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UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = 'O:9:\"magpierss\":19:{s:6:\"parser\";i:0;s:12:\"current_item\";a:0:{}s:5:\"items\";a:15:{i:0;a:6:{s:5:\"title\";s:30:\"Knife Crime; Britain’s Shame\";s:4:\"link\";s:40:\"http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3387\";s:11:\"description\";s:3923:\"<div class=\"content\"> <div class=\"rightbox\"><img src=\"../../files/scepteredisle.jpg\" /></div></div>Violent crime <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1561354/Why-violent-crime-has-doubled-in-a-decade.html\">has doubled</a> since Labour came to power a decade ago. Stabbings and assault in Britain are now common, if not daily occurrences; at night city centers are generally regarded as no-go areas; “feral” youths and gangs loitering the streets – often drunk on cheap alcohol – make many people too afraid to go for a walk on a summer evening.<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break-->&nbsp;<!--break--> <br />Every week yields up plenty of reasons why people have good reason to be scared in modern Britain. On Saturday evening 60-year old Stan Dixon, a former soldier, was attacked by youths, for asking them not to swear in front of a woman. He died yesterday in hospital. 17 teenagers have been murdered in London alone this year. The latest victim, 16 year-old Ben Kinsella, <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2239300/Ben-Kinsella-murder-Family-launch-anti-violence-fund.html\">was killed</a> <a href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031294/Old-soldier-killed-asking-thugs-swear-lady.html\">on Sunday night</a>. On Tuesday Dee Willis, a 28 year-old woman, was <a href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031018/Hunt-murderess-stabbed-young-woman-death-just-yards-Jacqui-Smiths-house.html\">stabbed to death</a> by a female attacker in south-east London. Today, the country <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2241034/Two-French-students-stabbed-and-set-alight-in-%27horrific%27-New-Cross-murder.html\">woke up to reports</a> of the extremely brutal and apparently motiveless murder of two French exchange students, Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez (both 23). The two men had been playing computer games at Mr. Bonomo’s apartment in New Cross, south-east London, on Sunday night, when they were attacked, gagged, tortured (suffering nearly 250 stab wounds between them), and their bodies set on fire.<br />&nbsp;<br />The police are no longer beloved by the public, it is sad to say. Political correctness and bureaucratic paperwork has meant that officers go for soft targets (including such trivial things as allegedly <a href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1018843/Eighteen-hours-police-cell-court-trial-man-accused-dropping-apple-core.html\">dropping an apple core</a>), while ignoring serious crime, such as burglary. This week, however, there was a brief spark of hope that things were beginning to turn around. Metropolitan police chief Sir Ian Blair and London mayor Boris Johnson <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/boris_johnson/2238041/Boris-Johnson-warns-Don%27t-try-to-help-knife-crime-victims.html\">held a joint press conference</a>, announcing that over a thousand arrests had been made, and 538 knives confiscated from youths, in a recent police initiative. Yet, a slap in the face to this hard work, and, indeed, to the general public, the <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2230506/Minister-condemns-plans-to-punish-knife-possession-with-fines.html\">Sentencing Guidelines Council</a> has issued new sentencing guidelines that will mean anyone found guilty of possessing a knife will face only a small fine – no deterrent whatsoever.<br />&nbsp;<br />The British are not known for protesting. But, today, with a lack of faith in the authorities, a grassroots movement against violence is beginning to emerge. Families of victims of violent crime are making themselves visible, and heard. <a href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030259/EastEnders-star-leads-hundreds-teenagers-march-demand-end-violence-brothers-stabbing.html\">Yesterday a march</a> was led by the sister of Ben Kinsella, in response to his murder, calling for an end to the epidemic of violence. &nbsp;</p> <p></p> \";s:8:\"category\";s:7:\"English\";s:7:\"pubdate\";s:31:\"Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:46:52 -0500\";s:7:\"summary\";s:3923:\"<div class=\"content\"> <div class=\"rightbox\"><img src=\"../../files/scepteredisle.jpg\" /></div></div>Violent crime <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1561354/Why-violent-crime-has-doubled-in-a-decade.html\">has doubled</a> since Labour came to power a decade ago. Stabbings and assault in Britain are now common, if not daily occurrences; at night city centers are generally regarded as no-go areas; “feral” youths and gangs loitering the streets – often drunk on cheap alcohol – make many people too afraid to go for a walk on a summer evening.<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break-->&nbsp;<!--break--> <br />Every week yields up plenty of reasons why people have good reason to be scared in modern Britain. On Saturday evening 60-year old Stan Dixon, a former soldier, was attacked by youths, for asking them not to swear in front of a woman. He died yesterday in hospital. 17 teenagers have been murdered in London alone this year. The latest victim, 16 year-old Ben Kinsella, <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2239300/Ben-Kinsella-murder-Family-launch-anti-violence-fund.html\">was killed</a> <a href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031294/Old-soldier-killed-asking-thugs-swear-lady.html\">on Sunday night</a>. On Tuesday Dee Willis, a 28 year-old woman, was <a href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1031018/Hunt-murderess-stabbed-young-woman-death-just-yards-Jacqui-Smiths-house.html\">stabbed to death</a> by a female attacker in south-east London. Today, the country <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2241034/Two-French-students-stabbed-and-set-alight-in-%27horrific%27-New-Cross-murder.html\">woke up to reports</a> of the extremely brutal and apparently motiveless murder of two French exchange students, Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez (both 23). The two men had been playing computer games at Mr. Bonomo’s apartment in New Cross, south-east London, on Sunday night, when they were attacked, gagged, tortured (suffering nearly 250 stab wounds between them), and their bodies set on fire.<br />&nbsp;<br />The police are no longer beloved by the public, it is sad to say. Political correctness and bureaucratic paperwork has meant that officers go for soft targets (including such trivial things as allegedly <a href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1018843/Eighteen-hours-police-cell-court-trial-man-accused-dropping-apple-core.html\">dropping an apple core</a>), while ignoring serious crime, such as burglary. This week, however, there was a brief spark of hope that things were beginning to turn around. Metropolitan police chief Sir Ian Blair and London mayor Boris Johnson <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/boris_johnson/2238041/Boris-Johnson-warns-Don%27t-try-to-help-knife-crime-victims.html\">held a joint press conference</a>, announcing that over a thousand arrests had been made, and 538 knives confiscated from youths, in a recent police initiative. Yet, a slap in the face to this hard work, and, indeed, to the general public, the <a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2230506/Minister-condemns-plans-to-punish-knife-possession-with-fines.html\">Sentencing Guidelines Council</a> has issued new sentencing guidelines that will mean anyone found guilty of possessing a knife will face only a small fine – no deterrent whatsoever.<br />&nbsp;<br />The British are not known for protesting. But, today, with a lack of faith in the authorities, a grassroots movement against violence is beginning to emerge. Families of victims of violent crime are making themselves visible, and heard. <a href=\"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030259/EastEnders-star-leads-hundreds-teenagers-march-demand-end-violence-brothers-stabbing.html\">Yesterday a march</a> was led by the sister of Ben Kinsella, in response to his murder, calling for an end to the epidemic of violence. &nbsp;</p> <p></p> \";}i:1;a:6:{s:5:\"title\";s:59:\"Flanders Considers Postponing Ratification of Lisbon Treaty\";s:4:\"link\";s:40:\"http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3384\";s:11:\"description\";s:2224:\"<p>Following the June 12 referendum in which Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty, the presidents of Poland and the Czech Republic have announced that they are not going to sign the ratification of the treaty by their own parliaments. The president of Germany has also postponed signing the ratification bill until the German Constitutional Court has decided whether or not the Treaty violates the German Constitution. In Belgium, the heartland of the EU, the Treaty cannot be ratified unless it is approved by the federal parliament as well as the state parliaments in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. It is doubtful whether Flanders, and hence Belgium, will ratify the Treaty before the end of the Summer.<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><br />While the federal parliament and the Walloon and Brussels legislatures have already approved the Treaty, the Flemish Parliament so far has not. In the federal parliament the Flemish-secessionist Vlaams Belang party was the only party to vote against ratification. The VB is the largest party in the Flemish Parliament, where a VB politician chairs the foreign relations committee. This has enabled the party to delay the ratification of the Treaty for as long as possible. Yesterday evening the committee finally voted in favour of ratification, with only the VB opposing it, but it is unclear whether the Treaty will be brought to the vote in the plenary session next week, which is the last plenary session before September.</p> <p>Last February the Flemish regional government decided that Flanders would not ratify the Lisbon Treaty if no cooperation agreement has been reached between the various Belgian parliaments before the ratification. Since the Belgian federal authorities have delayed the signing of such a cooperation agreement, the governing Flemish Christian-Democrats and Socialists announced today that they consider delaying ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the Flemish Parliament until September. In the federal parliament, however, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, who is also a Flemish Christian-Democrat, announced that he would exert all his influence on the Flemish politicians to speed up the ratification of the treaty.</p> \";s:8:\"category\";s:7:\"English\";s:7:\"pubdate\";s:31:\"Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:36:14 -0500\";s:7:\"summary\";s:2224:\"<p>Following the June 12 referendum in which Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty, the presidents of Poland and the Czech Republic have announced that they are not going to sign the ratification of the treaty by their own parliaments. The president of Germany has also postponed signing the ratification bill until the German Constitutional Court has decided whether or not the Treaty violates the German Constitution. In Belgium, the heartland of the EU, the Treaty cannot be ratified unless it is approved by the federal parliament as well as the state parliaments in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. It is doubtful whether Flanders, and hence Belgium, will ratify the Treaty before the end of the Summer.<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><br />While the federal parliament and the Walloon and Brussels legislatures have already approved the Treaty, the Flemish Parliament so far has not. In the federal parliament the Flemish-secessionist Vlaams Belang party was the only party to vote against ratification. The VB is the largest party in the Flemish Parliament, where a VB politician chairs the foreign relations committee. This has enabled the party to delay the ratification of the Treaty for as long as possible. Yesterday evening the committee finally voted in favour of ratification, with only the VB opposing it, but it is unclear whether the Treaty will be brought to the vote in the plenary session next week, which is the last plenary session before September.</p> <p>Last February the Flemish regional government decided that Flanders would not ratify the Lisbon Treaty if no cooperation agreement has been reached between the various Belgian parliaments before the ratification. Since the Belgian federal authorities have delayed the signing of such a cooperation agreement, the governing Flemish Christian-Democrats and Socialists announced today that they consider delaying ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the Flemish Parliament until September. In the federal parliament, however, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, who is also a Flemish Christian-Democrat, announced that he would exert all his influence on the Flemish politicians to speed up the ratification of the treaty.</p> \";}i:2;a:6:{s:5:\"title\";s:47:\"Sarko Wants to Give Dublin the Mugabe Treatment\";s:4:\"link\";s:40:\"http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3380\";s:11:\"description\";s:3760:\"<p><a href=\"http://bp1.blogger.com/_g--Q5Ya6yYE/SGlNVthUN-I/AAAAAAAAB_I/UmXUhOE6jNk/s1600-h/Eiffel+Tower+stars.jpeg\" onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\"><img border=\"0\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217786678677354466\" src=\"http://bp1.blogger.com/_g--Q5Ya6yYE/SGlNVthUN-I/AAAAAAAAB_I/UmXUhOE6jNk/s320/Eiffel+Tower+stars.jpeg\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" /></a>Would Nicholas Sarkozy be hot-footing it to Dublin in the dog days of summer if Ireland had voted \'Yes\' in its Referendum on the EU Constitution? Of course he wouldn\'t. He is only going because even he can smell the raspberry the Irish blew at the EU last month. Having spoilt France\'s grandiose plans for jobs for the boys, expect a whole lot of angry finger-wagging.</p> <p>As his own spokesman Axel Poniatowski <a href=\"http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sarkozy-visit-could-backfire-says-mep-1418848.html\">has made clear</a> on his behalf, there is no other choice for the Irish but to hold a second referendum and, regardless of EU and French protestations to the contrary and regardless of whatever emollient nonsense Sarkozy utters in public, behind the scenes Brian Cowen will indeed have to put up with some serious pressure from this angry voyou from Paris to get it right in a second vote and to hold that vote sooner rather than later. Fortunately others are doing their democratic bit.<br /><!--break--><!--break--><br />Now the faintly alarming President of Poland, Mr. Lech Kaczynski, <a href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/01/eu.poland\">has decided</a> to withhold his signature, a legal requisite apparently for the completion of ratification by Poland, on the grounds that (a) Ireland voted \'No!; (b) The Treaty of Lisbon requires everyone to say \'Yes!\' for it to enter into law EU-wide; (c) \'No!\' means \'No!\'; etc. etc.</p> <p>Funny, isn\'t it, that nations with some experience of being ruled effectively by other countries for hundreds of years (Ireland, the <a href=\"node/3366\">Czech Republic</a> and Poland) should be the ones to throw a spanner in the works of a Treaty designed to end that independence once more. They know a thing or two about being part of an Empire and having looked into the abyss of being part of yet another one, they have wisely drawn back.</p> <p>How one wishes to be a fly on the wall of a EuroNabob\'s private get together to hear thier true opinions of such naysayers. I bet the swear-box would be full in five minutes. Still, France\'s diminutive President will, nonetheless, be out and about bullying the Irish for spoiling his grand plans for France\'s Presidency.</p> <p>He had thought that this next six months would see France once more in its rightful place as <a href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/01/eupresidency.france2\">the natural leader of Europe</a>, handing out this fatcat job here, this little pourboire there, accepting the plaudits from a grateful Eurcracy and European political elite for a job well and truly done.</p> <p>Instead he is left with having to illuminate one of Europe\'s greatest phallic symbols, the Eiffel Tower, in the colours of the EU as a highly suggestive symbol of what the EU really has in mind for its handmaidens.</p> <p>That all this is down to the casting of ballots in a free and fair election at the same time as the EU is frothing about the electoral habits of one Robert Mugabe is a delicious irony. There is, but for the violence deployed by Mugabe\'s henchmen, little difference between insisting that the Irish vote again until they get the answer right and Robert Mugabe holding a second vote and insisting that Zimbabweans elect the \'right\' man, such has become the democratic deficit in the EU.</p> <p></p> \";s:8:\"category\";s:7:\"English\";s:7:\"pubdate\";s:31:\"Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:49:30 -0500\";s:7:\"summary\";s:3760:\"<p><a href=\"http://bp1.blogger.com/_g--Q5Ya6yYE/SGlNVthUN-I/AAAAAAAAB_I/UmXUhOE6jNk/s1600-h/Eiffel+Tower+stars.jpeg\" onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\"><img border=\"0\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217786678677354466\" src=\"http://bp1.blogger.com/_g--Q5Ya6yYE/SGlNVthUN-I/AAAAAAAAB_I/UmXUhOE6jNk/s320/Eiffel+Tower+stars.jpeg\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" /></a>Would Nicholas Sarkozy be hot-footing it to Dublin in the dog days of summer if Ireland had voted \'Yes\' in its Referendum on the EU Constitution? Of course he wouldn\'t. He is only going because even he can smell the raspberry the Irish blew at the EU last month. Having spoilt France\'s grandiose plans for jobs for the boys, expect a whole lot of angry finger-wagging.</p> <p>As his own spokesman Axel Poniatowski <a href=\"http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sarkozy-visit-could-backfire-says-mep-1418848.html\">has made clear</a> on his behalf, there is no other choice for the Irish but to hold a second referendum and, regardless of EU and French protestations to the contrary and regardless of whatever emollient nonsense Sarkozy utters in public, behind the scenes Brian Cowen will indeed have to put up with some serious pressure from this angry voyou from Paris to get it right in a second vote and to hold that vote sooner rather than later. Fortunately others are doing their democratic bit.<br /><!--break--><!--break--><br />Now the faintly alarming President of Poland, Mr. Lech Kaczynski, <a href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/01/eu.poland\">has decided</a> to withhold his signature, a legal requisite apparently for the completion of ratification by Poland, on the grounds that (a) Ireland voted \'No!; (b) The Treaty of Lisbon requires everyone to say \'Yes!\' for it to enter into law EU-wide; (c) \'No!\' means \'No!\'; etc. etc.</p> <p>Funny, isn\'t it, that nations with some experience of being ruled effectively by other countries for hundreds of years (Ireland, the <a href=\"node/3366\">Czech Republic</a> and Poland) should be the ones to throw a spanner in the works of a Treaty designed to end that independence once more. They know a thing or two about being part of an Empire and having looked into the abyss of being part of yet another one, they have wisely drawn back.</p> <p>How one wishes to be a fly on the wall of a EuroNabob\'s private get together to hear thier true opinions of such naysayers. I bet the swear-box would be full in five minutes. Still, France\'s diminutive President will, nonetheless, be out and about bullying the Irish for spoiling his grand plans for France\'s Presidency.</p> <p>He had thought that this next six months would see France once more in its rightful place as <a href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/01/eupresidency.france2\">the natural leader of Europe</a>, handing out this fatcat job here, this little pourboire there, accepting the plaudits from a grateful Eurcracy and European political elite for a job well and truly done.</p> <p>Instead he is left with having to illuminate one of Europe\'s greatest phallic symbols, the Eiffel Tower, in the colours of the EU as a highly suggestive symbol of what the EU really has in mind for its handmaidens.</p> <p>That all this is down to the casting of ballots in a free and fair election at the same time as the EU is frothing about the electoral habits of one Robert Mugabe is a delicious irony. There is, but for the violence deployed by Mugabe\'s henchmen, little difference between insisting that the Irish vote again until they get the answer right and Robert Mugabe holding a second vote and insisting that Zimbabweans elect the \'right\' man, such has become the democratic deficit in the EU.</p> <p></p> \";}i:3;a:6:{s:5:\"title\";s:23:\"EUSSR: Report Card Time\";s:4:\"link\";s:40:\"http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3379\";s:11:\"description\";s:5140:\"<p> <a href=\"http://bp3.blogger.com/_g--Q5Ya6yYE/SGilW-QGvKI/AAAAAAAAB-4/CiNQVwLiiQE/s1600-h/Annual+Report.gif\" onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\"><img border=\"0\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217601982394973346\" src=\"http://bp3.blogger.com/_g--Q5Ya6yYE/SGilW-QGvKI/AAAAAAAAB-4/CiNQVwLiiQE/s320/Annual+Report.gif\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" /></a>If you are suffering from insomnia and in the mood to read a 128-page English version of a report, in pdf format, from the European Union, <a href=\"http://fra.europa.eu/fra/index.php?fuseaction=content.dsp_cat_content&amp;catid=4860badc7f081\">click here</a>. This is the first annual report from the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, based in Vienna, and dedicated to the prosecution of the crime of discrimination. These are the fine folks who keep track of the accusations, litigation, trials, judgments and punishments meted out to those wretched souls who can\'t seem to straighten up and fly right in matters of diversity. Taking each of the 27 countries of the Union, the report admonishes their laxness, or praises their efforts.</p><p>&nbsp; </p><p>The hard-working Yves Daoudal <a href=\"http://yvesdaoudal.hautetfort.com/archive/2008/06/27/le-gendarme-europeen-antidiscrimination-a-pondu-son-rapport.html\">offers this synopsis</a>:</p><p><!--break--></p> <blockquote><em>In its first annual report, the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, based in Vienna with all its acronyms on display, thunders forth about the racist, anti-Semitic, or extreme-right-wing-generated acts of violence, and acts of discrimination, that are on the rise in the EU and that have not been adequately punished, EXCEPT in the United Kingdom... </em>[my emphasis]<br />&nbsp;<br /><em>The Agency seems to be particularly interested in discriminatory hiring practices based on nationality, in other words, national preference, or what is left of it, a notion condemned above all others and that must be firmly abolished.</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><em>And so, the Agency is pleased that &quot;the United Kingdom possesses the most efficient system of anti-discrimination legislation in all the EU,&quot; and that with &quot;95 punishments in 2006 - 2007, it has meted out more punishments than all the member States put together.&quot; (This is not unrelated to the galoping dhimmitude we are witnessing in Britain.)</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><em>On the other hand, the Agency chokes with fury at what it finds in Ireland and Belgium: &quot;discriminatory job offers declaring that foreigners need not apply.&quot;</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><em>And it is intolerable that in 12 countries of the EU no punishments have been applied, even though law suits have been initiated. These miserable countries are the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia.</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><em>France is one of those countries that &quot;has implemented a relatively efficient legislation,&quot; but where &quot;convictions are still rare compared to the UK.&quot;</em><br /></blockquote> <br />Here is an excerpt from the report itself about <a href=\"http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/culture-of-denunciation.html\">HALDE</a>, the French government agency created under Jacques Chirac to track and punish discrimination:<br /> <blockquote><em>In France, in 2006 and 2007, the High Authority against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE) gained momentum, as can be seen by the number of complaints received. In 2006, the HALDE received 4,058 complaints: employment was the most important field of complaints (42.87%) and origin was the most important reason for being discriminated (35.04%). In 2007, the number of received complaints increased: the HALDE registered 6,222 complaints, i.e. an increase of 53%. [...] The HALDE has received 11,689 complaints since its creation in 2005. Moreover, an opinion poll conducted by CAS Institute shows that the French people are more and more concerned by the question of discrimination: this demonstrates that communication and information campaigns conducted by the HALDE had an impact on the French public. Indeed, the HALDE developed a strong strategy of communication and it is very visible in the public scene [...]</em><br /></blockquote> In other words, the more complaints HALDE receives, the happier the Agency is.<br />&nbsp;<br />In another part of the report focusing on France, the case of Fanny Truchelut is cited as a case of discrimination. I <a href=\"http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2007/10/fanny-truchelut-convicted.html\">reported</a> <a href=\"http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2007/08/fanny-truchelut-update.html\">several</a> <a href=\"http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2006/08/enforcing-lacit.html\">times</a> on this case which involved a bed-and-breakfast owner who turned away Muslim women wearing headscarves on grounds of laïcité. She insisted she only forbade the headscarves in the public areas of the inn, not in the private quarters. The court ruled against her. The last I heard she was appealing the ruling.</p> \";s:8:\"category\";s:7:\"English\";s:7:\"pubdate\";s:31:\"Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:16:25 -0500\";s:7:\"summary\";s:5140:\"<p> <a href=\"http://bp3.blogger.com/_g--Q5Ya6yYE/SGilW-QGvKI/AAAAAAAAB-4/CiNQVwLiiQE/s1600-h/Annual+Report.gif\" onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\"><img border=\"0\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217601982394973346\" src=\"http://bp3.blogger.com/_g--Q5Ya6yYE/SGilW-QGvKI/AAAAAAAAB-4/CiNQVwLiiQE/s320/Annual+Report.gif\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" /></a>If you are suffering from insomnia and in the mood to read a 128-page English version of a report, in pdf format, from the European Union, <a href=\"http://fra.europa.eu/fra/index.php?fuseaction=content.dsp_cat_content&amp;catid=4860badc7f081\">click here</a>. This is the first annual report from the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, based in Vienna, and dedicated to the prosecution of the crime of discrimination. These are the fine folks who keep track of the accusations, litigation, trials, judgments and punishments meted out to those wretched souls who can\'t seem to straighten up and fly right in matters of diversity. Taking each of the 27 countries of the Union, the report admonishes their laxness, or praises their efforts.</p><p>&nbsp; </p><p>The hard-working Yves Daoudal <a href=\"http://yvesdaoudal.hautetfort.com/archive/2008/06/27/le-gendarme-europeen-antidiscrimination-a-pondu-son-rapport.html\">offers this synopsis</a>:</p><p><!--break--></p> <blockquote><em>In its first annual report, the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, based in Vienna with all its acronyms on display, thunders forth about the racist, anti-Semitic, or extreme-right-wing-generated acts of violence, and acts of discrimination, that are on the rise in the EU and that have not been adequately punished, EXCEPT in the United Kingdom... </em>[my emphasis]<br />&nbsp;<br /><em>The Agency seems to be particularly interested in discriminatory hiring practices based on nationality, in other words, national preference, or what is left of it, a notion condemned above all others and that must be firmly abolished.</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><em>And so, the Agency is pleased that &quot;the United Kingdom possesses the most efficient system of anti-discrimination legislation in all the EU,&quot; and that with &quot;95 punishments in 2006 - 2007, it has meted out more punishments than all the member States put together.&quot; (This is not unrelated to the galoping dhimmitude we are witnessing in Britain.)</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><em>On the other hand, the Agency chokes with fury at what it finds in Ireland and Belgium: &quot;discriminatory job offers declaring that foreigners need not apply.&quot;</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><em>And it is intolerable that in 12 countries of the EU no punishments have been applied, even though law suits have been initiated. These miserable countries are the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia.</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><em>France is one of those countries that &quot;has implemented a relatively efficient legislation,&quot; but where &quot;convictions are still rare compared to the UK.&quot;</em><br /></blockquote> <br />Here is an excerpt from the report itself about <a href=\"http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/culture-of-denunciation.html\">HALDE</a>, the French government agency created under Jacques Chirac to track and punish discrimination:<br /> <blockquote><em>In France, in 2006 and 2007, the High Authority against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE) gained momentum, as can be seen by the number of complaints received. In 2006, the HALDE received 4,058 complaints: employment was the most important field of complaints (42.87%) and origin was the most important reason for being discriminated (35.04%). In 2007, the number of received complaints increased: the HALDE registered 6,222 complaints, i.e. an increase of 53%. [...] The HALDE has received 11,689 complaints since its creation in 2005. Moreover, an opinion poll conducted by CAS Institute shows that the French people are more and more concerned by the question of discrimination: this demonstrates that communication and information campaigns conducted by the HALDE had an impact on the French public. Indeed, the HALDE developed a strong strategy of communication and it is very visible in the public scene [...]</em><br /></blockquote> In other words, the more complaints HALDE receives, the happier the Agency is.<br />&nbsp;<br />In another part of the report focusing on France, the case of Fanny Truchelut is cited as a case of discrimination. I <a href=\"http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2007/10/fanny-truchelut-convicted.html\">reported</a> <a href=\"http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2007/08/fanny-truchelut-update.html\">several</a> <a href=\"http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2006/08/enforcing-lacit.html\">times</a> on this case which involved a bed-and-breakfast owner who turned away Muslim women wearing headscarves on grounds of laïcité. She insisted she only forbade the headscarves in the public areas of the inn, not in the private quarters. The court ruled against her. The last I heard she was appealing the ruling.</p> \";}i:4;a:6:{s:5:\"title\";s:62:\"Belgian Right-Wing Politician Calls Zionism as Bad as Islamism\";s:4:\"link\";s:40:\"http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3375\";s:11:\"description\";s:8205:\"<p>Yesterday, the Belgian establishment newspaper <em>De Standaard</em> published a <a href=\"http://lvb.net/item/6383\">double interview</a> with the Dutch politician Geert Wilders and the Flemish politician Jean-Marie Dedecker. Mr Dedecker, a popular former judo coach, is a populist right-wing politician who was ousted by the governing Flemish Liberal Party in 2006 and founded his own party, the <a href=\"http://www2.lijstdedecker.com/\"><em>Lijst Dedecker</em></a> (LDD) or <em>Gezond Verstand Partij</em> (Common Sense Party). He won 5.5% of the Flemish vote in the <a href=\"node/2180\">June 10, 2007, elections</a>. It is generally assumed that he did so mainly at the expense of the Flemish-secessionist and anti-Islamist <a href=\"http://www.vlaamsbelang.be/\"><em>Vlaams Belang</em></a> (VB, Flemish Interest) party. According to the latest polls Dedecker is currently at 12.4%, again mostly at the expense of the VB. Last November, <a href=\"http://peterlogghe.blogspot.com/2007/11/vlaams-belang-is-nog-steeds-d-vijand.html\">Dedecker called</a> the VB “fascistic” and boasted that he is single-handedly succeeding in what the Belgian establishment failed to do for 20 years: “smoking out the VB.”<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><br />Geert Wilders, who was ousted by the governing Dutch Liberal Party in 2004 and also founded his own party, the <a href=\"http://www.pvv.nl/\"><em>Partij voor de Vrijheid</em></a> (PVV, Freedom Party) won 5.9% of the Dutch vote in the <a href=\"node/1682\">November 22, 2006, elections</a> with an anti-Islamist platform. Polls predict that his party will double in size if elections are held today. Wilders’ spectacular growth has, however, been stopped by Rita Verdonk, another former member of the Dutch Liberal Party (and a <a href=\"node/1145\">former Dutch Immigration minister</a>), who was ousted in 2007 and also founded her own party, <a href=\"http://www.trotsopnederland.com/\"><em>Trots op Nederland</em></a> (TON, Proud to be Dutch). Verdonk is opposed to immigration but does not criticize Islam. In the polls she is doing better than Wilders.</p><p>&nbsp;<br /><em>Excerpts from the interview:</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>De Standaard:</strong> There are also large differences between the two of you. Mr Dedecker is opposed to prohibiting things, whereas you [Geert Wilders] want to prohibit all kinds of things, starting with the Koran. […] </p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> That I want to prohibit all sort of things is complete nonsense. I only want to prohibit things to defend our rule of law. I am still enough of a liberal to prohibit things only in the most extreme cases. I do not like to prohibit books at all. You will never hear me advocate prohibiting other books.</p> <p><strong>De Standaard:</strong> Do you also feel that our rule of law is threatened in this way, Mr Dedecker?</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> I feel threatened by the fact that the separation between church and state is diminishing. But I have no existential angst. There are two major phobias at present in our society: Islamophobia and climatophobia. Both are being promoted.</p> <p>(To Wilders) You think that Eurabia is a danger. I disagree. Our enlightenment values are strong enough to withstand this. However, we have to wake up. What the politically correct Left has done to our society explains our [electoral] success.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> If you say that we must wake up, this means that the leftist political elite is sleeping at this moment. That is exactly the reason why our enlightenment ideas do not prevail. Because those leftist politicians, who have become ever more dependent on [the votes of] immigrant groups, will sleep on.</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> I think prohibiting the Koran is a form of overacting. We shouldn’t prohibit any books: neither <em>Mein Kampf</em> nor the Koran. The Bible, the Thora and the Koran are but fairy tale books. That is what you have to dare tell the people. If religion manifests itself as collective madness, then we must dare to oppose it and start the debate.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> The Koran is a diabolic book rather than a fairy tale book. It is also, unlike the other books which you refer to – and which I would not call fairy tale books, but it is your right to do so – a book from which people draw inspiration today to commit terrorist acts and exclude women and homosexuals from my community and execrate the separation of church and state. Fairy tale books do not do such things. Fairy tale books concern <a href=\"http://www.efteling.com/home.aspx?LanguageId=2\">the Efteling</a> or <a href=\"http://www.walibi.be/homepageEN\">Walibi</a> [Dutch and Belgian theme parks; equivalents of <a href=\"http://www.disneylandparis.com/\">Disneyland</a>]</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> I am opposed to the wearing of headscarfs by civil servants, I am opposed to separate swimming hours [for men and women] in swimming pools, but is this a reason to prohibit the Koran? On the contrary, I am one hundred percent behind our own values. And I am as much criticised for this as you. […]</p> <p>[To Wilders] Up to a certain extent you are also a Zionist. I find that very strange of you.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> A Zionist? What next?</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> The way you always defend Israel – as a matter of fact this happens much more in the Netherlands than in Belgium. We both have visited Israel and the Palestinian territories. I consider Zionism and Islamism as similar phenomena. You constantly defend Israel although you know what is being inflicted there on the Palestinians. Do you do that perhaps because Zionism is the counterpart of Islamism?</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> It is interesting that you say this. Zionist goes perhaps a bit far, but I am, indeed, a convinced defender of Israel. Because Israel is an oasis of democracy and Western values in the Middle East. I have also been in other countries in the region, from Syria via Iran to Afghanistan: all these countries are dictatorships. Israel is the only country where a majority in parliament can dismiss a minister – as members of parliament you and I should be able to appreciate that.</p> <p>I am biased in favour of Israel. Is that so bad? No, I am even proud of it. You have to make up your own mind, but you, too, should be proud of every democracy in the world.<br /><strong><br />Dedecker:</strong> You are partly right. But that does not justify Israel’s apartheid policies – and that is exactly what I reject. I call Israel a kippah democracy.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> I have a different opinion. Palestinians who are living in Gaza and on the West Bank at this moment, could very well move to the other side of the Jordan – to Jordan or other areas. There is space and place enough there and many Palestinians already live there.</p> <p><strong>De Standaard:</strong> So you also favour ethnic cleansing?</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> That is not ethnic cleansing. Israel can justly claim those regions. Moreover we do not have to harm anyone, but I see what happens today: Hamastan, governs Gaza.</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> Why should the Palestinians have to go to Jordan? The Palestinians are the outcasts of the Middle East: they are not welcome anywhere. These are people who were driven from their territory on the basis of an international treaty and pseudo property rights granted by the Thora or the Bible. Property rights on the basis of fairy tale books.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> For me the security of Israel as a democracy prevails on the rights of a group who is to a large extent guilty of terror and corruption. There is no democratic Palestinian authority – that is the sad truth. I am convinced that the attacks which Israel suffers from radical Islam are attacks aimed at us.</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> Isn\'t it the opposite? Research shows that three fourth of the suicide terrorists are motivated by the fate of the Palestinians. If we solve that situation, would it not lead to a safer world for all of us? Meanwhile we spend billions and billions on our security.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> \";s:8:\"category\";s:7:\"English\";s:7:\"pubdate\";s:31:\"Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:57:01 -0500\";s:7:\"summary\";s:8205:\"<p>Yesterday, the Belgian establishment newspaper <em>De Standaard</em> published a <a href=\"http://lvb.net/item/6383\">double interview</a> with the Dutch politician Geert Wilders and the Flemish politician Jean-Marie Dedecker. Mr Dedecker, a popular former judo coach, is a populist right-wing politician who was ousted by the governing Flemish Liberal Party in 2006 and founded his own party, the <a href=\"http://www2.lijstdedecker.com/\"><em>Lijst Dedecker</em></a> (LDD) or <em>Gezond Verstand Partij</em> (Common Sense Party). He won 5.5% of the Flemish vote in the <a href=\"node/2180\">June 10, 2007, elections</a>. It is generally assumed that he did so mainly at the expense of the Flemish-secessionist and anti-Islamist <a href=\"http://www.vlaamsbelang.be/\"><em>Vlaams Belang</em></a> (VB, Flemish Interest) party. According to the latest polls Dedecker is currently at 12.4%, again mostly at the expense of the VB. Last November, <a href=\"http://peterlogghe.blogspot.com/2007/11/vlaams-belang-is-nog-steeds-d-vijand.html\">Dedecker called</a> the VB “fascistic” and boasted that he is single-handedly succeeding in what the Belgian establishment failed to do for 20 years: “smoking out the VB.”<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><br />Geert Wilders, who was ousted by the governing Dutch Liberal Party in 2004 and also founded his own party, the <a href=\"http://www.pvv.nl/\"><em>Partij voor de Vrijheid</em></a> (PVV, Freedom Party) won 5.9% of the Dutch vote in the <a href=\"node/1682\">November 22, 2006, elections</a> with an anti-Islamist platform. Polls predict that his party will double in size if elections are held today. Wilders’ spectacular growth has, however, been stopped by Rita Verdonk, another former member of the Dutch Liberal Party (and a <a href=\"node/1145\">former Dutch Immigration minister</a>), who was ousted in 2007 and also founded her own party, <a href=\"http://www.trotsopnederland.com/\"><em>Trots op Nederland</em></a> (TON, Proud to be Dutch). Verdonk is opposed to immigration but does not criticize Islam. In the polls she is doing better than Wilders.</p><p>&nbsp;<br /><em>Excerpts from the interview:</em><br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>De Standaard:</strong> There are also large differences between the two of you. Mr Dedecker is opposed to prohibiting things, whereas you [Geert Wilders] want to prohibit all kinds of things, starting with the Koran. […] </p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> That I want to prohibit all sort of things is complete nonsense. I only want to prohibit things to defend our rule of law. I am still enough of a liberal to prohibit things only in the most extreme cases. I do not like to prohibit books at all. You will never hear me advocate prohibiting other books.</p> <p><strong>De Standaard:</strong> Do you also feel that our rule of law is threatened in this way, Mr Dedecker?</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> I feel threatened by the fact that the separation between church and state is diminishing. But I have no existential angst. There are two major phobias at present in our society: Islamophobia and climatophobia. Both are being promoted.</p> <p>(To Wilders) You think that Eurabia is a danger. I disagree. Our enlightenment values are strong enough to withstand this. However, we have to wake up. What the politically correct Left has done to our society explains our [electoral] success.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> If you say that we must wake up, this means that the leftist political elite is sleeping at this moment. That is exactly the reason why our enlightenment ideas do not prevail. Because those leftist politicians, who have become ever more dependent on [the votes of] immigrant groups, will sleep on.</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> I think prohibiting the Koran is a form of overacting. We shouldn’t prohibit any books: neither <em>Mein Kampf</em> nor the Koran. The Bible, the Thora and the Koran are but fairy tale books. That is what you have to dare tell the people. If religion manifests itself as collective madness, then we must dare to oppose it and start the debate.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> The Koran is a diabolic book rather than a fairy tale book. It is also, unlike the other books which you refer to – and which I would not call fairy tale books, but it is your right to do so – a book from which people draw inspiration today to commit terrorist acts and exclude women and homosexuals from my community and execrate the separation of church and state. Fairy tale books do not do such things. Fairy tale books concern <a href=\"http://www.efteling.com/home.aspx?LanguageId=2\">the Efteling</a> or <a href=\"http://www.walibi.be/homepageEN\">Walibi</a> [Dutch and Belgian theme parks; equivalents of <a href=\"http://www.disneylandparis.com/\">Disneyland</a>]</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> I am opposed to the wearing of headscarfs by civil servants, I am opposed to separate swimming hours [for men and women] in swimming pools, but is this a reason to prohibit the Koran? On the contrary, I am one hundred percent behind our own values. And I am as much criticised for this as you. […]</p> <p>[To Wilders] Up to a certain extent you are also a Zionist. I find that very strange of you.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> A Zionist? What next?</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> The way you always defend Israel – as a matter of fact this happens much more in the Netherlands than in Belgium. We both have visited Israel and the Palestinian territories. I consider Zionism and Islamism as similar phenomena. You constantly defend Israel although you know what is being inflicted there on the Palestinians. Do you do that perhaps because Zionism is the counterpart of Islamism?</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> It is interesting that you say this. Zionist goes perhaps a bit far, but I am, indeed, a convinced defender of Israel. Because Israel is an oasis of democracy and Western values in the Middle East. I have also been in other countries in the region, from Syria via Iran to Afghanistan: all these countries are dictatorships. Israel is the only country where a majority in parliament can dismiss a minister – as members of parliament you and I should be able to appreciate that.</p> <p>I am biased in favour of Israel. Is that so bad? No, I am even proud of it. You have to make up your own mind, but you, too, should be proud of every democracy in the world.<br /><strong><br />Dedecker:</strong> You are partly right. But that does not justify Israel’s apartheid policies – and that is exactly what I reject. I call Israel a kippah democracy.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> I have a different opinion. Palestinians who are living in Gaza and on the West Bank at this moment, could very well move to the other side of the Jordan – to Jordan or other areas. There is space and place enough there and many Palestinians already live there.</p> <p><strong>De Standaard:</strong> So you also favour ethnic cleansing?</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> That is not ethnic cleansing. Israel can justly claim those regions. Moreover we do not have to harm anyone, but I see what happens today: Hamastan, governs Gaza.</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> Why should the Palestinians have to go to Jordan? The Palestinians are the outcasts of the Middle East: they are not welcome anywhere. These are people who were driven from their territory on the basis of an international treaty and pseudo property rights granted by the Thora or the Bible. Property rights on the basis of fairy tale books.</p> <p><strong>Wilders:</strong> For me the security of Israel as a democracy prevails on the rights of a group who is to a large extent guilty of terror and corruption. There is no democratic Palestinian authority – that is the sad truth. I am convinced that the attacks which Israel suffers from radical Islam are attacks aimed at us.</p> <p><strong>Dedecker:</strong> Isn\'t it the opposite? Research shows that three fourth of the suicide terrorists are motivated by the fate of the Palestinians. If we solve that situation, would it not lead to a safer world for all of us? Meanwhile we spend billions and billions on our security.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> \";}i:5;a:6:{s:5:\"title\";s:42:\"Spanish Conservatives Abandon Conservatism\";s:4:\"link\";s:40:\"http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3372\";s:11:\"description\";s:11662:\"<div class=\"rightbox\"><img style=\"width: 200px; height: 100px;\" src=\"../../files/spanish-chronicles-soeren-k.jpg\" class=\"inline\" alt=\"spanish-chronicles-soeren-k.jpg\" /></div><p>If you can’t beat them, join them! This seems to be the new guiding philosophy of Spain’s opposition center-right Popular Party (PP), which has undergone an <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Makeover\">extreme makeover</a> to the political center following its <a href=\"node/3078\">second consecutive election defeat</a> to the ruling Socialist Workers Party (PSOE).<br />&nbsp;<br />After losing the national elections on 9 March, most conservatives had expected the beleaguered opposition leader <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Rajoy\">Mariano Rajoy</a> to retire and quietly fade away. Instead, Rajoy, 53, has tenaciously held onto his position, insisting that he is the only individual who can unify the PP and unseat Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the next national poll, which is set for 2012. Rajoy has been the party’s leader since 2004, when he was hand-picked for the job by former PP Prime Minister José María Aznar.<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break-->&nbsp;<br />Given the notoriously undemocratic nominating processes within Spanish political parties, no rival candidate has emerged to challenge Rajoy for his job. So at their <a href=\"http://www.pp.es/16congreso/\">annual national party congress</a>, which was held in the Mediterranean city of Valencia on 20-22 June, PP regional delegates (also known as party ‘barons’ for their secretive backroom shenanigans) voted overwhelmingly to allow the unopposed Rajoy to continue as leader of the opposition.<br />&nbsp;<br />But the cost to the party has been very high. Rajoy has subjected the PP to a political facelift so audacious that critics say there is now not much difference between it and the PSOE. Moreover, the <a href=\"node/3198\">PP has been left fractured</a> between supporters of Rajoy who want to anchor the party in the political center, and conservatives who want to maintain a tough line on questions of public morality as well as the fight against ETA terrorists.<br /><em><strong>&nbsp;<br /></strong><strong>Pragmatism versus Principle</strong></em><br />&nbsp;<br />There are three main theories as to why <a href=\"node/3078\">Rajoy was unable to unseat Zapatero</a> (who by almost anyone’s definition was a weak and politically vulnerable incumbent) in the recent elections. One hypothesis posits that the bearded and bespectacled Rajoy was a charisma-less candidate who failed to inspire voters. Another premise is that the PP, by clinging to its conservative values, alienated the majority of Spanish voters. A third theory, closely related to the second one, is that the PP, by insisting on Spanish national unity, pushed otherwise centrist voters in separatist regions like Catalonia and the Basque Country into the arms of the post-nationalist PSOE, which has been far more generous than the PP in its offers for increased provincial autonomy.<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy, who like most politicians believes that everyone adores him, is a disciple of theories two and three. As such, he has concluded that in order for him to finally win the political lottery in 2012, he must steer the PP to the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_center_(politics)\">radical center</a> so as to woo new voters. But by doing so, Rajoy has unleashed a bevy of existential soul-searching about the future of Spanish conservatism not seen since the death of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco\">General Francisco Franco</a> in 1975.<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy signaled just how far left he wants to take the PP when on 25 June he granted his first media interview since being re-elected as party chief to the leftwing <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadena_SER\">Cadena Ser</a>, a rabidly anti-PP radio station that is key part of the Spanish Socialist mass media propaganda apparatus. Rajoy told his listeners that <a href=\"http://www.cadenaser.com/espana/articulo/rajoy-marianismo-centro-mujeres-dialogo/serprohoy/20080625csrcsrnac_1/Tes\">his new political philosophy</a> consists of four words: “centrism, women, dialogue and future.” Any observer of Spanish politics would immediately recognize these politically-correct buzzwords as coming straight out of Zapatero’s post-modern playbook.<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy told the <a href=\"http://www.pp.es/16congreso/index.asp?p=15094&amp;c=b55d83ccddafa95f0dddb6e63d593cc9\">party congress in Valencia</a>: “We need to widen our pool of votes. It’s possible. The PP wants to be the meeting place for the majority of Spanish society. We want an open party, not an exclusive club.”<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy seems to be taking some of his ideological cues from the editor of the center-right <a href=\"http://www.elmundo.es/\">El Mundo</a> newspaper, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_J._Ram%C3%ADrez\">Pedro J Ramírez</a>, who has been leading a media push for the PP to abandon its relentless opposition to Zapatero’s liberal social reforms such as fast-track divorce and homosexual marriage. Ramírez, who is also opposed to Rajoy staying on as party leader, says the PP’s defense of its principles have given the party a hard-line image that hurts it at the polls.<br />&nbsp;<br />In an <a href=\"http://www.elmundo.es/papel/2007/11/18/opinion/2263602.html\">editorial published before the March elections</a>, Ramírez called for four fundamental changes to the PP platform: a) Stop opposing gay marriage; b) Start supporting human embryo research; c) Start supporting government-mandated civics classes; and d) Stop opposing Zapatero’s desire to negotiate with ETA, the Basque terrorist group.<br />&nbsp;<br />Never mind that such an about-face would, in effect, endorse the social policies that marked Zapatero’s first four years in power. <a href=\"http://www.eng.gees.org/articulo/270/3\">According to one analyst</a>: “If the Popular Party fails to criticize the conversion of gay couples into marriages [a project designed to undermine the voice of religion in the public square]; if it accepts as inevitable research using human beings as guinea pigs; if it places the good of its children under state control and agrees to the substitution of Christianity with a civil religion; if it chooses to present its candidacy to the 2008 elections without supporting ETA’s victims and without condemning the pacts with terrorists reached by PSOE, it might be able to win the elections, as Ramírez indicates. Nevertheless, the party will not do it in name of [classical] liberalism [which in Spain is an ideological current of conservatism], nor will it be able to lay claim to liberalism as such.”<br />&nbsp;<br />Critics have warned Rajoy to stay true to party principles. Party conservatives are especially worried about Rajoy’s new openness to dialogue with nationalists who run the Basque region. They are planning a <a href=\"http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/09/28/espana/1190972019.html\">referendum on Basque independence</a> in October, which many observers say is a veiled step toward breaking away from Spain.<br />&nbsp;<br />Indeed, Rajoy got an earful from Aznar, his political mentor, at the party congress in Valencia. After having had his own speaking slot moved back in order to minimize the chances of upstaging Rajoy, Aznar arrived two hours late, forcing the conference proceedings to be delayed as he basked in applause from supporters.<br />&nbsp;<br />After warmly greeting a number of outgoing hardliners, Aznar <a href=\"http://www.gees.org/articulo/5616/\">addressed the 3,000 delegates</a>: “I have never understood, and I still do not understand, this idea of the center as the final destination of an interminable journey. We need to create an alternative to the Socialist Party, not to ourselves,” he said, adding that the PP has “solid moral references which we must never lose.” He then decided not to stay for Rajoy’s speech.<br />&nbsp;<br /><em><strong>Conservatism Equals Socialism?</strong></em><br />&nbsp;<br />But Rajoy views much of the talk about conservative moral values as bunk. He has, for example, appointed the career politician <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQTmdXP9UMk&amp;feature=user\">María Dolores de Cospedal</a> to replace the conservative Ángel Acebes as the party’s deputy leader. The 42-year-old De Cospedal is the divorced mother of a child conceived through in-vitro fertilization and who supports the controversial fast-track divorce and gay marriage laws introduced by Zapatero. Rajoy’s choice of the left-leaning De Cospedal has roiled the conservative elements of the PP, as well as Spain’s Catholic Church.<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy has also named 36-year-old <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ0eUEd9q6A\">Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria</a> as the PP spokeswoman in parliament. Shortly after her appointment, Santamaria declared that the PP now stood for the “defence of public health and education and an indispensable social coverage.” To most observers, that formulation sounds a lot more like socialism than it does conservatism.<br />&nbsp;<br />Another big surprise was the appointment of Madrid Mayor <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdsKbnqsrvk\">Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón</a> to the party’s executive committee. Rajoy, who has been an <a href=\"http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/07/27/madrid/1153963160.html\">enthusiastic supporter of gay marriage</a>, has said: “Today, I don’t know but in 2012, if we succeed in doing good work many PSOE voters will vote for the PP because the center is the only political space.”<br />&nbsp;<br />It still remains to be seen if Rajoy will survive until 2012. Rajoy will be in big trouble if he does not lead the PP to victory in regional elections in the northern province of Galicia, a conservative bastion and his own birthplace, in 2009. The second major test will be at the national party convention in 2011, when the PP will choose a leader via a US-style primary election for the first time every, a major change in a country where candidates are hand-picked without regard to the rank-and-file.<br />&nbsp;<br />Meanwhile, socialists will almost certainly interpret Rajoy’s de-ideologicalization of Spanish conservatism as a sign of weakness. Indeed, Rajoy’s belief that the PP must be “more open than ever to all of Spanish society…we must be the party that pleases the majority of Spaniards…” will probably prove to be far more beneficial to the socialist than to the conservative agenda.<br />&nbsp;<br />And just in time for the latest innovation in Zapatero’s social policies. While Spanish Socialists have been busy reducing individual freedoms, disdaining life and attacking the family, the Spanish parliament on 25 June voted to <a href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/26/humanrights.animalwelfare?gusrc=rss&amp;feed=networkfront\">extend human rights to apes</a>. In yet another indication of the death of common sense in post-modern Spain, the new resolutions have cross-party majority support and are expected to become law within a year. The only remaining questions are: Will monkeys be allowed to vote in the 2012 general elections? And if so, will they vote for Zapatero or for Rajoy?</p><p>&nbsp;<br /><em><a href=\"http://soerenkern.com/web/\">Soeren Kern</a> is Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based </em><a href=\"http://www.gees.org/\">Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group</a></p> <p> </p> \";s:8:\"category\";s:7:\"English\";s:7:\"pubdate\";s:31:\"Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:37:27 -0500\";s:7:\"summary\";s:11662:\"<div class=\"rightbox\"><img style=\"width: 200px; height: 100px;\" src=\"../../files/spanish-chronicles-soeren-k.jpg\" class=\"inline\" alt=\"spanish-chronicles-soeren-k.jpg\" /></div><p>If you can’t beat them, join them! This seems to be the new guiding philosophy of Spain’s opposition center-right Popular Party (PP), which has undergone an <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Makeover\">extreme makeover</a> to the political center following its <a href=\"node/3078\">second consecutive election defeat</a> to the ruling Socialist Workers Party (PSOE).<br />&nbsp;<br />After losing the national elections on 9 March, most conservatives had expected the beleaguered opposition leader <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Rajoy\">Mariano Rajoy</a> to retire and quietly fade away. Instead, Rajoy, 53, has tenaciously held onto his position, insisting that he is the only individual who can unify the PP and unseat Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the next national poll, which is set for 2012. Rajoy has been the party’s leader since 2004, when he was hand-picked for the job by former PP Prime Minister José María Aznar.<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break-->&nbsp;<br />Given the notoriously undemocratic nominating processes within Spanish political parties, no rival candidate has emerged to challenge Rajoy for his job. So at their <a href=\"http://www.pp.es/16congreso/\">annual national party congress</a>, which was held in the Mediterranean city of Valencia on 20-22 June, PP regional delegates (also known as party ‘barons’ for their secretive backroom shenanigans) voted overwhelmingly to allow the unopposed Rajoy to continue as leader of the opposition.<br />&nbsp;<br />But the cost to the party has been very high. Rajoy has subjected the PP to a political facelift so audacious that critics say there is now not much difference between it and the PSOE. Moreover, the <a href=\"node/3198\">PP has been left fractured</a> between supporters of Rajoy who want to anchor the party in the political center, and conservatives who want to maintain a tough line on questions of public morality as well as the fight against ETA terrorists.<br /><em><strong>&nbsp;<br /></strong><strong>Pragmatism versus Principle</strong></em><br />&nbsp;<br />There are three main theories as to why <a href=\"node/3078\">Rajoy was unable to unseat Zapatero</a> (who by almost anyone’s definition was a weak and politically vulnerable incumbent) in the recent elections. One hypothesis posits that the bearded and bespectacled Rajoy was a charisma-less candidate who failed to inspire voters. Another premise is that the PP, by clinging to its conservative values, alienated the majority of Spanish voters. A third theory, closely related to the second one, is that the PP, by insisting on Spanish national unity, pushed otherwise centrist voters in separatist regions like Catalonia and the Basque Country into the arms of the post-nationalist PSOE, which has been far more generous than the PP in its offers for increased provincial autonomy.<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy, who like most politicians believes that everyone adores him, is a disciple of theories two and three. As such, he has concluded that in order for him to finally win the political lottery in 2012, he must steer the PP to the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_center_(politics)\">radical center</a> so as to woo new voters. But by doing so, Rajoy has unleashed a bevy of existential soul-searching about the future of Spanish conservatism not seen since the death of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco\">General Francisco Franco</a> in 1975.<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy signaled just how far left he wants to take the PP when on 25 June he granted his first media interview since being re-elected as party chief to the leftwing <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadena_SER\">Cadena Ser</a>, a rabidly anti-PP radio station that is key part of the Spanish Socialist mass media propaganda apparatus. Rajoy told his listeners that <a href=\"http://www.cadenaser.com/espana/articulo/rajoy-marianismo-centro-mujeres-dialogo/serprohoy/20080625csrcsrnac_1/Tes\">his new political philosophy</a> consists of four words: “centrism, women, dialogue and future.” Any observer of Spanish politics would immediately recognize these politically-correct buzzwords as coming straight out of Zapatero’s post-modern playbook.<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy told the <a href=\"http://www.pp.es/16congreso/index.asp?p=15094&amp;c=b55d83ccddafa95f0dddb6e63d593cc9\">party congress in Valencia</a>: “We need to widen our pool of votes. It’s possible. The PP wants to be the meeting place for the majority of Spanish society. We want an open party, not an exclusive club.”<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy seems to be taking some of his ideological cues from the editor of the center-right <a href=\"http://www.elmundo.es/\">El Mundo</a> newspaper, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_J._Ram%C3%ADrez\">Pedro J Ramírez</a>, who has been leading a media push for the PP to abandon its relentless opposition to Zapatero’s liberal social reforms such as fast-track divorce and homosexual marriage. Ramírez, who is also opposed to Rajoy staying on as party leader, says the PP’s defense of its principles have given the party a hard-line image that hurts it at the polls.<br />&nbsp;<br />In an <a href=\"http://www.elmundo.es/papel/2007/11/18/opinion/2263602.html\">editorial published before the March elections</a>, Ramírez called for four fundamental changes to the PP platform: a) Stop opposing gay marriage; b) Start supporting human embryo research; c) Start supporting government-mandated civics classes; and d) Stop opposing Zapatero’s desire to negotiate with ETA, the Basque terrorist group.<br />&nbsp;<br />Never mind that such an about-face would, in effect, endorse the social policies that marked Zapatero’s first four years in power. <a href=\"http://www.eng.gees.org/articulo/270/3\">According to one analyst</a>: “If the Popular Party fails to criticize the conversion of gay couples into marriages [a project designed to undermine the voice of religion in the public square]; if it accepts as inevitable research using human beings as guinea pigs; if it places the good of its children under state control and agrees to the substitution of Christianity with a civil religion; if it chooses to present its candidacy to the 2008 elections without supporting ETA’s victims and without condemning the pacts with terrorists reached by PSOE, it might be able to win the elections, as Ramírez indicates. Nevertheless, the party will not do it in name of [classical] liberalism [which in Spain is an ideological current of conservatism], nor will it be able to lay claim to liberalism as such.”<br />&nbsp;<br />Critics have warned Rajoy to stay true to party principles. Party conservatives are especially worried about Rajoy’s new openness to dialogue with nationalists who run the Basque region. They are planning a <a href=\"http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/09/28/espana/1190972019.html\">referendum on Basque independence</a> in October, which many observers say is a veiled step toward breaking away from Spain.<br />&nbsp;<br />Indeed, Rajoy got an earful from Aznar, his political mentor, at the party congress in Valencia. After having had his own speaking slot moved back in order to minimize the chances of upstaging Rajoy, Aznar arrived two hours late, forcing the conference proceedings to be delayed as he basked in applause from supporters.<br />&nbsp;<br />After warmly greeting a number of outgoing hardliners, Aznar <a href=\"http://www.gees.org/articulo/5616/\">addressed the 3,000 delegates</a>: “I have never understood, and I still do not understand, this idea of the center as the final destination of an interminable journey. We need to create an alternative to the Socialist Party, not to ourselves,” he said, adding that the PP has “solid moral references which we must never lose.” He then decided not to stay for Rajoy’s speech.<br />&nbsp;<br /><em><strong>Conservatism Equals Socialism?</strong></em><br />&nbsp;<br />But Rajoy views much of the talk about conservative moral values as bunk. He has, for example, appointed the career politician <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQTmdXP9UMk&amp;feature=user\">María Dolores de Cospedal</a> to replace the conservative Ángel Acebes as the party’s deputy leader. The 42-year-old De Cospedal is the divorced mother of a child conceived through in-vitro fertilization and who supports the controversial fast-track divorce and gay marriage laws introduced by Zapatero. Rajoy’s choice of the left-leaning De Cospedal has roiled the conservative elements of the PP, as well as Spain’s Catholic Church.<br />&nbsp;<br />Rajoy has also named 36-year-old <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ0eUEd9q6A\">Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria</a> as the PP spokeswoman in parliament. Shortly after her appointment, Santamaria declared that the PP now stood for the “defence of public health and education and an indispensable social coverage.” To most observers, that formulation sounds a lot more like socialism than it does conservatism.<br />&nbsp;<br />Another big surprise was the appointment of Madrid Mayor <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdsKbnqsrvk\">Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón</a> to the party’s executive committee. Rajoy, who has been an <a href=\"http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/07/27/madrid/1153963160.html\">enthusiastic supporter of gay marriage</a>, has said: “Today, I don’t know but in 2012, if we succeed in doing good work many PSOE voters will vote for the PP because the center is the only political space.”<br />&nbsp;<br />It still remains to be seen if Rajoy will survive until 2012. Rajoy will be in big trouble if he does not lead the PP to victory in regional elections in the northern province of Galicia, a conservative bastion and his own birthplace, in 2009. The second major test will be at the national party convention in 2011, when the PP will choose a leader via a US-style primary election for the first time every, a major change in a country where candidates are hand-picked without regard to the rank-and-file.<br />&nbsp;<br />Meanwhile, socialists will almost certainly interpret Rajoy’s de-ideologicalization of Spanish conservatism as a sign of weakness. Indeed, Rajoy’s belief that the PP must be “more open than ever to all of Spanish society…we must be the party that pleases the majority of Spaniards…” will probably prove to be far more beneficial to the socialist than to the conservative agenda.<br />&nbsp;<br />And just in time for the latest innovation in Zapatero’s social policies. While Spanish Socialists have been busy reducing individual freedoms, disdaining life and attacking the family, the Spanish parliament on 25 June voted to <a href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/26/humanrights.animalwelfare?gusrc=rss&amp;feed=networkfront\">extend human rights to apes</a>. In yet another indication of the death of common sense in post-modern Spain, the new resolutions have cross-party majority support and are expected to become law within a year. The only remaining questions are: Will monkeys be allowed to vote in the 2012 general elections? And if so, will they vote for Zapatero or for Rajoy?</p><p>&nbsp;<br /><em><a href=\"http://soerenkern.com/web/\">Soeren Kern</a> is Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based </em><a href=\"http://www.gees.org/\">Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group</a></p> <p> </p> \";}i:6;a:6:{s:5:\"title\";s:56:\"English Democrats Harassed by Police for Flying the Flag\";s:4:\"link\";s:40:\"http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3370\";s:11:\"description\";s:2854:\"<p><span class=\"submitted\"></span></p> <div class=\"content\"> <div class=\"rightbox\"><img src=\"../../files/scepteredisle.jpg\" /></div></div> Threats of prosecution or fines for flying the England flag in England is not new, and perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that the <a href=\"http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk/\">English Democrats</a> party – which uses the flag in its promotional material – <a href=\"http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk//index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=193&amp;Itemid=2\">is reporting</a> that it has become a target of such intimidation. Yet it is different for one very significant reason: that there has been a longstanding, unspoken rule that political parties in Britain should not be harassed by the police, particularly when campaigning. We accustom such behavior with dictatorship, not democracy.<br /><!--break--><!--break--> &nbsp;<!--break--> <br />The incident occurred when candidate Derek Allpass and his team were out campaigning on June 21, for the Henley by-election (held June 26). They had set up a table with promotional material, and strung bunting sporting the red cross of St. George around it. However, the team was soon approached by the police and the Town Clerk, the latter of whom allegedly told Allpass, “we don\'t want that flag here in Henley.” Darren Riley, the Party\'s Kent Chairman, responded by pointing a church that was close by, and likewise flying the England flag (because it was under the denomination of the Church of England), and remarked, “if you don\'t want England\'s flag flying in Henley you had better take this up with the Vicar too.”<br />&nbsp;<br />Nevertheless, the authorities claimed that the display of the flag by the English Democrats breached a by-law, and instructed them to remove both the table and bunting. The by-law in question has yet to be shown to the party, though as the town was also strewn with red, white, and blue bunting (signifying the United Kingdom, as opposed to England), one can only wonder how peculiarly specific it must be. There were several witnesses, and the party intends to issue the Town Clerk with a Section 65 Race Relations Act Questionnaire if the by-law does not state what was claimed.<br />&nbsp;<br />The English Democrats team complied with the request – though not before taking <a href=\"http://youtube.com/watch?v=vN7vkAaRc2M\">photographs of the display</a> – and continuing their campaigning. Henley is a Conservative safe seat, and was held by Boris Johnson until recently, who prompted the election when he resigned to concentrate on his position as London Mayor.<br /><img src=\"http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk/northwest/images/logo.jpg\" alt=\"De afbeelding “http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk/northwest/images/logo.jpg” kan niet worden weergegeven, omdat hij fouten bevat.\" /></p> \";s:8:\"category\";s:7:\"English\";s:7:\"pubdate\";s:31:\"Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:38:28 -0500\";s:7:\"summary\";s:2854:\"<p><span class=\"submitted\"></span></p> <div class=\"content\"> <div class=\"rightbox\"><img src=\"../../files/scepteredisle.jpg\" /></div></div> Threats of prosecution or fines for flying the England flag in England is not new, and perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that the <a href=\"http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk/\">English Democrats</a> party – which uses the flag in its promotional material – <a href=\"http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk//index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=193&amp;Itemid=2\">is reporting</a> that it has become a target of such intimidation. Yet it is different for one very significant reason: that there has been a longstanding, unspoken rule that political parties in Britain should not be harassed by the police, particularly when campaigning. We accustom such behavior with dictatorship, not democracy.<br /><!--break--><!--break--> &nbsp;<!--break--> <br />The incident occurred when candidate Derek Allpass and his team were out campaigning on June 21, for the Henley by-election (held June 26). They had set up a table with promotional material, and strung bunting sporting the red cross of St. George around it. However, the team was soon approached by the police and the Town Clerk, the latter of whom allegedly told Allpass, “we don\'t want that flag here in Henley.” Darren Riley, the Party\'s Kent Chairman, responded by pointing a church that was close by, and likewise flying the England flag (because it was under the denomination of the Church of England), and remarked, “if you don\'t want England\'s flag flying in Henley you had better take this up with the Vicar too.”<br />&nbsp;<br />Nevertheless, the authorities claimed that the display of the flag by the English Democrats breached a by-law, and instructed them to remove both the table and bunting. The by-law in question has yet to be shown to the party, though as the town was also strewn with red, white, and blue bunting (signifying the United Kingdom, as opposed to England), one can only wonder how peculiarly specific it must be. There were several witnesses, and the party intends to issue the Town Clerk with a Section 65 Race Relations Act Questionnaire if the by-law does not state what was claimed.<br />&nbsp;<br />The English Democrats team complied with the request – though not before taking <a href=\"http://youtube.com/watch?v=vN7vkAaRc2M\">photographs of the display</a> – and continuing their campaigning. Henley is a Conservative safe seat, and was held by Boris Johnson until recently, who prompted the election when he resigned to concentrate on his position as London Mayor.<br /><img src=\"http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk/northwest/images/logo.jpg\" alt=\"De afbeelding “http://www.englishdemocrats.org.uk/northwest/images/logo.jpg” kan niet worden weergegeven, omdat hij fouten bevat.\" /></p> \";}i:7;a:6:{s:5:\"title\";s:51:\"Does the EU Support Racist Violence Against Whites?\";s:4:\"link\";s:40:\"http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3368\";s:11:\"description\";s:7015:\"<p>The EU\'s official watchdog against &quot;racism&quot; complains that native Europeans do not censor themselves enough. Notice that there is not a single word about the massive wave of <a href=\"node/3355\">racist violence</a> facing white natives in Western Europe. We\'re just supposed to shut up while the Multiculturalists dismantle our nations and use them as dumping grounds for the excess population growth of Islamic countries:<br /><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><br />This is from Associated Press (24 June): <a href=\"http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB121430138512899533-lMyQjAxMDI4MTI0NTMyMDUxWj.html\">EU Rights Agency Warns Racist Violence Persists in Bloc</a><br /> <blockquote><em>Racist violence and discrimination persist across the European Union, and most members of the 27-nation bloc aren\'t taking advantage of tough legislation to crack down on the scourge, the EU\'s rights agency warned. Britain and France lead a list of nine countries credited with actively fighting racism and xenophobia, but most other EU members aren\'t making the most of a tough EU-wide &quot;racial equality directive,&quot; the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights said in its annual report. &quot;Racism, discrimination, entrenched disadvantage, racist violence and harassment have remained a fact of life for many individuals in Europe,&quot; the agency warned. &quot;Effective and dissuasive sanctions are crucial to fight ethnic and racial discrimination,&quot; it said. &quot;Without these, discriminatory attitudes and behavioral patterns are unlikely to change and victims remain defenseless.&quot;</em><br /><em>From 2006-2007, Britain punished 95 offenders with sanctions – more than all of the other 26 member states combined -- said the Vienna-based agency, which polices the EU in an effort to stamp out discrimination in employment, housing, education, health care and other key areas. It also singled out Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Sweden for making good use of existing legal tools to fight discrimination. By contrast, a dozen EU member states -- the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia – issued no sanctions at all during the same period.</em><br /></blockquote> <p>One of the organizations cooperating with the EU\'s Fundamental Rights Agency is the Swedish left-wing organization <a href=\"http://expo.se/2008/48_2257.html\"><em>Expo</em></a>, which most of my readers should be familiar with. One of the co-founders of Expo, <a href=\"http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2008/01/open-letter-to-expo-and-expressen.html\">Tobias Hübinette</a>, wrote this in 1996:</p> <blockquote><em>To feel and even think that the white race is inferior in every conceivable way is natural with regards to its history and current actions. Let the Western countries of the white race perish in blood and suffering. Long live the multicultural, racially mixed and classless ecological society! Long live anarchy!</em><br /></blockquote> <p>According to his CV, Tobias Hübinette worked for <em>Expo</em> until at least 1997. In other words, he continued doing research for this &quot;anti-racist&quot; organization after having advocated the extermination of whites and the violent destruction of an entire civilization. Hübinette has continued promoting &quot;Multiculturalism,&quot; even received awards, and is currently working for the Multicultural Centre of Botkyrka, Sweden. To some, &quot;Multiculturalism&quot; apparently means &quot;death to white people and their culture,&quot; nothing more and nothing less.<br />&nbsp;<br />The founder and editor of <em>Expo magazine</em> from 1995 until his death in November 2004, Stieg Larsson, worked with Hübinette for years. Larsson left behind three unpublished thrillers which have become major bestsellers after his death, in Sweden and beyond. Apparently, working with a person calling for the genocide of the entire white race did not prevent Larsson and <em>Expo</em> from being treated as a credible source of information by the European Fundamental Rights Agency regarding &quot;racist violence&quot; in Sweden [<a href=\"http://fra.europa.eu/fra/material/pub/RAXEN/4/RV/CS-RV-NR-SE.pdf\">pdf</a>]. Not only is <em>Expo </em>linked to from the Agency\'s <a href=\"http://www.eumc.eu.int/fra/index.php?fuseaction=content.dsp_cat_content&amp;catid=3e7cb08d8fe74#SE\">website</a>, Expo has received hundreds of thousands of Euros – presumably sponsored by European taxpayers – in direct financial support from the Agency [<a href=\"http://fra.europa.eu/fra/material/doc/45a7ad10a1d16_doc_EN.pdf\">pdf</a>].<br />&nbsp;<br /><em>Antifascistisk Aktion</em> (AFA), a group that supposedly fights against &quot;racists,&quot; openly brags about numerous physical attacks against private citizens with their full name and address published on their website. Leading <em>Expo</em> member Charles Westin in October 2007 published the book <em>Brunt!</em> (&quot;brown,&quot; as in &quot;Fascist&quot;), where he let members of AFA contribute some of their intelligence on &quot;right-wing groups.&quot; In addition to Mr. Westin, the book was co-authored by Mats Deland, who is a journalist in the major national newspaper <em>Aftonbladet</em>. Why is it considered OK that a representative of one of Scandinavia\'s largest newspapers, with close ties to the country\'s largest political party, cooperates openly with an organization known for physically assaulting members of a legal opposition party critical of mass immigration, even in their private homes? And why does the EU support <em>Expo</em> when it has such extremist connections?<br />&nbsp;<br />To my knowledge, Tobias Hübinette was not publicly denounced by <em>Expo</em> for his calls for genocide of whites in 1996, and he apparently continued working for this &quot;anti-racist&quot; organization afterwards. Yet the European Union\'s official &quot;anti-racism agency&quot; gives substantial financial support to this organization, whose co-founder called for mass murder of a particular race. Does the EU endorse the genocidal agenda of <em>Expo\'</em>s co-founder? His statements are publicly available, and have been so for years.</p> <p>I have never seen, neither by Expo in Sweden nor by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights on a European level, a single study tracking the massive wave of racist violence, gang rapes, stabbings and murder directed against white indigenous Europeans in cities across the