Category: Europe

Some welcome refugees: German home schoolers granted asylum

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) reports:

In a case with international ramifications, Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman granted the political asylum application of a German homeschooling family. The Romeikes are Christians from Bissinggen, Germany, who fled persecution in August 2008 to seek political asylum in the United States. The request was granted January 26 after a hearing was held in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 21.

“We can’t expect every country to follow our constitution,” said Judge Burman. “The world might be a better place if it did. However, the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate.”

Burman added, “Homeschoolers are a particular social group that the German government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution…therefore, they are eligible for asylum…and the court will grant asylum.”

In his ruling, Burman said that the scariest thing about this case was the motivation of the government. He noted it appeared that rather than being concerned about the welfare of the children, the government was trying to stamp out parallel societies—something the judge called “odd” and just plain “silly.” In his order the judge expressed concern that while Germany is a democratic country and is an ally, he noted that this particular policy of persecuting homeschoolers is “repellent to everything we believe as Americans.”

Homeschooling did not always have such a settled status as a human right in the U.S., or such vocal champions in the courts as this judge.  It took a lot of work over many years by homeschooling activists and supporters to get it where it is today. And there are still some who would deny homeschoolers their rights; I won’t recount recent horror stories, but you can check around on the HSLDA website if you’re interested. But in Germany, the report says,

The persecution of homeschoolers in Germany has been intensifying over the past several years. They are regularly fined thousands of dollars, threatened with imprisonment, or have the custody of their children taken away simply because they choose to home educate.

There have been custody cases here in which homeschooled children were taken away, but at least it’s not national policy.  This is a wonderful use of asylum, and I applaud Judge Burman. I hope the decision helps Germany realize the error of its ways.

Hat tip: Mere Comments

Addendum:  Ann points out that we hope Germany will be as rigorous stamping out parallel Muslim societies as they are with Christian homeschoolers!

Sweden rattled by Somali militants in its midst

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is the title of this AP story today from Scandinavia  to which 40,000 Somalis have migrated in the last 20 years.   It is the same old story as the one we have become familiar with in American cities, most notably Minneapolis.  The Jihadist group Al-Shabab is recruiting, but apparently the Swedes have even less power to stop them than we do and are thus relying on other Somalis to talk them out of going to Africa.

Al-Shabab, which wants to install strict Islam in Somalia, controls much of the desert nation’s southern region and large parts of the capital. Intelligence officials say it is recruiting foreign fighters, including from the Somali diaspora in Europe and North America. U.S. authorities say as many as 20 recruits have left Minnesota.

In Sweden, police say they can do little to stop them leaving for Somalia unless they can prove that they are conspiring to commit terrorism. Unlike the U.S., Sweden has not put al-Shabab on any terrorism list.

“Legally you can’t prosecute anyone, neither the youth nor those who urged them to go,” said Johnny Lindh, police superintendent in the precinct that includes Rinkeby.

Read it all.

Geert Wilders goes on trial in the Netherlands for insulting Islam

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The official charge is “inciting hatred and discrimination toward Islam.” Wilders, member of the Dutch legislature, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, and the most popular politician in the Netherlands, is an outspoken critic of Islam and Islamic terrorism. His short documentary film, Fitna, shows images of horrors perpetrated by Muslims, and shocked the delicate sensibilities of some of his countrymen, who prefer to ignore these things in the interest of social harmony, or their careers, or something. 

FrontPage Magazine has been covering Wilders very well for a long time. Today they print his speech to the court on the first day of his trial. (Other FrontPage links are here, though this might not be a complete list because of a very bad redesign of the website.)  We have covered Wilders here at RRW, also, and our links are here.  Here is Wilders’s inspiring speech:

Mister Speaker, judges of the court,

I would like to make use of my right to speak for a few minutes.

Freedom is the most precious of all our attainments and the most vulnerable. People have devoted their lives to it and given their lives for it. Our freedom in this country is the outcome of centuries. It is the consequence of a history that knows no equal and has brought us to where we are now.

I believe with all my heart and soul that the freedom in the Netherlands is threatened. That what our heritage is, what generations could only dream about, that this freedom is no longer a given, no longer self-evident.

I devote my life to the defence of our freedom. I know what the risks are and I pay a price for it every day. I do not complain about it; it is my own decision. I see that as my duty and it is why I am standing here.

I know that the words I use are sometimes harsh, but they are never rash. It is not my intention to spare the ideology of conquest and destruction, but I am not any more out to offend people. I have nothing against Muslims. I have a problem with Islam and the Islamization of our country because Islam is at odds with freedom.

Future generations will wonder to themselves how we in 2010, in this place, in this room, earned our most precious attainment. Whether there is freedom in this debate for both parties and thus also for the critics of Islam, or that only one side of the discussion may be heard in the Netherlands? Whether freedom of speech in the Netherlands applies to everyone or only to a few? The answer to this is at once the answer to the question whether freedom still has a home in this country.

Freedom was never the property of a small group, but was always the heritage of us all. We are all blessed by it.

Lady Justice wears a blindfold, but she has splendid hearing. I hope that she hears the following sentences, loud and clear:

It is not only a right, but also the duty of free people to speak against every ideology that threatens freedom. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States was right: The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

I hope that the freedom of speech shall triumph in this trial.

In conclusion, Mister Speaker, judges of the court.

This trial is obviously about the freedom of speech. But this trial is also about the process of establishing the truth. Are the statements that I have made and the comparisons that I have taken, as cited in the summons, true? If something is true then can it still be punishable? This is why I urge you to not only submit to my request to hear witnesses and experts on the subject of freedom of speech. But I ask you explicitly to honour my request to hear witnesses and experts on the subject of Islam. I refer not only to Mister Jansen and Mister Admiraal, but also to the witness/experts from Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Without these witnesses, I cannot defend myself properly and, in my opinion, this would not be an fair trial.

I am posting this speech because the freedom to speak openly about Islam is threatened all around the world, including within our own country. Geert Wilders is standing up for all of us, and we need to be aware of his situation.  If you doubt that our freedom is at risk, read what the administration of Temple University did to try to block his speech there, and how he was treated.

His website is here; there are links to articles and other material about him and his case, and there is a link to donate. I encourage you to do so.

Blogger says France is going to take Haitian refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I just came across this blog, GalliaWatch, that says the following about its mission:

To help you stay au courant of what French patriots are doing and saying in this time of turmoil and loss of nationhood. This website is for those with a limited knowledge of French and a boundless interest in saving European cultures from extinction.

Yesterday the blog posted this story (apparently the original is in French), this is how it begins:

Eric Besson, Minister of Immigration, Integration and National Identity has decided to implement an exceptional set of temporary measures to bring victims of the earthquake into France. The article from François Desouche uses information from OFII (Bureau of Immigration and Integration) as the source:

These measures include:

– An easing of the terms for family reunification. Nearly 80,000 Haitian nationals reside in France and have family members affected by the catastrophe in Haiti.

– Facilities coordinated for the issuing of visas for visits to the families.

– Visas and residence authorizations issued on humanitarian grounds to victims whose health requires specialized treatment in France.

“France’s response must rise to the level of her republican traditions of welcome, solidarity and humanity, and to the profound historic and cultural ties she maintains with the Haitian people. In such terrifying and painful circumstances, all of our efforts must be focused on helping the Haitians,” Eric Besson concluded.

Read on.

Meanwhile, according to the UK Telegraph a diplomatic row has developed with the French accusing the US military of occupying Haiti!

So, in light of all this information, and although the good folks at GalliaWatch wouldn’t be happy, how about if the US just backs off and lets France take care of  the Haiti problem!

See our new category on Haiti, here.   This is our third post this morning on the sure to be hot topic for weeks and months to come.

Scandinavia terror watch

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is an article from Terrorism Monitor that addresses the recent case of the attempted murder of the Danish cartoonist by a Somali immigrant (the whole story is in this article if you haven’t seen it), but I was most interested in the information that Sweden and Denmark are keeping a closer eye on their Somali communities.

What is clear, however, is that operational networks do exist which link al-Shabaab to Somali diaspora communities in the Nordic countries. Sweden’s security services have repeatedly warned of this threat, while Danish security services have found themselves very busy in the wake of the cartoons. Both have increased their focus on their respective domestic Somali communities. It has been estimated that there are about 20,000 Somalis in each nation, though figures are unreliable. What has alarmed Swedish forces, however, is the growing evidence that non-Somalis are being attracted to the fight from Sweden, something that is supported by a Danish report which claims Somalia is now being seen as the exciting jihad hotspot among young radicals. While the actual numbers are quite small (Sweden claims some 10 nationals are currently in Somalia, and the number from Denmark is unlikely to be much higher), the connection does raise the worrying prospect that al-Shabaab or a similar group might attempt to manipulate the network to carry out an attack in Europe.