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Racism and fascism - in brief (7)

01 January 2008

Switzerland: Xenophobe ousted from Swiss coalition government. The far-right, anti-immigrant leader of the Schweizensche Volkspartei (Swiss People's Party, SVP), Christoph Blocher, who has been compared with Jean Marie Le Pen and Jorg Haider, had been serving as Justice Minister in the Swiss coalition government, and was unceremoniously removed in mid December 2007. The SVP has threatened to pull out of the coalition government unless he is reinstated, in what many people hope is a promise rather than a threat. The SVP ran a campaign in the lead-in to last October's polls, using racist posters depicting three white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss national flag. Swiss artists have now reproduced the poster, placing Blocher's head on the black sheep with the slogan: "For security: kick Blocher out of the cabinet." (Independent 13.12.07)

UK: Memorial vandalised by racists. In January the Stephen Lawrence memorial centre, an architectural centre built in memory of the black youth who was murdered in a racist attack 15 years ago, was vandalised by racists. Damage was done to eight windows at the south London building, each worth £15,000 as they were designed by Turner prizewinning artist, Chris Ofili. The three storey building, which was designed by architect David Adjaye, and opened a week before the attack, will offer young people from deprived backgrounds the opportunity to start a career in architecture, offering courses in engineering, architecture and building. No arrests have been made in connection with the atack, which police have described as a racially motivated crime.