Anti-Muslim pamphlet upsets residents

A St Johns Hill resident Airini Beautrais said the "offensive" flyer was in her letter box on Monday. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

The "racist" anti-Muslim rants included in a pamphlet circulating in Whanganui have upset some locals but been defended by the group posting them.

Headed "Stop Islamisation" the pamphlet has been delivered to letter boxes across the city and the inflammatory commentary had a number of people contacting the Chronicle expressing their disgust.

It claims Muslims are arriving in New Zealand as refugees but only intent on changing our "laws, culture and daily life to suit Muslims". It goes on to claim their main goal is to "kill anyone" who doesn't believe in their God (Allah).

"Islamic associations, backed by endless amounts of Saudi oil money, put pressure on local government, school boards, community groups and central government to give Muslims special treatment and exempt them from our laws," the flyer says.

"Islam demands our society accept their backward and barbaric practices and beliefs (child marriage, death penalty, polygamy) to name a few. Enough is enough. Join the Resistance against insane immigration policies and fear-based silence."

The flyers were distributed around Whanganui at the weekend.

A St Johns Hill resident Airini Beautrais said the flyer was in her letter box on Monday.

She said such material being distributed in Whanganui made her "worried that there is someone or a group of people in the community who would go to such lengths to spread hate and misinformation.

"This sort of behaviour has no place in our community and we should not tolerate it.

"I am also concerned that given the rise of far right hate groups in Europe and in Australia, there may be people with such an agenda closer to home".

She said she was speaking out because she wanted those who made and distributed the flyer to know that the "majority of people don't support them."

"Most people are not sympathetic to them and find their ideas offensive, ignorant and misinformation."

Vijeshwar Prasad, president of the Multicultural Council of Rangitikei/Whanganui has condemned the flyer, calling the authors "gutless" and challenging them to "front up and face me".

"The Muslim community in New Zealand are very friendly and they haven't created any problems," Mr Prasad said.

He said he could see no reason for anyone wanting to promote such offensive material "unless they are trying to get some political mileage out of it".

And he wants to see the authors face to face.

"I want them to front up and show me the facts and figures they're basing their racist slurs on. Don't hide. Come out and face me."

The group behind the pamphlets is the Whanganui branch of the Right Wing Resistance which has groups around the world but largely in Europe.

The vice-president of the local branch, who spoke to the Chronicle on condition of anonymity, said they were trying to raise public awareness "of what's happening across the world before it happens here".

He said Muslims had been migrating to other countries "and already getting laws changed".

Asked if he had evidence of that happening in NZ the spokesman said it wasn't happening "yet".

"All we're doing is pre-empting what's happening in other parts of the world."

He said since the pamphlet appeared last weekend he had had a number of phone calls from people supporting the organisation's stance.

"We're not just highlighting the Muslim problem. We have issues about immigration, lack of jobs, poverty and housing. We're against family violence and supported changing the national flag," he said.

"Everyone has a right to their beliefs and ways of life but we don't see a need for us to change our ways and our laws to suit others coming to live here."

He said the branch has nine members and they funded the printing of the pamphlets. He said more flyers covering different topics would follow.

WHO IS RIGHT WING RESISTANCE?

Its website says it's a unified resistance movement against "mass migration, the dilution of our European culture and pride and the current multicultural agenda created by the current Government networks designed to destroy our colonial rights and identity".

The website site says Right Wing Resistance's primary purpose is to recruit like-minded individuals and groups into an organisation of active men and women.

It has been described as a neo-Nazi organisation. Its introduction to the NZ public was the Christchurch street patrols in late 2009, which appeared to target Polynesian youths.

Earlier flyers the group distributed compared immigration to an invasion, claims which were called "despicable" by the Race Relations Commissioner.