USA - discrimination alive and well in America: Black activists say double standard at play in response to pro-Trump rioters

Trump supporters gesture to U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington D.C. Black activists are decrying what they saw as a double standard when it comes to police responding to protests involving Black social justice activists and white pro-Trump supporters. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)

The co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Canada said she believes police would have responded more aggressively if protesters storming the U.S. Capitol had been members of the anti-racism group instead of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.

"I want to be very clear that if those were Black Lives Matter protesters I think that would have been a massacre," Sandy Hudson told CBC News. "I think that we would all be dead."

Read more at: Black activists say double standard at play in response to pro-Trump rioters | CBC News

Ethnic discrimination: Ethnic minorities in UK, US pay hefty price in Covid-19 crisis

Does ethnicity play a role in the risk of dying from Covid-19? According to studies from both the UK and the US – where the collection of ethnicity-related data is legal – it does. But instead of being attributed to genetic denominators, researchers believe wider social injustices in the two countries may be to blame.

In a study published by Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) on May 7, statistics showed that Covid-19 patients with an African or Caribbean background were four times more likely to die from the illness after being admitted to hospital than their white counterparts. Similar findings were made among Brits of Asian descent, albeit to a somewhat lesser degree.

Another study, published by the University of Glasgow on April 30, showed that aside from demonstrating a higher Covid-19 mortality rate, ethnic minorities in the UK also face an increased risk of contracting the coronavirus.

Read more at:
https://www.france24.com/en/20200515-ethnic-minorities-in-uk-us-pay-hefty-price-in-covid-19-crisis

EU-LGBTI: Discrimination falls, but wide differences remain across EU — study

A new Eurobarometer study measured discrimination in Europe.

Read more at: Discrimination falls, but wide differences remain across EU — study | Euronews

USA: Recent Pew Survey shows it is getting harder for Latinos to live in America

Pew survey: It’s getting harder to be Latino in America

Read more at:
http://flip.it/7EF4D6

Religious Discrimination - Migrants crisis: Slovakia 'will only accept Christians'

Slovakia says it will only accept Christians when it takes in Syrian refugees under a EU relocation scheme.

The country is due to receive 200 people from camps in Turkey, Italy and Greece under the EU plan to resettle 40,000 new arrivals.

Interior ministry spokesman Ivan Netik said Muslims would not be accepted because they would not feel at home.

The UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) called on countries to take an "inclusive approach" to relocation.
But Mr Netik denied the move was discriminatory and said it was intended to ensure community cohesion.

Note EU-Digest: whatever way the Slovaks want to call what they are doing - it is discrimination with a capital D and should be unacceptable by the EU.

Read more: Migrants crisis: Slovakia 'will only accept Christians' - BBC News

The European Roma Story - Europe’s Most Discriminated Group - by William O’Connor

For centuries, the Romani Gypsies have been misunderstood and persecuted in Europe. Now, a new book shines a light on the group’s unique history and culture.

Throughout history, fascination with the Romani Gypsies has ranged from obsessing over their supposed sexual permissiveness to speculating about their dealings with the occult and their alleged criminal behavior. Today, it’s all about them and their children—whether it’s kids they are accused of stealing, or children deported from Western European nations, or Roma teens attacked in hate crimes.

Read more: The Story Of The Roma, Europe’s Most Discriminated Group - The Daily Beast

The Netherlands: Geert Wilders compared with Nazi propaganda master Joseph Goebbels

Wilders a reborn Goebbels?

The German Press Agency (DPA) has compared the statements that Wilders made during a speech, to those of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.made in Germany during the Second World War.

Last week, Wilders gave a speech at a PVV campaign event, in The Hague. During his speech he asked the audience: "In this city...and in the Netherlands...do you want more or less Moroccans?". The audience replied with: "Less, less, less!" while applauding loudly. The DPA claims that Wilders rhetoric is comparable to the same statements that Goebbels made during his Sportpalast speech, in 1943.

During Goebbels speech, he averted from his written textand began to mention the complete "extermination" of the Jews. In his written text of the speech, he wrote the word "solution" and fittingly stopped himself before completing his statement. "Solution" referred to the term "final solution" and was seen as a less harsher term to describe the true intentions of the Nazi regime.

After basking in the applause from his PVV party supporters, Wilders said: "Good, we can arrange that.".

Last week, Wilders had also stated during a visit to The Hague that with PVV leadership, the city would have "with less expense and if possible less Moroccans.".

Read more: Geert Wilders compared with Nazi propaganda master Joseph Goebbels - Minneapolis Community Activism | Examiner.com

The Netherlands: Dutch populist Wilders sued over 'fewer Moroccans' vow

The largest Moroccan grouping in the Netherlands said Thursday it will file a complaint against outspoken far-right politician Geert Wilders after he told supporters he would ensure there were "fewer Moroccans" in the country.

"Today we are meeting police where we'll file a discrimination-based complaint against Wilders," Habib el Kaddouri, a coordinator at the Grouping of Dutch-Moroccans Foundation (SMN), told AFP.
Television pictures late on Wednesday showed the anti-Islam Wilders in The Hague asking supporters after local government elections whether they wanted "fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?".

"Fewer! Fewer!" the crowd shouted, with a smiling Wilders answering: "We're going to organise that."
"We believe by targeting a specific group, Wilders this time has gone too far," El Kaddouri said, referring to a 2011 court case that saw the platinum-haired politician acquitted on hate-speech charges.

The court ruled that Wilders had targeted a religion, which is permitted under Dutch freedom-of-speech laws, rather than a specific ethnic group.

Wilders, who is often reviled in Dutch immigrant communities for his fiery anti-Islam rhetoric, has in the past compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf and has called Islam a fascist religion.

In the run-up to Wednesday's local elections he canvassed on an anti-Moroccan ticket, last week saying a city like The Hague could do "with fewer Moroccans".

Wilders told supporters on Wednesday he was allowed to ask the question because it fell under freedom of speech "and we have said nothing we're not allowed to".

"Statements like these however make us feel very insecure," El Kaddouri said.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte also criticized Wilders, saying his comments "left a bad taste in the mouth".

Wilders party did not do well in the local election.

Read more: AFP: Dutch populist Wilders sued over 'fewer Moroccans' vow

For gays in Italy, rights and acceptance are still elusive - by Henry Chu

Under the fleeting light of an autumn half-moon, an Italian medical student made his way to the top of a modern high-rise in east Rome, not far from an ancient arch built by the emperor Claudius.

From the 11th floor of the apartment block, which once housed a pasta factory, the 21-year-old could probably just discern the darkened outline of the Colosseum about a mile away. It may have been the last thing he saw.

"I'm gay," the student, identified only as Simone D., said in a note discovered after he jumped to his death. "Italy is a free country. But there are homophobes, and those like that must search their consciences."

His suicide in the early hours of Oct. 27 brought sorrow to this city, but also a tragic sense of familiarity. It was at least the third death in Rome within 12 months of a young person who had decided to end his life out of despair over being gay or over the harassment he had endured. Two months earlier, a 14-year-old boy leaped from his balcony; before that, a 15-year-old hanged himself.

For many Italians, the deaths have served as a reminder of a sorry fact: Theirs is the only major nation in Western Europe to offer virtually no rights or protections to homosexuals. From a legal standpoint in Italy, gays and lesbians essentially do not exist.

Where other countries outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, for example, Italy has no such ban (though European Union directives mitigate that lack slightly). At least 10 nations in Europe, including France and Spain, allow same-sex couples to marry; Italy, with a population of 61 million, makes zero provision nationally for such relationships, not even a weaker form of civil union or domestic partnership.

Read more: For gays in Italy, rights and acceptance are still elusive - latimes.com

EU Parliament - NSA Spying: Safe Harbour - US companies benefit from agreement as it comes under Parliamentary threat

The 'Safe Harbour' agreement allowing ease of data transfers by US and EU companies should be scrapped pending a more rigorous data umbrella agreement between the two in the wake of the NSA scandal, an influential parliamentary report will recommend.

British MEP Claude Moraes (Socialists and Democrats) told the press yesterday (17 December) that his report for the European Parliament's civil liberties committee on mass surveillance will make the recommendation when the group meets in January, with a view to being put through at a plenary session in February 2014.

Moraes was speaking at a joint press conference with a US delegation led by Mike Rogers, the chairman of the US House of Representatives’ permanent select committee on intelligence, which drew fierce criticism from the US lawmaker for the decision by the Parliament to call testimony from Edward Snowden.

The process allows US companies to transfer personal data of EU citizens to the US, but requires that such companies self-certify before the US Department of Commerce that they meet EU requirements for privacy and protection of personal data.

Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and many other US companies are part of the Safe Harbour compliance programme, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.

The joint EU-US press conference marked a step backwards following recent efforts to smooth relations in the wake of the NSA scandal . “We are very discontent with the Safe Harbour agreement and believe that it should be suspended and we should adopt the data protection umbrella package in 2014 with protections for EU citizens in respect of the NSA surveillance,” said Moraes.

Speaking afterwards Dutch MEP Sophie in t’Veld of the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe hit back at the US delegation for its attitude towards Snowden. She said that – during the private meetings – the US delegation had referred to Snowden as a traitor and criminal.

“The problem here is that it does not give one confidence that he would be treated fairly if he returned to the US for trial. The decision on whether Snowden should give evidence before the European Parliament is one for the parliament to take, not this US delegation,” she added.

Even though there is a Safe Harbour agreement between the US and EU, which includes a provision whereby all data of a person traveling to the US is forwarded to the US in advance, EU Citizens arriving in the US are still exposed to the humiliation of being finger printed and having their picture taken . US Citizens, however, are not given a similar treatment when arriving in the European Union.

The European Union better scrap the Safe Harbour treaty or at least make it more fairly balanced. 

Read more: Data 'Safe Harbour' under threat as US castigates EU Parliament over Snowden | EurActiv

Germany:: Foreigners At Home: Turkey Beckons To Germany's Turks

In 1961, desperate to increase its labor force, West Germany signed an employment agreement with Turkey and launched a wave of immigration that continues to have repercussions today.

Now, after years of being treated as second-class citizens in Europe's economic powerhouse, large numbers of Turks — descendants of the first wave of immigrants — are returning to Turkey.

Semra Guzel-Korver with the European Broadcasting Union has made two documentaries on Turks in Germany. She's not surprised that a growing number of them are leaving Germany, now that Turkey's economy is robust and growing.

"A lot of Turkish, especially young generation, come back to Istanbul and other Turkish cities, because ... they cannot find jobs anymore in Germany," she says.

"They finished the university, they know three or four languages, everything is perfect — but their name is Turkish," Guzel-Korver adds.

She says the euro crisis has increased racism and Islamophobia
Read more: Foreigners At Home: Turkey Beckons To Germany's Turks : N

Saudi Arabia: Women's images removed from Ikea catalogue earmarked for Saudi Arabia

Ikea the Swedish mega chain said excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of their catalogue is in conflict with the company's values but has not retracted the catalog so far.

The move has also resulted in numerous protest against IKEA at home in Sweden and abroad.

Islamic Sharia law is applied strictly in Saudi Arabia, where the ruling Al Saud family espouses a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism, the BBC reports.

Women live under various restrictions, including no right to drive, and must be covered whenever they are outside the home.

Saudi leader King Abdullah is seen as trying to cautiously introduce reforms, some aimed at loosening restrictions on women's right to vote. Unfortunately it has been more talk than action.

Ikea operates three branches in Saudi Arabia.

Read more: Radio New Zealand : News : World : Women's images removed from Ikea catalogue

Turkey accuses Dutch PM of discrimination

In an interview with the newspaper De Volkskrant, Turkish minister Faruk Çelik criticises Prime Minister Rutte for remarks he made during the parliamentary debate on the government policy statement earlier this week. During the debate, the conservative liberal leader said he was not concerned by the Dutch-Swedish    <Mark Rutte>

nationality of Deputy Health Minister Marlies Veldhuijzen van Santen-Hyllner but did have a problem with the Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch nationalities of two deputy ministers in the previous government.

The prime minister argued they are different cases. He claimed Turkey and Morocco "influence their citizens", which could lead to conflicting loyalties, whereas Sweden, a member of the European Union, does not.
The controversy has erupted due to objections to the deputy minister's dual nationality by PVV leader Geert Wilders.

Three years ago, the anti-Islam MP called for a no-confidence motion against two Labour deputies holding a Moroccan and a Turkish passport as well as a Dutch one. On that occasion, though the VVD parliamentary party did not back the no-confidence vote, Mr Rutte, then an MP, supported Mr Wilders' concerns. The current minority coalition, comprising the liberal VVD and the Christian Democrats, has a parliamentary majority thanks to a support agreement with the PVV.

For more: Turkey accuses Dutch PM of discrimination | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Financial Times/Latimes.com: Poll: British more wary of Muslims than people on continental Europe- by Daniel Dombey and Simon Kuper

For the complete report from the Financial Times/Los Angeles Times click on this link

Poll: British more wary of Muslims than people on continental Europe- by Daniel Dombey and Simon Kuper

Britons are more suspicious of Muslims than are people on continental Europe and the U.S., according to a new poll for the Financial Times conducted by Harris Interactive.

France emerged from the poll as the country most at ease with its Muslim population. Only about a fifth of French people said the presence of Muslims threatened national security or that Muslims had too much political power, the lowest proportion of any country polled. The French were the people most likely to say they personally had Muslim friends, to agree that one could be both Muslim and a citizen of their country, to accept their child wanting to marry a Muslim, and to say that Muslims in their country had received unjustified criticism and prejudice.

Patrick Weil, political scientist at the Sorbonne in Paris, said: "In France we are very good at cultural integration, making people feel members of the same community. We are very bad in fighting discrimination, especially in high-level jobs. In the U.K. it is the opposite."