The house in Burnopfield where Ian Davison was arrested
ANTI-TERROR police were last night questioning a North-East father and son arrested on suspicion of involvement with a white supremacist group.
Ian and Nicky Davison were arrested after officers carried out raids at their homes at about 5am yesterday.
The pair are suspected of being involved with a racist far right organisation.
Police sealed off the home of Ian Davison, at Myrtle Grove, in Burnopfield, County Durham, as they conducted a search of the property. His car was also removed for forensic analysis.
Detectives said last night the raids were part of a long-running operation designed to disrupt extremist groups operating in the UK.
Neighbours told of their shock after the arrest of the 41- year-old former lorry driver.
His next-door neighbour, a father- of-two, said: “The police woke me going into the house at 5am. I heard a commotion and thought there was a fight.
“I looked out and saw the police going in. I heard a lot of banging and shouting but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“I saw a couple of police officers by the front gate and one around the back. Another was looking in the garden bin.
“I have seen about 25 police officers coming and going with all the forensics.
“My neighbour’s car, a white Metro, was taken away by the specialist recovery unit.
“In his back yard, the forensic team moved his motorbike out and lots of junk from his shed.”
A 25-year-old woman, who lives nearby, said: “I thought he was a nice fella.
“We talked sometimes, but he was quiet.
“From the sort of person he seemed to be, I didn’t think he would hurt a fly.”
Mr Davison was detained on suspicion of offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 and is being questioned by Durham officers and the North-East Counter Terrorism Unit at a police station in West Yorkshire.
Stuart Slater, 19, of Maple Terrace, also expressed his surprise at the drama.
He said: “When I saw the police outside the gate I thought there had been a murder or something.
“People get on around here, and it is a nice quiet place.
There is never normally any trouble.
“It is mad to think of this sort of thing happening on your doorstep.”
Milkman Nicky Davison, 18, was arrested at Grampian Court, Annfield Plain, on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. He was taken to Consett police station for questioning.
The teenager lives at the property with his mother, two brothers and a sister.
Chief Inspector Stu Exley said he could not give details of the nature of the activity the Davisons were suspected of being involved in, or the name of the extremist group.
He said: “There is no specified or identified threat.
“We are nipping things in the bud before anything does escalate further. We are trying to respond in a proactive manner.
“There were no identified groups targeted and no specified threats. But it is the white supremacist kind of rightwing extremism.”
Chief Insp Exley said there was no connection to the upcoming European elections.
He added: “We are just following inquiries that have been going on for several months.”
BNP members Barry Bennett (left) and Lee Barnes (right)
Prominent members of the British National party are today revealed as Nazi-sympathisers and racists with abhorrent views on such diverse issues as teenage violence, David Beckham and even David Cameron’s deceased son, Ivan.
The revelations undermine the party’s attempts to paint itself in a more moderate light before the local and European elections and threaten to derail the electoral ambitions of its leader, Nick Griffin, who is standing as a prospective MEP.
At a time when BNP activists are claiming a surge in support in the polls, a reflection, they say, of mounting public outrage over MPs’ expenses, the party has been keen to portray itself as a viable alternative to mainstream political parties.
The BNP website boasts that money is flooding into its campaign headquarters. Its administration consultant, Jim Dowson, claims the party’s call centre alone received just under 12,000 calls in the first 15 minutes following the BNP’s first national television broadcast. And in emails to supporters – or “patriots” as the BNP calls them – Griffin claims almost £400,000 has been stumped up by supporters to help fund the party’s European election campaign.
It claims the apparent groundswell in support is down to the “British public waking from the long, deep sleep”. Much of the BNP’s recent success has been down to its ability to shake off the patina of far-right extremism that has alienated most voters since its inception. But this month the veneer slipped when it emerged that a Salford-based BNP candidate in the European elections had set his Facebook status to read “Wogs go home”. Eddy O’Sullivan, 49, wrote: “They are nice people – oh yeah – but can they not be nice people in the fucking Congo or… bongo land or whatever?” O’Sullivan, who also joined an internet group called “Fuck Islam”, denied that the comments were racist and insisted they were made in private conversations between individuals. “I also may have had a drink at the time,” he added.
Amid the furore, the BNP’s leaders promised an investigation into O’Sullivan’s comments. The party’s officials also circulated urgent emails urging its members that “particular care should be taken when making comments on chat forums and other sites such as Facebook. Do not make the mistake of thinking that comments posted on these sites are secret or hidden. Making inappropriate comments on these sites will be regarded as a very serious disciplinary offence. Please ensure that this message is passed quickly to all members in your area and that it is acted upon. We are entering a very critical time in our party’s history and cannot afford careless and stupid talk that can undermine the hard work of our activists.”
But the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight has spent months infiltrating the far right’s network of websites and chatrooms and found that many BNP activists share O’Sullivan’s views.
They include:
• Jeffrey Marshall, senior organiser for the BNP’s London European election campaign. Following the death of David Cameron’s disabled son Ivan, Marshall claimed in an internet forum discussion: “We live in a country today which is unhealthily dominated by an excess of sentimentality towards the weak and unproductive. No good will come of it.”
Later, in response to comments made by others on the site, Marshall is alleged to have written: “There is not a great deal of point in keeping these people alive after all.” He said the comments were private and some had been paraphrased and taken out of context. He admitted making the former comment, but said he could not recall making the latter one in an email to the forum, a copy of which is in the Observer’s possession.
• Garry Aronsson, Griffin’s running mate for the European parliament in the North West, posts an avatar on his personal web page featuring a Nazi SS death’s head alongside the statement, “Speak English Or Die!” Aronsson proclaims on the site: “Every time you change your way of life to make immigrants more comfortable you betray OUR future!” He lists his hobbies as “devising slow and terrible ways of paying back the Guardian-reading cunts who have betrayed the British people into poverty and slavery. I AM NOT JOKING.”
• Barry Bennett, MEP candidate for the South West, posted several years ago under a pseudonym in a white supremacist forum the bizarre statement that “David Beckham is not white, he’s a black man.” Bennett, who is half-Jewish according to the BNP’s deputy leader, Simon Darby, continued: “Beckham is an insult to Britishness, and I’m glad he’s not here.” He added: “I know perfectly respectable half-Jews in the BNP… even Hitler had honorary Aryans who were of Jewish descent… so whatever’s good enough for Hitler’s good enough for me. God rest his soul.”
• Russ Green, MEP candidate for the West Midlands, posted recently on Darby’s web page: “If we allowed Indians, Africans, etc to join [the BNP], we would become the ‘British multi-National party’ … and I really do hope that never happens!” Darby said he echoed Green’s sentiments.
• Dave Strickson, a BNP organiser who helps run its eastern region European election campaign, carried on his personal “Thurrock Patriots” blog a recent report of the fatal stabbing of a teenager in east London beneath the words “Another teen stabbed in Coon Town”. The site also carried a mock-up racist version of the US dollar entitled “Obama Wog Dollar”. Darby said the BNP did not endorse these comments and described them as “beyond the pale”.
When confronted in the past about the extreme views of some of its members, the BNP senior hierarchy has often tried to dismiss them as unrepresentative of the party’s core membership. But it appears that they run right to the top of the party.
Lee Barnes, the BNP’s senior legal officer and one of Griffin’s closest allies, has posted a video on his personal blog of a black suspect being beaten by police officers in the US and describes it as “brilliant”. Barnes adds: “The beating of Rodney King still makes me laugh.”
Barnes told the Observer his comments were “nothing to do with colour” but were merely a reflection of his belief that the police should have more powers to punish perpetrators of crime by “giving them a good thrashing”.
But anti-fascist groups said such comments portrayed the BNP in its true light. “This is the face of the modern BNP,” said a spokesman for Searchlight. “The comments of Nick Griffin’s candidates and officials are sickening beyond belief. They have tried to hide their agenda of racism and hate from the voters, and they have failed.”
Separately, concerns exist about the historic links between the BNP and extremist groups. Gary Pudsey, a BNP organiser running the Yorkshire and Humber campaign, was once a regular at National Front meetings. A young Pudsey was also photographed with the late Max Waegg, a Nazi second world war pilot who wrote articles for the white supremacist magazine Spearhead
Martin Page is a BNP treasurer and his wife Kim is a senior fundraiser for the party. Both have been photographed alongside Benny Bullman, the lead singer of Whitelaw, the white supremacist band whose songs include Fetch the Noose, We’re Coming for You and For White Pride.
And Dowson, the BNP’s senior administrator, who appears on the party’s website talking about the success of its call centre’s fundraising activities, has also been dogged by allegations that he has enjoyed close relationships with hardline loyalist groups in the past. The 45-year-old has also been the public face of the LifeLeague, the militant anti-abortion group that has hijacked Britain’s pro-life debate. He has regularly appeared on television to pronounce terminations a sin and has published the names of abortion clinic staff, placing many in fear for their personal safety.
That the BNP has become a magnet for extreme-right sympathisers is understandable given Griffin’s own background. The Cambridge graduate was himself a member of the NF before going on to form the International Third Position, a neo-fascist organisation with links to the Italian far right.
But aware of the party’s need to raise funds from middle England, Griffin has repeatedly attempted to portray his party as the “reasonable” face of patriotism in its bid to broaden its appeal. The approach has paid dividends, with the party having gained 55 seats on local councils, including a seat on the Greater London Authority. This June it is contesting every UK seat at the European elections and there have been predictions it could win overall control of Stoke City Council.
Darby, Griffin’s deputy and the BNP’s spokesman, accused Searchlight of “distorting the BNP’s message” in a bid to derail its political ambitions. He accused the organisation of being “merely a front for the Labour party, paid for by National Lottery funds”. Darby said: “When you put it in the context of what’s been happening at Westminster, a few scribblings on Facebook hardly seems something to get worried about.”
Conservative Party in Germany Gives Up on Anti-Turkey Stance
By JUDY DEMPSEY
Published: June 1, 2009
BERLIN — As citizens across Europe prepare to vote this week for a new European Parliament, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc has abandoned its attempt to create a wedge issue out of Turkey’s potential entry into the European Union.
The change in approach is an acknowledgement by conservatives that they have more to gain by appealing to Germany’s 690,000 Turkish voters than by alienating them with blunt talk about the political and cultural differences separating Turkey and the rest of the E.U.
The conservatives view the parliamentary balloting, which starts on Thursday, as a barometer for the federal elections in September and realize that they need every vote they can get if Mrs. Merkel is to be re-elected. Though Mrs. Merkel spoke out against Turkey’s E.U. ambitions as recently as last month, the bloc has since refrained from making Turkey’s entry, or E.U. enlargement in general, a major issue in the campaign.
“The time is over for a Christian Democratic party in Germany to adopt an anti-Turkey campaign,” said Gerhard Hirscher, an analyst at the Hanns Seidel Foundation, which is affiliated with the Christian Social Union, the sister party of Mrs. Merkel’s Christian Democrats. “The foreign policy experts in the party have made it clear they do not support the idea of using the European Parliament elections to campaign against Turkey joining the E.U. Turkey is an important country. More importantly, every vote matters in September.”
Turks who have acquired German citizenship are eligible to vote for the European Parliament and in the federal elections.
The softening stance on Turkey in Germany differs from that of several of its European neighbors. In France, Turkey-bashing has become fashionable during campaigning for the European Parliament and starts at the top with President Nicolas Sarkozy, an outspoken opponent of Turkey’s entry to the E.U. In the Netherlands, the director Geert Wilders, whose film “Fitna” features Muslims insulting Islam and the Koran, is using his opposition to Islam to try to get elected to the European Parliament.
The Freedom Party of Austria has a slogan that states, “No to Turkey.” In Bulgaria, which joined the E.U. in January 2007, the nationalist party National Union Attack is using anti-Turkish slogans in its campaign.
Likewise, Mrs. Merkel’s conservative bloc once believed that it could gain political advantage by tapping into a growing disillusionment with enlargement, while also pointing out the costs and difficulty of incorporating a large Muslim country into a mostly Christian grouping. But that stance appears to have given way to political reality. According to the first poll conducted among Germany’s Turks, more than 55 percent of eligible Turkish voters would opt for the Social Democrats if elections were held now, with 23 percent saying that they would vote for the Green Party and only 10 percent selecting Mrs. Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Christian Social Union.
“The majority of German Turks, who by their fundamental positions are religious and conservative, during elections reward the Social Democrats and the Greens because of their integration policies,” said Joachim Schulte, director of Data 4U, which carried out the survey three months ago.
Though the need for votes may have altered the campaign strategy, it does not seem to have essentially altered Mrs. Merkel’s attitudes toward Turkey. She has consistently advocated a “privileged partnership” for Turkey — meaning that it would be granted substantial benefits but barred from membership, thus denying Turkey the right to vote on E.U. matters. But Mrs. Merkel has never tried to stop E.U. negotiations with Turkey, which opened in 2005.
Her party’s election manifesto for the European Parliament elections specifically mentions that when it comes to meeting the E.U. criteria for membership — including equality between men and women, protection of minorities and freedom of religion — Turkey has “fulfilled” none of these conditions.
“A privileged partnership and not full membership for Turkey in the E.U. is the right solution,” the manifesto states.
Globalization and free market economy movements have strongly affected on the rise of minority nations’ voice. Although European Union does not have any direct implementation on providing special rights and conditions for minority nations, reality of rising rights of minority nations and regions cannot be covered. While Catalonia, Flemish, Wales within the EU and Québec in NAFTA are getting stronger and minority national regions which are gaining rights on the way of becoming international actor. Each of them shows some differences from the one another in various areas like social and security rights, education, economic welfare, right to vote and elected. “Furthermore, as compared to Canada and the United Kingdom, Belgium presents a unique situation, in part because Flanders, the region where the sub-state nationalism is strong, is the country’s richest and most populated area.”
Religion and linguistic differences of minority nations within a state trigs the demands on the right asked from the government and even independence. Because of the supports of organizations such as EU and NAFTA, minority nations in their member states become stronger in terms of linguistic, economic, and social areas in the state that they exist. The conditions in demanding on independence show slight differences especially among the members of EU.
This article concentrates on two minority nations in EU which are Flemish and Catalans. By analyzing these two minority nations, article provides the reasons behind not only gained rights but also rights that they still demand. Education in their own language plays such an important role for minorities within a state. When we turn our face to Flemish and Catalans weare able to see that gaining educational rights in their own language was holding the importance on way to showing their existence.
Flemish Case in Belgium
Flanders, as a minority nation in Belgium, have been gained rights since industrial revolution which means in constant to general view as Belgium Federate State have been established in 1993, it is not correct. Decline of heavy industry, during 1950s, Flemish realized that they are richer than Walloons in terms of underground resources and do not would like to allow them to use Flemish’s underground resources anymore. In order to protect their own rights they had asked special rights for them. Although there is a constitutional rights have been given in 1993, since twenty years processes have been started on way of federalism. Process started by institutional reforms in 1970, so we can claim that Flemish were on the way of federalism more than twenty years before the official announcement in 1993. According to CAPRON H. and MEEUSEN W., with four consecutive state reforms, Belgium transforms to a federal state. These state reforms held in 1970-71, 1980-81, 1988-89, 1993-94, and 2001.
As all minority nations’ common problem, Flemish made an effort to have linguistic and cultural equalities. They had a fear of grind under French speaking autonomy during the unitary system. According to STEPHENSON G.V., protection of the surrounding Flemish towns against loss of their cultural identity is vitally important. The reason behind the all tensions raised by minority nations in states as it happened in Belgium (Flemish), Spain (Catalonia and Bask region), and UK (Wales and Scotland) is participate in government and announce their presence as in part of that state.
In Belgium, Flemish was achieving certain rights such as cultural, educational and social areas since 1970. “Besides the two ministers of culture mentioned earlier, there are two departments of education and two radio-television systems (BRT-Flemish and RTB-French).” Flemish was able to impress them more independently. KALAYCI H. claims that Flemish’ movements that having cultural demands in the first stage turned into political soon. Identity issue grow up from the Flemish in Belgium and comparably French speaking population called themselves as Walloon, just after the Flanders movements. So, by these inter-regional transfers Walloons and Flemish were became power sharing groups under the umbrella of unitary Belgium.
Globalization and increase the economic developments highly effected the role and position of minority nations especially in European Union. “Belgium, following the adoption of a new federal constitution in 1995, allowed its regions of Flanders and Wallonia to sign treaties and other agreements with sovereign states and have an international role that equals and sometime surpasses that of the Belgian State itself.”Flanders took a chance to enjoyed benefits and opportunities provided by industrial movements and globalization. New federal constitution in 1995 brings the opportunity to Flemish to right to have an education in their own language.
Belgium have been tried to minimize the tensions by providing some equalities to both Flemish and Walloons. Minorities who have gained equal rights in Belgium were not going to demand independence anymore which means that Belgium have been played all cards that it has in order to hold state as it is.
Asymmetric Federalism in Spain Instead of Separation
Catalans shows slight differences from among the seventeen regions in Spain, because they have linguistic and wealth differences from the others. By 1978 constitution, after Franco’s dictatorship, Catalans demanded some extra rights from Madrid because they accepted themselves as a different nation from the others in Spain. Spanish Parliament has been provided not only linguistic rights but also opportunity of impressing themselves to Catalans by media.
Spanish constitution avoided using the term “federal state” to protect the tensions of possible separation in Spain. “The Spanish constitution establishes ‘the indissoluble unity of Spanish Nation’ (article 2) and defines the ‘Spanish People’ as subject of ‘National Sovereignty’ (article 1).” As it is clearly mentioned in the Spanish constitution, Spanish parliament resist on division by independence. Instead of losing part of its own territory, parliament accepted to give Catalans some more rights than the other by taking into consideration of their historically differences in terms of wealth and also language. The solution that Spanish Parliament has been found is providing the rights that Catalans demands and form Spanish state by eliminating the differences among regions.
Catalans’ ultimate aim is achieving a sit within a European Parliament. Although they have a right to attend some kind of issues related by their own policy areas, they reject the limitation and ask for actual sit like an actual state. “Spanish autonomous communities’ participation in EU decision-making process is limited to series of policy-specific Sectoral Conferences as well as the Conferencia para Asuntos Relacionados con la Comunidad Europea (CARCE) (Sectoral Conference Relating to EU Affairs), chaired by the Minister of Public Administration. ” Catalans may participate in EU Parliament only their own policy related issues are going to be discussed on the agenda.
Conclusion
Catalans and Flemish proved how minority nationalism plays such an important role within Europe and as a result of their attempt they have achieved their aims. Having even a limited sit within the EU Parliament have extreme important for awareness of their existence and the specialty of Catalan’s condition among the others.
On the other hand, Flemish, have been achieved their rights that exist today by five state reforms. Even today, there are still some disagreements between Walloons and Flemish. Because of disagreements, they had very problematic election in 2007.
Briefly, the article have analyzed why minority nations and regions demands for some certain rights. Article support the strategy of providing rights to minority nations and regions in order to protection of separation of state. As long as given rights do not treat sovereignty and welfare of state, each and every minority have a right to take education in their own language, conditions for continuity of their own history of culture and also participate to parliament.
REFERANCES
1. BELAND D., LECOURS A. , 2008 , “Nationalism and Social Policy”, Oxford University Press, US
2. BOURNE A.K. , 2004, “The EU and territorial politics within member states: conflict or co-operation?”, BRILL
3. CAPRON H., MEEUSEN W. , 2000, “The National Innovation System of Belgium”, Published by Springer, Belgium
4. GAGNON A., TULLY J. , 2001, “Multinational Democracies”, Cambridge University Press, USA
5. JAMES P., MICHAUD N., O’REILLY M.J., “Handbook of Canadian Foreign Policy”, Lexington Books, Canada, 2006
6. KALAYCI H., “Üniter Devletten Federasyon’ a Belçika’da ne değişti?”, Stratejik Analiz Dergisi, Ocak 2006
7. KALAYCI K., “Avrupa Birliği ve Mikro Milliyetçilik” , Stratejik Analiz Dergisi, Mayıs 2006
8. STEPHENSON G. V., “Cultural Regionalism and the Unitary State Idea in Belgium”, Geographical Review, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Oct., 1972), American Geographical Society
A Conservative government would promote continued European Union expansion to Turkey and the Balkans despite the party’s calls for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, George Osborne has revealed.
Speaking at Keele University in Staffordshire, the shadow chancellor insisted that Turkey was a part of Europe as well as a being a bridge to Asia. Without the Lisbon Treaty being passed, no further EU enlargement can take place.
But Osborne said: “We are passionate advocates of enlargement, we should continue with that agenda. One of the great successes of the EU was to bring countries into an alliance; it was a fantastic achievement.”
The Tories would lobby the EU to return national control of employment and social laws. They would also propose a £1bn reduction in the supranational body’s budget and 25 per cent less regulation from Europe, said Osborne.
“We need to get more for less out of the EU – it remains too introverted and too centralised, it does not communicate with citizens and the Lisbon Treaty is a step too far,” he added. “Europe has become disconnected from the people and we want to give citizens a voice in EU institutions.”
The Labour Party’s European election manifesto focused on attacking alleged Tory cuts to public services. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Labour has a clear plan for a prosperous British future and more than ever we need the jobs that depend on the EU.”
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg claimed that “Labour’s arrogance had messed up Britain’s relationship with other European countries” while the Conservatives were with UKIP in thinking that the UK could combat the recession, climate change, international crime and terrorism “on its own”.
SANLIURFA (A.A) – 30.05.2009 – The senior Czech diplomat in Turkey saw on Saturday Turkey’s geopolitic importance as a reason for European Union (EU) membership.
Eva Filipi, the ambassadress of the Czech Republic to Turkey, said that there were many reasons to make Turkey a full member of the EU.
Filipi enumerated these reasons as Turkey’s geopolitic and strategic importance and location.
The Czech Republic has been holding the rotating presidency of the EU since the beginning of 2009, and will hand over the presidency to Sweden as of July 1, 2009.
The ambassadress expressed her country’s full support for Turkey’s EU membership bid, and said both Turkey and the EU should be fair as much as they could and fulfil their obligations.
Filipi said that the EU was not a Christian club, and had many universal principles and values that were not related with religion.
Turkey became an EU candidate country in December 1999. The union launched accession talks with Turkey on October 3, 2005. (BRC)
