Democratic Rights in Europe
Swiss referendum on asylum law
By Marianne Arens, 11 June 2013
A referendum was held Sunday on proposals to strengthen the law against asylum seekers.
European Union cites Boston attack to justify major anti-terrorist operation
By Chris Marsden, 24 April 2013
On April 17 and 18, anti-terrorist units of numerous European Union member states participated in an operation involving simulated terrorist attacks in nine different countries.
Europe’s rulers whip up anti-immigrant chauvinism
By Julie Hyland, 18 March 2013
The rights of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens have been targeted by the European Union.
British Labour Party steps up anti-immigrant rhetoric
By Robert Stevens, 14 March 2013
To win support from the ultra-nationalist electoral constituency and from Murdoch, Labour has moved decisively in taking up anti-immigration propaganda.
Roma in Germany forced into abject poverty
By Sybille Fuchs, 14 February 2013
A recent report provides a shocking exposure of the contempt shown by local authorities and church institutions in Dortmund for workers from southeast Europe.
Why the SEP (Germany) rejects a state ban of the neo-fascist NPD
By the Partei für Soziale Gleichheit (PSG), 10 January 2013
Last month, the German upper house of parliament agreed to take a case to the Supreme Court aiming to ban the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD).
European Court orders damages for CIA torture victim
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 5 January 2013
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has condemned the Republic of Macedonia for its role in the CIA rendition of Khaled El-Masri.
Spanish government prepares repressive measures against social opposition
By Vicky Short and Alejandro López, 6 December 2012
Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party government is preparing to impose €90 billion in budget cuts over the next two years.
German Left Party opposes religious circumcision
By Justus Leicht, 9 October 2012
Opposition to laws that permit a religious practice carried out for thousands of years comes not only from the extreme right, but also from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Left Party.
In response to Muslim protests
Europe strengthens repressive powers of the state
By Peter Schwarz, 26 September 2012
The aim of the anti-Islamic campaign is to divide the working class, suppress opposition to imperialist war, whip up right-wing forces, and direct growing social tensions into reactionary, racist channels.
French youth riot against police brutality in Amiens-Nord
By Antoine Lerougetel, 16 August 2012
Violent clashes youth and police took place on Sunday and Monday nights in the Amiens-Nord council estate.
Defend immigrants in Greece
By Christoph Dreier, 11 August 2012
Last weekend, some 4,500 Athens police officers were mobilized to round up thousands of people believed to be immigrants.
France’s Socialist Party government plans to force Roma into ghettos
By Kumaran Ira, 3 August 2012
The new social-democratic government is threatening to dismantle Roma encampments and force the Roma into “integration villages.”
Letters in defense of the German Socialist Equality Party
27 April 2012
The following is a selection of readers’ letters on “Hands off the Socialist Equality Party in Germany!”
Hands off the Socialist Equality Party in Germany!
By Peter Schwarz, 26 April 2012
The assault on three meetings of the Socialist Equality Party in Germany in defence of Günter Grass represent an enormous intensification of the attacks on democratic rights.
Right-wing Zionist provocateurs and student council representative close down Leipzig meeting to defend Günter Grass
By our correspondents, 26 April 2012
As with previous meetings in Frankfurt and Berlin, a meeting in Leipzig held Tuesday was met with a huge and coordinated provocation.
European court’s extradition ruling and Guantanamo’s global reach
By Bill Van Auken, 13 April 2012
Tuesday’s ruling by the European human rights court allowing Britain’s extradition of five alleged terror suspects to the US speaks volumes about the erosion of basic democratic principles throughout Europe.
European Court’s extradition ruling: A major blow to democratic rights
By Julie Hyland, 12 April 2012
The decision by the European Court of Human Rights that five men detained on terror-related charges can be extradited to the United States marks a major assault on democratic rights.
Stop the warmongers! Defend Günter Grass!
By Wolfgang Weber, 11 April 2012
The campaign of defamation against one of the world’s best known writers, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature and many other awards, makes clear that the German ruling class and its counterparts in Washington and Tel Aviv are intent on intimidating and silencing anyone who dares criticise the preparations for war against Iran.
French police detain 19 alleged Islamist militants
By Kumaran Ira, 4 April 2012
Early Friday morning, French anti-terrorist police and domestic intelligence carried out raids in major cities across France, arresting 19 people.
German police killing of unemployed woman at job centre
By Elizabeth Zimmermann, 2 April 2012
The police shooting death of an unemployed Nigerian woman again raises the question of why German authorities are so reluctant to indict those responsible for numerous cases of unwarranted deadly violence.
German government sets up neo-Nazi database
By Dietmar Henning, 23 January 2012
The German government has responded to revelations of neo-Nazi murders by the Zwickau terrorist cell by centralizing and expanding the security authorities.
UK: Police make brutal attack on Irish traveller camp
By Jordan Shilton, 21 October 2011
The eviction of an Irish traveller encampment at Dale Farm in southeast England began on Wednesday morning.
German state deploys illegal spy software
By Sybille Fuchs, 14 October 2011
Germany’s security services are placing spyware on personal computers, violating basic rights and the stipulations of the German Supreme Court.
Marseille mayor orders mass expulsion of Roma camp
By Kumaran Ira, 11 August 2011
On August 9, the city of Marseille in southern France announced that it had prepared a municipal order to forcibly evacuate some 100 Roma people.
France enforces burqa ban
By Antoine Lerougetel, 18 April 2011
Several women have been arrested in France after an anti-democratic ban on wearing the burqa took effect on April 11.
The alliance between the EU and Libya in the persecution of refugees
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 5 March 2011
For years the European Union has collaborated closely with the dictatorships in Libya and Tunisia to stop refugees breaching the perimeter of “Fortress Europe”.
German defence minister adopts the political style of Italy’s Berlusconi
By Ulrich Rippert, 28 February 2011
Right-wing political and media forces are demagogically exploiting the extraordinary arrogance of Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg to further undermine democratic rights in Germany.
German student arbitrarily detained in Afghan prison
By Marianne Arens, 18 February 2011
The US embassy in Kabul has claimed that the German government cooperated in the arrest and incarceration of a young German student in Afghanistan’s notorious Bagram prison.
Police agent Mark Kennedy was active throughout Europe
By Julie Hyland, 3 February 2011
Mark Kennedy, the police agent who worked undercover in the environmental movement for eight years, was active in his undercover guise as Mark Stone throughout Europe.
More evidence of police infiltration of UK political groups
By Julie Hyland, 1 February 2011
The UK government has announced plans intended to block further exposure of the work of undercover officers in political and protest groups.
German Supreme Court fails to defend right to asylum
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 1 February 2011
The German Supreme Court has accepted a manoeuvre by the Interior Ministry to prevent current asylum law being deemed unconstitutional.
Roma woman dies following deportation to Kosovo
By Elisabeth Zimmermann, 19 January 2011
In what is a devastating indictment of German asylum practice, a Roma woman died following her deportation to Kosovo.
German Supreme Court overturns acquittal of officer implicated in asylum seeker’s death
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 18 January 2011
A new trial has been ordered in the case of Oury Jalloh, who burned to death while shackled to a mattress in a Dessau police cell.
Switzerland approves reactionary “Deportation Initiative”
By Marianne Arens, 30 November 2010
Just one year after a referendum banning the construction of minarets, another referendum in Switzerland has sharply tightened the country’s immigration law.
German state exploits terror alert to expand police powers
By Dietmar Henning, 30 November 2010
With the support of the entire political establishment, the German government is using a recent terror alert to expand the use of armed police and attack democratic rights.
Shootings of immigrants in Sweden
By Jordan Shilton, 10 November 2010
A man was arrested in Malmö on Saturday in connection with a spate of shootings targeting immigrants.
Leading German politicians take up Thilo Sarrazin’s anti-Islamic campaign
By Justus Leicht and Peter Schwarz, 15 October 2010
Prominent German politicians, including the chancellor, Angela Merkel, have defamed those practising the Muslim faith, thereby challenging the fundamental right to freedom of faith and conscience.
French Constitutional Council approves burqa ban
By Kumaran Ira, 15 October 2010
On October 7, the French Constitutional Council approved the anti-democratic ban on wearing full-face veils, such as the burqa or niqab, in all public places.
Police action against demonstrators opposing “Stuttgart 21” rail project
By Peter Schwarz, 4 October 2010
Demonstrators in Stuttgart, Germany last Thursday were confronted by several hundred police officers using water cannon, tear gas and batons.
Poverty, segregation and discrimination for the Roma in Germany
By Martin Kriekenbaum, 2 October 2010
Germany is preparing to deport back to Kosovo 10,000 Roma and Sinti who had fled the country during the German-backed war in former Yugoslavia.
French Senate votes burqa ban into law
By Kumaran Ira, 20 September 2010
The Senate’s passage of the ban on the burqa, coinciding with mass deportations of Roma, marks a milestone in the French government’s attacks on democratic rights.
The persecution of Roma—under the Nazis and today
By Peter Schwarz, 18 September 2010
Efforts to stir up racist and anti-Muslim tendencies are increasing across Europe, with the deliberate promotion of far right and racist parties, backed by big financial interests.
Roma family gunned down in Slovakia
By Stefan Steinberg, 3 September 2010
The recent shooting of a Roma family in Slovakia is a product of the racial prejudice sanctioned by the Slovak state.
Nazi ideology from Germany’s Bundesbank
By Peter Schwarz, 3 September 2010
Thilo Sarrazin’s new book is a tirade of abuse against Muslim immigrants, spiced with the type of social Darwinist prejudices and racist theories associated with the criminals of the Nazi Third Reich.
French government seeks European backing for its anti-Roma policy
By Stefan Steinberg, 31 August 2010
The French government is seeking to win support from official European institutions for its racist policy of rounding up and deporting members of the Roma community.
Back to Vichy
By Alex Lantier, 25 August 2010
By scapegoating politically isolated minorities with measures last officially used in France by the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis in World War II, the French state is preparing to repress working class opposition to its policies.
France deports Roma en masse
By Antoine Lerougetel, 21 August 2010
In a high-profile attack on the Roma community, the French government deported 93 Roma gypsies to Romania on Thursday.
Spain joins anti-burqa witch-hunt
By Alejandro López, 21 August 2010
In Spain as in France, a wave of anti-democratic legislation and policies is being prepared against Muslims, including proposals to ban the burqa.
French government’s law-and-order measures threaten democratic rule
By Kumaran Ira, 20 August 2010
The raft of law-and-order measures announced in recent weeks in France highlights the far-right turn by the political establishment.
French National Assembly vote to ban the burqa: An attack on democratic rights
By Alex Lantier, 5 August 2010
The French National Assembly’s vote to ban full-face veils in all public places is a reactionary attack on democratic rights and a conscious step away from the rule of law.
French National Assembly debates burqa ban
By Antoine Lerougetel, 12 July 2010
Proposals to ban the burqa and niqab in France now being debated in the National Assembly constitute a major attack on democratic rule, sanctioned by the entire political establishment.
French government witch-hunts partner of niqab-wearing woman
By Antoine Lerougetel, 18 June 2010
Attempts to deprive Lies Hebbadj of French citizenship are an act of political retaliation for his partner’s opposition to the government’s reactionary campaign against the burqa and niqab.
Sarkozy proposes total ban on the burqa in France
By Antoine Lerougetel, 27 April 2010
Sarkozy is moving to fast-track a total ban on the burqa in France over objections that the bill is unconstitutional, and despite widespread popular hostility to his recent “national identity” campaign.
French parliamentary commission advocates banning the burqa
By Kumaran Ira, 2 February 2010
After deliberating for six months, a parliamentary commission in France investigating a ban on the burqa, or niqab, has released a report that recommends passage of a law outlawing the wearing of the garment in any public facility run by the state.
Anti-burqa campaign marks turn away from democratic rule in France
By Antoine Lerougetel and Alex Lantier, 15 January 2010
Presented in defiance of public opinion and disregarding constitutional objections, preparations to institutionalize state discrimination against forms of Muslim religious belief mark a turn towards overtly anti-democratic forms of rule.
France: parliamentary mission against burqa promotes anti-Muslim prejudice
By Antoine Lerougetel, 19 September 2009
The French parliamentary mission of inquiry on the burqa held its second session September 9. It is widely assumed to be preparing a law banning women from wearing the body-covering burqa in public.
France: Racist campaign against burqa threatens democratic rights
By Antoine Lerougetel and Alex Lantier, 14 July 2009
President Nicolas Sarkozy and a commission of parliamentarians from across the political establishment are moving ahead with plans to ban conservative Muslim dress for women in France.
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