MAYBE DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

Stop Islamisation Of Europe (SIOE) describes itself as., "...an alliance of people across Europe with the single aim of preventing Islam becoming a dominant political force in Europe."

You can guess what these folks are all about.

The Searchlight article below perhaps prematurely suggests SIOE is dead in the water.

Unfortunately, the poster pictured here indicates something different.

These scumballs have decided that Muslims have a plan to take over...Greenland...and they are calling on those like them to to put a stop to this nefarious scheme.

One of the founders of SIOE in Britain is Stephen Gash.

Here is a "great" quote from Mr. Gash:

"Appeasement of Islamists has become ridiculous. Non-Muslims are expected to be buried facing Mecca and to sit on toilets facing away from Mecca because cemeteries and new homes have to conform to Muslim sensitivities. Toy pigs are banned from offices and Christmas lights must now be called ‘Winter Festival lights’ so as not to offend Muslims. None of these oppressive measures were even contemplated when Jews were the only ones who could possibly be offended by pigs and ‘Merry Christmas’."

Although SIOE comprises not all that many folks, and their demonstrations have been sparsely attended, their message resonates widely (not unlike the anti-immigrant crap that goes on in the US). Europe's drift to the right is partially, if not largely, fueled by anti-Islam sentiment.

One demonstration of this was the rise last year of the rightwing People's party in Switzerland. The party notorious for its virulent hostility to ethnic minorities and Muslims, emerged as the victor in the Swiss elections, taking 29% of the vote, the best electoral performance by a party in the country's elections since 1919.

We've seen this sort of thing happening all across Europe where ethnic, religious and racial hatred seems to be lurking just beneath the surface (and in places like Italy above the surface as well).

It's important therefore to remember that even if the most obvious of the loons are defeated, that their cause is not necessarily lost.

Ed. note July 29, 2008: You might want to read the two comments below which help to clarify some of the above esp. where I wrote "These scumballs have decided that Muslims have a plan to take over...Greenland..." This actually refers to some disturbing incidents including the stoning of some Greenlanders by Muslims in a housing development in Denmark.

The following is from Searchlight (August 2008 edition).

Anti-Islamic movement hits the rocks

An attempt to set up a pan-European anti-Islam movement is in tatters after its launch activities turned into a series of disasters and its two main components in Denmark and the Netherlands split up.

Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) was founded in 2007 after Stop Islamisation of Denmark (SIAD), led by Anders Gravers, had experienced momentary success in the wake of the controversy over the publication of anti-Islamic cartoons in a regional newspaper in September 2005.

Gravers and Stephen Gash from the UK became SIOE's official spokesmen, believing it would act as a springboard for a wider European campaign this spring even though similar anti-Islamic groups were active only in the Netherlands. SIOE planned several anti-Islam demonstrations but few took place and the intended large rallies turned out to be no more than small gatherings in the Netherlands and Denmark.

On 26 January 2008, Gravers spoke at a poorly attended demonstration in Amsterdam. This was followed by two demonstrations in Denmark, on 14 March in Hobro and on 15 March in Aalborg, attended by Martin and Monique van der Hulst from SIOE Netherlands and the notorious Dutch nazi Ben van der Kooi.

Van der Kooi's presence is interesting. His participation in demonstrations split SIOE in the Netherlands because of objections to cooperation with a known extremist. Others in SIOE were unperturbed and organised another demonstration in Amsterdam, but called it off when few people turned up.

The final demonstration was to be on 31 May in the heart of Copenhagen. By then the rot had set in but the grandiose plans for the day included speakers from Britain and Norway and rabble bussed in from all over Denmark to vent their anti-Islam spleen.

As in Amsterdam, the demonstration was, most embarrassingly, called off. The official reason was that Gash, the main speaker, had "been prevented" from taking part. A more likely reason is that anti-racist groups were organising a large counter-demonstration.

That was the least of SIOE's headaches because it emerged that, days after the failure of the Amsterdam activity on 5 April, SIOE Netherlands had withdrawn from European cooperation, denouncing Gravers as an authoritarian who routinely ignores criticism from SIOE members.