In one sense, it was just an effort at rebranding a party that has suffered electoral defeat, scandal and internal divisions in the past few years. This weekend, France’s main conservative party, under the leadership of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, voted to rename itself the Republicans, dropping its rather unwieldy identity as the Union for a…
Well known arabist, Islam critic, and member of the European Parliament Hans Jansen died at the age of 72 after a short sickbed. Since June 2014 Jansen was a parliamentary member for the Party for Freedom (PVV) working together with the Dutch Islam critic Geert Wilders. Jansen wrote seventeen books about Islam which appeared…
In the near future most probably a law will come into existence banning face-covering clothing, like the burqa, in education, hospitals, public transport, and government buildings. The Labour Party (PvdA) and the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) already mentioned their intention to ban the burqa in their coalition agreement in 2012. Labour…
A mayor of a French town has been suspended from former president Nikolas Sarkozy’s UMP party after urging a ban on Islam in the country and the immediate “escorting to the border” of those practicing the religion. “The Muslim religion must be banned in France,” Robert Chardon, mayor of the southern town of Venelles, wrote on…
Radical preacher Anjem Choudary has claimed that all Muslim MPs and voters are “apostates” as the general election approaches. Writing on Twitter that voting is a “sin” against Islam, he argued that Parliament violated religious law because Allah is “the only legislator”. Mr Choudary wrote: “The only excuse is for a new Muslim or someone…
