Gates of Vienna

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/9/2012

2012-02-09T23:00:00.002-05:00

The “Troika” (a combination of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund) have given Greece 15 days to come up with an additional €300 million in budget cuts, or risk losing the next tranche of €180 million in bailout funds. As of late today the Greek Prime minister told the Commission that he had struck a political deal to obtain the required cuts. Greek unions are calling for another general strike, this one for 48 hours, and protests have become increasingly anti-German, with slogans referring to the “Fourth Reich”.

In other news, a halal abattoir in western Sydney has been reported to the New South Wales food authority for possible violations of laws against cruelty to animals. The license of the slaughterhouse has been suspended during the investigation.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Mary Abdelmassih, McR, Nilk, The Observer, TV, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Losing Our Religion

2012-02-09T16:05:00.003-05:00

A good friend of this blog has found himself unable to publish a lengthy piece of writing because it touches on a certain taboo topic that even conservative web outlets are reluctant to discuss.

No matter how disappointing their behavior, such fastidiousness on the part of online magazines cannot in any way be considered “censorship”. No law restrains our friend from publishing his views. If he is unable to find another publisher, he is quite free to amass the necessary capital and start his own publishing house or website, from which platform he could write and publish whatever he wished.

Yet, although they lack the force of law, our cultural taboos are nonetheless quite real. They make it all but impossible to engage in public discussion of forbidden topics, which means that such debate is confined to the lunatic fringe, where it may be safely ignored by the broad mainstream of political thought, both liberal and conservative. The unwillingness to broach these subjects — which are backed by scientific data and reliable sociological statistics — is itself a sign of collective lunacy on the part of the “mainstream”.

In other words, we are living in an era of mass insanity.

What other explanation can be adduced for the seemingly suicidal urges that drive Western Civilization towards its imminent destruction?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The forbidden topic is, of course, race, along with a constellation of related issues.

The primal horror evoked in the minds of urban literati by the dread word “racism” is enough to strangle any discussion of these ideas before it can begin. To broach the topic in polite society is to risk an ostracism fiercer than was once directed at serial adulterers and public atheists — back when both behaviors still evoked strong public disapproval.

One can’t say certain things. Everyone knows it, and few people are willing to break the taboo, regardless of what the law ostensibly allows. Anyone who values his job, his pension, and the approval of his peers simply avoids the issue.

Yet everybody also understands the nature of the official lies about race. No one believes that “affirmative action” mandates that more Norwegian men be placed on the first string of major basketball teams. None of us thinks that Jewish women are under-represented as housekeepers, or that there are too many men of Chinese descent earning PhDs in particle physics.

No, the issue is about sticking it to the white man. Everyone knows it, but almost no one is willing to discuss it.

The conceit is that Europeans and their descendants, in creating Western Civilization, have somehow attained an unfair dominance over other races. The doctrine further maintains that the European ascendancy was made possible only through the “racism” of white people.

These assertions are the cornerstone of what is generally referred to as Politically Correct Multiculturalism. They are assumed as premises, yet they do not admit of any testing to establish their accuracy. The basis of the reigning PCMC doctrine thus becomes unassailable and unquestionable. It possesses an absolute truth that can only be conferred by rigid orthodoxy.

Yet other reasonable and scientifically sound explanations exist for the success of the white race. We already accept genetically based distinctions between groups of people involving any number of characteristics, including the capacity to digest certain foods, resistance to or predisposition towards common diseases, and the ability to withstand extreme cold.

We are even willing to examine differences that correlate with what is commonly known as “race”. The descendants of West Africans make better sprinters. Peruvian Indians are genetically adapted to low-oxygen conditions at high altitudes. Central Asians possess a gene that enables them to survive and flourish on a diet that consists almost entirely of milk products. And so on.

Yet the overwhelming evidence that human intelligence has a significant genetic component is disregarded. We are required to ignore the fact that variation in IQ strongly correlates with the distribution of physical characteristics that are generally associated with “race”. Anyone who wishes to discuss these facts — and their implications for public policy — is shunned. This is true even in “conservative” venues, as our friend discovered. Unless one is willing to keep company with dedicated Jew-haters, it’s virtually impossible to write of these matters and expect to be read by a significant audience.

This blind devotion to multicultural doctrine is understandable, in a way.

To admit that “racism” does not explain differences in group achievement is to declare that fifty years of public policy have been in error.

Reversing course would require an acknowledgement that hundreds of billions of dollars have been wasted in an attempt to remedy something irremediable.

It would mean that all the enormous bureaucracies dedicated to fighting “discrimination” should be dismantled.

It would force us to accept that racial parity in most fields can never be achieved through public policy.

Official attempts to achieve an equality of outcomes can only lead to further dishonesty, distortion, coercion, and eventual totalitarian governance — towards which we are rapidly heading, especially in Western Europe.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The brittle and unsustainable nature of the PCMC premise is made obvious by the hysterical, irrational, and sometimes violent responses by its adherents to those who question it. Dissidents who refute the dominant paradigm risk their livelihoods and personal safety by doing so. Being intellectually honest in public these days may require adding a bulletproof vest to one’s standard wardrobe.

What could possibly explain such deranged and violent reactions to the questioning of the dominant paradigm?

It has become obvious to many people — including ordinary folk of common sense, and not just cranks — that our current trajectory leads inexorably towards societal destruction. To hang on to the PCMC dream is insane and foolish. Why, then, are so many people in thrall to what is essentially suicidal madness?

The answer is obvious: Politically Correct Multiculturalism is a religion.

PCMC is devious and deceitful, because it claims not to be a religion. It recognizes no supreme being or supernatural moral force. It assumes the mantle of “science”, but its dogma is actually that of Scientism, which elevates certain allegedly scientific premises to the status of unquestionable orthodoxy.

The Western world is now entering what may be a terminal decline, and its self-destruction is driven by a form of religious mania. Zealous disciples of PCMC orthodoxy are so frenzied in their devotion that they are willing to die for it — they would literally prefer their own deaths, and the death of their entire civilization, than to be perceived as “racist”. Fjordman has catalogued a number of specific examples of individuals in thrall to the PC death-wish.

Why fight so viciously on behalf of such a dangerous and destructive ideology?

People who are comfortable and secure in their faith are unlikely to respond violently to those who hold other beliefs. A vicious reaction to the questioning of one’s religion is an indication that the believer is deeply afraid.

Why this fear? If he truly examined the premises of his faith, what might he discover?

What if he were in fact wrong about all that he had previously held to be true?

The need to guard against this dreaded outcome requires the projection of violent tendencies on all those who question orthodoxy. Thus, in the eyes of those who believe in it, the only alternative to accepting the Multicultural lie is to promote a race war. Referring to inherent differences among the races inevitably prompts the invocation of Hitler. At the very least, according to PC disciples, the acceptance of racial differences must lead to renewed oppression and “discrimination”.

In fact, to affirm a person’s inherent individually-held capabilities, regardless of any genetic category to which he might belong, is the opposite of “racial discrimination”. To acknowledge that whites will always be statistically over-represented among accomplished mathematicians, and that blacks will always be statistically over-represented among great athletes, is not inherently discriminatory. People simply differ in their abilities, and those abilities are at least partially based in their genetic makeup.

I am an American of European descent. When I learn that Ashkenazi Jews and East Asians are more intelligent on average than people of my race, it doesn’t make me feel inferior. My self-esteem is not harmed. These differences are statistical and not individual; why should anyone object to that?

It’s crucial to remember that statistics do not mandate any special treatment, good or bad, of a particular individual. They simply state certain facts about humans in the aggregate, which is where measurable group differences can be detected.

No individual need be punished or rewarded for the statistical characteristics of the genetic group he happens to belong to. Everyone deserves the same chance at life based on his own abilities.

Why is that notion so radical here in the second decade of the 21st century? Fifty years ago it was the commonly-accepted norm.

Today, however, the priests of Political Correctness shout down anyone who voices such sentiments. Their doctrine requires equality of outcome at any cost. Equality of opportunity is not good enough, because then all races would not be proportionally represented among lawyers or neurosurgeons.

This is the orthodoxy that must be defended to the death.

And not just the death of those who believe in it, but yours and mine as well.

It’s time to put aside this death-cult. The first step on the road back to sanity is losing our religion.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/8/2012

2012-02-08T23:48:00.001-05:00

The intense cold snap continues in Europe and North Africa. At least eighty deaths have been blamed on the weather in Algeria, where ice and snow have snarled the roads, and badly vented heaters have killed people indoors. Wolves are coming down from the Apennines in Italy to escape the cold and seek shelter; a pack was sighted near an elementary school, causing consternation among local residents.

In other news, after an Islamist coup in the Maldives, a mob of Muslim zealots attacked the national museum and smashed a number of “idolatrous” statues of the Buddha.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Nilk, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Study Shows Sun Rises in the East

2012-02-08T21:11:00.001-05:00

…or rather, academia is the most liberal-leaning of modern Western institutions.

Who knew?

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

Threatened by the Anti-Fascists of Bergen

2012-02-08T19:33:00.003-05:00

Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer has translated an article from today’s BT.no about various threatening letters sent to members of the Norwegian Defence League. The article also describes a physical attack on a member of the NDL perpetrated by individuals from AFA earlier this year. The incidents occurred in the west-coast city of Bergen, the second-largest city in Norway.

The letter at the top of the page reads:

We in AFA (Anti-fascist Action, Bergen) are sending you this letter to encourage you to leave the NDL (Norwegian Defence League). We would encourage you to spend your time on more sensible things, like raising your child. After 22 July we will no longer accept any right-wing organization in our city. We are going to crush your organization, so we are asking you to make it easier for yourself and leave the NDL now.

Greetings from AFA Bergen.

PS: Say hello to xxx from us and say thank you for last time

The text of the article itself:

Friend was attacked — then two threatening letters followed

“Thanks for last time,” the anti-fascist Action writes in the letter to the pregnant woman.

Two prominent members of the Norwegian Defence League (NDL) have received threatening letters from a group calling itself the Anti-Fascist Action in Bergen.

The two groups are positioned on opposite sides on the political spectrum. When The Norwegian Defence League held a secret inaugural meeting in Bergen in November last year, ten demonstrators from the organization ‘SOS Rasisme’ showed up.

“Focus on raising your child”

One of the recipients is a pregnant woman, and the letter refers to her unborn child. The two letters are almost identical.

“We would encourage you to spend your time on more sensible things, like raising your child,” the letter addressed to the woman says.

“After 22 July we will no longer accept any right-wing organization in our city. We are going to crush your organization … Greetings from AFA Bergen.”

Both recipients wish to remain anonymous out of consideration to their families and their own safety.

Refers to the assault

The letter concludes with a reference to an assault which took place in Bergen on January 3, and the sender has included the name of the victim in that particular incident.

“Say hello to xxx from us and say thank you for last time,” the letter concludes.

“At first I thought I had received some sort of recruitment letter. It was quite strange. I’m scared, but not as scared as I was when I first received it. I always look over my shoulder and I don’t walk alone in the city at night anymore,” the woman says to bt.no.

She finds it hard to understand how they have managed to obtain the information about her pregnancy and her address.

“Hardly anyone knows where I live, only my family and my closest friends. And I have recently moved in to a new flat. They must be super-manipulative, or they have somehow managed to trick the National Register,” the woman says, and she emphasizes that she hasn’t published any of the information found in the letter on the Internet.

The other person who has been targeted says he is unaware of the identity of the sender.

“I’ve checked their website and I got the distinct impression that they are a group of shy people who don’t want any attention, but prefer to hide behind threats. And, as the recent assault case shows, they like to wear ski masks.”

Police: Never seen anything like this

No one else in the western chapter of the NDL has received letters or any type of inquiries.

The police in Bergen confirm that two formal complaints have been filed.

“One pertaining to an attack, and the other one to a threat. I can’t comment on the details, but we have reviewed the information and started investigations,” police superintendent Leif Havre tells bt.no.

“We are talking about two different cases, but we can’t rule out that there may be a connection here.

“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” he says.

He has no knowledge of Anti-Fascist Action in Bergen.

“We are in the initial stages of the investigation and it is too early to say whether we’ll contact the police in Oslo for additional information,” he says.

Militant anti-fascists

According to Wikipedia, Anti-fascist Action is an international network of militant anti-fascists who are influenced by various branches of communism and anarchism.

Bt.no has tried to get in touch with the organization, which is affiliated with the Blitz movement in Oslo. The group has its own website with an e-mail address and a telephone number, but none of them are working.

On the website the group writes that they don’t wish to draw “unwanted attention from the police or fascists, in order to keep them in the dark about what we’re up to.”

Hege Storhaug of Human Rights Service told bt.no that she was unaware that the group has established themselves in Bergen.

But BT has written about the organization before. That happened in 2008 after members handed out leaflets identifying a person as a Nazi, information which later on turned out to be incorrect. Back then the organization was described as having a “very random structure”.

Links to Breivik

The Norwegian Defense League first became known to the public at the end of 2010/11. It is inspired by the English Defence League (EDL), an organization that is known for violent street demonstrations in England. It is believed that Anders Breivik Behring had extensive contact with the EDL.

“We are a nonviolent organization. In this country we enjoy democracy and freedom of speech. No one from either side of the political spectrum should be able to take these freedoms away with violence,” the male recipient of the letter says.

He also believes that the letter can be linked to the attack on his friend.

The 25-year-old who was attacked by three masked men says he was “slightly shocked” when he heard about the reference to his own case. He is also a member of the Norwegian Defence League.

“It’s provocative and disgusting, and I am especially worried for the pregnant woman. I do hope the police catch them,” he says.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/7/2012

2012-02-07T23:59:00.002-05:00

Former Senator Rick Santorum put a dent in Mitt Romney’s lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, winning caucuses in Minnesota and Missouri. A third contest in Colorado may fall to Mr. Santorum when all the votes are counted.

In other news, some members of the European Commission say they are losing patience with Greece. Citigroup now reckons there’s a 50-50 chance that Greece will withdraw from the Eurozone. A Dutch commissioner maintains the euro could survive the departure of Greece, but Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso says that the Commission wants Greece to remain within the Eurozone community.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Egghead, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Kitman, McR, Steen, The Observer, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

The Swedish Free Press Society

2012-02-07T22:02:00.001-05:00

Lars Hedegaard, the president of the International Free Press Society and chairman of the Danish Free Press Society, has just announced the opening of a chapter of his organization in Sweden. The following article chronicles the founding of the Swedish Free Press Society.

The Free Press Comes to Sweden

More than a hundred people turned up for the first meeting of the Swedish Free Press Society

By the editors of Sappho.dk

(COPENHAGEN, 2 February) “Come and listen to what you will never see, hear or read in the Swedish media.”

This is a quote from the invitation to the Swedish Free Press Society’s first meeting, which took place on 31 January in the City of Malmö across the bridge from the Danish capital Copenhagen.

That same evening yet another murder and yet another bombing of a police station were added to the seemingly endless cycle of gangland violence in the Southern Swedish city. The number of unsolved murders in Malmö since last summer now stands at eight and the city has acquired a reputation as the Murder Capital of Northern Europe.

[The evening’s speakers in high spirits. From left to right: Hans Rustad (Norway), the Swedes Gunnar Sandelin and Ingrid Carlqvist, and the Danes Lars Hedegaard and Mikael Jalving.

(Photo © Snaphanen)]

But despite escalating violence and biting cold, 120 people turned up for the meeting, which was held under the watchful eye of about 20 uniformed and armed police in addition to a number of fierce-looking plainclothes agents that were there to protect the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has been the target of several assassination attempts.

The Swedish journalist Ingrid Carlqvist — the principal organiser of the event — had ample reason to be satisfied as she bid welcome to the audience and speakers:

“This is a historic meeting,” she said.

“We are here to break some taboos and let’s begin with the biggest one of all — Sweden’s immigration policies.”

Total blackout

As one of the evening’s speakers, the Swedish journalist Gunnar Sandelin, could testify, it is a risky business to write the truth about this national taboo.

In 2008 he wrote a critical piece for the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter under the headline “Journalists impose blackout on immigration”. Since then he has been unable to find a steady job.

The article documented that the vast majority of so-called refugees have no legitimate reason to ask for asylum.

What is really taking place is a hugely expensive, camouflaged immigration. “In addition,” said Sandelin in his Malmö speech, “we have no knowledge at all about who is entering the country. The great majority come without any identification papers and present the immigration authorities with cooked-up stories.

“Many anonymous members of the immigration service are well aware of what is going on. Yet nothing is done.

“This ought to be an obvious issue for Swedish journalists but nobody wants to touch it. They simply impose a blackout when it comes to the entire problem of unregulated mass immigration. Instead they spend their time stigmatizing people who dare speak up. This is not a healthy social climate.”

Sandelin quoted a poll indicating that 90% of the population agree that the Swedish media are not telling the truth about immigration and its consequences.

“Make them weep”

As a former journalist with the state-owned TV channel SVT Sandelin was able to reveal how the channel views its role when it comes to immigration.

At some point he asked his boss why the reporters kept labelling immigrants as refugees when it was evident that they were not.

“My boss informed me that immigrants are weak and that it is therefore the obligation of TV-journalists to be on their side. Immigrants had to be presented as so pitiful that viewers would weep.”

According to Gunnar Sandelin, this is a highly ideological issue.

“It used to be the workers who were weak by definition — today it is the immigrants. We are being ruled by a sort mental Stalinism that determines what roles various social groups must play. As a consequence, people are being misled and kept in the dark as to what is really going on.”

Inequality before the law

The other speakers were two Danes and one Norwegian.

President of the Danish Free Press Society Lars Hedegaard attributed most current threats against free speech to the fact the entire vision of an idyllic multicultural society has unravelled.

“As we can see in city after city and country after country, multiculturalism and cultural relativity have created problems so vast that politicians no longer know how to solve them. Angela Merkel has admitted that the multicultural utopia is off the table and so have David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy. But if they cannot solve the problems, they can at least try to prevent people from speaking about them.”

The result, said Lars Hedegaard, is the introduction of so-called “hate speech” and “racism” clauses in the penal codes and an ensuing string of convictions all over Europe. The problem is compounded by the fact that laws against insult are being applied selectively leading to inequality before the law.

“Some people are being punished for saying what the specially favoured — those defined as ‘weak’ or righteous — can utter with impunity. In fact, the most favoured can say pretty much whatever they want.”

Hedegaard made a point of stressing that successful integration of immigrants cannot take place in a climate where people are afraid to speak their mind. “Who would integrate into a society that responds to any attack by limiting the rights of its own citizens?” he asked.

“Without free speech we cannot solve the problems of society. We cannot even identify them.”

Cracks in “The Realm of Silence”

The other Danish speaker, journalist and author Mikael Jalving, is quite an expert on Swedish debating culture. He spent most of a year travelling around the country in an attempt to get the Swedes to talk.

It proved difficult. He did, however, manage to collect enough material to write a book entitled “Absolute Sweden” in which he characterises the country as “The Realm of Silence”.

“There is a lot of discussion taking place in Sweden,” he told the audience in Malmö. “But people rarely debate matters of import. That’s why I’m positively surprised that today we have a Free Press Society here in Malmö. I wouldn’t have believed that two years ago.”

Sweden wants to be best

Hans Rustad, the editor of the popular Norwegian website Document.no, had also made the trip to Malmö. He delivered a brief characterisation of Swedish immigration policies as it looks from a Norwegian perspective:

“Viewed from the outside, Sweden seems to have a great need to be the best. You want to be number one in goodness and tolerance, which is why you compete with other countries in the discipline of having the most liberal immigration policy.”

“But in the process you have given up your own identity and that is dangerous. That is why I wish the Swedish Free Press Society success and good luck.”

Reversing the Reconquista

2012-02-07T20:05:00.001-05:00

The CBN report below examines the ongoing re-Islamization of the Iberian Peninsula, as evidenced by the accelerating immigration of Muslims into Spain — and the exodus of well-educated middle-class Spaniards from the country.

Based on recent surveys, most of the new arrivals have no intention of assimilating, but owe their primary loyalty to the Ummah.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

Stop ACTA

2012-02-07T18:25:00.003-05:00

Late last month the United States Congress backed off from any immediate action on SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) after widespread objections from many sources, including a website blackout by Wikipedia and a prominent public protest by Google. Opponents were rightly concerned by the potential for abuse that would infringe internet users’ privacy, freedom of speech, and other civil liberties.

The equivalent of SOPA in the European Union is ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). Since the EU has no democratically elected deliberative body responsible for proposing legislation, the implementation of ACTA has to be accomplished by other means. The initiative is vulnerable to the decision by any individual country to withdraw from ratification, which is exactly what Poland has just done.

Many thanks to JLH for translating this recent article from Junge Freiheit:

Net Community Gears Up for Demonstrations on the Weekend

The map indicates the demonstrations thus far announced for February 11th and the logo of ACTA opponents

Berlin — The internet community in Germany is preparing for a number of rallies on the coming weekend. Thus far 55 demonstrations for February 11th against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) have been announced. Just in Germany. It could be the largest demonstration of this kind ever.

Acta is an agreement made behind closed doors on the initiative of the USA, which is now supposed to take effect after being initialed by most EU states. Among other things, Acta would make internet providers responsible for the actions of their clients. They would be obliged to bar any user who has offended against copyright law. The new regulations could also rescind mail secrecy and make sites like Youtube impossible, say critics.

Poland has exited

The relevant formulations in the text of the agreement are very vague, whatever proponents may say. The feared measure cannot be effected with this agreement, says Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Scharrenberger (FDP). The Europe-wide resistance is now gathering against the agreement, on which the Bundestag has yet to vote. In the front line are the internet community and organizations like the Pirate Party or Anonymous which are in all-out attack mode against it. Cleverly, leftist parties like the Greens have made the cause their own, but also the Youth Union (Junge Union) is demanding; “Acta ad acta legen!” (Make Acta inactive).

Poland has already withdrawn from the ratification process after repeated mass demonstrations there which were hardly reported at all in the German media.

Self-Immolation in Afghanistan

2012-02-07T15:20:00.001-05:00

The CNN report below describes the growing incidence of self-immolation among women in Afghanistan. The brutality of their marriages drives these women to set themselves on fire. Those who survive describe what happened as an accident, since to admit the truth would invite “honor violence” from their husbands or other male family members.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

The Culturally Enriched Dope-Dealers of Oslo

2012-02-07T13:52:00.002-05:00

Many of Oslo’s dope-dealers are culturally enriched multiple recidivists, “asylum-seekers” who have been deported repeatedly and returned to Norway to ply their lucrative trade. Much of the time they are able to conduct their business openly, with near-impunity.

Many thanks to our Norwegian correspondent The Observer for translating the following article from Norwegian state broadcaster NRK:

Drug dealers expelled from Oslo, but come back again

Last year 500 asylum-seekers and individuals without legal residence were arrested for selling drugs on the streets in Oslo, most of them originally from Africa. Many are deported, but they return again, again and again.

“I’ve just spotted a guy that was active here yesterday. He has come back, walking casually around the square, on the lookout for potential customers,” an undercover cop says.

“Suspect number four has a deal going on,” he says.

In a room on the third floor somewhere in the city centre two undercover police officers are keeping the area under surveillance. They observe everything that happens out there.

We are somewhere along the Aker river in Oslo, a place where hashish, pills and cocaine are sold. Most of the dealers are Africans, either asylum-seekers or individuals without legal residence.

Knows all the tricks

The dealers are part of a well-organized drug network that has a highly organized leadership structure, according to the police. To avoid arrest the dealers have been properly drilled on how to operate.

“They have depots where they store the drugs because they don’t want to get caught with it,” a police officer explains to NRK.

“They have become familiar with the Norwegian legal system, and they know if they get caught without carrying the drugs, the police have a weak case. That’s why they don’t carry larger quantities,” he adds.

The police must be able not only to prove that a drug deal has taken place but also be able to link the person who sold the drugs to a drug depot. This is very labor-intensive.

Problems with deportations

For years the police have been fighting an uphill battle to stop the overt drug trade in Oslo. Last year police in Oslo arrested 531 drug dealers. But this is when the problems start.

Many of those arrested have discarded their identification papers and refuse to reveal their identities. One of the requirements for deporting them is that their identities are known. This is very difficult and time-consuming work.

134 of those deported returned

This is the main problem: Last year the police were able to arrest and deport many of the drug dealers. But as it turns out many of those quickly returned.

Among those who were put on a plane and transported out of the country last year were134 individuals who had been deported at least once previously. It is like walking in circles.

“I have arrested a guy three times for selling drugs. He has been deported three times already, and now he’s back again,” the policeman says.

“Last time he told me he didn’t see the point of sending him out of the country because he would be back again in the area before me anyway.”

Desperate residents

One of the places where drugs are sold openly is Grünerløkka. The local residents are worried about what’s happening in their neighborhood.

“This bridge is used by all the children attending the Møllergata elementary school,” says Anne Mikkelsen, head of the residents’ association in the area.

The bridge spanning the Aker River where NRK meets her is located in one of the areas that are teeming with drug dealers.

“Many kids have to zigzag between the drug dealers when there aren’t any security guards present at the bridge. Some days it has been so bad that the principal of Møllergata School has had to escort the kids so they could feel safe,” she says.

Racism allegations

Approximately a 100 meters from the bridge an undercover policeman is about to check the papers of an individual who is suspected of selling drugs.

“I don’t do anything wrong. The police are my friends,” the man says when the police approach him.

Allegations of police racism are normal

“All blacks are stopped and searched in Europe,” the man who claims to be from Nigeria says.

“Is that so?” the policeman asks.

“Yes, that’s how you operate.”

The man has no drugs on him, but is expelled from the area.

Find drugs — but not enough

In Grønland the undercover cops have decided to arrest suspect number one, a man in a beige jacket.

I’ve been told to follow at least ten metres behind them and not to show my camera. If the suspect sees the camera he will run.

The two undercover cops apprehend the suspect and are able to surprise him. He turns out to be an asylum-seeker from Nigeria, living in an asylum centre in Hønefoss [city about 50 kilometres northwest of Oslo]. They are also able to locate his depot.

He is taken to the police station and interrogated. But the police are unable to start criminal proceedings against him. He came to Norway on October 31 2011, and has already been arrested three times. He has also been expelled from the area on suspicion of selling drug on five previous occasions. Eight hours after his arrest he is back out on the streets again, more than likely selling drugs again.

“Sometimes it feels like emptying a leaky boat with a teaspoon. The problem just keeps escalating,” one police officer tells NRK.

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

Sammy Davis Eyes

2012-02-07T00:39:00.000-05:00

I don’t know where Vlad comes up with stuff like this, but here’s his latest:

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/6/2012

2012-02-06T23:34:00.002-05:00

A ten-year-old girl was stabbed in the neck while she was at school in Sweden. The knife was still in her neck when she was rushed to the hospital. This news comes from the Swedish media, which never mentions ethnicity, so there is no way to determine the cultural enrichment quotient of either the attacker or the victim.

In financial news, a debt default is looming over Greece, even as another general strike is scheduled in protest of any further austerity measures. The Greek prime minister is meeting again with his country’s creditors, hoping to negotiate a deal that will allow the flow of loans to resume.

In other news, the Siberian weather has moved further south in Europe, even crossing the Mediterranean to bring significant snowstorms and severe cold to Algeria. Gazprom says it will not be able to increase gas supplies to Europe, since it also has to meet high demand at home in Russia.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to Andy Bostom, Egghead, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JP, Kitman, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Taking the Far Right Seriously

2012-02-06T23:05:00.002-05:00

Well, we made The Guardian again today. And, since the author of the piece below said similar things in his radio appearance, we also made the BBC (the audio is here).

The EDL has staged a couple of successful operations over the past few days. Maybe that’s why the house organs of the Left have felt compelled to load their rhetorical shotguns with salt and spray it in all directions.

I have to admit to a sneaking admiration for Matthew Goodwin’s mastery of propagandistic techniques. As an amateur polemicist, I can see the devious effectiveness of listing Gates of Vienna and Storm Front side by side. GoV, Nazis — same thing!

Right? Right!

Let’s face it: July 22, 2011 provided the far Left with the exact opportunity they had been waiting for: a real right-wing terrorist — the first since 1995! The children’s bodies had barely thumped to the shore of Utøya when the op-eds started rolling out of the presses denouncing the “extreme right”.

Notice how the case against us is framed. We’re “not openly violent”, “nor do [we] advocate violence as a political strategy”, but that’s not enough to exonerate us. Our motives in rejecting violence are merely tactical: “most parties on the far-right wing reject violence because of their electoral ambitions.”

Yup. Uh-huh. That must be it. If I weren’t worried about my future prospects on the hustings, I’d be out there spraying all the Progressives with my AK-47, wouldn’t I?

As if it were impossible for a person to hold right-wing views and still reject violence as a matter of principle!

Our opinions are said to encourage a “culture of violence” — which assertion is impossible to disprove, since the Left believes that violence is inherent is the principles espoused by conservatives. To disagree with the connection between conservatism and violence is to reveal yourself as weak-minded, foolish, or perhaps — gasp! — a secret fellow-traveler of conservatism. The horror!

Anders Behring Breivik (or whoever wrote his manifesto) is said to have been inspired by the extreme right, which therefore must bear at least partial responsibility for the psychopath’s slaughter last summer.

Funnily enough, the same argument is never considered when the ideological arrow points in the opposite direction. Karl Marx inspired inter alia Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, and Pol Pot. At a conservative estimate, these five men were responsible for the deaths of a hundred million people.

Yet Marx has lost none of his luster. He is highly revered in the cloisters of academia, from Berkeley to Barcelona to Brisbane. His philosophy is lovingly transmitted from generation to generation by the guardians of our cultural inheritance within the ivied halls of our finest educational institutions.

Yes, the rules are different for us “right-wing extremists”. But we knew that coming in, didn’t we? None of us can honestly claim to be surprised by all this.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Excerpts from Mr. Goodwin’s remarks in The Guardian are below. I’ve bolded some phrases that are relevant to this discussion. They serve as reminders of the arguments that are likely to be used on both sides of the Atlantic when the time comes to carry out the wishes of the OIC and crack down on all the dangerous “Islamophobes”:

The threat of far-right extremism warrants more than lip service

The committee report on the roots of violent radicalisation draws attention to the danger of ignoring far-right activity

by Matthew Goodwin

Have we got the balance right in our current approach to countering extremism? For much of the past decade, western states have focused the bulk of attention on tackling al-Qaida-inspired terrorism, and the underlying processes of radicalisation that lead some citizens toward this specific form of violent extremism. The result is a large body of evidence on both the terrorist groups, and the factors that “push and pull” some individuals into engaging in violence on their behalf.

Given the new priorities of national security that emerged in the shadow of 9/11, this focus was both justified and understandable. But more than 10 years on, the challenge from extremism looks rather different. This point is reflected in a home affairs committee report on the roots of violent radicalisation, that is published today, and to which I gave evidence. As the report points out, while al-Qaida-inspired terrorism remains the dominant threat, the challenge from extremism is becoming more varied, and hence requires a more holistic approach.

In particular, the report notes that one form of extremism that has remained neglected for too long is the far right. Though often derided as a lunatic fringe or a movement of “ignoramuses and bigots”, the far right continues to escape our serious attention. As the report points out, one view held by many is that government strategy on counter-extremism “only pays lip service to the threat from extreme far-right terrorism”. In contrast, and after collecting evidence from a range of different experts and opinions, the committee concluded there was “persuasive evidence about the potential threat from the growth of far-right organisations”, and that “[t]he Prevent Strategy should outline more clearly the actions to be taken to tackle far-right radicalisation”.

For those of us who have long argued about the need to take the far right more seriously, this point is particularly welcome. The vast majority of far-right parties in Europe are not openly violent, and nor do they advocate violence as a political strategy. Nor, with some notable exceptions, are most supporters of these parties pro-violence. While there are borderline cases in Europe, such as the National Democratic Party (NPD), which is currently under the microscope because of its links to a violent neo-Nazi cell, most parties on the far-right wing reject violence because of their electoral ambitions.

But while not openly violent, I would argue that many of these movements do foster a culture of violence among followers, and a particular set of narratives that would deem violence acceptable under certain conditions. Like most political movements, the far right offers supporters its own vision of society, and reasons for them to get actively involved. But unlike mainstream parties, the narratives that the far right cultivate among its supporters — or what are known in social science as their “vocabularies of motive” — are in many respects different.

[…]

Furthermore, like previous decades, these narratives are further embedded through “narrowcasting”, whereby supporters obtain their news and information from only one source. In this way, and like other extremist groups, the far right often manipulates statistics and events in a way that amplifies notions of threat, survivalism, urgency and action. For Breivik, this process appears to have taken place within prominent far-right blogs, such as Gates of Vienna. In Britain, it is found within websites such as StormFront.

Like today’s report, my view is that we need to take this movement and its potential for violence far more seriously. If Norway taught us anything, it is that dismissing the far right as a collection of cranks is an outdated and inaccurate view. More research is needed on what might “trip” someone like Breivik from joining a radical far-right party into violence or, alternatively, what might pull these individuals back from the brink. But overall, we need to modify our view of this movement, and its adherents.

Read the rest at The Guardian.

Matthew Goodwin has written similar material on numerous occasions in the past. Check his archive in the Grauniad if you’re interested, or see this piece, which was written while the smell of cordite still hung in the air over Utøya.

Many thanks to DF for all the background material.

The Threat From Within

2012-02-06T16:43:00.001-05:00

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about home-grown jihad in Australia, below are excerpts from an op-ed in tomorrow’s Sydney Morning Herald by Gerard Henderson, the executive director of the Sydney Institute.

Mr. Henderson discusses the damage done to Australia’s internal security by the mass immigration of Muslims, particularly Muslims from Lebanon, who are disproportionately responsible for terror plots and gang violence in Australia:

Threat from enemy within makes anti-terrorism laws indispensable

Decisions have consequences, even if decision makers sometimes go into denial. In the weekend edition of the Herald, Debra Jopson provided case studies of the 21 men who have been convicted of terrorism-related charges following Operation Pendennis in Sydney and Melbourne and Operation Neath in Melbourne. A large number are of Lebanese Muslim descent.

In his address to the Sydney Institute on January 24, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, David Irvine, pointed out that “of the 38 people prosecuted for terrorism-related offences in Australia, 37 were Australian citizens and 34 were either born here or lived here since childhood”. Clearly home-grown terrorism is a threat in Australia.

The breakdown of the terrorism convictions is revealing. In a paper titled Explaining Australia-Lebanon Jihadist Connections, Monash University academic Andrew Zammit broke down the statistics as at September last year. He pointed out that 20 out of 33 men convicted “have been of Lebanese descent”. Moreover, “while Lebanese-Australian Muslims make up 60 per cent of those charged over alleged jihadist activity, they constitute only 20 per cent of all Australian Muslims”.

This is very much an Australian phenomenon. There are a number of Lebanese descendant communities in Europe and the US — significantly larger than in Australia. Yet, according to Zammit, the US and Europe “almost never experience [al-Qaeda style] jihadist-related terrorism attempts by members of these communities”.

It is reasonable to assume that most of these Lebanese-Australian Muslims came to Australia as a consequence of what was called the Lebanon concession, when Malcolm Fraser was prime minister of the Coalition government in 1976, or of the family reunion scheme afterwards. There had been a long tradition of migration to Australia by Maronite (that is, Christian) Lebanese and they settled successfully. There was also a small number of Muslim Lebanese who were accepted under the migration intake and did well.

The Lebanese Civil War took place from 1975. At the time, some Maronite Lebanese Australians approached Fraser with a view to Australia accepting some of their fellow Lebanese who were caught up in the conflict. Fraser agreed and introduced what was called the Lebanon concession. It was a concession because the Fraser government agreed to accept individuals, under Australian refugee and humanitarian intake, who were not strictly refugees.

As the cabinet papers for 1976 reveal, this was bad policy and appallingly implemented. It turned out that the Maronites did not want to come to Australia. But poor and poorly-educated Muslims were attracted by the proposal. Contrary to the plan, few — if any — had connections in Australia. As I documented in my pamphlet Islam in Australia (Policy Exchange, 2007), the policy got completely out of hand. The Lebanon concession was jettisoned in November 1976.

A majority of the Lebanese Muslims who arrived in 1976 and after settled in Sydney’s south-western suburbs. They arrived when the Australian economy was in relatively poor shape. Many were ill-equipped for employment in Australia at a time when the manufacturing industry was in decline. Some never obtained meaningful employment and became reliant, with their families, on welfare.

[…]

Some Muslim Lebanese-Australians have done well. Many have not. Too many are involved, with others, in criminal gangs in Sydney’s south-west. A few have been convicted of conspiracy to commit quite horrendous terrorist acts.

[…]

It is now widely recognised that the Soviet Union was involved in espionage in Australia during the Cold War. ASIO was right about that. It makes sense to accept that ASIO and police have identified a small number of Australians who are intent on violent jihad and respond appropriately — and honestly.

Read the rest at The Sydney Morning Herald.

Hat tip: HT.

Kevin Carroll Speaks in Leicester

2012-02-06T00:43:00.001-05:00

The video below shows a portion of Kevin Carroll’s speech yesterday at the English Defence League demonstration in Leicester. Most of Kevin’s talk concerned the sacrifices made by members of the British armed forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and the cynical indifference to them exhibited by politicians at home:

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/5/2012

2012-02-05T23:45:00.002-05:00

For several months the EU has been attempting to persuade China to purchase the debt of its member states, but the Chinese don’t seem very interested. Instead they are buying up European infrastructure, manufacturing facilities, and financial institutions — which are evidently more attractive as long-term investments.

In other news, more than thirty Christian guest workers in Saudi Arabia were arrested by the authorities for holding a prayer meeting. The offenders, both men and women, were rounded up, thrown into jail, stripped, and beaten for their blasphemous behavior.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Egghead, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, McR, Steen, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Homegrown Jihad in Australia

2012-02-05T23:08:00.001-05:00

A lengthy article in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald reports on a terrorist jihad conspiracy that was recently thwarted in Australia. Based on the names mentioned in the article, the plot had a Mohammed Coefficient of at least 29%.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading the accompanying video:

Below are some excerpts from the article itself:

The men were on a training and bonding exercise, armed with .308 and .22 rifles and components of an explosive device.

The Louth trip, said the Victorian Court of Appeal last June, was the most significant of several group exercises between two terrorist cells based in Sydney and Melbourne whose members pledged allegiance to Abdul Nacer Benbrika, an Algerian-born pensioner sheikh living in Melbourne.

Over two days in March 2005, the men pitched tents, lit campfires and shot at trees, leaving bullets in the trunks and spent shells on the ground.

They also left the burnt remains of a lantern battery attached to spark plugs, apparently a crude attempt to create an incendiary or sparking device. Other blunders included failing to take enough food and water, according to Gawel.

“The person that’s inclined to commit the politically motivated type offence is probably not the most practised criminal,” the NSW Police counter-terrorism and special tactics commander, Peter Dein, says.

“Therefore, you would probably not be surprised to see a lot of learning on the way as they’re building their particular capability.”

Victoria Police Detective Inspector Chris Murray, who investigated Benbrika, says the “Keystone cops” elements found in this group and another which plotted to stage a suicide attack on Sydney’s Holsworthy Army base do not detract from their serious implications to national security.

“Terrorist acts are by their nature simplistic and don’t need a lot of technology. They don’t need a lot of planning,” he says.

Twenty-one violent jihadists have been convicted and jailed over the past six years in a series of court cases which put the new home-grown brand of Australian terrorism on display after operations Pendennis and Neath, the two biggest joint ASIO-police investigations ever.

They culminated in December with 13½-year prison sentences for the Neath targets, Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, Saney Edow Aweys and Nayev El Sayed, over their Holsworthy plan.

Part of their motivation was anger over the jailing of the 18 men netted by Pendennis.

The 21 men and their accomplices changed Australia, but not with bombs or heavy artillery blasting a symbolic site as they had planned.

Instead, they have revolutionised counter-terrorism in this country.

[…]

“They were very advanced into their planning and preparation to commit a terrorist attack … There is no doubt about it. If they continued with their plans, there is every expectation that they were going to put something together and attempt to detonate it,” Dein says.

The timing device

Khaled Sharrouf, a zealot carrying a Nokia mobile bearing an American flag, “9/11” and a picture of Osama bin Laden, was caught by security guards when he tried to smuggle six clocks and 140 batteries out of the Chullora Big W store in empty potato chips boxes.

He pleaded guilty to possessing goods in preparation for a terrorist act. Sentencing him, NSW Supreme Court judge Anthony Whealy said the clocks could have been modified to create an electric circuit to detonate a bomb.

Sharrouf, diagnosed as a chronic schizophrenic as a result of drug use, told one psychiatrist he heard voices and sometimes went outside his house holding a bat at night looking for the source.

The detonators

Items found in the home toolbox of Moustafa Cheikho, who trained in Pakistan, included battery leads, electrical wire cut-offs, a switch and small bulbs apparently cut from a string of decorative lights. His computer held a file about a bombing device triggered by a mobile phone.

When police raided tradesman Mazen Touma’s Sydney home, they found 165 railway detonators, pistol and rifle cartridges, nails, shotgun shells, lengths of copper pipe — some fused at one end, 13 rounds of ammunition cut in half with the gunpowder removed. Police also seized 15 boxes containing 7500 rounds of ammunition for semi-automatic weapons from his van.

[…]

The lessons

Australia’s anti-terrorism laws, framed to catch Islamists who had “radicalised” and had seriously violent intent toward others, required new thinking by police and courts, according to Dein and Gawel.

Police had to learn to pin down the details of crimes before they are committed, because of the danger to the community, Gawel says.

For the first time, he says, courts recognised the process of radicalisation that takes place when a disaffected individual’s mindset becomes the driving factor in their acquisition of weapons and explosives.

Pendennis marked the turning point when counter-terrorism agencies realised they had to switch from a “need-to-know” to a “need-to-share” mentality about information, Dein says…

Read the rest in The Sydney Morning Herald.

My Yesterday in Leicester

2012-02-05T19:09:00.005-05:00

Our English correspondent Seneca III attended the English Defence League demonstration in Leicester yesterday, but from behind enemy lines — that is, from the side of the Unite Against Fascism counter-demonstration. From his incognito he was able to observe the UAF reveal their true colors, but only where the MSM cameras were not able to record their activities.

Below is his photo-report on his experiences.

My Yesterday in Leicester
by Seneca III

Last year, almost to the day, I attended and reported upon the EDL demonstration in Luton. This year I decided to have a day out in Leicester and, in the interests of fairness, I chose not to march with the EDL this time but to report from a different perspective — that of the general public and, if possible, from within or from close to the UAF. It was an interesting day, as the following photo-essay may illustrate.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I arrived at about 1045 hrs on one of the Park & Ride buses and made my way to the Clock Tower, which was where the UAF website had instructed its foot soldiers to gather at 1100hrs, despite the Police having given them an entirely different rallying point for their demo, one intended to separate them from the EDL and its designated and escorted line of march past the Clock Tower.

As usual there was a substantial police presence everywhere, all of whom were pleasant, polite and helpful when asked what was happening. I was able to identify large contingents from Lincolnshire and Humberside as well as the West Midlands, within whose beat Leicester lies.

By about 1115hrs roughly fifty to seventy five UAF had gathered close to the Clock Tower, and I eased in for closer look, only to be immediately accosted by a rather scruffy young man with an armful of Socialist Workers Party (oxymoron, or what?) leaflets. I declined a leaflet but asked him what was going on and why he was there. I would like to be able to report that I received a coherent and rational answer to either or both questions but I am afraid this is not the case as with his rather limited vocabulary of roughly half a dozen words — “thugs, EDL, racist, innit, racism, innit” — he was little more then a perambulating oxymoron himself.

As I thanked him for his time and complimented him on his erudition I noticed that a line of police was approaching with the obvious intent of moving the demo away from the immediate area in the opposite direction to that from which the EDL would approach so, sadly leaving a somewhat bemused young man obviously struggling to figure out what ‘erudition’ was, I broke away and went back through the police lines towards the Clock Tower.

This was an instinctive move on my part more than anything else, brought about perhaps by the fact that something wasn’t quite right about the whole set-up. This small group was composed mainly of white protesters, some obviously quite middle class — one of whom was exhorting the faithful through a loudhailer — with only a smattering of Afro-Caribbean and ‘Asian’ ethnics, none of whom appeared to be from the hard core of Antifa street fighters. Furthermore, none of the UAF leadership were addressing these children or moving with them towards their designated muster point.

These,as we shall see, were the decoy, the useful idiots serving their useful purpose, soaking up Police manpower and gaining some breathing space for the real UAF deployment.

Back in the vicinity of the Clock Tower my move was immediately rewarded, for I came across this…

…Mr. Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of the Socialist Workers Party and erstwhile leader of the UAF, cynically watching the useful idiots being shepherded away into the distance by the Constabulary Cavalry. (Please note the female to the right of Bennett — we shall be meeting up with both of them later.)

And, as the decoys disappeared into the distance, Bennett and his small entourage moved off in a different direction, towards the EDL route, unaware that I was delighted to be able join them, albeit at a suitable distance.

By now it was only 1130ish, still well over an hour to the EDL start time. After watching Bennett et al for a while it became obvious that, apart from the occasional meeting and conversation with several ‘Asians’ who were very different in dress, demeanour and attitude to the useful idiots (possibly runners carrying instructions), Bennett and his command-and-control group were just milling about close to the EDL route and waiting like everyone else.

So I decided to leave them to their machinations for a while and occupied myself by tracking a couple of their messenger boys. That was extremely fruitful — more later — and once accomplished I had a coffee and a light, rather pleasant lunch. I wandered around chatting to the other expectant bystanders and several police officers until, not long after 1300hrs, the lead banners of the EDL appeared at the bottom of the Haymarket near Belgrave Gate and I moved down Haymarket in order to take a few photographs as they came through…

Parallel to but not amongst them I accompanied the rear quarter of the EDL column as far as the corner where they were turning into Church Gate. There I witnessed two small incidents wherein the marchers were subjected to some interesting verbal abuse from the other side of the road to me, and returned the compliment both verbally and by means of two half full beer cans, lobbed somewhat inaccurately as far as I could tell. The march seemed to stall for a while, and non-marching spectators including myself were held back once it began to move again. I had to follow along behind until I could turn left up St. Peter’s Lane, into East Bond Street (which parallels Church Gate) and down into Vaughan Way past Butt Close, where the messenger boys had been heading and where the Antifa hard core were attempting to ambush the EDL.

By now the Constabulary had figured out what was afoot and moved in to block off the ambush routes…

…and it was here, where there were no MSM reporters (who were simply following the EDL in the hope of some good footage of right-wing violence) that the true nature of the UAF came into the light of day as a small group of them abused and attempted to assault an isolated thin, blue line that was holding them back. It was the only occasion that day that I saw the Police draw and prepare to use their batons in self-defence…

…and fortunately they did not have to because reinforcements arrived shortly thereafter and the noisy retards, still shouting abuse and threats, gave up and slowly withdrew.

I then strolled down East Bond Street, turned right on to Vaughan Way and immediately bumped in to my old friends Bennett and Co. What a surprise…

…now joined by a Muslima ‘Legal Observer’ (well, at least she had a decently printed orange vest on top of her slave garb, a distinct improvement on that of Weyman’s female ADC) and I joined them for a few last interesting minutes as they documented the actions of the police who were dispersing a small mob of Antifa hard-core who were trying to get at a couple of passing Scotsmen who had had the temerity to suggest to the ‘Legal Observers’ that they would be better employed observing a few stonings in Afghanistan.

And that was the end of my day — in Leicester, anyway. Back to the bus, my car and home to my local pub to watch the Calcutta Cup match and rest my weary legs. In all, though, it was very illuminating, and served mainly to increase my contempt for the MSM and their inadequate and prejudiced reporting.

— Seneca III

Previous posts by Seneca III:

2007	Oct	13	A Letter to my People
		26	Another Letter To My People
2008	Oct	5	Excerpt From “Ere the Winter of Our Discontent”
2009	Oct	22	The Cultural Death of a People
		23	Do Star Chambers Serve a Useful Purpose, Or Do They Obfuscate the Issue?
	Nov	8	By the Rivers of Babylon
2010	Jul	2	The ‘Phoney War’ Is Over
	Sep	13	Musings on the Winds of Change
	Oct	13	The Fourth Dimension of Warfare, Part 1
2011	Jan	1	The New Year Comes With Ham
	Feb	6	My Yesterday in Luton
	Jun	17	The English Spring
	Jul	12	The Betrayed
	Oct	19	A Long Day’s Journey Out of Night, Part I
		20	A Long Day’s Journey Out of Night, Part II
		22	A Long Day’s Journey Out of Night, Part III
		24	A Long Day’s Journey Out of Night, Part IV
	Nov	3	Are These the Labour Pains of a New Renaissance?
2012	Jan	1	A Furious Tide

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/4/2012

2012-02-04T23:58:00.003-05:00

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney won handily in today’s Nevada caucuses, further strengthening his status as the party’s frontrunner.

In other news, the cold wave in Europe continued and intensified. A significant snowfall caused chaos in Rome, and the lower Danube froze over in Bulgaria. Further compounding the woes of Central Europe, Russia’s Gazprom cut back its supplies of natural gas to the EU, by as much as 30% in some countries.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to AC, Egghead, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, RR, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Tommy Robinson Speaks in Leicester

2012-02-04T23:33:00.001-05:00

Back in December a group of culturally enriched young women in Britain escaped jail time after they were tried for beating up a white girl in Leicester while shouting racial epithets at her. The news of their non-punishment went viral after the CCTV footage of the attacks was uploaded to YouTube (see our earlier post for that video).

To highlight the injustice of what happened, the English Defence League held a demonstration today in Leicester. Below is an excerpt from Tommy Robinson’s remarks at the event. About halfway through you’ll hear his caustic response to a man who sieg-heiled him (off-camera) from the front of the crowd. The “Nazi” is thought to have been a provocateur from Unite Against Fascism, but there is no word yet from the EDL whether this has been confirmed.

WARNING: Tommy’s language gets a little salty here and there during this clip:

As Norwegian as the King

2012-02-04T12:14:00.002-05:00

Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer has translated an op-ed from Aftenposten containing the latest multicultural wisdom from one of the best and brightest in the Norwegian media.

He notes:

The female author of this piece is obviously suffering from the same delusional fantasies as the rest of the predominantly left-wing Norwegian ‘academy’. She seems to believe that it’s OK to introduce sharia in Norway, provided it happens through ‘democratic means’.

Notice that it’s practically a non-issue for the Norwegian MSM to print articles that defend sharia, the Taliban and Islam. Articles that are highly critical of these issues, on the other hand, are a big no-no.

This is the sad state of affairs in this ‘Bastopian’ (Bastøy-Utopia) la-la land.

The subject of the op-ed, one Arfan Qadeer Bhatti, is reportedly one of the Muslim zealots behind the online video posted last month that threatened the prime minister and other Norwegian officials. In the opinion of the author, Mr. Bhatti has a perfect right to his radical incitements, provided that he doesn’t actually behead anybody or blow something up.

To get a feeling for the shameless double standard at work here, replace Bhatti’s name with “Fjordman” in some of the sentences below. Texts containing the revised wording would never be published in the Norwegian media, and might even invite legal action if they were. Opinions like those of Fjordman are simply unthinkable in Modern Multicultural Norway.

On the other hand, jihad, the Taliban, sharia, the Caliphate, etc. — that’s a different matter. Nothing wrong with those ideas. Our superior, enlightened, progressive tolerance requires that we give them a fair public hearing:

In defence of a fanatical Muslim

The right to be an extreme Muslim should be just as obvious as the right to be an extreme Christian. The freedom to work for societal reforms also applies when the goal is sharia.

By Inger Anne Olsen

With his violent background, his extreme religious views and his spectacular beard, Arfan Qadeer Bhatti has managed in just a few weeks to divide Norwegian Muslim fundamentalists and become a new symbol for everything that may be wrong with Islam.

Perhaps he has violated Norwegian penal codes with his aggressive rhetoric and his alleged role in the publishing of a video that exhibits strong anti-Norwegian Government views, but then again perhaps not. And as long as he stays within the boundaries of the law, no one can stop Arfan Bhatti in his struggle to introduce sharia in Norway. Regardless how much it may displease us.

Gloriously saved

Arfan Bhatti’s personal transformation could have been a pleasing one. In 2002, Bhatti, one of Norway’s most violent men, just released from prison, told us that he had found God and become a devout Muslim. That a prisoner sometimes finds God and is gloriously saved is not uncommon, and such news is normally met with joy.

Bhatti didn’t try to make himself appear more palatable, and he told us that he only felt contempt for traditional Norwegian values.

“I have a lot of hatred inside my head. I am so angry that tears sometimes start to flow when I think of Norwegian authorities,”

the converted Bhatti told Dagbladet ten years ago.

The wayward son

Nor has the return of the wayward son been received with joy in the Muslim community. On the contrary, there is a strong tendency there to denounce him.

Most striking is Abid Raja’s attitude. Raja told Dagbladet yesterday that:

“It would have been better for all of us if he had remained a criminal. Now he’s even more dangerous because now he’s an extremist.”

But the same year that Bhatti’s personal transformation took place; Raja himself suggested that young criminal Muslims should be given the opportunity to serve shorter prison sentences in a mosque, under the supervision and guidance of an Imam. The purpose was to get them on the right path.

And if Bhatti is a dangerous extremist, then he’s still a criminal.

Yet Raja is correct when he says that: One doesn’t become a religious authority just because one grows a beard.

But in the verbal tug of war about what constitutes a good Muslim, and how Islam should be practiced, Bhatti has in a relative short period manage to turn himself and his small group of followers into a marginal phenomenon, from which other fundamentalist Islamist groups are eager to distance themselves. The Islamic Council of Norway, an organization that for many years has been perceived as an enemy of society, is now seen upon as a kind uncle and is considered to be a safe and stable partner for the Norwegian Church.

This development has occurred gradually, but 35 Muslim men in prayer in front of the parliament, and quite possibly under the leadership of Arfan Bhatti and Mohyeldeen Mohammed, have quickly shifted society’s understanding of where the Muslim danger is coming from.

What type of Sharia?

As is true of many other Muslims, Bhatti wants to introduce sharia in Norway. This is utopia. Large parts of sharia collide with the prevailing Norwegian understanding of democracy and justice, nor does there exist a general consensus among Muslims what sharia is and how it should be practiced. Islam is just as fragmented as other religions. And after decades of seemingly paralyzing consensus, Norwegian Muslims have finally started to discuss which branch of Islam they belong to, and how they believe Islam should be practiced. This is a big step forward, although it invariably leads to discord and disagreement.

In this landscape there is no doubt that Arfan Bhatti is an extreme Islamist. One may, of course, dislike this fact intensely, but he has every right to be one, as long as he’s not violent or threatening. Nor does he try to hide, and he uses his own name when he reveals his opinions.

Even a blind hen can find corn, and when Bhatti points out that countries that engage in wars are exposing themselves to danger, he’s not saying anything that we don’t already know. Such statements are only problematic if they are presented as threats.

And this leads us to the problem. Because it’s quite possible that Arfan Bhatti is playing on our fear of the person he used to be and that he has a genuine desire to appear threatening. But Norway as a society should be able to come up with better arguments against extreme Islamist views than ones telling them to move to countries where sharia is practiced, which is exactly how Siv Jensen (The Progress Party) dismisses Bhatti.

Just as Norwegian as the King

Arfan Bhatti was born and raised in Norway to immigrant parents, and thus he is just as Norwegian as the King. Bhatti has strongly divergent views on religion, different from that of most people and different from that of most Norwegian Muslims. But as long as it happens through peaceful means, Bhatti has just as much right to work for the introduction of sharia in Norway as Siv Jensen has the right to work for the introductions of Progress Party policies.

If Norway does not have room for people who advocate the introduction of sharia through democratic means, we should seriously consider recalling our own Christian missionaries, sent out on the mission field with substantial government support.

The right to be a fanatical Muslim should be just as obvious as the right to be a fanatical Christian. The limits are not drawn by what type of society we want to introduce, but by the methods we are willing to adopt.

The worst thing that can happen to any dissident is not to be noticed, and perhaps a shrug of the shoulder is the most effective medicine against fanatical, religious extremists who claim to have seen the light.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/3/2012

2012-02-03T23:59:00.002-05:00

Detectives at the FBI held a transatlantic conference call with their counterparts at Scotland Yard to discuss progress in tracking down the hackers of the “Anonymous” activist group. Anonymous, however, eavesdropped on the call, and later posted a recording of it on the Internet.

In other news, the severe cold snap in Europe continues. Record low temperatures have killed more than 200 people across the continent, according to some reports. In parts of central and northern Europe the temperature has plunged close to forty below — which is the same reading in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to AC, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Waking up to Reality in Gellerupparken

2012-02-03T17:18:00.002-05:00

Gellerupparken, a culturally-enriched suburb of Aarhus in Jutland, has featured prominently in several previous articles about immigrant violence in Denmark. Our Danish correspondent TB sends his translation of an article about a former apologist for Islam who woke up to the reality of the Religion of Peace while living in Gellerupparken.

The translator includes this note:

This story from B.T. is not new — October 2011 — but it’s a real beauty, if you ask me. First of all because it lies right in the footpath of the recent articles I have translated about Vollsmose, but also since this article is about a former Multi-Culti Pro-Islam Front Fighter (he was actually the Vice President for The Multicultural Society) who suddenly realized the hard way that he had in fact been fighting for the devil. Now he has turned 180 degrees, and become a fierce Islam-critic.

Another ‘funny bonus’ to this one is the update appended by B.T. at the end of the article. It’s a sure bet they (the journalists) must have been busy that day answering phone calls from angry ‘undressed’ Muslims. I guess they might even have felt a little uncomfortable. You never know what these peaceful new arrivals from exotic countries might do if they are not obeyed…

And the translated article from B.T.:

Vice President for The Multicultural Society has turned 180 degrees

Was stoned out of Gellerupparken: “Now I know Islam!”

[Photo caption: Dan Ritto was formerly pro-Islam and was even the Vice President of the Multicultural Association. Today he has turned 180 degrees in his attitudes toward religion, after he — by his own admission —learned what Islam is all about. (Photo: Brian Rasmussen) ]

By Charlotte Nielsen
Sunday 30 October 2011

Six years ago Dan Ritto was the Vice President of the Multicultural Association. Today he is a cynical Islam-critic.

Something flies past his face and hits the ground a few feet in front of him. In a brisk pace he continues towards his apartment. Yet another object passes and lands close to his feet.

He picks it up and studies it in the dark. Then a stone hits his jacket, and he understands what is going on. Someone is throwing stones at him. Someone is trying to stone him out of Gellerupparken.

“I was so puzzled about it. People also began to yell at me when I walked in the area, and I understood absolutely nothing about it. Then I thought to myself that I had to learn more about Islam. So I read the Koran.”

It’s late in the year 2007, and Dan Ritto is living in Gellerupparken.

He left off studying to be a Catholic priest in London and began a ‘career’ as a keen debater and blogger with several blogs about society, politics and religion.

Based in Gellerupparken he started actively working with integration. As the Vice President of Multicultural Association, he had a lot of contacts in the notorious ghetto area of Aarhus.

Back then, when eating in the Bazar Vest, Muslims usually stopped by and talk to him. They regarded him as one of their own. Today, five years later, he no longer lives in Gellerupparken.

Its been a long time since he resigned from the Multicultural Association. He is still an active commentator and blogger, but today Dan Ritto has turned 180 degrees. He has become an Islam-critic. Why? Because he now knows Islam, he says.

Puppets for the imams

“When I came to Gellerup, I had the attitude towards religion that it is all about being a good person. And I also took for granted that when you live in Denmark, you live under applicable laws. You accept the system.”

“I knew nothing about Islam at all, but I was one of those guys who people joined when sitting in the Bazar Vest [culturally enriched shopping center]. Gradually I realized through conversations that Muslims don’t want to be part of a society where the law is equal for all and where there is no difference between being Muslim and not being a Muslim. At first I thought it was a joke. But, quietly, I understood that they really meant it,” says Dan Ritto.

A few months before someone threw stones at him, riots flared in Gellerupparken.

A group of youngsters were ravaging the area, setting fire to cars and buildings and in almost constant conflict with the police. Here, Dan Ritto discovered something that really put his pro-integration view in perspective.

“I found out that the parents of the troublemakers had meetings with the imams in Gellerup park’s communal house. When the imams told the media that the youngsters would probably soon go crazy; then that’s what the youngsters did — funnily enough.

“When the imams said that the youngsters would soon calm down again, that’s what the youngsters did — again, funnily enough. They simply sat there and controlled the play. With that kind of behavior the police work becomes quite a challenge” he says.

Religion over law

One night he is attacked. It repeats itself a few times and now he become aware that someone wants him out of Gellerupparken. And little by little he also realize why.

“I had written an op-ed in a paper where I stated that Islamophobia is caused by the Muslims themselves [because the kids were throwing stones, etc. — translator]. It was not my intention to be hostile. On the contrary, it was actually meant in the most friendly manner, since I was really positive at the time. Many Muslims know that these things happen, yet they say nothing. I wanted them to stand up and say: ‘Not in my name’. And so that was what I wrote” he says.

What Dan Ritto did not understand was that he — by writing these things — had expressed doubt about Islam. And that he really shouldn’t have done.

“Suddenly I was out expressing doubts. And then anything can happen. But I did not understand any of this at the time. So I decided to read the Koran. After that it was easy, and I drew the conclusion that Osama bin Laden was of course right. He did exactly what Mohammed said he should do. Waged war against the infidels. Convert or be killed.”

Dan Ritto stares at the horizon for a long time.

“In the beginning I thought that this would never come to Denmark. It would never happen here. But it does. About a third of the population in Gellerupparken favors it. Believing that religion should be above the law.”

[Comment by the paper:]

Today B.T. was contacted by several persons who deny Dan Ritto’s assertion that the Koran directly calls for war and terror against non-Muslims. In this connection B.T. would like to clarify that the opinion expressed by Dan Ritto is his and his alone. These views are Dan Ritto’s own account. His statement can therefore NOT be taken as an expression of either BT’s general position or the actual contents of the Koran.

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/2/2012

2012-02-02T23:56:00.002-05:00

Much of Europe is in the grip of a polar deep freeze as icy weather moves south, all the way to the Mediterranean. Snow is expected in Rome and Florence, and Athens has already experienced snow and gale-force winds. The temperature dropped to —25° C (-13° F) in Vienna, and that’s not counting the wind-chill factor. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are trapped in snowed-in villages in the mountainous areas of the Balkans. Temperatures in southern Norway and Sweden fell close to the freezing point of mercury.

In other news, protestors in Cairo expressed attacked the interior ministry building and had to be driven away with tear gas. The mob was angry because of a riot and stampede that caused at least 74 deaths at a stadium after a soccer match.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to Egghead, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Kitman, The Observer, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.