Month: January 2024

A mayor in France has called for primary school teachers to be armed with tear gas grenades to protect themselves from the violent attacks that are becoming increasingly common in French schools.

In a letter addressed to all primary school teachers in his town of Marignane — with a copy sent to the National Education inspector — Éric le Dissès bemoaned the lack of police officers available to help protect those working in education and suggested that all teachers acquire tear gas grenades and necklace or bracelet alarms to help diffuse a dangerous situation or, at the very least, to alert others to an immediate threat.

“(There are just) 180 police officers in an area which goes from Marignane to Vitrolles and Plan-de-Campagne, including 80 in fixed posts at the police station in Marignane, without looking at the staff on leave or off work. It’s ridiculous,” le Dissès wrote.

He cited the terror attack that claimed the life of teacher Dominique Bernard back in October last year as a case in point of a death that could have been avoided if teachers were suitably armed insisting the “matter would have been over.”

In a social media post on Tuesday, the mayor also referenced a recent attack in his town during which a teacher was attacked by four students.

“Providing them with defense spray is the least we can do in the short term,” he wrote.

Vendredi, dans un collège de #Marignane, un surveillant gravement blessé par 4 élèves !

En plus du terrorisme, la montée de l'ultra-violence dans la jeunesse menace le personnel.

Leur fournir du spray de défense est le moins que l'on puisse faire, à court terme.

— Eric Le Dissès (@LeDissesEric) January 22, 2024

“One in two teachers have already asked me to be equipped with one,” le Dissès added in an interview with BFMTV.

Teaching union staff and the local police chief dismissed the idea out of hand — the latter reminding the mayor that tear gas is “a category D weapon whose possession and transport without a legitimate reason is prohibited.” The punishment for such an offense is a fine of up to €15,000 and up to one year in prison.

The mayor acknowledged the point and accepted that “teachers who wish to be equipped will have to complete a declaration and submit it to the Prefecture. We will see if the state services accept it or not.”

“We must be careful not to transform teachers into vigilantes,” added Charlotte Bourgougnon, local co-secretary of the FSU-SNUIPP 13 teaching union. “That is not our role and that pushes us aside completely from our missions,” she added.

WATCH: 🇫🇷 Two hooded youths broke into a French school in Angoulême on Thursday and attacked students.

The perpetrators threw a tear gas grenade into a classroom and punched a teacher in the face before fleeing.

Students were locked down whilst police conducted their initial… pic.twitter.com/xG07kLfTuj

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 18, 2024

There have been a rising number of high-profile incidents concerning teachers across France in recent months with some offenders expressing their desire to emulate previous killers of educators.

Last month, a 12-year-old schoolgirl from a family of Mongolian refugees was arrested after taking a knife to school and threatening to kill her teacher. Several testimonies from fellow students suggested the girl had boasted about wanting to emulate the murder of Dominique Bernard last year.

Secondary school teacher Samuel Paty was the first high-profile victim to be murdered by students when he was beheaded with a cleaver outside his school in Paris back in 2020 after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to Muslim students during class.

https://rmx.news/education/french-mayor-calls-for-teachers-to-be-armed-with-tear-gas-amid-spike-in-student-violence/

There are various literacy initiatives in Germany that aim to promote the German language and bring the generations together. One of these is the Cologne-based “Lesewelten” initiative, for which Martin Wagner was active as a mentor in a daycare centre in the socially deprived district of Chorweiler. But then several Muslim families complained and the daycare centre dismissed Wagner. The reasons for his dismissal were met with criticism.
As the feminist magazine Emma recently reported, the so-called reading mentor Martin Wagner is no longer allowed to read aloud in a Cologne daycare centre in the socially deprived district of Chorweiler. The reason: his gender does not suit three Muslim families. “The daycare centre has informed me that three Muslim families don’t want me to continue reading to them because I’m a man,” Emma quotes him as saying. Wagner thinks this is unfair. The children always had fun and he also enjoyed reading aloud. “I just thought it was important to read aloud in a daycare centre where many children don’t have German as their first language,” he explained.

In order to be allowed to read out to children as part of the Cologne ” Lesewelten” initiative, all volunteers must complete a literary education course and provide an extended police clearance certificate. According to Emma, it is mostly older women and sometimes retired men who see a meaningful occupation in reading to children in daycare centres, primary schools, refugee accommodation, museums or libraries. An employee from the daycare centre must always be present during the reading sessions. “I haven’t spent a single minute alone with the children and I don’t understand the concerns,” says Martin Wagner, “in this case it’s all about the fact that I’m a man.” According to the daycare centre, Muslim families have also complained about male interns in the past.
The daycare centre management initially backed Wagner, as did the “Lesewelten” initiative. But then the City of Cologne, as the daycare centre’s municipal sponsor, intervened and advised the daycare centre management to part ways with Wagner. But that was not enough. As Emma further reports, the daycare centre management also decided, after consultation with the City of Cologne, to no longer allow men to read aloud at the daycare centre in Chorweiler in future. “I can understand that you are upset (…) and that your gender may have led to this conflict.

The “Lesewelten” association continues to support Wagner and explains: “This doesn’t fit in with our values. We stand for diversity. We are also not complying with the wish expressed by the daycare centre management to look for a woman as a storyteller. We are now putting the cooperation with this daycare centre on hold, but we will be holding further clarifying talks with all those involved,” Emma quotes Simone Krost, Head of Division at “Lesewelten”.

A few weeks ago, a Muslim father wanted to come to Wagner’s reading lesson unannounced. “I found that offensive. It was a strange atmosphere. Parents don’t just join a school lesson like that. What would have happened if he had accused me of looking at his daughter funny afterwards?” says Wagner indignantly. The city of Cologne now also cites Wagner’s reaction to the father’s “inspection visit” as the reason for his expulsion. They claim he upset other parents and destroyed the basis of trust. “That’s not true,” Wagner replies. “It’s still only about the three Muslim families for whom I was a thorn in their side from the outset, just because I’m a man. I don’t think tolerance and cosmopolitanism should only go in one direction. And a city like Cologne should dare to stand up for that.”

Köln: Muslimische Familien wollen keinen Mann als Vorleser in Kita | Freilich Magazin (freilich-magazin.com)

Polish prison authorities have decided to force-feed Mariusz Kamiński, one of two opposition MPs from the Conservative (PiS) on hunger strike in prison.

He is to be sustained nasally, despite already agreeing to a saline drip to be administered since he and fellow MP Maciej Wąsik were jailed on January 10.

Kamiński’s son Kacper posted on social media on January 23 that his family had been told of what he described as the “inhumane” procedure.

“The doctor has informed my father that the most inhuman method of nasal feeding has been chosen despite the fact that he had agreed to feeding via saline drip.”

On January 22, Mariusz Kamiński, a diabetic, was taken to hospital with low blood-sugar levels and an “increasingly faint” pulse. He was returned to prison that evening.

His supporters are continuing to urge newly installed Polish justice minister Adam Bodnar to suspend Kamiński’s prison sentence pending the outcome of an ongoing pardon procedure re-instigated by President Andrzej Duda on January 1.

On January 23, Duda aide Błażej Poboży told Brussels Signal:“I can’t imagine that in the dramatic situation we have today that justice minister Adam Bodnar will not free Mariusz Kamiński from further imprisonment.”

Bodnar maintains he first needs to assess relevant documents sent to him by Duda, adding that the President could ensure that both Kamiński and Wąsik were released immediately by directly issuing a pardon instead of undertaking the current proceedings.

Duda contends he had already pardoned the pair in 2015 but that those pardons were declared invalid by a chamber of the Supreme Court last year.

The Constitutional Tribunal, or court, on the other hand ruled that the Supreme Court was not allowed to question the presidential prerogative of pardon and a different Supreme Court chamber also upheld the original pardons.

Talking to Polish tabloid Super Express on January 20, Duda said that if the two MPs’ deteriorating health “can only be stopped by me simply pardoning them again, just to save them, then I will do it”.

Some interpreted that as meaning Duda would not wait for Bodnar to respond to his request and would issue another pardon, even if it meant effectively admitting that his previous one was invalid.

Both Kamiński and Wąsik claim they are political prisoners but the Government maintains they were jailed as result being convicted for abusing their power while heading Poland’s anti-corruption office almost a decade ago.

The original convictions date back to 2015 and were appealed against. Before the appeals could be heard, Duda decided to pardon the two MPs as, he argued, they had both been engaged in a “sting” against officials in the ministry of agriculture – who were later convicted of corruption.

The Ministry of Justice on January 23 said it would submit the necessary documentation to Duda to issue a new pardon within the “next two days”.

That will not resolve the full controversy, many say, as there is still the issue of whether or not the two are actually still MPs.

According to the Speaker of Parliament Szymon Hołownia, the fact that they were convicted has invalidated their parliamentary mandates.

This is not the view held by Duda or the MPs’ party, the PiS.

https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/01/jailed-polish-mp-to-be-force-fed-in-prison/

The Labour Party has adopted a wide-ranging definition of “Islamophobia”, which it currently expects all of its councils to accept. If Labour wins the General Election, it is expected to introduce this draconian restriction on free speech as legislation, either on its own or as part of a Race Relations Bill. This is chilling. No religion should be above criticism. Criminalising anti-Muslim or anti-Jewish or anti-Christian hatred is one thing. But to criminalise criticism of the religion and ideology of Islam is another thing entirely. This clip with Tim Dieppe, Head of Public Policy at Christian Concern and author of a publication on free speech & Islamophobia, is taken from a longer #NCFWhittle interview. To see the full-length interview please see here: https://youtu.be/bPr34Ktg1qs?si=3v9BS…

A robber broke into a supermarket late on Monday afternoon (22 January). The man entered the Géant Casino shop in the La Valentine neighbourhood in the 11th arrondissement of Marseille. As Valeurs actuelles reports from police circles, he then pointed a knife at the throat of an employee and demanded that she hand over the contents of the till. The amount was 200 euros.

🔴 [Info @Valeurs] Marseille : un homme s'est présenté à une caisse d'un magasin Casino dans le 11e arrondissement, a menacé une employée en apposant un couteau sous sa gorge pour se faire remettre le contenu de la caisse (200 euros), puis s'est dirigé vers une autre caissière en…

— Amaury Brelet (@AmauryBrelet) January 23, 2024

Out of fear, the victim was unable to hand over the money. A second employee was then threatened with a knife. The security guard was finally able to overpower and disarm the attacker, whereupon he shouted “allah akbar”. He also threatened to “cut the throats of all people of other faiths”. He has no fixed abode and has a criminal record. There were no injuries.

[Info VA] Marseille : un braqueur crie “allah akbar” et menace d’égorger les “non convertis” dans un magasin – Valeurs actuelles

Teachers at an east London primary school are facing abuse and threats of violence after a pupil was told he could not wear a Palestine badge to school.

Barclay Primary in Leyton was forced to close early for Christmas after protests at the school gates sparked by a TikTok video claiming that the eight year-old had been bullied by teachers.

In response, the school sent several letters to parents insisting its rules would not allow items of clothing demonstrating any political allegiance. But the boy’s mother, who is from Gaza, said this was wrong because her son should be permitted “to show empathy for his dead relatives and friends” in the Middle East.

The school has since received a bomb threat, which London’s Metropolitan Police said it was taking “incredibly seriously.” The escalating situation has led school leaders to consider closing the building and returning to (inferior) online learning.

In a letter seen by The Daily Telegraph, school leaders say that “this is the option of last resort—but please be aware that, should staff continue to be threatened, then we will have no option but to close the school.” A staff member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, also told the paper:

Staff are being intimidated, bullied, abused, threatened and confronted as a result of misinformation and manipulation of the trust for this agenda.

The bomb threat that was made during the Christmas holiday led to the police being at the school in January for the first week of school, with more anxiety for staff. This has been further escalated by a recent arson threat and severe threats of violence and abuse of staff over the past weeks.

I personally am scared for my safety and all staff within the school.

Officially, the school has accused media outlets of “escalating” the row by publishing “malicious fabrications,” and is unwilling to offer further comment. Parents in the London Borough of Waltham Forest are divided over the issue, while the school protests have included many non-parent activists.

While pushing the sensitives of particular groups to the fore, the ongoing controversies undermine adult control over pupil behaviour and destroy trust between schools and parents.

Others have linked this episode to a string of recent threats to a number of schools accused of mistreating Muslim pupils. 

Another London school featured in the headlines this month following allegations of Islamophobia and another ‘bomb hoax’ that came after its headteacher was “forced” to ban Muslim prayers due to teachers being racially harassed.

A teacher who received death threats from Islamic extremists after showing his West Yorkshire pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed during a religious education class is also still in hiding two years after his 2021 suspension. A study later found that up to one in five teachers are self-censoring for fear of offending Muslim pupils following this incident. 

In light of the Yorkshire and more recent London rows, GB News presenter Martin Daubney asked: “How much more religious bullying can Britain take?” Steven Edginton, a journalist at the Telegraph, added that “diversity and multiculturalism are a weakness that result in nasty episodes like this.”
Despite claims to the contrary, Barclay Primary continues to stress that “no child has been suspended or excluded by the school through issues arising with the uniform policy.”

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/british-primary-school-faces-bomb-threat-amid-palestine-row/

Are there no mosques in Amsterdam? There are plenty. So why block the streets? Doing so is a demonstration of presence and power. Dutch citizens see that Muslims are in the country in large numbers and that authorities dare not anger them by asking them not to inconvenience everyone by holding prayers in the street.

"You can't pass, we have to pray!" Streets in Amsterdam become mosques. pic.twitter.com/BunKUwjjFH

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) January 22, 2024

Netherlands: Muslim block streets for outdoor prayers in Amsterdam (jihadwatch.org)

Renowned fashion brand H&M had to take down an image which was part of its advertisement campaign which included children, after being accused of sexualising underage girls.

The Swedish fashion brand faced flak across social media platforms for its advertisement launched in Australia which showed two school girls in school uniforms with the caption: “Make those heads turn in H&M’s Back to School fashion.”

The brand then removed the ad and issued an apology. “We have removed this ad. We are deeply sorry for the offence this has caused and we are looking into how we present campaigns going forward,” the H&M spokesperson said.

An Australian writer Melinda Tankard Reist wrote on X, “Why would you want to fuel the idea that little girls should draw attention to their looks, bodies and ‘style’? Perhaps have a word to your marketing team and come up with something that doesn’t draw attention to pre-pubescent girls already struggling to thrive in a culture that values ‘lookism’ as an aspirational goal?”

Another X user, a psychologist, Dr Pam Spurr, wrote, “Let’s BOYCOTT H&M until they remove the offensive AD & donate to a child protection charity! We can stop their PEDOPHILE AD spreading to other countries @hm & @hmaustralia We DON’T want children used in this very dangerous way #BoycottHM #LeaveTheKidsAlone.”

Let's BOYCOTT H&M until they remove the offensive AD & donate to a child protection charity!

We can stop their PEDOPHILE AD spreading to other countries @hm & @hmaustralia 💪

We DON'T want children used in this very dangerous way 🚩🚩 🚩#BoycottHM #LeaveTheKidsAlone https://t.co/Imv244v19J

— Dr Pam Spurr Psychologist and Artist (@DrPamSpurr) January 18, 2024

GB News panellist Adam Brooks took to X and wrote, “H&M is forced to pull ‘sexualised’ school uniform advert featuring two young girls in pinafores with the slogan. “Make those heads turn” 

 This was no mistake, this campaign would have had to go through many people to be signed off,why would people turn heads for kids??..sick.”

H&M is forced to pull ‘sexualised’ school uniform advert featuring two young girls in pinafores with the slogan

“Make those heads turn” 😮

This was no mistake, this campaign would have had to go through many people to be signed off,why would people turn heads for kids??..sick. pic.twitter.com/vRCAoJkmHI

— Adam Brooks AKA EssexPR 🇬🇧 (@EssexPR) January 22, 2024

Meanwhile, an exclusive report by The Daily Mail has claimed that H&M is still promoting adverts that feature children with the tagline “make those heads turn” even after it was forced to pull out a picture of two underage girls in uniform with the same tagline.

The report reads, “One advert, which appears to be from the same ‘Back to School’ campaign and has the same tagline, is still up on the brand’s Instagram, despite it apology and assurance that it had removed the ad that sparked controversy.”

In another such advert, a video shows two young girls turning to look as a young boy walks past and it is caption, “How to make those heads turn on the first day of school”.

According to The Daily Mail report, another post on the H&M Kids page shows a little girl wearing a black tulle dress as the company plugged its Halloween range back in October.

The caption reads: ‘From glamorous divas to stylish trendsetters, get ready to turn heads and make this Halloween the best yet.’

https://www.opindia.com/2024/01/hm-issues-apology-for-recalls-ad-sexualising-children/

An investigation has been launched by the Charity Commission after videos circulated online of antisemitic speeches being given to UK students by Iranian generals.

Two of the videos show talks by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) talking about an apocalyptic war on Jews.

It comes as some MPs have voiced concern the IRGC is attempting to radicalise British Muslims.

The Charity Commission, which has the power to examine, sanction or close down charities which breach the regulations, has now launched an investigation into the Al-Tawheed (TUCF) Charitable Trust, which hosted talks at the Kanoon Towhid Islamic centre in Hammersmith, west London.

Three videos were recorded in 2020 and 2021, two were live-streamed speeches by former and active IRGC commanders.

The other was an in-person event inside the Kanoon Towhid Islamic centre commemorating Iran’s top military commander Gen Qasem Soleimani who was killed in 2020 in an American drone strike. There was also chants of “death to Israel”.

Al-Tawheed (TUCF) Charitable Trust was already being investigated by the Charity Commission after reports of the event honouring Gen Soleimani, who was sanctioned by the UK for his links to terrorism.

Professor of Iranian history at the University of St Andrews Ali Ansari said the talks reflected: “an attempt to encourage disruption, discontent, and basically undermine the stability of Western society, and what we need is a much more robust response to it”.

One talk from September 2020 showed IRGC commander Hossein Yekta who said universities had become “the battlefront” and urged the students listening to become “soft-war officers”.

Another online talk from January 2021 featured former IRGC commander Gen Saeed Ghasemi who glorified the death of Gen Soleimani and falsely claimed the Holocaust was “a lie and a fake”.

He also described an apocalyptic war that the British students could join to “bring an end to the life of the oppressors and occupiers, Zionists and Jews across the world”.

In the video, he said: “God willing, myself and you good students in Europe will be written in the beautiful list of the soldiers of the resistance from tonight.”

The Al-Tawheed (TUCF) Charitable Trust, which runs the Kanoon Towhid centre, was contacted for comment by GB News but did not respond.

A government spokesperson told the BBC: “We have sanctioned more than 350 Iranian individuals and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in its entirety.”

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Alicia Kearns MP called the talks a “brazen act of radicalisation.”

She said: “It makes me really worried about the state of our society, everyone should be horrified by what they’re seeing in those videos. It’s division, it’s hatred. It’s inciting violence, potentially it’s incredibly serious.”

https://www.gbnews.com/news/iranian-generals-antisemitic-speeches-uk-students-israel

A United Nations report released on Monday (22nd January) asserts that Afghan women who are single or lack a male guardian are having their access to employment, travel, and healthcare restricted by the Taliban.

In one case, officials from the Vice and Virtue Ministry encouraged a woman to marry if she wanted to keep her employment at a healthcare facility, claiming it was unsuitable for an unmarried woman to work.

Despite initially pledging more moderate leadership, the Taliban restricted women from most spheres of public life and prevented females from attending school beyond sixth grade as part of harsh restrictions adopted after gaining power in 2021.

They have also closed beauty salons and begun enforcing a dress code, arresting women who do not adhere to their version of hijab, or Islamic headscarf. In May 2022, the Taliban issued an order requiring women to only expose their eyes and advising them to wear the head-to-toe burqa, similar to restrictions imposed under the Taliban’s previous administration from 1996 to 2001.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric commented on the recent UN report. He stated that women in Afghanistan are facing horror and that it is unimaginable to have a life there.

According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s most recent quarterly report, which covers the period from October to December of last year, the Taliban are tightening down on Afghan women who are single or do not have a male guardian, or mahram, with them.

There are no official rules in Afghanistan governing male guardianship, although the Taliban have stated that women cannot move or go beyond a certain distance without the presence of a man connected to them by blood or marriage.

Last October, three female healthcare workers were jailed for going to work without a mahram. According to the report, they were released after their families signed a written agreement promising not to repeat the conduct.

Since December, the Vice and Virtue Ministry in Paktia province has prohibited women without ‘mahrams’ (male guardian) from accessing healthcare facilities. It inspects health establishments around the province to guarantee compliance.

The ministry, which acts as the Taliban’s morality police, also enforces hijab and mahram rules for women who visit public areas, offices, and educational institutions via checkpoints and inspections.

“In December, in Kandahar province, ministry officials visited a bus terminal to ensure women were not traveling long distances without mahrams and instructed bus drivers not to permit women to board without one,” the UN said.

Women have also been imprisoned for purchasing contraception, something the Taliban does not officially prohibit.

Meanwhile, the Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid refuted the UN report and claimed that the report has been crafted based on misunderstanding. He also accused the UN mission of ignoring or criticizing Islamic law, or Shariah.

“With an Islamic government in power in Afghanistan, it must “fully implement all aspects of Shariah for both men and women. This means enforcing rules for the hijab, male guardianship, and gender segregation for women in education and employment,” Mujahid said in a statement.

“If UNAMA criticizes these cases or considers explicit Islamic rulings as an act against human rights, then it is an insult to the beliefs of a people,” he added.

https://www.opindia.com/2024/01/taliban-restriction-single-afghan-women-bans-travel-healthcare-if-unmarried-or-have-no-male-guardian/