2011 Sydney Forum ~versus~ 2011 Ian Stuart Donaldson Memorial Concert

Posted on September 6, 2011 by @ndy

Choices choices.

The 2011 Sydney Forum — since the late scratching of the Inverell Forum, now Australia’s #1 annual fascist gathering — will be held in Sydney on October 8/9. The 2011 Ian Stuart Donaldson Memorial Concert — “a younger persons’ music gig” aka the largest annual gathering of neo-Nazi skinheads in Australia — will be held in Melbourne on October 8. The unfortunate clash between the two events, following several years of separate scheduling, may be a result of the simmering tension between the two neo-Nazi skinhead groups Blood & Honour/Southern Cross Hammerskins (B&H/SCHS) and Volksfront Australia (VF).

VF leader Welf Herfurth is Sydney Forum MC and Chris Smith (VF, Creatard* and blogger) another of its more enthusiastic and prominent organisers. According to a former B&H/SCHS supporter, VF’s rivals in B&H/SCHS have given VF permission to operate in NSW but in no other states, while close relations between VF and the scattered remnants of ‘Combat 18’ has done little to endear the Sydney-based cousin to the national body. Fortunately, the rivalry between the two tendencies has not reached the stage it has in the United States (the birthplace of both the Hammerskins and Volksfront), where members of the two groups have been known to clash violently with one another.

As for the Forum itself, thus far it features Melbourne-based Australia First organiser Alex Norwick on why the ‘Australianist Ethos Is The Most Contemporary Manifestation Of The Eternal Indo-European Idea’, Benedikt Osváth on ‘Persecution against artistic freedom’ and Dr Jim will be talking about how important it is for people like him to write the history of the far right.

While Norwick’s speech sounds like a load of old balls, the Benedikt Osváth case AS SEEN ON THE BOLT REPORT! is actually quite interesting, the artist apparently violating Aboriginal lore by creating Wanjina Watchers in the Whispering Stone (see : The Wandjina case demonstrates the lack of protection for Indigenous culture, Robyn Ayres, ART+law, September 2010). Curiously, Osváth & Co have gained the support of another ‘controversial’ artist named Sergio Redegalli, whose ‘ban the burqa’ mural in Newtown was recently redecorated in support of Osváth.

With regards the ISD gig, there’s not a great deal to add. It’s expected to * Melbourne-based nazis Deaths Head, Ravenous and new kids on the block Waffenbruder, while a bunch of boofheads from Brisbane called Open Season will also be jackbooting on stage, the stage itself likely to be located in some scout hall or other in the outer ‘burbs.

Business as usual, in other words.

See also : A Brief History Of Neo-Nazi Music In Australia (December 2, 2010) | 2010 Sydney Forum.

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , , , , , | 51 Comments

Rabbi Tommy Robinson/Stephen Yaxley-Lennon? EDL ~versus~ Tower Hamlets

Posted on September 4, 2011 by @ndy

LOL.

The EDL held a small, largely static demo in London on September 3, prevented from marching through Tower Hamlets by several thousand police. Something like 1,000 or so patriots attended, considerably less than the many thousands the EDL claimed would assemble [see Socialist Worker on “the brilliant victory in east London today”].

EDL leader Tommy Robinson/Stephen Yaxley-Lennon dressed as a rabbi for the occasion, declaring that breaking his bail conditions (again) was a small price to pay to stop the Muslamics from taking over. FACT! Yaxley-Lennon’s stunt was not appreciated by all of those present, with some allegedly greeting his fashionable pose with Nazi salutes.

Ah well.

In Melbourne and Sydney on Friday September 9 and Saturday September 10 Yaxley-Lennon’s followers Down Under will be rallying against rallies against Israeli chocolate shop Max Brenner. The counter-rallies have gained the support of the ADL, APDM, APP and Southern Cross Soldiers. Below SCS Shermon Burgess explains why patriots should eat Max Brenner. Or something.

It’s Cronulla times 50!

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

From instrumental reason to violent revolution

Posted on August 31, 2011 by @ndy

Bah. First they censor my blog, now this!

Website blows whistle on reasoning behind tutorial cut
Andrew Trounson
The Australian
August 31, 2011

A LEAKED email has laid bare the reasoning behind cuts to the number of tutorials within humanities and social sciences at the University of Adelaide: that they were driven by cost-cutting, contradicting assurances that they were for pedagogical reasons.

In an email passed to the HES by whistleblower website Unileaks, the head of Adelaide’s school of social sciences Greg McCarthy notified staff that agreed extra payments to casual staff to cover marking had caused a significant increase in costs that the university wasn’t prepared to pay for. And to make up for the shortfall he suggested that the number of tutorials be cut…

Also, note that RMIT has recently joined The Market in declaring that people with disabilities are uneconomic, deciding to abolish its Bachelor of Applied Science (Disability). In fairness to RMIT, reflecting the general contempt with which their clients are regarded suitably-qualified disability workers are poorly-paid and have low social-status.

*shrugs*

I dunno.

Maybe unemployed and over-qualified minds could be made job-ready by filling abandoned mine sites with the useless bodies of the disabled?

Posted in State / Politics, Student movement, That's Capitalism! | 12 Comments

Brenner, BDS, ADL, APDM, APP… A storm in a chocolate mug?

Posted on August 30, 2011 by @ndy

Last month in Melbourne, a protest rally outside of a local Max Brenner outlet resulted in 19 arrests (further arrests took place weeks later). The protest was preceded in June by another in Sydney at which two protesters were arrested. In Brisbane on the weekend, another rally outside a Max Brenner outlet was organised. On this occasion, the rally was confronted with a counter-rally, composed of a number of Zionists (among them Logan City councillor Hajnal Black, who responds to critics here), Tory students and, notably, members of a local radical right-wing group known as the ‘Australian Patriots Defence Movement’ (see : Chocolate war gets messy, Ellen Lutton, Brisbane Times, August 28, 2011). The APDM had previously organised a rally on August 6 calling on Australian governments to ‘ban the burqa’.

Further rallies against Max Brenner in Melbourne and Sydney are being planned for Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10 (respectively). A counter-protest is being organised in Sydney by the Australian Protectionist Party and the Australian Defence League. The APP hope to scare away the “sandal wearing, mobile compost heap, muesli chewing, no dedorant [sic] mob of leftards” who will be outside the chocolate shop, while the ADL will be defending Brenner from Muslim occupation… or something.

The NSW leader of the APP, Darrin Hodges, is an ex-Stormfront forum member who once opined that “[Hitler] laid a foundation that we should build on” but who now identifies The Muslim rather than The Jew as being Public Enemy #1. Martin Brennan, the former leader of the ADL, was last month deported back to England as an illegal immigrant but looks forward to joining the EDL as they attempt to march through Tower Hamlets on September 3 (slight problem being police have banned the march). One of Brennan’s closest supporters was another foreigner named Roberta Moore, former leader of the EDL’s ‘Jewish Division’: on the one hand, Moore was unhappy with the number of ‘Nazis’ belonging to the group; on the other hand, the EDL was unhappy with Moore’s cultivating links with the ‘Jewish Task Force’.

Otherwise, the coming together of Zionists and the far right — whether in defence of Israeli businesses or as part of a broader political campaign — appears to be evolving here in a similar manner to that in which it’s unfolded on other islands. An account of this re-alignment on the part of the European far right is examined in ‘From Meta-Politics To Mass Murder – A New Right-Wing Extremism’ (anarkisterna.com, August 25, 2011) while in Australia an ‘Open Letter to Friends and Comrades on the Struggle against Racism amongst the Class’ addresses similar issues in a local context.

See also : Anti-Israel bullies’ hard-centre bites in chocolate shop campaign, Cameron Stewart, The Australian, August 20, 2011.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Chomsky in Australia

Posted on August 28, 2011 by @ndy

Noam Chomsky is bringing his unique comedy stylings to Australia in November. “An intellectual crook” (Arthur Schlesinger), Chomsky’s support act is expected to be his hard-Left gang of Israel bashers, anchored by long-time bassist Tony Garnier, multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron and guitarist Charlie Sexton.

Chomsky will be speaking in Sydney at the Town Hall on Wednesday, November 2 and in Melbourne on Friday, November 4. In Sydney Chomsky will be receiving the Sydney Peace Prize, while in Melbourne Uncle Noam will present a lecture ‘Changing Contours of Global Order’ for the School of International and Political Studies, Deakin University (Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre).

Chomsky last toured Australia in 1995. Speaking of ‘Visions of Freedom’ (the title of the anarchist conference on whose behalf he was presenting), about the only question I remember him being asked was from a Spartacist who, after having called upon the Australian working class to defend China, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba, asserted that the Bolshevik coup of 1917 was the greatest step forward for socialism since sliced bread. Feigning deafness, Chomsky cupped his ear, leaned forward and asked ‘Did you say forwards or backwards?’

How we laughed.

Posted in Anarchism, Media, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged | 4 Comments

All Anarchists are Terrorists

Posted on August 25, 2011 by @ndy

Yeah so anyway…

Anarchist Studies Network responds to Metropolitan Police branding all anarchists as terrorists

Dear Chief Inspector Nick Smith,

We, the undersigned, would like to object to the blanket assumption that anyone that promotes a stateless society is a potential terrorist. The segment in the Project Griffin terrorism briefing (29/07/11) reads as follows: ‘Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, and instead promotes a stateless society, or anarchy. Any information relating to anarchists should be reported to your local Police.’

First of all, as academics, graduate students and concerned members of the public, we object to this attempt by the Metropolitan Police to place research, teaching and free thought under suspicion. As you can imagine, irrespective of the political persuasion of academics who teach anarchism, this leaflet automatically casts doubt over their integrity and will dissuade future students and others from giving anarchism the critical attention it deserves.

Secondly, statements such as these are not conducive to a free and open society. Do we really want to breed a culture of suspicion and fear without providing any evidence of a future terrorist threat? Is this clumsy move by the Met police not further grist to the anarchist mill? And perhaps more importantly, where do we draw the line?

Anarchists, are not the only ones who ‘promote a stateless society’. Some of the most famous capitalists think the same. For example, Alan Greenspan the ex-director of the US Federal Reserve, Milton Friedman, F. A. Von Hayek and any number of US ‘Tea Party’ supporters subscribe to a variation on this position. Isn’t ‘The Big Society’ all about ‘rolling back the state’? Most Marxists believe a stateless society to be a future ideal, as do a huge proportion of environmentalists, Christians, Buddhists and Muslims. Perhaps this ought to give us pause for thought. Why it is that such a wide spectrum of political opinion takes this position and are they all potential terrorists?

Thirdly, consider this in the context of news headlines of the past 12 months. Since last July, politicians have been jailed for fiddling their expenses; the police have been found to have illegally spied on activists and provoked them into actions they might not otherwise have engaged in (Mark Kennedy); a [M]et police constable is currently being investigated for killing an innocent bystander during a protest (Simon Harwood); the police have been found guilty of illegally ‘kettling’ protesters; the tabloid press are under investigation for hacking and corruption; and finally the bankers have brought this country to its knees, and the politicians have bailed them out. And yet, despite providing no evidence of a credible threat of ‘terror’, the anarchists are considered a significant enough threat to this country to warrant this draconian and authoritarian attack. This would be laughable if it were not such a serious matter.

It is not acceptable to draw suspicion onto such a wide and diverse group of people solely on the basis of their view of the desirability of the state. Unless there is more proof that anarchist beliefs lead directly to terrorist threats then this piece in your briefing amounts to defamation and libel.

Should this matter not be dealt with satisfactorily, we will be referring it to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Yours,

Alex Prichard, London School of Economics
Benjamin Franks, University of Glasgow
Lara Montesinos Coleman, University of Durham
Ole Sandberg, Oslo, Norway
Saul Newman, Goldsmiths, University of London
Joe Dewhurst, University of Edinburgh
Ruth Kinna, Loughborough University
Emma Brown, University of Edinburgh
Alexandre Christoyannopoulos
Fiona Harrington, Brunel University Library
Steve Schultz
Rhodri Jones-Morris
Bert Altena, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Ivan Konstantinov

See also : Daggers, Rifles and Dynamite: Anarchist Terrorism In Nineteenth Century Europe, January 4, 2011 | Operation 8, July 23, 2011 | Graphic Novel Review: The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti by Rick Geary…

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Broken Windows, Media, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged | 2 Comments

VICTORY TO GADAFFI – DEFEAT THE NATO GANGSTERS!

Posted on August 23, 2011 by @ndy

ON Saturday, Colonel Gadaffi stated that the counter-revolutionary groups that had tried to rise up in a number of areas in Tripoli had been crushed, while Libyan state TV proved that the airport had not been occupied as the counter-revolutionary forces had claimed, despite the very heavy NATO air raids that have been taking place on the city.

The same bourgeois media that was just a few weeks ago talking about stalemate, and questioning whether it was time to make another deal with Gadaffi, has now been re-mobilised by the ruling class to declare that this is now the ‘endgame’, and that Gadaffi and his family are not even in Tripoli any more, but are either in Sirte or in the south, where they can make their getaway to Chad, Zimbabwe or even Venezuela.

The reality is that the NATO powers are back to where they were a number of months ago, when Foreign Secretary Hague made a complete fool of himself when he revealed on the TV his absolute certainty that Gadaffi was on his way to Venezuela.

They are not talking about successfully storming the two million people of Tripoli, but creating the conditions, with the deadline being September 1, for Gadaffi to be either six feet under, or on his way out of the country.

We can therefore expect pressure to be applied on the Libyan leadership – in the form of massive NATO air attacks on Tripoli, along with mass killings and NATO atrocities of all kinds to try and encourage this process.

The opposite is also the case.

It is that the Libyan masses, as they stand fast with Gadaffi at their head, are near to breaking the brittle power of the NATO air forces, and their even more brittle governments, which are all under fire at home from their own people, who oppose the austerity measures that are being forced on them to rescue the banks and pay the bill for the Libyan military adventure of the oil thieves.

As Gadaffi and the Libyan masses stand fast and refuse to be broken, the workers in the UK and the other NATO states must take to the streets against the war. Then NATO and its plans to grab Libya and re-grab the African continent will be defeated.

As a matter of fact since the start of the war the stakes involved have become much bigger.

It is not just a question of NATO being able to plunder Libya’s oil. There is also the strategic necessity of NATO having major bases in north Africa to take action against the Tunisian and Algerian workers and also against the Egyptian workers who are already moving against NATO’s chief ally in the Middle East, Israel.

As well, without seizing Libya and its oil, the plans of the EU to recolonise Africa and re-seize its gigantic mineral and other resources will founder.

The Libyan masses, when they fight the NATO terror machine and its local accomplices, are fighting the battle for every African worker, and also for the working class of the UK and France, whose ruling classes are determined to make the workers of their own countries pay the full bill for the economic catastrophe.

We repeat, the Libyan people must not fight alone.

African workers from South Africa to Egypt and Algeria must take action to force the NATO brigands to stop their war.

Workers in the UK and France must realise that if their bosses put the handcuffs back on the Libyan people, they are next. They will treat the workers in exactly the same way that Cameron is already treating the youth – that is to beat, beat and beat them again.

The TUC Congress is meeting from Monday 12 September. It must demand that NATO quits Libya and must call regional and national demonstrations throughout September and the autumn in support of the Libyan people, for the defeat of the NATO brigands, and for the bringing down of the Cameron government!

~ Workers Revolutionary Party, Newsline editorial, August 22, 2011.

LOL.

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , | 12 Comments

anarchist notes (august 22, 2011)

Posted on August 22, 2011 by @ndy

The inaugural A(narchist) Melbourne Bookfair/Melbourne Anarchist Bookfair done come and gone. It seemed to be reasonably popular and will likely return next year, again as a precursor to the Melbourne Writers Festival. (Speaking of books, Enrico Massetti is looking for funding to help him publish one that will serve as an introduction to worker-owned cooperatives in the United States.)

The token anarchist presence at this year’s Festival comes in the shape of Clara in Washington by local author Penny Tangey.

Clara is in Washington.

Washington D.C. is meant to be all glamour, politics and great conversations but what do you do when you don’t have the words to join in? Or the knowledge to ride the subway? Or you’re scared someone will mug you?

Joining her mother on a trip to Washington is Clara’s end-of-school adventure and a chance to be someone else other than the studious geek she’s always been. Although, starting an adventure is hard to do when you won’t leave the house.

But Clara didn’t count on meeting Campbell and his anarchist group and she didn’t count on her new discoveries threatening to unravel all her plans.

Will she still be the same after Washington?

Otherwise, youse can go Beyond White Guilt with Sarah Maddison and Tony Birch:

Academic Sarah Maddison’s Beyond White Guilt argues that the relationship between white and Indigenous Australia is immobilised by white guilt. She talks to Tony Birch about how change must come from personal acknowledgement of white Australians’ collective responsibility.

I says ban the burqa!

Did you know that documentaries about the prosecution of anarchists in Belarus are now available in internet in English? That an activist wanted in Russia over an attack on Khimki City Hall by anti-fascist and anarchist groups has been granted refugee asylum in the Netherlands? In Russia, anarchists KILL IT WITH FIRE. Speaking of which, did you know that 325 has lotsa stuff about people setting fire to things? That last month First trial of the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire ends with severe sentences? That the nature of monkey is irrepressible?

Otherwise, check out Destructables / Utopian Mag / Vomiting Diamonds.

Delving further back in history, in 2008 David Faber completed a PhD thesis on Francesco Fantin, titled ‘FG Fantin: the life & times of an Italo-Australian anarchist 1901-42’.

This anarchist is tired.

Posted in Anarchism | Tagged | 1 Comment

antifa notes (august 17, 2011)

Posted on August 17, 2011 by @ndy

In Australia, Martin Brennan, former leader of the ‘Australian’ Defence League, has finally been Returned to Sender, leaving his tiny clutch of followers angry and upset. Some of them may (again) be holding a rally in Brisbane Sydney on September 3 in solidarity with members of the E E EDL as they fail, with Martin Brennan in tow, to march through Tower Hamlets in London. The ADL’s last rally produced an ‘Open Letter to Friends and Comrades on the Struggle against Racism amongst the Class’. Also, Chris Smith’s ‘Anti Antifa Australia’ blog got closed by WordPress after being TOSed, and promptly re-appeared elsewhere on the site. In Ireland [u]nemployed dad-of-eight Michael Quinn is the proud head of Ireland’s leading ‘white nationalist’ party – ‘Democratic Right Movement’ (DRM) and added he would have “no problem” with an Anders Breivik style-massacre in the Dail.

D’oh!

‘Right-Wing Extremism in Serbia‘ is the title of an interview (August 8, 2011) by Lenka Kantnerova with Turkish academic Birgül Demirtaş Coşkun. In Germany, tricksiness in the shape of ‘Secret anti-racist shirts covertly distributed to neo-Nazis’; on August 6, a slightly moar direct approach at a protest against a nutzi gig in Denmark resulted in three arrests. Police were able to prevent the 250 people who gathered in opposition from overly disturbing the Aryan music-lovers [video], while ensuring their dogs got something to eat. HATE, My Life in the British Far Right is a new book by UK scribbler Matthew Collins. Collins is interviewed by The Independent here. “But what do you do when you realise that the hatred, patriotism and violence haunting you – from the playground to the pub to the ballot box – stem from your own demons? The answer: you switch sides.”

In the United States, Krista Faye McCary, the wife of Jeff Hall (the nutzi what in May 2011 was shot dead by his son), has pleaded guilty to child abuse and was sentenced to four months in jail and four years probation. David Lynch of neo-Nazi groupuscule ‘American Front’ is another dead nutzi whose murderer, unlike Hall’s, has yet to be found. Oddly, one of the suspects, Charles Demar, is interviewed in the latest episode of SBS’s Dateline on ‘America’s Nazi Backlash’ (August 14, 2011) which “investigates how economic uncertainty in the US is leading to an increase in the popularity of white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups”.

Supposedly.

Otherwise Iconoclast, a doco on ‘American Front’ co-founder (inter alia) Boyd Rice, is screening later this month as part of transcendental fascist philosophe (and filmmaker) Richard Wolstencroft‘s film festival (‘MUFF’). Speaking of bad taste, from Italy some fascist Eurodisco:

And finally–of course–some Cabaret!

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged | 5 Comments

London riots : neoliberal chickens coming home to roost?

Posted on August 11, 2011 by @ndy

Another Update (September 4) : The always-outrageous IWCA stick the boot into the lumps.
Update : More blah: Why here, why now?, Tariq Ali, LRB blog, August 9, 2011 | An open letter to those who condemn looting (Part one) & An open letter to those who condemn looting (Part two), Socialism and/or barbarism, August 9 & 10, 2011 | London riots: the limits of Left and Right, Potlatch, August 10, 2011.

“The violence started over the shooting of Mark Duggan, 29, in Tottenham last Thursday but soon escalated into looting and attacks by anarchists and organised criminal gangs.” ~ Evening Standard, August 9, 2011

“When Thatcher said there was no such thing as society it wasn’t an empirical observation it was a statement of intent.” ~ revol68

See also : London Riots Map | London rioters: ‘Showing the rich we do what we want’, BBC, August 9, 2011 | Tottenham and Beyond: neoliberal riots and the possibility of politics, William Wall, Ice Moon, August 9, 2011 | North London Solfed’s response to the London riots, August 9, 2011 | The 1965 Watts Riot (Situationist International) | From Riot to Insurrection: Analysis for Anarchist Perspective Against Post Industrial Capitalism, Alfredo M. Bonanno | Menacingly rolling towards Ben Brown in my wheelchair…, December 14, 2010.

And The Rioting Act, Derek Turner, Alternative Right, August 10, 2011.

Chile student protests explode into violence, Jonathan Franklin, guardian.co.uk, August 5, 2011 (“Riot police clash with protesters calling for education reform as anger with Sebastiàn Piñera’s government boils over”).

„Das ist der Aufstand der Arbeiterklasse. Wir verteilen den Wohlstand um“, sagte der 28-jährige Bryan Phillips, der sich selbst als Anarchist bezeichnet.

Bonus Bendle!

Militant groups fuel the fires, Merv Bendle, The Australian, August 11, 2011. Choice line: “[Negri’s] objective is to achieve “true democracy” as exemplified by the UN and international non-governmental agencies such as Greenpeace…” LOL.

Posted in Broken Windows, Media, State / Politics, Television, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , | 34 Comments