The WBC “hate group” blog declared “20 busloads of students from ‘Christian’ towns and villages in the Nineveh Plain were heading back to the University of Mosul with Iraqi-soldier-escorts, when car and roadside bombs hit five of the buses, killing an Iraqi and seriously wounding 70 students. ‘I still do not know what they want from Christians.’ GodSmack! The enmity of the citizens of the world against the faithless-false religion fraudulently claiming the name ‘Christianity’ comes from God!”
The WBC “hate group” blog questions the Christianity of Iraqi Christian students who were attacked, putting quotation marks around the word Christian when praising attacks on them.
Westboro Baptist Church "Hate Group" Praises Attacks on Iraqi ChristiansA Wounded Iraqi Christian Woman Gets Medical Care (Photo: AFP)Fragments of a Blood-Stained Notebook After Targeted Bus Bomb Attack on Christians (Photo: AP)
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our unqualified, universal human rights, including our freedom of religion and the necessary pluralism that such freedoms entail. We urge all those whose hearts are burdened by hate and who promote or praise violence, to unburden their hearts from hate and violence.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) seeks to recognize the NYC street vendors who alerted police to the Times Square car bomb, which included a Muslim vendor Aliou Niasse and his brother Mohamate Niasse, and Duane Jackson and Lance Orton. (ThinkProgress reports on Niasse’s religion.) If anyone has any photos of the Niasse brothers, please email and let us know, so that we can update this posting.
NYC Hero Duane Jackson (Photo: Reuters/Chip East)Hero Lance Orton (Photo: NY Daily News/Giancarli)
— Reuters May 2, 2010 reports: — “Vendor Lance Orton, a Vietnam veteran, is being credited by local authorities and media with tipping mounted policeman Wayne Rhatigan about a suspicious Nissan sport utility vehicle on West 45th Street near Broadway on Saturday evening.”
— “Several other vendors on that street corner also spotted the car and said they scrambled to tell the police.”
— “‘My brother told me this car has had smoke in it for a long time. Call 911,’ said Mohamate Niasse, 52, where was back in his stall in Times Square after the incident, alongside his brother Ali, selling pictures of the city.”
— “Niasse, who lives in Harlem and has sold his wares in the busy midtown Manhattan district for six years, said Orton then told them he had already sent someone to alert the police.”
— “Duane Jackson, another Vietnam vet who said he helped alert police, was back selling handbags and T-shirts across the road from where the vehicle carrying the bomb had been parked.”
— “‘There are a bunch of us disabled vets selling here, and we’re used to being vigilant because we all know that freedom isn’t free,’ Jackson, 58, told The New York Times. ‘All of us vets here are the eyes and ears for the cops.'”
— London Times May 2, 2010 reports:
— “Aliou Niasse, a street vendor selling framed photographs of New York, said that he was the first to spot the car containing the bomb, which pulled up right in front of his cart on the corner of 45th street and Broadway next to the Marriott hotel.”
— “‘I didn’t see the car pull up or notice the driver because I was busy with customers. But when I looked up I saw that smoke appeared to be coming from the car. This would have been around 6.30pm.'”
— “‘I thought I should call 911, but my English is not very good and I had no credit left on my phone, so I walked over to Lance, who has the T-shirt stall next to mine, and told him. He said we shouldn’t call 911. Immediately he alerted a police officer near by,” said Mr Niasse, who is originally from Senegal and who has been a vendor in Times Square for about eight years.
— “Duane Jackson, a 58-year-old handbag vendor, said that he noticed the car at around 6.30pm and wondered who had left it there.”
— “He said that he alerted a passing mounted police officer. “That’s when the smoke started coming out and then we heard the little pop pop pop like firecrackers going out and that’s when everybody scattered and ran back,’ he said.”
On April 30, 2010 in Washington DC, human rights activists and members of the Sudanese diaspora held demonstrations and a protest march to condemn the ongoing genocide and violence in Darfur, and the fraudulent elections that led to the “re-election” of Omar Al-Bashir. Al-Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war criminal charges. Damanga had publicized this event as “Say No to Sudan’s Stolen Election.” Damanga’s Executive Director Mohamed Yahya also provided an article on this subject to the Salem News, entitled “First African American president to Promote Injustice in African Country.”
The event was to allow Sudanese from all over the United States to come to Washington D.C. to demonstrate their rejection of Sudan’s fraudulent, rigged election and to call upon the US administration not to legitimize the regime led by the indicted war criminal Al-Bashir. Sudanese traveled from across the East Coast from Boston to Richmond to congregate in Washington DC to express their views on April 30, 2010.
— Mohamed Yahya, Damanga
— Jimmy Mulla, Voices for Sudan
— Fakiri Taha, Nubia Project
— William Bol Gai Deng, Southern Sudan Project
— Nuraddin A. Abdulmannan, Nubia Project
— Adam M. Ahmed Yahya, member of the FUR Solidarity
— Mohamed Altayib, Member of the Sudanna organization
— Muhammad Al-Hassan, a candidate in this year’s election
— Nasredin Hajam
— Niemat Ahmadi, Darfur Women’s Action Group (DWAG)
— Gloria White-Hammond, My Sister’s Keepers
— Meryl Zordanki, Africa Action
— Shaza Abdulla
— Faith McDonnell, Institute for Religion & Democracy
— Terry Nickelson, Our Humanity in the Balance
— Jeffrey Imm, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
Damanga’s Executive Director Mohamed Yahya expressed the concerns and voice of many, speaking of his disappointment and sense of betrayal by the Obama administration on the issue of Darfur and Southern Sudan. At Lafayette Park near the White House, Mohamed Yahya asked how President Obama could allow his representatives to preside over what has been repeatedly reported as a fraudulent election, with a candidate indicted by the ICC for war crimes. Mohamed Yahya voiced his concerns also in an article published by the Salem News, entitled “First African American president to Promote Injustice in African Country.”
At Lafayette Park, Mr. Muhammad Al-Hassan, one of the candidates who ran for office in the recent Sudanese elections spoke. Mr. Al-Hassan confirmed the frequent reports of election fraud that had occurred in the recent Sudanese “elections.”
Other Sudanese speakers echoed his concerns, with stories and narratives of their own. “William” Bol Gai Deng of the Southern Sudan Project came from Richmond, Virginia and spoke about his struggles working as an African slave in Sudan, and the struggles of Sudanese people to receive equal dignity and human rights throughout Sudan. He spoke of how those who would get “paid” were sometimes promised a “cow” for each year’s wages, equivalent to 50 U.S. dollars, and even then such “wages” were withheld from them. Mr. Deng also stated how he sought equality and liberty fairly for all Sudanese people, with laws that were not dependent on any single religious views, but treated all people equally.
He and other Sudanese speakers spoke of the ongoing violence, genocide, and killings in Darfur. They expressed their concerns about the expectations that Sudan will soon be divided into two countries, and what that would mean for their people, and they hoped that someday Sudan would be a united nation with human rights, justice, and dignity for all people. Nuraddin A. Abdulmannan expressed concern that a divided Sudan would lead to a northern Sudan that could host extremists that could become a new haven for terrorism to threaten not only Africa, but also the world.
Meryl Zordanki and Faith McDonnell spoke of their commitment to human rights for the people of Darfur and Sudan, and their own experiences and disappointments with the latest widely reported fraudulent election results. Terry Nickelson spoke of the need for people to come together and take responsibility for human right atrocities in the world and not be dependent on the predictable disappointments of governments willing to compromise on basic human rights.
While marching from the White House to the U.S. State Department, the protesters carried signs stating “Freedom for Darfur,” “Stand with People of Sudan,” “Justice and Human Rights for Darfur,” and “Peace Begins with Justice in Sudan.” They chanted “Al-Bashir to the ICC,” “We Reject Rigged Elections,” and “Justice, Justice for Darfur,” as they marched to the U.S. State Department headquarters.
At the front of the U.S. State Department headquarters, the group requested that a representative of the U.S. State Department accept their statement. Mohamed Yahya, Jimmy Mulla, Niemat Ahmadai, Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, and Jeffrey Imm spoke.
Mohamed Yahya urged State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton to hear their concerns about Darfur and Sudan, and he led the protesters in protest chants at the U.S. State Department.
Gloria White-Hammond traveled from Boston to speak in front of the U.S. State Department with the Sudanese diaspora and human rights protesters. Reverence White-Hammond spoke of her own travels to Darfur and the need for Americans to recognize the essential human rights challenge that Darfur genocide and the latest “elections” represented to peace and human dignity.
Jeffrey Imm spoke to the law enforcement and security officers that surrounded the U.S. State Department headquarters entrance, and urged them to realize that the crisis in Darfur is both a human rights and a law enforcement crisis, comparing the situation in Sudan with the election of Al-Bashir to the election of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. Imm also stated that having an indicted war criminal leading a nation that was continuing genocide was also an international law enforcement issue as well.
Niemat Amadi spoke of the need to remember the continuing crisis of women in Darfur and the abuses that women continue to suffer every day in Sudan.
Jimmy Mulla thanked all those who traveled from different areas to represent the “voices” of the Sudanese diaspora and others that seek freedom and our universal human rights for Darfur and for all of Sudan.
Photographs:
Voices for Sudan Jimmy Mulla Organizes White House ProtestApril 30, 2010 - Protesters at White House / Lafayette Park - Image 1April 30, 2010 - Protesters at White House / Lafayette Park - Image 2April 30, 2010 - Protesters at White House / Lafayette Park - Image 3Mohamed Yahya Speaks of Disappointment in U.S. Obama Administration in Front of White House in Lafayette ParkFormer Candidate Muhammad Al-Hassan Speaks of Fraud in Sudan "Election"Meryl Zordanki of Action Africa Speaks on Reports of Fraudulent Election in SudanWilliam Deng Speaks of Slavery and Violence in SudanApril 30, 2010: Sudanese Diaspora and Human Rights Activists Protest Outside U.S. State Department in Washington DCU.S. State Department: Mohamed Yahya and Others Lead Protest Chants Challenging Fraudulent Elections in SudanResponsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)'s Jeffrey Imm Stands with Protesters for Sudan and Darfur Human Rights
To the US Secretary of the State, Madame Clinton
U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20037
Dear Madame Secretary:
As concerned members of the Sudanese community and its civil society, we are writing to express our grave concern about the recent Sudanese national elections. We come together today as diverse Sudanese leaders from all over the world to say we reject the rigged and fraudulent election and urge the U.S. government not to legitimize the victory and rule of the indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir over our people in Sudan.
We welcome the recent statement by the U.S. State Department spokesperson that these elections will not bring the Government of Sudan redemption or legitimacy, as well as statements that Sudan’s elections did not meet international standards. However, we urge you to ensure that these declarations are committed to and applied by leaders at all levels of the U.S. government. U.S. policy toward Sudan must be based on a commitment to human rights and justice for all the people of Sudan. The lack of serious measures from the international community and the US in particular have emboldened al-Bashir’s government to continue its manipulative tactics in oppressing the people of Sudan.
We appreciate the United States’ efforts to help resolve Sudan’s multiple crises. Sudan’s national elections were one of the important milestones laid out in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 with U.S. support. As Sudanese, we all hoped that a free and fair election could transform the country to a democratic nation, if all Sudanese people could participate in a secure environment free from oppression, fear and intimidation. However, these elections fell far short of fulfilling this dream. Instead, the elections were characterized by political repression and countless irregularities both before and during the election process that made the elections in both North and South Sudan far from free and fair or credible.
Sudan’s leading National Congress Party (NCP) manipulated the process, using all state organs and the state capacity to provide unfair advantage to its campaigns. Security blocked other political parties’ attempts at campaigning, organizing, and accessing the media. As a result, most other political parties boycotted the presidential contest and many other races.
It was also impossible for the Darfuri people to participate in the election process in any meaningful way. As stated by the European Union observer team, which withdrew from the region, the security situation was not conducive for elections to take place in Darfur. The lands of many Darfuri victims have also been occupied by Arab nomad settlers who were introduced to the area by the government of Sudan in exchange for taking part in the fighting and destruction in Darfur. This, combined with the fraudulent census and registration process, allowed for the intentional exclusion of countless Darfuris from the voting process.
With many of our families still on the ground, we are well aware that the security situation in our home region Darfur remains tense and volatile for the nearly three million displaced persons and refugees who have been driven from their homes and are still facing constant threats to their survival. Humanitarian access also remains blocked in many areas of Darfur, such as in the region of eastern Jebel Marra where aid groups that were forced to withdraw in February have
not been able to return. Attacks on civilians including rape and various forms of sexual violence against girls and women remain frequent and unaddressed. The abduction of aid workers and peacekeepers presents a huge challenge for the protection of civilians and provision of life-saving aid. The grave situation of committing heinous atrocities, forcibly displacing and replacing the original inhabitants of Darfur by Arab nomads from other countries for resettlement, combined with fraudulent census, will unequivocally jeopardize any endeavor of future peace process.
It is also important to note that, while many in the international community are well acquainted with difficulties in the implementation of Sudan’s CPA and the ongoing conflict in Darfur, residents of the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, Eastern Sudan and Nubia regions also face grave threats to life and liberty. The fate of popular consultations in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile remains unknown and the non-implementation of the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) leaves the grievances of the people unresolved and creates a potential for conflict. We recognize the challenges of dealing with al-Bashir’s regime, which has long specialized in divide-and-rule tactics and benefitted from intermittent focus by the international community on North-South issues and on Darfur. However, addressing the urgent situation in Darfur and the implementation of the CPA simultaneously is critical for the future of the entire country. The international community must recognize the urgency and hold the government of Sudan accountable for its actions in both regions.
Given the critical situation in the South with the referendum quickly approaching, we urge the U.S. to take serious measures to ensure that the oppression and irregularities of this election process are not repeated during the referendum. The people of the South must be able to exercise the right to decide their future.
The U.S. must also work with other U.N. Security Council member states to ensure better protection of civilians in Darfur by a more effective UNAMID peacekeeping force. It must also continue to push for an inclusive and genuine peace process that will address the root causes of the crises in Darfur and other areas of Sudan such Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, Eastern Sudan, and Nubia Region. The United States must proactively support justice for victims of the
genocide in Darfur and continue to urge the execution of ICC arrest warrants for all those wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Madam Secretary, we call for your leadership in ensuring the U.S. takes serious and concrete steps to hold the Sudanese government accountable for respecting the human rights and democratic will of the people of Sudan. This begins with recognizing and working hard with international partners to address the abuses and irregularities that denied the Sudanese people free and fair elections.
Cc: President Obama
Sincerely,
The undersigned Civil Society and Community Leaders:
Mohmed Ahmed Eisa, Darfuri Activist/ Human Rights laureate, Boston. MA
Jimmy Mulla, President, Voices for Sudan, DC
Fakir Taha Jaweesh, Nubia Project, VA
Niemat Ahmadi, Darfur Women Action Group, DC
Nasma Abdalla Mohamed, Darfuri Activist, Washington, DC
Nagi Idris, Activist, VA
Nuraddin A. Manan, President Nubia Project, VA
Adam Yahya, President, Fur Solidarity of North America, Richmond VA
Parake Madout, Southern Sudanese Activist, Washington DC
Mahmed Daoud, Kush Movement, KM
Salah Abu Gabar Elhaj
Chair, Sudanese Democratic Alliance, VA
Mohaned Alhassan M H, Presidential Candidate /National Reform Party TX
Izzelddin Hohamed Alhassan, National; Reform Party TX
Nagi Iddris Nubia Project
Khalid Grase, Nubia Project, MD
Amal Allagabo, General Secretary, Darfur Women Action Group, VA
William Deng, President South Sudan Project, Richmond VA
Mohamed Mahmoud, Chair, Sudana, VA
Dr. Mahmoud Braima, Darfur Association of North America, Louisiana
Ahmed Adam Ali, President Darfur Association of Colorado, Denver
Mahdi Elkhalifa, Umma Party, VA
Page 4
Darfur Association of Dallas, TX
Darfur Association of Houston, TX
Darfur Association of Arizona
Darfur Association of Nebraska
Mr. Mansour Ahmed-, F Secretary-General- Fur Cultural Revival (Portland, ME)
Mr. Mohmmed Yahya, Director -Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy
Adam Abakar, Darfurian Association of Utah,
Mr. Bakheit Shata, Darfur Community Organization (Omaha, Nebraska)
Mohamed E. Suleiman, Darfur’ Self Reliance Education, San Francisco Bay Area
Abdeljabar Seddik, Western Sudan Aid Relief in the USA Inc TX
. Darfurian Urgent Action of USA
. Care Unit for Unity and Development, Atlanta, GA
Activists
1. Dr. Adam Omer Lincoln, NE
2. Kamaldine Fort Wayne IN
3. Khalid Hanhdal Houston TX
4. Abdelrahim Khamis Houston TX
6. Adam Babiker Houston TX
7. Taragi Mustafa Ontario Canada
8. Basmat Ahmed Stone Mountain GA
9. Ezeldin Yahiya Dallas TX
10. Ismail Omer Dallas TX
11. Mohamed Hassan Omaha NE
12. El Gouzuli Sheruf Manhattan NY
13. Nusaiba Abbas Houston TX
14. Ahmed Yahya Stone Mountain GA
15. Hawa Ahmed Stone Mountain GA
16. Adam Abdullah Tucson AZ
17. Yahya Harun Dallas TX
19. Abdel Jabbar Seddik Dallas TX
20. Bakri Jumaa NJ
21. Abdo Ashoor Des Moines IA
22. Elsadiq Ashoor Des Moines IA
23. Mansour Ishaaq
24. Makki Makki Houston TX
25. Mohamed Haroon Dallas TX
26. Sulieman Awadallah Houston TX
28. Ibrahim Abdelrahman Houston TX
29. Elsadiq Jibril Houston TX
30. Abdel-Raziq Ibrahim Houston TX
31. Adam Mohamed Houston TX
32. Dr. Ismail Abdlla Baltimore MD
33. Jumaa Haree Manhattan NY
34. Alm Eldeen Adam Manhattan NY
35. Hassneen Sluman Fort Wayne IN
36. Ibrhim Adam Phoenix AZ
37. Salah Noreen AZ
38. Ahmed Elshikh Dallas TX
39. Elkhalee Shegfat Ph PA
European Diaspora
Mohammadain Mohamad Ishag, President -Darfur Culture Organization, Belgium
Ahamad Omar Ishag -Darfur Community Belgium
Mustafa A. Ali Dinar
Darfur Union, the Netherlands
Ahmed M.
Photograph of WBC - Dove Outreach Joint "March" on April 18, 2010
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges all Christians to reject and condemn this message of hate from the Westboro Baptist Church. Moreover, we urge all Christians to convey to Christian-named “hate groups” such as the “Westboro Baptist Church” that John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
Montana media are reporting on 200 residents protesting a pro-Nazi film that was shown at a public library in Kalispell, Montana by the group Pioneer Little Europe (P.L.E.) intended to recruit white supremacists to join that group. The P.L.E. film was shown by former Nazi Aryan Nations member Karl Gharst, who court documents have described as a “white supremacist.” Karl Gharst has served time in jail for felony threats. Gharst plans to show a Holocaust Denial film, “The Truth Behind the Gates of Auschwitz,” on May 29. On March 29, Karl Gharst showed a film “The Holocaust Debate.” In addition to Karl Gharst, the P.L.E. organizers included couple April Gaede and Mark Harrington, who were arrested on charges of simple assault and criminal mischief associated with a scuffle that resulted in knocking a camera out of one of the protester’s hands and breaking it.
Flathead Beacon: “Nazi Film Shown at Library Draws Hundreds of Protesters” — “Holding signs reading ‘No Neo-Nazis,’ and ‘No Hate in My Backyard,’ hundreds of valley residents turned out Thursday evening to protest the showing at the library in Kalispell of the film, ‘Epic: The Story of the Waffen SS,’ a film that takes an admiring view of the combat arm of the Nazis during World War II.”
— “It was the second film shown at the library by Kalispell resident Karl Gharst, who on March 29 screened a movie debating whether the Jewish Holocaust really occurred. Gharst said he planned to show a film titled, ‘The Truth Behind the Gates of Auschwitz,’ on May 29, and he plans other events for the summer.”
Daily Inter Lake reports: Pair arrested during Nazi movie protest — “Two members of a white separatist group were arrested during a protest over a pro-Nazi film shown at the Flathead County Library on Thursday night.”
— “Married couple Mark Harrington, 42, and April Gaede, 44, of Kalispell, who helped organize the film’s screening, were arrested by Kalispell Police on charges of simple assault and criminal mischief for their involvement in a scuffle that knocked the camera out of a protester’s hand and broke its flash.”
— KCFW: Tensions rise over alleged white supremacist movement
— KCFW reports: “Tensions rose Thursday evening as protesters and alleged white supremacists scuffled outside the Flathead County Library. The scene started remarkably quiet. For the second time in a month, a group called Pioneer Little Europe reserved a room at the library for a film showing. Protesters gathered early showing disapproval of what they see as an effort to recruit members to the group by showing an anti-semitic film. It’s the second time in a month. P.L.E. members tell us they believe in a white, European North America.”
— “Police say it was a fairly peaceful protest. That was until police escorted two members of P.L.E out in handcuffs. We’re told the P.L.E. members removed tonight are identified as April Gaede and Mark Harrington who are two of the P.L.E. organizers. Police say the two were arrested when they clashed with protesters taking photos.”
Daily Inter Lake also reports:
— “An estimated 200 people had crowded around the library to protest “Epic: The Story of the Waffen SS,” which apparently takes an admiring view of the combat arm of the Nazis during World War II. The film was screened by a white separatist group called Kalispell Pioneer Little Europe.”
— “Pioneer Little Europe members Harrington and Gaede moved to Kalispell from Bakersfield, Calif., in 2006 because of what they called the area’s racial tensions and since then have been active members in the white separatist movement.”
Montana residents protest showing of Nazi film
— AP reports: “Hundreds of Montana residents crowded around a library to protest a pro-Nazi film being shown by a white separatist group called Kalispell Pioneer Little Europe.”
— “It was the second film shown at the Flathead County Library by Karl Gharst, who on March 29 screened a movie debating whether the Jewish Holocaust really occurred. He says he plans to show another film, ‘The Truth Behind the Gates of Auschwitz,’ on May 29, and he plans other events for the summer.”
On April 27, 2010 The northwest Montana newspaper the Daily Inter Lake reported (by Jim Mann) reproted “Protest to greet supremacist film showing”
— The Daily Inter Lake reported “A protest is being organized Thursday against a planned showing of a film that advances ‘white-supremacy, anti-Semitism propaganda’ at the Flathead County Library in Kalispell.”
— “A similar protest happened when a film called ‘The Holocaust Debate’ was shown at the library in early April.”
— “That screening was organized by Karl Gharst, a Flathead Valley resident with former ties to a white supremacist group in Hayden Lake, Idaho.”
— “People who walked out of the screening characterized the film as a ‘Holocaust denial film.'”
— “The protest this week is being supported ‘by an alliance of faith-based ministries,’ according to a press release for the event.”
— “The alliance is urging those interested to turn out at the library at 6 p.m. with protest signs and cameras.”
— “‘If everyone brings their camera and actively takes pictures of the bad guys going in and out, it will be immensely effective in running them back under their rock,’ the release states.”
— “In 2004, Gharst was convicted in Flathead County District Court of threatening a social worker with the state Department of Health and Human Services.”
— “At the time, Gharst was from Hayden Lake, Idaho, and was described in court documents as ‘a self-admitted member of the Aryan Nations and a white supremacist,’ according to Inter Lake archives.”
— “Gharst originally was charged with a felony for threatening the state employee, calling her a ‘filthy mongrel’ and a ‘wild savage from the Flathead Indian Reservation,’ but eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.”
— “In a final exchange with District Judge Ted Lympus, Gharst called the judge foul names and acknowledged him with a Nazi salute.”
— “Gharst served five months in jail and was put on probation for two years.”
Montana: Photo of April 29 Protest of Nazi Film (Photo: KCFW)Montana: Photo of April 29 Protest of Nazi Film (Photo: Flathead Beacon/Lido Vizzutti)Montana: Photo of April 29 Protest of Nazi Film (Photo: Flathead Beacon/Lido Vizzutti)Screenshot of Stormfront Hate Group Forum Promoting April 29 Nazi Film in Montana
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Eleventh Annual Report on Religious Freedom in the World Released
— recommending “13 nations–Burma, China, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam–be named ‘countries of particular concern,’ or CPCs.”
— Watch List Nations: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russian Federation, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Venezuela
— USCIRF concerned about religious based violence and breakdown in justice – known as impunity
— “USCIRF has seen the effects of impunity firsthand—particularly on vulnerable minority religious groups—during fact-finding trips to Egypt, Nigeria, and Sudan. USCIRF also has monitored the state’s failure to punish private, religiously-motivated violence in Afghanistan, Eritrea, India, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan.”
— Press Release
To those who believe that it is acceptable or humorous for mobs to violently attack those with Nazi groups or wearing Nazi garb, we ask you a simple question: who do you think is the real Nazi then? Them or you?
Los Angeles Nazi Rally - Man with Swastika Tattoos Being Attacked (Photo: AP/Richard Vogel)
For full disclosure, the Nazi and white supremacist crowd knows that I am a dedicated opponent of their ideologies of hate. For nearly nine years, I have been reporting on Nazi threats around the world and the United States, and since 2005, I have had a dedicated web site “AgainstNazi.com” that addresses Nazi hate and their organizational activities. Here at the Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) human rights group web site, we have a category on Aryan Nazi Supremacism where we report on Nazi hate and atrocities that continue today; we have similar categories of reports on racial supremacism and on the Stormfront group. R.E.A.L.’s challenges to the “white nationalist” Stormfront group, led by a former member of the American Nazi Party Don Black, has garnered us threats for our public awareness efforts, including threats by numerous “white nationalist” groups who have tried to publish information about me to allow others to attack my home and family. Other Stormfront forum members post images about using guns on those who defy them. We have reported on Stormfront forum members conviction on terror plots, and frequently reported on Stormfront forum members supportforterrorism,violence, and hate. A Nazi who was a writer for the National Vanguard has written false, slanderous, and defamatory articles about me and others to try to defame us, as has a Nazi from the National Alliance. Moreover, “white nationalists” from both the Occidental Dissent and American Renaissance have sought to personally attack me and even seek a “war” against me. To the Nazis and white supremacists, our message has been “we are not afraid.”
So let me set the record straight – I am no apologist, no supporter, and no appeaser of Nazi or white supremacist ideologies.
In America and around the world, we all have human rights. We disagree, we oppose views we disagree with, we even protest one another.
But when people take that disagreement to threats or actual violence, there should be no question – you have committed A CRIME.
One can rationalize threats and violence all they want, but a crime is a crime. A criminal is a criminal.
To those who believe that support, rationalize, or make jokes about opposing Nazis in America with mob violence and physical threats, I ask you – are you opposing Nazis, or becoming one?
The UPI reports about the recent Philadelphia mob attack on Nazis that “Three men who showed up in full Nazi regalia at a punk show in a Philadelphia club were attacked afterward outside by approximately 50 people, witnesses said… An witness told the newspaper the crowd punched and kicked the men in Nazi garb and used beer bottles and cue balls as weapons although Internet message boards said the attack was not quite so violent.” AOL News reports: “Witnesses said the men were mocked inside the Khyber club Friday night for sporting tattoos of Nazi symbols and wearing camouflaged combat pants, WWII-style coats emblazoned with SS emblems and Third Reich hats with Nazi insignias.” A blog report states that “The three victims barely made it 50 yards before the angry crowd set upon them. One Nazi was caught right in the middle of 2nd street as punches, kicks, bottles, boots and blows rained down upon his prone and turtled body. He could be heard crying for help all up and down the block. The other two were caught nearby and beaten severely as more weapons appeared.”
The reports lead to an obvious question: Which ones are the Nazis again? The ones with the ridiculous outfits or the mob that beat them?
You know the answer, and it is a disturbing trend that R.E.A.L. sees too many justifying or laughing about political violence in America today. There are no “heroes” in political violence, especially in a democratic nation, not among those who would spit on Congressmen or throwbricks through their office windows, not those who would fly a plane into an IRS building, not those who would attack the Pentagon, and not even those who would believe they are justified in violent attacks on Nazis in Los Angeles and now in Philadelphia. Yes, they are all different circumstances, and you may like some victims and not others. But in every case of such political violence, there are no heroes, there are just criminals.
Two months ago in February 2010, we were disgusted to see those praising terrorist Joe Stack as a “hero,” and then appalled to find those who felt that it was humorous to describe such a terrorist murderer of an American veteran as “someone simply going out with a bang.” America’s freedoms allow such freedom of speech and freedom of press – even when it is despicable. But mocking those who are victims of political violence is the one sure way to start to degrade and undermine such American freedoms.
So it was particularly disturbing to see a Philadelphia tabloid newspaper that reported the April 27 attack on Nazis as “Concertgoers show the Reich stuff, are beaten by crowd,” with a mocking first sentence of the report on the victims of violence that reads “How did they Nazi this coming?” The new report also includes an email from someone apparently gloating about the attack on the Nazis “And they did get their asses kicked… Again.”
When did reporting on political violence in the news media become the source of mockery and gloating? What message does any reporter think that this sends to those who believe that violence is an acceptable approach to those we don’t like and don’t agree with?
I tried to reach the young writer of this article for a Philadelphia tabloid newspaper, but instead spoke to the editor that approved it. I explained to the editor our position in opposing Nazi hate, but also pointed out our opposition to such mob violence, and the editor explained his family’s suffering during the Holocaust. The editor explained to me that a tabloid newspaper has a different style than a broadsheet newspaper, and has different titles intended to grab readers’ attention. The editor further explained that the headline “Concertgoers show the Reich stuff, are beaten by crowd” had garnered the most online attention to the tabloid newpaper’s report, and people reading about the story ensured that it got reported. The editor further stated that the report did not “take sides on the issue.”
Imagine for a moment, however, if the mob violence wasn’t against an ideology as universally rejected as Nazism, but was against another ideology, perhaps another political party, another identity group, another race, religion, gender. Would it still be “funny?” Would it still be “clever”? And would reporting the boasting from an attendee at the club about victims of violence getting “their asses kicked” still be responsible journalism? But the general idea that many have is, because it is about Nazis, well, that’s acceptable, essentially because we don’t agree or respect their views that somehow they are less of a human being than anyone else. You don’t have to be a human rights activist to recognize that such thinking is simply wrong. Hate is hate and violence is violence.
There is one nation that accepted the view of using threats and physical violence against those that they disliked and disagreed. Political violence was their primary tool in silencing dissent, in taking over the government, in oppressing others who were different from them. Their media consistently mocked and degraded the victims of such hate and violence. You know that nation whose leaders and whose people embraced such hate and political violence. It was called Nazi Germany, and it was led by Adolf Hitler. It was the same Nazi Germany, whose “final solution” was the Holocaust of 6 million Jews, something that America could have and did not stop.
This year, we remembered the Holocaust on April 11, 2010. We remembered the Holocaust at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, where I recently wheeled a older, black Christian woman in wheelchair around that weekend so that she too could see the consequences of hate. We remember the Holocaust annually at our nation’s capital, people of all nationalities, all races, and all religions, and hold a reading of the names of the victims at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum – by average people who are dedicated to never forget. This year my wife and I read names together at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
We remember the Holocaust. But what have we learned from it? What have the mobs in Los Angeles and now in Philadelphia learned from it?
You would think that nearly 70 years after the start of the mass killings at the Holocaust that we would have learned some lessons about humanity, the cancer of political violence, and the virus of hate. But what have we learned when too many think that political violence is acceptable? What we have learned when some rationalize mob violence against those whose views we despise? As political violence is becoming increasingly “acceptable,” what path is OUR nation on today?
When we say “Never Again,” that includes America too.
We must never forget the tragic and horrific lessons of the results of hate and political violence – then and now. “Never again” does not only mean never allowing such atrocities again, it also means never becoming like those who rationalized and laughed about hate and political violence.
But you have a choice. You can choose to not let hate and fear rule your life, your decisions, and your way of dealing with the world. You can choose to reject hate’s political violence as acceptable, justifiable, or even humorous.
You have the power and the ability to shape your actions, your nation’s future, and humanity’s destiny.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty Asks You to Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
London Times reports:
— “Baghdad was struck by a wave of co-ordinated bombings yesterday, killing 69 Shia Muslims as they left Friday prayers and marking a bloody blow for extremism in the chaotic wake of an election.”
— “A car bomb and two other bombs in Sadr City, the vast Shia suburb of Baghdad, claimed 39 lives, and another two blasts struck the Chalabi mosque and a mosque in the Ameen district.”
— “Al-Qaeda’s offshoot in Iraq were blamed for the attack by officials and local people in Sadr City. They are the likely culprits behind a series of large-scale, co-ordinated bombings on embassies, apartment buildings and restaurants since the March 7 elections.”
Iraq: Shiite Muslim Victims after Religious Extremist Bomb Attack (Photo: London Time/Alice Fordham)
White supremacist, Neo-Nazi Jonathan Edward Stone sentenced to 4 years in prison for role in February 2008 firebombing of Islamic Center of Columbia in Maury county.
White Supremacist, Nazi Johnathan Edward Stone Gets 4 Years in Prison for Firebombing Mosque in Tennessee
