Violence vs. non-violence

Posted on September 17, 2008 by @ndy

NOW

Girl ‘carved swastika into hip’
Reuters
September 17, 2008

A GERMAN teenager accused of engraving a swastika into her hip and blaming the injury on right-wing militants has gone on trial in eastern Germany. The 18-year-old, known only as Rebecca K., had last year been hailed as a local hero when she reported saving a five-year-old from being pushed and shoved by four neo-Nazi youths, risking her own safety and subsequently being attacked herself. Despite public outrage and a promised police reward of €5000 ($7096) for any witnesses or evidence, nobody was able to back up her statements. “We have often had cases where individuals fake a chargeable offence, but this one is extraordinary,” said Lutz Hasselmann, spokesman for the district court of Hainichen, near the eastern city of Chemnitz. The girl became a local celebrity and was awarded an honorary medal for exceptional courage after she told police about the attack, which she said included cutting a swastika into the skin of her hip with a scalpel-like object. Nazi symbols, including swastikas, are banned in Germany. The girl had accused members of ‘Sturm 34’, a right-wing organisation which was last year banned by the state of Saxony, where far-right groups are particularly strong. Hasselmann said the lack of evidence caused prosecutors to doubt the young woman’s account. She is charged with making false accusations and lying to the police and public authorities, in a trial expected to last until mid-October.

THEN

…

Last month [November, 2007] a 17-year-old girl had a swastika carved into her hip by a gang of neo-Nazis after she tried to stop them bullying a six-year-old foreign girl. A pregnant Iraqi woman needed hospital treatment last weekend after being punched on a bus in Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt. In another incident, a group of German men attacked three men and a woman from Niger as a crowd of 30 people looked on.

In the meantime…

Extreme-Right Violence: Two Very Similar Murders Go Unnoticed
Sven Röbel
Spiegel Online
September 2, 2008

Two young men were killed in the space of only a few days in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The suspected killers are both neo-Nazis with previous convictions for similar attacks, and yet there has been no public outcry about the two cases.

When Rick L. died, in the bushes behind a bus stop in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, he had already suffered a martyrdom of countless blows and kicks. The 20-year-old art student was literally kicked and beaten to death by his tormentor. According to the autopsy report, Rick L., whose body showed substantial evidence of internal injuries, suffocated in his own blood.

A short time later Bastian O., 20, a right-wing extremist with previous convictions for similar attacks, was arrested and charged with the murder. Investigators believe that the deadly beating was triggered by the victim’s critical remarks about O.’s apparent far-right views.

The second murder occurred the next weekend, less than 50 kilometers (31 miles) away, on Aug. 24. Marcel W., who had just turned 18, was found lying in a pool of blood in the town of Bernburg, his body covered with knife wounds.

David B., another neo-Nazi with a criminal record for violent offences, was arrested and charged with the murder. The victim had been scheduled to testify last week against the 19-year-old right-wing extremist in an assault case…

The question as to whether the killings in Bernburg and Magdeburg will enter the crime statistics as being directly politically motivated is, in fact, irrelevant. The fact is that the two suspects were part of a radical right-wing environment that places little value on human lives, particularly those of the “weak ones,” and where an astonishing level of brutality can claim its victims at any time. Acquaintances describe both Bastian O. and David B. as “ticking time bombs” and say that it was “only a matter of time before something happened.” But no one attempted to defuse those time bombs.

According to a former classmate at the Sophie Scholl Secondary School in the nearby town of Baalberge, David B.’s right-wing sympathies began by as early as the fifth grade. That was when he first met his later victim, Marcel W., a slight boy from a troubled family who had been “nice to everyone” but was already the victim of bullying attacks in school…

Neo-Nazi Claims ‘Self-Defense’

David B. once again came to the attention of local police while still on probation. According to prosecutors, he brutally attacked his later victim, Marcel W., for the first time on Nov. 20, 2007. But prosecutors were unable to charge B. with assault because Marcel W. failed to appear on two court dates.

According to a close friend, Marcel was “terrified” of the neo-Nazi. She says that the boy, who was only 1.65 meters (5’5″) tall and had last worked in a bicycle repair shop, had hidden from the violent David B. in her apartment on several occasions. The court had scheduled a third hearing for last Tuesday, at 2:30 p.m., and had ordered W. to appear as a witness.

But Marcel W. was dead by then…

September 20, 2003: Ravenous, Blood Red Eagle, Bail Up!, Deaths Head and Fortress play the ISD memorial gig. A visiting member of the German NPD party donates a party flag, which Blood & Honour declares will be displayed at future events in order to ‘show our respect/support for our brothers in Deutschland’. Above: Professional Holocaust denialist Frederick Toben (left) and New Right/national anarchist Fuehrer Welf Herfurth (right) hold an NPD flag before the Sydney Opera House, 2005.

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | 1 Comment

Bonehead Goes to Jail For Attacking Dude in Dead Kennedys Tee

Posted on September 16, 2008 by @ndy

Bonehead sentenced to 30 years for attack on Davis man
Niesha Lofing
Sacramento Bee
September 15, 2008

A neo-Nazi skinhead was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his part in a 2005 attack on a Davis man.

Michael Rose, 28, received the sentence Friday from Yolo Superior Court Judge Kathleen M. White, who also presided over the convict’s trial.

Rose and Christopher Vochatzer, both associated with a bonehead gang, attacked a man in a gang-motivated assault on April 4, 2005, a news release from Yolo County District Attorney Jeff W. Reisig’s office states.

The two boneheads entered the Davis resident’s apartment and Rose used a metal pipe to prevent two of the man’s friends from stopping Vochatzer, who beat the victim with a baseball bat. The man was badly injured in the attack, the release states.

Rose and Vochatzer were retaliating against the man for wearing an anti-Nazi T-shirt.

Rose eluded law enforcement for nearly two years before being arrested in Montana in February 2007, the release states. A jury in March convicted him of assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of exhibiting a deadly weapon.

The conviction included enhancements for gang association, prosecutors said earlier this year.

Vochatzer was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 28 years in state prison for assault with a deadly weapon and other felonies.

Earlier:

COUNTY OF YOLO
OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY
JEFF W. REISIG, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Neo-Nazi Convicted of Assault with a Deadly Weapon

Woodland, CA – March 14, 2008 – A Yolo County jury convicted Michael Rose, 28, of multiple gang related felony offenses stemming from the April 4, 2005 attack of a 26 year old man in his apartment on “J” Street in Davis. Rose was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, burglary in the first degree, two counts of false imprisonment, and two counts of exhibiting a deadly weapon. The jury found that all of the crimes were committed for the benefit of or in association with a criminal street gang, neo-Nazi Skinheads.

More than 10 years ago, the victim wore a “Dead Kennedy’s” t-shirt displaying a crossed out swastika. In retaliation, Michael Rose and Christopher Vochatzer, both neo-Nazi skinheads, went to his apartment armed with a metal pipe and a baseball bat. Rose used the metal pipe to prevent two of the victim’s friends from stopping the attack while Vochatzer beat the victim with the baseball bat. Rose was on the run from law enforcement for nearly two years and was finally arrested in Butte, Montana on February 15, 2007.

According to prosecuting attorney Michelle Serafin, “Rose faces in excess of 31 years in prison for his crimes. Clearly justice was served by the jury’s verdicts.” Rose will be sentenced by Judge Kathy White at a future court date.

For more information, contact District Attorney Jeff Reisig at 530-666-8180.

Punk ain’t no religious cult
Punk means thinking for yourself
You ain’t hardcore ‘cos you spike your hair
When a jock still lives inside your head

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

Muslim Massacre

Posted on September 16, 2008 by @ndy
    Update : The game has also been picked up and re-published by a neo-Nazi named Col’n Campbell III in Adelaide (South Australia), who belongs to a tiny white supremacist splinter group known as the Creativity Movement.

    http://sacreator.com/extra/muslimmassacre.zip

From the Department of I-Want-A-Fatwa-And-I-Want-One-Now! comes this story about a game called ‘Muslim Massacre’, designed by some bloke from Brisbane.

Oops.

Said designer has since thought better of his game, taken it down, and issued an apology:

I would like to make a public apology for any offense that I might have caused through releasing this game, and to Muslims in particular. My intentions when releasing this project were to mock the foreign policy of the United States and the commonly held belief in the United States that Muslims are a hostile people to be held with suspicion. I would like to make it clear that I have never shared such a belief and my intention was to mock those who actually do believe these things.

It quickly became obvious to me that releasing this game did not achieve its intended effect and instead only caused hurt to hospitable, innocent people. I believe removing this game and website will do much more to attain my desired effect than leaving it on the internet, so I am doing just that.

I would like to ask for the forgiveness of Muslims around the world and to make it clear that I did not release this game with ill intent. So without further ado, I would like to say that I am truly apologetic for what I have done and will take full responsibility for all offense that has been caused. I can only hope that any further misgivings can be laid to rest.

Sincerely,
~ Sigvatr

Thankfully for angry Aryans everywhere, Martin Fletcher of Downunder Newslinks (“Australian news for White people”) has saved the game from oblivion by making a copy of it available to all and sundry on his own rather, er… “cranky” website. Martin himself is a former devotee of James Saleam, but is currently associated with the Australian Protectionist Party, whose disco forum he co-admins with failed Sutherland Shire candidate Darrin Hodges. (Note that APP aren’t exactly ‘down with Mohammed’). Martin is very fond of game-playing, and previous to Muslim Massacre, placed the laff riot that was the Cronulla 2230 game on his website (Cronulla game site gets zapped, Asher Moses, October 18, 2006).

    http://www.downundernewslinks.com/Cronullagame/boardgame.htm
    http://www.wpwwfiles.com/downloads/muslimmassacre.zip

Martin also reproduces a series of very funny cartoons on his site, originally produced by Tom Metzger‘s mob, White Aryan Resistance:

“Where they fail with words they excel with horrible, horrible racist cartoons. I know it’s wrong, but I found these cartoons hilarious, if only for the fact they were so desperately stupid. These guys should take Zack Parsons advice and come up with more creative racial stereotypes. However, I have to give them some credit; the racial slur “Moon Cricket” is one I’ve never heard before and find to be quite fascinating. It’s so zany how could anyone take offense to it? Anyway, let’s take a gander at some of these cartoons!”

    http://www.downundernewslinks.com/mediacenter/cartoons/

And have a beer with the Master Race.

Anti-Muslim computer game stirs wave of anger
Hannah Davies
The Courier-Mail
September 13, 2008

A COMPUTER game designed by a Brisbane man has caused Muslim anger around the world because it invites players to wipe out the followers of Islam.

Queensland police have launched an investigation into the game Muslim Massacre, which can be downloaded for free online.

    http://www.muslimmassacre.com/

Players take control of an American “hero”, are given “an arsenal of the world’s most destructive weapons” and are tasked with killing as many Muslims as possible, ranging from terrorists and civilians to Osama bin Laden, even the prophet Mohammed and Allah.

Britain’s Ramadhan Foundation wants the game banned.

“This game is glorifying the killing of Muslims in the Middle East and we urge internet providers to take action to remove this site from their services,” foundation chief Mohammed Shafiq said.

“This is not satire but a deliberate attempt to demonise Muslims.”

The game was created by freelance programmer Eric Vaughan, 22, who calls himself “Sigvatr” on his online blog.

Mr Vaughan, who works at a petrol station in East Brisbane, refused to comment when contacted by The Courier-Mail yesterday.

On his blog, he describes the game as “fun and funny” and says to his critics: “The Muslims represented in the game aren’t meant to be based on actual Muslims.”

Islamic Council of Queensland president Suliman Sabdia urged Police Minister Judy Spence to shut down the site.

“This is the sort of game which creates hysteria,” he said.

“It could lead on to other things if it goes unchecked.”

Ms Spence said she was concerned. “I am aware that the contents of this particular website have been brought to the attention of police, who are making an assessment as to whether it breaches any legislation,” she said.

See also : “Muslim Massacre” Surprisingly Found Offensive, kotaku, September 10, 2008 | ‘Muslim massacre’ computer game condemned, Josie Clarke, The Independent, September 11, 2008 | More evidence that satire doesn’t transmit over the interwebs, Charles Arthur, The Guardian, September 11, 2008 | ‘Muslim Massacre’ computer game blasted, AFP, September 13, 2008 | Idiot of the week: “Sigvatr”, Five Public Opinions, September 13, 2008

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Media | 25 Comments

From the Kitchen: sexism anarchism and men

Posted on September 15, 2008 by @ndy

A new zine by some anarchist men from across Aotearoa / New Zealand has just been published, put together by the Otautahi Men’s Hui and published by Katipo Books.

You can order copies direct from Katipo Books or download the PDF.

Editor: Otautahi Men’s Hui
Publisher: Katipo Books/Garage Collective
Release Date: 14 Sep 2008
26 pages

DESCRIPTION:
In what is perhaps a first for Aotearoa pakeha anarchists From the Kitchen is devoted to the discussion of anarchist men’s relationship/response to the feminist movement(s) and our own sexist behaviour.

Topics in the first issue include:
Me(n) and Pornography
Slugs in the Sandpit — The Gendered politics of the garden
Meat Robots Unite
Some thoughts on masculinity, authoritarianism and emotiomal intelligence
What is to be done — some reflections on current sexism in the anarchist movement

Posted in Anarchism, Sex & Sexuality | Leave a comment

“Nazi rubbish”: James Saleam is unamused

Posted on September 15, 2008 by @ndy

Wow. Steve the National Socialist (and Kitler — Sieg Miaow!) is a bona fide (local) celebrity.

Hitler stunt leaves Australia First cold
Mark O’Brien
St George & Sutherland Shire Leader
September 15, 2008

Voters at several Sutherland and Cronulla booths were confronted with a Hitler lookalike on Saturday spruiking the Australia First Party.

“Steve the national socialist” was the creation of a Sutherland Shire resident who visited at least three polling places clutching a poster of “Kitler”, a black and white cat with markings reminiscent of the dictator’s moustache.

“Steve” also wore a narrow moustache and a red armband featuring a swastika.

A satirical video of the visits was posted on YouTube late on Sunday night.

But the party’s Sydney branch chairman Jim Saleam wasn’t laughing about the stunt yesterday.

“There will be a complaint lodged regarding two men with a video camera who visited several voting places on Saturday,” he said.

“They have committed a series of electoral breaches, including handing out false and misleading information to voters.”

Mr Saleam said the complaint would include at least two websites the party believed were connected to the incident.

“There are a number of standard lines people tend to trot out when they want to oppose us,” he said.

“This Nazi rubbish is one of them.

“They went down like a lead balloon at most booths anyway, but it is actually quite a serious incident and we will be following through with a complaint.”

“Steve” said he had been inspired to make his video after reading about the party in the media and on the internet.

“Most people took it with a smile and a laugh,” he said.

“You can see from the video we approached it in a polite, non-threatening way.

“Some people were a little surprised at first but it was very clear we were being humorous about the whole thing and that was generally the spirit in which it was received.”

Check out Steve’s satirical video and tell us what you think. WARNING: The video contains images which may offend some people.

See also : Cats That Look Like Hitler! | Kitler sighting ar Petco!, reverie, September 7, 2008

Does your cat look like Adolf Hitler? Do you wake up in a cold sweat every night wondering if he’s going to up and invade Poland? Does he keep putting his right paw in the air while making a noise that sounds suspiciously like “Sieg Miaow”? If so, this is the website for you.

Below : ‘radnat’ (James Saleam) announces the Australia First Party’s campaign on the world’s premiere white supremacist website Stormfront. On The Jewish Problem, Stormfront moderator Jackboot writes: “Insofar as Stormfront has a policy, or platform, that platform consists of three major planks: First, we share a racialist vision for the general prosperity, security, and betterment of our people. From that commitment flows our most important message: we name the Jew as the deadliest, if not the only, threat to our existence as a race. Forge this message in titanium…”

For many years, Saleam has struggled to distance himself from his past and to recast Australian fascism as simple, unadulterated ‘patriotism’. In fact, the bulk of Saleam’s political activity is dedicated to just this mission: giving fascism a respectable face. Unfortunately for Saleam, his long history of involvement with neo-Nazi groups and individuals, criminal record in its cause, and total failure to repudiate racism and fascism, makes this a very difficult — in reality, impossible — task. Nevertheless, Saleam tries. Below is a list of his complaints to the Australian Press Council. All of which, needless to say, he lost. In December 2005, a not terribly good article by John Huxley (‘Armed, dangerous but shocking organisers’, Sydney Morning Herald) featured a profile of Saleam. Just a few days prior to its appearance, the APC dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against The Australian for its description of the complainant as a ‘prominent neo-Nazi’ in two articles published by the paper!

Case One:

Mr James Saleam for himself and on behalf of National Action complains to the Australian Press Council concerning three articles which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 18 November, 1988: “Masked hate bears a fiery necklace” on page 1, and “Thugs use terror to back apartheid” and “Hairdresser is a target of hate” on page 20. The article on page 1 draws the reader’s attention to the two articles on page 20.

All articles report violence or threats of violence on racist grounds… The complaint is dismissed.

Adjudication No. 401 (April 1989)

Case Two:

The Australian Press Council has dismissed complaints arising from the publication of a feature article by the (then) Daily Telegraph Mirror titled “LOOSE cannons” on 11 November, 1995.

In the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and a public speech of the dangers posed by “right wing militia groups” by the Deputy Director General of ASIO, the feature article examined “political extremism and religious fanaticism”, with a focus on the 2000 Olympics.

It canvassed the views of journalists, police and some of the self-professed extremists, with an emphasis in illustration and text on one David J Palmer, of the National Socialist Defence of Australian Peoples, depicted in military-style uniform upon which swastikas were prominent.

Mentioned in passing was the complainant James Saleam for the fact that, when chairman of Australian National Action Group, he was sentenced to three and a half years jail in 1991 for organising a shotgun attack on the home of Eddie Funde, Australian representative of the African National Congress.

[snip]

Mr Saleam states that he regards this a libel upon him and complains about the article on nine detailed points. His central complaint is that the article gives undue prominence to Mr Palmer’s views as representative of the extreme right, and the very prominent photograph of Mr Palmer tends to identify others mentioned in the article with “Nazi doctrine or similar doctrine”.

[snip]

The article was not about Mr Saleam; he was mentioned only briefly and was not credited with the views of anyone else mentioned. He disputes the view of the right wing organisations and people identified in the article and is entitled to do so. He submitted a letter to the editor for publication which the newspaper declined to publish due to its length…

Adjudication No. 853 (May 1996)

Case Three:

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint against The Sydney Morning Herald by James Saleam about a report on a campaign that stirred-up racial discontent over Afghan refugees working in Young, NSW.

Dr Saleam was referred to in the article as being a member of the Australia First Party, which had distributed a pamphlet about the refugees. It also said that he was a former head of an extremist political group, National Action. It recorded as background that he had been convicted of firearm offences, and was “caught up in – though never charged” over the murder in 1991 of a National Action member.

Adjudication No. 1177 (September 2002)

Case Four:

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Dr James Saleam against New Idea concerning a “Special Report” by Debi Marshall in its 23 March edition.

The report referred to the activities of David Palmer, described as head of the National Socialist Defenders Aryan People and as “Wizard” of an Australian chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, and his use of the Internet to recruit people to his organisations.

Adjudication No. 1183 (November 2002)

Case Five:

The Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against The Australian for its description of the complainant as a ‘prominent neo-Nazi’ in two articles published by the paper. The complainant felt he had been unfairly labelled by the newspaper.

Adjudication No. 1303 (December 2005)

In 1984, Saleam also managed to lose an election. Badly.

BONUS!

Case Six:

Adjudication No. 1370 (adjudicated October 2007)

The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against the Daily Telegraph arising from an article published on 3 March under the headline Bikini nazis hit the beach and stir the pot.

The report referred to a video advertisement posted on the website of the Australia First party which showed a woman in a burqa and a bikini being harassed on the beach by an unidentified man of “Middle Eastern appearance”.

When asked about the video, Dr Saleam, who is head of the Australia First party, refused to comment but later wrote a letter to the editor about the report. The letter was not published.

Dr Saleam objected to the description of him in the article as a “former neo-Nazi” and of his party as “white supremacist”. He further complained that the headline was incorrect as the only “Nazi” cited in the article seemed to be him; that it was wrong to say that Australia First wanted to use Cronulla riots to spark a wave of white nationalism; and that the paper had misrepresented or suppressed relevant facts in its reference to him as being “convicted of organising a shotgun attack on a black politician”.

There has been a series of complaints brought by Dr Saleam against various publications dating back to 1996 that have been adjudicated by the Press Council concerning his politics and his criminal conviction and the Council has previously ruled that the press is entitled to report on his activities. It can find nothing in the report that breaches its principles.

Following this latest complaint the Daily Telegraph composed a clarification that included Dr Saleam’s denial that he was a “former neo-Nazi” and a “white supremacist.” Dr Saleam agreed to the wording of the clarification but three months later the paper withdrew the offer to publish it. It is regrettable that the paper did not give Dr Saleam an opportunity to respond.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Media | 18 Comments

2008 Ian Stuart Donaldson Memorial Gigs

Posted on September 15, 2008 by @ndy
    “Last year included Final War as the international band and the farewell gig of Aussie RAC legends — Fortress. This year, with a better venue, the much-anticipated return of the awesome Ravenous and our overseas guests being one of the most exciting active bands on the planet at the moment… Not forgetting Viking rock stalwarts, Blood Red Eagle, this one is shaping up to be an absolute blinder.”

Or so claim local boneheads Blood & Honour (B&H) Australia.

In addition to Saturday night’s gig organised by B&H and the Southern Cross Hammerskins at the Central Hotel in Beaconsfield, Victoria, numerous other franchises in the neo-Nazi network have organised gigs to commemorate the death (on September 24, 1993) of Skrewdriver lead singer and co-founder of Blood & Honour (with another dead neo-Nazi Nicky Crane) Ian Stuart Donaldson. Note that there is a split in these networks between two factions: one supportive of another neo-Nazi group called Combat 18 (18 = AH = Adolf Hitler) and the other not; the Hammerskins are aligned with the non-C18 affiliated faction.

In the UK, Ian’s birthplace, the gig is taking place on the weekend of September 19/20. Playing are Avalon, Blackout, Bulldog Breed, Brutal Attack, Last Chance, Legion of St George, Unit 28, Whitelaw and Woden. A bloke called John from a band called Nemesis will also be strumming his guitar, and warbling songs dedicated to the memory of Ian, and possibly even the Nazi pimp Horst Wessel. According to one source:

Horst Wessel was born September 9, 1907, in Bielefeld, Germany. The son of a pastor, Wessel dropped out of law school in 1926 and defied his mother by joining the Nazi Brownshirt paramilitary in the final days of the Weimar Republic. He soon caught the attention of Joseph Goebbels, who sent him to Vienna in 1928 to organize the Nazi youth movement there.

Intelligent and politically astute, Wessel was also extremely violent. Upon returning to Germany, he organized an attack on the local headquarters of the Communist Party in Friedrichshain, Berlin, during which four workers sustained serious injuries. This prompted Heinz Neumann, editor of the Communist Red Flag daily to call on party members to “Beat the fascists wherever you find them,” exacerbating the already tense political situation.

On January 14, 1930, Wessel got into a heated argument with his landlady, the widow of a Communist Party member. Although the exact details of the argument are still debated, what is known is that: 1) she claimed Wessel refused to pay his rent — alternately, she may have tried to raise it and Wessel refused to pay the difference; 2) she claimed he threatened to beat her; 3) Wessel refused to pay rent for his girlfriend, a prostitute (according to some accounts, a former prostitute reformed by Wessel); since the landlady was herself subletting to Wessel, she feared she would lose the rights to her apartment because a prostitute was living there. Rather than approach the police, the landlady went to a local tavern frequented by Communists for help.

The Communists saw this as an ideal opportunity to avenge themselves on Wessel for the earlier attack. Two men, Ali Höhler, a tough with underworld connections, and Erwin Rückert, an active party member, went to Wessel’s apartment. When he opened the door for them, Höhler shot him in the head. He died several weeks later from his injuries.

The shooting was immediately exploited by both the Nazis and the Communists to further their political aims. The Communists portrayed Wessel as a pimp, while the Nazis claimed he had actually saved his girlfriend from a life of prostitution by introducing her to the Nazi Party and its values. Goebbels organized a public funeral for the new “martyr” to the Nazi cause, and 30,000 people lined the streets of Berlin to see the procession. Goebbels delivered the eulogy in the presence of Hermann Göring and Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia. During the Nazi era, his life was glorified in memorials, books, and films.

Some months before he died, Wessel had written the verses to what would become the Horst Wessel Lied but it first gained popular currency when a choir of Stormtroopers performed it at his funeral. It was later recorded, and in 1931 it became the official anthem of the Nazi Party, played alongside Deutschland über Alles at all official occasions. The song celebrates the SA (whom Hitler would soon purge in the Night of the Long Knives).

Speaking of Nazi Germany, the ISD gig took place there on September 6. Bands that played at the knees up included Better Dead Then Red, Empire Falls, E&S, No Remorse, Oidoxie, Razors Edge and Sturm 18. This gig was organised by the C18 faction. Unfortunately for this mob, their website was hacked a few weeks ago, and the entire contents of their disco forum downloaded and made available for public viewing.

Elsewhere, gigs (organised by non-C18 aligned mobs) have taken place or are taking place in Belgium(/Flanders) (October 18), Hungary (September 13), Italy (September 27) and the United States (September 20). In the US, there are two separate gigs: one in Phoenix, Arizona; the other in Florida. The Phoenix event is being organised by White Knights of America, Sons of Aesir MC, Deaths Head Hooligans, and Thor Ink; the Florida gig by Blood & Honour Confederate 28. (On family fun in Arizona, see Three Congressmen call for J.T. Ready’s ouster, the Nationalist Coalition’s PHX “family night,” and Oi Fest! in Tonopah, Feathered Bastard (Stephen Lemons), August 20, 2008.)

    “What about the Jews? No mercy.
    What about the spics? No mercy.
    What about the niggers? No mercy.
    What about the faggots? No mercy.
    What about the traitors? No mercy.”

    ~ ‘No Mercy’, Totenkopf Saints, one of several bands appearing at the Arizona ISD memorial gig.

Bah!

Enough already with the Hitler fetishists!

This bloke (c/o David Gibbs) makes heaps more sense:

Wham bam, my cat Splash
is rolling around on my bed. He swallowed
his tongue as he drank all my whisky
As for me, I’ve hardly slept, I feel empty and reprimanded
I had to sleep in the gutter,
where I had a flash of inspiration
In four colours [thus a multi-coloured flash of inspiration]

Ok let’s go, one morning
A babe came round to my house
She looked like a cellophane doll with a Chinese hairstyle
She was wearing a plaster and had a hangover
She drank my beer in a large rubber glass
Just like an Indian might do in his igloo

It’s all working out for me …

Ok let’s go, that babe was such a bitch
What a vibration
Coming on the doormat
Filed down, ruined, empty, but happy
You are the King of the Divan
She says to me in passing [while coming?]
I am the King of the Divan

Ok let’s go, mind your own, keep your nose out
Don’t harm my planet
Today’s not the day the sky will fall down around my ears
Or that I will have to go without a drink
It’s all working out for me …

Ok let’s go, my baby upped and left
She walked out on me, it’s a shitty situation
She broke everything: the sink, the bar
And she left me all alone
Like a total jerk
Stuck here faced with the aftermath

(For Vince!)

Posted in Anti-fascism, History, Music | Leave a comment

NSW local council election results : far left and far right

Posted on September 14, 2008 by @ndy

Update : Steve the National Socialist has done the White thing and documented his support for Australia First (NSW) in the ding-dong battle for a seat in Sutherland Shire Council Ward A; a minor skirmish inspired by the “growing resistance to the politics of New World Order liberal-globalist-capitalism throughout Australia”. Take it away Steve:

Right

First, the far right (Australia First and Australian Protectionist Party).

In the shire of Sutherland, former admirer of Hitler and member of the Stormfront forum Darrin Hodges — the Nationalist Anarchist Protectionist — wanted a seat in Council Ward D. Unfortunately for Darrin, despite considerable media exposure — and a very handsome face — he came last, garnering just 333 votes or 2% of the total. In Council Ward A, the dynamic team of racists belonging to Australia First (AF) fared a little better; John, Karl and Marleen gaining 867 votes, or 4% of the total. They too, however, came last.

Outside of Sutherland shire, it was a mixed bag for AF. In Blacktown (Fifth Ward), the terrible trio of Tony Pettitt, Terry Cooksley and George Atkinson managed to assemble 1,229 votes between them, or 5% of the total. Congratulations Tony, Terry and George! (The racists also managed to beat Gavin Robinson, with just 139 votes.) In Coffs Harbour, despite being led by the remarkably talented clown Darrell Wallbridge — weddings, parties, anything — AF gained just 436 votes. Again, just 2% of the total. On the plus side, Darrell, Alex Parker, Greg Bailey, Richard Hedditch, and Kevin Baldwin did manage to defeat John Hearne, who received a measly 161 votes. Another plus for AF — or rather, Richard Hedditch — is the one vote he personally received, thus making him a very lucky man. For as Richard noted in his ‘Candidate Information Statement’ (CIS):

My observations of the way humanity is gives me the willies. I’m bored, I want to fail dismally. Electorally, I have no chance whatsoever. I’ll be lucky to pull a single vote, but I’m nominating to run so that my ticket will have the minimum 5 candidates. The ticket I’m associated with has very many good and profoundly brilliant policies. So much so, that if Australia First got a candidate elected I’m sure that I’d push for a 30 percent rates reduction for this electee.

Finally, in Newcastle (Second Ward), the Jew-hating real estate agent Nathan Clarke and his racialist comrades Ian McBryde and Jim Smith failed to sell their anti-Semitic schtick to the voting public. The AF ticket received just 302 votes in total; again, 2%. (Poor old John Sunol came last, however, with just 21 votes.)

Left

Secondly, the far left (Socialist Alliance).

In Newcastle (Third Ward), Socialist Alliance candidates Zane Alcorn, Laura Ealing and Thomas Cameron got 575 votes (2%). In the tense race for Mayor, MC Doc Fruit also came last, with 1,507 votes (2%). In summary then, for the voters of Newcastle, Leninism is more popular than white nationalism, by a margin of 273 votes.

SA, like AF, also stood candidates in Blacktown (Third Ward). Unfortunately for SA (Rachel Evans, Soubhi Iskander and Hassan Abaid), AF (1,229) more than doubled the Leninist vote of just 451 (2%). Finally, in Marrickville Council (North Ward), SA (Pip Hinman, Jill Hickson and Howard Byrnes) fared a little better. Despite coming last, the Leninists gained 4% of the total vote (368 votes).

Now: grab your calculators.

Q. Which comes first? A Bolshevik state? Or a White Australia?

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics, Trot Guide | 19 Comments

Boneheads in Beautiful Beaconsfield // 2008 ISD Memorial

Posted on September 13, 2008 by @ndy

For one night only, Blood & Honour Australia and the Southern Cross Hammerskins — in co-operation with the management of the Central Hotel, Beaconsfield (1 Princes Highway, Beaconsfield, (03) 9707 1511 / 9707 1128) — present:

The 2008 Ian Stuart is Dead Celebration!

Starring:

Blood Red Eagle
Ravenous

and all the way from horribly multicultural Belgium…

Kill Baby Kill!

    Note that previous winners of the annual prize for most neo-Nazi friendly venue in Melbourne have been the Melbourne Croatia Social Club (2007) and The Birmingham Hotel (2006 and 2005).

As previously noted, the globe–trotting Blood Red Eagle are from Newcastle (NSW), and their Viking-inspired aural assault is spearheaded by the diminutive Douglas Schott; Ravenous is a local band for local people, *ing the racist psychotic Jesse on vocals (and, possibly, Joel of Bulldog Spirit on drums); while Kill Baby Kill *s Dieter Samoy on vox.

Dieter Samoy is a top bloke and fits the bonehead stereotype exceedingly well: in 2006, good old Dieter was behind a vicious racist attack on a black man and his white friend in Bruges. As a result of these and other efforts by Dieter and his fascist comrades, and as has also been remarked by Belgian antifa, Belgium is rapidly turning into “a playground for all manner of right-wing extremists”; so too — at least for tonight — is Beaconsfield.

In 2007:

Almost 700 boneheads showed up for yet another “Ian Stuart Donaldson (ISD) Memorial” haterock fest in Belgium on 27 October, a disappointing result for the Blood&Honour-Vlaanderen (B&H-VL) organisers who had hoped to attract at least 2,000 nazis to the event.

It is not known whether the poor attendance was because of internal problems in the banned German wing of the organisation but the “event” nevertheless got lots of coverage in the Belgian national media. After having major trouble in finding a venue that could host two thousand participants, B&H eventually reverted to the venue used for last year’s ISD commemoration in the remote village of Wolfsdonk, near Aarschot, in the province of Vlaams-Brabant (Flemish Brabant).

The venue, hired a few weeks ago by a man – not a bonehead – who wanted the place for a “big birthday party”, turned out to be the canteen of a local football club and a huge tent alongside it. At the meeting points, car parks along Belgian motorways where the nazis gathered before moving off to the “secret” location, the people redirecting them were mainly Germans.

At the venue itself, the “security service” was organised by British B&H members who menaced a national TV team that wanted to interview local people. When not doing that, they were ensuring that those attending handed over all their weapons!

On the bill were, among others, notorious hate bands like Whitelaw, Propaganda, Eternal Pride, Avalon and the Flemish band Kill Baby Kill led by one of the fascists – Dieter Samoy – behind a vicious racist attack on a black man and his white friend in Bruges last year.

More attention, however, was paid to beer drinking than to the music with most of the participants at the gig getting drunk and, by getting into several brawls, reducing the event to a chaotic mess. When the organisers called for “a minute’s silence for white hero Ian Stuart” hardly anyone observed it. “Fuckheads who can’t even keep their drunk shitholes quite for a fucking minute for a true white hero” yelled one of the organisers in his own very subtile way. As a result of this fiasco, B&H Flanders had to shut its online forum the next day because it had received so many complaints.

The left-wing party “Spirit”, which was part of the previous Belgian federal government, has announced that it will reintroduce its demand that federal parliament outlaw nazi activities on Belgian soil and also ban groups like B&H that are illegal elsewhere. In Germany, B&H was outlawed seven years ago but in Belgium apparently, the political world lacks the courage needed to ban organised nazi activities.

This failure to act is turning Belgium into a playground for all manner of right-wing extremists. Just days before the B&H hatefest, for example, the far-right Vlaamse Jongeren Westland (VJW – Flemish Youth Westland) organisation staged a “national demo” in the streets of Bruges on 21 October.

Despite an intense mobilisation campaign and winning media attention, no more than 60 to 70 extremists showed up, among them numerous boneheads and a delegation from the Walloon fascist outfit Nation.

At the end of a short demonstration, VJW organiser Pieter Van Damme called for a “national-solidarist society” and demanded more respect for the Dutch language. Taking the presence of French-speaking nazis into account, it is unlikely that everyone present really understood his message. Even though “Freedom Of Speech” (for nationalists) was one of the main themes on the day, the participants in the VJW demo were not allowed to speak to the press.

Neither the far-right Vlaams Belang (VB) nor its satellite Voorpost were present at the demonstration because relations between the “bourgeois-liberal” VB and the “genuine nationalist radicals” of the VJW are very frosty. Perhaps this rivalry explains why the VJW deliberately made use of the old VB slogan “Eigen Volk Eerst!” (“Our own people first”) during the march. Most of the VJW’s activists, incidentally, share a past in the ranks of the VB but were excluded in one way or other.

About 300 anti-fascists, mobilised by the anti-fascist group Blokbuster, protested at the nazi march.

Wim Haelsterman
Reports from Flanders for AFF/Verzet – RésistanceS.

Things have changed a little for Belgian boneheads since this report (see Bad news for Belgian boneheads in Blood & Honour, May 5, 2008; also Blood & Honour in Belgium… and Australia, September 10, 2006) — prompted, in part perhaps, by the shooting to death in May 2006 of a two year old (white) child and her (black, pregnant) nanny. More recently, in the United States: “Two members of Tampa Blood and Honour, a chapter of a particularly violent international white supremacist organization, were indicted in Florida for beating two homeless men to death in 1998. Two other members had already pleaded guilty to the crimes. Federal officials say the men planned to participate in a race war and killed the homeless men because they were deemed inferior”: ‘The Blotter: Updates on Extremism and the Law’, Intelligence Report, Fall 2008 (Southern Poverty Law Centre).

And while the efforts of Dieter & Co. to cleanse Belgium of anarchists, Asians, blacks, communists, the homeless, homosexuals, Jews, leftists and people with disabilities (and assorted other undesireables) may be looked on unkindly by some, the band does at least have the full support of Tom and Myspace.

Enjoy!

It may also be considered slightly odd that Australian Customs didn’t ask a few more questions of Dieter and his chums when they arrived in Melbourne last week, but presumably membership of a violent international neo-Nazi network and a violent criminal record is no barrier to entering Australia these days. Meaning that Nick Griffin’s entry to Australia on a proposed speaking tour in December should be a piece of (fruit)cake… As for what the good burghers of Beaconsfield think about making their little hamlet into a happy home to members of two of the most violent neo-Nazi associations in the world, who knows?

Interesting times.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Music | 23 Comments

n o s t a l g i a

Posted on September 12, 2008 by @ndy

Dinosaur Jr : ‘Freak Scene’
Bug [1988] is the third and final pearl in the string of albums released by the original formation of Dinosaur Jr. The music here shows the band moving into ever more orderly realms of composition and structure, even as anecdotal evidence suggests that they were coming apart at their physical seams… (Or so they say.)

Sebadoh : ‘Skull’
Bakesale (1994). Robert Christgau doubted he’d hear a catchier indie album all year.

Mudhoney : ‘You Got It’
Superfuzz Bigmuff plus Early Singles (1988). Compiles their first stellar EP, plus their debut anthem “Touch me I’m sick”, the original studio version of their longest live favorite, “Hate the police”, and much more. Essential. (Or so they say.)

Lazy Cowgirls : ‘Who You Callin’ A Slut?’
Ragged Soul (1995). If The Ramones had been a road-tested biker gang instead of pop-obsessed cartoon speed merchants, they might have sounded something like The Lazy Cowgirls. (Or so they say.)

Yo La Tengo: Sugarcube
1997. Um…

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Nick Griffin Bound for Botany Bay?

Posted on September 11, 2008 by @ndy
    Update: Nick was scheduled to speak at an “Anti-Islamisation Congress” in Cologne, Germany over the weekend of September 19–21 but has now withdrawn (possibly in order to avoid arrest under Germany’s strict laws on Holocaust denial). “Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, had been on the guest list but after German anti-fascists, with help from Searchlight, published his comments denying the Holocaust, his name was withdrawn just before Cologne city council and the German Interior Ministry condemned the congress.” (Racists gather for Cologne anti-Islam rally, Hans-Peter Killguss, Searchlight, September 2008).

Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ad-di-ty,
Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ay,
Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ad-di-ty
Oh we are bound for Botany Bay
Oh we are bound for Botany Bay

Far-right British politician plans tour
Philip Dorling
The Canberra Times
September 11, 2008

A leading British far-right politician is planning a controversial speaking tour of Australia. The Chairman of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, has confirmed his intention to visit Australia in December. Mr Griffin’s tour is sponsored by the anti-Asian [read: fascist] Australian Protectionist Party which was formed last year by breakaway members of the Australia First Party.

Announcing Mr Griffin’s visit, the president of the Australian Protectionist Party, Andrew Phillips, said that the British National Party leader would speak to Australian audiences ”on the experiences of the British National Party in their fight to protect Britain and its people from the demographic genocide that is threatening their homeland, caused by the large-scale immigration of people from the Third World”.

Phillips is one of two public figures belonging to the APP; the other is Darrin Hodges, who will be contesting for a seat on the local council of Sutherland Shire this weekend. A former member of the world’s most popular white supremacist website Stormfront, Hodges has since disavowed both his anti-Semitism and his admiration for Hitler, and transferred his hatred and resentment from Jews to Muslims, the latter of which is now identified as belonging to a more general wave of Third World “filth” and “scum” threatening to overwhelm White Australia. Hodges is also a supporter of the fascist New Right/’national anarchist’ grouping, appearing as a member of their ‘black bloc’ at the APEC demonstrations in Sydney last year.

Mr Griffin joined the neo-Nazi British National Front as a teenager and has led the British National Party since 1999. Like the anti-Semitic historian David Irving, he has disputed whether the Holocaust took place, calling it the ”hoax of the 20th century”.

According to HOPE not Hate: “Nick Griffin is one of the biggest deniers of the Holocaust, describing it as the “hoax of the 20th century”. He has even criticised the far-right writer and Holocaust denier David Irving for daring to suggest that some people might have been killed.” According to Danny Ben-Moshe: “Both [Frederick] Toben and [David] Bennett regularly attend IHR conferences, but the more active of the two through these networks is Toben, who has extensive contacts with deniers across the globe. His European contacts are well documented in his travel diary of a 1998 trip to Europe which was devoted to meeting deniers, visiting concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and delving into archives where his findings reaffirmed his beliefs. In London he met Germar Rudolf where they discussed the involvement of Adelaide Institute Online in an English language publication Rudolf is planning, and he stayed with Rudolf on the farm of British National party leader Nick Griffin.” See : Holocaust Denial in Australia, Danny Ben-Moshe, Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism, No.25, The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), 2005 (PDF).

In recent years, however, Mr Griffin has sought to ”mainstream” the British National Party, avoiding overt anti-Semitism and instead focussing on immigration, especially attacks on the Britain’s Muslim communities.

The British National Party has enjoyed modest but significant success in British local government elections, claiming more than 100 elected representatives, though some of these have reportedly split from the party. [See : Where now?, Nick Lowles, Searchlight, June 2008.]

In May 1998 Mr Griffin was prosecuted for incitement to racial hatred after he published an article that referred to non-white people as ”mongrel slaves”. He received a nine-month suspended sentence and a large fine.

In 2006 Mr Griffin was again prosecuted for racial vilification, but was found not guilty in two trials.

Mr Griffin attempted to visit Australia in August 1998. That proposed visit attracted strong criticism from the federal Labor opposition and then immigration minister Philip Ruddock reportedly banned Mr Griffin from entry. Mr Griffin told The Canberra Times yesterday that ”I was formally told I would not be allowed in.”

Mr Griffin said he hoped there would be no problems with getting a visa 10 years later.

Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council spokesman Jeremy Jones condemned Mr Griffin’s planned visit saying his past criminal conviction for inciting racial hatred should be sufficient to ensure his exclusion.

”A visit by Griffin ought to be a matter of concern for Australia’s Muslim community, indeed by all communities here who have found that tolerance and engagement is a better path than division and hatred.”

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Evans, said all visa applicants must satisfy the character test of the Migration Act that includes provisions to ensure that a non-citizen will not vilify, incite discord in or represent a danger to the Australian community, or part of that community.

Whether or not Griffin will be able able to visit Australia in December is one thing, but the previous HoWARd Government certainly acted to exclude a number of other undesireables. In 2001, US ‘anti-globalisation’ activist Doyle Canning was denied entry to the country; in April 2005, Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Negri experienced some difficulties (later cancelling on the grounds of ill-health), while Scott Parkin continues his battle with Government authorities to discover why he was kicked out of the country in 2005. On the far right, two leading members of the neo-Nazi NPD have been excluded on character grounds: in 2003, Udo “Six million cannot be right. At most, 340,000 people could have died in Auschwitz” Voigt, the leader of the party, was told to piss off, while two years later, in 2005, the NPD’s Gerd Finkenwirth was also denied entry. On both occasions, their tours were organised by Darrin Hodge’s ‘national anarchist’ comrade Welf Herfurth.

Still, things change.

In May this year, Don Black banned the use of swastikas on Stormfront; and the BNP itself is now lauding the virtues of Zionism. Jews are OK, apparently, if they stick to Israel.

John Safran’s guide to unexpected Zionists
Australian Jewish News
August 25 2006

White Supremacists for Zionism

THE British National Party (BNP) is a far-right group headed by Holocaust-denier Nick Griffin. They caused shockwaves in the White Power world a few years back by announcing they couldn’t be bothered hating Jews anymore.

Their rationale: there are so few Jews in England it was a bit like investing energy in loathing the Amish.

Besides, they hated Arabs more. White European Jews were even told they could join, although you had to be assimilated – so no turning up to meetings in a shtreimel. And tuck in your tzitzit for God’s sake.

The BNP even flouted the conventional White Power wisdom on Zionism. They respected Israelis’ sense of nationalism and admired its firm hand in dealings with the Arabs. On the current conflict in Lebanon, BNP legal adviser Lee Barnes says, “It is in our long-term interests that Hezbollah are ground into dust by Israel as that way we don’t have to do it in the future.”

Barnes also complains about media coverage of the conflict: “The obvious agenda for the media is to assist in ending nationalism as an ideology and the destruction of nationalist states like Israel.”

I don’t want to tell anyone how to run their white-supremacist movement but when you’re complaining that the Jews don’t control the media, maybe it’s time to go back to bonehead school.

See also : Nationale Sozialisten für Israel (June 28, 2008)

Posted in Anti-fascism | 7 Comments