…never mind the ballots…

Posted on August 24, 2010 by @ndy

Posted in Anarchism, State / Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

White Nationalism Goes To The Polls : 2010 Australian Federal Election Results

Posted on August 23, 2010 by @ndy
    Update : September 12, 2010.

So how did the white nationalists fare at the polls in 2010?

On the whole, fairly poorly.

The largest party, One Nation, fielded 21 Lower House candidates, the most popular of which received 2,721 votes, or 3.35%; the least popular 443 votes (0.50%). Most ran last or second last. In the Upper House, there was a very modest increase in the vote, which remains at about 1/2 of 1%. The ON brand has lost almost all of its lustre, and it’s likely that the party will continue to bleed into other groups such as AF or APP, especially as it no longer has any sitting members in any Parliaments. Further, the success of several independent rural candidates may inspire others to shed the brand that was once a benefit but now appear to be more of a burden to racial conservatives.

AF fielded a handful of candidates, as did APP. Like ON, none achieved much more than expected.

(NB. All results are preliminary.)

Australia First

AF had four candidates in the Lower House: Terry Cooksley in Chifley, Tony Pettitt in Greenway, Mick Saunders in Lindsay and Alex Norwick in Deakin. Cooksley received 943 votes (1.17%) and came last, Pettitt got 780 votes (0.98%) and placed 7th; Saunders scored a little higher with 975 votes (1.17%) in a smaller field, coming second last, while Norwick came last in his competition, getting 295 votes (0.37%) — thus proving to be even less popular than the free market fanatics in the LDP.

In the Senate contest in QLD, veteran right-wing agitators Peter Schuback and Nick Maine gained 9,680 votes (0.40%) — more than doubling the Socialist Alliance vote (3,806 votes) and rivaling the Christian fundamentalists of the Christian Democratic Party (10,499 votes) in popularity.

Australian Protectionist

The APP contested one Lower House seat in South Australia. Party Chairman Andrew (James) Phillips scored 993 votes in the contest for Mayo, or 1.08%. Phillips was one of two nominally Independent candidates in the seat, the other being Bill Spragg of the Stop Population Growth Now Party. Spragg got 2,404 votes (2.62%); both Phillips and Spragg managed to overcome the Australian Democrats (948 votes) and The Climate Sceptics (655 votes).

In the Senate contest in NSW, Darrin Hodges and Nick Folkes pledged to protect Australia from Communists, Islam, Greens, Muslims, homosexuals, followers of Muhammad and the Australia First Party. They got 1,844 votes (0.05%) for their efforts.

One Nation

NSW

Banks

PARSONS, Michael got 1,595 votes (1.90%), coming last in a field of four.

Bennelong

With the benefit of a donkey, WATERSON, Victor received 731 votes (0.85%), a gain of 0.55% on 2007, placed sixth in a field of eleven, and was beaten off by the Sex candidate.

Blaxland

Party President Bob Vinnicombe scored 1,351 votes (1.83%) in Bennelong, a gain of 0.74% on 2007, and placed sixth in a field of eight.

Chifley

Louise Kedwall was pitted against Terry Cooksley (AF) in Chifley, and narrowly defeated him. Kedwall scored 1,585 votes (1.97% / +0.67%) while Cooksley got 943 (1.17%).

Cook

Richard Putral gained 991 votes (1.11%), a slight reduction (-0.09%) on 2007, managing to beat a Christian fundamentalist from Family First into last place.

Hughes

A donkey befriended Peter Bussa, and he received 1,599 votes, or 1.85%, and placed fifth of seven candidates.

Hunter

Jennifer Leayr was ON’s * candidate, gained 2,721 votes (3.35%), placed fourth, and beat a Christian fundamentalist into last place.

Kingsford Smith

John Lawrence Cunningham (728 votes / 0.89%) narrowly defeated Zac Hambides of the Socialist Equality Party (576 / 0.70%) and thereby avoided coming last.

Macarthur

The Great White Hope of White Australia is Kate Melissa McCulloch. She got 2,340 votes or 2.99%, coming fourth in a field of eight.

New England

New England returned an Independent to Canberra. Brian Charles Dettman, on the other hand, gained just 794 votes (0.87% / -0.29%), but still managed to defeat the LaRouchite Richard Innes Witten (306 votes / 0.34% / +0.08%).

Paterson

Kevin Leayr received 1,044 votes, or 1.27%, a gain of 0.32%. Perhaps courtesy of the donkey vote — and !nataS — he managed to defeat two Xtian fundamentalists.

Riverina

Craig Hesketh was ON’s candidate in Riverina, and despite the support of AF — and a clear hatred of “race mixers” and “immigrant whores” — he failed to mobilise the electorate in favour of his vision of an ethnically-cleansed Australia. Indeed, even The Greens — those “sick f*cks” — managed to outpoll Hesketh (1,410 votes / 1.60% versus 3,972 votes / 4.51%). “We had some negative reactions at the polling booths because people believe there is a stigma associated with the party but those days are over”, the racist moaron complained to a local newspaper.

Robertson

Don F Parkes presided over a vote of 568 votes for ON, a slight drop (0.67% / -0.39%), and came eighth in a field of of ten.

Shortland

Finally, Milton M Alchin defeated the Secular Party candidate, gaining 1,726 votes — 2.06%.

NT

Solomon

KEARNEY, John rode a donkey into Solomon, received 1,505 votes (2.95%) and easily defeated the LaRouchite Trudy Campbell (668 votes / 1.31% / +0.83%).

QLD

Bowman

The seat of Bowman pitted CHIDGEY, Dave against KENT, John Aaron, of the DLP, for PLACE, Last. CHIDGEY got 865 votes (1.06% / +0.53) while KENT got 768 (0.94%).

Fadden

Ian Rossiter increased the ON vote by 0.79% to 1.60%. He also came last (fifth of five).

Wide Bay

Santo Ferraro got 1,875 votes (2.30%), almost doubling (+1.09%) the result of 2007. He also placed last (fifth of five).

SA

Makin

Anton Horvat gained 662 votes (0.78% / +0.20%), a conspiracy of truly global proportions ensuring that he beat the Climate Skeptics into last place.

Sturt

Jack King is a dunce. He got 443 votes (0.50%) and came last.

WA

Moore

GAULT, George rode into Moore on a donkey, grabbed 1,471 votes — 1.79%, an increase of 0.74% — and came last.

Upper House

In total, ON received 69,972 first preference votes or 0.56%, an increase of 0.14% on 2007. Most of those votes came from the party’s strongholds in NSW and QLD: 22,926 (0.56% / +0.15%) votes in NSW and 22,353 votes (0.91% / +0.74%) votes in QLD. In VIC, ON got 12,010 votes (0.37% / -0.05%), in WA 7,537 votes (0.62% / -0.35%) and in SA 5,146 votes (0.51% / -0.10%).

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Socialism vs. 2010 Federal Election: Results

Posted on August 22, 2010 by @ndy
    Update : September 12, 2010.

The 2010 Australian Federal election saw several score socialists and — notwithstanding The Greens — a handful of communists stand for seats in both the Lower (House of Representatives) and Upper (Senate) Houses of the Federal parliament. In summary, the socialist vote witnessed minor increases in most electorates, with some small decline in others. The biggest vote was for Mike Head in Fowler: 2,700 votes, or 3.51%; the lowest for Ron Poulsen (Communist League) in Blaxland, with 288 votes (0.39%).

Below is a summary of the preliminary results:

Lower House

Adelaide (SA)
Gemma Weedall, a yoof activist for the Socialist Alliance (SA), failed in her attempt to poll vault over Sports Minister Kate Ellis, gaining 786 votes (0.90%). Weedall placed fifth overall, defeating a free market fundamentalist Liberal Democrat (716 / 0.82%) and narrowly losing to a why-do-they-bother liberal Democrat (820 / 0.94%).

Blaxland (NSW)
Richard Phillips of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) was one of two Trots in this very safe Labor seat, and he and his donkey easily leaped over the mystical 1% barrier, gaining 2,060 votes (2.79%), and coming fifth of eight candidates. Ron Poulsen, perhaps the sole member of the secretive Communist League, fared less well, placing last with 288 votes (0.39%).

Brisbane (QLD)
One of a mere five candidates to appeal to the people of Pig City for political support, Ewan Saunders (SA) came last on 717 votes or 0.88% — still a gain on 2007’s 0.52%.

Calwell (VIC)
Under the wise leadership of Peter Byrne, the SEP fared much better in 2010 than it did in 2007, Byrne receiving 1,181 votes or 1.35%, a gain of 0.96%. Byrne was last of five candidates, a Xtian fundamentalist — Praise Jesus! — being blessed with 3,851 votes (4.40% / +0.06%).

Corio (VIC)
Another very safe Labor seat, Sue Bull successfully reversed the loss of form witnessed in 2007, gaining 971 votes or 1.17% (+0.77%). In 2004, SA’s Tim Gooden got 505 votes (0.63%). Like Byrne in Calwell, Bull came last of five candidates, and — Hallelujah! — was beaten by a Xtian for fourth (3,028 votes / 3.66% / -0.30%).

Cunningham (NSW)
Jess Moore wants Cunningham. Last time, 706 voters (0.84%) supported her. This time, 1,303 voters joined the socialist struggle (1.46%), a gain of 0.68%. Moore avoided coming last by beating John Flanagan of the ‘Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting)’ (1,240 votes).

Denison (TAS)
Melanie Barnes (SA) has smashed the 1% barrier, receiving 856 votes or 1.32%, a gain of 0.56% on 2007’s result. She was last of five candidates, her nearest rival gaining approximately 10,000 more votes than she.

Fowler (NSW)
Mike Head came, saw, and conquered in Fowler, the law-talking SEP guy getting 2,700 votes, or 3.51%, the highest % vote of any socialist candidate. On the other hand, Head was one of just four candidates. And he rode a donkey to the poll.

Fremantle (WA)
Sanna Andrew (SA) found 662 votes (0.80%) in Fremantle, an increase of 0.35% on 2007. Sanna was sixth of seven candidates, McENCROE, Keith John (Democratic Labor Party), being the least popular candidate with a mere 622 votes (0.76%) in his favour.

Gellibrand (VIC)
SA’s Ben Courtice and the SEP’s Tania Baptist split the socialist vote in Gellibrand. BAPTIST, Tania got 487 votes (0.58%) while COURTICE, Ben got 529 (0.64%, down 0.95%). BAPTIST thereby came last and COURTICE second last.

Grayndler (NSW)
Pip Hinman (SA) once again confronted the SEP, on this occasion in the person of James Cogan, the SEP’s national organiser. In 2007, Hinman (1,394 votes / 1.66%) faced down the SEP’s Patrick O’Connor (328 votes / 0.39%). In 2004, SA’s Sue Johnson got 1,010 votes (1.34%). Anthony Albanese holds down the top spot in Grayndler, and is a member of the Socialist Left faction of the ALP. Note that Cogan was a candidate for Chifley in 2007. He got 1,069 votes.

In the end, COGAN, James Michael, riding on a donkey, got 1,041 votes (1.25% / +0.86%) while HINMAN, Pip got a shade less: 1,023 (1.23%).

Griffith (QLD)
Hamish Chitts’ is a bus-driving former soldier and member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP). In 2007, SA, from which the RSP split in 2008, stood Jim McIlroy (293 votes / 0.35%) while in 2004 it stood Lynda Hansen (580 votes / 0.72%). Chitts (602 votes / 0.75%) lost to former PM KRudd, but managed to avoid coming last by trouncing the LaRouchite Jan Pukallus (175 votes / 0.22%).

Kingsford-Smith (NSW)
Sadly, the SEP’s Zac Hambides, following on comrade Alex Safari’s 1,096 votes (1.26%) in 2007, scored just 576 votes, a drop of 0.56%, coming last, and proving less popular than One Nation (728 votes) and the Democrats (1,052). Peter Garrett eh?

Lalor (VIC)
“Gillard out! Gillard out! Hear the people scream, hear the people shout! Socialism is the alternative! Van Rudd for Lalor!”

Maybe not.

Rudd was the subject of a really neat TV show screened during the week before the election, revealing, inter alia, that his old man, Murray, has a) a very dry sense of humour, and b) to have seriously under-estimated his son’s electoral appeal. Predicting just 24 or 25 votes for Van, in reality the revolutionary artiste got 516, or 0.50%, and placed eight in a field of nine, the remarkable Marc Aussie-Stone coming last.

Newcastle (NSW)
The seat of Newcastle is the third of four seats in which SA fought SEP — for socialism. Zane Alcorn (SA) contested local council elections in Newcastle in 2008, but stood for the seat of Wills in Victoria in 2007. In 2010, his rhyming skillz were pitted against those of Noel Holt — the SEP’s candidate for Newcastle in 2007. ALCORN, Zane gained a narrow victory over HOLT, Noel: Alcorn on 829 votes (1.01% / +0.62%) and Holt 627 (0.76% / +0.43%). The pair came sixth and seventh in a field of seven.

Parramatta (NSW)
In the final Lower House battle for socialist supremacy, the SEP’s Chris Gordon pitted his math against SA’s Duncan Roden’s yoof. (In 2007, SA’s Rachel Evans got 1,015 votes (1.19%), while the SEP’s Chris Gordon got 261 (0.31%).) This time around, Gordon got 1,203 votes or 1.54% (+1.38%), while Roden received 330 (0.42% / -0.14%). The pair came sixth and seventh in a field of seven.

Perth (WA)
Alex Bainbridge is SA’s man in Perth. (He was SA’s man in Denison in 2002.) Chris Latham was SA’s man in 2007 (464 votes / 0.59%) while Nikki Ulasowski got 984 votes (1.34%) in 2004. In 2010, Bainbridge increased the socialist vote by +0.22% (618 votes or 0.77%).

Reid (NSW)
The SEP’s Carolyn Kennett received 901 votes, or 1.13%. She came last.

Swan (WA)
Joe Lopez (SEP) scored 398 votes (0.50%) in Swan. He came last. This was nevertheless, an increase of 0.30% on 2007’s effort, and almost half way to the magical 1% barrier.

Sydney (NSW)
Communist Denis Doherty received 656 votes, or 0.83%. He came last.

Wills (VIC)
Trent Hawkins (SA) replaced Zane Alcorn (624 votes / 0.72%) in 2007 — who in turn displaced David Glanz (867 votes / 1.06%) in 2004. He got 725 votes (0.86%), a gain of 0.14%.

Upper House

vote1josephtoscanovictoriansenateticket2010.com — Joseph Toscano, Jenny Warfe and Andrew Sadauskas — received 3,842 votes (0.12%). Jo & Co. scored 5,695 votes or 0.18% in 2007.

In the race for a Senate seat, Socialists stood in several states: in VIC, SA — WINDISCH, Margarita and FIREBRACE, Sharon — got 3,016 votes (0.09%), while their SEP rivals (O’CONNOR, Patrick and VONGVIXAY, Keo) — with the benefit of the donkey vote — received 9,994 (0.31%). In NSW, EVANS, Rachel and ISKANDER, Soubhi (SA) rode on a donkey to gain 22,952 votes (0.57%); BEAMS, Nick and ZABALA, Gabriela (SEP) had to settle for 3,597 (0.09%). The donkey-less Communist Alliance fared less well, receiving 6,825 votes (0.17%).

In QLD, SA got 3,806 votes (0.16%), in SA 1,038 (0.10%) and in WA 1,258 (0.10%). In 2007, SA got 1,941 votes in QLD (0.08%), in SA 770 (0.08%) and in WA 928 (0.08%).

See also : Socialism vs. 2010 election (July 27, 2010) | Lenin Goes to Canberra? (Trot Guide 2010) (July 15, 2010) | Socialism vs. 2007 Federal Election: Results (November 25, 2007).

Posted in State / Politics, Trot Guide | Tagged | 18 Comments

Hung drawn quartered dead buried cremated 2010 federal election results

Posted on August 22, 2010 by @ndy

First, congratulations to Paul Howes (and David Feeney and Bill Shorten and Don Farrell and Karl Bitar and Bill Ludwig and Steve Hutchins and Mark Bishop and Mark Arbib) and the NSW Labor Right on a successful campaign. Were it not for their efforts, it’s highly unlikely that The Mad Monk would now be in a position to form a minority government.

Secondly, on reflection, I believe that the possibility of a hung parliament is a reflection of a real division in the electorate: on the one hand, Uncle Rupert appeared to give his personal blessing to Labor; on the other hand, a number of his drones from sector 7-G advocated a vote for the Coalition.

Thirdly, after losing the seat of Melbourne to Adam Bandt of The Greens, Cath Bowtell said “the lesson from her loss was that Labor needed to get better at explaining its policies”. Which is certainly possible. On the other hand, it may be that the Melbourne electorate understood Labor policies well enough, and ‘explained’ their verdict on them by voting for The Greens.

‘Cause they hate kids with cancer (as the famed VEXNEWS Investigations Unit discovered).

As for the rest, preliminary investigations reveal:

AUSTRALIA FIRST

Deakin : NORWICK, Alex : 233 : 0.36 : +0.36
Greenway : PETTITT, Tony : 688 : 1.00 : +1.00
Lindsay : SAUNDERS, Mick : 847 : 1.15 : +1.15

In the Senate race in QLD, AF got 7,316 votes (0.38%).

AUSTRALIAN PROJECTIONIST

Darrin Hodges and Nick Folkes can celebrate having received 1,198 votes (0.04%) in NSW in their quest to become Australian Senators. Oh, and in Mayo (SA), Party Chairman PHILLIPS, Andrew James, got 803 votes (1.05%).

ONE NATION

Macarthur : McCULLOCH, Kate Melissa : 1,999 : 2.89 : +2.89
Riverina : HESKETH, Craig : 1,201 : 1.57 : -0.38

In their tilt at the Senate, in Victoria Rosalyn and Philip Townsend got 8,660 votes, considerably less than the party’s 13,354 votes in 2007. Like Party President John Llewellyn Groves, I blame The Jew.

COMMUNIST

Sydney : DOHERTY, Denis : 486 : 0.83 : +0.83

(In NSW, the Communists got 5,236 votes (0.16%) for the Senate.)

COMMUNIST LEAGUE

Blaxland : POULSEN, Ronald : 219 : 0.35 : +0.35

REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST PARTY

Lalor : RUDD, Van : 428 : 0.49 : +0.49
Griffith : CHITTS, Hamish : 456 : 0.70 : +0.70

SOCIALIST ALLIANCE ~versus~ SOCIALIST EQUALITY PARTY

Gellibrand

BAPTIST, Tania : Socialist Equality Party : 369 : 0.55 : +0.55
COURTICE, Ben : Socialist Alliance : 419 : 0.63 : -0.95

Grayndler

COGAN, James Michael : Socialist Equality Party : 849 : 1.22 : +0.85
HINMAN, Pip : Socialist Alliance : 879 : 1.27 : -0.41

Parramatta

GORDON, Chris : Socialist Equality Party : 923 : 1.43 : +1.29
RODEN, Duncan : Socialist Alliance : 252 : 0.39 : -0.12

In the race for a Senate seat, Socialists stood in several states: in VIC, SA — WINDISCH, Margarita and FIREBRACE, Sharon — got 2,280 votes (0.09%), while their SEP rivals (O’CONNOR, Patrick and VONGVIXAY, Keo) — with the benefit of the donkey vote — received 6,823 (0.28%). In NSW, EVANS, Rachel and ISKANDER, Soubhi (SA) rode on a donkey to gain 17,180 votes (0.54%); BEAMS, Nick and ZABALA, Gabriela (SEP) had to settle for 2,701 (0.08%).

In Newcastle, rapper ALCORN, Zane (Socialist Alliance) got 707 votes (1.02%, an increase of 0.63% on SA’s 2007 effort) while in Wills, Alcorn’s previous venue, HAWKINS, Trent received 600 votes (or 0.86%, an increase of 0.13% on 2007).

See also : Socialism vs. 2007 Federal Election: Results (November 25, 2007).

Moar later, but in the meantime…

¡La lucha continúa!

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

Here’s To A Hung Parliament!

Posted on August 22, 2010 by @ndy

…results…

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Broken Windows, Death, History, Media, Poetry, Sex & Sexuality, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | Leave a comment

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was a “big burden for the nation to bear”.

Posted on August 21, 2010 by @ndy

But somehow, I think we’ll manage.

Posted in Death, State / Politics, War on Terror | 1 Comment

Write ‘CHANGE THE AUSTRALIAN FLAG TO A GIANT DICK’ on your ballot paper!*

Posted on August 21, 2010 by @ndy

A massive campaign has been launched on the eve of the 2010 Australian federal election to finally bring to the attention of government authorities the issue that dares not speaks its name:

CHANGE THE AUSTRALIAN FLAG TO A GIANT DICK!

The only party prepared to even consider the issue is The Greens, and it’s thrown the party into complete disarray ahead of the election. As always, Johnny On The Spot is Christian Kerr (and Matthew Denholm):

Disunity growing in the Greens
Christian Kerr and Matthew Denholm
The Australian
August 21, 2010

Cracks are appearing in the Greens as the party stands on the edge of unprecedented power in parliament.

A steady stream of emails detailing dissent over policy and preference decisions has been leaked to newspapers and websites in recent days.

The leaks reveal that the issue of whether or not to support a grassroots campaign to change the Australian flag to a giant dick is at the heart of the disputes.

And a power struggle is developing between flag loyalists and the Tasmanian Greens and the hard-left NSW party and its lead Senate candidate, Lee Rhiannon, a scion of one of Australia’s most unapologetically pro-change-the-Australian-flag-to-a-giant-dick families.

Greens sources say party figurehead and leader Senator Brown plans to retire at the end of his term in three years, but he’s avoided public comment for fear of fostering disunity…

*Or cock.

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Daniel Pipes Down Under

Posted on August 20, 2010 by @ndy

Where’s my invite?

Daniel Pipes is currently touring Down Under, but I only found out about it yesterday, when a mate expressed outrage that the neo-conservative author should be hosted by local Jewish organisations. Why? ‘Cause Pipes is a bigot — or so he says. My mate, not Pipes.

Yeah?

Otherwise, Pipes’ tour appears to have received little or no media or public attention.

In Sydney, Pipes’ August 15 address was hosted by the ‘Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council’ (AIJAC), which also took the opportunity to give some bloke called Dr Emanuele Ottolenghi a platform.

The pair discoed ‘Europe and the USA: Middle East Visions and Delusions’.

In Perth, where Pipes spoke yesterday and today, the ‘West Australian Institute of Jewish Affairs’, ‘Friends of Israel (WA) Inc’, and AIJAC co-presented a public lecture by “One of the world’s foremost analysts on the Middle East and Islam” — that is, Pipes — on “ISLAMIST EXTREMISM: Is today’s Islamist extremism like Fascism? Are they related?”.

Pipes may not be a Trotskyist, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the question he poses may be a rhetorical one.

He also appears not to have spoken in publicly in Melbourne on this occasion, his last such appearance being in November 2009, when he speechified before the ‘Australian Institute of International Affairs’ on being ‘Inside the Middle East Today’ and AIJAC / the ‘Zionist Council of Victoria’ on — presumably — the price of fish in China similar issues.

Pipes tour takes place at the same time as there is controversy in the US regarding the construction of a new mosque a few hundred metres away from ‘Ground Zero’ in New York. The pens of anti-Muslim conservatives impact N.Y.C. mosque debate mightily according to Michelle Boorstein (The Washington Post, August 19, 2010) while Once considered anti-Islam, senior scholar says he’s now in the middle (‘Under God’, The Washington Post, August 19, 2010.

Note that after many years pointing out to the public the political dangers presented by the Koran, Pipes proceeds to kick Kantian arse in Immanuel Kant vs. Israel (National Review Online, August 17, 2010), in which Mr. Pipes explains how “The West villifies Israel because it has undergone a paradigm shift away from the nation-state”; a shift first announced by way of the 1975 film Immanuel’s Perpetual Peace (directed by Yoram Hazony).

Awesome.

In Australia, fascists belonging to the tiny ‘Nationalist Alternative’ groupuscule joined a community campaign against the construction of a mosque in Melbourne, Australia, while in Camden and elsewhere, members of the Australian Protectionist and One Nation parties have joined with Christian fundamentalists in opposing the caliphate. In England, meanwhile, the ‘English Defence League’ (EDL) has its own Jewish division, one which gives Jews with a passionate hatred of Islam the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of their erstwhile foes on the neo-Nazi right. The Australian franchise tried to organise a public rally in Melbourne in April, but were told to shoo, and only a handful of racist kooks, and one or two neo-Nazi skinheads, managed to sit and grumble in Y&J’s. (Their next public performance is scheduled for October 9 in Sydney.)

Politics makes for strange bedfellows.

See also : Israel and Palestine After Disengagement: Noam Chomsky debates with Alan Dershowitz, Kennedy School of Government, November 29, 2005 [transcript].

Posted in State / Politics | Tagged | 2 Comments

Australian Federal Police (AFP) ~versus~ Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)

Posted on August 20, 2010 by @ndy

Well.

Looks like Australian authorities are following the lead of foreign states, and attempting to eliminate support for terrorism.

Today:

“The Australian Federal Police (AFP) carried out raids across [Melbourne]’s north and south-east, as part of an investigation into the funding of terrorism.”

No, the AFP weren’t raiding foreign Embassies, Government offices, or those belonging to TNCs, but rather various Kurdish cultural associations, including the HQ of the ‘Kurdish Association of Victoria’.

According to the Multicultural Justice Directory:

The Kurdish Association of Victoria helps newly arrived Kurdish refugees and migrants. The Association provides a range of services for the Kurdish community, including settlement, advocacy, referral, education and health issues. It also offers cultural and recreational programs in the areas of folk dancing, traditional music and Kurdish language.

Presumably, however, the AFP knows better — although no arrests have been made at this stage.

Judging by its actions, the AFP seems to believe that the Association, or those on its periphery, is somehow complicit in supporting or funding the activities of the ‘Kurdistan Workers’ Party’ (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan / پارتی کار که‌رانی کوردستان / Parti Karkerani Kurdistan / PKK). Founded in 1978, the PKK was first listed as a terrorist organisation by the HoWARd government on December 17, 2005, relisted on September 27, 2007 and again on September 8, 2009. According to those bureaucrats in Canberra, the party appears to be one of if not the only secular, non-Muslim organisations in the world engaged in terrorism… although I suspect that if the government were to employ a standard definition of the term ‘terrorism’, it may find other organisations whose activities merit their inclusion.

In any case, a law-talking guy, the director of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, Greg Barns:

…says the enforcement of anti-terrorism laws can raise some tricky issues of justice for people living far from their home countries.

“One of the difficulties with this area of the law is that it can mean that people who have given money or other forms of aid to organisations overseas for the most humanitarian of motives could suddenly find themselves and their acts being criminalised,” he said.

“If these laws had been around in the 1970s and 80s anyone who gave money to Nelson Mandela’s ANC or the IRA or Fretilin in East Timor would now be criminalised under the anti-terror laws.”

So what’s the problem?

The PKK is an ostensibly revolutionary organisation, engaged in a nationalist independence struggle. Two recent reports on the PKK’s struggle in northern Iraq by the BBC:

A week ago, Turkish authorities arrested a US journalist named Jake Hess “for alleged collaboration with Kurdish activists charged with links to Kurdish rebels” — that is, the PKK. Hess is likely to be kicked out of the country. A few days prior to his arrest, Hess published ‘Kurdish Refugees: ‘We’re Not Living, Just Not Dying’ (Antiwar.com, August 5, 2010):

On Apr. 14 2009, the Turkish government began a series of arrest operations that has led to the imprisonment of between roughly 840 and 1,600 Kurdish political activists, among them elected mayors from the leftist and pro- Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), and renowned human rights activists.

“Kurds are under attack in all areas. We can’t tie our hands and wait for our death[.] We have to exercise our right to defend ourselves, because all doors (to a solution) have been closed,” Deniz tells IPS.

“Like all peoples, we want to freely speak our language and develop our culture. We want our most natural rights to be respected — it’s that simple.”

Hess also notes that “In 2007, the Bush administration deemed the PKK a ”common enemy” of Washington, Ankara, and Baghdad” — and now too Melbourne in 2010. “The U.S. government subsequently began to provide Turkey with actionable intelligence concerning PKK positions across the border. Since then, Turkey and Iran have been jointly bombing and shelling Kurdish villages close to their respective boundaries with Iraq.”

I can remember reading material on the Kurdistan struggle back when I was a teenager, and around the time George I decided it would be a good idea to invade Iraq. (In 1999, when the PKK’s leader, Abdullah Öcalan, was captured by Turkish authorities, supporters organised rallies in protest.) At this time, supporting the PKK was not a crime, and the possibility that the US invasion would put an end to Hussein’s regime, and also liberate northern Iraq from Iraqi state control, was considered a real possibility, at least by some. It didn’t happen, of course, and Kurdish hopes, along with those of many other cultural, ethnic, political and religious minorities, were dashed. Still, I’m sure I’ve got a few issues of The Voice of Kurdistan lying around somewhere…

Oh, wait.

No I haven’t.

See also : Kurdistan Anarchists Forum (KAF) | THE KURDISH UPRISING AND KURDISTAN’S NATIONALIST SHOP FRONT AND ITS NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE BAATHIST/FASCIST REGIME (plus an account of the workers’ councils), 1991 | Primitive Rebels or Revolutionary Modernizers? The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in Turkey, Paul J White, Zed Books, 2000 | Sheri Laizer interviews Dr. Paul White, KurdishMedia.com, April 6, 2001 | Kurds continue the struggle for an independent state, Tracy Bowden, The 7.30 Report, March 28, 2003.

Bonus Terrorism ‘PKK Propaganda’!

Turkey Accused of Using Chemical Weapons against PKK
Daniel Steinvorth and Yassin Musharbash
Spiegel Online
August 12, 2010

German experts have confirmed the authenticity of photographs that purport to show PKK fighters killed by chemical weapons. The evidence puts increasing pressure on the Turkish government, which has long been suspected of using such weapons against Kurdish rebels. German politicians are demanding an investigation.

It would be difficult to exceed the horror shown in the photos, which feature burned, maimed and scorched body parts. The victims are scarcely even recognizable as human beings. Turkish-Kurdish human rights activists believe the people in the photos are eight members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) underground movement, who are thought to have been killed in September 2009.

In March, the activists gave the photos to a German human rights delegation comprised of Turkey experts, journalists and politicians from the far-left Left Party, as SPIEGEL reported at the end of July. Now Hans Baumann, a German expert on photo forgeries has confirmed the authenticity of the photos, and a forensics report released by the Hamburg University Hospital has backed the initial suspicion, saying that it is highly probable that the eight Kurds died “due to the use of chemical substances.”

Did the Turkish army in fact use chemical weapons and, by doing so, violate the Chemical Weapons Convention it had ratified?

Posted in Broken Windows, History, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Joffa The Movie

Posted on August 19, 2010 by @ndy

GO PIES!

Posted in Collingwood, Film | Tagged | Leave a comment