…The notorious white supremacist leader Tom Metzger once remarked of extremist [as opposed to moderate] Hebrew Israelites, “They’re the black counterparts of us.” The belief system of extremist Hebrew Israelites is basically the reversed-color mirror image of the Christian Identity theology embraced by many white supremacists, which holds that mainstream Jews are the descendants of Satan and that white people are the chosen ones, divinely endowed by God with superior status over “mud people,” believers’ term for non-white individuals…
Extremist Hebrew Israelites have a long, strange list of enemies. At the top of the list are white people, who they preach are descended from a race of red, hairy beings, known as Edomites, who were spawned by Esau, the twin brother of Jacob (later known as Israel) in the Old Testament…
History of Hebrew Israelism
The Hebrew Israelite movement is rooted in Black Judaism, a belief system birthed in the late 1800s by black Christians from the South’s Pentecostal “Holiness” movement. They claimed to have received a revelation: America’s recently emancipated slaves were God’s chosen people, the true Hebrews…
1930 — Door-to-door silk salesperson Wali Farad Muhammad (born Wallace Fard) founds the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in Detroit, U.S. Though he believes Islam to be the natural religion for Africans, Farad does not emphasise the traditional “five pillars” of the faith – the five actions a Muslim must fulfil to achieve salvation. He focuses on explaining the historical oppression of the black race. This mythology includes the claims that black people — as members of the tribe of Shabazz — were the original human race and came to the Earth 66 trillion years ago. White people were the result of an experiment performed by the deranged black scientist Yakub 6,000 years ago. ~ The birth of the Nation of Islam, CNN, April 30, 2002
Workers at The Age (and other Fairfax publications) have done gone on strike:
Fairfax Media journalists in Australia stage four-day strike
SYDNEY (AFP) — Journalists working for Australia’s second largest press group, Fairfax Media, on Thursday launched a four-day day strike to protest at plans to axe 550 jobs, staff and their union said.
Journalists at the company, which publishes the flagship Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, walked out two days after bosses said they were slashing five percent of the workforce to save 50 million dollars (43 million US)…
Funnily enough, the job cuts come at a time of fat profits for Fairfax: “Fairfax last week announced a 46.8 percent jump in net profit to 386.9 million dollars for 2007-08 on the back of a strong performance from its online businesses.”
And while the union is on strike, scabs are being used to produce what is likely to be a large number of unsold copies of this weekend’s newspapers:
FAIRFAX Media will use strike-breakers to publish its flagship newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review in a high-stakes battle with staff after journalists yesterday walked out until Monday in protest at 550 planned job cuts. A group of specially trained staff was put into action on Fairfax papers last night to ensure production could proceed…
Printers @ Fairfax are displaying their solidarity with management by staying on the job: “Australian Manufacturers and Workers Union national print secretary Steve Walsh said the union was monitoring the situation but his members would keep working” (Fairfax printers to work through strike, AAP, August 29, 2008). Although it’s possible that, with enough political pressure, printers might be persuaded to join the striking journalists; it’s likely that most workers would be reluctant to cross a picket line.
Finally, in a move that’s unlikely to win them much support — aka a PR blunder — poor old bloody Mike Carlton has lost his job for acting in solidarity with striking journalists by failing to submit a column:
RADIO broadcaster and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton has been sacked for refusing to write his weekly column during a strike. Carlton, a member of the journalists’ union, the MEAA, took the stand on the grounds that filing the column amounted to crossing a picket line. Carlton does the breakfast show on 2UE, owned by Fairfax Radio. A Fairfax spokeswoman confirmed Carlton had his contract to write a column for the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald terminated because of his refusal to write…
There’s presumably a picket line down on Spencer Street, which members of the public are free to visit and to show support. In the meantime, I just hope hackers don’t launch some kinda DDOS attack on Fairfax’s online services.
That would be just plain wrong, and cause management all kinda headaches.
FRANKFURT, Germany: German investigators say Danish police have arrested two men as part of an effort to halt the production and distribution of neo-Nazi music.
Prosecutors in Frankfurt say the two men — a Dane and a German — were arrested in northern Zeeland on Wednesday.
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet says the men were jailed for two weeks on a German extradition request. Prosecutor Arne Stevns was quoted as saying the Justice Ministry would decide on extradition. Stevns was not immediately reachable for comment.
The arrested men — identified only as Flemming C. and Stephan G. — are accused of overseeing the production and distribution of neo-Nazi music under the label Celtic Moon.
Investigators say the pair produced as many as 100,000 copies of the music.
Two key figures in the right-wing music scene have been arrested in a major international operation. Police say the arrests, which follow three years of investigations, are a major blow to the extremist scene. A German and a Dane with ties to the right-wing music distributor Celtic Moon were arrested on Wednesday, Aug. 27, in Denmark, said Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The BKA said the arrests, the outcome of international cooperation, shook up the extremist music distribution scene, dispelling its sense of security. Flemming C. and Stephan G. have been accused of financing, commissioning and distributing recordings that have been deemed illegal because of their extremist content. They are presumed to have had contact [with] a partner in Australia, who allegedly copied the CDs and sent them to Denmark for distribution. The group reportedly produced CDs worth a five-figure sum. The accused allegedly have ties to German music groups, music managers and high-ranking members of the right-wing scene, including leaders of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). Authorities on Wednesday also investigated several individuals [from] Werwolf Records, a far-right music distributor with ties to Celtic Moon.
How about that eh? Note that Werwolf Records distributes Douglas Schott‘s Newcastle-based band Blood Red Eagle.
Locally, neo-Nazi titles — Blood Red Eagle (AUS), Bound For Glory (UK not US), Fortress (AUS), Legion of St. George (UK), Retaliator (UK), Skrewdriver (UK) and the incomparable Southern Storm (”Niggers, Jews and Communists / Look out scum, you’re on our list!”) — are available through Snapshot Records in Sydney. (Oddly, Snapshot also endorses Class War — and, presumably, Class War endorses Snapshot; or at least, the use of its logo.) Other distributors include Scythian Sevices (which deals exclusively in neo-Nazi muzak) and Deadset Music, which stocks a small range of fascist / neo-Nazi / RAC and white power music — including but not limited to Bakers Dozen, Battle Scarred, Combat 84, Condemned 84, Hateful, Kampfzone, Knockdown, Les Villains, Marching On, Retaliator, Scum, Tattooed Motherfuckers, The Gits and Unit Lost.
In June, police raided a property outside Bathurst belonging to David Pollard, the owner of neo-Nazi online store Noble Front. To the best of my knowledge, charges are still pending.
In just a few weeks, on Saturday September 13, neo-Nazis will be gathering in Melbourne to commemorate the death of Skrewdriver lead shouter Ian Stuart Donaldson. Performing will be local boneheads Blood Red Eagle and Ravenous, and a neo-Nazi band from overseas (almost certainly from either the UK or US). Last year, the Melbourne Croatia Social Clubplayed host to US band Final War, Melbourne bands Bail Up! and Fortress and Perth band Quick and the Dead. The latter band features Murray Holmes, formerly of Skrewdriver. Murray is making a minor comeback with the assistance of another Perth punk band called The Homicides — The Homicides are also releasing a split album with Sydney band T.H.U.G., which features two former members of the 1980s neo-Nazi band White Lightning. The East Brunswick Hotel provided a stage for T.H.U.G. in July, when the band supported English band Sham 69.
“Keep on keeping on against the Bonehead scum that stand for nothing but cowardice. When you think of the Australian blood given in the fight against Fascism in WW2 it must have old soldiers turning in their graves at the site of Neo Nazi scum playing gigs in your town. Always stand firm against this threat. FUCK FASCISM.” ~ Roddy Moreno, The Oppressed, June 11, 2007
Much further afield, in Russia, “Police in Oryol, Russia refused to properly investigate an arson attempt that nearly took the lives of the family of a local human rights activist who has received numerous death threats from neo-Nazis, according to a statement by the intended victim, Dmitry Krayukhin” (Police in Oryol, Russia Refuse to Properly Investigate Probable Neo-Nazi Arson, UCSJ, August 27, 2008). Thankfully, the handful of death threats I’ve received aren’t supported by a large fascist movement, and boneheads are both few and far between and generally very quiet. On the other hand, local neo-Nazis can rely on the support of a handful of local punks and Skinheads Neither For Nor Against Racial Prejudice, one of whom, Doug Smith (of local band Bulldog Spirit) late last year published what he believed to be my work address on a forum thread dedicated to discussing the annual Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig (one accompanied by threats of violence).
The gig itself is being organised by local chapters of international neo-Nazi networks Blood & Honour and the Hammerskins. Recently:
A white power band called The Caucasoids, accompanied by an apparent minor and boasting the threatening symbol of a hangman’s noose, played the Independence Day concert put on a day late at a secret location in Orlando, Fla. The concert, entitled The Fourth Fest, was thrown by the Confederate Hammerskins, a Southern division of the notoriously violent Hammerskin Nation. Only the lead singer (second from left), Coby Stonecypher of Chuluota, Fla., has been identified. The concert was the second Hammerskin show of the year in Florida, following a “St. Patty’s Day” concert that took place on March 17 in Tampa. The Hammerskins, and especially the Confederate Hammerskins, have been growing recently after a period of relative stagnation, rising from nine chapters in 2006 to 14 chapters last year.
The above article is lifted from the latest # (131, Fall 2008) of the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s Intelligence Report, a very useful compilation of reportage on racist groups and movements in the US.
…and The Stimulator is on the case. There’s (literally) fuck-all reportage in the Australian media about the protests, but massive attention is being paid to the horse trading going on within the halls of Democratic privilege.
Ho hum.
Note that yesterday (August 27) police raided the Long Haul infoshop in Berkeley. Police “broke down every door, and confiscated all computers on the property. Computers taken included those used by the Slingshot Collective and East Bay Prisoner Support. Police also broke into cabinets, cut locks, and went through mail.” Police in Denver have also raided the convergence space; another standard police tactic intended to maximise disruption.
One of the more amusing incidents to have occurred involved a hack from Fox News being told to fuck off.
Anyway, here’s The Stimulator:
So much for political science. In the natural sciences:
Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every action with which it comes into contact.
A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to occur, to take from four days to four years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
MICHAEL COSTA stormed across the room – his face flushed, his hands clenched – towards John Robertson, the secretary of Unions NSW. “You blokes can get fucked,” he screamed. “You’re going to look like dickheads on Monday morning.”
Working families in NSW and their comrades in China’s Red Bureaucracy have been dealt a bitter blow with the withdrawal of State Gub’mint legislation to allow the sale of the NSW electricity system. Barking mad anti-Communist, nutty neo-con and former crackademic turned Newscorpse hack Imre Saluskinzky is Johnny-on-the-spot:
THE NSW Labor Government has been forced into a humiliating retreat over its plan to privatise the state’s electricity industry. NSW Premier Morris Iemma withdrew the privatisation legislation from a special sitting of parliament earlier today, when it became clear it would be defeated by a combination of the Coalition, Independent and minor party MPs, and Labor renegades. The decision by Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell to vote down the $10 billion sell-off, announced this morning, ends a year of controversy around the proposal, which has split the Labor Party down the middle. Mr O’Farrell said this morning there was too much “current uncertainty in the energy sector” to justify a sale…
Alex Mitchell sheets home the blame for the failure to flog off state assets to the highest bidder to Iemma and ex-Trot turned chief bean-counter Michael Costa, but makes no mention of the revulsion expressed by labour movement activists and the majority of Morris and Michael’s own party (They break our legs / And we say “Thank you” when they offer us crutches, May 6, 2008).
…They had a golden opportunity to persuade the NSW ALP, Unions NSW, their backbenchers and the general public to support a plan to raise billions of dollars to help repair old infrastructure and start new projects.
Instead, they behaved like old-style political bosses issuing orders, cracking the whip, shouting down opponents and threatening them. Even with the Sydney media in full throat backing the Thatcherite “solution” to the state’s energy needs, they failed to sell their message anywhere outside the city’s Central Business District.
What gives today’s parliamentary defeat a seismic quality is that Morris Iemma and Michael Costa both placed their credibility on the line for privatization. They raised it to a matter of confidence in them.
Iemma’s premiership is now in ruins: it is completely lacking in credibility, and it is difficult to know how long he can continue in the job.
If Costa had any sense of the proprieties of public life and the Westminster system, he would be submitting his resignation later today.
Costa came to parliament with the specific intention of becoming treasurer and succeeding Michael Egan. He wanted to achieve power privatization where Egan failed.
In the next few days, Iemma will announce his much-postponed reshuffle. There is some evidence he take the opportunity to dump the widely unpopular and divisive Costa and replace him with Planning Minister Frank Sartor or Education Minister John Della Bosca who is coming back from suspension if, as expected, he is cleared of any offences arising from the Iguana’s restaurant fracas on June 6?
But if he is removed from the Treasury portfolio, Costa doesn’t have the personality to accept demotion. He’d rather move to the backbench.
He became a member of the upper house on November 21, 2001, and he is entitled to his taxpayer-funded parliamentary pension after he has served seven years — that’s in 11 weeks’ time.
He’s likely to stay in parliament until he is entitled to draw down his fully indexed lifetime pension which is estimated to be around $130,000 a year, and then head to the investment banking world where his former political patron, ex-premier Bob Carr, is esconced at Macquarie Bank. Maybe Babcock & Brown could pick him up or the Fairfax board?
The end game of this political drama is yet to be played out. Costa is a goner, but what will they do with Iemma?
Good question. Fortunately, the fruit-picking industry is screaming out for workers, and being a working class man in a party of, by and for the working class, the soon-to-be former NSW Premier is sure to examine this option very closely.
Taking rights to an extreme Herald Sun
[Idiotorial]
August 28, 2008
PEOPLE have a right to protest, but calling a politician a Hitler intent on raping the countryside and waving a hangman’s noose in his face is going too far.
Victorian Water Minister Tim Holding was confronted by an angry mob when he arrived in Mildura to meet the members of the new water authority.
The unruly protest was over the decision to sack Mildura’s water trust following its loss of $2 million in Victorian Government funds on the US mortgage market.
The crowd of several hundred shouted “sieg heil” at the minister and threw up their arms in Nazi salutes.
At Shepparton, Mr Holding was pelted with eggs in protest over the Government’s controversial north-south water pipeline.
This extreme behaviour over water follows the planned invasion last month of a property owned by Premier John Brumby and managed by his wife.
That pipeline protest was averted only after police told demonstrators they would be arrested.
The protesters may be justly passionate, but they risk their demonstrations being taken over by extremists.
The anarchist crazies involved in the ultra-violence were in no serious sense part of the demonstration. Just like their black bloc mates in Europe they simply exploited the demonstration for their own purposes.
These people are simply provocateurs that open up police to violent attack.
In Europe their ranks have been riddled by fascists.
What gave them a certain critical mass at the G20 was the presence of considerable numbers of anarchists from overseas.
One of our staff from New Zealand said he recognised at least 40 New Zealand anarchists. He knew at least 20 of them by name.
There were also a considerable number of black bloc anarchists from Europe. Police authorities know of people from Sweden, Germany and England.
These people are like football hooligans who travel the world looking for violence.
On top of that there were also a considerable number of anarchists from interstate.
The public should offer no comfort to these crazies. We should do whatever we can to isolate them. They are wreckers.
Taking protests to these extremes is an affront to democracy.
two
G20 rioters have sentences cut
Katie Bice and Georgie Pilcher Herald Sun
August 28, 2008
FOUR demonstrators involved in the violent G20 riots have had their sentences cut on appeal.
The Herald Sun reports Beth Nathan, Sofia Todorova and Rosalie Delaney had convictions recorded against them overturned and Julia Dehm had a suspended sentence reduced to community work.
The County Court heard the group were part of a mob that outnumbered and attacked police at a demonstration against the Group of 20 nations summit at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne in November 2006.
Protesters tried to break a police blockade at Collins St, pushing and hurling barricades at officers, and throwing wheelie bins and milk crates. They vandalised a brawler van in a riot where bottles and objects were hurled at police.
Serial protester Ms Dehm had applied to have her conviction overturned so she can still practise as a lawyer. But Judge David Parsons said her offending – where she threw a barricade that injured a policewoman – warranted a conviction.
He said that should serve as a special punishment and deterrent so he reduced her seven month suspended jail term to 250 hours community work.
Judge Parsons said Ms Nathan, Ms Todorova and Ms Delaney had committed offences against symbols, like the police van, rather than the officers.
David Nguyen, who threw a bottle at police, lost his appeal and a conviction and 250 hours community work stands.
Steve Medcraft, from People Against Lenient Sentencing, said the upheld convictions of Ms Dehm and Mr Nguyen was to be commended but the clear record given to Ms Delaney, Ms Nathan and Ms Todorova was disappointing.
He said lifting Ms Dehm’s suspended sentence did not take into account the extent of the injuries she caused to Senior Constable Kim Dixon. The 41 year-old policewoman can no longer work after being hit when Ms Dehm threw a water filled barricade at her during the G20 protests in Collins Street.
Mr Medcraft said it was worrying Ms Dehm wanted to become a lawyer.
“If the legal profession has got this sort of person coming through the ranks [G]od helps us in the future[?]”
three
G20 protesters win reduced sentences
ABC
August 28, 2008
Four protesters sentenced over riots at the G20 summit in Melbourne in November 2006, have had their sentences reduced on appeal.
The protesters pleaded guilty to charges of riot and were convicted in the Melbourne Magistrates Court earlier this year.
The County Court overturned convictions for Sofia Todorova, Rosalie Delaney, and Beth Nathan, who are in their twenties, but sentenced them to do community work.
Twenty-five year Julia Dehm had her suspended jail term reduced to a community based order, with conviction.
Delaney, Todorova and Dehm have each been ordered to pay almost $14,000 compensation.
four
G20 protest sentences overturned
Miki Perkins The Age
August 29, 2008
Four G20 protesters have had their sentences cut on appeal in the County Court and a fifth has lost his appeal.
They had been involved in two riots during protests at the G20 summit in Melbourne in 2006 that included throwing barricades and wheelie bins at a police brawler van.
Rosalie Delaney, 20, of Parkville, Beth Nathan, 22, of Brunswick and Sofia Todorova, 26, of Moonee Ponds had convictions recorded against them overturned.
They were ordered to do unpaid community work of between 180 and 200 hours.
Julia Dehm, 25, had her seven-month suspended sentence reduced to 250 hours of community work.
Dehm had applied to have her conviction overturned so that she could practice as a lawyer. David Nguyen, 23, of Coburg, lost his appeal. His conviction and sentence of 250 hours community work stands.
Earlier this week Doris Dehm told the court her daughter had assured her the protest would be peaceful.
After watching a video of her daughter in the demonstration Doris Dehm said: “That’s a part of Julia we’ve never seen in the 23 years (before it occurred) and have never seen since.”
The court was also shown footage of Rosalie Delaney emptying a wheelie bin into the window of the damaged police brawler van.
“Rather than follow the example set by many thousands of demonstrators, she has taken her protests up a notch,” crown prosecutor Chris Beale said.
Her lawyer, Michael O’Connell, said Delaney’s plans to spend a year studying in Paris as part of her degree could be in jeopardy because her sentence made it difficult to obtain a visa.
Bill O’Reilly. Or possibly Barack Obama. For peace. Or possibly Whitey…
Rap group call for the death of Bill O’Reilly
East Coast Avengers have outraged the right-wing blogosphere with lyrics such as ‘I’d rather kill your family in front of you by lunch time’
Steven Wells
guardian.co.uk
August 19, 2008
Interestingly, myspace — which is owned by Fox (Rupert Murdoch), the corporation which employs O’Reilly to talk shit — is preventing the Avengers from making the song available on their page.
And in the meantime, a small group of shit-talking racist meth-heads appear to have been exonerated after threatening to kill Barack Obama:
Men’s threat to kill Obama is downplayed
Federal authorities say [Shawn Robert Adolf and Tharin Robert Gartrell’s] rants while on a methamphetamine binge do not meet the legal standard for filing charges, despite their possession of rifles and sniper scopes.
Nicholas Riccardi Los Angeles Times
August 27, 2008
Solidarity in the Kulin Nations
Federation Square
Melbourne
2pm
We demand the unconditional freedom of the people who are facing charges as a result of the state terror raids on 15 October 2007.
Attempts by the Police to lay charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act (TSA) failed but people are still facing politically motivated charges under the Arms Act. These charges are the result of a racist operation.
Police used the TSA and over $8 million to harass and punish political activists who they saw as supporting Tino Rangatiratanga.
The Police have arrested a few people but we’re all targeted. The arrests of 15 October are aimed at intimidating and frightening all of our communities and cannot be tolerated.
We therefore call on everyone to stand up against this attack on our communities. We support the Global Day of Action on 30 August 2008 and are mobilising to demand the unconditional freedom of the people facing charges as a result of the state terror raids.
Brought to you by LASNET & in solidarity with political prisoners in Oaxaca, Mexico… “from Xanica: Abraham Ramirez Vasquez, Juventino and Noel Garcia Cruz… from Santa Maria Ixcotel: Pedro Castillo Aragon, Miguel Angel Garcia and Victor Hugo Mtz. For the absolute freedom of those processed and sentenced, such as our comrade Orlando Sosa Lopez, who has been sentenced to three years in prison…”
Sunday, August 31
Tuhoe: A History of Resistance
Glitch Bar and Cinema
318 St Georges Rd
Nth Fitzroy
8.30pm
A fundraiser for arrestees caught up in police terror raids on October 15, 2007 in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
$6 workers // $4 shirkers
Five people — Julia Dehm, Rosalie Delaney, Beth Nathan, David Nguyen and Sofia Todorova — what previously plead guilty to various charges inre protests at G20 in November 2006 are currently appealing their sentences. Tomorrow night @ The Arthouse there’s a benefit gig for others what are still facing charges:
G20 rioter Julia Dehm fears for legal career
Katie Bice Herald Sun
August 26, 2008
A SERIAL protester who injured a policewoman during the G20 riots wants her conviction overturned so she can still practise as a lawyer.
Julia Dehm, 25, who threw a barricade in the G20 protest is one of five protesters convicted over the violent riots who have appealed the severity of their sentences.
The four women and a man were part of a mob that outnumbered and attacked police at a demonstration against the Group of 20 nations summit at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne in November 2006.
Protesters tried to break a police blockade at Collins St, pushing and hurling barricades at officers, and throwing wheelie bins and milk crates. They vandalised a brawler van in a riot where bottles and objects were hurled at police.
Dehm yesterday asked the County Court to quash her conviction and downgrade her penalty from a suspended sentence to community based order so she could continue on her career path as a lawyer.
The court heard she helped throw a barricade that hurt a policewoman and pushed barricades at police.
Jim Kennan, SC, said his client had been a significant contributor to the community and posed no threat of reoffending. “She is extremely remorseful and realises what she did was wrong . . . and really in stark contrast to the values she has held.”
Mr Kennan said the earlier sentence threatened Dehm’s capacity to make a meaningful contribution to society through her legal practice.
The court heard she had been charged over protests in January and July 2006.
Prosecutor Christopher Beale said a community based order with or without conviction would be manifestly inadequate. He said Dehm had taken a peaceful protest “up a notch and engaged in violent activity”.
The court heard Rosalie Delaney, 20, was in a tug of war over a barricade and emptied a bin into the brawler van. Michael O’Connell said his client had done 45 of 200 hours’ community work but wanted her conviction overturned so it didn’t continue to punish her.
Appeal hearings for Sofia Todorova, 26, Beth Nathan, 22, and David Nguyen, 24, have yet to be heard. All five pleaded guilty to riot charges, with other counts of criminal damage and recklessly causing injury dismissed.
Policeman’s sister sorry for G20 rioting in Melbourne
Georgie Pilcher Herald Sun
August 27, 2008
A WOMAN who encouraged protesters to attack a police brawler van during Melbourne’s G20 riots is a policewoman’ sister.
Sofia Todorova, 26, cried “Everyone go forward” as she rallied protesters to confront police at the November 2006 riots.
Her friend, Rosalie Delaney, 20, of Parkville, emptied the putrid contents of a rubbish bin into the front seat of a police brawler van.
The pair, along with Julia Dehm, 25, Beth Nathan, 22, and David Nguyen, 24, are appealing against their convictions over their involvement in the riots.
The County Court heard yesterday that Todorova, whose sister is a policewoman in Carlton, was now sorry for her behaviour.
The aspiring photographer, of Moonee Ponds, had written a letter of apology, saying her conduct was out of character.
“I believe in the right to protest, but I acted against my own principles,” she said.
All five were convicted and given community work.
None has completed the required hours, but all want their convictions lifted and their sentences reduced so they can travel, go on student exchanges and work in their chosen fields.
Their lawyers said all were sorry and did not condone violence.
But prosecutor Christopher Beale said they’d committed serious crimes, and sentences of community work without convictions would be inadequate.
Protesters had tried to break a police blockade at Collins St by throwing wheelie bins, milk crates and water-filled barricades, and abused police.
A DVD played in court showed Nguyen, of Coburg, throwing a bottle at police, Nathan ramming a barricade at the officers, and Dehm injuring a policewoman by helping to hurl a barricade.
Dehm, of Brunswick, was fined $3000 and sentenced to a suspended seven-month jail term.
Lawyer Mandy Fox asked Judge David Parsons to clear Nathan’s record so she could become a social worker.
The Brunswick woman, who covered her face and helped push barricades at police, had done 32 of 180 hours’ community service.
The court heard the conviction against her affected her ability to travel and seek employment.
Lawyer George Georgiou said Nguyen’s involvement, including throwing a bottle towards police, was “mindless stupidity” and his conviction should be overturned so he could go on an exchange to Chile and become a teacher.
Judge Parsons will announce his decision tomorrow.
And it’s about bloody time too… Er, that I noticed… that GHQ issued these communiques, like… last year. Crazy, ultra-violent, hostile, abusive, threatening, ultra-sectarian, provocative, fascist-sympathising, foreign fucking football hooligans take note!
The International Anarchist Conspiracy (IAC) is a fictitious organization. The IAC does not exist in the real world. The IAC only exists in the virtual world known as the internet. The virtual world of the internet is not the real world. The internet is a part of the spectacle controlled by this system, the spectacle which keeps people detached from reality. If people are detached from reality, they cannot understand it well enough to know how to act in it. The function of the fictitious organization known as the IAC is to reveal the wide variety of control mechanisms keeping people shackled to the illusions spawned by those in power. The fictitious organization known as the IAC has attempted to accomplish this in many ways and for many reasons…
On the streets many of us have seen unusual things; 3 cops keeping 50 people at bay, even inspiring fear in some of them; a raised bicycle utterly terrifying a mob of would be wizards; a crowd of 300 suddenly neutralized as it hovered menacingly around a recruiting center, on the verge, the utter verge of doing what they knew needed to be done. There is more at work here in these types of occurrences than mere physical matter. Something else is responsible for 300 people not clobbering 50 pigs. A powerful spell is wielded over us all. The cops, the cops that stand in our way on the streets, have gotten into our very minds…
A long time ago, a powerful wizard learned that he and his fellow witches and wizards could be thinking the same thing without verbally communicating it to one another. There was no need for a central figure to tell them what they were supposed to think. They all understood the same things and had arrived at their understanding of their own volition. The wizard, who had cast countless spells on countless streets across Europe, soon found himself under attack by people who thought they possessed the true nature of revolution. They believed they knew the answer. They said the revolution should be shaped and molded. They wanted to channel the energy of the revolution into the bureaucracy of the State and attempt to seize political power. Under the sway of the enemy’s spells, they had grown scared and wanted to hold onto the State, finding it necessary for their survival. These people began to persecute and attack the anarchist witches and wizards, fearing their ability to act together, autonomously. This forced the anarchists to flee into the Realm of the Shadows, a place they inhabit to this day…
Countless nights have been spent gazing into the Seeing Stones. Many things have been seen inside those murky depths. Everything in there is Black. The future holds much darkness for everyone. We see it spreading already, outside our very doors; the barbed wire fences stretching for miles, the animals in the desert prowling at night for someone to kill, the camps nestled in our backyards, the camps where people hold tightly onto their friends as they slowly die, the camps holding mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers away from each other…
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?"
