On December 10, 2009, a gig took place in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick.
The gig featured a dozen or so punk bands.
One of the bands scheduled to play was ‘The Worst’.
As it happens, ‘The Worst’ did not play, having been dropped from the bill.
There were several reasons for ‘The Worst’ being dropped.
1) ‘The Worst’ are one of the bands who scabbed on the community boycott of The Birmy.[1]
2) The vocalist for ‘The Worst’, known as Chunga, had previously expressed very strong opposition to the boycott — and his contempt for the “wankers” and “cocksuckers” (et cetera) who joined it — on his blog.
All these tossers that care sooo much about shutting down The Birmy need to get a fucking life!!! Them accusing us [of] supporting racists for playing at a pub… is no better than being a [N]azi! […] The crusty wankers who think they’re so good for being anti-racist are no fucking better than the [N]azis… They think they’re better than everybody!!! And they dislike anyone who doesn’t share their beliefs… Fuck off you cocksuckers and get a life!!!
Anyway… anarchy is a fag… that’s all I have to say to you Mr Moran… See how fast words travel my friends? Be careful what you write on the internet… Coz you never know when some stalker is gonna put it on there [sic] website. Thanx to the people who have supported us… and to the random [sic] people letting us know about this anarchist knobjockey Mr Moran…
“Mr Moran” is a reference to the anarchist and anti-fascist blogger ‘slackbastard’. The claim he is ‘Andrew Moran’ originates among Australian neo-Nazis, and has been in circulation since late 2005/early 2006.
As it happens, a number of anarchists took part in organising the gig. In light of the above — the status of ‘The Worst’ as scabs; Chunga’s drawing of a political equivalence between supporters of the boycott and Nazis, expressed contempt for anarchism and ‘fags’, and his repetition of a neo-Nazi rumour regarding the identity of a local, Melbourne anarchist — they decided to withdraw their assistance. This included the provision of a PA.
In conclusion: anarchists in Melbourne, including those who work in the music industry, have no interest in providing practical support to scabs or to groups and individuals openly hostile to anarchism. Put simply: if groups and individuals choose to support venues which provide a platform for neo-Nazism — such as The Birmingham Hotel when it was under fascist-sympathising management — then they should not expect anarchists (and other principled anti-fascists) to provide them with any form of practical assistance in future.[2]
[1] The other, Melbourne-based bands who scabbed on the boycott and who are still gigging are: Bulldog Spirit, Charter 77, Marching Orders, Napalm Hearts, Rankwaste, Scape, Slick 46, THC, The Boots and Wot Rot.
[2] The boycott was successful as it forced the fascist-sympathising manager — Gary Wayne Kitto — to leave the pub, following which new, non-fascist friendly management took over and revitalised it as a live venue. An indication of Gary’s political sympathies is demonstrated by, among other things, his decision to play songs by the US-based Klansman “Johnny Rebel” (Clifford Joseph Trahan) prior to the 2005 Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig. Johnny Rebel’s repertoire includes songs with the titles “Nigger, Nigger”, “In Coon Town”, “Who Likes a Nigger?”, “Nigger Hatin’ Me” and “Some Niggers Never Die (They Just Smell That Way)”. (Source: ‘B&H Australia I.S.D Sept 3, 2005.’, Blood & Honour, Number 33.)
On December 11, 2009, the Berlin District Court decided that the Free Workers’ Union Berlin (FAU-B) could no longer call itself a union or grassroots union. The court decision was confirmed on January 5, 2010. This is the culmination of a series of attempts by the Neue Babylon Berlin GmbH to legally hogtie the strongest and most active form of workers’ representation in the company.
This attack on the basic right of freedom of association is a de facto ban of the union. The way we see it, it is the workers who decide how they want to organise. If it isn’t overturned, this verdict will not only represent an affront against the FAU-B but also against any form of independent grassroots organising.
Prospective Australian citizens will start started sitting the new citizenship test from today October 19, 2009.
To find out how well your listeners readers of slackbastard would go in the test, a sample of questions similar to those used in the test are included.
The new 20 multiple-choice questions test is not easier than the old one but it is fairer; mandatory questions have been removed giving equal weight to every question in the test, and the extent to which former PM John HoWARd’s obsessive pre-occupation with Sir Donald Bradman has corrupted the test has been severely curtailed.
The test assesses prospective new citizens on their understanding of Australian civics, the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, and the possibility of their refusing to obey orders issued by Australian authorities.
Topics include Australia’s democratic beliefs, laws and government as well as the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship and the penalties attached to a refusal to obey orders issued by Australian authorities.
All test questions were initially drawn on a paper napkin by a handful of highly-placed and quite inebriated public servants during the course of an extended lunch-break, and later re-written by some underlings to compose the testable section of the revised citizenship test resource book, Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bondage, which can be found on the citizenship website.
Do you have an adequate knowledge of Australia, the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship and the penalties attached to a refusal to obey orders issued by Australian authorities? Let your listeners readers of slackbastard test themselves today, on air the ah, Internets!
1. What do we remember on Anzac Day?
a. The landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli
b. The arrival of the first free settlers from Britain
c. The landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove
d. Colonial Australia’s love-hate relationship with British imperialism
2. What are the colours of the Australian Aboriginal Flag?
a. Black, red and yellow
b. Green, white and black
c. Blue, white and green
d. What flag?
3. Which official symbol of Australia identifies Commonwealth property?
a. The national anthem
b. Australia’s national flower
c. Commonwealth Coat of Arms
d. A gun
4. Which of these is an example of freedom of speech?
a. Newspapers can write about any topic
b. Men and women are treated equally in a court of law
c. Australians are free to not follow a religion
d. Alan Jones
5. Which of these is a responsibility of Australian citizens aged 18 years or over?
a. To attend local council meetings
b. To vote in elections
c. To have a current Australian passport
d. To not think too long or hard
6. Which of these statements about passports is correct?
a. Australian citizens can apply for an Australian passport
b. Permanent residents can hold an Australian passport
c. Australian citizens need a passport and visa to return to Australia
d. You can buy anything if the price is right
7. What happened in Australia on 1 January 1901?
a. The Australian Constitution was changed by a referendum
b. The Australian Constitution came into effect
c. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was formed
d. Something rotten
8. What is the name of the legal document that sets out the rules for the government of Australia?
a. The Australian Federation
b. The Australian Commonwealth
c. The Australian Constitution
d. The Golden Rule
9. Which of these is a role of the Governor-General?
a. The appointment of state premiers
b. The signing of Bills passed by the Australian Parliament
c. The appointment of the Head of State
d. The symbolic maintenance of an archaic legal system rooted in British feudalism
10. Which of these statements about state governments is correct?
a. All states have the same constitution
b. Each state has its own constitution
c. The states have no constitution
d. The abolition of the state would constitute a marked advancement in human progress
Outrage over anti-immigration leaflet
Rosie Lewis The Sydney Morning Herald
January 22, 2010
ANTI-IMMIGRATION leaflets posted in letterboxes in the inner-west have outraged ethnic community leaders and a senior Federal Government official.
The leaflets read: ”600,000 immigrants arrived in the last 4 years. That’s more than Tasmania. More than Aborigines. More than Newcastle. More than we need.”
They are part of a campaign led by an anonymous group identified only by a triangular design in the bottom right corner of the leaflet.
The chairman of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia, Pino Migliorino, questioned the leaflet’s intentions. “It’s really interesting that in the lead-up to Australia Day you get such vagrant behaviour … It’s a day that’s supposed to unite us and it becomes a day that can manipulate.”
Mr Migliorino said the nation’s leaders should stand up for migrants. “The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister need to take the front foot and show they appreciate migration … What we need to do is actively seek to lessen the incidence of racist violence.”
But the parliamentary secretary for Multicultural Affairs, Laurie Ferguson, said the Government supported immigrants. “The Prime Minister recently announced … a belief in Australia having a larger population.”
Mr Ferguson said the information on the leaflet misrepresented the attitudes of Australians.
The chairman of the Ethnic Affairs Commission of NSW, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said Australia Day should be about celebration, not racism. A recent survey by the Scanlan Foundation found 60 per cent of people supported the migration level.
Note:
A story regarding the silly leaflet in question was written by Ebs and published in the Life in Chippendale blog on Monday, January 11.
The leaflet, as noted by Life in Chippendale, is the second in a possible series, the first being distributed in November 2009.
Both leaflets have been distributed in the vicinity of Humanist House, which for the past eight years has hosted meetings of a fascist group. These meetings, conducted under various names and in various guises, were suspended only a few weeks ago, after public protests in October and November, and some turmoil within the group which owns and manages the building: the NSW Humanist Society. While there has been one article (The Sydney Morning Herald, November 15, 2009) in the press about this issue, the real story is the campaign of fascist infiltration of the Society, and the election of a range of colourful characters on to its Committee of Management…
See also : The website of Robbie Thorpe, committed activist on issues relating to Australian history, Indigenous sovereignty, lack of treaty, land-rights justice, genocide and national denial. Robbie is from the Krautungalung people of the Gunnai Nation, the traditional owners of Lake Tyers, Victoria | Support the Walk Off : January 26, 2010.
So a significant number of the ultras (ultra/beyond/fanatic — sometimes tragic) who follow Melbourne Knights/Croatia are fascist; tho’ the occasional conflict between rival football/soccer fans in Australia is more often a product of ethnic or national rivalry as it is a ‘political’ (or simply sporting) dispute.
…Across Europe, the story’s the same. There’s the ‘Old Firm’ derby in Glasgow, which pits the predominantly Catholic side, Celtics, against the mostly Protestant side, Rangers.
There are the bands of ‘Ultras’ in Italy who abide by the far right politics of Italy’s Northern Alliance and routinely direct racist chants at black players and maliciously throw them bananas.
Even the United States, so safe from soccer’s influence for so long, is getting into the act. Groups like the New York Red Bull’s Red Skins, a group of socialist-anarchist skinheads, have garnished a reputation for brawling with stadium authorities. Fans of Ohio’s very own Columbus Crew fought with supporters from England’s West Ham United during a friendly match in 2008.
Why soccer and not other team sports? Maybe it is the popularity of the game that causes people to rally. But it is clear that the politics of the game is going a long way into making what is dubbed the “beautiful game” into an ugly sport.
I haven’t looked closely, but I can find no trace of the New York Red Bulls ultras. Still, there’s the New Yawk-based RASH-Northeast, The Partisans in Chicago, redskins in Colombia (Bogota), redskins in Russia and of course St Pauli.
Life may scatter us and keep us apart; it may prevent us from thinking very often of one another; but we know that our comrades are somewhere “out there” – where, one can hardly say – silent, forgotten, but deeply faithful. And when our path crosses theirs, they greet us with such magnificent joy, shake us so gaily by the shoulders! Indeed we are accustomed to waiting. – Antoine Saint Exupery, Wind, Sand and Stars
No place here for nationalist thuggery
Selma Milovanovic The Age
January 19, 2010
“A festival of primitivism.” This is how a picture caption in today’s Jutarnji List, the best-selling tabloid in Croatia, summed up this year’s instalment of ethnic violence at the Australian Open, where a group of young Croatian-Australians gave the Nazi salute and chanted fascist slogans as they spat on a press photographer.
The mob, who were ejected for disruptive behaviour and smuggling flares into Melbourne Park on the first day of play, seemed to have learned nothing from past years…
In response, a few points.
First, there’ll always be a place for nationalist thuggery: where would the state be without it?
Secondly, there have been much better festivals of primitivism than the Australian Open.
Thirdly, Croatian fascism has a long and proud history in post-WWII Australia, one that has involved close links with mainstream conservative politics, and which extended — in the early 1970s in particular — to the use of terrorism.
Of the mainstream, perhaps the most remarkable convergence of interests has been between local anti-Communist/fascist Croats and the Liberal Party, in particular its NSW branch. The key figure in this story is — or rather was — the former Nazi propagandist Ljenko Urbančič. Urbančič carved out a highly successful career in the NSW Liberal Party, forming and heading the faction within it known as the Uglies, one which continues to play a dominant role. Until recently, the faction was led by The Hon. David John Clarke, MLC (2003–), for whom Urbančič was a mentor and close ally. Clarke has, in turn, performed the same role in relation to Alex Hawke, currently — and with the full endorsement of former Tory PM John HoWARd — the Federal Member for Mitchell (one of the safest Tory seats in the country). Hawke previously served as an adviser to Clarke, as well as former Communications Minister Helen Coonan.
And while Communism collapsed some 20 years ago now, the flirtation with Croatian fascism has not, with Coonan, Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, as well as Clarke, attending a commemoration in 2007 of Croatia’s inglorious independence in 1941: seeDr. Cam on Helen Coonan’s fascist flirtation (May 3, 2007). Note that, in September 2007, the Eastwood RSL played host to Croatian ‘New Right’ intellectual Tomislav Sunic (who appeared as part of the fascist ‘Sydney Forum’). Locally, the Melbourne Croatia Social Club played host to a neo-Nazi gig in October 2007, and a few months later, Festival Hall was the venue for the ‘controversial’ Thompson (aka Marko Perković). A thinker as well as a musician and singer/songwriter, in 2004 Thompson was barred from performing in Amsterdam. In response, Perković stated: “I have nothing against the Jews, but neither did Jesus Christ, yet still they crucified Him.”
As for Croatian fascism in Australia, the late Denis Freney provides the following account; on Croatian terrorism, see: ‘Firebombs and fascists’, Jeff Sparrow and Jill Sparrow, Radical Melbourne 2, Vulgar Press, 2004, pp.147–151.
The HDP (Croatian Movement for Statehood) never hid its admiration for the Ustasha puppet regime established after Hitler’s troops conquered Croatia and the rest of Yugoslavia in 1941. Like other Ustasha groups in the West, it celebrated April 10, the date the neo-Nazi regime was established. It glorified the Ustasha fuehrer Pavelic and General Luburic who were responsible for the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats.
The HDP leader was Nicola Stedul, who left Yugoslavia in 1956 for West Germany to join the movement headed by Pavelic and later a rival one, the HNO (Croatian National Resistance) headed by Lubiric. He was an HNO representative in Australia from 1966 to 1971, a time when the HNO and other radical Ustasha groups carried out a series of bomb attacks. The then Liberal Government and ASIO outrageously covered up for those responsible for these bombings. The SWP at the time condemned these terrorist attacks.
The HNO, which later became the HDP, was also on record as carrying out numerous terrorist attacks in Western Europe. In one attack, HDP hero, Miro Baresic, assassinated the Yugoslav Ambassador in Sweden in 1971. He was released the following year when Ustasha terrorists hijacked a jet. He went to Spain, then Paraguay, where he joined the death squads of the dictator Stroesner. Baresic was arrested in the USA by the FBI and returned to prison in Sweden.
The neo-Nazi credentials of the HDP were as clear as a pike-staff. But they also tried to woo the left. Stedul formed the “Socialist Party of Croatia” in exile precisely for the purpose. In Australia, they approached Left Labor figures …and the SWP. Only the SWP welcomed them.
In 1982, the HDP tried to march on May Day in Melbourne and received a hostile reception. The SWP took up their cause and for the next few years campaigned vigorously on their behalf against every other section of the left and progressive movement who pointed out the HDP’s attitude to the Ustasha and its terrorist and neo-Nazi links. It was pointed out that in the early 1970s, war criminals here such as Srecko Rover tried to woo the Left and that early Ustasha and then the HDP had a well documented record of trying to woo the Soviets ever since the Tito split with Stalin in 1948.
What were the reasons for the SWP’s blind endorsement of these Ustasha? SWP leader David Holmes wrote in August 1983 that “the HDP leaders are revolutionaries…As a result of the collaboration between the HDP and the SWP and also through the development of the class struggle in this country, many more Croatians will come to see the need to build a revolutionary workers’ party here and fight to overthrow capitalism.”
It is easy to see the very special “entrism” involved here. It is into a whole community – there were then over 150 000 Croatian migrants in the Australian workforce. The HDP had some support among them. By “collaborating” with them, the SWP hoped to recruit among that community which would see the need for a “revolutionary workers’ party” (that is, naturally the SWP/DSP). It is a very big raiding party involved; a couple of hundred SWPers taking over the Croatian community… Such is the stuff of dreams!
Enough then to ignore what the HDP actually wrote about the Ustasha regime, enough to even lionise the terrorist neo-Nazi Baresic in the columns of Direct Action (now “Green Left Weekly”).
The SWP did recruit a few HDP members into their ranks, but after all their abject apologising for the HDP, its leaders here soon broke off links with the SWP, precisely because the SWP was trying to recruit its members. Even then, the SWP refused to criticise the HDP or admit its error, speaking of it following a “rightwing drift” in 1984, although its extreme-right credentials were available well before.
See also : Joan Coxsedge, Ken Coldicutt and Gerry Harrant’s Rooted in Secrecy: the clandestine element in Australian politics, esp. ‘One, Two, Three — Ustasha Are We!’, pp.43-59.
That the guitarist and vocalist for neo-Nazi ‘skinhead’ band Kill Baby Kill (KBK), Dieter Samoy, is dead is not exactly news: he hanged himself last week. But it is news for some in Belgium:
KBK toured Australia in late 2008, and recorded songs with local (Melbourne) bonehead Jesse !@#$%^&* including the smash hit ‘Oh no here comes an Abo’. Sadly, the song has been temporarily removed from the roster of tens of thousands of neo-Nazi toons on YouTube, but Jesse himself has a channel, genocidal88, which has many other fine examples of his work.
The tour was organised by local neo-Nazis belonging to Blood & Honour and the Hammerskins. Justin O’Brien — the Victorian state representative for B&H — was a big help, as was Jesse !@#$%^&* (a Hammerskin). Jesse will be prancing about on stage on the Gold Coast with other neo-Nazis on April 17, 2010, in a tour being touted as being bigger than Ben Hur. When he’s not trying to find me and killkiss me, Justin may be found @ Hold Fast Body Art in Burwood.
Those of you from Göttingen or surrounding areas might remember the name from the planned, but stopped, concert at the „Moonlight“ strip club in the city a couple of years ago. All the whining and complaining about not being racists, not having anything to do with fascists, and being poor victims of the big bad antifa PC police, well…turns out „Kill Baby Kill“ were not only racists, but cowards as well.
Dieter Samoy, aged 28, was convicted on January 12th of a racist aggression against a man of Togolese origin and his friend in the proximity of the infamous „Kastelein“ bar in Bruges. The man spent over a month in a coma, and finally died almost a year later due to a pulmonary infection.
Not one hour after learning of his conviction to two years in prison (yes, only two!) good old Dieter committed suicide. He will be missed by nobody except a bunch of cowardly racist drunks in a shitty bar in Belgium (and some people in Göttingen). And speaking of the cowards from the shitty bar in Belgium…its really impolite to keep people waiting for you for so long after you open your mouth so wide about „killing the reds.“ But dont worry…we can come back whenever you want! 🙂
I previously mentioned a review of the “Chomsky/Cambodia” debate. For those not familiar with this eternally recurring ideologically-driven nightmare, Noam Chomsky, internationally the most respected intellectual in the world (if one is to judge by citation, a common measure), is repeatedly accused of having been a Khmer Rouge apologist during the years 1975-1979. It is implied in most of these critiques that Chomsky’s immense influence with US architects of foreign policy somehow made the suffering of Cambodians under Pol Pot’s frankly evil regime worse. Horse-hockey. Here is the latest set of articles in this debate. If you read any of them, please do yourself a favor and read all of them, and to very carefully weigh the arguments made by each, and consider what position is more solid. I know my answer, but I’m convinced that the silly ad hominems and pseudo-moralism passing for serious discussion and debate is not worthwhile, and that careful, personal examination of the real facts is more persuasive.
1) Chomsky is essentially soft on rightwing militia depending on where they come from;
2) Chomsky supports the increase of guns and armaments into a volatile region of the world, the Middle East;
3) Chomsky wouldn’t support the arming of rightwing militia in the United States, because that’s a bit too close to home, yet he’s happy for rightwing militia in Lebanon to be up to their eyeballs in guns rockets and other useless killing machinery;
4) that is not the stance of a consistent intellectual, and certainly not the world’s greatest intellectual.
Two Greek anarchists are making molotov cocktails. One says to the other: "So who will we throw these at then?" The other replies: "What are you, some kind of fucking intellectual?"
