Miranda Devine’s Quest for Sharia (w/- BONUS! Fear)

Posted on May 19, 2011 by @ndy

The Divine Miss M has had an interesting column on Sharia published today. Maybe I’ll look at it a little more closely later–or maybe not. Two things in particular caught my eye, however, one being a reference to the ‘Australian Defence League’, the other the fact that the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2001 that sharia law is “not compatible with democracy”. Miss M writes:

The court made special mention of the sneaky methods used by political Islam to work with the existing legal order in order to replace it with sharia: It is called “takiyye, which consisted in hiding its beliefs until it had attained that goal”.

The ruling and subsequent appeals make for interesting reading, but what I found especially interesting is the fact that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, leader of the ‘English Defence League’–which Miranda describes as “a racist British group”–invoked the same (2003) ruling in his interview with Jeremy Paxman; which fact suggests that the Court’s decision has had a particular impact upon critics of Islam.

Aside from the applicability of the ruling outside of Turkey, however, the other point worth making in this context is that the passage Miss M quotes inre takiyye was not a ruling of the Court but a summary of the Turkish Government’s position:

59. The Government observed at the outset that the principle of secularism was a precondition for a pluralist, liberal democracy. A State which adhered to the principle of secularism was a political community which refused to organise society according to religious precepts. In such a community the State kept an equal distance from all religions and beliefs. Moreover, there were certain circumstances which made the principle of secularism particularly important for Turkey in relation to other democracies. The Republic of Turkey had been founded as a result of a revolutionary process which had changed a theocratic State into a secular State, and reactionary Islamic tendencies were still a danger in the present day. Political Islam did not confine itself to the private sphere of relations between the individual and God but also asserted the right to organise the State and the community. In so doing, it showed the characteristics of a totalitarian regime. In order to attain its ultimate goal of replacing the existing legal order with sharia, political Islam used the method known as “takiyye”, which consisted in hiding its beliefs until it had attained that goal.

Otherwise:

…there was a protest against sharia law in Melbourne by a new anti-Islamic group called the Australia Defence League, modelled on a racist British group. The protest turned violent when a larger group of Left-wing activists arrived.

This statement is somewhat inaccurate. Leaving aside the question of whether or not the EDL is racist as she claims, at the ADL protest there was little violence, nobody was injured (there were certainly no arrests), and the two groups noisily co-existed for at least an hour before the counter-demonstrators/Left-wing activists decided to push the ADL off the Square.

Anyway…

Read loon pond.

Bonus!

Speaking of extreme sports Islam, Chris Kenny has written a column for the foreign-owned newspaper (ironically titled The Australian) claiming ‘Hussain’s views on bin Laden disturbing and dangerous’ (May 17, 2011).

Having watched the Muslim comic’s performance, I thought his comments were quite reasonable. Having now read rival comic Chris Kenny’s response, I’m beginning to think that maybe Hussain used the method known as “takiyye”, and…

Well anyway. Like Devine, Kenny makes a number of highly questionable statements, the point of my interrogating with a keyboard is dubious (if legal). I mean, he gets it wrogn right from the start. Asked to comment on the ethical and legal dimensions of bin Laden’s murder, Hussain states–accurately–that the official story has changed over time, that the legal framework for the killing is extraordinary, and that it’s uncertain that the US (government) actually wanted to bring the Saudi multi-millionaire to trial.

Kenny characterises these quite mundane observations as follows:

Hussain insults us all by defining the age of terror not through this insidious evil and its consequences but through a list of anti-American grievances.

This is a moral backflip that instantaneously converts the terror campaign from being a savage and unprovoked attack against western people, their supporters and their values into a tale of western wrong-doings fomenting resentment and violence.

What is the point of these words if not an attempt to provide excuses for terrorism?

One could just as easily and with greater relevance ask ‘What is a trollumnist?’

Kenny also complains that Hussain refers to history as a means of understanding the development of Islamic (non-state) terrorism and failed to express sufficient distaste for bin Laden’s presumed actions: this latter point somewhat ironic given that a trial and a guilty verdict is precisely what his killing rendered impossible.

But like, whatevah.

Here’s another curly question:

We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic.

LOL.

Posted in Broken Windows, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

antifa notes (may 18, 2011)

Posted on May 18, 2011 by @ndy

Briefly.

In Berlin (Germany) on May 14, antifa successfully prevented a small march of several hundred neo-Nazis (‘autonomist nationalists’) from getting very far; German police, however, did allow a number of the fascists to attack migrants and leftists and the day overall seems to have been quite eventful:

The police lost the control as the Nazi activists tried to force their march outside the second exit of the subway station. But here several hundred people blocked the route. Bottles, fire crackers as well as vegetables where thrown from both sides, several people got injured. The riot police finally managed to surround the Neo-Nazis but were themselves surrounded by left protesters. The situation was very chaotic and every few minutes scuffle broke out.

Benjamin Hiller @ Demotix has more here.

Speaking of neo-Nazi aping of alt.culture, antifa.cz on ‘The Big Neo-Nazi Crib’ is useful: Sydney-based neo-Nazi and ‘national anarchist’-turned-Volksfront organiser Welf Herfurth has gamely tried to advance the notion in Australia, but without much luck; the tiny, Melbourne-based student groupuscule ‘Nationalist Alternative’ flirts with the same model. Otherwise, ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ leader Darrin Hodges formed part of the ‘national anarchist’ ‘black bloc’ back in 2007. Sadly, his new political formation is being dubbed the ‘Australian Pathetic Party’ after its derisory performance in the NSW state election in March, and several recent demos that were tiny even by local fascist standards:

Newcastle, December 2010

Sydney, April 2011

Of course, the other noteworthy event of late was the slightly truncated ADL rally in Melbourne on Sunday (video here). Fair play to the whinging pom and his barmy army: as a result of the protest, ADL leader Martin Brennan has twice been given the opportunity to air his views on radio, first by Neil Mitchell on 3AW on Monday and then by Martin King on MTR on Tuesday. Neither were especially sympathetic admittedly, but I suppose it’s better than being zapped by Muslamic Ray Guns.

In the US, the 10-year-old son of neo-Nazi Jeff Hall has been charged with his murder. Shortly before he was shot dead, Jesse McKinley conducted an interview with the NSM organiser: Domesticity and Radicalism Clash in a Neo-Nazi Home, The New York Times, May 12, 2011.

In Athens (Greece), fascists have been conducting pogroms against migrant workers; together with police, they have met resistance from anarchists and other anti-fascists. As ever, From the Greek Streets provides regular, ongoing coverage. ‘From the social trench of Villa Amalias’ is “a statement by the Villa Amalias squat in Athens regarding the events of the past days” (mid-May), and makes for typically sharp commentary:

For the past three days the wider area around Villa Amalias has seen events that any intelligent being living in the year 2011 would have thought to come out of a science fiction scenario. But this is not the case. This has been the reality for the past three years more or less: some have not experienced it, some do not want to see it, some are [stupefied] and refuse to see it, some become complacent — and yet some seem to seek it.

Under the pretext of the condemnable —by all of us— murder of the 44 year old Manolis Kantaris on the junction of Tritis Septemvriou and Ipirou street, some people decided the time had come for them to cleanse the area from those strange and grubby creatures (according to them), the migrants, launching an indiscriminate pogrom.

From the very first moment TV stations stepped into a dance around the dead body, ballooning all the wrongdoings of this case, and our well-known “neighbours” made an appearance once again to help the scared residents step out of their doorsteps. Could it be that “golden dawn” [Greek fascist organisation] is the new name of an entire area of Athens, not yet set because of some bureaucratic issues with its naming? All of a sudden, the death of a man by persons unknown with robbery as its motivation turned into the murder of an entire “nation” by “illegal migrants who act uncontrollably”. The ideal story for the fascist TV scenario writers who long [for] a greek purity they have lost for at least half a millennium (if it ever existed at the first place that is) in order to organise feasts, with their trophy being any migrant that would happen to cross their way.

In a blink, the rules of the game are overturned and from the point where all enraged greeks would condemn criminality and uncontrollable violence in their neighbourhoods, we now reached the point where anything is allowed as long as it is committed by greeks. Mobbing is allowed and so are mass beatings, stabbings, exemplary and throughout likeliness murders — like the one of the 21 year old Bangladeshi migrant [in the neighbourhood of Kato Patisia, trans.] Everything is allowed in the name of fear, survival, imposition and revenge. Cannibalism is allowed, too.

Social cannibalism. The result of dissolved society which refuses, whether willingly or not, to acknowledge the source of all this. To understand that the poverty and squalor never came, nor will it ever come from those from below in this world. Those from [below] are the recipients of a situation that is eternally fed by those above, those holding capital and power, because this is how they safeguard their continuity. The manipulation and subjugation of the world, with social, economic and class criteria, holds for them the balance of the base of the capitalist pyramid…

Otherwise, ‘In Greece, austerity kindles deep discontent’ (Anthony Faiola, The Washington Post, May 14, 2011) provides further material for twenty-first century Nightmares of Anarchy:

Perhaps most alarming, analysts here say, has been the resurgence of an anarchist movement, one with a long history in Europe. While militants have been disrupting life in Greece for years, authorities say that anger against the government has now given rise to dozens of new “amateur anarchist” groups, whose tactics include planting of gas canisters in mailboxes and destroying bank ATMs.

Some attacks have gone further, heightening concerns about a return to the kind of left-wing violence that plagued parts of Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. After urban guerrillas mailed explosive parcels to European leaders and detonated a powerful bomb last year in front of an Athens courthouse, authorities here have staged a series of raids, arresting dozens and yielding caches of machine guns, grenades and bomb-making materials.

The anarchist movement in Europe has a long, storied past, embracing an anti-establishment universe influenced by a broad range of thinkers from French politician and philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon to Karl Marx to Oscar Wilde. Defined narrowly, the movement includes groups of urban guerillas, radical youths and militant unionists. More broadly, it encompasses everything from punk rock to WikiLeaks.

“Many of these are just a few frustrated high school students with a Web site,” said Mary Bossi, one of Greece’s leading terrorism experts. “But as we continue to see, others have the potential to be dangerous.”

A bit daft really, and factually mistaken (among other things, Faiola attributes to “anarchists” the assassination of Richard Welch, a CIA station chief in Athens; in reality, his death was one of a number of murders committed by the Marxist urban guerilla group ‘November 17’), but there you have it.

Anyway, finally… Raybon Kan’s Op Ed on NZ race relations (The Dominion Post, May 13, 2011) is interesting (word on the street is that a member of the neo-Nazi Kiwi Kyle Chapman’s family will soon be providing further public insight into Why Good Mormons Go Bad) and I really love this song!

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Jock Palfreeman : May 2011 Update

Posted on May 17, 2011 by @ndy

[Update : See also : Amnesty International Annual Report on Bulgaria, 2011. “Roma faced widespread discrimination. Demolitions of Romani homes and evictions of families continued. An NGO investigation found that children had died in care homes due to preventable causes, including starvation, neglect or cold, between 2000 and 2010.”]

Australian Jock Palfreeman currently sits in a jail in Sofia, Bulgaria, serving a 20-year sentence for murder. In the same city in December 2007, Jock came to the aid of Roma subject to assault by a large gang of fascist hooligans. As a result of attempting to defend these men from attack, one member of the gang, Andrey Monov, died of a stab wound (while another gang member was wounded). Further infos on Jock’s case, and the basis of his defence, is available at the Free Jock website.

After a previous, unsuccessful appeal, Jock is now making a final appeal against his sentence. You can read an extensive interview with Jock (‘Darkness at noon – the Jock Palfreeman interview’, Gabriel Hershman, The Sofia Echo, April 22, 2011) here.

See also…

Father of Palfreeman’s victim speaks out, The Sydney Morning Herald (AAP), April 27, 2011;
Jock Palfreeman verdict is ‘confused, illogical and unfair’, his father says, Gabriel Hershman, The Sofia Echo, May 16 2011;
Jock Palfreeman begs for retrial in final appeal, Milena Hristova and Peter Wilson, The Australian, May 17, 2011;
Jock Palfreeman’s last appeal heard in court, Boel Eriksson, The Mosman Daily, May 17, 2011;
Palfreeman makes final appeal in Bulgaria, The Sydney Morning Herald (AAP), May 17, 2011;
Australian man Jock Palfreeman, jailed in Bulgaria, launches final appeal, Herald Sun (AAP), May 17, 2011.

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Australian Defence League Anti-Muslim Rally : Interrupted

Posted on May 16, 2011 by @ndy

Well, that was the rally that was.

Or wasn’t.

In brief, on Sunday approximately 20 or 30 members and supporters of the ‘Australian Defence League’ (ADL) gathered at midday at Federation Square. Gathering in opposition were perhaps 1 or 200 or so anti-racists. For about an hour the anti-racists–gathered under the umbrella of ‘The Rally Against Racism and Fascism’–listened to a number of speeches, a man singing about how we are all brothers, and the screams and shouts of the ADL.

Vision of both sides can be found elsewhere on the web, but the featured speaker for the ADL was not, surprisingly, the Londoner Martin Brennan (parachuted in, with EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon‘s blessing, to take charge of the incompetent Australians) but some other bloke. I dunno what he was on about–quite a lot judging by the array of placards he’d placed in front of his impromptu platform.

Anyway, after an hour so, it was decided that it was probably time for the Englishman to lead the defensive Australians in a retreat from the Square. And so, after some five or so minutes of pushing, the ADL was evicted.

And that was pretty much it.

Not an auspicious beginning to Martin’s plan to whip the convicts into shape, but certainly an improvement upon the (other) ADL’s attempt to stand about the steps of Flinders Street Station in April last year. Nobody was arrested and nobody was injured (that I know of) although one older woman–I think there to protest the ADL–was jostled and quite upset when she was finally able to make her way out from the brief melee. Presumably, if he doesn’t piss off back to London, Martin will rally his followers again at some point, and the cycle will be repeated.

Props to all those who took a public stand against the ADL’s bigotry, ignorance and rampant paranoia; the Herald Sun has a report–Protesters clash at anti-Muslim rally in Melbourne, John Masanauskas, May 16, 2011–and presumably there’ll be others in the days ahead…

Counter-demonstration against Fascist rally – Federation Square, peter, Indymedia Australia, May 16, 2011 | Photo of Martin Brennan.

Also: Derryn Hinch.

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , | 65 Comments

Kyle Chapman ~versus~ Patrick O’Sullivan ~versus~ ZOG

Posted on May 12, 2011 by @ndy

Ding ding!

Over in New Zealand/Aotearoa Kyle Chapman, leader of the neo-Nazi skinhead group ‘Right Wing Resistance New Zealand’ (RWRNZ), is busy capitalising on the publicity surrounding the group’s latest propaganda campaign, one which centres on the distribution of flyers calling on members of the public to ‘Stop the Asian Invasion’ and to join RWRNZ.

Anti-Chinese leaflets spark fear and anger
Lincoln Tan
New Zealand Herald
May 11, 2011

Anti-Asian leaflets investigated
Radio New Zealand
May 11, 2011

Anti-Asian group says campaign is to recruit members
TVNZ
May 11, 2011

In other words, Kyle is continuing to engage in the same brand of political activism he was pursuing when he was a member of the New Zealand Hammerskins in the late 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, the two groups bare an uncanny resemblance to one another, both in terms of their political perspective but also size, shape and organisation. Of course, Kyle has played a leading role in other far right political formations in-between his leadership of these two gangs, most prominently the ‘New Zealand National Front’ (NZNF) (now under the leadership of Colin Ansell). Note that prior to RWRNZ Kyle, a Mormon, got married, and made a public break with his many years of fascist organising, promising his new wife to dedicate his life to religion not politics. The fact that Kyle was unable to keep his promise suggests that his attachment to fascist politics borders on the pathological.

Speaking of pathology…

Back in Melbourne Patrick O’Sullivan (above), the leader of an even tinier neo-Nazi religious cult known as Creativity, has once again had his indefatigable attempts to cover the suburbs of Melbourne with stickers promoting his wacky beliefs rewarded, this time by the ABC.

White supremacist stickers under investigation
Margaret Paul
ABC
May 11, 2011

Previously, local newspapers reported that the stickers had appeared on the entry to a Salvation Army office in Lilydale. In fact, Patrick has been putting stickers up around town for years, his commitment to doing so only interrupted by a short spell in prison (convicted in August 2002 of a “cowardly” and “violent” assault upon another bonehead in May 1999, Patrick was sentenced to 33 months). Given Torquay’s proximity to Geelong, a likely culprit might otherwise be Deakin University student Scott Harrison, another nutty ‘Reverend’ in the White supremacist cult: the fact that Scott belongs to a rival faction of Creatards, however, suggests this is unlikely.

In any case, congratulations to both Kyle and Patrick for subverting The Controlled Media. RAcial HOly WAr is surely just a t-shirt sale away…

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Rally Against Racism and Fascism, Federation Square, Melbourne, Sunday, May 15

Posted on May 8, 2011 by @ndy

[Update : A Facebook page has been created for the ‘Rally Against Racism and Fascism’ Event.]

At midday on Sunday, May 15, the ‘Australian Defence League’ is planning on holding a public rally at Fed Square followed by a march upon Parliament. The rally is being organised to protest the presence of Muslims in Australia and the supposed “Islamification” of Australian society they are (secretly) undertaking.

In response, a ‘Rally Against Racism and Fascism’ has been organised.

Where : Federation Square
When : Midday, Sunday, May 15

Please note that Federation Square will also witness celebrations associated with the Buddha’s Day and Multicultural Festival:

Proudly presented by Fo Guang Shan Melbourne and Buddha’s Light International Association of Victoria (BLIA VIC), the 16th Buddha’s Day and Multicultural Festival marks the Buddhist holidays with a unique annual event celebrating vesak or wesak (Buddha’s birthday), flavoured by Melbourne’s diverse multicultural society.

Buddha’s Day and Multicultural Festival incorporates the traditions of Buddhist ceremonies and celebrations including the “Bathing of the Buddha”, daily Dharma ceremonies, the Wishing Bell and traditional incense offerings, a vegetarian culinary tour of Asia alongside the Yarra on the River Terrace, cultural demonstrations and insights, music, art and craft and community service groups.

Plenty for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike!

The festival is a unique introduction to Buddhism for kids and families with special activities and games for the younger of body and mind.

The May 15 rally is the second occasion upon which the ADL has attempted to publicly demonstrate its hatred and contempt for Muslims in Melbourne. The ADL’s first rally (and march) was meant to take place on April 9, 2010. It was effectively countered by the organisation of a counter-rally, in which a broad range of individuals from the labour movement and various faith and political organisations participated.

(See : Far-Right white supremacists planning anti-Islam march on state Parliament, Padraic Murphy, Nick Leys, Herald Sun, March 27, 2010 | Photos of Anti-racism rally in Melbourne, Melbourne Leader, April 9, 2010 | Nazi salutes at Flinders Street protest (Video), The Age, April 9, 2010.)

What is the ‘Australian Defence League’?

The ADL consciously models itself upon the ‘English Defence League’, a network of anti-Muslim bigots whose ranks are swelled by racist football hooligans and whose numerous rallies, marches and protests have triggered widespread disruption and alcohol-fuelled violence.

The EDL was established in Luton in June, 2009, but has since extended itself across the country. Its leader, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”) is a former member of the ‘British National Party’ and has a conviction for assault. He also likes to say ‘fuck’ a lot. (Guramit Singh is another leading figure.)

Having undergone a series of internal crises triggered by its failure to manifest a public presence in Australia, the ADL has recently been placed under the leadership of another Englishman, Martin Brennan, who promises that the League will not allow its earlier stoopid to be repeated. While the precise level of the ADL’s support is unknown, it would be nice to think that the success of last year’s counter-rally could again be repeated, and the attempt to transport the EDL Down Under defeated.

See also : Malatesta’s Blog, which cuts a dash against the fash / keeps a watching brief on the antics of the EDL and other bizarro groups on the far right in the UK | Australian Defence League: May 15 rally and counter-rally (April 30, 2011).

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Propagandhi ~versus~ Stormfront Down Under

Posted on May 8, 2011 by @ndy
    Update (May 19, 2011) : So anyway. Propagandhi’s first gig (Wednesday, May 17) was apparently undisturbed. During their second (Thursday, May 18), at about the time the band took to the stage (10-10.30pm) a small group of 10–20 young nazis attempted to gatecrash the (sold out) show, but were told to go away by security. More news (if any) as it comes to hand.

    The band itself rocked; ‘Stolen Youth’ weren’t bad either (didn’t see the first act)…

ROFLMAO.

A handful of nazis on the ‘Down Under’ segment of convicted terrorist Don Black’s Stormfront website have been wailing and gnashing their teef over the upcoming tour (May 18–29) by Canuckistanian band Propagandhi.

Apparently, the delicate sensibilities of the forum members have been upset rocked by the fact that, inter alia, the band sings about how stoopid racism and fascism is, and–what’s worse–their albums are were released on a label owned by–you guessed it–a Jew.

And so and so forth.

[See : ‘Pro gay and anti nationalist band set to tour Australia’ : stormfront.org/forum/t792644]

Like much of the rest of the discussion on Black’s site, the blather is unintentionally amusing.

Silly buggers.

Posted in Anarchism, Anti-fascism, Music, State / Politics | Tagged , | 30 Comments

Ultra-nationalist, fascist and neo-Nazi movements in Russia

Posted on May 7, 2011 by @ndy

Stumbling about The Information Superhighway, I (again) came across this interview Uri Gordon done a coupla years ago with Peter McNally, an anti-fascist researcher. Originally published on infoshop, I think it provides some good background on fascist movements in contemporary Russia, so I’m republishing it here.

See also : The SOVA Center for Information and Analysis | ‘Russian Anti-Racist Skinheads’ : Documentary (May 5, 2011).

Ultra-nationalist, fascist and neo-Nazi movements in Russia
infoshop.org
August 30, 2007

Peter McNally (not his real name) has been researching the American and European far right for over twenty years. The recent murderous attack on the eco-protest camp in Siberia occasioned this interview, in which Peter uncovers some little-known facts about one of the world’s largest and – to many Western anarchists – least familiar networks of ultra-nationalist, fascist and neo-Nazi movements.

Uri Gordon: I guess the best question to start with is, what kind of activities are we talking about here? What do these people do, and how do they organize?

Peter McNally: Well, it all depends on how well organized they are. Normally it’s your typical skinhead bully-boy politics, beating up a Black or a leftist or whatever. Then a lot of times it’s the tit for tat, fascists vs. anti-fascists politics that has a momentum of its own. Basically, one could say it’s political gang warfare, though on a very minuscule level.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t areas where people are pretty threatened about a very strong presence of right-wing people who, like in a lot of places, are in full complicity with the cops. Because the cops prefer them to the crazy fuckin’ anarchists, right? So they can go, “OK, I don’t understand your Nazism, but as long as you beat up these fuckers I don’t like, I’ll turn a blind eye. Oh, and here’s some money for beer.”

So that’s the gutter level. Then the next level is the people who are being groomed, not so much for political office but for higher-profile activity. So like in the States or anywhere else, you might be a young, smart skinhead who later gets cleaned up, prettied up and becomes a more serious player within that political scene. And these people are there because they show a much better face than Ivan Ivanov, the stupid fat skinhead, and because they are far more erudite. That doesn’t mean that a skinhead who’s smart couldn’t be one of them, it all depends on circumstances.

Then with the political parties like the National Bolsheviks (NBP) they have rallies and publications, a web site and conventions to show how legitimate the party is. Then you go to people like Zhirinovsky, who is in a sense a right-wing liberal economically, coupled with a Russian supremacist geopolitical belief system. Or in the case of some of the more conservative rightist parties in Russia, there is a serious structure and part of the military and security apparatus is behind them. And these parties all have extra-parliamentary activities and networks as well.

Continue reading →

Posted in Anti-fascism, History, State / Politics | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Scotland Goes to the Polls

Posted on May 7, 2011 by @ndy

Damn.

There’s an election in Scotland, so naturally, being an Australian, I’m gonna blog about it.

I dunno much about Scotland apart from the fact that Scots eat haggis, play the bagpipes, and wear kilts:–which fact probably explains, in turn, why a number of my ancestors fled the place to seek political asylum in Australia, thus ensuring my ability to eat vegan pies, play truant, and wear kilts.

Anyway, one of the more remarkable features of the election–apart from its domination by the SNP, whose members now enjoy sitting in 69 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament (and the fact that only half the registered voters bothered to go the ballot box)–is the collapse in the left vote.* Solidarity and the SSP both done bad; the worst result of the election, however, seems to have been reserved for the SEP. Despite the fact that “The Socialist Equality Party is the leadership workers in Britain need”, according to the BBC, out of a possible 282,371 votes, the SEP candidate in West Scotland has received…

0.

(Of course, the BBC website is trying to be tricky: the SEP done put 0 candidates up. See also : Liberal Democrats hammered in UK elections, Chris Marsden, wsws.org, May 7, 2011.)

*Well, apart from Arthur Scargill’s SLP: “With results still incomplete at time of going to press, it seems likely that the Socialist Labour Party will easily be the main electoral force on the left of Scottish politics. It looks likely that we will also outpoll both the BNP and UKIP even with their high profile media coverage and big business backing – no small achievement!”

International Socialist Group (Scotland)

Cool.

Splitters! from the Socialist Workers Party franchise in Scotland have formed a NEW! party called — with typically imaginative flair — the ‘International Socialist Group (Scotland)’. The ‘International Socialist Group (Scotland)’ is to be confused with the ‘International Socialist Group’ (now part of ‘Socialist Resistance’, the British Section of the Fourth International, to be confused with the British Section of the International Committee of the Fourth International) and will be joining the Scottish Socialist Party, the Socialist Party Scotland and Solidarity (Scotland’s Socialist Movement) in the struggle for sand, surf, socialism, and Scotland.

Or something.

Otherwise, the BNP has fared poorly in council elections: “Extreme rightwing party has so far lost seven of 11 council seats it was defending and has been wiped out in key target areas” (BNP suffers election meltdown, Matthew Taylor, The Guardian, May 6, 2011).

Posted in History, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , | 8 Comments

‘Russian Anti-Racist Skinheads’ : Documentary

Posted on May 5, 2011 by @ndy

Cool.

Sometimes, surfers bring some useful search terms to my blog: ‘Russian Anti-Racist Skinheads’ is one, and the title of a new documentary (2011) by Ian Ivanov.

Searching for moar infos — of which there appears to be little — I also found this blog: skinhead-music-russian-ex-USSR.

The idea that a thriving, if marginal, neo-Nazi movement exists in Russia strikes some as absurd. After all, Hitler and the Nazi regime regarded the Slavs as being suitable for little more than slavery. Further, Russian neo-Nazis (and other racists) direct much of their fury at peoples from the Caucasus; ‘Caucasians’, in other words: a term generally considered synonymous with ‘white’. But the frequent absurdities of neo-Nazi or fascist or racialist thought is hardly new, and explanations for its attractions are just as often found elsewhere…

In any case, despite regular and occasionally murderous attacks by fascists, and more generalised repression by the state, skinhead and oppositional youth subcultures in Russia appear to be growing as well as surviving.

Note that last week:

…a divided jury issued a guilty verdict against Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgeniya Khasis, the neo-Nazi couple accused of murdering Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova in downtown Moscow on January 19, 2009. Seven jurors found the defendants guilty, and the forthcoming sentencing could yield a life imprisonment for Tikhonov and as many as 20 years behind the bars for Khasis.

See also : [For Dion] The life and death of Ivan “Bonecrusher” Khutorskoy (November 18, 2009) | avtonom.org | chtodelat news | Moscow Through Brown Eyes | SOVA | The Other Russia | UCSJ.

BONUS! Hardcore!

HARDCORE IS MORE THAN MUSIC 2011 TRAILER from WHITE LABEL on Vimeo.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Film, History, Music, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , , | 1 Comment