Marwa el-Sherbini’s name has become synonymous with the cultural and religious fight ongoing in Europe following her tragic death in early July of this year. The courtroom stabbing at the hands of a German extremist, neo-Nazi, radical named Alex, left much of Egypt and the Arab world crying foul, saying it revealed the turn toward anti-Islamic sentiments in Europe. Small demonstrations were organized, the most popular received international attention, as Egyptians in Alexandria chanted anti-German sentiments…
Sherbini was killed only minutes after winning a court case against the man for defaming her after he had called her a “terrorist” and demanded she return home on a Dresden playground.
The murder stimulated a cultural battle between Europe and the Arab world, with a number of Arabs claiming the murder was part of a larger problem facing European society, namely, racism and hatred of Muslims and Arabs.
“We have seen that Europe is growing more and more conservative by the day, so the killing was a shocking example of what some people will do in order to try to make us go back to where they think we come from,” said 27-year-old German-born Hana Jabar. The Tunisian-German artist, who has lived her entire life in Berlin, says that there are undercurrents within society that are very hateful toward Arabs.
“They don’t realize that there are Christian Arabs, that many of us were born here and are German citizens. They fear what they don’t know,” she added…
One of the main factors that caused much angst among Egyptians and Arabs was the international media’s apparent lack of attention given to the murder. It was not until the anti-German chants began at the Alexandria protest days after the killing that major news networks began following the story. By then, it was too late, with Egyptians demanding a reason for what they called the “double standards” of Western news.
“If it had been a Chrstian white woman killed in an Egyptian courtroom, it would have been the lead story, then there would have been a discussion of how the Middle East hates America and the West, but in this case, there was nothing until a few Egyptians chanted against Germany,” said one Egyptian activist at the time, who was participating in the protests at German government buildings in Egypt…
Lethal Force Reporter: Quentin McDermott Broadcast: 26/10/2009
Reporter Quentin McDermott takes a detailed look at four incidents, in different parts of Australia, where people suffering mental illness or psychological distress died after being shot or tasered by police. Using exclusive interviews he details how in certain cases the victims had sought help at a hospital and then, having left of their own free will, were later shot dead…
The episode will include an examination of the circumstances surrounding the police shooting of Tyler Cassidy, the 15-year-old Southern Cross Soldier, in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote in December, 2008. His death is still being investigated by the State Coroner.
The subject of tasers — and more general issues to do with the use of force (both lethal and non-lethal) by police — is also being canvassed by Melbourne Cop Watch:
Melbourne Copwatch resists all forms of unwarranted police intrusion into the lives and activities of everyday people. We call on the Government to fund community services, not police. We need housing, not jails.
Melbourne Copwatch works, in a practical way, to bring the eyes, cameras and compassion of ordinary people to the streets to defend the rights of people to be free from unwarranted police harassment and violence.
We do this by the simple act of witnessing.
The simple act of witnessing and recording is profound.
Firstly, it has a deterrent effect.
Secondly, [it] provides support and lets people on the streets know they are not alone.
Thirdly, it provides evidence of the violence we know is happening to assist in any legal proceedings for the person on the street.
Fourthly, it lets the broader public know the everyday injustice that is the reality of street policing.
We need all of us to be involved in the project. Please join us.
I’ve received several thousand comments on my blog over the last few years (10,585 to be precise — including my own). A number of these could be classified as containing racist, fascist, xenophobic, or otherwise objectionable sentiment: homophobia, sexism, support for Carlton football club, and so on. Some comments have been made by openly fascist or neo-Nazi individuals; a number of these, quite frankly, suggest that the person responsible suffers from borderline psychosis.
Remarkable, I know.
Others express a more casual, otherwise unremarkable bigotry of the sort that underpins much of contemporary debate, especially — but not only — in the blogosphere.
At present, all comments are moderated, meaning that I am able to approve or refuse their publication. I adopted this policy in order to prevent my blog from being flooded with neo-Nazi trolls.
Of all the comments that have been submitted thus far, I’ve published the great majority. On a number of occasions, however, I’ve refused some comments publication: generally speaking, when they emanate from the same handful of trolls. In addition, a handful of formerly regular commentators — including one especially pathological anti-Semite — I no longer publish, partly because they write the same thing: over, and over, and over again. At other times — because they’ve been so delightfully batshit — I’ve published them (if only for my own amusement — the rabid anti-Semite in question reads like a deeply-disturbed neo-Nazi version of US feminist Mary Daly).
Some bloggers, including avowed anti-racists, allow open publishing, thus allowing for the expression of (often extremely vulgar) racist sentiment. Others allow no commentary. Most bloggers, however, situate themselves somewhere in-between these two poles, and allow for the expression of disagreement — sometimes profound disagreement — provided that this is couched in whichever terms the blogger in question believes appropriate to the conduct of ‘reasonable’ (political) discourse.
Recently, I received the following comment on my blog (one which, incidentally, follows closely upon several comments from an individual obsessively pre-occupied with the rather bizarre idea that the Nazi regime and the (Roman) Catholic Church are one and the same thing):
well the aboriginals have every thing. the whites work and the blacks steel. near my home the house had abos in it and this is the second time in 12 months they have destroyed the house. the GOV have been working on it for 4 months even putting new concrete floor in it replace everything and there not prosecuted. if it was me i wo[u]ld be in goal now. they steel mail broke my windows and the government is just saying nothing. its like the sudanese the government in my town have bought a lot of houses to house the sudanese families. as u know they are continuously pregnant get baby payments and go out prostituting. while there husband are dealing drugs. the aussies they have been WAITING FOR HOUSING HOMES for years have just been put back another 8 years because of these scumbags. they are givin $20,000 each when they come in each new cloths everything and r even sent to universities when us aussies cant afford to do this. the afg[h]anis jus[t] blow there boat up and rudd brings them straight in he is nothing except a low dog. when he [f]i[r]st come in he gave people stimulus money that was to make us think he was good but he never told us he was bringing in millions of immigrants in yes millions in the next few years, so i dont give a fuck no more i am a disabled pensioner and i i cant even get medical treatment so come on aussies have some GUTS AND DO SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING RIP THE GOVERNMENT OFF SPEAK OUT. WE DONT WANT THIS COUNTRY FULL OF SCUM MY SONS foreman WAS A SUDANESE AND TREATED LIKE SHIT AND WAS THRE[A]TENED WITH A BROKEN BOTTLE AT WORK AND HOW WAS THIS THE SUDANESE BOSS WAS A ILLEGAL POMMIE SO FUCK THEM TO COME ON RUDD HELP US WE NEED A REVOLUTION. COME ON U GUTLESS AUSSIES BEFORE ITS TO LATE. NO MORE IMMIGRANT FUCK THEM WAKE UP AUSTRALIA BY THE TIME THEY BRING THERE FAMILIES AND BEEN PREGNANT ALL THE TIME WE WILL BE LIVING IN BOXES AND THEY WILL BE IN HOUSES. RUDD IS A LOW LIFE LYING CUNT SO COME ON AUSSIES DONT FORGET WE HAVE BEEN BOUGHT OUT WE OWN NOTHING. CONTACT EVERYONE U CAN PUT FLYERS IN MAIL BOXES CONTACT MPS BUT DONT SIT ON YOUR HANDS. THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED IF PAULINE HANDSONE WAS IN. hey dont forget the fucken indians and chinese that are flooding in australia is full so fuck off ALL U FUCKEN WOGS.
The point being, I’m growing increasingly tired of such commentary. At first, I decided to allow such rank ignorance and stoopid because a number of similarly ignorant yuppies maintained that ‘racism’ was a simply a dark shadow of Australia’s past and, moreover, distracted from its gloriously un-racist future.
In the US, the Hollywood Nazis belonging to the ‘National Socialist Movement’ (NSM) are planning on holding a rally at the Arizona State Capitol on November 7, 2009. Which is not especially noteworthy, as the NSM regularly assembles tiny numbers of its members to wave flags in public (in Riverside, CA over the weekend, approximately 20 nutzis, with an Honour Guard of local police, faced a crowd of 600 counter-protestors — a few ‘Brown Berets’ managed to have a brief exchange of views), but their latest step on the path to seizing state power has finally — finally! — triggered the inevitable: the formation of an Inglourious Basterds bloc!
Word on the street is that ‘The Bear Jew’ will be the bloc’s leader…
On an even sillier note, earlier this year, Dr James Saleam — the leader of the ‘Australia First Party’ — was interviewed by Carl D. Thompson — Australia’s sole member of the NSM — on his radio show (January 10, 2009).
Previously, Herr Doktor provided the following, highly entertaining profile of silly old Carl. While ‘This article was suspended from [Saleam’s] site on April 3 2005′, it’s so entertaining that it really deserves to be in permanent circulation. Note that Carl got into heap ’em big trouble with ZOG — aka, the ECAJ — a few years ago for publishing some anti-Semitic batshit in the ‘One Nation Party’ newspaper; trouble which got him fired from his job and castigated in court (see : ‘One Nation’s publication of anti-Jewish material declared unlawful in Federal Court’, ECAJ, February 6, 2006).
Anyway, here’s what Jim had to say about Carl before they made nice and Jim was a featured guest on the Hollywood Nazi radio show:
Howl, You Bitch! Time For ‘Howlingdog88’ To Tell Us If He Is ‘Leonard’ The Pornographer, Mental Patient And Pervert!
Neo-Nutzi Brisbane Boss Won’t Last Long After New Revelations!
Jim Saleam
A neo-nazi meeting was supposedly held in Brisbane’s northern suburb of Zillmere on January 30. It was designed ‘to bring white nationalist groups together’ – and otherwise promote a new would-be fuhrer over some genuine youths. However, it seems these youth may get more than they bargained for.
Carl Derrick Thompson writes on Stormfront chat-rooms as ‘Howlingdog88’. He has just been booted from One Nation after his ‘clever infiltration’ caused the shutdown of the party paper, media harassments and other destabilisation. As he tells it, it’s because he has a ‘hard line’ and the ‘softies’ just couldn’t cope. That’s the old, old, story of the nutzi infiltration game. Recently, Mr. Thompson took charge of the ‘White Pride Coalition Of Australia’ (WPCA) Brisbane group after ‘Streicher’ resigned a while ago. The Zillmere meeting was Mr. Thompson’s way of entering into a wider circle – to pollute, twist and corrupt some youth away from any nationalist road – and into the dead-end of neo-nutzism.
However, the tracks are about to fall off his panzer.
Is Carl Thompson – ‘Leonard’? Leonard? Who is Leonard?
I have received from an official of the One Nation party relevant pages from Brendan Shanahan, The Secret History Of The Gold Coast: A Journey Into The Dark Side Of Paradise (Penguin 2004). At pages 118 – 123, we meet a character code-named ‘Leonard’.
His biographical details are identical to Mr. Thompson. ‘Leonard’ is described as follows:
He lives near the Gold Coast; He is married with three children; he was in the Army; he was into witchcraft in its’ ‘black’ and ‘white’ versions; he was a journalist; he was a Satanist; he had a penis enlargement operation; he sold Amway; he sold real-estate; he took a high dose of anti-depressive medication.
Those who know Thompson know these facts – and some others too. Quite clearly, Thompson is Leonard.
Mr. Thompson reveals himself as a man craving some sort of domination or “power”. Quite openly, he recounts that he was heavily involved in the pornography ‘industry’, producing magazines and consuming (sic) pornography himself. He wants to be better than those in the game whom he describes as “liars, thieves, scum suckers”. What disturbed me are the following quotations. The reader may judge them for himself.
“I mean women want to be tied up; they want to be dominated; they want to be humiliated and the politicians tell us they can’t. I think Hitler had it right when he said ‘Western politicians are all spineless worms.’”
This moral filth means that in the mind of Mr. Thompson his version of neo-nazism is on a par with lording over women.
It gets sicker:
“Yes, and my wife watches enormous amounts of gay porn. When I’m not home she watches a guy get butt-f***ed and pumps herself with a dildo. Good luck to her”.
Such a fun family! The children are also aware of father’s ‘business’. Have they been ‘introduced’ to it?
“My daughter, who is ten, told her teacher just recently. And she was fascinated as most young women are about pornography.”
Is Mr. Thompson worried about the criminal element and his business?
“If some organised crime heavy came to lean on me, [I’d] shoot him dead. I’d kill him and then I’d kill his whole family. The government spent a lot of money turning me into a trained killer care of the Australian army.”
Further research into Howlingdog88 reveals that he is a fantasiser of the first order. Carl Thompson is a manic depressive ([b]ipolar [d]isorder) who receives a Disability Support Pension. He takes his medicine, but in the case of any variety of severe [d]epression, medication is not always effective. I would posit a guess that Howlingdog88 is a personality-creation of the ‘high’ period (this period can last for a long time) in his cycle. Once this nutter crashes to earth again, any followers will be left high and dry.
Carl Thompson has phases in his political life in the past. He emerged in shadowy patriotic groups in the early 1980s, did nothing and drifted off. I met him just briefly on two occasions. He went through the groups, poking about to see if there was excitement to be had. But it was all hard work, so he wasn’t interested. Now with neo-nazism, he has a potential to play games, big note, dream in public.
For the nationalists however, this man is dead-dangerous to Australian ‘white nationalist and patriotic’ youth. I do not mean violently dangerous: after all, he was disciplined in the Army for refusing an order that involved hard work, but because such intellect as he retains can cause him to organise events and happenings which could lead them into the arms of the law. He could lead them into a few months of wild activity of no result. Obviously too, if this man is involved in pornography, the criminal element isn’t far behind. No youth needs this complicating factor in his politics!
Fuhrer? I don’t think so. We are dealing with another piece of pathos, part of the sick liberal-capitalist system in decay.
Hitler? Poor old Adolf might well have known how to deal with him!
Finally, note that AF declared in July, and again last month, that it was registering with the AEC, but the AEC has yet to provide any further details.
In the meantime, Saleam (“Saleam [Saa-leem],” I say, “isn’t a very European-sounding name.” “It’s pronounced Saleam [Sail-’em],” he says, correcting me. “Saleam.”) has been profiled in the Good Weekend, has spoken at the Petersham RSL, and last weekend jackbooted his way through Wellington (Aotearoa/New Zealand) alongside of the neo-Nazi ‘National Front New Zealand’.
Underage gig venues proving popular
Tessa Hoffman Northcote Leader
October 25, 2009
MUSIC venues popping up across Darebin are proving a boon for underage live music fans.
With the bulk of Melbourne’s music scene firmly centred around pubs and clubs, youths are increasingly flocking to shopfronts such as the recently opened El Joyero cafe, on [923] High St Thornbury, to get their fill of live music.
El Joyero is the third such venue to open in Darebin in the past two years, following High St’s Loophole and Barricade Books in the Melbourne Anarchist Resource Centre on [62] St Georges Rd, Northcote.
All regularly host all-ages shows where alcohol is not sold and a range of punk, hardcore, rock and folk bands play to crowds that usually average 50 people. Punters say the first thing they notice about the venues is their safe feel and community atmosphere.
“They are a safe space for kids,” said Jem Moloney, 24, whose punk band Fangs of a TV Evangelist has played at all three venues.
“The opportunities to see live music as a kid are nowhere near as common as they should be. So these places are often the first point of contact for live music.”
Moloney said liquor licensing laws made it “impossible” to stage all-ages gigs in pubs, so bands like his sought out venues such as Loophole.
Since 2005, pubs and clubs running events for under-18s must obey stringent conditions. These include removing all visible alcohol and related advertising and writing a safety plan outlining how young people will get home safely.
The events must end by 10pm and over-18s cannot attend.
Liquor Licensing spokeswoman Natalie Staaks said conditions were imposed after a series of violent incidents to “ensure young people can attend such functions and have a safe and enjoyable experience in licensed premises”.
Loophole caretaker Katie Pace said a collective of artists, musicians, anarchists and students opened the “explicitly not-for-profit space” in 2007, which now hosted all-ages shows most weekends. “We’re getting requests from (all-ages gig) organisers from interstate, even New Zealand.
“They say how thankful they are … it’s hard for them to find somewhere to put on all-ages shows.”
“So far there hasn’t been any dramas with the police, the gigs end by midnight … but if the neighbours said this is a problem, we would have to respect that.”
Northcote Sen-Sgt Michael Reeves said he was not aware of complaints relating to noise, street drinking or anti-social behaviour outside any of the venues.
But he said: “We would like the organisers to let us know (so we can) provide a patrol, for parents’ peace of mind … just to drive round and make sure everybody’s OK and neighbours aren’t being affected.
“Underage drinking is always a possibility where young people gather (and) that’s one of the things we would be mindful of if we patrolled.”
Brunswick’s Liam Osborne, who started going to all-ages gigs at Loophole when he was 16, said the shows “stopped me having to go to pubs and get turned away”.
While he had just turned 18, he still preferred their laid-back communal atmosphere over pubs.
“They’re just two different vibes,” he said. “All-ages shopfront community venues have a community feel. The band plays on the floor and there’s not an emphasis on alcohol sales as opposed to pub shows.”
El Joyero officially opened this weekend. Loophole is currently re-locating (from 834A) to 670 High Street — Barricade Books is also expected to re-locate to the new space at Loophole very soon. The Melbourne Anarchist Resource Centre is having an ‘Open Day’ on Saturday, November 28.
On Friday, October 30, the rigger Ark Tribe will face the Adelaide Magistrates Court to answer charges brought against him by the Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC). The laws prosecuted by this mob are undemocratic and pose a serious threat to our civil rights. They must be challenged and stopped.
Ark Tribe has been unfairly charged and he needs your support. Rallies are being held in almost every state, so please do whatever you can to attend… and bring your friends!
Details:
SA: 11am Outside the court at the southern end of Victoria Square, Adelaide NSW: 11am Sydney Trades Hall, 377 Sussex Street, Sydney QLD: TBC Outside Prime Minister KRudd’s Office, 630 Wynnum Road, Morningside TAS: 9.30am Outside the offices of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, 142 Elizabeth Street, Hobart VIC: 9.30am Outside the offices of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, 533 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Stand up for workers’ rights!
Support the rigger Ark Tribe!
From the Department Of Knock Me Down With A Feather comes shockingstunning news both shocking and stunning:
Far-right leader Kyle Chapman returns
Tim Hume Sunday Star Times
October 25, 2009
The face of the far-right fringe has reverted to form after publicly claiming to have renounced his extremist ways earlier this year.
Former National Front president Kyle Chapman told a newspaper in May he had made a faith-based decision to quit his leadership roles in far-right groups, and was focused on leading a “nice, peaceful life” in Hamilton with his new wife, a devout Mormon who had helped him reconnect with religion.
But just a month earlier, the father of five had founded a new far-right group, the Right Wing Resistance, in an initiation ceremony in Christchurch which involved members dressed in camouflage fatigues being “knighted” with a sword.
The group, which Chapman described as the “street arm” of his Nationalist Alliance, now claims to have members in five cities.
Chapman would not discuss the group with the Sunday Star-Times, but in postings on a far-right website has praised the Christchurch arm of the group for conducting “crime watch patrols” in east Christchurch, where some of its members had been attacked by gangs.
“The police and the system in general has all but given up on the poor areas and it is left to us to sort this out now,” he wrote.
The 38-year-old, once convicted for fire-bombing a marae, has continued to push the growth of his new group since moving to Hamilton from Christchurch in May, most recently co-ordinating a gathering at the Wellington Cenotaph yesterday for the far-right’s annual “Flag Day” observations.
Chapman was among about 30 members of the National Front and Right Wing Resistance in central Wellington yesterday. Left-wing counter-demonstrators stayed away this year to avoid giving the marchers a bigger profile.
Chapman has also been continuing his attempts, announced in January, to found a “European Nationalist land base” in Canterbury, appealing for donations.
“We will win the hearts of the people living there bit by bit,” he wrote. “To avoid it becomming [sic] a [sausage] fest we will look at supporting some Eastern Euro like minded women for the many single men we have.”
Mike Garrett, a Hamilton bonehead who described himself as belonging to both Chapman’s group and the National Front, said the march had gone smoothly.
“No opposition turned up, no lefties or Communists. We had a few people drive by and yell out comments.”
See also : ‘Former white supremacist turns over new leaf’, TVNZ, May 5, 2009. Asked why he agreed to appear on national television, Kyle states: “For me it’s mainly about being able to show a commitment to Claire and that I’m wanting to move into another phase of my life which is that I want to follow a more God-focused life. For me to be able to do that I need to put it out there exactly what I want to do.”
Funnily enough, reference is also made to Kyle’s online persona.
Presenter: Your brother, at the wedding, said to us, when we asked him about Kyle, said ‘He’s a really nice guy, until you Google him’.
[Laughter] Claire: That’s true. I have Googled him. Me and my friends sat round and we did that, and it was different… Presenter: Is it weird, you’re sitting there at your wedding, no-one from [Kyle’s] family at all in the wedding, knowing, a lot of those people — they’re your best man, a man that you really didn’t know — were probably thinking, ‘We’ve got to watch this guy. He seems alright now, but we’ve got to watch him ’cause we know what he used to be like’. Kyle: Well I don’t feel that. Presenter: But you don’t think Claire, seriously, that these people who love you, and who’ve known you for a long time, are not worried for you? Claire: They are worried for me, but that will be soon eliminated, that worry will just go over time…
The New Zealand National Front held their annual ‘Can you wave a flag in public?’ rally today in Wellington. Somewhere between 25 and 40 members of the Master Race demonstrated their prowess at standing around and waving flags to a small number of police.
In other news…
Nazi salute in park riles anti-racist campaigners
Matt Calman The Dominion Post
October 24, 2009
A photograph of a white supremacist raising a Nazi salute at a holiday park where they have converged for an annual gathering has angered anti-racist campaigners.
Supporters of the far-Right National Front organisation are staying at the Top 10 Holiday Park in Seaview, Hutt Valley, where it will hold its annual congress after a rally and march through central Wellington today.
Yesterday, The Dominion Post obtained photographs of National Front members inside the camp a year ago mixing with white supremacists wearing clothing covered in Nazi symbols and white power slogans. A National Front member is pictured in a group raising their right arms in a Nazi salute…
I’m not sure, but I think that the NZNF may be a small group of neo-Nazis.
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?"
