Difference between revisions of "Anne Marie Waters"

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[[File:Annemariewaters.jpg|300px|thumb|Anne Marie Waters]]
 
[[File:Annemariewaters.jpg|300px|thumb|Anne Marie Waters]]
  
'''Anne Marie Walters''' is the founder and spokesperson of [[Sharia Watch UK]] and a [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP) parliamentary candidate for Lewisham East.
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'''Anne Marie Walters''' is the founder and spokesperson of [[Sharia Watch UK]].
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She ran as a [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP) parliamentary candidate for Lewisham East in the 2015 general election, coming third with a total of 3,886 votes, or 9.1 per cent. <ref> [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000787 Lewisham East parliamentary constituency], ''BBC News'', accessed 21 May 2015 </ref>
  
 
==History==
 
==History==

Revision as of 04:21, 21 May 2015

Anne Marie Waters

Anne Marie Walters is the founder and spokesperson of Sharia Watch UK.

She ran as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) parliamentary candidate for Lewisham East in the 2015 general election, coming third with a total of 3,886 votes, or 9.1 per cent. [1]

History

Water previously worked for One Law For All which has since issued a statement condemning her.[2]

She was formerly a Labour Party member and in summer 2013 was nearly selected as a parliamentary candidate. After failing to be selected as a Labour candidate she joined UKIP.

In April 2014 she launched the organistion Sharia Watch UK and in May 2014 announced that she would stand as UKIP's candidate for Basildon and Billericay[3].

Activities

UKIP candidacy

Following the announcement that Waters would stand for election with UKIP, she held a public meeting in the constituency on 22 October as 'UKIP Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Basildon and Billericay'.[4] But on 7 January 2015, it was reported that UKIP had announced George Konstantinidis as the party's candidate in that constituency.[5]

Waters ceased to be UKIP's Basildon and Billeracy candidate at least a month before this, however, because on 9 December 2014 it was reported that she had put herself forward for selection as UKIP candidate in South Basildon and East Thurrock following the deselection of Kerry Smith.[6]. She appears to have lost out as on 14 January 2015 it was reported that UKIP had announced Ian Luder as its chosen candidate to replace Smith.[7]

However, after Spinwatch reported that Waters appeared to have been 'de-selected',[2] she published a statement on the Sharia Watch UK website in which she denied that this was the case.[8] However, she did not give any alternative explanation for the fact that she had ceased to be a candidate in Basildon and Billericay nor name another constituency for which she was a candidate. As of 28 January 2015, her name did not appear on any official UKIP website as a candidate. The party's press office said no comprehensive list of its candidates was available and declined to confirm the status of specific individuals.

On 1 February 2015 it was reported in the Essex Chronicle that Waters had lost out to Richard Bingley in a 19 January vote to select a replacement UKIP candidate for the Braintree seat, following the death of Gordon Helm.[9]

By 17 April 2015, according to her Twitter profile, Waters had been selected as UKIP candidate for Lewisham East.

Sharia Watch UK

Waters registered the domain name for Sharia Watch UK in April 2014[10], the same month its launch event took place in the House of Lords, hosted by Baroness Cox, a peer who has previously invited far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders to show his anti-Islam film Fitna in the Lords. Charlie Klendjian of the Lawyers Secular Society also spoke.

Counterjihad connections

Ex-EDL donor and strategist Alan Ayling watching Anne Marie Waters talk at Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park, October 2014

Lars Hedegaard

In June 2014, Waters shared a platform in Copenhagen with Lars Hedegaard, the man behind the anti-Islam organisation the International Free Press Society. A video of the event- the launch of a Swedish edition of Hedegaard’s book Muhammad’s Girls: Violence, Murder and Rape in the House of Islam - shows her sitting next to the Dane, who was convicted of hate speech in 2011 after stating that ‘Muslims rape their children’, though he successfully appealed this conviction, on ‘free speech’ grounds, the following year. Chairing the event was Ingrid Carlqvist, a key member of the Swedish counterjihad network. Also on the panel was psychologist Nicolai Sennels of the far-right Danish People’s Party and the video was produced by Dispatch International (DI), a mouthpiece for the counterjihad movement – for which Waters has written extensively – founded by Hedegaard and Carlqvist.[2]

Waters has described Hedegaard as 'a friend of mine'. She has stated that he does not donate any money to Sharia Watch UK.[8].

Dispatch International

Waters' writing has been published on Dispatch International, a publication founded by Lars Hedegaard and Ingrid Carlqvist.[11]

Alan Ayling

In a series of videos taken in October 2014 at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park, which show Waters and others delivering diatribes against Islam, former English Defence League financier and strategist Alan Ayling (aka Alan Lake) could be seen in the group that appeared to be supporting her. During a Spinwatch investigation, Waters did not respond to repeated requests to clarify her relationship with Ayling.[2]

However, after the publication of a critical article, she wrote on the Sharia Watch UK: 'I do not know Alan Ayling; he has certainly never given me any money.'[8]

University talks

Founder and spokesperson Anne Marie Waters and Charlie Kelndjian of the Lawyers Secular Society were due to speak at the University of West London in November 2014 but the scheduled event was cancelled, after complaints, though the pair later spoke at the University of Manchester.

Alleged links to PEGIDA UK

In January 2015, an administrator of the facebook page of Pegida UK, an attempt to mimic the German PEGIDA movement, shared a video of Waters with the following message:

'After constant contact with this lovely lady she is more than happy to be part of Pegida UK. Welcome Anne Marie Waters'.[12]

Mothers Against Radical Islam and Sharia

On at least two occasions, Waters has spoken at rallies organised under the banner of a group calling itself Mothers Against Radical Islam and Sharia (MARIAS). In April 2015, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported that MARIAS had 'close links to groups like the English Defence League' and that 'activists from fascist groups were welcome' at the MARIAS gathering.[13] Waters was filmed telling an undercover reporter that 'a lot of people need to be deported', 'many mosques need to be closed down' and 'immigration from Islamic countries has to stop entirely'.[13]

Views

<youtube size="medium" align="right" caption="Anne Marie Waters delivers an anti-Islam diatribe at Speakers Corner in London's Hyde Park, October 2014">G27Ln9fWSiE</youtube>

In an Oxford Union debate in February 2013 she spoke against the motion 'This house believes Islam is a religion of peace'.[2]

Islamophobia as 'feminism'

In her speech at Lars Hedegaard's book launch in June 2014, Waters linked Islam to child abuse, saying (16:08) ‘it’s all linked to Islam’, which she characterised as a dangerous ‘ideology’ being ‘appeased’, adding (17:45): ‘it is exactly the same appeasement that is allowing young girls to be raped in Britain, it’s got nothing to do with race, it’s got to do with the fact that we will not confront the misogyny at the very, very heart of this religion’.[2]

'A deal has been struck'

In a speech delivered in October 2014 at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, Waters claimed:

A deal has been struck. It’s not a written deal, it’s not a spoken deal, it’s an unspoken deal between your leaders, your political leaders and the Imams of this country. And that deal is: deliver us your block vote and we’ll let you treat women however the hell you please. That was the deal that was struck, it was struck years ago.
That is why we have FGM. We have hundreds of thousands of girls in this country having their genitals mutilated. We have sharia courts in this country treating women like shit. We have honour killings, forced marriage, underage marriage, it is because our leaders have struck a deal with the imams...Sharia law allows men to beat their wives. It allows little girls to be raped and tortured and mutilated and that is why we have, across England, little English girls being raped, while the Labour party and their Islamist friends look away.

The idea of a secret deal being struck between 'Western' and Muslim political leaders bears some comparison to a conspiracy theory popular in the counterjihad movement developed by Bat Ye'or called Eurabia, a word she coined. According to the Institute of Race Relations, she argued that a 'secret project exists between European politicians and the Arab world for the "Islamisation of Europe"'.[14]

Shut mosques and end Islamic immigration

At a Mothers Against Radical Islam and Sharia event in APril 2015, Waters filmed telling an undercover reporter: 'A lot of people need to be deported. Many mosques need to be closed down. It really has to get tough' and 'immigration from Islamic countries has to stop entirely, that is just the way it is'.[13]

Affiliations

Contact

Resources

Notes

  1. Lewisham East parliamentary constituency, BBC News, accessed 21 May 2015
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Sharia Watch UK and the Metamorphosis of Anne Marie Waters, Institute of Race Relations, 21 January 2015
  3. Why I am proud to stand for UKIP, personal website, July 2014, acc Nov 2014
  4. PUBLIC MEETING – BILLERICAY – 22ND OCTOBER 2014, Anne Marie Waters website, October 2014, accessed 28 January 2015
  5. Guy Bell, UKIP name candidate to fight Basildon and Billericay general election seat, Brentwood Gazzette, 7 January 2015, accessed 28 January 2015
  6. Jon Austin, Neil Hamilton wants to be Ukip MP for South Basildon, Echo News, 9 December 2014, accessed 28 January 2015
  7. Ian Silvera, Ukip select Ian Luder to fight South Basildon and East Thurrock seat after racism row, IBTimes, 14 January 2015
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Hilary Aked, Sharia Watch UK, accessed 26 January 2015
  9. UKIP select Richard Bingley to contest Braintree MP seat, Essex Chronicle, 1 February 2015, accessed 10 February 2015
  10. Sharia Watch UK registration, WhoIs Record, accessed 21 January 2015
  11. Open letter to Labour leader Miliband: Your policies fill me with fear, Dispatch International, 7 October 2013, accessed 13 February 2015
  12. Pegida UK screenshot, Islamophobia Watch, 24 January 2014, accessed 13 February 2015
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Russell Myers and Colin Cortbus, Watch Ukip candidates spouting vile anti-Islamic hate messages at a far-right rally, The Mirror, 15 April 2015, accessed 17 April 2015
  14. Breivik and Eurabia, IRR, 28 July 2011, accessed 27 January 2015