Category Archives: Right wing

Kingston students become fifth to officially condemn ‘Student Rights’ group

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kingston university students passed a motion against the Henry Jackson Society front group ‘Student Rights’ last night at their annual ‘Big Student Meeting’.

The SU becomes the fifth in the country to formally condemn the activities of the group, following motions at four University of London institutions: LSE, Goldsmiths, UCL and Birkbeck.

Students at the meeting who support the ‘Real Student Rights’ campaign said the Vice Chancellor of the university was also in attendance and witnessed students vote unanimously in favour of the motion.

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UKIP tries to remove journalists from fringe meeting on sharia law

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UKIP has long prided itself on its commitment to “free speech” and open debate, but it seems the party isn’t prepared to practice what it preaches. There was outrage among journalists at the party’s Spring Conference today when officials attempted to remove them from a fringe meeting on sharia law.

The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope tweeted: “Ukip security has tried to remove the @Telegraph from a fringe meeting on Sharia law. I have refused to move. Outragous.” Those journalists who had taken their seats were eventually told that they could stay (“if you behave”) but others were reportedly turned away at the door.

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Conservative MP calls for public veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim women should not be allowed to cover their faces in public as there is no formal requirement in their religion, a Conservative MP suggested today. Philip Hollobone was putting forward a Bill seeking to prohibit the wearing of face coverings, in particular the Muslim veil and balaclavas.

Presenting his Face Coverings (Prohibition) Bill, the Kettering MP expressed regret that his campaign had “come to this”. Speaking during the Bill’s Second Reading, he said: “But there’s growing concern amongst my constituents and across the country about the increasing number of people who are going about in public places covering their faces and this is causing alarm and distress to many people in our country.” Mr Hollobone told the Commons that he had received correspondence from alarmed Britons from across the country, “who are concerned that in this respect we are heading in the wrong direction as a nation”.

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Islamophobia row Tory kicked out of party

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chris Joannides Facebook comment

A councillor embroiled in a race-hate Facebook scandal has been kicked out of the Conservative party.

Chris Joannides has been expelled for a period of 12 months after Conservative Party Central Office launched an investigation into his re-selection as a candidate for Grange ward in this year’s council elections.

At a meeting of the Conservative Party’s board this morning, senior figures formally ruled Mr Joannides out of seeking re-election in May.

Mr Joannides had the whip withdrawn from him by the Conservative group on Enfield Council last year after print-outs of his personal Facebook account were shown to group leader Michael Lavender and this paper. They contained Muslim-bashing jokes and comments likening women and children dressed in burkas to bin bags.

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CAIR asks Florida university to cancel event featuring Jonathan Matusitz

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has asked Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to call off an event featuring UCF Professor Jonathan Matusitz that is scheduled for next week.

The group sent a letter today to Embry-Riddle’s president urging him to withdraw the invitation to have Matusitz speak about a book he wrote on terrorism. Matusitz, an associate professor at University of Central Florida, has been accused of promoting anti-Muslim bigotry.

“We were shocked to learn that Dr. Matusitz would be a part of Embry-Riddle’s 2014 President’s Speaker Series …,” wrote Hassan Shibly, chief executive director of the council’s Florida chapter. “Dr. Matusitz has an extensive history of vilifying Islam and Muslims.”

A spokesman for Embry-Riddle said the university has invited Shibly and other members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to participate in the event as audience members.

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U.S. hate groups in decline as radical ideas go mainstream

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SPLC Year in Hate and Extremism 2013The number of radical-right hate and militia-type “patriot” groups in the United States, which peaked in 2012 after four years of explosive growth, fell significantly last year due in part to the mainstreaming of right-wing ideas, a civil rights group said Tuesday.

The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center released its annual Year in Hate and Extremism report, which tallied 939 active hate groups and 1,096 patriot groups in 2013, for a total of 2,035, which the organization said remained a relatively high number historically. It represented a 14 percent decline over the 2,367 groups counted in 2012.

The drop came as mainstream politicians began co-opting more right-wing ideas into state legislation which face constitutional challenges, Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the center, said in a teleconference with reporters.

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Littlejohn’s Islamophobic rant provokes response

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yesterday the Daily Mail published a piece by Richard Littlejohn on the Legoland Muslim fun day controversy, headlined “Jolly jihadi boy’s outing to Legoland”. As you might expect, it’s so juvenile and ignorant that it doesn’t merit a detailed reply. Still, its impact hasn’t been entirely negative. It has led to the launch of a new Facebook page, Exposing the Islamaphobic Daily Mail, which you can “like” here.

See also “Littlejohn’s anti-Muslim bigotry exposed”, ENGAGE, 19 February 2014

You can complain to the Press Complaints Commission here.

Katie Hopkins says she is not a racist during unruly Channel 5 show Big British Immigration Row: Live

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Katie Hopkins black curtain tweet

Rabble-rousing motormouth Katie Hopkins insisted that “this country is full” during a typically histrionic performance on last night’s The Big British Immigration Row: Live.

“I am not a racist because I believe there should be a universal treatment for everyone,” she insisted during the Channel 5 debate – having ‘jokily’ tweeted earlier in the day that she would greet civil rights commentator Mo Ansar in the studio wearing a ‘black curtain’.

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Virginia county sheriff hosting anti-Muslim training by disgraced conspiracy theorist

Posted on by Bob Pitt

John-Guandolo

The Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia is planning to host a three-day training by John Guandolo, a notorious Muslim-basher and conspiracy theorist who resigned from the FBI before he could be investigated for misconduct, according to promotional materials.

It’s hard to believe that the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office would knowingly associate itself with such a disreputable character, who regularly attacks the U.S. government, claims that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency is a secret Muslim agent for the Saudi government and says that American Muslims “do not have a First Amendment right to do anything.”

Josh Glasstetter of the Southern Poverty Law Center writes at Salon, 17 February 2014