Ideas to Change the World, Melbourne, July 27–29, 2012

Posted on July 6, 2012 by @ndy

‘Renegade Activists Action Force’ (RAAF) is a Melbourne-based group of troublemakers. You may remember them from such protests as AIDEX ’91. RAAF have organised a conference to take place over the last weekend in July beginning Friday July 27 and ending Sunday July 29: “a weekend of ideas to challenge Capitalism”. That’s just three weeks from now, and just one week before the Melbourne Anarchist Bookfair (Saturday, August 4).

Read the blurb.

Date and Time: Fri, 27/07/2012 – 9:00am – Sun, 29/07/2012 – 5:00pm
Location: Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3053
Contact: [email protected] / 0422 743 573
(Please note there will be free child care and food available throughout the conference.)

Posted in State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | Leave a comment

Statement from compañero Mario López

Posted on July 5, 2012 by @ndy

[Original, Spanish-language source here.]

Statement from compañero Mario López

Hello dear comrades, as you already will know (inside and outside of Mexico) I find myself hospitalized due to injuries to my shin, leg, and right arm. At the moment I’m “ok” given the situation, I am concerned about my health and am also concerned about several things which I’ll expand upon in a few points.

First the fact of writing now and not later.

Well, this is easy because physically I have the ability to do so and because in the future when they charge or sentence me the control will be greater and communication will be more difficult.

ABOUT MY HEALTH

Well, I have three fairly serious burns, the first on the right leg, the second is a hole from once side of my arm to the other, and the last is on the right shin. Bad if one day I go back to practicing Muay Thai. In the hospital the nurses and doctors are behaving great, including nicknaming me “bombiux” and I have hope in saving my leg.

ABOUT THE LEGAL SITUATION

Here the problem is that another person is now implicated because we made the error of carrying in the backpack which remained at the scene her ID and because of that they identified her and linked her with a video of the area. Yesterday (June 28) they told me that she was detained, or rather with their words: “now we’ve got your girlfriend” … they said she made a statement against me and well, the same story. First, they wanted (and want) me to claim the attack on a bank in Tlalpan: “I do not accept this,” then they would say it was my comrade (now that she was identified) who did it: “I do not accept this,” and finally they wanted me to name more people who did it and obviously I did not accept this. Regarding my comrade they came to corroborate her physical information and all of this in front of a state lawyer.

ABOUT ME

I stated that I did everything from beginning to end and that I was individually responsible for this act (or attempt), of course this statement was made under pressure, with the army, with the marines, with the military camp #1 and also I was in a state of physical and psychological weakness as a result of the anaelgesics and the surgery on my leg. Even so, I maintained this declaration with the goal of not directly involving more comrades in my problem.

I, as an anarchist, comply (as far as possible) with the consequences and responsibilities derived from my individual act. Therefore, I declared myself responsible for this act from beginning to end, my comrade was only there at the moment when the device exploded and the most serious error was having her ID with us.

ABOUT THE SOLIDARITY FROM COMRADES

Yesterday I almost cried (and today while writing this letter) when the lawyer told me that everyone was outside. It gave me goosebumps that independent of the differences of how we see things, the paths to follow, the means, etc. It showed me that relationships are also built through mutual knowledge. Some take one path or decisions, others others, but at the end of the road is absolute freedom.

ABOUT HOW I’VE IDENTIFIED MYSELF

Since the bomb exploded I have identified myself as an anarchist in spite of the “consequences” that my way of life, struggles and ideas can lead to.

The federal police arrived and tried to turn me and of course I did not accept it. Three years less in jail for being a snitch is not worth it, not even if it was 30.

Regarding the motives that led me to carry out this action, they are more than my futile and contradictory statements to the prosecutors who never stopped pressuring me. In short, as an anarchist, I don’t consider that this type of situation or political moment should be the starting point for projecting our struggle, as building-destruction is the daily construction of our persons and of our goals. I only consider it necessary to draw a clear line regarding political parties without contradicting the above statement. Even more so in these times where populist discourses (democratic left or right) can be confused with our proposals and ideas of freedom.

The IFE (Federal Elections Institute), PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution), are a couple more institutions that are just like a bank or a police station that conform to the machinery of the system.

This is my statement to the comrades and not to the muddling and manipulative questions of the police, who, without any form of counsel made me fall into unbeneficial positions for my case…but you are the ones who are most important.

I identify myself as an anarchist enemy of any kind of State and of capital, each chooses the methods or means according to their criteria, but the struggle is a daily one, inside and outside of the prisons.

To the comrades in solidarity and to the Anarchist Black Cross, a strong, combative hug and thank you for being with my mother, she understands the situation.

Greetings to Luciano Pitronello!
Solidarity with all prisoners of war and political prisoners in the struggle!
Solidarity with the comrades who are prisoners in Italy!
For the destruction of the prisons!
Social war on all fronts!
Long live anarchy!
The claim of responsibility begins!

Mario, Tripa
June 2012

Posted in Anarchism, Broken Windows, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Melbourne District By-election 2012

Posted on July 3, 2012 by @ndy

I’m excited!

The by-election for the Victorian State Parliament is taking place on July 21 and there are no less than SIXTEEN candidates, including anarchists, Christians, communists, consumer-rights activists and more!

The winner is almost certainly going to be Labor or — less likely — the Greens. Scandalously, the Sex Party have preferenced Labor ahead of the Greens. Then again, the Greens prefer Labor to Sex.

Posted in State / Politics | Tagged | 7 Comments

anarchist notes (july 1, 2012)

Posted on July 2, 2012 by @ndy

2nd Annual Melbourne Anarchist Bookfair 2012

The second annual Melbourne Anarchist Bookfair is taking place on August 4, 2012 at the Abbotsford Convent in Abbotsford. Entry is free. For more infos see the Bookfair website.

Antisemitism and Anarchy

Antisemitism and Anarchy is a new publication by Dysophia (UK), bringing together a collection of articles that try and unpick some of the debates around the Israel/Palestine conflict, “to make sense of arguments around the meaning of Zionism, what constitutes antisemitism or how to make sense of divisive figures such as Gilad Atzmon. It draws on the anarchist tradition to bring an anti-racist perspective to these difficult questions. While not providing definite answers, these articles have been selected to give anarchists a better overview of all perspectives so that as a movement we can produce more nuanced views that avoid the twin pitfalls of racism and liberalism.”

Erich Mühsam, in English

“Erich Mühsam (1878-1934) was a leading figure in the German anarchist movement. This site will be home to critical English editions of several of his most important works.”

IAS Lexicon pamphlet series

Anarchism? Colonialism? Gender? Power? White supremacy? WTF?

PS. There’s more f*cking Wolves At The Door! Issue #2 (Winter 2012) creature features: ‘Who are the wolves? an introduction’ / an interview with those responsible for the always outrageous Disaccords blog / ‘attacking the institutions of genocide: an anarchist perspective on solidarity with anti-colonial struggles’ / ‘Apocalypse activism: a review of the film END:CIV‘.

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Money and Better Homes & Gardens

Posted on June 30, 2012 by @ndy

I didn’t realise this ’til now but in BREAKING NEWS…

In April an Australian Senator pretended to spend a week as a dole bludger.

LIVING off $17 a day may sound impossible to most people but Greens senator Rachel Siewert will do just this for a week, in an attempt to highlight the struggle people on the dole face.

In this context, Senator Siewert is a bit like Christopher Hitchens: The Drink-Soaked Ex-Troyskite Popinjay For War needed to actually undergo torture in order to understand that water-boarding is not. fun. For her part, Siewert discovered that having a very small income does tend to make life a little. bit. difficult. (NB. The stunt of going on the dole for a week is an old one: I can remember a Democrats Senator doing it once back in the ’80s.)

Of course, the Senator’s week of poverty was intended to help promote the Greens’ campaign to reward shirkers with an additional $50 per week of unearned income. Or to put it another way: to ensure bludgers would continue living under The Poverty Line.

Well, that’s what the policy wonks at the Melbourne Institute tell their fellows anyways. In their latest report (March 2012), the scienticians at the Institute calculate that a single person with no dependents and a weekly income of $470.36 is on the poverty line; the maximum allowable Newstart payment, on the other hand, is $303.10.

In any case:

On 26 June 2012 the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committees for inquiry and report.

The adequacy of the allowance payment system for jobseekers and others, the appropriateness of the allowance payment system as a support into work and the impact of the changing nature of the labour market.

No doubt the inquiry will prove to be an exciting development in the struggle for economic justice and social equality.

Of course, the Greens aren’t the only ones who think the unemployed should be punished with poverty for their work-shy ways. Labor too is firmly committed to maintaining a reasonably-sized pool of surplus labour, the useless mouths useful as examplars of what happens to work resistors and those who fail to worship at the feet of The Economy.

Last month, according to The Age, “PRIME Minister Julia Gillard faces a growing push from Labor MPs to raise the dole, with warnings it is so low that people are being forced into poverty and even turning to crime.”

Which — as well as ignoring the existence of the underground economy — I assume is expected to be responded to as though it were some kinda revelation rather than as a perfectly predictable and completely unremarkable fact of life.

Speaking of poverty, KRudd’s wife Therese Rein recently snuck on to Australia’s Rich List. Her rise was dependent on the decline of the welfare state and the privatisation of state employment services. The massive expansion in state subsidies to the charity industry — dominated, naturally, by religious institutions — has also enabled folks like Toby Hall to ascend to the pinnacle of the industry, from which vantage point the former stockbroker likes to lecture the poor on good behaviour.

If so many people weren’t made so rich by the poors, I’d advocate some kinda Final Solution.

See also : Dole bludgers, tax payers and the new right: constructing discourses of welfare in 1970s Australia (Verity Archer) (February 12, 2010).

Posted in Broken Windows, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | Leave a comment

Rally for Assange : Melbourne, Sunday, July 1

Posted on June 26, 2012 by @ndy

There’s a rally in support of Julian Assange this weekend.

Where : State Library, Swanston Street, Melbourne
When : Midday, Sunday, July 1

Following his fail in the UK courts, Assange is currently attempting to start a new life as a llama farmer but who knows if he’ll be able to. In any case, a glittering array of local talent will be on hand to entertain and inform the masses, including the bRanes behind Rap News, what Cam and I got to pick on radio some months ago.

Funnily enough, the hip-hop journalists got funny man Noam Chomsky on the show during his last and final visit to Straya; his recent endorsement of an open letter generated some minor controversy in the Twitterverse.

Well, my tiny corner of it anyway.

In any event, the letter — signed by “leftist hero” Chomsky (and a few hundred other less heroic celebrities) apparently implies that rape is not a serious crime.

Or something.

To be honest, I found the Twitter conversation I had about the letter and its meaning a bit confusing.

Moar later.

Maybe.

Posted in !nataS, Media, Sex & Sexuality, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , | 9 Comments

t00t t00t! All Aboard The Australian Protectionist Party Failboat!

Posted on June 24, 2012 by @ndy

In bad news for Australian Protectionists, the ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ has confirmed its reputation as the most pathetic party to be formally registered with the state. While boasting over 500 members and five years of political activity, just five people bothered to attend their anti-refugee rally in Sydney on Saturday. At first called in order to demand that the Australian government ‘Torpedo the boats’ carrying asylum seekers to Australia, a week before the rally the organising slogan was amended to ‘Torpedo the government boats policy’. The shift in rhetoric appears to have resulted from pressure applied by the party’s nominal leader Andrew Phillips; the failure of the rally, and the party generally, to have resulted in the resignation of de facto party leader Darrin Hodges (below right).

In good news for the APP and its supporters, no torpedoes were required in order to sink a boatload of asylum seekers just days prior to Saturday’s fail. Judging by the commentary on the now-deleted Facebook Events page for the rally, many champagne corks were popping at the news of the many dozens of men, women and children who appear to have drowned at the scene. In any case, the dumb, drunk and racist antics of the APP are further documented in ‘Episode Two’ of Joe Hildebrand’s Dumb, Drunk and Racist; some further consideration is given to the Australian government’s own role in failing to avert the disaster in Decency all at sea as another boatload sinks, Michael Bachelard, The Age, June 24, 2012.

See also : Anti-Immigration Party to March Against Refugee Welcome Rally, Nicholas Sauer, Tharunka, June 2012.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Death, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

WHaT?

Posted on June 21, 2012 by @ndy

Yeah well anyway. Nobody reads my blog any more. They’re too busy sailing. (And by ‘nobody’ I mean ‘Evan’ and by ‘sailing’ I mean ‘reading about farming’.) In any case, I’ve been busy trolling the Australian Protectionist Party. Thus far I’ve succeeded in embarrassing the organisers of the shambolic Internets farce (formerly) known as the ‘Torpedo the boats’ rally into running, screaming like girlie men, far, far away from my 1337 skills. It’s even possible that chief organiser and former dildo salesman Darrin Hodges has quit the APP in disgust at lack of party support for his bald-headed efforts to stop Lesbian Seagulls from importing Muslamic Rayguns into the country.

THRASH ‘TIL DEATH BROTHERS AND SISTERS!

Posted in !nataS, Media, Poetry, Sex & Sexuality | Tagged , | 13 Comments

antifa notes (june 18, 2012)

Posted on June 18, 2012 by @ndy

Australia

Under pressure from critics, the ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ (APP) yesterday decided to abandon its public call for the mass murder of asylum seekers, declaring that the “previous title of this [Facebook] page “Torpedo the boats” was a sloganised [sic] version of our intent to torpedo the refugee boat policy of the federal government. Obviously, it was not a call to actually torpedo people, and anyone who claims otherwise is either lying or being deliberately obtuse.” Or, alternatively, accurately reporting their antics. The handful of public rallies previously organised by APP have failed to attract anything more than token support, and the party’s reputation is unlikely to have been improved by its latest idiocy.

Bulgaria

I overlooked this at the time of publication but imprisoned anti-fascist Jock Palfreeman was interviewed by Gabriel Hershman for the Sofia Echo in April. Sofia Central Prison is a ‘ridiculous’ institution, says Jock Palfreeman.

Chile

There were protests at a screening of a new film praising former dictator Augusto Pinochet in Santiago on June 10. Among those gathering to pay tribute to the General were a number of neo-Nazis, like other fascists presumably grateful for the protection of a large number of riot police.

Greece

The popular vote for the neo-Nazi ‘Golden Dawn’ has remained steady for the June 17 election, though the party appears to have secured 18 as opposed to 21 seats in the new Greek parliament. The official map of the results may be found here. Attacks on immigrants, some conducted in collaboration with police, will presumably continue if not escalate under whichever new government is formed. Otherwise, appeals by the Greek franchise of the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) — better known as the Spartacists — for a vote for the Greek Stalinists appears not to have moved the Greek masses in their direction, sadly, with KKE’s vote dropping to 4.5% overall.

Ireland

The latest edition of the Irish Anarchist Review (#5, Summer 2012) contains an article ‘Towards an anarchist anti-racism’, written by and for ‘a white anarchist’. Unfortunately, it’s not very useful, though it did draw my attention once again to the intriguing text ‘A few good reasons why white people should not wear ‘Mohawks’ or dreadlocks’ by C.K. Donovan & Q-L. Driskill.

Poland

Brian Whelan has written an interesting article on fascist football hooligans for VICE magazine. “Antifa fear that many members of the police and even mainstream political parties in Poland are sympathetic to the far-right. The problem is at its worst in the small city of Bialystok, near the border with Belarus, where hooligans have fallen under the influence of the neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour and police have failed to control the growing violence.”

United States

The ‘Tinley Park Five’ are a group of five men arrested and charged with attacking a White supremacist gathering in Tinley Park, a suburb of Chicago, in May. One of the alleged victims (Steven Eugene Speers) was also later arrested on child pornography charges and another (Francis John Gilroy, Jnr) for possessing a firearm (Pedophile and Fugitive Arrested at White Nationalist Gathering, ARA, May 21, 2012). Finally, my favourite Hollywood Nazi and fugitive Bill White got arrested last weekend, and looks set to spend another spell behind bars.

Anyway, here’s some Cro-Mags…

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged | 5 Comments

Alan (“F*ck*ng”) Jones ~versus~ Multicultural Plots To Destroy Straya

Posted on June 14, 2012 by @ndy

Today I was informed by the ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ that The Parrot (aka allegedly corrupt right-wing Sydney shock-jock Alan Jones) had a very special guest on his program, a Yanqui by the name of Richard Lamm. Lamm came to prominence several years ago when he gave a speech denouncing multiculturalism.

Reading of Jones’s recycling of an old meme — one that has been spreading via email and on various racist and right-wing Internet forums for many years now — naturally brought to mind not only Nation of Ulysses but sparked memories of Chopper, and a seminal moment in Australian television history involving Mister Jones and Mister Read.

Which, in turn, brought me to several other videos (one courtesy of MH). These I think further encapsulate Alan’s contribution to public debate in this sunburned country and as such are worthy of further reflection.

Who the fuck’s Huey Lewis?

Bonus Independence!

Australia holds one of the most concentrated corporatised media landscapes in the world, and in the past year we have seen the fruits born of a system that prioritises shareholder return over the needs of the community.

3CR Community Radio exists as a direct counter to corporate media and is a vital source of innovative and independent content. For 36 years 3CR Community Radio has brought you environmental, indigenous, women’s, ethnic, union, music and other community programs that you won’t find anywhere else.

3CR’s annual Radiothon runs from 4 – 17 June. The station is financially supported by our listening community. This year we are trying to raise $210,000 to cover operating costs. Buy your share of the media and invest in independence – make a tax deductible donation online at www.3cr.org.au, phone 03 9419 8377 or send a cheque or money order payable to ‘Community Radio Federation Ltd’ PO Box 1277 Collingwood 3066.

Posted in !nataS | Tagged , , | 2 Comments