Do you remember when one episode of the British comedy Absolutely Fabulous took Patsy and Edina to Morocco? For the two drunken, self-absorbed anti-heroes Morocco was all about smoking “Mary Jane” (to use a Sixties slang term) and buying “gorgeous thing.”

It seems a little one sided, but perhaps this wasn’t an entirely illusory side of the “Islamic world.” It hasn’t always been burkas and morality police, you know. Iran and Egypt were, only a few decades ago, modern-ish, Western-style nations.

From Hussein Chalayan's 1996 fashion show

Fun wasn’t a dirty word back then. Look at a photo of an Egyptian class of 1970 and, although you’ll see plenty of female graduates, you won’t see any hijabs.

But is there anything wrong with the hijab? For many Muslims and non-Muslims it’s a symbol of the Muslim Brotherhood, which for non Muslims means it’s a symbol of extremism. But there’s another side to it, I think we should acknowledge.

Irreverent: Patsy and Edina of Ab Fab.

Perhaps the battle of the hijab, and the identity of the Muslim woman, really began in England. It’s been forgotten, but in those halcyon days of pre-9/11 and pre-7/7, and all the other dates we’d rather forget, Turkish-English fashion designer Hussein Chalayan sent models down the catwalk wearing burkas made into slit skirts. Some of the models were naked from the waist down. One was entirely naked except for the gold mask traditionally worn with Saudi Arabian burqas. (Apparently it’s meant to imitate the look of a falcon.) No fatwas, no embassies burned. Although no doubt some people were “offended” it was just a fashion show.

Well, it was politics, too — in a round about way.

Hijab and jeans. Is this a statement against the West, or applauding it?

In the Moroccan Ab Fab episode it’s revealed that Patsy used to be a man. We learn that she was a transexual briefly. It pushes the limits but it’s all a bit of a laugh. When Burak Birer, 31, saw transexuals in a fashion magazine he had a different reaction. He founded Ala, a hijab fashion magazine, in Istanbul to contest the “diktat of nudity,” the Daily Mail reports.

It’s already selling like hot cakes — halal ones of course — with circulation at 30,000. About 1,500 are shipped to Germany.

Ala is a Turkish word meaning the most beautiful. Birer says with “Cosmopolitan, Elle, Vogue, Marie Claire, it’s all about sex and naked skin. ‘The motto is that sex sells. But we, and millions of women around the world, believe that fashion can also be different.”

Don’t be so surprised; there are a few hijab high fashion blogs — such as Hijab Fashion, Hijab Trendz (note the cool intentional misspelling), and Hijab Style —  that show an entirely different side of the Muslim headscarf.

I’ve seen young Muslim women wearing Western clothing with the hijab. I’m sure if you live in a modern Western city you have too. There seems to be two conflicting messages here: (1) I’m modern, Western, and cool, just like you, and (2) I’m not like you. The latter message is one that goes with fashion, whether we like it or not — think Punk, Skin, or any other confrontation trend.

There are different ways to be modern. For some people — such as are parodied in Ab Fab — it’s about accepting all that comes along; the more outrageous the better. At the other extreme there are those that want technology within an essentially medieval world.

The hijab may not represent either extreme. It might in some cases represent political inclinations, not entirely unlike the Che tee-shirt. In other cases it might signal an attempt to incorporate traditional — but not medieval — values in a modern lifestyle.

Regardless, it’s no bad thing that young Muslim women are thinking about Islam in regard to beauty.

Frankly, it’s time the authorities shut Anonymous down.

Perhaps it started innocently enough, with people protesting Scientology while wearing the Guy Fawkes mask as seen in the movie V for Vendetta.

A loose network of “hactivists,” Anonymous has supported Wikileaks and democracy protests in the Middle East. But it’s also attempted to hack Facebook — and promises to achieve that goal this year, and to steal account information along with it. And, it also recently hacked the security info site, Stratfor, stealing bank account numbers and cash from those accounts, which it then gave to charities, we’re told.

As European Son reported in November 2011, one Anonymous group also attacked Muslim Brotherhood websites. Anti-MB types might applaud, but the Anonymous hactivists also accused the MB of copying Freemasonry. Whenever you hear “Freemasonry” mentioned in Islamic or Middle Eastern circles you know that the speakers have absorbed the “Zionist Masonic” conspiracy theory of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a Tsarist forgery that blamed the Jews for creating chaos in the world, and claimed that they were working to create a world Zionist state. How’d it get to the Middle East, you wonder? Through the propaganda efforts of the Nazis. The forgery is still frequently cited in the Arab/Muslim press today.

The anti-MB Anonymous activists also expressed support for the movement’s early goals — when it was funded by the Nazis, incidentally.

No, I’m not saying that Anonymous are Nazis. Like the British anti-Islamist English Defence League, anyone can self-identify as a member of the network. There is no formal application procedure or dues cards for either group. That means anyone can claim to represent the network. Anonymous seems to be a very mixed bag — kids, do-gooders, pro-democracy activists, liberals, plus a few Islamists, anti-democracy activists, cyber thugs and criminals as well.

The network officially uses very threatening sounding slogans, most famously “we do not forgive… expect us.”

According to the Daily Mail, Anonymous is spamming people on Twitter. Click on a link from a friend and you might just have become ”part of Anonymous’s recent ‘Operation Megaupload’ — a retaliation for the U.S. government ‘taking down’ a file-sharing site.

‘This change in tactic from Anonymous, which allows attacks to be launched by simply clicking on a link, means that internet users need to be extremely careful when clicking on unknown URLs or they could unwittingly be joining this latest zombie army.”

“Don’t forget, denial-of-service-attacks are illegal,” says Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

“If you participate in such an attack, you could find yourself receiving a lengthy jail sentence.”

“I’m not sure if participants in this instance would get away with claiming that they innocently clicked on links by mistake, so make sure you always trust the links you click on, even if they’re shared by a friend on social networking sites.”

The image for the reverse of the 50 Euro coin is taken from Klimt’s celebrated 1907 Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, and was engraved by Herbert Waehner. The coin shows the head and part of the shoulders of Bloch-Bauer I, as well as the swirling decoration for which Klimt became so well known. The portrait of the Viennese socialite was purchased by the Neue Galerie in New York City in 2006, and is currently on show there. According to the New York Times the painting sold for a cool $135 million.

On the obverse of the coin, engraved by Thomas Pesendorfer, is a portrait of Klimt based on a photograph by Moriz Naehr (circa 1917 – 18) framed in a square. The coin also shows Klimt’s signature and the words “Republik Oesterreich” as well as the value, 50 Euros, and year of issue, 2012.

According to CoinUpdate.com, the first in the Klimt series will be issued in January 2012, and will run through to 2016.

(Photo copyright FreeTibet.org.)

Free Tibet, the British-based Tibetan rights organization, has reported that two Tibetan nationals self immolated in Ngaba Town on January 6, 2012. An eye witness to one of the acts of self-immolation said that a layperson set him or herself on fire near Kirti Monastery in Ngaba Town at around 2:50pm (local time). A second person, a Buddhist monk, reportedly died at the scene.

In a press release Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said:

“These latest self-immolations confirm that what we are currently witnessing in Tibet is a sustained and profound rejection of the Chinese occupation. It is a damning indictment of the international community that 14 people, in different parts of Tibet, have now chosen to set themselves on fire and the international community has failed to respond.

“We can only expect that such acts of protest will continue for as long as world leaders turn a blind eye to the desperate situation in Tibet.

“People in Ngaba continue to live under security restrictions. Chinese authorities are trying to control all communications. There has been no internet access in the town since the first self-immolation in March 2011 [2] and local people are fearful that their telephones are bugged.

“Despite this, many brave Tibetans continue to disseminate information about what is happening at great personal risk; while the UK government remains silent.

As you might imagine, Taake (which means “Fog” in Norwegian) isn’t worried about offending people. The lyrics of the Noregs Vaapen song Okan (“Hurricane”) attacks Christianity. That’s par for the course. But the same song also also attacks Islam as a barbaric culture. Enter the “offended.”

“To hell with Muhammad and the Mohammedans” sings  Hoest, lead vocalist on Orkan. Hoest (who was previously the vocalist for Ragnarok) also refers to what he calls Islam’s “unforgivable customs,” and declares that “Norway will soon awaken”.

Aftenposten has reported that it received complaints from some members of the public who suggested the album was “violent and anti-Muslim.”

Hoest has responded in writing, saying

“Since the begining Black Metal has always been anti-religious, and nearly all [of its] bands have denigrated both religions [themselves] and the religious. This includes several former winners and nominees in the Grammy category Metals, often in far stronger terms than Taake. We consider it very unfair that just Taake texts tried to be interpreted as the right wing.”

“Our [expressed] view, in the name of freedom of expression, is that it is shameful to adhere to Christianity or Islam.” He notes that “Christianity is mentioned otherwise in the same texts, but this does not seem to be emphasized.” He also says that “Taake has never been a political band, and we do not encourage either violence or racism.”

Black Metal is known for its harsh and sometime symphonic sound, and might be thought of as Wagnerian. Its bands often draw on mythology — especially Norse mythology — and are often neo-pagan and opposed to monotheistic religions.

You can order your copy of the Spellemann-nominated album here.

Porn and religious fundamentalism just don’t mix. Or do they? Well, it appears so.

Take the case of Aliaa Magda al-Mahdy, 20. In protest against Egypt’s illiberalism and religious fundamentalism, in December, she and a male friend posted nude photos of themselves on their blogs. The Muslim-majority state exploded with shock, furor, debate, and assertions of medieval values.

Aliaa continued her protest against the oppression that she, and millions of women in the state experience on a daily basis. The twenty-year old blogger called for women to remove the hijab for freedom, and to send her two photographs to post on her blog, one veiled and one unveiled.

Enter the pious, the moral, and the self-righteous.

Aliaa has been threatened several times with rape and death for her self-expression, challenging Egypt’s oppressive conventions. But, as Rime Naquib points in the Egyptian Independent “what some described as the ‘pornographic’ nature of Aliaa’s photo is not what was most shocking about it [to Egyptians].”

Most of us probably imagined that the USA — internet savvy, modern, open about sex and nudity, and with 300 million citizens — would probably come top in terms of the number of web searches for “sex.” Guess what? Naquib points out “According to the latest ‘Google trends’ statistics, Egypt[with only 80 million people]  ranks fourth worldwide in the highest web search requests for the word ‘sex.’ “ After Pakistan, Viet Nam, and India.

“Obviously,” says Naquib, ”it is not Aliaa’s nudity — accessible only by willfully requesting her website and acknowledging Google’s warning message —that threatened the fundamentals of religion, morality and patriotism. It is Aliaa’s deliberate identity revelation, her willingness to endure the consequences of breaking the rules, and her lack of shame vis-à-vis her naked body that disturbed many. It is her espousal of the most abstracted symbol of freedom: ‘I undress. I am not afraid of you. I am not ashamed of my body.’ After all, if you do not appreciate this act as being a challenge to double standards in social norms and practices, you can just pretend you did not see it.”

Naquib is 100 percent correct that Egypt — number four in the world’s web search chart for “sex” — is shocked and disturbed by “Aliaa’s deliberate identity revelation.” Or, to put it another way, what bothers fundamentalists everywhere is that Aliaa appears to be a person, with ideas, thoughts, beliefs and feelings of her own, not merely an object that can be told what to do.

The two buildings strongly resembled New York’s Twin Towers, destroyed by al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001 — a day that is burned into the national psyche of the USA, and the psyches of individuals all around the world. Incredibly, the fashionable architecture firm designed a kind of exploding center, called the Cloud, that would join the two towers.

Does this say "hope" to you? The 9/11 memorial sculpture by Miya Ando.

Things come into view soft focus. It takes a split second before we see the uniqueness of anything — a face in the crowd, for example. The architectural design does look like a photo of the Twin Towers exploding, at least until you look at it close up, or from above (which most of us won’t be doing).

No surprise that MVRDV quickly issued an apology, saying “It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks nor did we see the resemblance during the design process.” I suspect that they’re telling the truth. The problem is that the company simply played with forms and geometry and images the way pundits so often play with words. Missing is the substance. What do they represent? If anything?

Gone from much of the arts is the notion of values. Don’t get me wrong, ambiguity can help to pull the viewer into a movie or painting or work of sculpture. But, it should lead somewhere.

Only a couple of months earlier, in September, a sculpture commemorating the 9/11 attacks was unveiled at Potters Fields Park, near Tower Bridge, London. The sculpture was made, by New York artist Miya Ando, from beams found in the wreckage of the Twin Towers. Sarah Matthews of the 9/11 London Project Foundation, which commissioned the sculpture, said “We have been set up to ensure that the legacy of 9/11 is to build hope from tragedy.”

The statement’s almost as empty as MVDRV’s apology. Why do twisted girders represent hope? Or anything other than the ghastly event itself, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed?

Hope: girders from the World Trade Center formed into a cross.

The same problem is embodied in Ando’s sculpture as in MVDVR’s architecture. They will inevitably be interpreted as meaning something, but what exactly remains unclear, and open to anyone to impose their own meaning onto them. To the shock of the architects, their architecture represents the carnage of 9/11. Unlike traditional sculpture, representing a great general or statesman, the great sacrifice of soldiers for their nation and for freedom (and, therefore, ultimately for embodied values), or one of the classical Virtues, Ando’s sculpture really offers us nothing at all, beyond amusement. It has turned pain into art, but even the pain seems to be missing.

Take a walk downtown Manhattan, near the site of the attacks, and you’ll come across other damaged girders from the wreckage of the Twin Towers. Formed into a cross — If I recall correctly, in the collapse of one of the two towers — it seemed a miraculous site to the rescue workers, and offered them real hope in the USA’s darkest hour. It’s not art, but it radiates with meaning.

The 80s British anarcho-punk band Conflict is hanging in there — like U2, the Rolling Stones, and all the other bands that they no doubt detest. So, as the decades old slogan says, “Punk’s [or 'Punx'] not dead.” But it’s playing things safe in its old age. On Conflict’s MySpace page there’s a poster for a punk gig with image an of a nun holding a revolver, encircled by the words “Punk illegal” — or “illegal Punk,” perhaps. Only, in Britain, of course, it’s not illegal, and it lost its ability to shock long ago — at least in liberal democracies, that is.

Already by the early 80s the UK had become so well known for punk the image of the “punk rocker” had become a tourist icon. Postcards of red telephone boxes with a punk inside were everywhere — just like… err… red telephone boxes. The few punks remaining, that had big enough mohawk hairstyles, and outlandish enough dress, could charge tourists five pounds sterling for a single snapshot. To put that in perspective, today that’ll buy you a cup of Starbucks coffee in the UK, and about three cups in the US.

Conflicts nun with gun image tells us a lot about the West, and what’s wrong with it.

Today we’re obsessed with not causing “offense.” It seems as far away as ancient Greece, but only a few years back young people lived to be as offensive as possible. Being offensive was being creative. Whole genres of fashion and music were created with the intention of causing as much “offense” as possible. Good times.

If punk were still challenging Conflict’s poster wouldn’t have had a nun with gun. It would have shown something relevant to the times, to political debate, and so on: a woman in a burka, maybe — decorated with studs, rips, chains, and graffiti, like actual punk clothing. And, maybe she’d have been a lesbian, as well. Oh… I’m sorry, Is that offensive to you? Yes? Good. Let’s call it the creative process.

In 2003 Michael Muhammed Knight self-published his first book, Taqwacores, in a “zine” format. Knight gave most of the copies away. The title comes from the Arabic word Taqwa, meaning fear and love for Allah, and the english word “hardcore.” But think more Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas than fear of getting stoned for adultery or fear of being thrown from a mountain for homosexuality.

Knights book describes a fictional gang of punk kids living in a house in Buffalo, upstate New York, not exactly a realistic scenario at the time.

A few years later and the book was being published by “real publishers,” and this fictional work was beginning to inspire the “punk Islam” movement, from “Mohawked sufis to Indonesian skater boys.”

Just over a week ago police in Aceh, Indonesia, arrested some of those punks, shaved the Mohawks from their heads, and sent them for ten days of “reeducation.” Sixty-four punks have been detained since December 10.

General Iskandar Hasan, chief of the Aceh Police has defended these actions, calling punks “filthy” and their lifestyles “abnormal.” According to the General it’s the “duty” of the police to force young people to live what the authorities consider “normal.”

The Jakarta Globe explains the preparation for “reeducation”: “Mohawks and dyed hair came off as police shaved the men’s heads and forced them into a lake. The women’s hair was cut short in the fashion of a female police officer.”

Juanda, 20, a student at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, told the JC, “We’re accused of breaching Sharia law. They should tell us which clause that we have violated.”

“We are not criminals but we were beaten up like animals when the [police] tried to arrest us. We’ve never made trouble before,” Juanda added.

The young punk managed to escape arrest “for the supposed crime of being “punk,” because  his head was covered by a crash helmet at the time of the arrests.

According to the JC, “Juanda is currently coordinating with the Aceh branch of local legal aid foundation Commission for the Missing Persons and the Victims of Violence (Kontras) to file a lawsuit against the Banda Aceh government and its law enforcers for the raid.”

Personally, I say “good luck, Juanda.” It’s funny, but I feel more affinity with Juanda and his gang of Mohawked friends, who are challenging the state’s self-appointed right to enforce its version of “normality” than I do with — let’s be honest — cultural conservatives like Conflict who are merely playing the part of radicals.

People of Shambhala is a new website dedicated to raising awareness of the discrimination, oppression, and violence suffered on a daily basis by minority religions around the world today, especially under Islamic or Islamist regimes. 

We believe that, because of misplaced political correctness, the mainstream media has ignored the plight of minorities such as the Zoroastrians in Iran, the Yezidis, Baha’i, and Mandeans in Iraq, the Kalash in Afghanistan, Buddhists in Indonesia and Thailand, and others.

Many of these peoples have been ethnically cleansed, have suffered campaigns of rape and murder, have been burnt out of their homes, or have had their temples and holy sites destroyed.

In the last few weeks alone we have seen the arbitrary arrest, and denial of the basic human rights, of Bahai’s in Iran, as well as the exile of Mandeans from that country; the demonization of Zoroastrians in Turkish politics; and mob attack on Yezidis and the firebombing of their properties in Iraq; and the firebombing of a Hare Krishna temple in Denmark.

The Western media has chosen not to report on even one of these atrocities.

We believe it is time to stand up and to raise awareness off the plight of the victims, and to put an end to the terror that faces many minorities today.

You can get the latest news at http://shambhala-people.blogspot.com. Or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shambhalapeople

However, this may not be the only association. British Freedom’s name hints at the loose alliance of “freedom” parties in Europe, whose spiritual head is Dutch MP Geert Wilders.

Mr. Weston, a former member of the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), describes himself as a “classical liberal.” I wanted to ask him about these associations and alliances, and to find out how he sees British Freedom. My interview with Mr. Weston, which took place on December 10, is reproduced below.

ES: Congratulations on being on [Canada’s] Sun TV. That’s a pretty big achievement for such a new party. How do you feel the British Freedom Party is coming along?

PW: We’re getting our name out into the mainstream media. We had a piece in The Independent on us. It wasn’t very friendly of course, but it still gets your name out there. People are gradually starting to hear about us, so it’s not bad.

ES: And you’re getting quite a few people joining, I gather.

PW: Yes, yes, we are.

ES: I guess one complaint might be that there are just a lot of these parties out there. So, how is British Freedom different from say UKIP, the Conservatives, the BNP, etc.?

PW: Well, let’s start with the BNP. The BNP are still ethno-nationalists. The world has moved on. I don’t think they’re going to get anywhere with that sort of attitude. England, Britain is as it is; you are never going to turn it back to 1950. You can of course say ‘alright, we are going to be a multiracial country but we don’t have to be a multi-cultural country.’ And, of course you can’t have both of those; that’s a recipe for a disaster. Multiracial and British culture; that can work. So that’s the difference between us and the BNP.

The Conservatives obviously will not talk about Islam in particular. But they have said they are going to cut immigration back to the tens of thousands. That clearly isn’t the case. So, they are not going to be able to do very much about saving this country over the next few decades.

UKIP I think are good, and we are essentially UKIP but we will talk about Islam. But Mr. Farage has actually come out and said that he will not say anything about Islam because he will no longer be invited on to BBC television programs such Have I Got News for You. I think it’s terrible, so that’s really why I left UKIP.

ES: And when did he say that? Did he say it publicly?

PW: I don’t think so, no.

ES: On Sun TV you mentioned that people of any ethnicity can join if they love British culture, but I can just hear the “anti-fascists” going wild at that, saying that British culture is so oppressive, and evil, and fascist, and racist, and that this is just a thinly disguised racism. So what would be some things that ethnic minorities, and religious minorities even, might appreciate in British culture?

PW: I think that nearly all of the grandparents – or however many generations you go back – really liked and appreciated British culture, which is why they came here. And their children or grandchildren are far more radical and fundamentalist than the grandparents are. We didn’t have the madrassas and the mosques and the imams spouting out Saudi-backed Wahhabist propaganda when the grandparents came in. So, I don’t see why they should not appreciate British culture.

ES: So, is it the freedom that they appreciated?

PW: Well, it certainly should be. We are of course a proper, tolerant, democracy. As I said on the Michael Coren Show, we were – perhaps we are not any more – but we were renowned around the world for our civilized, free, democratic society.

ES: So, what are British Freedom’s main issues?

PW: We want to counteract the spread of fundamentalist Islam. We want to stop immigration for a period of years. We want to repair the damage done to the education system. Tackle crime. And we want to promote British values and culture, and introduce a US style first amendment guaranteeing Free Speech.

ES: And that would be a total stop?

PW: I think for a five year period you have to say ‘listen, there is no immigration into this country.’ And the reason for that is we are in such a terrible state over here. We don’t know how many people come in a year; how many people leave a year; how many people are illegal immigrants; how many people are genuine [foreign] students. So, we need a period of time to really sort out exactly who’s here, and who shouldn’t be here.

And, after that, of course, you can have a civilized immigration system. [Which would mean] if you are coming from somewhere like India or Pakistan, then you have to be able to speak English, you have to be able to prove that you have a job waiting for you; you can’t just come in here and speak no English and expect to live on welfare. So, [our plan would be] good for us, and good for people who genuinely want to come here for the right reasons.

ES: What is British Freedom’s vision of a future Britain? Because obviously there’s a lot of problems in Britain at the moment, everything from out of control immigration to radical Islam to binge drinking among pretty young people.

PW: It’s a mark of the march through the institutions. If you abolish religion, and you adopt cultural relativism where there’s no right or wrong, and you get rid of the taboos, what you end up with is what you see on a Friday and Saturday night in all of our towns.

My long-term view is to, as much as we possibly can, assimilate Islam into British society. The ones that simply refuse to be assimilated will have the choice of leaving. No one is going to force them to leave, but we will make it quite obvious that if you really refuse to adapt to our society the state will not provide all of the amenities that you seek.

ES: Because at the moment you have a lot of very extreme and radical Muslims on welfare, and I guess you would put a stop to that?

PW: Yes, and one thing that would immediately have to go is this crazy idea of paying welfare to three or four Muslim wives. Providing they were married in an Islamic country they can come here and live on welfare. These things have to be stopped. And, that of course will slowly make a difference in how many people want to come here and stay here. You can’t have sharia courts here; we have our law. If you don’t like our law [then] go somewhere else.

ES: What is your background? You were a UKIP member and you ran for UKIP a couple of times.

PW: Just once. I joined because of Lord Pearson, who was the only person to speak about Islam. So, [after that] it was either start a new party myself, or give up totally.

ES: And, how would you describe your personal politics?

PW: I think of myself as a classical liberal. But of course it’s very hard to be a classical liberal when you’re threatened by the rising forces of Islam on the one hand and a totalitarian EU on the other.

I didn’t vote for Mr. Barroso [the EU President], and I certainly can’t vote him out, and these people seem to pass 70 to 80 percent of the laws in my country. So clearly one cannot remain a classical liberal, but that is how I view myself.

ES: There’s been a lot of stories coming out of Britain where the police have simply refused to prosecute cases where Muslim extremists have been the perpetrators of, frankly, some very serious crimes. And, some of the victims have been women; some have been gay people; and some have even been Muslim people. What would British Freedom do to address that?

PW: It is quite extraordinary the levels the police have stooped to in this country… we [also] had the girls being groomed up in the northern towns. The policeman involved in this he admitted that they did not do very much about it because they feared they would be accused of racism as a result. It really is quite simple. If people break the law, then the police prosecute them or they investigate them. The idea that some people have a get out of jail free card because their skin or religion is the correct color or ideology has simply has no place in our country. It’s quite unbelievable.

ES: So, British Freedom stands for equality before the law?

PW: Yes, exactly.

ES: One of the other issues is the EDL. What is the relationship between the EDL and British Freedom?

PW: British freedom supports the principals of the EDL – and that’s it from our side. From their side, they’ve said ‘look, this is a political party that will talk about Islam, so if you do vote, do so [for British Freedom].’ It’s a symbiotic relationship, but there’s no alliance or pact or anything that’s been signed. It’s just a gentlemen’s agreement that we will tacitly, quietly, support each other.

ES: The name implies that British Freedom ties in with Geert Wilders’s Europe-wide Freedom alliance. Have you had any contact with Wilders at all?

PW: I’ve met him several times. I was supposed to meet him the first time when he was turned back at Heathrow. I met him the second time, when he did manage to make it to the House of Lords. I bump into him [in Europe] sometimes, and I saw him at the launch of Die Freiheit in Berlin.

ES: And, what is the connection between British Freedom and the other Freedom parties in Europe? Is it just an idea?

PW: I think it was supposed to be more concrete. Die Freiheit is of course the German Freedom Party. Geert Wilders is involved with that, and supports it. He is aware that we are now going, and he’s aware that I am running it.

ES: Where do you see British Freedom going in the next the couple of years?

PW: The most important thing is to get ourselves out there into the public eye. I think if we can do that I think we have a very good chance of growing remarkably quickly.