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History > 2005 > UK > Racism
The Guardian
p. 20 13.8.2005
Racism is the terrorists' greatest recruitment tool
Naomi Klein
The problem in Britain is not too much multiculturalism but too
little
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1548419,00.html
Comment & Analysis
Racism is the terrorists' greatest
recruitment tool
Naomi Klein The problem in Britain is not too
much multiculturalism but too little
13.8.2005
The Guardian
Hussein Osman, one of the men alleged to have
participated in London's failed bombings on July 21, recently told Italian
investigators that they prepared for the attacks by watching "films on the war
in Iraq", La Repubblica reported. "Especially those where women and children
were being killed and exterminated by British and American soldiers ... of
widows, mothers and daughters that cry."
It has become an article of faith that Britain was vulnerable to terror because
of its politically correct anti-racism. Yet the comments attributed to Osman
suggest another possible motive for acts of terror against the UK: rage at
perceived extreme racism. And what else can we call the belief — so prevalent
that we barely notice it — that American and European lives are worth more than
the lives of Arabs and Muslims, so much more that their deaths in Iraq are not
even counted?
It's not the first time that this kind of raw inequality has bred extremism.
Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian writer generally viewed as the intellectual architect
of radical political Islam, had his ideological epiphany while studying in the
United States. The puritanical scholar was shocked by Colorado's licentious
women, it's true, but more significant was Qutb's encounter with what he later
described as America's "evil and fanatic racial discrimination".
By coincidence, Qutb arrived in the United States in 1948, the year of the
creation of the state of Israel. He witnessed an America blind to the thousands
of Palestinians being made permanent refugees by the Zionist project. For Qutb,
it wasn't politics, it was an assault on his core identity: clearly Americans
believed that Arab lives were worth far less than those of European Jews.
According to Yvonne Haddad, a professor of history at Georgetown University,
this experience "left Qutb with a bitterness he was never able to shake". When
Qutb returned to Egypt he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, leading to his next
life-changing event: he was arrested, severely tortured and convicted of
anti-government conspiracy in a show trial.
Qutb's political theory was profoundly shaped by torture. Not only did he
conclude that his torturers were subhuman infidels, he stretched that
categorisation to include the entire state that ordered this brutality,
including the Muslim civilians who passively lent their support to Nasser's
regime.
Qutb's vast category of subhumans allowed his disciples to justify the killing
of "infidels" — now practically everyone — as long as it was done in the name of
Islam. A political movement for an Islamic state was transformed into a violent
ideology that would lay the intellectual groundwork for al-Qaida. In other
words, so-called Islamist terrorism was "home-grown" in the west long before the
July 7 attacks — from its inception it was the quintessentially modern progeny
of Colorado's casual racism and Cairo's concentration camps.
Why is it worth digging up this history now? Because the twin sparks that
ignited Qutb's world-changing rage are currently being doused with gasoline:
Arab and Muslim bodies are being debased in torture chambers around the world
and their deaths are being discounted in simultaneous colonial wars, at the same
time that graphic digital evidence of these losses and humiliations is available
to anyone with a computer. And once again, this lethal cocktail of racism and
torture is burning through the veins of angry young men. Qutb's history carries
an urgent message for today: it's not tolerance for multiculturalism that fuels
terrorism; it's tolerance for barbarism committed in our name.
Into this explosive environment has stepped Tony Blair, determined to pass off
two of the main causes of terror as its cure. He intends to deport more people
to countries where they will likely face torture. And he will keep fighting wars
in which soldiers don't know the names of the towns they are levelling. (To cite
just one recent example, an August 5 Knight Ridder report quotes a marine
sergeant pumping up his squad by telling them, "these will be the good old days,
when you brought ... death and destruction to — what the fuck is this place
called?" Someone piped in helpfully, "Haqlaniyah.")
Meanwhile, in Britain, there is no shortage of the "evil and fanatic racial
discrimination" that Qutb denounced. "Of course, too, there have been isolated
and unacceptable acts of a racial or religious hatred," Blair said before
unveiling his 12-point terror-fighting plan. "But they have been isolated."
Isolated?
The Islamic Human Rights Commission received 320 complaints of racist attacks in
the wake of the bombings; The Monitoring Group, a charity that provides
assistance to victims of racial harassment, has received 83 emergency calls;
Scotland Yard says hate crimes are up 600% from this time last year. And last
year was nothing to brag about: "One in five of Britain's ethnic-minority voters
say that they considered leaving Britain because of racial intolerance,"
according to a Guardian poll in March.
This last statistic shows that the brand of multiculturalism practised in
Britain (and France, Germany, Canada ... ) has little to do with genuine
equality. It is instead a Faustian bargain, struck between vote-seeking
politicians and self-appointed community leaders, one that keeps ethnic
minorities tucked away in state-funded peripheral ghettoes while the centres of
public life remain largely unaffected by seismic shifts in the national ethnic
makeup. Nothing exposes the shallowness of this alleged tolerance more than the
speed with which Muslims deemed insufficiently "British" are being told to "get
out" (to quote the Conservative MP Gerald Howarth).
The real problem is not too much multiculturalism but too little. If the
diversity now ghettoised on the margins of western societies — geographically
and psychologically — were truly allowed to migrate to the centres, it might
infuse public life in the west with a powerful new humanism. If we had deeply
multi-ethnic societies, rather than shallow multicultural ones, it would be much
more difficult for politicians to sign deportation orders sending Algerian
asylum seekers to torture, or to wage wars in which only the invaders' dead are
counted. A society that truly lived its values of equality and human rights, at
home and abroad, would have another benefit too. It would rob terrorists of what
has always been their greatest recruitment tool: our racism.
Research assistance was provided by Andréa Schmidt; a version of this column was
first published in The Nation
www.thenation.com
Racism is the terrorists'
greatest recruitment tool, G, p. 20, 13.8.2005,
http://digital.guardian.co.uk/guardian/2005/08/13/pages/brd20.shtml
Want my vote? :
Black boys are failing in schools,
anti-Muslim feeling is on the rise
and
non-whites remain scarce in positions of power.
Six weeks before a likely
general election,
what are the issues that most concern Britain's minorities?
We asked them to
tell us –
and to formulate an alternative manifesto for change.
Joseph Harker
introduces our special report
The Guardian G2
pp. 4-5 21.3.2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11374,1442448,00.html
Intégration
Le royaume-uni en crise existentielle
Depuis les attentats de juillet, les
Britanniques s'interrogent sur les problèmes d'intégration
des immigrés et le
modèle multiculturaliste.
samedi 13 août 2005
Libération
Par Marc SEMO
Londres envoyé spécial
Jamais les appels n'ont été aussi nombreux.
«Plus d'une centaine par semaine, trois fois plus qu'avant les événements»,
assure Shareefa Fulat, directrice de la Young Muslim Helpline (SOS jeunes
musulmans), une association de soutien et d'aide psychologique du nord-ouest de
la capitale britannique. Les thèmes sont ceux de toujours : solitude,
dépression, tendances suicidaires, automutilations, refus d'un mariage arrangé.
Mais en filigrane apparaît aussi le malaise croissant des jeunes musulmans
britanniques depuis les attaques-suicides des 7 et 21 juillet à Londres. «Il y a
une suspicion générale, et le regard des autres qui accroît encore leur
déchirement identitaire», explique la jeune femme, qui s'avoue elle-même
troublée par cette britishness (identité britannique) que les autorités mettent
désormais en avant.
Loyauté. «Je ne sais pas moi-même ce que cela signifie vraiment. Est-ce
la langue ? Est-ce le fait de vivre en Grande-Bretagne ? Finalement, c'est
surtout quand je suis à l'étranger que je me sens britannique», précise cette
diplômée en chimie, qui porte toujours le foulard. La réponse ne va pas de soi.
Une enquête d'opinion pour la télévision Sky News montre que 46 % des musulmans
britanniques «se sentent d'abord musulmans». Un autre sondage de l'institut
Yougov révèle que, si quelque 70 % des membres de cette communauté se disent
prêts à donner des informations à la police sur les «terroristes», 18 %
affirment ne ressentir «aucune loyauté particulière» envers le Royaume-Uni.
«C'est quoi être britannique ? Ce n'est même pas le fait de parler anglais, qui
est aujourd'hui une langue internationale», ricane Ali, assidu d'une des
mosquées de Brick Lane, un grand bâtiment de briques noircies qui fut un temple
de réfugiés huguenots français, puis une synagogue, au gré des vagues
d'immigration qui ont déferlé successivement sur ces rues misérables de l'est de
Londres, devenues aujourd'hui un ghetto bangladais.
Les Britanniques eux aussi remettent en question leur «multiculturalisme». Fondé
sur le respect des différences des communautés ethniques et religieuses, il fut
longtemps considéré comme une panacée. Les émeutes raciales de 2001 à Bradford
(au nord de Londres) avaient été une première alerte. Les récents attentats ont
précipité la crise. «Le choc a été d'autant plus fort que les poseurs de bombe
du 7 juillet semblaient avoir réalisé ce que le modèle multiculturel peut
attendre d'enfants d'immigrés : ils avaient fait des études correctes et
s'étaient insérés dans la vie professionnelle. Ils n'en sont pas moins devenus
des kamikazes», remarque Rime Allaf, chercheuse au Royal Institute of
International Affairs (RIIA), soulignant qu'«il y a un réel problème
d'intégration. Il y a par exemple beaucoup moins de mariages mixtes au
Royaume-Uni qu'en France».
Adaptation. Le Premier ministre, Tony Blair, clame haut et fort qu'il est
aberrant que «des gens vivant depuis vingt ans sur le sol britannique ne parlent
toujours pas la langue». Hazel Blears, sa vice-ministre de l'Intérieur, propose
qu'on parle désormais d'«Asian-british» ou d'«Indian-british», et non plus comme
jusqu'ici d'«Asians» ou d'«Indians». Il s'agit en fait moins de remettre en
cause le multiculturalisme que de l'adapter. «Nous devons apprendre notamment
des Etats-Unis, où la fierté dans les valeurs communes de la nation est plus
forte qu'ici», suggère Trevor Phillips, qui préside la Commission for Racial
Equality (CRE, Commission pour l'équité raciale).
Les limites du modèle n'en restent pas moins évidentes. «Pendant des décennies,
on a refusé de voir que les communautés allaient chacune de leur côté, évoluant
séparément dans une ségrégation de plus en plus forte au fur et à mesure que les
Blancs quittaient les zones habitées par les minorités», accuse Herman Ouseley,
ancien président de cette Commission pour l'équité raciale, qui fut le fer de
lance institutionnel de la lutte contre les discriminations dans un pays où les
communautés immigrées représentent 8 % de la population totale. Les musulmans,
pour la plupart originaires du sous-continent indien (Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Inde), sont 1,6 million, soit 3 % de la population britannique.
Minorités visibles. La politique multiculturaliste a certes permis des
avancées significatives. Des représentants des communautés ont été anoblis, et
siègent à la Chambre des lords. Les «minorités visibles» le sont beaucoup plus
qu'en France, apparaissant parmi les présentateurs et journalistes de la BBC. La
police a de longue date lancé des campagnes de recrutement dans les minorités et
a même installé des salles de prière dans les commissariats pour les bobbies
musulmans.
«Les diverses communautés ont réussi à créer leurs propres institutions et elles
participent à la vie de la société. Elles ont leurs élus et ont obtenu des lois
antidiscrimination modèles par rapport aux autres pays européens», souligne
Danièle Joly, sociologue et directrice du centre de recherche sur les relations
interethniques de l'université de Warwick (Centre). Mais elle n'en reconnaît pas
moins les carences de ce système «qui a tout misé sur la culture et la
construction de mosquées, mais a laissé en friche le reste, n'assurant pas la
mobilité sociale pour les immigrés de deuxième ou troisième génération».
Le fiasco est particulièrement évident pour les jeunes musulmans. Un quart
d'entre eux sont au chômage, alors que le taux moyen n'est que de 2,8 %. A peine
45 % des musulmans britanniques en âge de travailler ont un emploi, alors que ce
pourcentage est de 75 % pour le reste de la population. Ils habitent le plus
souvent dans des quartiers-ghettos. Cette réalité est encore plus patente hors
de la capitale, notamment dans les villes industrielles du Nord, où règne un
apartheid de fait. «Les autorités britanniques ont reproduit vis-à-vis des
minorités leur modèle colonial, en cooptant comme interlocuteurs des notables
qui ont en charge la gestion et le contrôle de la communauté. Ceux-ci sont pour
la plupart des hommes et des immigrés de la première génération», explique la
sociologue Danièle Joly, soulignant que «les jeunes n'arrivent pas à ce statut
de notable. S'ils s'en sortent, ils quittent les quartiers ghettos».
Frustrations. Les propos de Tony Blair sur la nécessaire maîtrise de
l'anglais ont suscité d'autant plus d'ironie que les vrais problèmes naissent
avec la deuxième génération, dont tous les membres parlent anglais. C'est au
contraire parmi eux que les frustrations sont les plus fortes. «Les parents
étaient arrivés en pensant seulement au travail et à se faire une vie meilleure.
Mais leurs enfants cherchent autre chose. Au travers de l'Internet ou de la
télévision, ils sont directement en contact avec ce qui se passe en Irak ou en
Palestine, et s'identifient totalement à ces combats», explique Mahmoud Sultan,
professeur dans une école religieuse de Luton, petite ville à 50 kilomètres au
nord de Londres où vivent 15 % de musulmans, pour la plupart pakistanais ou
cachemiris, dans un quartier-ghetto considéré comme un fief islamiste.
L'animatrice de la Young Muslim Helpline est pourtant convaincue que cette crise
et le débat sur le multiculturalisme peuvent s'avérer positifs : «Cela montre à
quel point ce modèle est fragile, donc qu'il faut faire des efforts pour le
préserver...»
Le
royaume-uni en crise existentielle : Depuis les attentats de juillet, les
Britanniques s'interrogent sur les problèmes d'intégration des immigrés et le
modèle multiculturaliste, Marc SEMO, Libération, 13.8.2005,
http://www.libe.com/page.php?Article=317159
Intégration.
Jennifer Jackson-Preece, historienne, évoque le désarroi des Britanniques :
«La notion de valeurs nationales leur est étrangère»
Samedi 13 août
2005
Libération
Par Agnès Catherine POIRIER
Londres intérim
La professeure Jennifer Jackson-Preece,
historienne des nationalismes, enseigne à la London School of Economics (LSE).
Elle analyse l'identité britannique.
Depuis les attentats des 7 et 21 juillet,
les Britanniques admettent leur difficulté à définir ce qui les unit en tant que
nation. Pourquoi ?
C'est sans doute la nature même de ce qui les définit qui rend le débat autour
des «valeurs nationales» difficile dans ce pays. Interrogés sur ce qui les unit
en tant que nation, ils mentionnent en général le respect pour la loi, la
politesse, le pragmatisme et le sang-froid. Mais la notion de «valeurs
nationales» leur est, en un sens, étrangère. Le sujet les embarrasse. Par
exemple, à l'école, il n'existe pas de cours d'instruction civique. De même, les
enseignants n'inculquent pas aux enfants les «valeurs britanniques». Sans parler
de pans entiers de l'histoire britannique absents du cursus scolaire. L'histoire
de nos institutions n'est même pas enseignée. En tant qu'historienne des
nationalismes, je trouve cette situation très étrange, car l'éducation joue un
rôle très important dans la construction d'une nation et de son esprit. Les
Britanniques ont en fait tendance à penser que les habitants de leur pays
montreront, naturellement, comme par magie, les mêmes qualités de tolérance
qu'eux et qu'il n'existe donc aucune obligation d'enseigner ces valeurs à
l'école.
Faut-il remonter aux origines du pays pour
comprendre leur difficulté à se considérer comme une seule et même nation ?
Les origines historiques du Royaume-Uni expliquent en effet, mais seulement en
partie, leur réticence à aborder le sujet. L'idée d'un Etat britannique unifié a
toujours eu à s'accommoder des rivalités de ses différentes composantes. Entre
1536 et 1800, différents édits appelés Acts of Union ont avalisé l'union des
royaumes d'Angleterre, du pays de Galles, d'Ecosse et d'Irlande.
Les difficultés actuelles ne sont-elles pas
liées à la fin de l'Empire ?
Pendant plus d'un siècle en effet, l'Empire britannique a joué le rôle de
ciment, de force unificatrice entre les différentes nations. Il a même donné
naissance à une rhétorique publique commune. L'idée d'empire est sans doute ce
qui a mobilisé et uni le plus le pays et ses habitants. Mais assez vite cette
idée a été discréditée. Depuis la décolonisation, aucun discours public n'est
venu combler ce vide rhétorique.
Le multiculturalisme est-il une idéologie
ou, plus simplement, le résultat d'une approche pragmatique de «la vie en
commun» ?
Ses origines sont tout à fait pragmatiques. Le multiculturalisme n'est autre que
la réponse trouvée juste après la guerre pour gérer l'arrivée d'une nombreuse
population immigrée. Le multiculturalisme à l'anglaise dérive également de la
conception anglaise du gouvernement, tel que le pays l'exerçait dans ses
colonies. Il s'agissait de laisser leurs coutumes, leurs moeurs et leurs lois
aux populations indigènes, en supervisant le tout. Cette approche, beaucoup plus
tolérante, tranchait nettement avec les pratiques d'autres administrations
coloniales comme celle de la France. Dans ce sens, on peut dire que les deux
principes à la base du multiculturalisme sont le pragmatisme et le fait de
tolérer l'autre.
Ce qui expliquerait la raison pour
laquelle, au Royaume-Uni, la religion est considérée comme une affaire
culturelle, laissée au soin des autorités locales...
Les pratiques religieuses, comme le port de signes religieux, sont en effet
traitées au cas par cas par les municipalités et organismes de gouvernement
locaux. Il existe des recommandations nationales établies par exemple par la
Commission pour l'équité raciale pour aider les autorités locales à prendre
leurs décisions. Dans le cas du port du voile islamique, il n'est pas considéré
comme une menace pour l'identité nationale, précisément parce que l'Etat au
Royaume-Uni, ne l'oublions pas, n'est pas laïque. L'Eglise d'Angleterre est
l'Eglise officielle du pays, l'anglicanisme, religion d'Etat. Le chef de l'Etat,
la reine, est également chef de l'Eglise. Il a d'ailleurs fallu plusieurs lois
du Parlement, aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, pour que la liberté religieuse soit
accordée aux protestants «non-conformistes», puis aux catholiques, juifs et
musulmans.
Intégration. Jennifer Jackson-Preece, historienne, évoque le désarroi des
Britanniques : «La notion de valeurs nationales leur est étrangère», Libération,
Agnès Catherine Poirier, 13.8.2005,
http://www.libe.com/page.php?Article=317161
Racist attacks on the rise in rural Britain
Sunday March 27, 2005
The Observer
Jay Rayner
Ethnic minorities living in parts of Britain
are now four times more likely to have suffered from racism than they were
before the last general election, according to one of the most exhaustive
studies of race and crime, undertaken by The Observer.
Between 2000 and 2004 racist incidents
reported to the police in England and Wales - anything from verbal abuse to the
most vicious of assaults - rose from 48,000 to 52,700.
However, it was the sparsely populated areas, home to the smallest, most
isolated minority communities, that witnessed the significant increases. North
Wales Constabulary recorded 80 racist incidents in 2000. Last year that jumped
to 337, meaning that more than 4 per cent of the region's 6,000 ethnic
minorities experienced some form of racial intolerance.
The Observer can also reveal that the main party leaders have been warned
against inflaming racism dur ing the forthcoming election campaign by Trevor
Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.
While Phillips has refused to disclose what was said at the meetings, the CRE
has become increasingly concerned about the tone of a campaign that has already
seen posters on immigration by the Tories at a time when there is evidence of
growing racial intolerance in Britain.
In Cumbria, now statistically the most racist region in England and Wales,
reports of racist incidents more than doubled, and have affected more than 6 per
cent of the population. There is a similar picture in West Mercia, Cleveland,
Hampshire and Staffordshire, all police areas with relatively small minority
populations.
Between them, they accounted for just over 1,500 racist incidents in 2000: last
year the figure was nearly 3,500. Scotland also saw a significant jump, from
2,242 incidents in 2000 to 3,800 last year, making it one of the 10 most
dangerous regions of Britain.
By contrast, London, home to about 1.9 million of Britain's ethnic minorities,
saw a decrease from more than 23,000 incidents in 2000 to just over 15,000 last
year.
Writing in today's Observer, Phillips said: 'Today, Jews, Muslims and Gypsies
tell the CRE that they are under siege in Britain. They have good reason to feel
threatened. In the weeks ahead every journalist and politician should read these
figures and remember that what you say may not be what is heard. What seems like
a perfectly innocuous message to you may not sound that way to a Gypsy or a Jew
or a Muslim or a black Briton.'
Ben Bowling, professor of criminology and criminal justice at King's College
London, agrees. 'There's strong evidence that excluding language used in
political rhetoric echoes rapidly down on to the streets,' Bowling says.
Since the publication in 1999 of the Macpherson report into the murder of
Stephen Lawrence, which branded the police institutionally racist, major efforts
have been made to improve the way incidents are identified and recorded. 'We
wish to encourage the reporting of all racist incidents,' a spokesman for the
Home Office said.
However, there is growing concern that little is being done to address the
causes of racism itself. The CRE will be attempting to address this, Phillips
has revealed, but only once the election is over. 'The CRE plans to launch a new
drive to increase interaction and integration between different communities,'
Phillips says.
'People who know each other are less likely to turn disputes into race rows.'
The campaign will, he says, use what he describes as 'agents of integration' -
women and children - to help foster understanding between different ethnic
groups.
Racist attacks on the rise in rural Britain, O, 27.3.2005,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11374,1446272,00.html
Anti-Semitic attacks rise to record level
11 February 2005
The Independent
By Marie Woolf, Chief Political Correspondent
British jews were subject to a record number of anti-Semitic attacks last year,
including a huge increase in serious assaults. The increase has been blamed on
"the Middle East factor", with a sharp rise in incidents rooted in hatred of
Israel.
Jewish communities in London and Manchester were subjected to more than 400
attacks, and throughout the UK levels of anti-Semitism rose to the highest level
since records began 20 years ago.
Jewish children on the way home from school and people returning from synagogue
have been assaulted. In Southampton, a gang - whose leader collected far-right
literature - assaulted a teenager so severely that his jaw was broken in three
places, while a woman was beaten by her neighbours.
Anti-Semitic abuse rose by 42 per cent in 2004 to 532 incidents, including 83
assaults, mostly on visibly Jewish people. For the first time in five years,
assaults outnumbered incidents of damage to property, including the desecration
of synagogues and graveyards.
The Community Security Trust (CST), which advises the Jewish community on how to
protect itself, said many of the attacks were "a reaction to events in the
Middle East".
"Some British-based supporters of the Palestinians chose to express their
opposition to Israel by attacking British Jews," a report published by the CST
yesterday said. "This overspill of international conflicts on to British shores
is not always a short-term reaction to a specific event, however; sometimes it
reflects a more general ideological hostility to Jews." The assassination by
Israel of the Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in March last year sparked the
second highest number of attacks recorded in the UK.
In the 48 hours following his killing, there were 54 anti-Semitic incidents,
including a string of abusive phone calls to London synagogues.
Of the 532 incidents recorded, 124 showed clear anti-Zionist motivation, while
neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists are thought to have been involved in 84
attacks. There was also an alarming rise in "suspicious" surveillance of
synagogues, community centres and Jewish schools, including videotaping and
photography.
"Terrorist groups often collect information about their targets before launching
an attack, and preventing this kind of information-gathering is an integral part
of the CST's work in protecting the community," the report said.
Yesterday, parliamentarians expressed alarm at the sharp rise in abuse towards
British Jews, some of which was targeted at MPs, communal leaders and other
high-profile individuals. The names of victims were not released, as many of the
incidents are being investigated by the police.
The Leader of the House of Commons, Peter Hain, described the increase in
anti-Semitic attacks as being "totally unacceptable".
He told MPs that there were regular meetings between the Home Secretary and the
President of the Board of Deputies, and close collaboration between the police
and the Jewish community.
"We have also strengthened the law against racism, including raising the maximum
penalty for incitement to racial hatred," he added.
INCIDENTS RECORDED IN 2004
13 FEBRUARY A London travel agency specialising in tours to Israel had "dirty
Jew cunts, up the PLO" daubed on the outside
17 FEBRUARY A Jewish teenager's jaw was shattered in three places by a gang in
Southampton and he was subjected to a tirade of anti-Semitic abuse
1 MARCH A Jewish man was stabbed in his home by an assailant who shouted "I'm
going to kill you, you fucking yid"
4 APRIL Gang of youths attacked a 12-year-old Jewish boy wearing a kippah.
Doctors spent an hour and a half stitching cuts to his face after the assault
APRIL Letters were sent to several synagogues in London reading: "By almighty
Allah you shall not escape Muslim justice with 1,000 assassins ready to strike
in places that you gather"
15 MAY Anti-Israel demonstrators at Liverpool University made anti-Semitic
remarks to Jewish students, calling them "Nazis" and "bleeding Jews"
25 MAY A Jewish man who was walking down a street in Manchester was attacked
from behind and had CS gas sprayed in his face
12 JUNE Four youths smashed a bottle over the head of an Orthodox man as he
walked home from the synagogue
15 JUNE A Jewish woman was violently attacked by three of her neighbours and
severely beaten
17 JUNE An arson attack on a synagogue in north London caused extensive damage,
including to prayer books rescued from the Nazis
29 JUNE A Jewish schoolboy on a bus in north London was attacked and repeatedly
kicked by an Arab man who called him a Jew
29 JULY The words "Hitler was right, Israelis bomb babies" were etched into the
side of a London Underground train
9 NOVEMBER The words "happy Kristallnacht, Combat 18" and "Jews Out" were
painted on a doctor's surgery on the anniversary of Kristallnacht in 1938
15 NOVEMBER A synagogue received a snuffbox containing excrement in the post
DECEMBER An Orthodox Jew in Stamford Hill, north London, had his nose broken in
an assault
Source :
Anti-Semitic attacks rise to record level, I, 11.2.2005,
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=609939
From the Times Archives > On This Day -
April 6, 1929
The Epsom Grand Stand Association decided
that Gypsies were to be banned from Epsom Downs on Derby Day and other race days
IT HAS been decided after consideration by the
Epsom Grand Stand Association and the police authorities that Gypsy and other
caravan dwellers shall not be allowed on Epsom Downs on Derby Day and other race
days. One of the principal reasons for this action has been the great nuisance
which caravan dwellers are at such times to the people living in the vicinity of
the Downs before, during, and after the races.
There have been numerous complaints of the damage done to fencing and other
property in the neighbourhood of the Downs, and many housewives in particular,
as well as race-goers, have complained of the begging propensities of the
Gypsies. The extent of this nuisance has increased with the great growth in the
number of houses in the vicinity of the Downs in recent years. The presence of
the Gypsies and other caravan dwellers on the Downs creates difficulties there
also. From a sanitary point of view a big encampment on the Downs is
undesirable, as after the races it takes several weeks to remedy the condition
of things created.
At centres in the country where the Gypsies congregate before setting out for
the Epsom Downs they will be informed that they will not be allowed to go on the
Downs. If they elect to proceed on their journey and attempt to camp on the
Downs they will be prevented from doing so.
The Law of Property Act, 1925, says that members of the public shall have right
of access for air and exercise to a Metropolitan common (such as Epsom Downs
is), but that such right of access shall not include any right to draw or drive
upon the land a carriage, car, caravan, or other vehicles, or to camp or light
any fire thereon.
From
the Times Archives > On This Day - April 6, 1929, Times, 6.4.2005.
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