The Tale of Denis Donohue… and Donny Ryder

    Neo-Nazi skinheads belonging to Blood & Honour (B&H) Australia and the Southern Cross Hammerskins are gathering in Melbourne this weekend to commemorate the death of B&H’s co-founder, Ian Stuart Donaldson, in 1993.

    As in previous years, the boneheads have organised a gig to remember Ian, and arranged for a number of different bands to play, including — it seems — a US band called ‘Rebel Hell’.

    Jesse ******, a leading Australian Hammerskin, will be playing at the gig with his band Ravenous. Jesse maintains both a YouTube channel and an online shop called 9 percent productions [http://9percentproductions.com/].

    Among other things, 9 percent sells (neo-)Nazi music — including the album ‘Freezer Full of Nigger Heads’ by the US band Grinded Nig — and merchandise — including swastika pins and keyrings.

    Here’s Jesse singing with the Belgian neo-Nazi band Kill Baby Kill, who played the 2008 memorial gig (at The Beaconsfield Hotel). Note that KBK vocalist, Dieter Samoy, has a conviction for assaulting a black man.

    The song is called ‘Oh no here comes an Abo’.

NT ‘Nazi’ makes tearful on-air apology
ninemsn staff and wires
September 11, 2009

A man who sold racist T-shirts in Alice Springs has gone on radio to make a tearful apology — but doubts remain about his sincerity.

Denis Donohue went on ABC Radio in Alice Springs today to make amends after receiving death threats for selling garments emblazoned with a Nazi swastika and the phrase “White Power”.

“I’d just like to apologise to all the good people in Alice and around Australia,” he said, adding that the shirts were only a drunken joke.

“I’m so sorry about what I said and there’s no real malice or reason behind it.”

Choking back tears, Mr Donohue said selling such T-shirts was “just the things you do when you have a bit of a drug problem”.

“But that’s not the excuse,” he said.

“I’ll cop it sweet. I dug my hole.”

But National Indigenous Times editor Chris Graham questioned Mr Donohue’s apology.

“Really, it’s a matter for the people he’s harmed whether they accept his apology,” he told ninemsn.

“I actually think it takes some guts to go on the radio like he did but I find it very hard reconciling that with the stream of racist abuse he directed at me yesterday.

“He says he was drunk but he sounded precisely the same as he did on the radio.”

Mr Donohue had previously said his business venture was only meant to be a “bit of a giggle”.

“It was only meant as a joke,” he said.

“You do-gooders are just going to make a bloody mockery of it.”

According to the National Indigenous Times, local police and council officials had refused at least two requests by local residents to shut down the man known as “Red”.

He had been selling the offensive merchandise from his car in the main street of the desert town.

But Mr Donohue also told the paper that he was giving the shirts to people who wanted them, including some police officers.

He said Aboriginal people were the source of all the desert town’s problems and described them as “mongrels” and “bludging leeches”.

Mr Graham said that the sales of the t-shirts — which apparently followed the death of an Aboriginal man who was beaten to death allegedly by a gang of white men — points to “a larger issue that we have out here and that the community on all levels has to deal with”.

“Everybody except Australia thinks we have a race problem — it’s like an alcoholic who won’t admit that he’s a drunk,” he said.

The five men accused of the fatal assault of trainee ranger Donny Ryder are facing murder charges.

Nazi T-shirts ‘a bit of a giggle’
AAP
September 11, 2009

A MAN who sold racist T-shirts emblazoned with a Nazi swastika and the phrase “White Power” in Alice Springs has gone on radio to make a tearful apology.

Denis Donohue said his business venture was only meant to be a “bit of a giggle”.

“It was only meant as a joke,” he said.

“You do-gooders are just going to make a bloody mockery of it.”

According to the National Indigenous Times, local police and council officials had refused at least two requests by local residents to shut down the man known as “Red”.

He had been selling the offensive merchandise from his car in the main street of the desert town.

But Mr Donohue also told the paper that he was giving the shirts to people who wanted them, including some police officers.

He said Aboriginal people were the source of all the desert town’s problems and described them as “mongrels” and “bludging leeches”.

But Mr Donohue went on ABC Radio in Alice Springs today to make amends after receiving death threats.

“I’d just like to apologise to all the good people in Alice and around Australia,” he said, adding that the shirts were only a drunken joke.

“I’m so sorry about what I said and there’s no real malice or reason behind it.”

Choking back tears, Mr Donohue said selling such T-shirts was “just the things you do when you have a bit of a drug problem”.

“But that’s not the excuse,” he said.

“I’ll cop it sweet. I dug my hole.”

White power shirts ‘a joke’, says vendor
Nick Calacouras
Northern Territory News
September 11, 2009

POLICE are investigating white supremacy T-shirts featuring a Nazi swastika that are being sold in a Territory town.

Denis Donohue said he had been selling the shirts in Alice Springs for two years and had given them to police officers, nurses and prominent members of the Territory’s legal community.

The T-shirts and baseball caps have the words “White Power” emblazoned on them with a Nazi swastika.

But Mr Donohue said it was all a joke.

“That was just a novelty thing because I was sick of them all breaking into my home,” he said.

“I was just trying to stick a thorn into them”.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Rob Kendrick said police were investigating the shirt sales.

“The shirts are provocative in nature and we certainly consider them offensive,” he said.

He said the sale could breach laws regarding obscenity and offensive behaviour.

“We will, if necessary, pursue a prosecution”.

“(But) our focus at the moment is tracking down the man selling these shirts”.

Mr Kendrick said he was concerned by claims that police officers had obtained these shirts.

When the Northern Territory News suggested to Mr Donohue that his shirts could promote ethnic cleansing or racial violence, he replied: “says who?”

“I just did it to grab attention. We’re not holding meetings or anything. It’s not like I’m in the Ku Klux Klan,” he said.

Mr Donohue said he has advertised these shirts for years from a sign in the back of his car – but he has never sold them.

“I can’t sell them. Nobody wants to buy them. But I do give them away to people who want them,” he said.

“The only ones who are complaining are white bastards. It is just the do-gooder whities and it has been blown out of the bloody water”.

========================

Chris Graham (National Indigenous Times) writes:

NATIONAL, September 10, 2009: An Alice Springs resident has responded to the alleged bashing death of an Aboriginal man by five young white men by selling “Alice Springs White Power” t-shirts and caps from his car.

And it’s all happening outside the Alice Springs Town Council offices, with local police and council officials refusing at least two requests by local residents to shut the man down.

The t-shirts and caps were yesterday on display in the passenger side window of a 4WD ute parked directly across the road from the council chambers. The number plates on the vehicle read ‘GANGSTA’, and a hand-written sign was taped to the back passenger window advertising the shirts and caps.

The sign included pricing – $25 for a shirt, $25 for a cap or to [sic] for $35. The shirt includes a Nazi swastika symbol, and the sign includes a mobile number, 0410 366 701.

The sale of the merchandise follows the July 25 death of Donny Ryder, an Aboriginal trainee ranger, aged 33. Mr Ryder was walking home along an Alice Springs back street when a group of five white youths aged 19-24 allegedly alighted from a 4WD and bashed him to death.

The youths have each been charged with murder, and up to nine counts of reckless endangerment – about a half hour before the bashing death the youths also allegedly drove their vehicle at itinerant Aboriginal men and women camping on the dry bed of the Todd River…

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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5 Responses to The Tale of Denis Donohue… and Donny Ryder

  1. Robinoz says:

    It’s always interesting how many people are “offended” by people like this fellow who produced a White Power shirt with a swastika. The swastika is not only associated with Naziism, but many good things … it precedes Naziism and is found in many other cultures and places.

    In Australia, where governments have integrated racism in their special programs and services for indigenes, it would be okay to produce a shirt with Black Power, but mention anything white and [you’re] a racist.

    The focus in money, energy and effort that goes into 300,000 blacks (many of whom are Caucasian-aborigines) at the expense of the rest of our 21 million odd is a disgraceful demonstration of racism that do-gooders and others accept because it’s populist and they haven’t got the balls to do anything about [it].

    We’ve gone from being the “Lucky Country” to a country full of whingers and whiners that have nothing better to do than promote the politically correct (in their view) and tread on anyone trying to raise awareness of the gross inequities in our society.

    Who cares [if] someone produces a shirt with something stupid? There are thousands of precedents. The thing is, if you don’t want to buy or wear one don’t.

    And just for those who might suggest it, I’m not a white supremacist and although I’m a racist by definition, I would never hurt or offend someone because they were from a different race. Everyone is entitled to respect or dignity, although they have to demonstrate that they are worthy of it.

  2. @ndy says:

    Robinoz,

    The Swastika

    You’re right. The swastika was not invented by the Nazis. It is an ancient symbol, used by many. Nevertheless, Denis put it to use as a Nazi symbol.

    Offence

    Is it reasonable for others to feel ‘offended’ by Denis’s behaviour? I think so — you do not. In and of itself, causing offence to others is not a crime. But the matter is complicated in this case by the racialised nature of his behaviour. For example, if you read the article by Chris Thomson in the National Indigenous Times, it becomes clear that Denis’ actions were motivated by a deep-seated racial animosity towards blackfellas:

    Last night, NIT phoned the number in the ad. The owner of the vehicle is a local man in his late 40s. He identified himself only by his nickname, ‘Red’.

    In a lengthy interview, Red unleashed a torrent of racial abuse, after initially claiming that the t-shirts and caps weren’t for sale.

    “I’m not selling the t-shirts, I’m giving them to people who want them,” Red said. But when told NIT had photographs of the advertising signs in Red’s car, he replied, “You’re just some white c-nt who’s a f-cking n-gger lover.”

    Red claimed the shirts were popular among local residents – even police had shelled out the $25.

    “I’ve sold them to police…. I’ve sold them to nurses, school teachers…. No c-nt has ever come up to me and said nothing about it. I wear my shirts and hats everywhere I go,” he said.

    He declined to say how many local police had bought his merchandise.

    “What do you think, I’m f-cking stupid? I’m not telling you that. It’s just a number.”

    He also claimed that the merchandise was not a response to the death of Mr Ryder and that he had been distributing them for a year.

    “It’s got nothing to do with that sh-t. It’s just my way to sticking it up the black c-nts. It’s not illegal, I’ve sold to cops,” he said.

    However, one local resident contacted by the National Indigenous Times said the vehicle was well known around Alice Springs, and the sign advertising the shirts had only appeared since the death of Mr Ryder.

    Red did concede, however, that the bashing death of Mr Ryder was “going too far”.

    “I don’t condone what they done to him at all. No c-nts should get killed, black or white. That’s going too far. [But] if they’d just actually touched him up…”

    Red said the Alice Springs community was angry at the death of a white man allegedly bashed to death by several Aboriginal men earlier this year. He said he had grown up in the central Australian town and that Aboriginal people were the source of all the problems.

    “[Aboriginal people] couldn’t even invent the f-cking wheel,” he said. “I’ve had enough sh-t from c-ons and n-gger lovers and c-nts coming into town who are not local.

    “Go see the f-cking c-on camps, the c-on creeks. There’s a f-cking bottle shop across the road from the b-ong camp.

    Another major problem was that the black people in town weren’t even ‘real c-ons’.

    “A lot of the c-nts in town are mongrels. Their mum f-cked a g-n way back. Some dumb white g-n jockey c-nt rooting a n-gger… it comes out a half caste. It’s a f-cking mongrel,” he said.

    He pointed to the fact jails in the Territory were full of black criminals as proof that Aboriginal people were the cause of Alice Springs’ problems.

    “… 80 percent inside were f-cking n-ggers for doing shit,” he said, later conceding that he knew because he’d “done time… for flogging the f-ck out of some c-ons”.

    Red said that “n-gger lover d-ckhead lawyers and reporters” only made the problem worse because they defended Aboriginal people.

    Whether or not Denis will be charged with a crime at this stage is uncertain. He has, however, expressed remorse for his actions, and indicated that he will no longer be selling the ‘offensive’ material in question.

    Black Power

    I’m not sure if I’ve seen someone wearing a Black Power t-shirt — I may have, but if so, it was a long time ago. (For what it’s worth, I used to have a t-shirt with an image of Malcolm X on it — I also had a t-shirt with the logo of a black radio station in the US on it, one which incorporated a black power slogan.) In any case, I don’t think that the two — ‘White Power’ and ‘Black Power’ — are equivalent symbols, and this is because Australia is a society dominated by ‘whites’, founded on the (attempted) genocide of ‘blacks’, and with a long history of systematic discrimination against non-whites (indigenous or not). In this sense, ‘Black Power’ is an expression not of racial dominance but racial empowerment which, if one concedes the preceding, is an appropriate response.

    Not being ‘black’, I prefer ‘People Power’.

    Special treatment

    Issues to do with the social conditions experienced by indigenous Australians are many and varied, and have sparked a good deal of debate. Of late, the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) — ‘The Intervention’ — has generated much controversy. Two aspects of The Intervention that I think are noteworthy in this context are 1) the fact that its implementation required the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act and 2) two years after the declaration of an ‘Emergency’, not a single new house has been built, despite there being $660m allocated to do so. Responsibility for neither of these facts may be attributed to ‘blacks’ or ‘Caucasian-aborigines’ (sic) or “do-gooders” who “haven’t got the balls to do anything about” it.

    Lucky Country

    Of the industrialised nations, in the immediate aftermath of WWII, Australia was the most ‘egalitarian’. That is, there was the smallest gap between rich and poor. Since then, the gap has widened, and especially since the 1980s and the rule of the ALP under the Hawke and Keating governments. This had everything to do with the neoliberal policies they introduced, and nothing to do with the sudden explosion in the numbers of ‘whingers’ and ‘whiners’. In other words, you assert the opposite of what is actually the case: Denis is not drawing attention to ‘gross inequities’, he’s whinging and whining about the supposed fact that blacks have it so good (and contrary to all available evidence).

    “Who cares [if] someone produces a shirt with something stupid?”

    By the same token, who cares if someone objects? You do, obviously, or you wouldn’t bother commenting.

    Racism is boring and stupid.

  3. Chris Graham says:

    Hi Andy,

    Pretty thoughtful stuff on your part. Unusual to see reasoned debate on issues like this. It’s very encouraging to see that some people put so much thought (and energy) into this stuff… sometimes this battle feels a little like pissing in the wind.

    Cheers, Chris.

  4. @ndy says:

    Thanks Chris.

    I share your feeling. But as Gloria the female impersonator put it in the Monty Python sketch “it’s better than bottling it up”. And for as long as I avoid being beaten to death by local neo-Nazi skinheads, I hope to continue to express my views.

  5. @ndy says:

    Along with humour, music helps too.

    Keep ya chin up!

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