Sunday, 22 December, 2002, 08:52 GMT

Controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, is expected to bypass his ban from entering the UK by speaking to supporters via satellite.

The black American political leader is forbidden from entering this country after the Court of Appeal upheld Home Secretary David Blunkett's decision earlier this year.

The government has said the 68-year-old could threaten public order if allowed to enter Britain.

In the past, he has made anti-Semitic and racially controversial statements.

However, he is expected to speak to UK supporters via a live satellite transmission beamed in to London's Carling Apollo Hammersmith auditorium on Sunday.

Hilary Muhammad, Nation of Islam representative in the UK, said Muslims and supporters were "anxious" to hear Farrakhan speak directly.

He said the speech was a reward for British supporters.

'Dangerous racist'

The Nation of Islam leader has been banned from Britain since 1986.

Successive governments have refused him permission to visit.

His Chicago-based group has previously published aims which include "the regeneration of black self-esteem, dignity and self-discipline".

Mr Farrakhan's followers defend him as a respectable role model to young black men - preaching the virtues of self-respect, the family and Islam.

But others have described him as a dangerous racist and anti-Semite.

In the past he has called white people "devils" and Jews "bloodsuckers".

He once called Judaism a "gutter religion" and said Adolf Hitler was a "wickedly great man".

But his followers say Mr Farrakhan has toned down his language in recent years and his tours have never prompted violence.

-- Anonymous, December 22, 2002

Answers

Farrakhan tells his followers in Britain to rise against 'Satanic' colonial powers

By Matthew Beard

23 December 2002

The radical black leader Louis Farrakhan circumvented a ban on entering Britain yesterday by sending a sermon via a satellite link from the United States in which he urged the audience to rise up against "Satanic" colonial powers.

The Nation of Islam leader, arguably America's most powerful black political figure, spoke to about 2,000 supporters gathered at the Hammersmith Apollo in West London and preached the virtues of self- respect and discipline.

Speaking in front of a congregation at a small Nation of Islam mosque in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr Farrakhan began his 90-minute address at 4pm by thanking the Nation of Islam in the UK, a team of lawyers and the late Tottenham MP Bernie Grant for attempting to overturn the ban on him entering Britain. It has been imposed by successive governments since 1986 over concerns that the figurehead of the "million-man march" in Washington could use his oratory skills to stoke racial unrest.

In July, the Court of Appeal upheld the ban, in place for what the Home Office called anti-Semitic and racially divisive views. His supporters continue to argue that, because he has never prompted violence and has toned down his rhetoric in recent years, he should be allowed to visit his few thousand committed British supporters, who are based mainly in London.

In an address entitled "What Do They Think?'' Mr Farrakhan, 69, said: "People in the UK in that beautiful hall will have the chance to see me, to hear me and to judge me for themselves. I have been banned from ever setting foot in England except from visiting you by satellite."

The 17-year legal battle has left his supporters in debt and he urged them to buy a book chronicling that struggle, entitled When Justice Calls.

He said: "What is it about Louis Farrakhan that the Government fears? Great Britain has ruled and dominated the world. It has imposed government, jurisprudence, education and social norms in every country it has conquered ... and been colonial master.

"Why should you fear anything coming from the mouth of a black man from America if you've told your people the truth?''

To whoops of delight and cries of "make it plain, black man'', he then told the audience the mentality of the British slave traders Sir John Hawkins and Willie Lynch was still affecting Britain. He said: "As long as we have to look to Europe as our masters we are still under the tutelage of former colonial masters.'' Mr Farrakhan then compared the enduring influence of colonial powers to a skunk urinating on its victim.

To cries of "Farrakhan! Farrakhan!'' He continued: "That is why you have to wash from the stench of having intercourse with Satan.''

He said the fight for black people had changed and the battle was among themselves after five decades fighting the British Establishment. He said: "Your enemy is right next door to you. Selling crack cocaine to your babies, committing drive-by shootings, turning communities into war zones and turning girls into prostitutes. This is not an accident but absolutely by design.''

Anthony Macdonald, a member of the audience from south London, said Mr Farrakhan had sent a unifying message to black people in America, where the Nation of Islam has more than 130 mosques, and on visits to South Africa, Australia, Canada and the Caribbean.

He said: "We are in a crisis as a black nation, look at Brazil, Africa and the Aborigines.

"All Louis Farrakhan is doing is sending us a message as black people. He is saying that Jews have a nation, so why can't we have one? He just wants us as a nation to rise up and uplift ourselves.''

-- Anonymous, December 22, 2002

He is saying that Jews have a nation, so why can't we have one?

Yeah, but which one?

-- Anonymous, December 23, 2002