From Melbourne to London…

Posted on November 15, 2010 by @ndy

…no one likes a rat!

THEN:

G20 riot suspects unmasked
The Age
January 18, 2007

Police have released images of 28 “people of interest” as they tighten the net on rioters wanted over the violent G20 protests in Melbourne.

A police officer’s wrist was broken and several were bitten and injured by broken glass when mobs of protesters clashed with police outside the G20 summit in central Melbourne in November.

Police are reviewing thousands of hours of video footage and more than 10,000 images of the riots as they hunt those responsible.

Images of 28 people, some wearing face scarves, were released today with police calling on the public for help…

NOW:

Do you recognise these student rioters?
The Telegraph

Riot rabble who targeted Tory HQ: Unmasked, the hardcore leaders of the student mob
Richard Pendlebury
Daily Mail
November 12, 2010

See also : mad props! (November 11, 2010) | occupy california | Free Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (Zagreb)

Bonus Billy!

Posted in Broken Windows, History, Media, Student movement, Television, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , | 1 Comment

…para el compañero de Colombia…

Posted on November 14, 2010 by @ndy

Posted in Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

Racist rampage?

Posted on November 12, 2010 by @ndy

Two Melbourne teenagers have been convicted of engaging “in a four-day racist rampage” last December. The pair, Julius Medina and Peter Salapura, were members of a larger gang of up to eight yoof what robbed several Indian men “of their wallets and mobile phones, while several were punched and beaten with a metal bar”. News.com.au makes note of the fact that “Medina’s mother, born in the Philippines, and Salapura’s mother, born in Serbia, both wept … as details of their sons’ crimes were read in court”.

“It’s the same hideous, racist behaviour that their parents would have been terrified of when they came here and to see that their children are behaving in the same way to migrants must be almost too terrible to bear,” Judge Gaynor said.

Which may or may not be true. But it’s hardly unique, nor even unusual: the reasons why some individuals (especially male yoof) find ethnic or racial animosity sufficient motivation to assault others, or choose to employ ‘racist’ beliefs to rationalise their behaviour — and others don’t — are often quite complex. Thus it may seem odd that two of the most notorious Australian neo-Nazi leaders of the last few decades are of non-White or ‘mixed race’ descent, but this certainly didn’t prevent either man from espousing a return to White Australia, or of recruiting a small number of followers on that basis. (Note that while ‘Java’ Jack van Tongeren has retired from political life, Dr James Saleam is still actively pursuing his dream of a White Australia: see ‘Australia First denies racist mailbox flyers’, Soraiya Fuda, Campbelltown Macarthur Advertiser, November 10, 2010).

By the same token, former academic Andrew Fraser, a recent proponent of the same policy, was born and raised in Canada; the leader of Volksfront Australia, Welf Herfurth, was born in Germany; many of the most outspoken critics of Australian immigration and multicultural policy are also foreign-born; Pauline Hanson attracted the support of immigrants and their children (including, notably, a ‘de-wogged’ John Pasquerelli); the ‘Australian Defence League’ and similar formations experience a relatively high level of participation from them foreigners what cause trouble…

And so on and so forth.

It’s a funny olde worlde.

Prosecutor Amelia Macknay told the court the group discussed going “Punji hunting” before setting out to rob the Indian men.

“These were group attacks on vulnerable victims who are minding their own business at night,” Ms Macknay said.

Defence lawyer Chris McLennan, for Medina, told the court the attacks were not racially motivated.

“They targeted these victims because they are peace-loving and they probably have more expensive equipment,” Mr McLennan said.

See also : Bashing of Indian man not racial, Norrie Ross, Herald Sun, November 6, 2010 | Bash attack not racist, court hears, despite ‘Indian dog’ slur, Norrie Ross, Herald Sun, October 21, 2010 | Reverse racism?msicar esreveR (February 21, 2010) | Deep veins: Australia and race (February 6, 2010).

Posted in Broken Windows, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | 1 Comment

Jock Palfreeman : November 2010 Update

Posted on November 12, 2010 by @ndy

Update : Court unable to make final ruling on Jock Palfreeman case, Boel Eriksson, The Mosman Daily | Family pleased at Bulgaria killing appeal, The Sydney Morning Herald (AAP) | Appeal hears Bulgaria stabbing was self defence, ABC (AM) | Jock Palfreeman pins appeal hopes on statement conflicts, Peter Wilson, The Australian | Father pleased evidence backs jailed son, ABC (The World Today).

Jock Palfreeman is a young Australian who in December 2009 was sentenced by a Bulgarian court to 20 years jail for ‘murder by hooliganism’. Currently, his sentencing is the subject of a court appeal, with the next hearing scheduled for November 25.

The case against Jock contains many inconsistencies: Jock has always maintained that he acted in self-defence. For more information on Jock’s case, and how you can help offer him support, please see Free Jock. You can write to Jock at the following address:

Jock Palfreeman
Sofia Central Prison
21 General Stoletov Boulevard
Sofia 1309
BULGARIA

Witness says jailed Australian acted in self defence
Emma Alberici
ABC
November 11, 2010

A police witness at the appeal of an Australian man serving a 20-year sentence for murder in Bulgaria has confirmed Jock Palfreeman was acting in self defence when he attacked a group of men with a knife.

Palfreeman, from Sydney, was sentenced to 20 years in jail last December for stabbing 20-year-old Andre Monov to death in Sofia during a street brawl in 2007.

The 23-year-old was found guilty of murder and attempted murder, but he says it was self defence.

Two witnesses took the stand on day two of the appeal at Sofia’s palace of justice.

Both Bulgarian men, one of them a policeman, were challenged to explain why they had said one thing in their police statements and an entirely different thing in the trial of Palfreeman.

The policeman who appeared in the dock said the three years that had passed since his original statement had caused him to forget he had been told by eyewitnesses that Palfreeman went to the aid of a Roma Gypsy being attacked by a gang of Bulgarian youths.

See also : Jock Palfreeman’s murder case adjourned in Bulgaria, Lucy Carne, The Daily Telegraph, November 12, 2010 | International Week of Solidarity with Jock Palfreeman: October, 2010.

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

Victoria Police throw rotten tomatoes @ Melbourne yuppies & LA zombies!

Posted on November 11, 2010 by @ndy

Transcendental fascist Richard Wolstencroft (Führer of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival), and director Bruce La Bruce have today been subjected to some withering criticism by the Victoria Police Film Criticism Unit. In fact, critics at VicPol were so appalled by La Bruce’s prohibited film LA Zombie — and Wolstencroft’s role in inflicting it upon local audiences — that today they raided Richard’s house looking for a copy of the turkey. Apparently, they failed.

It is believed the detectives considered removing every DVD in Wolstencroft’s house, as well as computers containing two movies on which he is working. They were eventually dissuaded by his insistence that he had destroyed his only copy of the film, on DVD, after the August screening. Wolstencroft also admitted to police that the August 29 screening had gone ahead and that he was solely responsible for it.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Wolstencroft would face court at a later date.

Personally, I think the police only want to ensure there’s quality films in Australia, anyway. Well, in essence. They may be a little excessive in their zeal, but that can be forgiven now given some historical distance. MUFF was a pointless self-promotional exercise guided only by Wolstencroft’s arrogance. 10BA would have protected the Australian film industry and it would exist in a greater glory to this day if it had been allowed to. In the end England has lost everything and parts of London now resemble Afghanistan. Some victory!

See also : Art = Ego (January 21, 2006).

Posted in !nataS, Art, Death, Film, Media, Sex & Sexuality, State / Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

mad props!

Posted on November 11, 2010 by @ndy

ROOFTOP OCCUPIERS STATEMENT: “We oppose all cuts and we stand in solidarity with public sector workers, and all poor, disabled, elderly and working people. We are occupying the roof in opposition to the marketisation of education pushed through by the coalition government, and the system they are pushing through of helping the rich and attacking the poor. We call for direct action to oppose these cuts. This is only the beginning of the resistance to the destruction of our education system and public services.”

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Broken Windows, State / Politics, Student movement | 20 Comments

Armistice Poppy Remembrance Day

Posted on November 11, 2010 by @ndy

November 11, 1887 : The Haymarket Martyrs — August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel — murdered by the state. November 11, 1918: The formal end to The War To End All Wars™.

“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” ~ Jay Gould (attributed)

Join the Herald Sun Brigade to Afghanistan!

“Well, there’ve always been people going around saying someday the war will end. I say, you can’t be sure the war will ever end. Of course, it may have to pause occasionally–for breath, as it were–it can even meet with an accident–nothing on this earth is perfect–a war of which we could say it left nothing to be desired will probably never exist. A war can come to a sudden halt–from unforeseen causes–you can’t think of everything–a little oversight, and the war’s in the hole, and someone’s got to pull it out again! The someone is the Emperor or the King or the Pope. They’re such friends in need, the war has really nothing to worry about, it can look forward to a prosperous future.”

~ Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children (1939)

“All of which goes to show that the State represents all the autocratic, arbitrary, coercive, belligerent forces within a social group, it is a sort of complexus of everything most distasteful to the modern free creative spirit, the feeling for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. War is the health of the State.”

‘War Is the Health of the State’, Randolph Bourne (1918)

Posted in Death, History, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | 12 Comments

Jason Devine (ARA Calgary) : Neo-Nazi Home Invasion

Posted on November 10, 2010 by @ndy

In the early hours of Monday November 8, Jason Devine (30) and a guest at his home in Calgary (Canada) were attacked by a group of five masked men. The attack appears to have been in retaliation for Jason’s participation in ‘Anti-Racist Action Calgary’, and is the latest in a series of such incidents. Jason received cuts and bruises and his friend a broken arm. Both were hospitalised. Jason’s wife Bonnie and their four young children, asleep at the time, were unharmed. See:

It’s been speculated that the men belong to one of several neo-Nazi groups based in Calgary, including the Aryan Guard, Blood & Honour and White European Brotherhood, but so far none have been arrested for the attack or otherwise positively identified. (A good source of infos on the Canadian racist right is Anti-Racist Canada: The ARC Collective blog.)

Of the attack Jason wrote:

At 1:30 AM 5 males carried out an armed home invasion on the house of Anti-Racist Activists Bonnie and Jason Devine. Bonnie Devine recently ran for Mayor of Calgary in the 2010 municipal election. This is the most recent in a long line of attacks on the Devine’s. Every time their 4 children were asleep in the home.

The armed assailants overwhelmed Jason and a friend who was visiting. They repeatedly beat Jason and his friend with blunt objects. His friend was bludgeoned throughout the head area and sustained a broken arm. Jason was surrounded as each assailant took turns beating his head, back, body, arms and legs, sustaining stitches and a concussion. Both were rushed to the hospital to receive treatment.

It is believed the attack is related to the recent leafleting and postering, by Anti-Racist Action Calgary, of a neighborhood where neo-nazi’s are known to live. THIS WAS NOT A ROBBERY and reports to the contrary are incorrect. Again nothing was stolen. Later it was discovered their family vehicle was also damaged while the assailants fled the scene…

As a result of the attack, Canadian Social Services have threatened to remove Jason and Bonnie’s children from their care. According to Jason: “They stated that because of our high level [of activity] we have placed our children in [unnecessary] risk and that we should stop before they either see it or are a victim of it”.

The further victimisation of the family by the state may seem unfair, but it’s not an atypical reaction to these kinds of events, sadly. You can read more about the issue at Dawg’s Blog: Calgary Social Services: “Anti-racist? We’ll take your kids!” (November 8, 2010) and Painted: Bullied to be silent (November 8, 2010). Also issuing a statement on the attack is ‘Rebel Youth’ blog, a publication of the Young Communist League of Canada (the Devines are members of the Communist Party of Canada).

Posted in Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged | 2 Comments

This is lucky Phil Cleary…

Posted on November 9, 2010 by @ndy

Yeah I know. ‘Whoever you vote for, government wins’. Also: ‘Don’t vote: it only encourages them’ and ‘If you think it’s humiliating to be ruled, how much more degrading is it to choose your master?’ and ‘A change of rulers is the joy of fools’.

But still.

Old school labour has (re-)entered the battle for the seat of Brunswick following former Federal MP Phil Cleary‘s announcement that he’ll be pulling on the guernsey to once again join the fray. This is gonna make things even more difficult for law-talking gal (and former Yarra Council Mayor and Steve Bracks staffer) Jane Garrett, and perhaps force her to deviate from the path worn by previous generations of industrial relations lawyers. On the other hand, it’ll likely please Greens candidate Cyndi Dawes, now with an even betterer chance of stealing the seat from Labor.

Or to put it another way: “…if Phil Cleary decides to throw his hat into the ring, Garrett’s fuct”.

Elsewhere, party hacks are probably still fuming over the clumsy smears of last week (hat tip to Steve Newnham — “whose wife Fiona Richardson is desperately trying to beat off Greens candidate Anne Martinelli in Northcote”) while in Richmond Steve Jolly is also causing headaches for the True Believers. (Steve is one of several Socialists standing for State Parliament.)

Oddly enough, Steve’s campaigns for Yarra Council in years past was supported by Corinne Grant. Now, however, Corinne is trying to help Labor get re-elected by way of presenting a topical and (presumably) humorous review of the election campaign on the party’s YouTube channel.

Of course, aside from a lack of lulz, the central problem for Labor is that, whatever the particular qualities of their candidates in the inner-city, the policies of the party as a whole are becoming increasingly unappealing to a large minority of voters. Absent a progressive left within the party capable of influencing party policy as a whole, it’s inevitable that voters looking to support a more meaningful alternative will turn to the Greens… Which will develop along the lines of similar parties in, say, Germany, and create conflicts between the realos and the fundis.

I believe it’s called recycling.

See also : Greener pastures, Kate Legge, The Australian, November 8, 2010 | The Greens – more than a protest vote, Rob Burgess, Business Spectator, November 6, 2010 | ‘After Labourism: The Neoliberal Turn by Labor Parties and the Response by Trade Unions’, Jason Schulman, 2009 (PDF).

Finally, some words of wisdom from Paul Howes, National Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union John Groves, President of the One Nation Party in Victoria:

Posted in State / Politics | Tagged , | 3 Comments

LASNET conference, 12–14 November 2010 @ Trades Hall

Posted on November 9, 2010 by @ndy

MEDIA RELEASE

International Activists Challenge Corporate Crimes

From 12th to 14th November, international activists will converge at Trades Hall in Melbourne to call for an end to the power of huge companies to exploit people and our planet.

“We will be building alliances and global resistance against the actions of Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, Fonterra, Chiquita Brands International, Monsanto, Drummond, BP” said Rebecca Harrison from the Latin American Solidarity Network. “To protect the rights of workers, indigenous peoples and the environment we need to hold corporations accountable for their exploitative practices,” added Ms Harrison.

International representatives from grass roots organisations from New Zealand, West Papua, El Salvador, Bougainville, Philippines, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile and Colombia, as well as Australian indigenous and union representatives will be speaking at the gathering.

“Monsanto controls 80% of Brazil’s seed market”, says Paola Masiero from the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) in Brazil, who represent an estimated 1.5 million members. “Its promotion of genetically modified crops impacts the environment, cost of living and undermines food sovereignty through the creation of a monopoly and the destruction of biodiversity.”

“Multinational corporations such as Coca Cola, Nestle, BHP Billiton and Kraft are benefiting from deteriorating working conditions and paramilitary violence in Colombia ,” says Fredy Sepulveda from SINALTRAINAL, the Colombian Food and Agro-Industry Workers Union. “This repression of labour struggles has resulted in the murder of more than 3000 trade unionists in the last 20 years and 38 in the year 2010.”

The conference will examine corporate support or complicity with the exploitation of the poor of the world, the increasing undermining of workers’ rights and union-busting, the displacement and forced assimilation of Indigenous communities, and the destruction of our natural resources and environment.

Other speakers attending the Gathering include:

    • Jaime Deluquez from the Miners Coal Workers Union and Colombia Cut in Colombia.
    • Wilman Palmezano from the Wayuu Indigenous Community in Colombia.
    • Miguel Suarez from the Mining Workers Federation in Chile.
    • Manuel Morales, a Bolivian factory workers representative.
    • Juan Contreras, Coordinator of Simon Bolivar in Venezuela.
    • Santiago Punina from the CONAIE Indigenous National Council in Ecuador.
    • Claudio Tranamil Ñanco from the Mapuche indigenous community in Chile.
    • Cristina Fermovich from Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in the Philippines.
    • Clive Porabou, a representative of communities in Bougainville resisting Rio Tinto.
    • Barbara Shaw, a spokesperson for The Intervention Rollback Action Group.
    • Uncle Larry Walsh, Tauwurrung Elder, Kulin Nation.
    • Robbie Thorpe, Krautungalung people of the Gunnai Nation.
    • Uncle Chappi, Aboriginal leader from the Lake Cowal campaign.
    • Uncle Kevin, Aboriginal leader from the anti-BHP Billiton campaign.

PRESS CONFERENCE

A press conference will be held at 5.30 pm on Friday 12th November in the New Chambers Council in Trades Hall. Interviews, including with Miguel Suarez from the Chilean Mining Workers Federation, will be available. Please contact: Marisol Salinas 0413 597 315 or Rebecca Harrison 0439 503 839.

Email: [email protected]
Website: www.solidaritygathering2010.wordpress.com
Conference program: http://solidaritygathering2010.wordpress.com/program/

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