Racism & fascism - new material (28)
01 September 2000
Infiltration: fascist tactics in Britain, 1945-2000, Nicholas Hillman. Searchlight June 2000, pp20-21.
How the German press stoked the Lübeck fires, Liz Fekete. Race & Class, vol 41 no 4, (April-June) 2000, pp19-41. This article deals with case of Safwan Eid, the Lebanese refugee who was a victim in an arson attack on his asylum hostel near Hamburg (in which ten refugees died and 38 were injured), and was then accused of being the perpetrator. It was over three years before he was acquitted. Fekete portrays how a plethora of institutions, from the German judiciary, police forces and press worked to frame Eid by constructing evidence and lying in court. In particular, Germany's unwillingness to admit serious right-wing elements in its midst and its obsession with "collective guilt", is seen to have allowed for this miscarriage of justice in the face of constructed and contradictory evidence.
Roma Rights Newsletter, (European Roma Rights Centre) No. 2 (2000), pp94. This issue concentrates on housing, including an exposition of legal rights and the state's obligations to provide adequate housing, and articles on the housing policy for Roma in Greece, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Bosnia Herzegovina and Macedonia. The legal defence section deals with "environmental racism" in Chester, Pennsylvania, USA, where "members of racial and ethnic minorities suffer from disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards." It includes information on legal strategies to combat environmental racism. The regular update on "Snapshots from around Europe" reveals racist attacks and institutionalised racism towards the Roma communities in Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Greece, Bosnia, Spain, Kosovo, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Macedonia, Latvia and France. Available from: ERRC, 1386 Budapest 62, P.O. Box 906/93, Hungary, Tel: 0036-1-428-2351, errc@errc.org.
Travellers' Times, Traveller Law Research Unit, Issue No. 9 (August 2000), pp.12. Includes information on the new Representation of the Peoples Act which allows voting without a permanent residency, a list of resources and funding sources for Travellers, articles on the recent change in regulation of boat licensing which is threatening "the existence of continuous cruisers" and personal accounts of Travellers and the racism towards them. Also includes a policy and law section with useful links. Available from: Traveller Law Research Unit, Cardiff Law School, PO Box 427, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3XJ, 0044-29-2087-4580, tlru-l@cf.ac.uk.
Migration & Bevölkerung (Migration and Population). Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, no 7, September 2000, pp6. This issue covers the recent debate in Germany on banning far-right organisations and parties, giving a statistical overview of racist attacks in Germany between 1991-1998. Also includes article on the recent Proposal for an EU Council directive on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof (24.5.00, COM (2000) 303 final). Available from: Bevölkerungswissenschaft, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin 10099, Germany, 0049-30-2093-1918, MuB@sowi.hu-berlin.de.
ZAG - Antirassistische Zeitschrift. Antirassistische Initiative e.V., no 35, 2000, pp42. This issue focuses on the EU Schengen regime, picturing the "Shut down Schönefeld" demonstration at Berlin's biggest deportation airport on in July. Includes articles on the situation of refugees in Poland (including asylum acceptance rates between 1990 and 1999), the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Spain and the Netherlands. Also includes a shortened version of an article by Martin Herrnkind, spokesman for the "Federal Working Group of Critical Policemen and women" in Germany (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft kritischer PolizistInnen), on the recently introdu