been to create enough controversy around her that it will be impossible for David Cameron to keep her on as Tory Party co-chairman.

They may still succeed. Despite the fact that Warsi has been cleared of any wrongdoing over the Pakistan trip, the Daily Mail reports that Cameron has "hinted he may move her to a different post".

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Finland's Supreme Court has ordered controversial Finns Party MP Jussi Halla-aho to pay a fine for his anti-Islamic blog posts dating back to 2008. He is also to delete certain writings from his blog.

Finland's highest court ordered Halla-aho to pay 50 day fines, instead of 30 levied by a lower court, for statements about Somali immigrants.

Two lower courts previously dismissed hate charges against Halla-aho and only fined him for defaming religion.

The Supreme Court said Halla-aho's posts, which likened Islam to pedophilia and said Somalis are predisposed to stealing and living off welfare, qualified as inciting hatred against an ethnic group. In its ruling, the judiciary said hate speech does not fall under the protection afforded by the freedom of speech.

Halla-aho chairs Parliament's Administration committee, which deals with immigration issues.

Yle, 8 June 2012

See also "Soini: No action on Halla-aho court ruling", Yle, 8 June 2012

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The EDL have delightedly posted a link to a Sky news report of their members attacking a "Stuff the Jubilee party" in Newcastle earlier today. This despite a clear statement in the report that "Nazi salutes and chants" were directed against the anti-Jubilee protestors by the EDL.

There is also video footage of an EDL supporter throwing a firework, which apparently hit one of the anti-Jubilee crowd, burning his hair, much to the pleasure of his attackers, who admitted in gloating Facebook comments to throwing bottles as well.

The EDL's football hooligan division, Casuals United, has posted a short report too, making no attempt to hide the fact that the EDL organised the demonstration in co-operation with the Infidels breakaway group, with whom the EDL had supposedly severed links due to the Infidels' neo-Nazi sympathies.

Hope Not Hate reports that the EDL and Infidels met up at a Newcastle pub before going on to join a contingent from the National Front led by "veteran far right bonehead Simon Biggs". HNH's reporter also spotted another notorious Nazi, Kevin Watmough of Redwatch, on the demonstration.

HNH notes that Mark Walls of the Infidels "appeared very friendly with the rival EDL leader Alan Spence, who has only recently been released from prison". Spence, you may remember, is a former BNP parliamentary candidate who received a seven months' sentence for his part in a 2010 attack by the EDL on the Tyneside Irish Centre, where the Socialist Workers Party was due to hold a meeting.

Based on Facebook comments, one of the Infidels' supporters involved in the Newcastle confrontation was an individual who goes by the pseudonym of Sir-Northeast Markio. His real name is Mark Turnbull, and he is a former BNP member from Gateshead who was in court back in 2010 following violence at an EDL demonstration in Leicester.

Another participant from the neo-Nazi milieu was a National Front member from Sunderland named Paul Birleson, who stood as an NF candidate in last month's council elections. Birleson says that it was the NF who led the attack on the anti-Jubilee protestors, with back-up from the EDL and Infidels:

The EDL's claim that they are not part of the far right, but are merely a non-violent human rights movement whose aim is limited to peacefully protesting against Muslim extremists, is so laughable that you wonder why they insist on holding themselves up to ridicule by continuing to repeat these lies.

Not part of the far right? Fascist thug accompanying EDL banner throws a Nazi salute

Not part of the far right? EDL and NF members demonstrate side by side

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A far-right party on the campaign trial in Germany's most populous state is threatening to put caricatures of Mohammed outside mosques in a string of cities.

The "Pro NRW" party in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia has already shown anti-Islamic caricatures in Essen and Gelsenkirchen, though the police prevented demonstrations taking place directly outside mosques.

Police have also banned "Pro NRW", which is campaigning on an Islamophobic platform, from using the Danish cartoons that caused massive protests in the Islamic world in 2005.

But "Pro NRW" intends to send activists to 25 mosques throughout the state in the run-up to the election on May 13, staging protests in Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Aachen, Wuppertal and Solingen. A report in Die Welt newspaper on Sunday said the far-right party intended to post around 100 what it called "Islam-critical" drawings outside the mosques.

Interior Minister in state Ralf Jäger condemned the campaign and expressed support for planned counter-demonstrations. "Pro NRW is committing spiritual arson," he told the paper. "The party is consciously taking into account that Muslims will feel provoked and upset. The authorities will exhaust all legal avenues to prevent a xenophobic hate campaign."

The federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich is reportedly worried about violent confrontations with the Salafists, the fundamentalist Muslims who began distributing free copies of the Koran in Germany three weeks ago. A report in Der Spiegel magazine over the weekend said his ministry had been in contact with the North Rhine-Westphalia state government in recent weeks to find a way to de-escalate the situation. The election there is on May 13.

"Pro NRW" campaign manager Lars Seidensticker says he did not understand the outrage over the campaign, and says his party would bear no responsibility for any violence.

"If the situation is so tense that you can't do a campaign like this against Islamist influences any more, then the politicians are responsible for doing away with Germany," he said, alluding to the title of a 2010 book by banker Thilo Sarrazin ("Germany Does Away with Itself"), which criticized Islamic immigrants in Germany.

"Mosques are potential centres of a new civil war that we have to prevent," said Seidensticker. "That's why we have to pull out the Islamist evil by its roots."

"Pro NRW", which boasts 250 members, is also planning to award a cash prize for the "best" anti-Islamic caricature, named after Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who was responsible for the 2005 images. Westergaard has distanced himself from the competition and is reportedly considering legal action against the party for using his name.

The Local, 30 April 2012

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Unease is growing in French President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party a week before a presidential election over his lurch to the right in pursuit of supporters of anti-immigration candidate Marine Le Pen.

Some mainstream conservatives have voiced public dismay at his embrace of the campaign themes, language and even some proposals of Le Pen's National Front. In private conversations, doubts are widespread about the morality and effectiveness of the strategy.

In the last week, Sarkozy has repeatedly declared that there are too many foreigners in France and vowed to reduce legal immigration. Echoing a Le Pen proposal, he has called for police to be given greater license to shoot fleeing crime suspects. He has accused his Socialist rival Francois Hollande of being backed by Islamists and said Le Pen's voters are respectable and her party compatible with the French Republic.

"Even though I will vote for Nicolas Sarkozy on the second round, it's clearly my duty to ring the alarm bell about this strategy," Etienne Pinte, a UMP lawmaker, told Reuters.

He said former prime ministers Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Alain Juppe, Sarkozy's foreign minister, had made clear in internal meetings their reticence about the rightward drift. "All through the campaign, we felt there were misgivings among a number of parliamentary colleagues and the two former prime ministers about the exploitation of these extreme-right themes," Pinte said.

Sarkozy hardened his discourse as soon as the results of last Sunday's first round showed Le Pen, with nearly 18 percent, had won twice as many votes as centrist Francois Bayrou. The president needs to draw support from both sides to beat Hollande, the clear frontrunner in opinion polls, in the May 6 second-round runoff.

Raffarin hinted at his distaste in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde last week, saying: "If I were to express reservations today, it would weaken my own side ... but I remain attached to the humanitarian values of our program." Asked whether the strategy drawn up by Sarkozy's political guru Patrick Buisson, a former extreme-right newspaper editor, had not strengthened the far right, Raffarin said the time for analysis would come after May 6. "We are in a battle now, and in a battle, the honorable thing is to be loyal," he said.

Another former Gaullist prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, deplored what he called "crossing one republican red line after another (in a) shameless seduction of extremist votes". Without mentioning Sarkozy by name, Villepin warned the mainstream right in an article in Le Monde against betraying its own values.

"One would think there were only National Front voters in France," he wrote. "As if there were not more important issues than halal meat, legal immigration and (single-sex or mixed) bathing hours in public swimming pools." Sarkozy has played up each of those issues in his quest to win over Le Pen voters.

Reuters, 29 April 2012

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