antifa notes (june 5, 2012)

Australia

Heavy metal band Vomitor, playing at the Evil Invaders Festival this weekend, have issued a statement denouncing racism, fascism and neo-Nazism. You can read more about that here. My reference (since removed) to the band in a previous post drew quite a lot of attention, especially from fans, and there’s a ding-dong battle going on in the commentary as a result. Among the many gems on offer is the following (from an obviously disgruntled reader): “I can see from the links to communist organisations here that you support mass murder, cultural destruction, enslavement, and a police state… Craven drivel from a brainwashed turkey fucker.”

On a related note, Jack/Gareth Sansom’s neo-Nazi promotion ‘White Noise Productions’ (WNP) seems to have disappeared and/or collapsed into his other projects (Waffenbrüder/War Doctrine) but retains the loyalty of at least one band, Perseverance (in which Jack also plays). For what it’s worth, I reckon they oughta do a split with Spear of Longinus or StarGazer or some shit. In any case, Gareth once thanked me for publicising his promotion, but I have a feeling Jack disagreed.

*shrugs*

Russia

Oh yeah. Speaking of Blood & Honour, it’s apparently been BANNED! in Russia (RAPSI) under laws prohibiting ‘extremism’. In practice, such laws are more generally used to repress critics of the Russian plutocracy. Also facing repression are Russian anti-fascists, and a call has been made for common days of actions in support of Alexey Olesinov, Alexey Sutuga ‘and all repressed antifascists’ from July 10–17.

Greece

In the birthplace of democracy, Golden Dawn have seemingly been quite active on the streets since their electoral success last month (May 6), working closely with Greek police in targeting immigrant communities. Inter alia, the group’s sudden rise in popularity has meant that Marcos is now a Greek Jew

Neo-Nazi votes spur memories of Greece’s Holocaust
Roland Lloyd Parry (AFP)
May 31, 2012

ATHENS — Isaac Mizan, a Greek Jew, remembers seeing the flames of the furnaces. It was 1944, and the Nazis were burning bodies in the Auschwitz death camp.

The 16-year-old boy had been deported by train from his home town of Arta in western Greece, along with his parents and three sisters. Of those five, he only saw one sister again.

In Greece, few people talk about what happened to its tens of thousands of Jews in the years after 1941, when the Germans invaded and crushed the Greek and allied resistance.

Now the rise of a Greek neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, which won its first seats in parliament this month, has driven Jews here to speak out about their ordeal in World War II as a reminder.

“I lost sleep when I saw they got into parliament,” Mizan, now 85, told AFP.

A television interview by the party’s leader Nikos Mihaloliakos, in which he played down the extent of the Holocaust, prompted a rare public appearance on Tuesday by some of the very few Greek survivors.

Some 400 people crammed into a lecture hall at Athens University to hear Mizan and four other elderly survivors talk about their lives during the Nazi killings and deportations that almost wiped out Greece’s Jewish population.

“I remember seeing the flames of the crematoriums,” Mizan said.

“They would also throw people alive into lakes.”

The subject of the Holocaust in Greece only recently started being mentioned in school history books.

Four years of recession have raised anti-immigrant tension in some districts, fuelling Golden Dawn’s rise, but some also say a blindness to parts of history is to blame.

“It’s a small part of our book,” said Manos Roditakis, 20, a maths student at the university.

“It’s mentioned that there was a Holocaust in all of Europe and Greece too, but they don’t focus much on that,” he said.

“The focus is on the Greek resistance against the Germans and on the Battle of Crete and things like that,” he said, referring to the climax of the Nazi conquest in 1941.

In a televised interview this month, Mihaloliakos denied the existence of gas chambers in the Nazi death camps and suggested that to say six million Jews died in the Holocaust was an exaggeration.

“There were no ovens, no gas chambers, it’s a lie,” he insisted in the interview.

He said he had “read lots of books casting doubt on the number of six million Jews” who died in the Holocaust.

“Auschwitz, what Auschwitz? I didn’t go there. What happened there? Have you been there?” he asked.

At Tuesday’s event, Mizan rolled up the left sleeve of his suit to reveal the number the Nazis tattooed on his forearm in black ink at Auschwitz: 182641.

Of the five survivors at Tuesday’s event, he was the only one who went through the camps. The others managed to stay in Greece, hiding with the help of their countrymen.

Before World War II, a Jewish community had flourished for centuries in Greece, mainly around the northern city of Thessaloniki.

Jews in Greece are now estimated to number about 6,000. Since the war their presence has been scarcely visible, their story seldom told.

“This was the first time in Greece that such a big event took place, in terms of the audience, with young people and non-Jews, who came without being obliged to,” said Isaac Mizan’s son, Zozef.

Another Greek Holocaust survivor, Alexandros Simha, added: “There is a silence, an indifference among people in Greece. But now they are starting to dig a little into their past.”

Golden Dawn won 6.9 percent of the vote and 21 seats in the 300-member parliament in an inconclusive election on May 6.

“We are coming,” Michaloliakos said afterwards. “The time for fear has come for those who betrayed this homeland.”

A new election is scheduled on June 17. Opinion polls indicate Golden Dawn could see a dip in support but may still retain its presence in parliament.

Tuesday’s event was organised by Hagen Fleischer, a German history professor at Athens University, as a riposte to Mihaloliakos’s comments playing down the horror of the Holocaust.

“We must not forget the Holocaust”, said Simha.

“The serpent’s egg is still there, ready to hatch.”

Germany

Over the weekend (June 2), several thousand German police were enlisted to allow several hundred angry German Hamburgers to march thru the city. Police have protecting the nazis down to a fine art; a science, even. Liverpool Antifascists can has a collection of film clips here.

United States

Bill White, My Favourite Hollywood Nazi — who was totally an anarchist at one point in his career — has apparently disappeared. Well, if not in a puff of smoke then at least as far as ZOG is concerned. Where will Bill’s crazy antics take him next? Bill’s comrade JT Ready ended his career in spectacular fashion last month, “All four people killed by a former neo-Nazi before he turned the gun on himself this month in a quiet Phoenix suburb were shot in the head, according to a police report released Tuesday that paints the clearest picture yet of the gruesome crime scene”. In Florida, the alleged plans of cheeky members of bonehead gang American Front to smash local skinheads apparently hasn’t deterred local RASH members and supporters from doing their thing, “When asked if they were concerned about the American Front members being out of jail and on bail for the moment, both John Brown and Krist Cooper said they will carry on with their regular social nights and concerts, but with the added precaution of increased security”.

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2024 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.
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One Response to antifa notes (june 5, 2012)

  1. Old Grey Mare says:

    Here is what I said in context, with explanations provided so people can laugh at you for being too much of a bozo to understand what I meant.

    “I can see from the links to communist organisations here that you support mass murder, cultural destruction, enslavement, and a police state. Otherwise you wouldn’t have the links there. I mean, the communist party of australia released a split 7″ with china on venezuela records, with north korea being mentioned in the thanks list. Dear reader indeed!”

    – Here is where I use satire to make a mockery of your nonsensical methods for digging dirt and making accusations, as well as pointing out your own distasteful political connections.

    “Craven drivel from a brainwashed turkey fucker.”

    – That’s what I call refusing to acknowledge any of the points raised and responding with feeble gibberish instead. As for the insult, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander (unless it’s what you’ve got in mind for them).

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