Unite Against Fascism rejects EDL’s attempt to exploit Rotherham sexual abuse scandal

Unite Against Fascism

In response to the recent Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Exploitation in Rotherham by Alexis Jay OBE, and the English Defence League’s decision to call an event in Rotherham on Saturday 13 September, Sabby Dhalu and Weyman Bennett, Unite Against Fascism Joint Secretaries said:

“We condemn the sexual abuse & exploitation of women & children and the failure of those responsible to properly tackle the crime & bring the perpetrators to justice, as revealed in the recent Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Exploitation in Rotherham by Alexis Jay OBE. We support and seek justice for all victims of sexual exploitation regardless of their social or ethnic background. We condemn and seek prosecution of all those responsible for these crimes irrespective of their ethnicity or creed.

“We also condemn the decision by the English Defence League (EDL) to come to Rotherham on Saturday 13 September. We believe this is a cynical attempt by the EDL to use the appalling crime of child sexual exploitation to further its own ends.

“Revelations regarding child sex abuse from Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris, Thatcher Government Ministers to men in Rotherham show that institutions with responsibility including the police, child protection & other public services, national and local government, failed the victims mostly young women and children; and must take action to combat and prevent such horrific crimes.

“When discussing Saville, Harris, former government Ministers and child sex abuse, there is rightly no discussion of the link between white, British, English, Australian & Christian culture and child sex abuse. Those arguing that there is some link between Pakistani, Asian culture and Islam and organised child sex abuse in Rotherham or anywhere else in the country; or that failure to obtain justice for these crimes is due to the fear of offending Pakistani, Asian or Muslim communities are wrong.

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Visitors to Islamic Centre say they are ‘living in fear’ after arson attack

Newton Heath security cameras ripped offVisitors to a Manchester mosque targeted by arsonists say they are “living in fear.”

Two CCTV cameras were stolen from outside the NAFSAT Islamic Centre in Newton Heath at around 11:30pm last night. Just two hours later, shortly before 1:30am this morning, a minibus the centre uses to ferry young and elderly visitors to the mosque, was torched.

Police believe the culprits took the cameras in a bid to avoid detection. They are investigating whether the attack behind the building on the corner of Droylsden Road and Regent Street, was a hate crime.

The vehicle, which the centre bought two months ago for £6,000, has been left gutted by the blaze and is currently being analysed by forensic teams. Bosses at the centre say it is just the latest in a string of incidents since they moved into the former Methodist Church in April last year.

More than 300 people from across Greater Manchester, mainly of Nigerian descent, are said to use the centre, which houses educational facilities alongside a mosque. They claim they have had anti-Islamic graffiti daubed on the building, and had pigs’ heads thrown inside it, in more than a dozen separate incidents.

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9/11 families launch anti-Islamophobia campaign for anniversary of tragedy

Islamophobia is not prettyFamily members of September 11 victims are taking a stand against Islamophobia with a new bus ad campaign designed to promote religious tolerance and interfaith unity. “Islamophobia is not pretty,” the ad reads. “Let’s build bridges, not walls. Hate hurts, hope heals.”

Sponsored by September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, the ad’s launch coincides with a symposium on gun violence and hate crimes taking place on September 6 in New York City. The symposium will encourage dialogue between panelists and audience members with the intention of discussing solutions to religious intolerance.

“We wanted to make a clear statement that our 9/11 family members do not want to promote fear and hatred in our names,” Peaceful Tomorrows Project Director Terry Greene, whose brother died aboard United Flight 93, told HuffPost. “We believe that unity and interfaith tolerance are the path forward to a more peaceful tomorrow.”

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Muslim councillor Aicha Mesrar flees Italy in fear for her life after death threats

Aicha MesrarItaly’s first Muslim councillor says she is fleeing the country after a series of death threats, in the latest example of racism suffered by the country’s non-white public figures, from politicians to football players.

Aicha Mesrar, 45, resigned from her post as local councillor for the Democratic Party in Rovereto, in the northern Trentino province, saying she feared for her children’s lives.

The Moroccan-born politician, who has lived in Italy for 23 years, has been an active and effective community liaison worker, according to local media. She was the first woman to wear a veil in the city hall. The city’s Mayor, Andrea Miorandi, had hailed her appointment as president of the local Open City cooperative.

On announcing her resignation, however, she said: “I cannot always live under escort. I have no fear and it is not the fault of the people of Rovereto, but of some. I leave with pride, satisfied with everything I have done, what I did and what I received.” She has not said where she intends to move to.

The threats against her have come in the form of anonymous letters. The police, who have provided special protection for councillor and her family for two years, are investigating where they may have come from.

Mayor Andrea Miorandi, a political ally of Ms Mesrar, has also been threatened due to his backing for a Muslim cemetery and a mosque to be built in the city, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper.

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Press whips up Islamophobia over spoof call for ban on Peppa Pig

Metro Peppa Pig ban (2)

Not content with their annual campaign to cancel Christmas, Muslims are demanding a ban on the popular children’s cartoon series Peppa Pig, because it is an “insult to Islam”. Or so you would conclude if you believed reports published yesterday by the Metro and Mirror.

According to this story, which quickly spread across the internet, a British Muslim named Zayn Sheikh had posted a Youtube video calling for a campaign to ban the children’s cartoon character after it inspired his young son to want to be a pig rather than a doctor. Instead, Sheikh argued, Muslims should be promoting an alternative cartoon of his own creation called Abdullah the Cat.

Pamela Geller was among those who swallowed the story whole. “On the day after a Muslim beheaded an elderly woman in broad daylight as she was gardening”, an indignant Geller wrote, “you would think that Muslims in the UK would be anxious to prove that they were a loyal, non-lethal population. No, instead they’re more demanding and supremacist than ever, now calling for a ban on a cartoon pig.”

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Christian activist calls for holy war: ‘Islam has no place in civilized society’

Gary CassGary Cass, head of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, argued in a post on his organization’s website that the Islamic militant group ISIS had revealed the intentions of all Muslims, reported Right Wing Watch.

“ISSI (sic) has done us all a favor,” Cass wrote. “The true face of Islam is on full display even as Mohammed is burning in hell. We will have to face the harsh truth that Islam has no place in civilized society. Muslims cannot live in a society based on Christian ideals of equality and liberty. They will always seek to harm us.”

Cass, a former Republican Party official in San Diego who has previously suggested “you can’t be a Christian if you don’t own a gun,” dismissed deportation or the forced conversion of Muslims as “possible solutions, but really there’s only one” – violence.

“The only thing that is biblical and that 1,400 years of history has shown to work is overwhelming Christian just war and overwhelming self defense,” Cass argued. “Christian Generals Charles Martel in 732 and Jon Sobieski in 1672 defeated Islamic Turks and their attempts to take the West. Who will God raise up to save us this time? Will God even intervene or turn us over to the Muslims for turning against Him?”

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Racist letter bomb duo Bret Atkins and Jamie Snow tried to send explosives to solicitors

Bret Atkins and Jamie SnowTwo men who tried to send a letter bomb to a Halifax solicitors from prison have had several years added to their sentences.

Bret Atkins, 24 from Leeds and Jamie Snow, 27 from Humberside posted crude explosive devices and racist letters from HMP Full Sutton at York to solicitors in West Yorkshire and Lancashire. Officers from the Counter Terrorism Unit were alerted by prison officers after they intercepted a letter containing an incendiary device.

In July, a Leeds jury found Atkins guilty of Conspiracy to Send an Explosive Substance with Intent. Snow pleaded guilty to Sending an Explosive Substance with Intent and two offences of Threats to Kill.

Yesterday at Leeds Crown Court, Atkins was sentenced to seven years and Snow to six years three months.

Det Chief Supt Ian Wilson, Head of the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “Bret Atkins and Jamie Snow waged a campaign of hate against innocent people, choosing victims purely on the grounds of their race or religion. They expressed deeply racist and anti-Muslim views and sent a series of threatening letters designed to instil fear in their recipients.

“Snow and Atkins took their hatred beyond threats to kill and even tried to post explosive materials in an attempt to cause harm or injury. Thankfully this mail was intercepted by vigilant officers within the Prison Service and was never able to enter the postal system.”

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Arab civil rights activists attacked, threatened with beheading in Brooklyn

Linda SarsourAn Arab civil rights activist was attacked in Brooklyn Wednesday by a man who hurled slurs and threatened to behead her to “see how your people feel about it,” authorities and the victim said.

Linda Sarsour, 34, director of the Arab American Association of New York, was leaving the group’s headquarters on Fifth Ave. in Bay Ridge at 12:20 p.m. when Brian Boshell, 45, allegedly threatened her, called her an “Arab b—-” and insulted her in Arabic. Boshell, who is white, then allegedly chucked a trash can at her and a woman walking with her, Sarsour said.

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Campaign launched to boost Rotherham community spirit

A campaign called “Rotherham fights back” is being launched today to challenge far right groups descending on the town in the wake of the sex abuse scandal.

Artists working at the Old Market Gallery are organising workshops entitled “Rotherham Fights Back — Help us brighten up our town” from noon at their Corporation Street premises.

A notice from the group reads: “Have you noticed our town has recently been overtaken by far right groups displaying Islamophobic signs, especially down near the police station and Riverside council building? Want to do something about it? Old Market Gallery certainly do!”

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