Dresden Calling

Posted on February 12, 2010 by @ndy
    Update : Court approves neo-Nazi march through the German city of Dresden to mark 65 years since the allied bombing of the city, Herald Sun, February 12, 2010: “THOUSANDS of far-right supporters are expected in Dresden tomorrow after a court authorised a neo-Nazi demonstration marking the 65th anniversary of the [A]llied bombing of the German city…” Not surprisingly, perhaps, the report fails to mention the measures German authorities are taking to subvert the counter-protests, including the attempted blockage of a website, raids upon organising centres, and confiscation of agitprop. Between 5 and 7,000 neo-Nazis marched in Dresden last year, protected by over half as many police.

On February 13 in Dresden, Germany, several thousand neo-Nazis are expected to take to the streets to commemorate the bombing of Dresden on that date in 1945 (Street Clashes Pending? Far-Right Gears Up to Mourn Dresden Bombing, Steffen Winter, SPIEGEL ONLINE, February 11, 2010). According to Winter’s report, nutzi rabble have been marching on February 13 since the late 1990s; I can find refs to their antics from at least 2000. In 2001, over 800 marched; in 2002, more than 1,000 goose-stepped along the streets of Dresden, while a similar number jack-booted the following year.

Antifa in Germany are organising various activities in opposition to the neo-Nazi rally, tho’ having some knowledge of the German language is a definite advantage in finding out what’s what and who’s who in the antifa and neo-Nazi zoos. See : Nazifrei! Dresden | 13. Februar 2010 in Dresden.

On last year’s fun and games, see : 10,000 Jackboots Makin’ Whoopee in Dresden (February 20, 2009). In that year, an estimated 5–6,000 neo-Nazis marched (accompanied by an honour guard of approximately 4,000 police), making it the largest such rally in Europe.

Note that NPD leader Holger Apfel gets a guernsey in Winter’s report, while two other NPD leaders have been denied entry to Australia in the past: Udo Voigt (2003) and Gerd Finkenwirth (2005). The pair were invited to speak at the annual fascist gathering in Sydney titled the ‘Sydney Forum’. Ironically, while nutzis like Voigt and Finkenwirth have been considered anything but kosher by Australian immigration authorities, the Returned Sevices League has been happy to host the various fascist bizarros who attend the Forum. In 2004, Bexley RSL was the hostest with the mostest tolerance for fascism; in 2007, it was Eastwood RSL’s turn; while in 2009, Petersham RSL made money from the approximately 50 muppets who attended: members of Australia First, Blood & Honour, “national anarchists”, New Right, Volksfront, and assorted other racist riff-raff.

Whatever.

Bonus!

I think this mob may belong in the Anti-German camp, but I dunno.

See also : Clashes mar Dresden bombing commemoration, Philip Williams, AM/ABC, February 14, 2005 | Neo-Nazi ‘national anarchists’ in Germany in the headlines (June 4, 2008).

Posted in Anti-fascism, History | Tagged | 8 Comments

My fellow Australians…

Posted on February 11, 2010 by @ndy

lest we forget
Feb 11th, 2010 at 1:05 pm

g’day fellow australians. andy, i’m not overly familiar with current anarchist doctrine, so i leave myself open to ridicule, but isn’t the underlying theme one of shared responsibility and communalism, without the need for a centralised authority dictating forms of law and commerce? if so, isn’t this a form of tribalism which merely encourages xenophobia? also, just like communism, it seems to forget that humans will be humans, meaning, some will take advantage of others. others will refuse to cooperate, and others will want to exploit the inherent weaknesses in the system to advance themselves and their allies. what occurred in soviet russia is a perfect example of this. i know anarchism isn’t communism but the point remains the same. it is an unavoidable paradox, therefore, that to create a utopian society you must create a police state to ensure it’s survival. finally, as a nonconformist, andy, where would your place be in an anarchist society? mate, i’m not trying to be a smart-arse, i just would like to hear your views.

Q. Is the underlying theme of current anarchist doctrine shared responsibility and communalism? That is, the creation of a society without the need for a centralised authority dictating forms of law and commerce?

A. I would suggest that notions of communalism and the sharing of responsibility are one of the themes which have animated anarchist theory, but that these are not unique to anarchism, nor what makes anarchism distinct from other political philosophies. For example, the idea that individuals have social responsibilities — that is, ethical obligations towards others — is the cornerstone of any moral or social philosophy. Beyond this, I think that the relationship between communalism, authority, the law, and commerce, is complex. So: communal forms of living vary considerably; not all forms of authority are illegitimate; economic modes and social norms do not always require — or do not always proceed from — clearly identifiable sources of centralised authority; “commerce” — insofar as this term denotes economic exchange, and also production — may be considered fundamental in terms of determining the central characteristics of any given society, but the relationship between what some Marxists sometimes refer to as the economic base and the cultural or political superstructure upon which it rests is also — complex. See : Karl Marx, Preface to ‘A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy’ (1859/1977).

Q. If so, isn’t this a form of tribalism, one which merely encourages xenophobia?

A. No, I don’t think so. But of course, the nature of the relationship between communalism, tribalism and xenophobia varies according to circumstance, and the nature of our understanding of such terms. Googling the terms ‘communalism’ and ‘anarchism’ for example, throws up Murray Bookchin’s essay ‘What is Communalism?: The Democratic Dimension of Anarchism’. Bookchin makes a number of distinctions in the essay (between ‘communism’ and ‘communalism’ for example), complains that in English-speaking societies anarchism has been shorn of its socialist component in favour of some variant of individualism/bourgeois liberalism, and argues that ‘democracy’ is not a form of rule to which anarchists should object, but the realisation of anarchy. Suffice it to say that: a) logically speaking, there is no requirement for any — and every — human community to be ‘xenophobic’ and; b) in terms of historical practice, the kinds of relationships that have existed between one human community and another, as well as the attitude these collectivities have displayed towards strangers, has varied considerably.

Q. Doesn’t anarchism, like communism, forget that human beings are essentially selfish, competitive, exploitative?

A. Leaving aside the distinction between anarchism and communism: no, I don’t think so. In fact, I’d argue the contrary. That is, proponents of anarchism, and similar doctrines, have almost invariably had to face such objections, and have been doing so for probably over 150 years. At the very least, I would suggest that what human beings are, essentially, is far from settled, but that in any case, the realisation of anarchy does not require human beings be angels.

Ken Knabb:

Some common objections

It’s often said that a stateless society might work if everyone were angels, but due to the perversity of human nature some hierarchy is necessary to keep people in line. It would be truer to say that if everyone were angels the present system might work tolerably well (bureaucrats would function honestly, capitalists would refrain from socially harmful ventures even if they were profitable). It is precisely because people are not angels that it’s necessary to eliminate the setup that enables some of them to become very efficient devils. Lock a hundred people in a small room with only one air hole and they will claw each other to death to get to it. Let them out and they may manifest a rather different nature. As one of the May 1968 graffiti put it, “Man is neither Rousseau’s noble savage nor the Church’s depraved sinner. He is violent when oppressed, gentle when free.”

Others contend that, whatever the ultimate causes may be, people are now so screwed up that they need to be psychologically or spiritually healed before they can even conceive of creating a liberated society. In his later years Wilhelm Reich came to feel that an “emotional plague” was so firmly embedded in the population that it would take generations of healthily raised children before people would become capable of a libertarian social transformation; and that meanwhile one should avoid confronting the system head-on since this would stir up a hornet’s nest of ignorant popular reaction.

Irrational popular tendencies do sometimes call for discretion. But powerful though they may be, they are not irresistible forces. They contain their own contradictions. Clinging to some absolute authority is not necessarily a sign of faith in authority; it may be a desperate attempt to overcome one’s increasing doubts (the convulsive tightening of a slipping grip). People who join gangs or reactionary groups, or who get caught up in religious cults or patriotic hysteria, are also seeking a sense of liberation, connection, purpose, participation, empowerment. As Reich himself showed, fascism gives a particularly vigorous and dramatic expression to these basic aspirations, which is why it often has a deeper appeal than the vacillations, compromises and hypocrisies of liberalism and leftism.

In the long run the only way to defeat reaction is to present more forthright expressions of these aspirations, and more authentic opportunities to fulfill them. When basic issues are forced into the open, irrationalities that flourished under the cover of psychological repression tend to be weakened, like disease germs exposed to sunlight and fresh air. In any case, even if we don’t prevail, there is at least some satisfaction in fighting for what we really believe, rather than being defeated in a posture of hesitancy and hypocrisy.

There are limits on how far one can liberate oneself (or raise liberated children) within a sick society. But if Reich was right to note that psychologically repressed people are less capable of envisioning social liberation, he failed to realize how much the process of social revolt can be psychologically liberating. (French psychiatrists are said to have complained about a significant drop in the number of their customers in the aftermath of May 1968!)

The notion of total democracy raises the specter of a “tyranny of the majority.” Majorities can be ignorant and bigoted, there’s no getting around it. The only real solution is to confront and attempt to overcome that ignorance and bigotry. Keeping the masses in the dark (relying on liberal judges to protect civil liberties or liberal legislators to sneak through progressive reforms) only leads to popular backlashes when sensitive issues eventually do come to the surface.

Examined more closely, however, most instances of majority oppression of minorities turn out to be due not to majority rule, but to disguised minority rule in which the ruling elite plays on whatever racial or cultural antagonisms there may be in order to turn the exploited masses’ frustrations against each other. When people get real power over their own lives they will have more interesting things to do than to persecute minorities.

So many potential abuses or disasters are evoked at any suggestion of a nonhierarchical society that it would be impossible to answer them all. People who resignedly accept a system that condemns millions of their fellow human beings to death every year in wars and famines, and millions of others to prison and torture, suddenly let their imagination and their indignation run wild at the thought that in a self-managed society there might be some abuses, some violence or coercion or injustice, or even merely some temporary inconvenience. They forget that it is not up to a new social system to solve all our problems; it merely has to deal with them better than the present system does — not a very big order.

If history followed the complacent opinions of official commentators, there would never have been any revolutions. In any given situation there are always plenty of ideologists ready to declare that no radical change is possible. If the economy is functioning well, they will claim that revolution depends on economic crises; if there is an economic crisis, others will just as confidently declare that revolution is impossible because people are too busy worrying about making ends meet. The former types, surprised by the May 1968 revolt, tried to retrospectively uncover the invisible crisis that their ideology insists must have been there. The latter contend that the situationist perspective has been refuted by the worsened economic conditions since that time.

Actually, the situationists simply noted that the widespread achievement of capitalist abundance had demonstrated that guaranteed survival was no substitute for real life. The periodic ups and downs of the economy have no bearing on that conclusion. The fact that a few people at the top have recently managed to siphon off a yet larger portion of the social wealth, driving increasing numbers of people into the streets and terrorizing the rest of the population lest they succumb to the same fate, makes the feasibility of a postscarcity society less evident; but the material prerequisites are still present.

The economic crises held up as evidence that we need to “lower our expectations” are actually caused by over-production and lack of work. The ultimate absurdity of the present system is that unemployment is seen as a problem, with potentially labor-saving technologies being directed toward creating new jobs to replace the old ones they render unnecessary. The problem is not that so many people don’t have jobs, but that so many people still do. We need to raise our expectations, not lower them.

Q. Isn’t what occurred in Soviet Russia a perfect example of the intractability of human nature, and hence the impossibility of anarchism?

A. No, I don’t think so. Of course, much depends on what you believe actually happened in ‘Soviet Russia’. Generally speaking, the anarchist version varies considerably from that of the Bolshevik, and where the successful capture of state power by the Bolshevik (later Communist) Party is regarded by Leninists and others as constituting the essence of the Russian revolution, from an anarchist perspective it was the beginning of the end: the crushing of the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921, undertaken under the close instruction of Trotsky, constituting not a rupture but rather the final nail in the coffin in a logical and entirely predictable train of events. See, for example, Maurice Brinton’s (Christopher Agamemnon Pallis, December 2, 1923–March 10, 2005) The Bolsheviks and Workers’ Control: The State and Counter-Revolution (1970). There are many other sources of infos on the period, including accounts of anarchist activity, and the counter-revolutionary role of the Bolsheviks. See also : Anarchism & Marxism Part 666 (May 11, 2009).

Q. Given these facts, to sustain the existence of a utopian society, isn’t it necessary to create a police state?

A. No.

Q. What is the place of a nonconformist in an anarchist society?

A. That depends. I think some forms of conformity, like some social norms, are good and proper. A prohibition on the abuse of children and other animals, for example, is, I think, something to which individuals should, in fact, conform. Most of what is referred to as examples of ‘non-conformity’ is generally harmless, and concern matters of aesthetics, not ethics. As for my own place, you’d have to elaborate.

Posted in Anarchism | 18 Comments

Andrew Yeoman : BANANA split?

Posted on February 11, 2010 by @ndy

ZOMG!

Leading BANANA Andrew Yeoman has spat the dummy.

For those of you coming in late, BANA — the Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa Association Bay Area National Anarchists, most commonly referred to as BANANAs — is, or perhaps was, the name adopted in 2007 by a tiny group of white racist oddballs in San Francisco. Their mission, which they chose to accept, was to attempt to appropriate the most superficial elements of contemporary anarchism, and to use these to advance various otherwise routine forms of nationalist, racist and xenophobic sentiment.

Oh, and they didn’t like teh gheys too much either.

Apparently, BANANA’s three-year mission — to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations and to boldly appropriate symbology fascists in Europe have been using for perhaps the last decade or so — has become too much for Yeoman.

Maybe.

In a final missive so badly written it could’ve been penned by Richard Wolstencroft, Yeoman has a whinge, titles it ‘Calling it Quits’, and concludes “I’m not quitting. Not now. Not ever.”

Yes, he’s a complicated man.

In reality, what his long-winded complaint likely means is that BANANA will be replaced by Yeoman with some other vehicle, with a different name, but the same colour. In short, he’ll be back: like a dog compelled to eat its own vomit.

Beyond this, Yeoman’s disillusioned tractatus stultissimus contains a fairly typical array of activist angst: ‘I try hard but nothing seems to change’ / ‘Nobody seems to care’ / ‘I could be having funs rather than bashing my head against a wall’. The only other semi-note of semi-interest comes from Sydney-based neo-Nazi Welf Herfurth, whom Yeoman nominates as his mentor (as Herfurth once nominated Troy Southgate).

In response to Yeoman’s upset, Herfurth states that he regarded BANANA as the “spearhead” of national anarchism and its achievements as being “spectacular”, but otherwise counsels Yeoman to adopt a more realistic expectation of himself, what might be achieved by a tiny fascist groupuscule in California, and the (white racial) struggle ahead.

www.bayareanationalanarchists.com

In Australia, Geelong teenybopper Scott is presumably too busy trying to join the army to babble much online; the ‘Yarra National Anarchists’ — ‘Yarra’ meaning ‘Melbourne’ and ‘Anarchists’ meaning a racist boofhead from Tasmania — has returned to his natural habit (Tasmania); another teenybopper named Sam is valiantly battling the multicultural hordes from his home computer in Hamilton; and one or two other racists are occasionally offering to the world various retarded outpourings on a range of peccadilloes.

For moaron local franchises, see:

On ‘national anarchism’, see : ‘Co-opting the Counter Culture: Troy Southgate and the National Revolutionary Faction’ by Graham D. Macklin; National Anarchism (Again) (May 30, 2009) | The New Right in The Public Eye (December 18, 2008) | Anarchist statement on the New Right (October 21, 2007).

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Unions must leave Labor // “Tracy!”

Posted on February 11, 2010 by @ndy

ROFLMAO…

Unions must leave Labor
Dean Mighell
The Age
February 11, 2010

…Everyone will remember [Tracy], the highly stressed working mother who featured in the ACTU ”Your Rights at Work” TV ads. Well, [Tracy], if you still work in a workplace with fewer than 15 employees you can still be sacked unfairly and, worse, your basic award conditions have been reduced under Julia Gillard’s ”modernisation” program…

Note : Tracy’s friend made a full recovery. See also : Effectiveness of TAC ads questioned, Lara Sinclair, B&T Today, April 4, 2003. Peter Lewis, How unions brought the workers back to labor, Labour History: A Journal of Labour and Social History, No.96 (May 2009):

A second round of research was commissioned by the ACTU in August 2005 to develop the television advertisements that would drive these messages into the lounge rooms of Australia. It was here that the character that would become the poster girl of the campaign, ‘Tracy’, emerged. The construction was simple–a harried working mum was called into work at the last minute. She tells the boss she can’t, she’s got to look after the kids. The tension builds as she listens to the phone–“But you can’t do that? Really?”–then the tagline–“if you think the IR changes won’t affect you, think again.”

What was striking at the time was the resonance of this advertisement, particularly amongst women. It was realistic; they felt an emotional connection with ‘Tracy’. In filming the advertisement, film-maker Richard Keddie–a mainstream director who had assisted EMC for many years, consciously filmed the advertisement to reflect a ‘Neighbour’s style’ family drama. It worked.

Labor got re-elected. See also : “A dose of libertarianism would enhance our democracy” — and if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle. (October 20, 2009).

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics, Television | Tagged | Leave a comment

robert wyatt

Posted on February 10, 2010 by @ndy

this song is funny. i played it to celebrate my temporary release from high skool, altho’ the vers i remember is a little longer.

needless to say i failed, and was back the following year.

lol.

this one’s good too. “pigs? in there?”

lol.

“you say you’re self-sufficient / but you don’t dig your own coal.”
“you’re jogging into battle / waving old skool ties.”

lol.

see also : wyatting (vb): when jukeboxes go mad, ned beauman, the guardian, july 10, 2006.

Bonus video blocked in United States by WMG!

Posted in Music | Tagged | 2 Comments

And now the news.

Posted on February 10, 2010 by @ndy

How The News Is Reported

See also : schNEWS | The Dole Army : “If it wasn’t real, it would almost be comical.” (January 3, 2010) | Justin Sheridan : Australian of the Year (September 15, 2009) | Smash! Magnavox! Spectacle! Videocracy! (September 4, 2009) | The World (of G20) According To Paola Totaro (April 11, 2009) | Cobwebs for the rich… (May 18, 2006).

Narco-Mexico, Late Night Live, ABC, February 9, 2010

The estimated number of people who have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2007 stands at 9,903. Investigative journalist Colm McNaughton has just returned from visiting some of the US/Mexico border towns run by the drug cartels and he describes here the difficulties in telling this story. Colm’s program: ‘La Frontera: a journey into the borderlands of Mexico and the US’ will be broadcast in Radio National’s 360documentaries slot on Saturday 3 April at 2.05pm (repeated on Wednesday 7 April at 1.05pm). It’ll also be available as a podcast from 3 April.

See also :

Australia Premiere Film Screening : Corazon del Tiempo / The Heart of Time, Trades Hall, 7:00pm, Thursday, February 11, 2009 | LASNET | Angry White Kid.

No Olympics on Stolen Land | Olympic Resistance Network

The Olympigs are here

Roger Griffin. He has a blog.

Roger Griffin lectures principally on aspects of the History of Ideas relating to ideologies and values that have shaped the modern world.

He also writes lots of stuff about fascism.

A Supreme Court Victory For ISM Activists

February 10 2010 | Press Release: International Solidarity Movement:

APPEAL

Such legal challenges are important for the Palestinian non-violent resistance as it can determine whether or not Israeli occupation forces continue to use particular oppressive practices. But legal work is also quite expensive. The ISM is asking its supporters to throw fund-raising events to raise money to support the work of the ISM’s solidarity with the Palestinian movement against apartheid. You can donate by check, or online (via Paypal) see http://palsolidarity.org/donate for details and also : Welcome mat pulled from Israeli academic, Jason Koutsoukis, The Age, February 4, 2010 | Dear Mister Ambassador (February 3. 2010) | Abdullah Abu Rahmeh; Or: Stay In Your Home (If You Have One) (December 11, 2009).

FREE THE HIKERS

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal have been detained in Iran since July 31, 2009, when news reports say they accidentally crossed an unmarked border while hiking in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan near the Ahmed Awa waterfall, a local beauty spot. They were in a peaceful region of northern Iraq that is increasingly popular with Western tourists attracted by its natural beauty, traditional culture and long history. The three hikers, all graduates of UC Berkeley, entered northern Iraq with visas from Turkey on July 28 and had planned to spend five days visiting the area. A fourth friend, Shon Meckfessel had stayed behind in Sulaimaniya when Shane, Josh and Sarah set out on their hike because he was feeling unwell…

Bonus!


Brujeria – El Patron
Uploaded by Dagoba54. – See the latest featured music videos.

Posted in History, Media, State / Politics | Leave a comment

NUS

Posted on February 10, 2010 by @ndy
    Update : Forgot to add. Kids in America, Student Grant (from Sussex) and even students in the country that is Australia-minus-two-letters have been occupying themselves recently by undertaking crash courses in the nature of the repressive state apparatus. Several hours of free photocopying at the local student union after hours to Vulgar Marxism. See also : Really Vulgar Marxism.

Ah. NUS. Googling for something else, I stumbledupon National Union of Students in chaos as accusations fly (Andrew Crook, Crikey, December 18, 2009) — which, given that it appeared on December 18, and documents the squabbling that forms the staple diet of the student politician, isn’t exactly news.

But still.

Probing a little further, it appears that the failure of the Ballarat conference was corrected, possibly, by a further meeting on January 29 at the University of Sydney.

Labor factions almost destroy National Union of Students
Rebecca Barrigos
Socialist Alternative
February 5, 2010

Last December the corrupt and undemocratic practices of the student Labor factions at the National Union of Students conference in Ballarat led to the near abolition of our national union. After the supposedly left-wing National Labor Students (NLS) and the right-wing Student Unity faction collaborated to deny votes to NUS delegates from fee-paying campuses and give the right control over the conference and ballot for NUS office bearers, the NUS constitution had been so seriously breached as to require a special meeting of the union. This special meeting of NUS took place at Sydney University on January 29…

So: mad props to Labor students for trying, but greater effort is obviously going to be required before NUS is finally put out of its misery; thus ending its role as a sinecure for budding union bureaucrats and/or politicians.

Oh.

Wait.

Bonus!

Registration costs for the Conference were $725.00 (plus GST) for delegates, $825.00 (plus GST) for observers, and $925 (plus GST) for media observers.

ROFLMAO.

See also : Raising the blah, John Marsden, The Age, February 6, 2010.

Posted in Student movement | Tagged | Leave a comment

…you become a wanker!

Posted on February 7, 2010 by @ndy

LOL.

Fascist anti-immigration stunt thwarted by anarchist counter-demo in Athens, taxikipali, libcom, February 6, 2010.

From the Department of We Grew Here You Flew Here:

In a clear response to the fascist main anti-immigration slogan “You do not become a greek – you are born a greek”, the main banner of today’s counter-demo was “You are not born a wanker [malakas], you become a wanker”.

See also : Athens: a city unwelcoming to fascists…, After the Greek Riots, February 6, 2010 | Photos.

Speaking of wankers, another one For Dion:

Neo-Nazis arrested for train attack
Independent Online
February 6, 2010

Two young neo-Nazis have been arrested on suspicion of carrying out an explosives attack on a train in St Petersburg and possibly also the murder of a man from Ghana, Interfax reported on Saturday. The agency cited unnamed Russian security sources in reporting the arrest of the two, aged 19 and 20 years, who belong to a radical right-wing group. The neo-Nazi group had posted a message on the Internet claiming responsibility for the explosives attack on a train near St Peterburg’s Baltic Railway Station on February 2 in which a train driver was seriously injured. The same group had previously posted an Internet video of the deadly attack on the man from Ghana on December 25.

Bonus Bwian! The Gweek!

…c/o GiaNt… see also : 9 THINGS I HATE ABOUT ANTI-NAZI MARCHES IN LONDON, BEYOND THE iMPLODE, September 26, 2008.

Posted in Anti-fascism | Leave a comment

Deep veins: Australia and race

Posted on February 6, 2010 by @ndy

In denial over a deep vein of hate
Nick O’Malley and Matt Wade
The Sydney Morning Herald
February 6, 2010

The Indian media lambasted Australia as a nation of racists after attacks on their students – and they may be right. Nick O’Malley and Matt Wade report.

For almost a decade Kevin Dunn has gathered the most comprehensive data on racism in Australia. Each year since 2001 he has surveyed 12,000 people across the nation, digging into their psyches to tease out details not only of the racist attitudes they may hold, but the racism they feel they suffer…

Among other things, Dunn was “stunned” to discover that, “as a group, Indians in Australia perceived themselves to be victims of racism as much as the Aboriginal community” — which is “as bad as racism gets” in this country, according to the Professor.

And he certainly has a point.

But while this perception may or may not be correct, it certainly suggests very strong feelings on the part of Indians in Australia. Leaving aside the apparent wave of assaults upon Indian students in particular (and especially in Melbourne), O’Malley and Wade proceed to make reference to the existence of “nationalist” Australian Facebook pages — such as ‘Speak English or Piss Off’ and ‘F— Off We’re Full’ — as evidence of a more generalised, non-Indian-specific, racial hostility.

Speak English or Piss Off Because We’re Full of F—ing Racists… Or Something

‘Speak English or Piss Off’ has 58,673 fans, and is “For those who STRONGLY BELIEVE that the AUSTRALIAN way of life (culture, language, clothing, etc) should be embraced by all who set foot on her soil and choose to live here.” On November 23, 2009, the group had 23,448 fans.

The slogan ‘F— Off We’re Full’ has been circulating for some years now, but it gained added notoriety on Australia Day 2009, when several hundred yoof ran around Manly in Sydney: three in particular were photographed and had their img splashed across the media. A later phone call to a local Sydney radio station by one of the girls (see : Australia Day Corso racist displays: Sharon realises she’s busted, rings 2GB, Hoyden About Town, January 30, 2009) revealed a less-than-coherent rationale for the action: “Um, because we … we didn’t actually meant it, in … in a racist way at all? Yes, it was racist, and stuff, but it was for the peop – it – it – I don’t know how explain it. It wasn’t against anyone in partic – especially in Australia.”

While xenophobic sentiment has been a mainstay of Australian culture for most if not all of its history, the Facebook group ‘F— Off We’re Full’ has gone up and down like a yo-yo over the last year or so, in response either to some form of hacking by critics or as Facebook responds to media criticism it cultivates racism (in explicit contradiction with its TOS). Established in the wake of incidents such as the above it remains, more or less, under the control of Darrin Hodges, currently the chief spokesperson for the ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ (and, it should be noted, formerly an avowed anti-Semite and Fascist admirer).

Racism and the far right

Along with its chief rival the ‘Australia First Party’ (under the leadership of fascist veteran Dr James Saleam), the APP has recently declared its having reached a membership of over 500, thus entitling the party to formally register with the AEC and obtain access to the various privileges other registered parties receive. AF, however, is further along the road to registration, having formally submitted its application, which is currently being processed by the Commission.

All things being equal, both parties are likely to be in a position to participate in the upcoming Federal election under their respective party banners and, in the less likely event their candidates receive 4% or more of first-preference votes, to also receive government funding.

With the registration of AF and APP, the far right in Australia will have turned a new page, one which follows upon the decline and eventual dissolution of previous formations such as ‘Australians Against Further Immigration’ (AAFI), the ‘Confederate Action Party’ (CAP), ‘National Action’ (NA), ‘One Nation Party’ (ONP), and several other, tinier, and even more obscure fascist groupuscules. Thus, while Pauline Hanson remains a nostalgic figure for many — in her last tilt at Parliament in 2009 in the State seat of Beaudesert, Hanson received 5,998 votes or 21.25%, placing third behind the ALP and Liberal National candidates — as a figure capable of uniting the disparate elements which comprise White nationalism, she is a spent force; at the same time, while one permutation on the ‘One Nation Party’ brand is still formally registered, many appear to have lost their passion for politics, while some others have gravitated to either AF or APP.

The far right network also includes openly neo-Nazi organisations and networks such as ‘Blood & Honour’, the ‘Southern Cross Hammerskins’, ‘Volksfront’ and fascist yoof organisations such as ‘Nationalist Alternative’ and the handful of teenyboppers associated with the ‘national anarchists’.

The links between the memberships of the more openly fascist and neo-Nazi groups and parties such as AF and APP are many and various: that said, both groups (but APP especially — and probably more genuinely) have made conscious efforts to shed neo-Nazi imagery, and to disavow any such link (see, for example, Martin Fletcher’s re-modelling of his ‘Down Under Newslinks’ website). In AF’s case, this can assume some fairly comical forms. Generally speaking, the ‘white nationalist’ milieu comprises perhaps several thousand individuals, adopts a variety of attitudes towards economic and cultural questions, is often volatile (with some internal disputes, very occasionally, assuming violent and even murderous form), and is still to establish a viable street presence.

See also : Pride & Prejudice : Mark White investigates the rise of Australia’s far right… (November 8, 2009) | Dreaming of An Aryan Jeannie : Australia First, Australian Protectionist Parties (July 10, 2009) | White With Fear : Flagging A New Hate (June 11, 2009).

Australia First

AF is the leading fascist party in Australia. It’s led by a man with criminal convictions for fraud and for organising a shotgun assault upon the home of an opponent; invokes the Australian nativist tradition, and consciously models itself upon the German NPD. The Idealistic Faces Of “Australianism” (November 28, 2009) provides a profile of eleven leading men in the organisation; other supporters of AF have also gained notoriety. Disgraced neo-Nazi Nicole Hanley, for example, helped to organise AF’s last conference in September 2009, one proudly hosted by the Petersham RSL. Another neo-Nazi, Welf Herfurth, has a long history of involvement in the far right, both in Australia and Germany, and serves to provide another bridge between the German (and European) and Australian far right in terms of ideology, organisation, propaganda and even materials.

Most recently, Hanley has enthusiastically taken up the cause of the perennially beleaguered Australian cockie. On the world’s leading white supremacist forum Stormfront (‘Report from Farmers Rally in Canberra 2 Feb’, February 2, 2010), ‘BlueEyedBlonde’ joyfully recounts the presence of multi-millionaire shock jock Alan Jones at a rally in Canberra last week. (Besides providing an outlet for the endless complaints of several hundred local racists, SF is regularly used by Saleam/’radnat’ to broadcast his views and to attack his rivals on the far right; the administrator of its Australasian-based sub-forum is Perth plasterer Paul Innes/’Steelcap Boot’). In the universe of Australian nationalism, the Australian farmer eternally returns — despite, or perhaps even because, of the fact that Australian society is so massively urbanised.

Australia Daze

January 26 — the day on which Australia celebrates its Goodness / the commencement of the genocidal assault upon its indigenous peoples — was marked by the usual proliferation of Australian flags (and mimicry of the American tradition of placing a flag on every available surface). AF held a tiny protest outside the Caringbah offices of Scott Morrison, the Shadow Minister for Immigration & Citizenship. According to AF (Eureka!, No.211, January 29, 2010):

The kerbside protest, complete with picket signs and National, Eureka and Federation flags, attracted shouts of approval from motorists on the packed Kingsway. Both the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian gave the protest one-paragraph mentions in their reports of Australia Day in Sutherland Shire. Small mercies: probably at least 100,000 readers saw those small snippets. Members adjourned and met up with others for a BBQ and drinks. A large Australia First party banner draped over a fence on Princes Highway, Kirrawee, attracted further comment from enthusiastic passers-by.

Elsewhere, the online antics of AF have come to the attention of the rural press:

Refugee supporters receive hate mail
The Daily Advertiser
February 3, 2010

SUPPORTERS of Wagga’s African refugee community have become the target of “hate-filled” mail and phone calls from individuals claiming to represent the right-wing Australia First Party.

A fervent advocate of the region’s African migrant community, David Fletcher this week was shocked when a piece of unsolicited mail, purporting to be from the party, was delivered to his Forest Hill home.

Mr Fletcher, who has submitted several letters to The Daily Advertiser weighing into the debate surrounding an anonymous blog recently created by a Riverina Australia First Party supporter, said he was outraged by the contents of the letter…

Note that ‘AFP denies ‘hate-mail’ involvement’, The Daily Advertiser, February 5, 2010.

In drawing attention to the presence of black-skinned refugees in the Riverina, AF are hoping to revive an older tradition of racist antagonism, as well as draw attention to the use of non-White “contract labour” in rural industries. Ironically, AF also complains (Eureka!, No.210, January 24, 2010) that: “All those who favour contract labour and refugee privilege are lining up behind the local town political-economic mafias who prevail in many Australian regional towns. These little dictators take locals for granted and operate policies to their disadvantage.”

The irony here lies in the fact that party leader Saleam is himself the child of non-White migrants; further, “In a very working-class town, he was one of the spoilt rich kids” (see : Dr James Saleam & ‘The Audacity of Hate’, September 26, 2009).

Beyond this, AF is also attempting to capitalise upon the apparent spread of ill-feeling towards Indian students, boasting that ‘Australia First Grabs National And International Headlines In The Overseas Student Debate’ (Eureka!, No.212, February 1, 2010):

The Indian national magazine Outlook has interviewed Australia First in connection with its report “Do You Speak Australian?” This item dealt with so-called ‘racist’ harassment of Indian students in Australia.

As police are aware, the assaults and robberies directed at Indian students largely come from members of certain migrant groups – not Australians. If this is ‘racism’, then it is a different version of it!

But the issues are very complex and run very deep.

Has a member of your family not been able to get into a university or technical college?
Has a foreign student taken a job you or a family member might have had?
Why should foreign students get an education here, then “migrate”, displacing us from the careers and positions we should hold?

Of course Indian students and Indian contract labour have both been in the spotlight of late.
Truckies report that Indian contract labour is now employed by the big transport companies.
Building workers report the same on construction sites.
Standover rackets operate both in the student and contract labour industries and Indian criminals have murdered Indian nationals.
It is hot and getting hotter.
Australia First puts Australians first.

AF then republish a segment of the article, noting that “the comments of Australia First have been widely broadcast”, and objecting to the description of the party as belonging to the “extreme right wing”.

The article itself makes some interesting claims, including that Victoria is “crime-prone”, and that “33 Indians died in violent attacks between 2004 and 2009” (of whom “six died in 2009”) citing Federation of Indian Students of Australia spokesperson Gautam Gupta.

See also : Editor persists with claims of Australian racism, Amanda Hodge, The Australian, February 4, 2010.

    Benjamin Cass

    Also noteworthy is the appearance of Benjamin Cass, “who has worked with Indian students planning to come to Australia to study” according to Outlook. Cass is the former Melbourne University Student Union (MUSU) President (2000) who established ‘Victorian Student Housing’ with convicted criminal and fellow former MUSU President Darren Ray (2002) (see : A lesson in economics, June 16, 2007). Their company was the subject of complaints from the Tenants’ Union, the Indian students to whom they offered housing, and collapsed after being fined by the courts for failure to maintain rental properties in a fit state. In February 2008, Cass’ former business partner Ray was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to 20 months in jail.

    Ross ‘The Skull’ May

    As a further, curious aside: ‘Exhibiting artist Peter Milne, who also teaches in UQ’s School of Journalism and Communication, has created a new series that blends Queensland historical fact and fiction. In Dreams of The Skull, Dr Milne investigates the role of the far right in Queensland politics, presented as “fictional history” through the possible dreams of neo-Nazi Ross May, a.k.a. “The Skull”’; ‘The Skull’ has been serving as Saleam’s sidekick for the last 30 years, recently being spotted at a fascist gathering in September 2009.

See also : The KKK Took The Victorian Education Industry Away (January 9, 2010) | Victory to Terrie-Anne Verney! Indian students finally “get the hint that they are not wanted here!” (January 2, 2010) | ‘Bigots hurting Victoria’ / ‘Neo-Nazi skinheads party in Melbourne’ (September 16, 2009) | F*** Off, We’re Full (Of Terrie-Annes) (July 2, 2009) | Australia is racist / Australia is not racist. (June 28, 2009) | F*** Off, We’re Full (Of Shit) : Part the 2nd : Timmy! (June 10, 2009) | Australia, India, racism, students (June 2, 2009) | Careful, They Might Hear You (February 19, 2009) | “Fuck off we’re full.” (Of shit.) (January 28, 2009).

Posted in Anti-fascism, History, Media, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Return of the Son of Windschuttle & Bolt ~versus~ Manne

Posted on February 5, 2010 by @ndy

Bolt:

Manne still can’t find those 10
Herald Sun
February 5, 2010

Extraordinary. Five years after my challenge, Robert Manne still cannot come up with even 10 names of the 25,000 children he claims were stolen just for being Aboriginal…

Manne:

Comment: Keith Windschuttle
Robert Manne
The Monthly
No.53, February 2010

Late last year, to a strangely muffled fanfare from his friends, the third volume of Keith Windschuttle’s self-published magnum opus, The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, appeared. Its subject is the stolen generations. Windschuttle must have regarded its publication as urgent. This is quite possibly the first occasion in the history of publishing where Volume Three of a single-authored history has preceded Volume Two. While from a narrow political point of view Windschuttle’s book is probably irrelevant – most Australians have accepted the justice of the Rudd apology; most of the right-wing commentariat, with the singular exception of Andrew Bolt, have “moved on” – from the historical and ideological points of view it ought not to be ignored. The question of the stolen generations has been one of the most important fronts in the Australian History Wars. Windschuttle’s book is the most ambitious statement of the right-wing case we are ever likely to see…

Windschuttle:

Robert Manne: a case to answer
Quadrant Online
January 31, 2010

Manne should stand down for inquiry

Robert Manne, professor of politics at La Trobe University, should stand down from his position while an independent inquiry is conducted into his false claims about Commonwealth government support in the 1930s for a policy of “breeding out the colour”…

See also : Robert Manne’s open letter to Andrew Bolt (July 3, 2006; originally published in Crikey, June 29, 2006) | Windschuttle & Bolt ~versus~ Manne (February 2, 2010) | History Wars 3.0, Late Night Live, ABC, February 2, 2010 (Phillip Adams interviews Manne) | Stolen generations, Counterpoint, ABC, February 1, 2010 (Michael Duffy interviews Windschuttle) | The Michael Duffy Files / loon pond.

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