Oh hai.
• Lots of butthurt is being expressed by local nazis w regards the dismal rally Australia First and Golden Dawn stoopidly organised last week. This will carry on for some time I expect, along w mutterings about the Dark Forces ranged against them. So too will claims that the rally — contrary to all the evidence — was a roaring success. Ho hum.
Curiously, the leader of GD in Australia, Iggy Gavrilidis, has posted pictures of AF and GD members and supporters taken not at the rally but at some point before or after it — then claimed to the nazis back home in Greece that this comprised the rally! (It’s also slightly odd that a handful of the men who appear in the photos did not attend the abortive rally …)
• The Australian Golden Dawn’s Rally in Brisbane Was an Embarrassing Failure writes Lauren Gillin (Vice, May 7, 2014).
• The Online Hate Prevention Institute has published an article on Social Media, Golden Dawn and Australia’s Far-Right (May 7, 2014).
• Antony Loewenstein has written an article on why Australia’s far-right fringe groups must not be allowed to become mainstream (The Grauniad, May 6, 2014). Pro-tip: never read the comments.
• I was briefly interviewed by 2SER and 4ZZZ earlier today: I may throw some links up later.
• In Greece, there were fascist tears in parliament as it voted to lift the immunity from prosecution of all (current and former) GD MPs. As one Tweeter noted:
Tough and brutal against immigrants, crying in parliament to escape jail. That's the face of the Golden Dawn.
— Yiannis Βaboulias (@YiannisBab) May 7, 2014
• In Hungary, Tamas Sneider, a former bonehead, has been appointed deputy speaker in the national parliament. In Germany, Deutsche Welle has published a Chronology: Year one of the neo-Nazi NSU murder trial.
• Finally, In parts of Europe, the far right rises again writes Sonni Efron in the Los Angeles Times.
Say, Andy, is there any other focus of your life besides so-called Nazis? Are you concerned about government corruption, such as we’ve seen playing out in NSW? Do you care about union corruption, or the revelations about banks stealing from retirees? Have you any opinion on Islamic fundamentalists, and lenient parole practices the kind of which saw the convicted rapist Adrian Bayley free to murder Jill Meagher? Anything other than right wing patriots? Billionaire miners like Gina Rinehart who want all us ‘bludgers’ working for two dollars a day? Any of this fit into your agenda? Just wondering…
Unfortunately for Iggy his claims will be quickly discovered as outright bullshit when Golden Dawn in Greece start asking him awkward questions such as why has the membership of Golden Dawn Australia stagnated. Or even worse if Golden Dawn ask Iggy why GDA has allied itself to a group led by an Arab.
If GDA had any backing among the large Greek community here in Australia, they would have had their rally here in Melbourne. The fact that they did not suggests that the Greeks here in Melbourne will not put up with Iggy and his friendship with an Arab or with other outcasts from the community.
GDA have been around for over a year now and the fact that it could only get a few other Greek Australians to show up at their rally proves they are a failure no matter what Iggy claims.
Say, Andy, is there any other focus of your life besides so-called Nazis?
Yes.
Are you concerned about government corruption, such as we’ve seen playing out in NSW?
Concerned? Mmm … kinda. I mean, isn’t government corruption just par for the course? George Morgan:
Do you care about union corruption, or the revelations about banks stealing from retirees?
Yeah. Again, kinda. I mean, I made a coupla humorous refs to the Thomson case a coupla years ago, and I’ve been reading and watching reports about investigations into the CFMEU and HSU (and in both cases spoken to members of those unions about them) but I haven’t got anything much to add to the copious amounts of commentary already out there. As for banks stealing from retirees, if you liked banking predation, you’ll love capitalism.
Have you any opinion on Islamic fundamentalists, and lenient parole practices the kind of which saw the convicted rapist Adrian Bayley free to murder Jill Meagher?
I’m not sure, are you saying there’s a connection? I assume not. I think Islamic fundamentalism is objectionable and the murder of Jill Meagher was a tragedy. I wrote something about the response to her death here.
Anything other than right wing patriots?
Yes.
Billionaire miners like Gina Rinehart who want all us ‘bludgers’ working for two dollars a day? Any of this fit into your agenda? Just wondering…
I wrote something about the Super Duper Tax back in 2010. Rinehart enjoys obscene wealth and writing extremely awful poetry and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.