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Pascal Praud #racist #dunning-kruger euronews.com

Pascal Praud, a right-wing firebrand and host on French network CNews, has been accused of racism for asking if bed bugs are being spread by migrants

Pascal Praud, one of France’s most popular television presenters, is facing an onslaught of criticism after suggesting that Paris’ bed bug crisis could be linked to immigration

The 59 year old is a leading right-wing commentator and host of a daily debate show on Paris-based news channel CNews, which critics often compare to US far-right news outlet Fox News

Praud hosts “L’Heure des Pros,” where experts and far-right pundits debate often divisive and inflammatory topics in France – including Islam, immigration and crime

The growing popularity of his show has catapulted CNews from the newcomer to the French media landscape to the second most watched TV network in the country

Last Friday, during a debate on the spread of bed bugs in the capital, Praud asked a pest control specialist if the infestation could be linked to his perceived rise in immigration

(NB: France granted 1.7 million visas last year, which is higher than in 2021. But it’s still less than half as many as before the pandemic – 3.7 million in 2019.)

“There’s a lot of immigration at the moment,” Praud said. “These are people who don’t have the same hygiene conditions who are now on French soil… Could it be linked to that?”

The answer from his guest was a resounding “Absolutely not”

General Roberto Vannacci #homophobia #racist #conspiracy euronews.com

Italian general Roberto Vannacci has been removed from his position as the head of the Italian paratroopers brigade and from the Military Geographical Institute in Florence after he made homophobic and racist statements in his self-published book 'The World Upside Down'

In his book, which has now reached number one on Amazon Italy’s bestsellers list, he takes aim at environmentalists, leftists, feminists, Jews and the unemployed. The most shocking statements in his book, which were the main reasons he was relieved from his positions, were aimed at the LGBTQ+ community and Black Italians

The most infamous segment from the book starts as an address to the LGBTQ+ community:

“Dear homosexuals, you’re not normal, get over it!” He continues: “Normality is heterosexuality. If everything seems normal to you, however, it is the fault of the plots of the international gay lobby which banned terms that until a few years ago were in our dictionaries…” He then proceeds to list nearly a dozen slurs against the LGBTQ+ community

After the controversy surrounding the book broke out, he defended his statements about the ‘abnormality’ of the LGBTQ+ community by saying that they were taken out of context. “Dear homosexuals, you are in good company, I too am abnormal”

Later in the book, he states that he thinks migrants and immigrants should be more grateful for the “generosity and compassion” he alleges they received when they arrive in Italy. He continues that we are not all born equal and that immigrants to Italy will always be different and uses Italian volleyball champion Paola Egonu as an example. “She is Italian by citizenship, but it is clear that her facial features do not represent Italianness”

In an interview with Italian media, the general defended his statements and said that he would not take anything back[…]
He continued that what he discussed in his book falls under his constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech

Riikka Purra #racist #psycho euronews.com

Finland's right-wing government is facing yet another crisis after old comments from a far-right blog forum, purportedly written by Finns Party leader Riikka Purra, re-surfaced

The author of the posts writes anti-Islamic and violent comments, among others, and disparages immigrants including Somalis and "Turkish monkeys"[…]
In recent days Finnish media and social media users have matched details of Riikka Purra[…]with a woman called 'riikka' who posted the comments mostly during 2008

"Greetings from Barcelona," wrote 'riikka', on the same day in August that Riikka Purra was also in Barcelona speaking at a conference on multiculturalism

"There is no 'alarming immigration problem' to be seen here. Negroes sell pirate Vuittons on Las Ramblas," she blogged

"Oh, it was wonderful civil racism again today on the ground floor of McDonald's, when our little boy ate Happy Meal Nuggets, and at the neighbouring table a Somali family with a BMI [body mass index] +30 ate their own"[…]
"Well, that's the sound these darker male characters make when they approach/pass by/in the escalator/elevator/wherever. It's not whistling (that would be too obvious) but a f****** hiss between the teeth - the more eager Abdullah is, the more saliva comes with it"[…]
"Is anyone up for spitting on beggars and beating n****r children today in Helsinki?," she asked

"I'm so full of hate and pure rage that I'm about to melt on my chair. Holy hell what are you doing to my psyche, Islam?" 'riikka' wrote in January 2008

And in September 2008 'riikka' wrote "If I were given a gun, there would be dead bodies even on the commuter train"

Riikka Purra has neither confirmed nor denied she wrote these specific comments, though she has conceded she wrote things in the past she would not write today

"My angry text is just angry text, nothing else. I do not accept and have never accepted any kind of violence"[…]
She said she felt "frustrated and hopeless" about immigration in Finland

Jussi Halla-aho and Vilhelm Junnila #racist #wingnut #sexist #psycho euronews.com

Incoming Prime Minister Petteri Orpo is facing a public relations headache over the Speaker of Parliament and the Minister for Economic Affairs, both positions filled by the far-right Finns Party

In Finland, it's no secret that Jussi Halla-aho[…]has a decades-long track record of racist comments, and deeply troubling writings

The blog posts[…]contain disturbing insights into the worldview which has shaped his politics, and even brought him convictions for 'disturbing religious worship' and 'ethnic agitation' for which he was fined by the Finnish Supreme Court[…]
Halla-aho wrote in June 2006 that Islam is a "religion of pedophiles," and the Prophet Mohammed "was a pedophile"

He said that "robbing passers-by" was a "genetic trait" of Somalis

In 2006 he implied he would be "exclusively happy if a 'gang of immigrants' raped" a Green party MP

"I still and will continue to sincerely and wholeheartedly believe that if a woman who opposes the deportation of immigrant rapists is raped by an immigrant rapist, it is a happy thing," he later wrote[…]
"Violence is an underrated problem-solving tool today," he wrote in November 2008, during a discussion on whether to shoot a gay man in a Helsinki park[…]
When asked by Finnish journalists about his writings, Halla-aho's usual response is to say they are old, and he doesn't bring them up, it's the media's choice to keep going back and rehashing old texts[…]
Another headache facing the incoming Finnish government is Minister of Economic Affairs Vilhelm Junnila[…]
In 2019, Junnila was the featured speaker at an event in the western city of Turku which ostensibly was supposed to commemorate a terrorist attack two years previously

However, the rally was arranged by an organisation called the Coalition of Nationalists, an umbrella group formed in 2017 for those on the far-right including the Finns Party, the now-banned Nordic Resistance Movement, and the Soldiers of Odin vigilante movement

Hungarian State Audit Office (NAO) #sexist #dunning-kruger euronews.com

Hungary's State Audit Office (NAO) has expressed concern that the country's education system risks being “too feminine”

In a new study, the authority warned that Hungary's education could pose demographic challenges and impact the development of boys

“The phenomenon called ‘pink education’ has numerous economic and social consequences,” it wrote

"If education favours feminine traits [such as] emotional and social maturity [and] therefore causes an over-representation of women at university, [gender] equality will be significantly weakened"

The state body -- which is close to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán -- also warned that men who are more inclined to take risks and be entrepreneurial will not be able to fully develop their potential

The NAO report stated that this can lead to "mental and behavioural problems" when their creativity and innovation are "necessary for the optimal development of the economy"

The audit office also says that “pink education” could cause “demographical problems” as educated women would be unable to find similarly educated spouses, “which could lead to a decline in fertility”

The study -- issued last month -- was first published by the Nepszava newspaper on Thursday

Like in many European countries, Hungary's teaching profession is dominated by women (82%)

Unnamed Quatzenheim grave desecrators and Facebook commenters #racist euronews.com

PARIS (Reuters) - A French TV channel said on Wednesday it had been forced to cut short a live Facebook broadcast from a desecrated Jewish cemetery in eastern France because of an onslaught of anti-Semitic commentary.

Separately, two swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were found painted in red on a monument at a different cemetery near Lyon.

"Our country is confronted with a resurgence of anti-Semitism undoubtedly without precedent since the Second World War," President Emmanuel Macron said later on Tuesday in an annual speech to Jewish leaders in France.

France 3 television said it went live from the first cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim on Tuesday as President Emmanuel Macron was visiting to pay his respects after more than 90 graves were vandalised with swastikas and anti-Semitic abuse. [nL5N20E4XD]

But as it broadcast footage online to its more than 1.3 million Facebook followers, the feed was inundated with anti-Semitic commentary and abuse.

"We are talking about explicit death threats, comments that were openly anti-Semitic and racist, including "Heil Hitler", "dirty Jew" or "dirty Jews", comments that were addressed at Emmanuel Macron and representatives of the Jewish community," the channel said in a statement explaining its decision.

"Within minutes, the number of vile and illegal comments had gone well beyond our capacity to moderate them," it explained, adding that it would have taken 10 or 20 staff to handle the onslaught. "We refuse to traffic in hatred."

ALARM

The attacks on the cemeteries are the latest in a series of incidents across France in recent weeks that have alarmed the Jewish community and prompted calls for harder hitting legislation against those responsible. [nL5N20E5JB]

In reaction to the upsurge in anti-Semitic incidents, Macron told Jewish leaders that a bill would be introduced by May aimed at curbing hate speech on the internet.