It’s time to go…

Posted on November 24, 2007 by @ndy

…John HoWARd.

PM Howard condemns fake leaflets
BBC
November 22, 2007

Australia’s prime minister has condemned members of his own party for distributing leaflets implying the Labor opposition supports terrorism…

Australian PM on defensive over ‘dirty tricks’ campaign
November 22, 2007

SYDNEY (AFP) — Embattled Australian Prime Minister John HoWARd was thrown on the defensive Thursday just two days ahead of a general election after senior members of his party were implicated in a dirty tricks campaign. HoWARd’s Liberal Party admitted it had expelled two members for distributing fake flyers falsely linking the opposition Labor Party to Islamic extremist bombers…

Australian PM Condemns Election Fraud
Rod McGuirk
November 22, 2007

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Prime Minister John HoWARd battled Thursday to contain a last-minute scandal ahead of weekend elections, after campaigners for his Liberal Party were exposed distributing pamphlets accusing the opposition of sympathizing with terrorists…

Howard election campaign hit by dirty tricks scandal
Barbara McMahon
Guardian Unlimited
November 22, 2007

Australian prime minister fends off party scandal days before election
Tim Johnston
International Herald Tribune
November 22, 2007

SYDNEY: Prime Minister John HoWARd’s struggling re-election campaign in Australia took another blow Thursday after a scandal over a phony pamphlet from nonexistent Islamic radicals distributed by supporters of HoWARd’s Liberal Party.

Tough Race in Australia for Supporter of Bush
Tim Johnston
New York Times
November 23, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia, Nov. 22 — The center-right coalition of Prime Minister John HoWARd, who has been in power for 11 years and is one of the most stalwart supporters of President Bush in the Iraq war, faces a stiff challenge in Australia’s elections on Saturday, polls indicate…

The final days of the campaign have been dominated by a scandal in which the husband of a candidate for Parliament from Mr. HoWARd’s Liberal Party was photographed distributing leaflets that represented themselves to be from an Islamic group — a fictitious one, it turned out — thanking the opposition Labor Party for “support to forgive our Muslim brothers who have been unjustly sentenced to death for the Bali bombings,” in 2002, in which 88 Australians were killed. Mr. HoWARd said the party had not approved the leaflets, and the candidate, Karen Chijoff, knew nothing of her husband’s plans.

Howard rocked by smear scandal as defeat looms
Kathy Marks
The Independent
November 23, 2007

John HoWARd, Australia’s Prime Minister, was fighting for his political life yesterday as details emerged of an attempt by senior members of his Liberal Party to smear the opposition Labour Party and whip up anti-Muslim feeling in a key marginal seat…

Red faces for Howard’s party over fake leaflets
Barbara McMahon
The Guardian
November 23, 2007

· Fliers circulated in Sydney linked Labor to Islamists
· Hoax likely to damage chances of re-election

Australian prime minister John HoWARd’s faltering re-election campaign was badly damaged yesterday by a last-minute scandal in which supporters were accused of a dirty tricks campaign that sought to show the opposition as terrorist sympathisers…

Howard has form in race politics
Irfan Yusuf
Canberra Times
November 23, 2007

Many allegedly conservative commentators were amused by suggestions of former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser that Muslim Australians would be used as political wedges in the next election. Fraser’s remarks were dismissed as politically correct mumbo-jumbo. Yet for many of the 300,000-odd Australians who tick the “Muslim” box on their [census] forms, Fraser’s claims represented the prophetic words of an insider. He had, after all, worked with John HoWARd as his treasurer. And Fraser knows a thing or two about political strategy. Just ask Gough. HoWARd has frequently used ethnic and ethno-religious minorities as wedges. In the 2001 election, he and his ministers suggested that Iraqi and Afghan asylum-seekers were just a bunch of queue-jumpers or, worse still, potential terrorists…

Pamphlets bring community together
Katherine Fenech
St Mary’s-Mt Druitt Star
November 23, 2007

Priest Peter Confeggi has condemned the bogus Islamic pamphlets distributed by Liberal Party volunteers in Lindsay, but has thanked them for bringing the Muslim and Catholic communities closer together.

Father Confeggi, the Parish Priest at Holy Family Church in Emerton, said talk at a meeting with the church’s reconciliation committee yesterday centred around the pamphlets.

“We just arrived speechless in the face of what the Liberal Party had done in Lindsay, utterly disgusted that Jackie Kelly could treat it as a joke, and unbelieving that she and the candidate didn’t know that their husbands were doing it,” Fr Confeggi said…

Kelly going ahead with Seven appearance
AAP
The Age
November 23, 2007

Embattled outgoing Liberal MP Jackie Kelly is still set to participate in the Seven Network’s election night coverage on Saturday night, despite her part in a bogus leaflet scandal…

And introducing…

The stranglehold the far right has on the NSW branch of the Tories — tolerated for over a decade, with a nod and a wink, by HoWARd and the Federal branch of the Party — has finally started paying electoral dividends for “the Uglies”, as their dirty tactics are transposed from successful internal struggles for control over branches to the battle for seats, power, and the ability to impose their ideology through government channels. Of course, if they were smarter, the Uglies would simply allow the out-sourcing of such activity to continue to remain in the safe hands of the bizarros of the Exclusive Brethren, the radical Christian sect only too happy to Prepare Ye, the Way of the Lords. In the meantime, Alex Hawke, former Führer of the Young Liberals, and loyal lapdog to David Clarke, has branch-stacked his way to a seat in the Federal Parliament, having secured pre-selection to one of the safest Tory seats in the country: Mitchell. In July, HoWARd stated that “I… completely support the decision of the Liberal Party preselection committee in Mitchell, I totally support their (decision)”. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

    Karen Chijoff, the Liberal candidate, points out that interest rates were higher under Labor. “Like many local families, my husband and I work hard to raise our children and pay the mortgage. That’s why it is so important to us that the economy is well managed,” she said. “And why my husband — but not me, I knew absolutely nothing about it, and neither did anyone I know, it’s just not something a husband and wife would ever discuss, honestly, something like that I mean — felt compelled to issue shit sheets implying that the ALP supported Islamic fundamentalism. Not that I knew anything about it, of course.”

See also : Unholy battle for Bible belt, Paul Bibby, Sydney Morning Herald, November 23, 2007

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics | 11 Comments

Naughty Russian neo-Nazi fined over execution video

Posted on November 23, 2007 by @ndy

Blogger fined for putting murder video on Net
RussiaToday
November 21, 2007

A Russian blogger found guilty of circulating a racially-motivated murder video on the internet has been sentenced. Viktor Miklov will have to hand over 10 per cent of his salary for the next year. A Court in the Southern Russian Republic of Adygeya convicted the student of inciting racial, religious, and national hatred. The 24-year-old, who was detained in August, admitted to uploading the video of the execution-style killing. The video showed the brutal double murder of a Tajik and a Dagestani by Russian neo-Nazis. Scenes of the beheading of the two victims circulated on the web for 18 hours.

Which is bullshit. The video remains in circulation, and probably always will.

But wait! There’s more!

In another report on RussiaToday (which basically duplicates the one above), the blogger’s ID is given as being “antigispyone” on livejournal. That account appears to be no longer active, but the Russian neo-Nazi forum in which he posted the video — and from which it has since been distributed to countless other sites — is still up-and-running, and receives the full support of not only livejournal but, like the movement as a whole, the Russian nanny state.

In other news, according to the UCSJ:

Izhevsk Court Sentences Killers of Anti-Fascist Youth
November 21, 2007

Two youths in Izhevsk, Russia (Republic of Udmurtiya) were sentenced to 13 years in prison for murdering an anti-fascist youth, according to a November 15, 2007 report in the local newspaper Den. The republic’s supreme court found the defendants guilty of murdering Stanislav Korepanov on March 27, 2007. Between 15-20 youths, described by witnesses as neo-Nazis, attacked Mr. Korepanov and his friends as they were skateboarding near an apartment building. Witnesses reported that the attackers yelled “White power!” in English as they beat their victim with chains and bottles and jumped on his head.

However, the prosecutor in charge of the case consistently denied that the killing was motivated by extremism, treating the case instead as an ordinary murder motivated by “hooliganism.” A conviction on an additional count of extremist activity would probably have added to the defendants’ prison time. The author of the Den article accused local officials of deliberately ignoring eyewitness testimony about the attackers’ neo-Nazi links in an effort to cover up the existence of neo-Nazi gangs in the city. “It’s easier just to say that ‘skins’ [that is, boneheads] don’t exist, and then to decide that the problem doesn’t need to be addressed,” the author of the article concluded.

Further:

Saratov Anti-[Fascists] Sentenced for Attacking Youth They Thought Was a Neo-Nazi
November 21, 2007

Four anti-fascist activists were sentenced on November 15 to fines and in one case prison for attacking a young man they thought was a neo-Nazi, according to a November 16, 2007 report in the Saratov regional supplement to the national daily Komsomolskaya Pravda. The youths were found guilty of attacking Oleg Yakovlev on June 24 while screaming anti-fascist slogans. The three defendants who were sentenced to fines were convicted of beating Mr. Yakovlev with fists and kicking him; a fourth defendant got three and a half years in prison for hitting their victim with a metal object. Mr. Yakovlev denies being a neo-Nazi and points to pictures of him with normal-length hair as proof[!]. However, his attackers claimed that those photos were altered and that he looked like a neo-Nazi, wearing a typical uniform and having a shaven head at the time of the attack. Danil Vapilov, one of the defendants, was quoted in the article saying that they went hunting for neo-Nazis to attack after attending an anti-fascist rally. “In the battle against fascism, all measures are good,” he reportedly said. “I was right to think that he was a skinhead [that is, bonehead] and I would do it again.”

In Germany meanwhile, the home of Nazism (the doctrine which consigned the Slavs who compose Russia’s neo-Nazi movement to the gulags), the far right, especially in the form of the NPD, is gaining support in the east of the country, especially among poorer, rural workers; angry victims of both the mainstream left and right. According to an ‘expert’ cited in a recent BBC report: “There is little resistance because there are fewer democratic alternatives in eastern Germany, fewer churches, trade unions and NGOs, so civil society is much weaker there. And the mainstream parties are just not active in many places.” Another legacy of the success of ‘Communism’, in other words — a victory which contemporary Bolsheviks have only just recently completed celebrating the 90th anniversary of on November 7. In Australia, the occasion has been noted by the Communist Party of Australia, the DSP organ Green Left Weekly and the Socialist Party, among others, presumably. A correspondent for the Communist Party USA writes of Russian celebrations:

Among those giving solidarity greetings were the Cuban ambassador to Russia Jorge Marti, who said the Great October Revolution touched every country and part of the world. He said humanity was at a crossroads and in order to survive, global transformation would have to be guided by the ideals of the revolution.

Also speaking was a representative of the Communist Party of China. He said the “root of the Chinese revolution lies in the October revolution, which introduced Marxism into China. We are taking our own path to socialism, but we will always remain loyal to the ideals of October.”

Savitskaya recounted the story of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. She said he came from a poor family in a rural town. “Look what socialism did for him, what he and the scientific community achieved,” she said. “We want that for every child today – a future with free education and health care.”

The program ended with all the performers on stage. A chorus line of Young Pioneers who have experienced a growth in membership in the last year joined them, in a very moving display.

In Australia, celebrations have been much more subdued, but the ideological descendants of Marx, Engels, Lenin and (usually) Trotsky are concentrating their energies on the upcoming election, either not-praying for a few more votes for Greens or socialist candidates, but certainly for an ALP victory.

Anarchy is a fag… still

In Melbourne, local fashion punks have organised another gig at local neo-Nazi venue The Birmingham on December 1, one week after the election. Blood & Honour and the Hammerskins, who’ve most recently drawn support from the Melbourne Croatia Social Club, have recently been joined by a group based largely in Sydney, known as the New Right, and led by a former NPD member and German-born yuppie businessman Welf Herfurth. Like the neo-Nazi movement in Germany, Herfurth espouses the ideology and practice of Kameradschaften; in essence, the construction of an extra-parliamentary support base. Thus in Germany, according to the same BBC report cited above:

Michael Andrejewski “emigrated” from west to east in 2003. He is a lawyer by profession with no political training. Last year he became an MP for the NPD in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. I spoke with him at an NPD rally in the town of Pasewalk and asked him about the aims of the party… we help in daily problems, we listen to people and help them with admin and social services. I have street credibility with them because I have been unemployed myself. I have shared their sorrows.” Up to 500 far-right activists took part in the demonstration through Pasewalk. They waved banners and flags with slogans such as “National Resistance” and “More jobs. Fewer immigrants.” Most of the demonstrators belonged to Kameradschaften – or comradeships. The police describe some of these groups as “militant neo-Nazis” and say many are violent and racist.

“Go the Nazis!”

This is precisely the kind of movement and activity the New Right is intended to help crystallise in Australia. Events such as the annual ISD gig, and groups such as B&H and the SCHS, are intended to provide some recruits; the role of local fashion punks and, latterly, the Croatian community, is to help support the institutions which in turn make themselves available for use by these groups (and to not ask any questions). In this regard, the Melbourne Croatia Social Club and the scabs who continue to play The Birmy have proven to be excellent company.

In the meantime, while a 16 year-old Spanish antifa (a skinhead) was stabbed to death by a 24 year-old neo-Nazi soldier in Madrid, and Bulldog Spirit, despite having a neo-Nazi on drums, continues to receive the support of a wide range of local punks and skinheads, in a local court:

A MAGISTRATE has fined two Ocean Grove footballers and convicted one of them for their “appalling” anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish man outside his home last year. The attack, which involved one of the men calling Menachem Vorchheimer a “f—ing Jew”, caused his family to temporarily move overseas, the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday.

The court heard Mr Vorchheimer was walking to a synagogue with his two children in St Kilda when James Dalton, 27, reached out from a bus carrying his football team to snatch Mr Vorchheimer’s sabbath hat and yarmulke from his head.

After Dalton threw the two items on the ground, an unidentified occupant of the bus “smacked” Mr Vorchheimer in the face with a fist.

When some of the footballers on the bus discussed apologising to Mr Vorchheimer, and Matthew Cuthbert, 24, was wrongly accused of the assault, he made the comment: “I’m not going to apologise to no f—ing Jew.”

Dalton pleaded guilty to behaving in an offensive manner earlier this week while Cuthbert pleaded guilty to using insulting words. A third man, Simon Christian, 21, was convicted and fined $1000 in April. He pleaded guilty to using insulting words, after he chanted “go Nazis” during the attack.

Mr FitzGerald yesterday fined Dalton $1000 without conviction because he had no prior offences and wanted to work overseas. Cuthbert was fined $750 with conviction because he had unrelated prior offences. ~ Anti-Semitic behaviour ‘appalling’: perpetrators fined, victim’s family fled, Julia Medew, The Age, November 16, 2007

Writing in HoWARd’s Herald Sun, Christopher Bantick reckons we oughta “cut to the chase here. Three footballers have been punished for not only offensive behaviour, but racist, anti-Semitic language. They did not turn themselves in. And the “big man” at Ocean Grove who belted a Jewish dad in front of his kids is no hero” (Racist attack on Jews in our midst, November 17, 2007).

See also : Ocean Grove Football Club breaks its silence, Rebecca Tucker, Geelong Advertiser, November 16, 2007

    On a brighter note : MORE TO COME. STAY TUNED. CHOCOLATE AND SEX.
Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, State / Politics, Trot Guide, War on Terror | 2 Comments

Jackie Kelly: “if you read it you’d be laughing”

Posted on November 22, 2007 by @ndy

Further Update : Jackie Kelly may be in disgrace now, but ten years ago, she predicted HoWARd’s government would last another ten years. Does this mean Kelly was somehow responsible for the downfall of his Government, and the device of distributing a racist shit sheet — followed by a staggeringly inept interview concerning it — was her attempt at ensuring this outcome?

Yes. Yes I think it does.

Jackie Kelly, is a former RAAF squadron leader who won the Labor seat of Lindsay at the last election. She also believes the public doesn’t like politicians saying, “they think we are lower than journalists actually”.

Their observations of the week’s unprecedented events permit us a unique insight into the debate, it’s consequences and the political process. When Sunday reporter Paul Ransley gathered them together and asked them if they thought the public would ever trust them after Travelgate, they spoke frankly. Joel says “no”. Annette would like to think they will but says, “I will need to prove myself”. Jackie says, “some members of parliament will never be trusted again. But not John Howard. He’ll be here for the next ten years”.

Politically and personally, the four MP’s have much to gain or lose by the outcome of the travel rorts debate. Each claimed between $10,000 and $12,000 in travel allowance in the past 12 months. Money they are perfectly entitled to, though in the current climate, it’s a touchy subject.

Each day Jackie Kelly is in Canberra, she claims the $145 tax free allowance. “I stay with an ex friend of mine from the RAAF”. Does she pay a $145 a night rent? “I make it up for her in gifts and things around the house”. It seems she would pocket a fair proportion of the allowance but Jackie maintains that when she’s in Canberra expenses go up. “Compared to Penrith it’s an incredibly expensive city”.

~ Paul Ransley, Politicians & Travel Rorts, Sunday, October 5, 1997

Update : In another pathetic attempt to cover their tracks, the Glenmore Park Action Group (presumably either Mary Cook – Director & Web Administrator and/or Mick Carthey – Web Designer & Administrator) has REMOVED the reference to Greg Chijoff, husband to Tory Party candidate for the seat of Lindsay Karen Chijoff. Note that the President of the GPAG, Troy Craig, is one of the men apparently responsible for producing and distributing the racist shit sheet.

Tee hee. Tee hee hee.

The retiring member for Lindsay, Jackie Kelly, was cruelly deceived this morning by a Union Thug working for the Pink Mafia at the Communist-controlled ABC. Told that she was auditioning for a part on The Chaser, Kelly proceeded to do her very best impression of a politician whose nearest and dearest has been caught out engaged in a dirty tricks campaign on behalf of a fellow Tory. The results speak for themselves.

Also auditioning for parts on The Chaser, according to Kelly, are Kelly’s husband, Gary Clark, NSW Tory Party state executive member Jeff Egan and Troy Craig, president of the Glenmore Park Action Group. As noted by Weezil, Greg Chijoff — in addition to being “Assistant to the Director” of the Action Group — is also the husband of Karen Chijoff, the Tory Party candidate for the seat of Lindsay.

The pamphlet at the centre of the scandal was attributed to the fictitious “Islamic Australia Federation”, and purportedly urged a vote for Labor because of its support for Muslim causes. “We gratefully acknowledge Labor’s support to forgive our Muslim brothers who have been unjustly sentenced to death for the Bali bombings,” the pamphlet says. “Labor is the only political party to support the entry to this country of our Grand Mufti Reverend Sheik al-Hilaly and we thank Honourable Paul Keating for overturning the objections of ASIO to allow our Grand Mufti to enter this country.”

“Ala Akba!”

On the bright side, Kelly’s efforts have so impressed The Chaser, they’ve offered her a job: “The Chaser has invited outgoing Liberal MP Jackie Kelly to apply for a job with the comedy team, after she described a political scandal involving her husband and the Liberal party as just a “Chaser-style of prank” (Chaser to Kelly: Come and work for us!, Arjun Ramachandran, Sydney Morning Herald, November 22, 2007). John HoWARd, on the other hand, is unhappy that some of his minions have been caught doing a ‘dodger’: “I am very critical of what has happened, and I want to make it very clear – very, very clear indeed – that this dodger should never have been put out,” he said. Well, according to the Communist-controlled ABC anyway (Australian PM condemns fake pamphlet, Radio Australia, November 22, 2007).

It also appears possible that this is a running gag for Kelly. According to other Communist sources:

…a former campaigner for Ms Kelly says her team has used questionable tactics before – including issuing fake ‘how to vote’ cards on the 2001 polling day.

Ken Higgs says it was openly discussed at campaign meetings as a way to counter a threat from a resident action group which was campaigning on a platform to save a local defence site.

“It actually said how to save the ADI site and the number one preference was Jackie Kelly and our Liberal party booth workers were told to put on a ‘Save the ADI site’ T-shirt and hand out this bogus how to vote card,” he said.

Surely not. After all, the love and affection HoWARd has for Jackie Kelly is likely only second to that he once had for Pru Goward.

See also : Liberals expel members over ‘offensive’ flyer | Tory! Tory! Tory! | Liberal race hate scam exposed on poll eve, Katharine Murphy, The Age, November 22, 2007

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics | 1 Comment

Tory! Tory! Tory!

Posted on November 22, 2007 by @ndy

I mean honestly. No: strike that.

First Andrew Robb reckons not one not two not three but thirteen Labor Party candidates are ineligible for election. Why?

According to Mr Robb, high-level legal opinion suggests that Mr Newhouse was a member of the New South Wales Consumer trader and Tenancy Tribunal when he nominated as a Labor candidate for the election…

The other candidate[s] named by the Liberal Party include Victorian candidate for McEwen, Rob Mitchell, who the Liberal Party claims may still be employed as a senior adviser to the Brumby state government.

The others are: Tony Zappia (Makin, SA), Yvette D’ath (Petrie, Qld), Peter Conway (ACT senate), Shayne Neumann (Blair, Qld), Garry Parr (Hinkler, Qld), Alan Neilan (Kennedy, Qld), Sharon Thiel (Kalgoorlie, WA), Belinda Neil (Robertson, NSW), Mark Buttugieg (Cook, NSW), Ross Daniels (Ryan, Qld), Mark Reynolds (Tangney, WA).

Mr Robb said the party’s list of candidates was compiled after “investigative public searches”.

Mr Robb said the Liberal Party had not informed the AEC of its findings but said the issue of eligibility could be easily resolved if candidates produced the relevant documentation. ~ ’13 Labor candidates ineligible’, Gerard McManus and AAP, Herald Sun, November 20, 2007

Unfortunately, what “Mr Robb” meant by “investigative public searches” was “Google”: “The Herald Sun last night confirmed the Liberal Party claims were based on scouring websites, and did not involve any checks or phone calls to the respective boards, authorities and agencies involved” (Web search smear falls to pieces, Herald Sun, November 21, 2007).

Antics such as these would tend to suggest that the Tories are a little nervous heading into the polling booths on Saturday, as well they might be.

But wait!

There’s more!

Libs busted over vile race slur
Malcolm Farr and Brad Watts
The Daily Telegraph
November 22, 2007

THE Liberal Party has been hugely embarrassed over a campaign team caught delivering fake letters linking Labor with the Bali bombers.

The grubby night-time operation in St Marys, in the seat of Lindsay [Marginal Liberal 2.9%], was busted by a squad of ALP sleuths who conducted a stake-out.

Police have been called in to investigate the distribution of the letter, as well as the Australian Electoral Commission.

The Liberal Party yesterday expelled two members involved in the scheme.

The gang included Gary Clark, husband of retiring MP for Lindsay Jackie Kelly, and party state executive member Jeff Egan. Another was named by Labor as Troy Craig, president of the Glenmore Action Group.

Liberal sources said a group of campaign volunteers were involved and had not been authorised.

Mr Clark, a dentist, has a reputation among party campaigners for coming up with distinctive ideas and trying to carry them out…

I like that last line.

See also : Young Tories: Recruiting now! | I Was A Teenage Tory : John Hyde Page | Many Young Liberals are racist, sexist, homophobic nerds. And proud. Who knew?

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

Socialism vs. 2007 Federal Election

Posted on November 22, 2007 by @ndy

Who should socialists vote for? is a vexing question. Ostensibly, one might think that socialists should vote for socialist candidates. In the upcoming Australian federal election, there are several:

    House of Representatives

    ACT

    The Socialist Alliance (SA) is running a candidate in Fraser.

    NSW

    SA is running candidates in Blaxland, Cunningham, Grayndler, Newcastle and Parramatta. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is running candidates in Charlton, Chifley, Grayndler, Kingsford Smith, Newcastle and Parramatta. Finally, the Communist League is running a candidate in Watson.

    NT

    None.

    Queensland

    SA is running candidates in Brisbane, Griffith and Moncrieff.

    SA

    None.

    Tasmania

    SA is running candidates in Denison and Franklin.

    Victoria

    SA is running candidates in Corio, Gellibrand and Wills. The SEP is running candidates in Calwell and Melbourne. The Socialist Party is also running a candidate in the seat of Melbourne.

    WA

    SA is running candidates in Fremantle, Pearce and Perth. The SEP is running a candidate in Swan.

    Senate

    ACT

    None.

    NSW

    SA is running four candidates: Alex Bainbridge, Susan Price, Kamala Emmanuel and Tim Dobson. The SEP is running two candidates: Nick Beams and Carol Divjak; as is the Progressive Labour Party: Klaas Woldring and Max Bradley.

    NT

    None.

    Queensland

    SA is running two candidates: Sam Watson and Amelia Taylor.

    SA

    SA is running two candidates: Renfrey Clarke and Liah Lazarou.

    Tasmania

    None.

    Victoria

    SA is running two candidates: Margarita Windisch and Jeremy Smith. The SEP is also running two candidates: Peter Byrne and Tania Baptist. Arguably, Joe Toscano and Jude Pierce may also be included in the list, as libertarian socialist candidates. (Joe is the Libertarian Workers’ for a Self-Managed Society, and has been since 1977.)

    WA

    SA is running two candidates: Trent Hawkins and Julie Gray.

In the latest issue of the Green Left Weekly, a publication of the SA/DSP, Chris Peterson & Simon Cunich of the DSP/SA’s youth wing, Resistance, address the question “Why socialists should vote for socialist candidates” (No.732, November 17, 2007). Not unexpectedly, they urge GLW readers to “vote 1 Socialist Alliance, 2 Greens and then Labor before the Liberals”:

Today, the primary aim of socialists running in elections is to use them as a platform for winning people to our ideas. By running in elections, the Socialist Alliance is following the example of past socialists, such as the Bolsheviks in Russia, who despite the undemocratic nature of the tsar’s parliament, used it as a platform to promote their ideas.

In other words, if it was good enough for the Bolsheviks under the Tsar, it’s good enough for Bolsheviks under Howard as the old saying goes. The DSP/Resistance’s former partners in the SA, the ISO, disagree, however, as does every other significant socialist (‘Bolshevik’) groupuscule in Australia — with the exception of the CL, SEP and SP, that is. “Should we support socialist candidates?” asks David Glanz: no, appears to be the answer; at least, not in this election (Socialist Worker, No.575, November 16, 2007). Instead, the message is: Vote 1 Green.

Posted in State / Politics, Trot Guide | 1 Comment

Happy Days!

Posted on November 21, 2007 by @ndy
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

APEC : Notional Anarchists

Posted on November 20, 2007 by @ndy
    BONUS! Nichola X from Stormfront, Newcastle branch Australia First Party; partner to Rhys McLean, Stormfront Moderator and amateur neo-Nazi.

The first photo is of Darrin Hodges, Internet filth-monger, aka the “Anglo-Australian National Community Council”. Note that the blonde Übermensch with the faux-hawk in the fourth photo has very noticeable facial scarring. These and following photos taken @ anti-APEC protests, New Reich contingent, Sydney, September, 2007. See also : Anarchist statement on the New Right | All Heil the New Reich* | APEC : New Reich / “National Anarchists”

…oh yeah. There’s this one too. This keen young amateur photographer was spotted outside of Football Federation Victoria a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, he wasn’t keen on discussion, preferring to leave speculation regarding his resemblance to one of the fellows above to another time and place.

Posted in Anti-fascism | 35 Comments

Fascist wankers in Spain mourn hijo de puta Franco

Posted on November 20, 2007 by @ndy

Fascists gather to pay homage to Franco
Paul Hamilos in Valle de los Caídos
Guardian Unlimited
November 19, 2007

With their stiff-armed salutes, and cries of “Viva España!”, Spain’s fascists gathered this weekend to pay homage to General Franco outside the tomb of the late dictator for what may be the last time.

Well-to-do ladies came dressed in fur coats to keep out the bitter cold, young men and women wore the blue shirts of the Falangist party, while others were more recognisable as modern neo-nazis, with shaven heads and scarves wrapped tight around their faces.

But all were united by more than simple veneration of General Franco: they share an all-consuming hatred of the socialist government of José Luiz Rodríguez Zapatero, which last month passed a law that will ban political rallies outside the imposing mausoleum in which Franco is buried.

The controversial historical memory law was the brainchild of Zapatero, whose own grandfather was killed by Franco’s forces, and is an attempt to recognise the republican victims of the civil war and dictatorship. The law, which will come into force once it passes through the upper house, will see the remaining Francoist symbols removed from Spain’s public buildings and the depoliticisation of the Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen), Europe’s largest fascist religious monument.

Chants of “Reds no, Reds no!” and “Zapatero – you son of a bitch!” rang out across the valley as banners bearing the Cross of St James, known as Matamoros (Moorslayer),* and pre-democratic Spanish flags were unfurled. But the largest cheers were reserved for Carmen Franco Polo, daughter of the late dictator, whose arrival and departure were greeted with sustained cries of “Franco! Franco! Franco!”…

Posted in Anti-fascism, History | 4 Comments

G20 : Gabriel in Court

Posted on November 19, 2007 by @ndy

Tomorrow morning at 10am Gabriel Shanks, the Kiwi anarchist from Christchurch detained by police at Sydney Airport en route to Europe on Friday, will be appearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. For more details on the Ongoing G20 Solidarity Network (ORGASN), please see afterG20.org.

G20 protester extradited to Victoria
Sydney Morning Herald (AAP)
November 19, 2007

A New Zealand man has been extradited to Victoria from NSW over alleged involvement in last year’s riots outside the G20 conference in Melbourne.

Victorian detectives successfully sought the extradition of Gabriel James Shanks, 22, in Sydney’s Waverley Local Court on Monday.

Shanks has been charged with a single count of rioting on November 18 last year but is likely to face further charges on his return to Victoria.

The 22-year-old was arrested at Sydney Airport on Friday by Australian Federal Police and remanded in custody until Monday’s hearing.

Shanks appeared in court dressed in a dark, faded T-shirt, black combat pants and canvas shoes.

Magistrate Lee Anne Gilmour released him into the custody of two Victorian detectives, who are due to fly back to Melbourne on Monday afternoon.

Shanks is due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning.

A small group of Sydney activists attended the hearing to support him.

They said they didn’t know the New Zealander but wanted to show their solidarity.

Update :

Man charged over G20 brawl granted bail
The Age / AAP
November 20, 2007

A 22-year-old New Zealand man who was extradited from NSW on charges stemming from last year’s G20 riots in Melbourne has been granted bail.

Victorian detectives successfully sought the extradition of Gabriel James Shanks, who is facing a charge of rioting, in Sydney’s Waverley Local Court on Monday.

He was arrested at Sydney Airport on Friday by Australian Federal Police and remanded in custody until Tuesday’s hearing.

Shanks’ lawyer told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court his client could provide a $10,000 surety and could reside with a cousin in North Fitzroy.

The prosecution did not oppose the application.

Magistrate Phillip Goldberg granted bail on grounds including that Shanks provide a surety, he surrender his passport and report to police once a week.

He was ordered to return to court for a committal mention hearing on January 23.

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

Eureka Flag Banned?!? Time To Rebel!

Posted on November 19, 2007 by @ndy

In July 2001, the lying little rodent and soon-to-be ex-PM John HoWARd announced his intention to investigate backdoor shenanigans in the building industry. From late 2001 until late 2002, the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry met. It, in turn, established the Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) on October 1, 2005. In a stroke of pure, unadulterated genius:

The commission ruled this year that the Eureka flag was a union-related symbol that implied CFMEU membership was compulsory on a building site, in breach of the freedom-of-association provisions of WorkChoices.

A letter from builder Baulderstone Hornibrook’s Victorian general manager, Ian Luck, to ABCC official Helen Evenden, seen by The Age, confirms that the builder has recently been audited by the commission and has been found in breach of the freedom-of-association provisions. If companies refuse to comply with the commission’s orders they can be banned, under the Government’s National Code of Practice, from doing construction work on any Federal Government-owned building site. Mr Luck said the company would “reinforce to all Victorian operation staff that no advertising material of a political nature, or material that is contrary to the code, is to appear on our sites”.

But ABCC commissioner John Lloyd denied he had ordered the removal of straight political material, only union advertising.

“In its report to the company, the ABCC identified the display of numerous union posters and paraphernalia as inconsistent with the national code,” he said.

“The ABCC did not identify any ‘material of a political nature’ as being inconsistent with the code. The term was used by the company, not the ABCC.”

A Baulderstone Hornibrook spokesman said the company was “not in a position to comment”.

The cancer charity flag is designed to raise money for the John Cummins Memorial Fund, named after the former union militant who died of a tumour last year.

His widow, Di, said yesterday the charity was a sub-fund of the Melbourne Community Foundation, set up to donate money to the Austin Hospital for cancer support, and towards scholarships for disadvantaged young people in Melbourne’s north.

The flags are sold for $100 each and the charity has already raised $100,000.

“I’m not surprised, but I’m extremely disappointed with the ABCC, and I probably wouldn’t want to say any stronger emotions than that,” Ms Cummins said. ~ Watchdog accused over site bans on stickers, Michael Bachelard, The Age, November 14, 2007

Note that “ABC[C] Commissioner John Lloyd today [November 14] reiterated that the CFMEU’s claims of political interference by the ABCC are completely false. “These claims are unfounded, unsubstantiated and incorrect. They are merely claims by the union,” Mr Lloyd said”.

Then again, that’s merely a claim by the ABCC Commissioner.

In any case, the absurdity of the Commissioner’s position is revealed in the claim that “ABCC inspectors are unlikely to nominate the flying of a single union flag on a site as a concern. However, if the site shed is covered in union stickers and all workers wear union paraphernalia there may be a breach of the freedom of association provisions of the Code.” In other words, if a site contains a majority of union members, and these members proclaim their membership of the union — say, by putting union stickers on a site shed, and/or wearing “union paraphernalia” — they are in effect violating The Sacred Code of Freedom of Association As Defined By the ABCC. That aside, in the name of ‘choice’ and ‘freedom’, the Commission in its wisdom has actually sought to prevent workers from displaying a symbol that just last year was nominated as being a Victorian Icon:

The Awards were announced in March at the Young & Jackson Hotel, by Victorian Minister for Planning Rob Hulls who said the program had proven to be an exciting new event on Victoria’s calendar, providing an opportunity to celebrate buildings, places and events for their human history.

“The Awards have been a wonderful opportunity for the Victorian community to be involved in identifying icons that have made an outstanding contribution to our contemporary cultural identity,” Mr Hulls said.

“It is a delight to acknowledge and celebrate a revered sporting mecca – the MCG; our racing hero Phar Lap; the beloved Puffing Billy; the emblem of our most significant rebellion – the Eureka Flag; a symbol of Melbourne’s live music scene – the Palace Entertainment Complex; and what ignited the tradition of meeting under the clocks – Flinders Street Station,” Anthony Knight, Deputy Chair of the National Trust of Australia – Victoria said.

Anything to crush the spirit of rebellion eh?

Wankers.

    Friday November 23
    5.00pm
    State Library Steps
    Corner Swanston & LaTrobe Streets

    Speakers include: Robert Richter QC, Michael Long, Dean Mighell, Fr. Bob Maguire, Eureka descendants, Kevin Bracken and others.

    Performers: Shane Howard and friends, Archie Roach and others TBA.

    The HoWARd Government has banned the Eureka flag on building sites around Australia. This is an attack on our democratic rights to organise collectively in unions and speak out against injustice. It’s an attack on the fighting tradition of the Eureka rebellion.

    The Eureka flag was first raised in 1854 by the Ballarat miners in a popular uprising against British colonial oppression and injustice. For more than 150 years it’s been a proud symbol of ordinary people’s struggles for justice, democratic rights and a fair go.

    Unions, workers, rural communities, students and community groups have raised the Eureka flag in their many diverse struggles for a more just and democratic society. It’s a proud fighting symbol for a just, democratic and an independent Australia.

    Australia’s multiculturalism was born at the Eureka Stockade rebellion. Among the 20 nationalities that took part in the uprising were Italians, Jamaicans, black and white Americans, Irish, British, Dutch and different religions, including Christians and Jews. They were all united and pledged to stand by each other under the Eureka flag, “We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.”

    The rebel leaders declared the Eureka flag as “the refuge of all oppressed people from all countries on earth.”

    Organised by the Spirit of Eureka Committee // Contact & information 0417 456 001 or 0400 986 745

Posted in History, State / Politics | 12 Comments