slackbastard

LOL.

Fascist anti-immigration stunt thwarted by anarchist counter-demo in Athens, taxikipali, libcom, February 6, 2010.

From the Department of We Grew Here You Flew Here:

In a clear response to the fascist main anti-immigration slogan “You do not become a greek - you are born a greek”, the main banner of today’s counter-demo was “You are not born a wanker [malakas], you become a wanker”.

See also : Athens: a city unwelcoming to fascists…, After the Greek Riots, February 6, 2010 | Photos.

Speaking of wankers, another one For Dion:

Neo-Nazis arrested for train attack
Independent Online
February 6, 2010

Two young neo-Nazis have been arrested on suspicion of carrying out an explosives attack on a train in St Petersburg and possibly also the murder of a man from Ghana, Interfax reported on Saturday. The agency cited unnamed Russian security sources in reporting the arrest of the two, aged 19 and 20 years, who belong to a radical right-wing group. The neo-Nazi group had posted a message on the Internet claiming responsibility for the explosives attack on a train near St Peterburg’s Baltic Railway Station on February 2 in which a train driver was seriously injured. The same group had previously posted an Internet video of the deadly attack on the man from Ghana on December 25.

Bonus Bwian! The Gweek!

…c/o GiaNt… see also : 9 THINGS I HATE ABOUT ANTI-NAZI MARCHES IN LONDON, BEYOND THE iMPLODE, September 26, 2008.

In denial over a deep vein of hate
Nick O’Malley and Matt Wade
The Sydney Morning Herald
February 6, 2010

The Indian media lambasted Australia as a nation of racists after attacks on their students - and they may be right. Nick O’Malley and Matt Wade report.

For almost a decade Kevin Dunn has gathered the most comprehensive data on racism in Australia. Each year since 2001 he has surveyed 12,000 people across the nation, digging into their psyches to tease out details not only of the racist attitudes they may hold, but the racism they feel they suffer…

Among other things, Dunn was “stunned” to discover that, “as a group, Indians in Australia perceived themselves to be victims of racism as much as the Aboriginal community” — which is “as bad as racism gets” in this country, according to the Professor.

And he certainly has a point.

But while this perception may or may not be correct, it certainly suggests very strong feelings on the part of Indians in Australia. Leaving aside the apparent wave of assaults upon Indian students in particular (and especially in Melbourne), O’Malley and Wade proceed to make reference to the existence of “nationalist” Australian Facebook pages — such as ‘Speak English or Piss Off’ and ‘F— Off We’re Full’ — as evidence of a more generalised, non-Indian-specific, racial hostility.

Speak English or Piss Off Because We’re Full of F—ing Racists… Or Something

‘Speak English or Piss Off’ has 58,673 fans, and is “For those who STRONGLY BELIEVE that the AUSTRALIAN way of life (culture, language, clothing, etc) should be embraced by all who set foot on her soil and choose to live here.” On November 23, 2009, the group had 23,448 fans.

The slogan ‘F— Off We’re Full’ has been circulating for some years now, but it gained added notoriety on Australia Day 2009, when several hundred yoof ran around Manly in Sydney: three in particular were photographed and had their img splashed across the media. A later phone call to a local Sydney radio station by one of the girls (see : Australia Day Corso racist displays: Sharon realises she’s busted, rings 2GB, Hoyden About Town, January 30, 2009) revealed a less-than-coherent rationale for the action: “Um, because we … we didn’t actually meant it, in … in a racist way at all? Yes, it was racist, and stuff, but it was for the peop – it – it – I don’t know how explain it. It wasn’t against anyone in partic – especially in Australia.”

While xenophobic sentiment has been a mainstay of Australian culture for most if not all of its history, the Facebook group ‘F— Off We’re Full’ has gone up and down like a yo-yo over the last year or so, in response either to some form of hacking by critics or as Facebook responds to media criticism it cultivates racism (in explicit contradiction with its TOS). Established in the wake of incidents such as the above it remains, more or less, under the control of Darrin Hodges, currently the chief spokesperson for the ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ (and, it should be noted, formerly an avowed anti-Semite and Fascist admirer).

For further disco on Facebook, racism and ‘viral expansion loops’, see : “Fuck Off We’re Full”, “Speak English or Piss Off!!!” – Australian hate-groups, viral expansion loops & Facebook, Bob Gosford, The Northern Myth/Crikey, January 9, 2010. SlowTV features a ‘debate’ — actually, a discussion — on Australia, history and racism featuring Henry Reynolds, John Hirst, Judith Brett, and Ghassan Hage from October 2009 here; also relevant is Drawing the Global Colour Line - Henry Reynolds, Marilyn Lake and David Marr @ Adelaide Writers’ Week (March 2008); of further relevance is the excellent two-volume series by Theodore W. Allen, The Invention of the White Race (Verso, 1994/1997) and ACRAWSA (Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association); Race & Class is another neat-o UK sauce of scholarly disco. Oh, and Benedict Anderson, Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Imagination (Verso, 2007), Reviewed by April R. Biccum, Capital & Class, Autumn 2008 is worth taking note of, especially in terms of its examination of the transnational dimensions of race, racial(ist) politics and (anti)colonialism.

Racism and the far right

Along with its chief rival the ‘Australia First Party’ (under the leadership of fascist veteran Dr James Saleam), the APP has recently declared its having reached a membership of over 500, thus entitling the party to formally register with the AEC and obtain access to the various privileges other registered parties receive. AF, however, is further along the road to registration, having formally submitted its application, which is currently being processed by the Commission.

All things being equal, both parties are likely to be in a position to participate in the upcoming Federal election under their respective party banners and, in the less likely event their candidates receive 4% or more of first-preference votes, to also receive government funding.

With the registration of AF and APP, the far right in Australia will have turned a new page, one which follows upon the decline and eventual dissolution of previous formations such as ‘Australians Against Further Immigration’ (AAFI), the ‘Confederate Action Party’ (CAP), ‘National Action’ (NA), ‘One Nation Party’ (ONP), and several other, tinier, and even more obscure fascist groupuscules. Thus, while Pauline Hanson remains a nostalgic figure for many — in her last tilt at Parliament in 2009 in the State seat of Beaudesert, Hanson received 5,998 votes or 21.25%, placing third behind the ALP and Liberal National candidates — as a figure capable of uniting the disparate elements which comprise White nationalism, she is a spent force; at the same time, while one permutation on the ‘One Nation Party’ brand is still formally registered, many appear to have lost their passion for politics, while some others have gravitated to either AF or APP.

The far right network also includes openly neo-Nazi organisations and networks such as ‘Blood & Honour’, the ‘Southern Cross Hammerskins’, ‘Volksfront’ and fascist yoof organisations such as ‘Nationalist Alternative’ and the handful of teenyboppers associated with the ‘national anarchists’.

The links between the memberships of the more openly fascist and neo-Nazi groups and parties such as AF and APP are many and various: that said, both groups (but APP especially — and probably more genuinely) have made conscious efforts to shed neo-Nazi imagery, and to disavow any such link (see, for example, Martin Fletcher’s re-modelling of his ‘Down Under Newslinks’ website). In AF’s case, this can assume some fairly comical forms. Generally speaking, the ‘white nationalist’ milieu comprises perhaps several thousand individuals, adopts a variety of attitudes towards economic and cultural questions, is often volatile (with some internal disputes, very occasionally, assuming violent and even murderous form), and is still to establish a viable street presence.

See also : Pride & Prejudice : Mark White investigates the rise of Australia’s far right… (November 8, 2009) | Dreaming of An Aryan Jeannie : Australia First, Australian Protectionist Parties (July 10, 2009) | White With Fear : Flagging A New Hate (June 11, 2009).

Australia First

AF is the leading fascist party in Australia. It’s led by a man with criminal convictions for fraud and for organising a shotgun assault upon the home of an opponent; invokes the Australian nativist tradition, and consciously models itself upon the German NPD. The Idealistic Faces Of “Australianism” (November 28, 2009) provides a profile of eleven leading men in the organisation; other supporters of AF have also gained notoriety. Disgraced neo-Nazi Nicole Hanley, for example, helped to organise AF’s last conference in September 2009, one proudly hosted by the Petersham RSL. Another neo-Nazi, Welf Herfurth, has a long history of involvement in the far right, both in Australia and Germany, and serves to provide another bridge between the German (and European) and Australian far right in terms of ideology, organisation, propaganda and even materials.

Most recently, Hanley has enthusiastically taken up the cause of the perennially beleaguered Australian cockie. On the world’s leading white supremacist forum Stormfront (’Report from Farmers Rally in Canberra 2 Feb’, February 2, 2010), ‘BlueEyedBlonde’ joyfully recounts the presence of multi-millionaire shock jock Alan Jones at a rally in Canberra last week. (Besides providing an outlet for the endless complaints of several hundred local racists, SF is regularly used by Saleam/’radnat’ to broadcast his views and to attack his rivals on the far right; the administrator of its Australasian-based sub-forum is Perth plasterer Paul Innes/’Steelcap Boot’). In the universe of Australian nationalism, the Australian farmer eternally returns — despite, or perhaps even because, of the fact that Australian society is so massively urbanised.

Australia Daze

January 26 — the day on which Australia celebrates its Goodness / the commencement of the genocidal assault upon its indigenous peoples — was marked by the usual proliferation of Australian flags (and mimicry of the American tradition of placing a flag on every available surface). AF held a tiny protest outside the Caringbah offices of Scott Morrison, the Shadow Minister for Immigration & Citizenship. According to AF (Eureka!, No.211, January 29, 2010):

The kerbside protest, complete with picket signs and National, Eureka and Federation flags, attracted shouts of approval from motorists on the packed Kingsway. Both the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian gave the protest one-paragraph mentions in their reports of Australia Day in Sutherland Shire. Small mercies: probably at least 100,000 readers saw those small snippets. Members adjourned and met up with others for a BBQ and drinks. A large Australia First party banner draped over a fence on Princes Highway, Kirrawee, attracted further comment from enthusiastic passers-by.

Elsewhere, the online antics of AF have come to the attention of the rural press:

Refugee supporters receive hate mail
The Daily Advertiser
February 3, 2010

SUPPORTERS of Wagga’s African refugee community have become the target of “hate-filled” mail and phone calls from individuals claiming to represent the right-wing Australia First Party.

A fervent advocate of the region’s African migrant community, David Fletcher this week was shocked when a piece of unsolicited mail, purporting to be from the party, was delivered to his Forest Hill home.

Mr Fletcher, who has submitted several letters to The Daily Advertiser weighing into the debate surrounding an anonymous blog recently created by a Riverina Australia First Party supporter, said he was outraged by the contents of the letter…

Note that ‘AFP denies ‘hate-mail’ involvement’, The Daily Advertiser, February 5, 2010.

In drawing attention to the presence of black-skinned refugees in the Riverina, AF are hoping to revive an older tradition of racist antagonism, as well as draw attention to the use of non-White “contract labour” in rural industries. Ironically, AF also complains (Eureka!, No.210, January 24, 2010) that: “All those who favour contract labour and refugee privilege are lining up behind the local town political-economic mafias who prevail in many Australian regional towns. These little dictators take locals for granted and operate policies to their disadvantage.”

The irony here lies in the fact that party leader Saleam is himself the child of non-White migrants; further, “In a very working-class town, he was one of the spoilt rich kids” (see : Dr James Saleam & ‘The Audacity of Hate’, September 26, 2009).

Beyond this, AF is also attempting to capitalise upon the apparent spread of ill-feeling towards Indian students, boasting that ‘Australia First Grabs National And International Headlines In The Overseas Student Debate’ (Eureka!, No.212, February 1, 2010):

The Indian national magazine Outlook has interviewed Australia First in connection with its report “Do You Speak Australian?” This item dealt with so-called ‘racist’ harassment of Indian students in Australia.

As police are aware, the assaults and robberies directed at Indian students largely come from members of certain migrant groups – not Australians. If this is ‘racism’, then it is a different version of it!

But the issues are very complex and run very deep.

Has a member of your family not been able to get into a university or technical college?
Has a foreign student taken a job you or a family member might have had?
Why should foreign students get an education here, then “migrate”, displacing us from the careers and positions we should hold?

Of course Indian students and Indian contract labour have both been in the spotlight of late.
Truckies report that Indian contract labour is now employed by the big transport companies.
Building workers report the same on construction sites.
Standover rackets operate both in the student and contract labour industries and Indian criminals have murdered Indian nationals.
It is hot and getting hotter.
Australia First puts Australians first.

AF then republish a segment of the article, noting that “the comments of Australia First have been widely broadcast”, and objecting to the description of the party as belonging to the “extreme right wing”.

The article itself makes some interesting claims, including that Victoria is “crime-prone”, and that “33 Indians died in violent attacks between 2004 and 2009″ (of whom “six died in 2009″) citing Federation of Indian Students of Australia spokesperson Gautam Gupta.

See also : Editor persists with claims of Australian racism, Amanda Hodge, The Australian, February 4, 2010.

Benjamin Cass

Also noteworthy is the appearance of Benjamin Cass, “who has worked with Indian students planning to come to Australia to study” according to Outlook. Cass is the former Melbourne University Student Union (MUSU) President (2000) who established ‘Victorian Student Housing’ with convicted criminal and fellow former MUSU President Darren Ray (2002) (see : A lesson in economics, June 16, 2007). Their company was the subject of complaints from the Tenants’ Union, the Indian students to whom they offered housing, and collapsed after being fined by the courts for failure to maintain rental properties in a fit state. In February 2008, Cass’ former business partner Ray was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to 20 months in jail.

Ross ‘The Skull’ May

As a further, curious aside: ‘Exhibiting artist Peter Milne, who also teaches in UQ’s School of Journalism and Communication, has created a new series that blends Queensland historical fact and fiction. In Dreams of The Skull, Dr Milne investigates the role of the far right in Queensland politics, presented as “fictional history” through the possible dreams of neo-Nazi Ross May, a.k.a. “The Skull”’; ‘The Skull’ has been serving as Saleam’s sidekick for the last 30 years, recently being spotted at a fascist gathering in September 2009.

See also : The KKK Took The Victorian Education Industry Away (January 9, 2010) | Victory to Terrie-Anne Verney! Indian students finally “get the hint that they are not wanted here!” (January 2, 2010) | ‘Bigots hurting Victoria’ / ‘Neo-Nazi skinheads party in Melbourne’ (September 16, 2009) | F*** Off, We’re Full (Of Terrie-Annes) (July 2, 2009) | Australia is racist / Australia is not racist. (June 28, 2009) | F*** Off, We’re Full (Of Shit) : Part the 2nd : Timmy! (June 10, 2009) | Australia, India, racism, students (June 2, 2009) | Careful, They Might Hear You (February 19, 2009) | “Fuck off we’re full.” (Of shit.) (January 28, 2009).

Bolt:

Manne still can’t find those 10
Herald Sun
February 5, 2010

Extraordinary. Five years after my challenge, Robert Manne still cannot come up with even 10 names of the 25,000 children he claims were stolen just for being Aboriginal…

Manne:

Comment: Keith Windschuttle
Robert Manne
The Monthly
No.53, February 2010

Late last year, to a strangely muffled fanfare from his friends, the third volume of Keith Windschuttle’s self-published magnum opus, The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, appeared. Its subject is the stolen generations. Windschuttle must have regarded its publication as urgent. This is quite possibly the first occasion in the history of publishing where Volume Three of a single-authored history has preceded Volume Two. While from a narrow political point of view Windschuttle’s book is probably irrelevant – most Australians have accepted the justice of the Rudd apology; most of the right-wing commentariat, with the singular exception of Andrew Bolt, have “moved on” – from the historical and ideological points of view it ought not to be ignored. The question of the stolen generations has been one of the most important fronts in the Australian History Wars. Windschuttle’s book is the most ambitious statement of the right-wing case we are ever likely to see…

Windschuttle:

Robert Manne: a case to answer
Quadrant Online
January 31, 2010

Manne should stand down for inquiry

Robert Manne, professor of politics at La Trobe University, should stand down from his position while an independent inquiry is conducted into his false claims about Commonwealth government support in the 1930s for a policy of “breeding out the colour”…

See also : Robert Manne’s open letter to Andrew Bolt (July 3, 2006; originally published in Crikey, June 29, 2006) | Windschuttle & Bolt ~versus~ Manne (February 2, 2010) | History Wars 3.0, Late Night Live, ABC, February 2, 2010 (Phillip Adams interviews Manne) | Stolen generations, Counterpoint, ABC, February 1, 2010 (Michael Duffy interviews Windschuttle) | The Michael Duffy Files / loon pond.

On Tuesday 23rd of February — coinciding with the 34th anniversary of ACDC’s famous film clip shoot down Swanston Street — S.L.A.M (Save Live Australian Music) is organising a protest in support and celebration of the music scene in Victoria where current liquor licensing laws threaten to pull the plug on live music.

We will meet at 4pm outside the State Library and make our way along Swanston and up Bourke St to Parliament House in Spring St where we will have guest speakers from 6-7.

We have organised the Rockwiz Orchestra with guest performers to lead the rally repeating the three chords from ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top’ in the back of a flat bed truck as we follow — ALL 10,000+ OF US — holding placards and instruments chanting down these ridiculous laws!

See also : Musos rally to SLAM state for lack of industry backing, Patrick Donovan, The Age, February 2, 2010: “THOUSANDS of musicians and fans will take to the streets on February 23 to protest against the state government’s lack of support for the industry. A group with the working title SLAM (Save Live Australian Music) is organising the rally to coincide with the 34th anniversary of the filming of AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top video clip along Swanston Street…” | Tote Last Drinks Live Broadcast Tonight on 3CR (January 18, 2010) | Last drinks at The Tote! (January 14, 2010).

Note that AC/DC were accompanied by the Rats of Tobruk Pipe Band as they rocked and rolled their way down Swanston Street. “The toughest but least disciplined troops in North Africa” ~ Lt General Erwin Rommel, GOC Deutsches Afrika Korps, on the 9th Division.

The year 1941 was a dark one for the Allies. The Germans conquered all before them but Tobruk held out against Rommel and stood in the way of his advance towards Egypt and the Suez Canal. The defiance of the defenders of Tobruk raised morale in the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Those who served there became known as the ‘Rats of Tobruk’, so-called because the German radio propaganda broadcaster ‘Lord Haw Haw’ described them as rats living in the ground.

LET THERE BE ROCK!

Sue Maclellan [on sticking it to "The Man"] Yes! But, you can’t just say it, man. You’ve gotta feel it in your blood and guts! If you wanna rock, you gotta break the rules. You gotta get mad at The Man! And right now, I’m The Man. That’s right, I’m The Man, and who’s got the guts to tell me off? Huh? Who’s gonna tell me off?
Freddy: Shut the hell up, Maclellan!
Sue Maclellan: That’s it Freddy, that’s it! Who can top him?
Alicia: Get outta here, stupidass.
Sue Maclellan: Yes, Alicia!
Summer Hathaway: You’re a joke, you’re the worst bureaucrat we’ve ever had!
Sue Maclellan: Summer, that is great! I like the delivery because I felt your anger!
Summer Hathaway: Thank you.
Lawrence: You’re a fat loser and you have body odor.
Sue Maclellan: …All right, all right! Now, is everybody nice and pissed off?

Bonus!

Added Bonus!

…by way of three way fight, nomattimen: an algonquian (native american) word meaning ‘we are brothers’…

Serbia

Goran Davidović, Führer of Nacionalni Stroj (National Alignment/Formation), a Serbian neo-Nazi group, has been arrested in Germany, 10 months after a court in Novi Sad issued a warrant for his arrest and he fled to Italy (and his wife). AP:

Authorities say a Serbian neo-Nazi leader who fled his homeland after being convicted of inciting hatred has been arrested in Germany. Goran Davidovic was arrested Tuesday aboard a train near the Austrian border, said Alfons Obermeier, a spokesman for prosecutors in Munich. He said Davidovic was arrested under a Serbian warrant and now faces extradition. Davidovic was convicted in Serbia of inciting national, ethnic and religious hatred for infiltrating an anti-fascist rally in 2005. He was sentenced to one year in prison but fled to Italy.

A small group of Serbian pointyheads have previously drawn attention to the rather lax attitude of Serbian authorities towards fascist groups such as Nacionalni Stroj:

We live in a state where there is no guarantee that a person will be prosecuted for his or her promotion of racial, religious and national hatred. In all these years, members of the [clerico]-fascist organisation Obraz (operating without problems since 1993) and the Serbian nationalist movement 1389 (which presents itself as “patriotic” while maintaining close contacts with Russian fascist organizations) have not been held criminally responsible for their acts which involved threats against the LGBT population and numerous attacks and beatings of their members! The leader of a nazi organization “Nacionalni stroj”, Goran Davidović, (“Fuehrer”) was allowed to openly mock the legal system of Republic of Serbia, when he succeeded in his complaint against the guilty verdict in his case, basing it on the fact that documents of the trial were written in Latin letters.

Such attitudes may also be usefully contrasted with that adopted by the Serbian state towards its anarchist opposition. Thus The Anarchists Currently Known As The Belgrade Six face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of the dastardly act of vandalising the Greek Embassy in Belgrade, aka “international terrorism”. Note that “According to the prosecution documents, the total amount of damage done to the Greek Embassy in the August vandalism incident amounted to 18 euros.”

Russia (For Dion)

Sky News, by way of Amanda Walker, has sit up and taken notice of the fact that there are neo-Nazis in Russia, and they’re killing people. Apparently, “The chilling face of extremism was revealed when another neo-nazi group calling themselves “the warriors of the white revolution” unveiled their video message of the attack on Ghanaian Solomon Attengo Gwa-jio in St Petersburg. They described the footage as “a new year gift” as they pledged further acts of terror. No one has been arrested for the December attack, during which the victim was stabbed 20 times.”

(Asked for comment, local yuppie Dion said “OMGWTFROFLMAO!”)

In conjunction with the routine murders committed by neo-Nazis and other racists, Russian authorities are also encouraging the destruction of alternative spaces, as Russians Rally Around a Falling Enclave (Michael Schwirtz, The New York Times, February 1, 2010). Chronic economic dysfunction, social barbarism, and widespread, and occasionally murderous, political repression may be generating stronger opposition, however. Thus ‘Kremlin shocked as Kaliningrad stages huge anti-government protest’: “Special envoy sent to Russia’s western exclave as thousands take to streets in biggest protest since Soviet Union fell” (Luke Harding, The Guardian, February 2, 2010).

See also : [For Dion] Russia ~versus~ Terrorism (December 1, 2009).

Germany

‘In Germany, a Disturbing Rise in Right-Wing Violence’ writes Tristana Moore in Time (December 23, 2009):

“On average, two to three far-right-motivated violent crimes are committed in Germany each day. And there are around three to four anti-Semitic violent crimes each month,” says Jörg Ziercke, president of the BKA. “There’s a real danger to people’s lives because far-right attacks tend to be very spontaneous, brutal and violent.” Right-wing radicals have become increasingly brazen too, carrying out attacks in public places such as train stations, bus stops and outside bars and restaurants. In addition to el-Sherbini’s murder, Ziercke says, there were five politically or racially motivated attempted murders by the far right in 2009.

Of course, neo-Nazi violence is not the only headache German authorities have to contend with: those fighting against fascism are also a problem. German government sets sights on left-wing and Islamist extremism, Deutsche Welle, January 19, 2010:

According to the latest statistics from Germany’s Federal Crime Office, the number of acts of violence perpetrated by far-left groupings in 2009 went up by almost 50 percent over the previous year.

Left-wing anarchist groups, which have been active particularly in Berlin and Hamburg, have recruited new members. Counter-intelligence agencies put the current total number of anarchists in Germany at around 6,600.

“What we’ve witnessed in Berlin and other big German cities is that young people’s readiness to use violence has increased dramatically”, said Claudia Schmid from Berlin’s counter-intelligence department. “We’ve seen that, since last year’s May Day riots and the 2009 NATO summit in Strasbourg and Kehl, the level of brutality in the left-wing scene has gone up steadily”, she added.

Worse yet, while weaning wankers away from licking swastikas is possible (if sometimes difficult):

Opinions divided over exit program proposals

Some conservative Bavarian lawmakers have suggested that exit programs should be developed for young people wanting to turn their backs on radical Islamism or far left anarchism, similar to exit programs already in place for former far-right activists.

But senior intelligence officials are not convinced that this would be effective..

“Left-wing anarchists are highly unlikely to respond to any sort of contact by authorities. It seems easier in the case of radicalized far-right extremists who want to opt out”, says the president of Germany’s Federal Counter-Intelligence Agency, Heinz Fromm.

See also : Göttingen: Police Raid on the Rote Strasse: Press Roundup + Demonstration Saturday 30.01, 17:00, January 28, 2010 | Police Raids Against Left Wing Structures in Berlin and Dresden, January 19, 2010.

BONUS NAZI RAP! You can’t stop the ararischen jugend!

Croatia

See also : antifa // ultras (January 21, 2010) | Croatian fascism in Australia (January 20, 2010).

Australia

Free Speech and Fascism
a bunch of revo ratbags
Mutiny
No.46, January 2010
[PDF]

In October and November 2009, two community protests took place outside the Humanist House building in Shepherd St Chippendale. Local residents had recently discovered that a group calling themselves KN (Klub Naziya) were meeting there each month – holding an open discussion and social group. The group exists as a coming-together space for nationalists, white supremacists, fascists and neo-Nazis.

The community demonstrations sought to shut down the meetings, with the aim of having KN kicked out of the space, as well as to draw attention to their presence. The neighbourhood was letterboxed, and postered, and the local community turned out to let this group know that they were unwelcome. Passers-by joined in, as did folks from the local pub. The demonstrations were a success, and in December, KN were kicked out of Humanist House. (In the process it was discovered that many of the far-right had infiltrated the Humanist Society and attempted to sell the $3 million building in order to use the money for an “education fund”).

In the process of these actions questions were raised by some as to whether these demonstrations were in themselves a form of fascism – advocating that everyone is entitled to free speech, and that by shutting down their meetings we were denying them this.

What follows is a discussion of the ideas around these questions. It’s not exhaustive, and we are not experts, but it goes someway to addressing the argument.

Why can we shut down summit meetings without question, but fascists somehow deserve to meet unhindered, under the auspices of freedom of speech?

Protests in Seattle, where communities realised their collective power by shutting down the 1999 WTO conference, were celebrated by the radical left throughout the world. Even in Australia, the shut-down of the World Economic Forum in 2000 is seen as the largest victory of the left in recent years. Blockading businesses, occupying offices, and shutting down pulp mills and coal mines are seen as standard actions for the left the world over. But suddenly when it comes to shutting down meetings of neo-Nazis, folks start worrying about their rights to “freedom of speech”. Summit conferences, pulp-mills, coal mines etc are shut down because of the dangerous activities in which they are engaged. But neo-Nazi groups aren’t sitting around debating how they can raise the most funds for the local homeless shelter. Their ideologies are specifically focused on causing harm to people who are non-white, homosexual, transgender, Jewish, Romani. These are folks who wear swastikas; have “88” tattoos (H is the eighth letter in the alphabet – the numerical equivalent of HH, or “Heil Hitler”); use “Heil Hitler” salutes; and actively celebrate Hitler’s birthday. They don’t do this as part of some cute anachronism, but as expressions of their politics, which are part of a continuous trajectory from 1930s Europe.

It’s these politics that mean that even if KN were a group of fascists gathering in Chippendale in order to raise money for the local homeless shelter, their act of gathering would still itself be a violent one. Before even a word is spoken between them, to be seen together: a strong group of neo-Nazis, their presence threatens those in the community they see as their enemies: non-white people, trans-people, queers; and adds backbone to the people in the area who may subscribe to aspects of their ideology.

“Opposing fascism in all its forms”

Some folks have expressed concern with the approach of shutting down neo-Nazi meetings/activities as a form of fascism in itself. Bound up in this concern is the possibility that it could be them doing it to “us”. In essence this is a classic conundrum of anarchist tendencies. What happens when the advocacy of freedom for all comes up against those who would deprive others of lives, safety, homes? But it becomes ridiculously obtuse to suggest that communities should stand by idly in the face of violence against people because of skin colour, ethnicity or sexuality, in order that they should not interfere with the freedoms of the perpetrators. Similarly, to suggest that shutting down neo-Nazi meetings through community demonstrations is necessarily fascist, seems a gross misunderstanding of the nature and extent of fascism.

Is freedom of speech something we even want to defend?

Freedom of speech refers to the freedom to speak without limitation. An often synonymous term, freedom of expression, refers to the act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. Under capitalism, freedom of speech and freedom of expression do not exist for all, despite the rhetoric used by the ruling class. Ideas of freedom of speech are clothed in those of ‘democracy’. It serves to legitimize and consolidate liberal democracy by creating the illusion of freedom. The existing hierarchical class society ensures that it is only a few who have access to the various forms of media and the planning of what is taught in our schools - these are controlled by the government and rich. It follows, that it is the institutionalised racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia that is apparent in both the media and education systems which guarantees that a completely unobstructed access to voicing of opinions on the radio or in the newspapers, for example, is limited to the ruling class.

The idea of freedom of speech has long been associated with impartiality from the government, and as being somewhat of a beacon of truth and justice. However, we only need to look to the historical examples from the civil rights movement to see how freedom of speech is, and always has been, state sanctioned and state controlled. Clearly freedom of speech is related to a person’s right to vote, yet Aborigines have only had that ‘right’ for just over 40 years. Freedom of expression also has clear links to a person’s sexuality, yet it was only in 1984 in Hobart, Tasmania that the last gay man was arrested for having sex with another man on the side of the road in car – he was jailed for 8 months.

A more current example is around the war on terror and the subsequent rise of racism and hate towards Muslim communities. The rhetoric surrounding the war on terror has also ‘justified’ the introduction of new laws that highlight the role that the state plays in determining who does and who does not have the right to free speech. It is now the case that if you are a white, Christian, middle class person, you apparently have more of a right to free speech than, for example a Middle Eastern born Muslim now living in Australia. In anti-terrorism trials in Melbourne and Sydney Muslim men have received jail time for ‘radical talk’; whereas Alan Jones, the radio host who incited the Cronulla riot, received a $10,000 fine (less than a day’s pay).

There are a multitude of examples throughout history that reveal the central role that the state plays in sanctioning who is afforded the right of free speech.

Freedom of speech is not an abstract value that can exist in a bubble separate from everyday life, and relations of power; it is something that only exists in practice, and only insofar as societal relationships work to create it. Rather than unthinkingly defending these so-called “freedoms”, we need to adopt a critical relationship to these notions, in order to develop spaces of genuine freedom.

See also : NSW Humanist Society 1 ‘Public Information Forum’ (January 17, 2010).

Huh.

According to Randall Amster (Homeland Insecurity: Why “No-Fly” Just Doesn’t Fly, t r u t h o u t, February 3, 2010), Gabriel Kuhn:

…has recently been informed that he is persona non grata in the US, having found himself on the No-Fly List without explanation or meaningful opportunity for rebuttal. Because of this, he has had to cancel a speaking tour here, in which he was to visit universities and community centers around the country, discussing his three new books as well as topics including social movements and political theory. It means that he won’t be able to visit with friends and colleagues or to forge new connections here around his life’s work. It also places a potentially permanent constraint on his travel to the US, and an official taint on his character as well.

Gabriel blogs @ PM Press, where you can read his account of his recent tour Down Under (November/December 2009), as well as his rejection by the US repressive state apparatus. His three new books are:

Life Under the Jolly Roger: Reflections on Golden Age Piracy
Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics (editor, 2010) and;
Gustav Landauer: Revolution and Other Writings (editor/translator, 2010).

Forthcoming titles include:

Erich Mühsam: Liberating Society from the State and Other Writings (editor/translator, 2011) and;
Soccer vs. The State: Tackling Football And Radical Politics (2011).

See also : Alpine Anarchist Productions.

Gabriel’s case contains faint echoes of several other, more recent exclusions — from Australia — of US citizens: Scott Parkin (2005) and Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin (1997).

On a more positive note, authorities in Colorado have apparently dropped charges against Ojore Nuru Lutalo. P. Solomon Banda writes (No charges planned in Colorado train threat, AP/Washington Post, February 3, 2010): “Prosecutors in southeastern Colorado said they won’t pursue charges against an ex-convict accused of making a threat against an Amtrak train because further investigation revealed the man displayed no bizarre behavior or even made a threat.”

In Serbia, meanwhile, The Belgrade Six continue to languish in prison. Arrested in August 2009, the six have been charged with the crime of “international terrorism”, and their trial is expected to commence in two weeks or so; presumably, further protests in support of the Six will also be taking place at this time.

Trial date set for six anarchists
B92/Tanjug
January 27, 2010

BELGRADE — The trial of six persons charged with international terrorism should start on February 17 at the Higher Court in Belgrade.

Court spokeswoman Dušica Ristić confirmed this on Tuesday in Belgrade.

The suspects were arrested on August 31, 2009, for throwing two Molotov cocktails at the Greek embassy building in Belgrade on August 24, and have remained in custody since then, she said.

Charges against Ratibor Trivunac, Tadej Kurepa, Ivan Vulović, Sanja Đokić, Ivan Savić and Nikola Mitrovicem were filed on November 3.

A group of members and sympathizers of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative said they had resorted to the act in solidarity with Theodoros Iliopoulos who was arrested in December 2008 in Greece during a riot and who went on hunger strike while in prison, Tanjug reports.

Note that the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative has not, in fact, said the Six had resorted to the act in solidarity with Theodoros Iliopoulos; rather, the Six continue to protest their innocence and the ASI continues to support them. The report has confused the fact that a communique in the name of a previously unheard-of group was issued claiming credit for the molotov cocktail party and justifying the action by reference to Theodoros Iliopoulos.

See also : Free the Belgrade anarchists! | Tales of Ordinary Fatuousness (December 30, 2009).

How sad for the state that you can’t imprison an idea.

Poland: Arrest Warrant Issued in Auschwitz Sign Theft
AP
February 2, 2010

A Polish court issued a European arrest warrant on Tuesday for a former neo-Nazi leader suspected in the theft of the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign at Auschwitz. Rafal Lisak, spokesman for Krakow’s district court, said that Anders Hogstrom, 34, of Sweden, was suspected of incitement to commit theft of a cultural treasure. The sign, whose words are German for “Work Sets You Free,” was stolen in December from Auschwitz in southern Poland. The sign was found three days later, and five Polish men were charged with its theft.

Bonus Black Gestapo!

“The Communist Party of Australia has endorsed Bob Briton as its candidate for Lee in the South Australian State Elections on March 20, 2010. Voters will have the opportunity to send the Rann Government a strong message about its pro-corporate priorities. The CPA is putting the working class alternative to the climate emergency, the collapse of manufacturing, the attacks on workers rights and the destruction of public services and enterprise that have flowed from the profits first agenda.”

Vote 1 Communist

Margarita Windisch for Altona

Margarita Windisch is standing for the Socialist Alliance in the Altona district (Melbourne, Victoria) by-election on February 13.

Update : A commentator (’Jesse’, Fri 05 Feb 10 (03:48pm)) on Andrew Bolt’s blog complains about another commentator’s (’sasha of sydney’, Fri 05 Feb 10 (02:11pm)) linking to a previous blog entry (Robert Manne’s open letter to Andrew Bolt, July 3, 2006): “A link to a blog so far left that marxists think they’re a bit extreme? THAT is your counter argument? Why is it that reds quote other reds to try and prove that reds are right?” Take that, Spartacist League of Australia!

1. Communist Party of Australia (CPA)
[guilty of] a particularly wretched example of … abject defence of the capitalist order

The January 27 edition of The Guardian notes that the Adelaide CPA is on the campaign trail, with State Secretary Bob Briton as the endorsed candidate for the western suburbs electorate of Lee. The poll is to take place on March 20. “[M]embers are confident their work will lift the profile of the CPA in the area considerably”.

2. Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) (CPA-ML)

The February edition of Vanguard contains Duncan B’s reflections on ‘Joseph Stalin on Party Organisation’ (PDF). According to B, among the six features Uncle Joseph identified as being key to those of a Party organised on Leninist lines is ‘The Party as the highest form of class organisation of the proletariat’… which I think means that the CPA-ML will be directing their preferences to HEMP in future.

3. Freedom Socialist Party (FSP)
fake-revolutionary

Um… “For parties, receptions, banquets, weddings, meetings and seminars… Solidarity Salon, 580 Sydney Road, Brunswick. A welcoming shop front meeting space that can comfortably accommodate organising meetings, planning days, training sessions, public meetings, movie nights or cultural events for up to 50 people, depending on your format.”

4. Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)
triumphant purveyors of historical falsehood and political cowardice

The always-outrageous (and sometimes disgusting) Van Thanh Rudd has thrown down the gauntlet to other communists with well-known relatives in the Australian political establishment by donning a white sheet with holes in it and standing outside the Australian Open. In other words, “Kevin Rudd’s nephew proved [Andrew Bolt's] point when he stood outside the Rod Laver Area on Australia Day in his badly sewn Ku Klux Klan outfit… And so Australians generally are now being monstered in the Indian press as racists of the KKK kind, while at home we still refuse to discuss street violence - and the rise of the ethnic gangs behind some of the worst of it.”

Or something.

In other news, if you’d like to know more about Uncle Hugo’s plans for a first second third fourth fifth International, a ‘Direct Action Forum’ on ‘The Venezuelan revolution & the call for a new Socialist International’ is taking place at 6:30pm on Thursday, February 25 @ the ‘Direct Action Centre’ (aka the Trades Hall Basement).

5. Democratic Socialist Perspective Socialist Alliance (SA)
postures as a fighting alternative to the no-struggle ACTU union tops but in reality acts to buttress the Laborite political obstacles to waging class battle

“Formerly the Democratic Socialist Party. Leninist, but not Stalinist and not Trotskyist, the DSP is enthusiastic about Cuba and Third World revolutions”; it is now also better known as the Socialist Alliance. “Public transport activist” Margarita Windisch has thrown her hat into the ring for the February 13 Altona by-election. Windisch is one of seven candidates expected to lose to Labor anointed Jill Hennessy. Unusually, Hennessy is a law-talking gal.

6. Socialist Alternative (SAlt)
cheerleaders for capitalist counterrevolution

When they’re not cheering on capitalist counterrevolution or looking over their shoulders for Kiwi anarchists and/or English football hooligans, SAlt are busy embiggening revolutionary socialism. Otherwise… um… someone or other has established a Facebook group for those who dislike SAlt; former SAlt member Alistair Hullett died last week; former SAlt member Jeff Sparrow is referenced in the article referenced below ‘No criticism of Labor as Australia rejects Tamil refugees’ by Mike Head (January 20, 2010).

7. Socialist Equality Party (SEP)
an organization of dubious political bandits

Mike Head reckons Inquest evidence shows Rudd government policies caused refugee deaths (February 2, 2010). In 2007, the SEP stood Will Marshall for Melbourne. He got 418 votes. Will Will stand again in 2010?

8. Socialist Party (SP)
another left Laborite obstacle to workers revolution

In a madcap attempt to undermine the stranglehold bourgeois art and culture maintains over the hearts and minds of angry proletarian yoof, the Socialist Party is calling on the Victorian State government to Scrap all anti-graffiti laws! (February 1, 2010). In an ominous sign of the repression to come, Comments are closed.

9. Solidarity
reformist opponents of revolutionary Marxism… crawling to the ALP

A member of the iSt, Solidarity are “for workers’ power and international socialism”. Beyond that, er…

10. Trotskyist Platform (TP)
a casualty of the retrogression of consciousness following the counterrevolutionary destruction of the Soviet Union

Sadly, there’s been no news from the Platform since July 2009. Instead, here’s a piece! of! spray! from! Australasian Spartacist, No. 192, Spring 2005: Editor Defects, “Trotskyist Platform”: Opportunism in Action! As an added! bonus! see! Sukant Chandan’s FRIENDS! OF! CHINA! blog.

See also : ManLiftingBanner.

Bonus Herbert A. Philbrick!