UKIP, Casual Racism And BBC’s Bias

If you ever wanted to understand bigotry in Britain then this UKIP poster from South Shields is a fine example.

It sums them up nicely, scaring people and putting out a simple xenophobic message.

Logan Smith wrote an intelligent piece on casual comments and racism.  I think it has a wider application in society and in particular relationship to UKIP:

“It’s that the people I retweet – the vast majority of which appear to be teenagers – genuinely don’t understand whether they’re being racist. It’s a generation that never had to grow up during the times of Jim Crow, civil rights marches or apartheid, and has never been confronted by the institutional racism that older generations saw on a daily basis. As a result, many teens seem to think racism simply means active hatred of another race, and not the apparent prejudices and stereotypes displayed by the people I retweet. “

Speaking of prejudice, the BBC’s has not helped itself over the years, when it comes to the Jewish community, according to a recent poll:

“36% – The proportion of Jews who believe BBC news coverage is “heavily” biased against Israel, according to the report

14% – The number who say that the corporation reporting is “balanced” “

Over the years I have watched Jeremy Bowen display an unsophisticated vista of the Middle East, so I am surprised the 14% figure is that high.

The full report is here, Jews and the News: News consumption habits and opinions of Jews in Britain. Some 79% of those sampled replied they felt the BBC is biased against Israel. That is a lot, for one community to perceive the BBC’s way of reporting the news.

A reminder of where such prejudice leads, murder in Eltham.

Finally, Doreen Lawrence’s words.

Update 1: A reminder of Richard Dawkins’ stupid words from 2007:

“”When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous, I am told – religious Jews anyway – than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place.”

Such views are common on the Far and Extreme Right. This essay explains the antecedents of such beliefs, What are “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”? I do wish that Professor Dawkins would educate himself on these issues and not assume he knows everything.

Update 2: Any Richard Dawkins’ supporters who can not see the possible racist connotations here should examine the evidence and come to some reasoned conclusion.

• Firstly, bring up Google
• Next, enter the term “Jewish lobby” in quotes into Google and click on search
• Thirdly, slowly go through the sites provided and notice about the sixth to eight ones down are from the IHR
• Fourthly, research the IHR, major suppliers of Holocaust denial material, and ponder why, they of all people would hold such views
• Fifthly, if that does not convince then you put “Jewish lobby” david duke in Google and read his foul material

Finally, try and work out why neo-Nazis would proffer such views?

Update 3: Apparently, UKIP banned extremists from its ranks, good first start but did not seem to inform its lay officials, Stand for Peace explains:

“Evidence has emerged that a senior UKIP figure, the Chairman of UKIP Hillingdon, Cliff Dixon has links to the English Defence League (EDL), a far-Right group with a long history of attacking Muslims.

Dixon, formerly involved with the English Democrats party, boasted on his blog, in 2011, that he has ”joined my friends from March for England to tag along on the EDL Tower Hamlets demonstration.”

Colin Cortbus, a Stand for Peace fellow, notes: “If Mr Dixon thinks extremists should get off our streets, perhaps he should lead by example.”

Mr Dixon’s blog also records his attendance at a number of nationalist marches, mainly through the relatively small ‘March for England’ group. One event was co-organised by the British Patriots Society, which is described by anti-extremism campaign Hope not Hate as “a tiny splinter of the English Defence League”.

One photo shows Dixon posing with EDL leader Kevin Carol and other EDL and BNP figures.”

Q:Can any of my readers suggest why UKIPers might be found associating with the neofascists in the English Defence League?

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Gun Laws, Causes And Who To Blame

In the aftermath of the shooting in Newtown most people are still trying to get to grips with the enormity of this crime. Twenty young children killed and six teaching staff.

It is hard to take in.

However, certain types of politicians and politicos, who are not given to reflection, are trotting out their particular agendas with indecent haste.

Gawker draws attention to Oregon State representative, Dennis Richardson’s crass comments:

“If I had been a teacher or the principal at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and if the school district did not preclude me from having access to a firearm, either by concealed carry or locked in my desk, most of the murdered children would still be alive, and the gunman would still be dead, and not by suicide. “

Incredibly, Mike Huckabee blames the killings on the separation of Church and State.

According to Pink News, Westboro Baptist Church blames Gays for the shooting.

Salon points out that James Dobson blames gays, abortion for shootings and Mary Elizabeth Williams blasts apart Mike Huckabee’s oafish views.

Astonishingly, someone with a particular affliction uses the killings in Newtown to attack Jews.

JHate explains:
[Warning: links to racist material, as a matter of public record.]

“On his December 14 radio show, American anti-Semitic activist Mark Glenn reveals that the villains responsible for the Sandy Hook school massacre are…wait for it…the Jews. “When you see these kinds of things happening,” Glenn says, “you see these kids basically acting out this program that has been installed on their hard drives since they were born, you have to go to the source. Who programmed them? Who taught them that it was OK to do things like this? And again, for me the bottom line is that it’s the Jewish mainstream media….” Glenn is a longtime anti-Semite who is a commentator for Press TV, a semi-official Iranian broadcast network. In recent months he has also founded an internet radio network featuring a roster of anti-Semitic hosts, based on the blogtalkradio.com broadcasting platform.”

Glenn has a long history as an active antisemite and not unsurprisingly, is a friend of Gilad Atzmon.

The dire, Brendan O’Neill at the Torygraph poses a question without a moment’s intellectual engagement:

“There is one question that the pious critics of America’s so-called gun culture cannot answer. If mass school shootings like that in Connecticut really are a product of the apparently mad Second Amendment, of the fact that guns are widely available in the US, then why did such shootings only take off in the late 1970s and early 1980s? Guns have been available in the US for more than two centuries, but multiple-victim shootings in schools, of the sort that rocked Connecticut and Columbine before it, are a very modern phenomenon. It cannot be simply the availability of guns that leads people to massacre children or their fellow students, or else there would have been horrors like this throughout American history. “

Obviously, the difference was the availability of assault rifles, a product of modern technology. That is part of the reason, all of which eluded the contrarian O’Neill.

The Nation demonstrates how assault rifles are available at Walmart in the US.

Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Newtown

It is hard to credit the thinking behind Westboro Baptist Church’s decision to picket Newtown High School in the aftermath of the recent massacre:

“The Westboro Baptist Church, the controversial group known for protesting outside funerals of slain U.S. service members, announced that it will picket a vigil for the victims of Friday’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the second largest mass killing in American history.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a spokesperson for the group and, like most members of the organization, a relative of the group’s founder, Fred Phelps, announced on Twitter on Saturday the group’s plan “to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.”

It is unclear when the group plans to protest, although a tweet from Margie Phelps implied that it would be during a vigil that will be attended by President Barack Obama on Sunday evening.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church say that America is being punished for its acceptance of gays and lesbians. In recent days, Phelps family members have sent tweets about the Connecticut shooting that have said “God sent the shooter.”
…
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the Westboro Baptist Church “arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America,” while the Anti-Defamation League calls it “a small virulently homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group.” “

I am speechless.

Google’s Tax, Awful Pam Geller And The Census

Google didn’t pay a lot of tax last year, according to Mashable.

The truly awful Pam Geller, friend of the English Defence League, was on Russell Brand’s TV show and surprise, surprise she lied:

“BRANDX TRANSCRIPT.

Russell: “Do you believe President Obama supports jihad against America?”
Pamela: “Only in Libya. . . . [He’s] not pro-jihad.”

FACT CHECK. On her blog, Pamela has written that “one thing is for sure: [Barack] Hussein [Obama] is a muhammadan. He’s not insane ………..he wants jihad to win.”

The Daily Mail and Home County types are having a fit about the latest British census, whilst one family of scroungers are planning a slap up Christmas.

Ripped-Off Britons shows how UK national debt isn’t as big as the Tories make out.

Open democracy had a good report from Oliver Huitson, How the BBC betrayed the NHS: an exclusive report on two years of censorship and distortion.

Support Mona Eltahawy

I follow Mona Eltahawy on Twitter and she comes across as a smart, committed and principled woman.

She is on trial for, justifiably in my opinion, defacing a bigoted poster.

I have covered this before, these posters were instigated by Pam Geller, who readers will remember is a great supporter of the EDL and is trying to raise money for its jailed leader, Stephen Lennon.

Ms. Eltahawy was arrested in September 2012 and held for some 22 hours.

The Guardian reports:

“Writer and activist Mona Eltahawy appeared in court on Thursday on charges of criminal mischief for spray-painting an anti-Muslim poster in a New York City subway station.

Eltahawy was offered a plea deal but chose to go to trial for charges of criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of an instrument of graffiti.

“I actually look forward to standing trial, because I acted out of principle and I’m proud of what I did and I will spray-paint that ad again in a second,” Eltahawy told the Guardian.
…

Eltahawy was arrested in September for spray-painting a poster paid for by the Anti-Muslim American Freedom Defense Initiative. The posters appeared in 10 New York subway stations and read: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man,” and “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”

Following her arrest, Eltahawy was held in jail for 22 hours, longer than her detention in Egypt during the Arab spring. During the protests, she suffered two broken bones during arrest by Egyptian riot police.

Eltahawy said she was treated fairly in court proceedings but she and her lawyer believe her 22 hours overnight in jail were unjust.

“I don’t think I was treated fairly overall, because one of the points my attorney is making and has requested paperwork to look into is why four other people who were arrested with me that same night – who put stickers on an ad at another subway station – why they received DATs [Desk Appearance Tickets] and were sent home and I spent the night in jail.”

I hope she gets off and that these awful posters are taken down.

Jessie Ware And Twitter Antisemitism

I had missed this, but the Indy covers the racism faced by Jessie Ware:

“When a Twitter “troll” sent an anti-Semitic tweet to acclaimed new singer Jessie Ware, he made a huge mistake. The offender has now felt the wrath of an angry Jewish mother, furious that her daughter’s otherwise jubilant weekend was marred by online abuse.

On Sunday, Ware, a south London singer set to become the most successful British Jewish performer since Amy Winehouse, shot into the album chart at number five with her debut Devotion, a collection of electro-tinged soul music.

But her elation was tempered after she was sent an anti-Semitic tweet which contained an ethnic slur about her nose and called employees at the Jewish Chronicle “c***s”.

Ware, 26, who worked as a trainee journalist at the newspaper before launching her music career, tweeted: “Pretty shocked by my first encounter with an anti-Semitic Twitter troll last night. I won’t stand for it.”

Brixton-based Jessie, daughter of the former award-winning Panorama reporter John Ware, credits her mother, Helena, with giving her the confidence to sing. Helena, who tweets under the name @thelionLennie, with the catchline “a Jewish mother speaks”, immediately sprang to her daughter’s defence. “You are revolting and I am reporting you for outright racism,” she replied to the offensive tweeter. “

And at the JC.

What Happened at Toulouse University?

Just read this worrying piece on the JC and wondered why the media didn’t cover or why it didn’t come out immediately:

“The delegation of Israeli students from a non-political organisation were midway through a tour of French universities and had held successful events in Lille and Lyon before visiting Le Mirail campus, in the area where the Toulouse gunman Mohammed Merah grew up.

They were at a stall on the campus and were handing out leaflets and chatting to students when a group of protesters arrived and began shouting at them through a megaphone.

“They began shouting anti-Israel slogans and saying that Israel was a criminal state,” said Sacha Reingewitz, vice president of the UEJF. “They said Jews should be exterminated and that Israel commits genocide.”

The protesters demanded that the Israeli group remove the Israeli flag from their stall and when the group refused, they took it down by force.

“Security had to intervene – it was very upsetting,” said Mr Reingewitz.

“The protesters were saying ‘get out of here’ and they sang an antisemitic slogan in Arabic: Khaybar Khaybar is Yahud, Jaysh Muhammad sawfa ya’ud” (Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return).”

Gilad Atzmon And The Friends of Palestine Society

News has reached us that the racist, Gilid Atzmon, is polluting students’ minds.

According to Exeposé, the Exeter University student newspaper, Atzmon was invited by the student’s Friends of Palestine Society.

Not unsurprisingly they deny that he is a racist.

No doubt the student friends of Atzmon will be able to explain away his conspiratorial statements:

“we must begin to take the accusation that the Jewish people are trying to control the world very seriously…. American Jewry makes any debate on whether the ‘Protocols of the elder of Zion’ are an authentic document or rather a forgery irrelevant. American Jews do try to control the world, by proxy. So far they are doing pretty well for themselves at least.”

Students with access to Wiki and web will be able to research how conspiracy theories are at the heart of anti-Jewish racism.

Hopefully having educated themselves on this form of racism they can not fail to conclude that Gilad Atzmon is a racist.