Crime doesn’t pay


    The savagery of war: A soldier looks back at Chechnya

    The Independent
    November 10, 2007

    The war in Chechnya was one of the most brutal and senseless conflicts of modern times. Here, in an extraordinary piece of reportage, one young soldier provides an unsparing and sometimes disturbing account of life at the frontline | An extract from ‘One Soldier’s War in Chechnya’ by Arkady Babchenko

    …The bodies keep on coming, a steady stream of them, and it seems it will never end. There are no more of the pretty silver bags. Bodies torn to pieces, charred and swollen, are brought to us in any state, in heaps. Some bodies are more than half burnt – we refer to these among ourselves as “smoked goods”, to the zinc coffins as “cans”, and to morgues as “canning factories”. There is no mocking or black humour in these words, and we say them without smiling. These dead soldiers are still our comrades, our brothers. That’s just what we call them, there’s nothing more to it than that. We heal ourselves with cynicism, preserve our sanity this way so as not to go completely out of our minds – we have no vodka to help us.

    So we unload bodies, again and again. Our senses are already dulled, and we don’t feel pity or compassion for the dead. We are so used to mutilated bodies by now that we don’t even bother washing our hands before we have a smoke, rolling the tobacco in the Prima cigarettes with our thumbs. We don’t have anywhere to wash them anyway; there’s no water around and it’s a long way to run to the fountain every time.

    We stop noticing living people, in fact we hardly see any. Every thing that’s living seems temporary to us, everything that leaves this runway, everything that arrives here in columns, and even those who have just been called up into the army, all of them will end up heaped on top of one another in the helicopters. They simply have no other choice. They’ll be starved of food and sleep, tormented by lice and filth, be beaten up, have stools smashed over their heads and be raped in the latrines – so what? Their suffering is of no importance; they’re going to get killed anyway.

    They can cry, write letters and beg to be taken away from here, but no one will come for them, no one will pay attention to them, and all their problems are just trivia. A busted skull is better than this helicopter, of that we are now certain. We are also temporary, like everything else on the cursed field. And we will also die…

    Tony Wood, ‘The Case for Chechnya’, New Left Review, No.30, November/December 2004 | Australia-Russia Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (DFAT, September 2007) | Who do they think they’re fooling? Angarsk, Ilya Borodaenko, and the IUEC | Until someone gets killed…

Posted in History, State / Politics | Leave a comment

Prague : Neo-Nazis’ historical re-enactment leaves onlookers unconvinced

    …video update:

According to corporate/state media reports, perhaps as many as 400 neo-Nazis were unable to march through the Jewish quarter of Prague today, on the 69th anniversary of Pogromnacht / Kristallnacht. Despite being joined by reinforcements from das Vaterland — German neo-Nazis, lured to Prague by their Czech Brüder calls to do the timewarp (again) — the assembled pinheads were unable to do much more than become targets for the police and antifa: “The members of the Young Nationalist Democrats (MND) received backup from two busloads of German supporters. The clashes broke out after one of the young fascists used pepper spray against one of the anarchists. The anarchists then attacked the neo-Nazis, injuring one of them. Two other activists were injured in other incidents…” (Anti-fascists block Nazi march in Prague’s Jewish Quarter, Yehuda Lahav, Haaretz, November 11, 2007). Other reports state that the attack was made by a bonehead using an airgun.

In general, it appears that a massive police presence prevented large clashes, and those that did occur took place in less heavily-policed areas between smaller, roving groups of neo-Nazis and antifa. “In a major clash downtown, a group of about two dozen neo-Nazis was attacked by people who said they were in the streets to prevent the march, [police spokesman Ladislav] Bernasek said. About 50 left-wing extremists attacked police with cobble stones in another area. In total about 80 people were detained around the city, including 10 German-speaking left-wing extremists armed with sticks, Bernasek said” (Neo-Nazi March in Prague Leads to Clash, Karel Janicek, AP, November 11, 2007). While the ABC erases the anarchist presence in opposition to the scum, the Romany press in the Czech Republic is more straightforward:

‘Anarchists clash with neo-Nazis during Prague Jewish Quarter march’, November 10, 2007, (ROMEA/CTK): “Neo-Nazis clashed with anarchists at Faculty of Law on the edge of the Jewish Quarter in Prague today, there are probably injured people. The riot police pushed some of them back while others used the situation to provoke a brutal clash. The brawl was allegedly started by the anarchists of whom there were several times more than of the neo-Nazis. Novinky.cz server reported, however, that the incident was triggered by a neo-Nazi who shot from a gas pistol into the crowd and lightly injured one person. Anarchists attacked and beat him up…”

A report in The Independent is more detailed, and reveals that the boneheads’ attempt at (re-)creating a fascist spectacle on the streets of Prague met with some very hostile reviews:

Clashes in Prague’s Jewish Quarter on anniversary of Krystalnacht, Dinah Spritzer, November 11, 2007: “Dozens of neo-Nazis clashed with thousands of anti-fascists at the border of Prague’s Jewish Quarter yesterday on the anniversary of Krystalnacht, the 1938 Nazi attack on Jews and Jewish property in Germany. Two neo-Nazis lay in a thick pool of blood in front of the Charles University Law Faculty after being kicked and beaten by a group of German anarchists. A masked spokesman for the anti-Fascist movement said his group had assaulted at least 12 other neo-Nazis in the city centre. The police, however, said only six were injured and 50 were arrested, mostly on weapons charges…

“In the 1930s nobody in Europe took these small bands of fascists seriously and look what happened,” said Alena Hladkova, 33, who turned up to the counter-protest. “So the neo-Nazi movement might be small, but we need to show them they cannot dare desecrate the memory of the Holocaust,” she said…”

    Praha, November 10, 2007 ::: Someone forgot, I’m one of the ‘master-race’ :::

In other bad, but rather amusing news for the far right in Europe, the fascist ITS (‘Identity Tradition Sovereignty’) tendency in the European Parliament has collapsed, following candid remarks by the granddaughter of an upside-down corpse, Italian MEP Alessandra Mussolini, regarding the proclivity of primitive Romanians to commit crime: “Breaking the law became a way of life for Romanians. However, it is not about petty crimes, but horrifying crimes, that gives one goose bumps.” Tinpot fascists in Romania have threatened to withdraw their members from the IST unless Mussolini apologises: “This would allow the group to continue to fulfill EU parliament rules stipulating that all political groups have a minimum of 20 members from at least six member states. The group currently has 23 members. If it collapses, members of the ITS would lose a range of political and financial privileges such as speaking time, extra staff and places on overseas delegations” (Cat Fight on the Far Right, Spiegel Online, November 9, 2007).

See also : Video

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Anti-fascism, State / Politics | 2 Comments

agitprop

Posted in Anarchism, Media | 2 Comments

Anti-terrorism in NZ : A bit of a camel… that leaks

“Prime Minister Helen Clark says her Government’s anti-terrorism law was “a bit of a camel” from the time it was passed five years ago.” ~ Terror law ‘faulty’, admits Clark, Simon Collins, New Zealand Herald, November 9, 2007

“Secret police evidence in the anti-terror case has been leaked in what appears to be a high level security breach, prompting calls for an inquiry.” ~ Top-level leak of arms case evidence, Tracy Watkins, The Dominion Post, November 10, 2007

“To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so.

To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished.

It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harrassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed, and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored.

That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.” ~ Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, State / Politics, War on Terror | 7 Comments

Vote 1 Lyndon!

The local franchise of the LaRouche cult — aka the Citizens’ Electoral Council — is fielding a vast number of losing candidates this Federal Election: 2 in the ACT, 27 in NSW, 3 in the NT, 16 in Queensland, 2 in SA, 7 in Tasmania, 24 in Victoria and 15 in WA; a total of 96 candidates. Outside of various independent candidates, their chief competitors for last place in a number of these electorates will be the Socialist Alliance. Thus in Corio, Ross Russell (CEC) will battle it out with Chris Johnson (SA); in Gellibrand, Rodney Doel (CEC) will fight Ben Courtice (SA); and in Wills, Craig William Isherwood (CEC) is pitted against Zane Alcorn (SA).

But who are the CEC anyway? Well, despite trying, they’re not very popular — at least not when it comes to popularity contests. In the 2004 Federal Election, for example, of 11,953,649 formal votes cast for the Senate, the CEC received just 24,663, or 0.21%. Still, this is an improvement on the SA, which received a measly 13,305 or 0.11%. (The very least popular mob was the Nuclear Disarmament Party of Australia, which received 2,163 votes, or 0.02%). The CEC also have a knack of generating both opposition and bizarre publicity, such as the following:

Painting a strange political picture
Michael Madigan
Courier-Mail
November 8, 2007

A PARTY contesting the federal election believes a painting hanging in the National Gallery is undermining our collective ability to think straight. The Citizens Electoral Council, with a 16-strong team in Queensland, endorses a pamphlet called Children of Satan III: The Sexual Congress For Cultural Fascism. The pamphlet alleges the “Congress for Cultural Freedom” was a CIA-backed group [it was] which sponsored modern art to undermine “the population’s ability to think”. “One notorious example of this cultural warfare was the Australian Association for Cultural Freedom’s support for the psychotic Blue Poles painting in the National Gallery of Australia by Jackson Pollock,” it says. The CEC is one of a host of fringe parties which has appeared in the past century. We’ve had the Communist Party, The Non-Communist Party, Christians and Confederates, Shooters and a “Deadly Serious” party. Before Family First, there was Family Action; before the Nationals there was Farmers and Settlers. The most intriguing party which emerged a few years ago was the Vote Informal … Today – Direct Democracy Tomorrow Party.

Anyway, LaRouche himself is a complete crackpot, natch, and a fairly humourless one at that. Neither of these qualities has prevented him from accruing thousands of followers however, especially in the US. In Australia, the CEC was originally established in the late 1980s by elements of the far right belonging to professional anti-Semite Eric Butler‘s Australian League of Rights (ALOR), control of which Lyndon’s followers successfully wrested from the creepy Butler’s hands in 1996. Incidentally, the League has recently been in the news courtesy of soon-to-be-ex PM John HoWARd’s mate Pastor Danny Nalliah, the Good Christian Soldier having enjoyed the company of the League at a speaking engagement a few years ago. (In a classic one-liner, HoWARd ‘condemned the League of Rights as “a bit anti-Semitic”‘ — kinda like Eric Butler is “a bit dead” I guess.)

And speaking of dead guys…

Publish and Perish : The mysterious death of Lyndon LaRouche’s printer
Avi Klein
Washington Monthly
November 2007

For forty years, the Lyndon LaRouche movement has been a ubiquitous, if diminishing, presence in the political landscape of America, and of Washington. LaRouche has made eight runs for the presidency, including one campaign from prison. At D.C. press conferences and think tank events, a reporter for a LaRouche publication called Executive Intelligence Review can often be heard asking strange questions about the grain cartel. Young, malnourished LaRouche acolytes frequently stop Hill staffers on their way home from work and hand them pamphlets with titillating titles like “Children of Satan” or “The Gore of Babylon.” A peek inside offers details on LaRouche’s many enemies, such as the “Conrad Black–backed McCain–Lieberman–Donna Brazile cabal.”

More later…

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics | 35 Comments

(Antifa Blockading) Bachelors from Prague

Anarchists in Prague are among a number of groups and tendencies hoping to prevent Czech neo-Nazis from marching through the Jewish quarter of town on the 69th anniversary of Pogromnacht / Kristallnacht (1938). Typically, local corporate / state media in the Czech republic is portraying the potential clash as the meeting of two extremist forces, with the estimated 1,400 police playing the role of intermediary. Thus ‘Hundreds of extremists may attend Saturday’s meetings in Prague’ according to one source, reporting that “The Czech police expect hundreds of extremists to attend meetings of neo-Nazis and anarchists in Prague centre on Saturday, the anniversary of the Kristallnacht anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany in 1938, Prague police anti-extremism section chief Jiri Kopecny said…”

Updated information on 10 November

The fury in the media around the upcoming neo-Nazi march is coming to a head and the public is being showered with information that is sometimes contradictory. We would therefore like to remind you of some basic facts.

1. The anti-fascist gathering on náměstí Republiky (on Saturday 10.11. at 14:30) and the subsequent march to Pařížská street (through Revoluční – Dlouhá – V kolkovně – Široká – E. Krásnohorské – and Bílkova streets) have been properly announced and have not been banned. They are, therefore, completely legal!

2. At this event, we need you to respect the instructions of the organizers. Alcohol and drugs are not welcome. Unlike the Nazis, we don′t need them “for courage”.

3. Do not take take the exaggerated reports of “dozens or even hundreds” of neo-Nazi tourists coming from abroad as valid. This is an estimate which no one is able to confirm and which the media are using in order to increase the drama of their reports. Some tourists from abroad will come, but there will not be hundreds of them.

The legal disputes around the neo-Nazi march do not interest us. In the past we have repeatedly stood up against various provocations by local brown-shirts, irrespective of whether the local authorities tried to prevent them or gave them their blessing. Allegedly the neo-Nazi organizers will communicate precise information on their intentions regarding the march on the anniversary of Kristallnacht by Thursday at the latest. Whatever they come up with, we will be prepared to respond.

Follow the web pages antifa.cz and blokada.antifa.cz, where you can learn more about the actual events and where you will find all the necessary information.

Come to the anti-fascist demonstration and express your resistance to Nazism in peace.

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NZ authorities concede terror threat possibly exaggerated

    On other islands : Tenfold rise in terrorism prisoners forecast, Alan Travis, home affairs editor, The Guardian, November 8, 2007: “The number of terrorist prisoners held in jails in England and Wales is expected to increase tenfold from 131 to more than 1,600 over the next 10 years, according to internal Ministry of Justice forecasts, it was revealed yesterday… While al-Qaida-inspired extremism remains the greatest risk, Prison Service chiefs said they also had dissident Irish republicans, Ulster loyalists, members of anarchist and anti-globalisation groups, animal liberation activists, and members of the far right.”

Police raid houses across Aotearoa under anti-terrorism legislation, at least a dozen arrests October 15

“I’m training up to be a vicious, dangerous commando” October 16

NZ Police Stop Maori Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Secret Terror Plot Hatched Deep Within New Zealand’s Most Sacred Mountain Range to Destroy Nation! October 17

New Zealand Anti-Terror Raids : EXCLUSIVE VIDEO FOOTAGE! October 17

Animal loving Tuhoe peace freak terror-attack plan shock! October 21

A surprisingly large number of media outlets have simply refused to be persuaded that Iti and his eco-anarchist allies constitute any kind of serious threat to either the state or the public. Partly this is attributable to “colonial cringe”: the idea New Zealand couldn’t possibly produce a “real” terrorist threat that sort of thing only happens overseas. Partly it is a reflection of the repeated failure of the police and security forces in places such as Britain, the US and Australia to come up with “the goods” after scaring their respective societies witless for days on end with banner headlines such as “Terror Plot Uncovered” and “Police Swoop on Terror Suspects”. Mostly, however, it stems from a mixture of profound ignorance and lofty condescension… ~ Chris Trotter, Exploring the case for armed struggle, Independent Financial Review, October 24, 2007

“…the possibility of being not only labelled a terrorist in the media, but prosecuted as one, is a reality.” November 2

Urewera 16: It’s anarchy! November 7

Er…

No evidence for terrorism charges, TVNZ, No charges after NZ terror raids, news.com.au, Maori Party calls for resignation, apology, compensation, NZPA, Call for police boss to resign over raids, Radio New Zealand, NZ prosecutors decline to lay terror charges, Radio Australia, November 8, 2007

EXTRA! SPECIAL! ADDED! BONUS! BIZARRE! TWIST!

Man held over $75b fraud named
John Cousins
New Zealand Herald
November 7, 2007

A Tauranga man accused of being part of a $75 billion fraud conspiracy on the Bank of England was today named. Bryan Walter Archer, 59, was to reappear in Tauranga District Court today in an effort to get bail [since denied]… Archer is no a stranger to controversy and appeared in a recent television news bulletin as one of the hunters who had become suspicious about apparent para-military activity by Maori training in the Urewera National Park…

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics, War on Terror | 1 Comment

Urewera 16: It’s anarchy!

Paul Buchanan has written some interesting words on the Urewera 16 (of which the latest update is below), arguing that “[t]o clarify the debate given continued evidence suppression and putting legal wrangles aside, the question as to whether at least twelve of the Urewera 17 [sic] were involved in a terrorist conspiracy reduces to four fundamental principles: capabilities, preparation, planning and targets in the construction of a terrorist plot. Beyond that, it is a matter of ideology and law,” before proceeding to provide an analysis of these “four fundamental principles” in the context of the case. He concludes that “What is of concern to civil libertarians is that the Terrorism Suppression Act is broad enough to construe terrorist intent even if the four elements of a terrorist conspiracy are virtually non-existent, and even if there is little ideological support for the cause being espoused. That would appear to be the situation of the Urewera [16]” (A Comment On Terrorist Conspiracy, November 5, 2007).

The decision on whether or not to acquiesce to police wishes and proceed with charges of terrorism against the 12 is currently being reviewed by the Solicitor-General. In another examination of the case, Nicky Hager explains the legal basis upon which David Collins will make his decision, and concludes that the most sensible course of action for Police to take is to prosecute the 12 under ‘ordinary’, criminal law rather than the ‘political’ Terrorism Suppression Act (How To Decide Who Is A Terrorist?, November 6, 2007).

Last weekend was the date of the annual New Zealand Labour Party conference, the 91st in its history. Aside from the usual back-slapping and horse-trading, the conference was accompanied by protest. According to Chris Trotter, the protest (which was conducted in a manner most irresponsible), was unfortunately able to distract media attention away from Helen Clark’s announcement regarding future cuts in personal tax rates — one of the dividends of eight years of fiscally-responsible Labour Party rule. “That the news media declined to make Clark’s tax message its lead story, preferring instead to keep the public’s focus on an inconsequential fracas between the far-left and centre-left, must have been extremely vexing to a Prime Minister with good news to tell” (Labour sings a fine tune but is it a swansong?, Independent Financial Review, November 7, 2007).

Not that that’s the oddest thing about Trotter’s article: he actually draws a comparison between the Attorney General’s address, praising the role of ‘social democracy’ in keeping Western Civilization from falling back into the primordial ooze, and Walter Benjamin’s ‘Theses on the Philosophy of History’ (1940).

Which is a bit of a stretch, really.

Nevertheless, this slightly bizarre rhetoric does serve to add an ‘intellectual’ gloss to the otherwise everyday machinations of power which, in the form of the NZ Labour Party — in addition to possible tax cuts — is also responsible for placing a dozen people behind bars. Further, on grounds that appear to be increasingly flimsy, and with regards a group of people who — contra Trotter — really only resemble the Weathermen, Baader-Meinhof / Red Army Faction or Symbionese Liberation Army for those with an overactive imagination. (And what are the Red Brigades Chris? Fegato tagliato?) Strangely, Trotter describes the “60 or 70” protesters at the conference as “anarchists and communists”, ignoring what appears to have been an independent Maori presence; inside the New Zealand Parliament, on the other hand, there was more batshittery when a Maori Party MP, Hone Harawira, was accused by a political opponent of being an ‘anarchist’ on the basis that he opposes the Terrorism Suppression Amendment Bill and expressed concern over recent police actions (Harawira accuses ‘state forces’ of terrorism, New Zealand Herald, November 7, 2007).

Bad enough to be Maori, but fuck me, an anarchist?

The Court Of Appeal has rejected an appeal against the lifting of name suppression for two more of the prisoners arrested in the October 15th raids.

Tuhoe Francis Lambert, 58, and Whiri Andrew Kemara, 38, both of Auckland, had had name suppression lifted by the Auckland District Court on Thursday November 1st, but their lawyers had immediately sought leave to appeal that decision and therefore interim suppression orders were granted until the appeal could be heard.

In total, 6 of the 16 arrestees have bail, with the other 10 remanded in custody at Auckland Central Remand Prison and Auckland Region Women’s Correctional Facility. Of the 16, only 4 still have name suppression.

On bail:

* Marama Mayrick, 24
* Ira Bailey, 28
* Male from Ruatoki
* Moana Winitana, 53
* Female from Auckland, 32 (TSA application)
* Rongomai Bailey, 28 (TSA application)

In custody:

* Whiri Kemara, 38 (TSA application)
* Jamie Lockett, 46 (TSA application)
* Tame Iti, 55 (TSA application)
* Male from Ruatoki (TSA application)
* Male from Wellington, 23 (TSA application)
* Tuhoe Lambert, 58 (TSA application)
* Omar Hamed, 19 (TSA application)
* Rawiri Iti, 29 (TSA application)
* Emily Bailey, 30 (TSA application)
* Valerie Morse, 36 (TSA application)

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, State / Politics, War on Terror | 11 Comments

2007 Anarchist Anti-Election Manifesto

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Music, State / Politics | 1 Comment

“Scum” issue statement on 2007 ISD gig at Melbourne Croatia

Local neo-Nazi muzak group Blood & Honour Australia has issued a statement on their website regarding the 2007 Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig, held on October 13, 2007 at the Melbourne Croatia Social Club in Sunshine, at which four bands — Bail Up!, Final War, Fortress and Quick & the Dead — played to a crowd of somewhere between 40 and 200 people (mostly fellow boneheads). Keep in mind that when ‘[c]ontacted by The Weekend Australian, social club manager Catarina Malacic denied the event was held. “There was nothing on at the venue that night”‘.

Here ’tis:

Statement from the Blood and Honour Movement

On the 13th of October 2007 a memorial concert took place at Somers St. Sunshine Nth.

The venue was booked by phone some weeks before as a private function and those responsible for bookings were informed a couple of bands were to play.

Organizers arrived at approximately 4pm and a PA system was set up.

Around 5pm the people staffing the bar received threatening and abusive phone calls from anarchists and Marxists. Until this stage those operating the bar had no idea that a White Nationalist event was to be held.

After some discussion and reassurances it was agreed the concert would go ahead. Ultimately four bands played, the concert occurred without incident and those who attended left late that evening in a peaceful manner.

At no stage was this event ever linked or intended to be linked to the Melbourne Knights F.C. or Melbourne Croatian [sic] Social Club. It was purely seen as an isolated venue to hold a private get-together. If the show had been held at a Scout Hall it seems the same cowards making threats via phone would have held the entire Scout movement accountable.

The Chairman of M.K.F.C. [Matt Tomas] has been reported as calling supporters of the B&H Movement and S.C.H.S. [Southern Cross Hammerskins] as “scum”. Perhaps that term would better apply to those such as G.Roberts and C.Smith (aka Cam Sexenheimer) in regards to their efforts to attack, vilify and divide Australian-Croatians via their poorly researched and truth-challenged article “Neo-Nazis split Croat community”.

The only apology we will make regarding this entire matter is to the innocents of the M.C.S.C., caught in what amounts to a “beat up” orchestrated by anarchist and extreme left misfits. Frustrated by their impotence and inability to halt a meeting of White Nationalists they chose the easiest target they could find and made up a scapegoat in the name of the M.C.S.C. Absolutely reprehensible!

No further comment will be made or needs to be made.

For Blood and Honour
The Movement

“No further comment will be made or needs to be made”? Well, not by the anonymous members of B&H, at any rate. Once again, they’ve tried to hold a gig in secret, and failed. Once again, they’ve left others to clean up their mess.

By way of reply:

Aside from demonstrating (again) that the MCSC was indeed lying when its representatives claimed that there was ‘no gig’ on the night of October 13, to describe the annual tribute to dead bonehead Ian Stuart Donaldson as ‘just a couple of bands playing’ reveals not only a clumsy attempt by B&H to be tricksy, but constitutes an implicit acknowledgment that neo-Nazism is widely despised; that B&H are precisely as Matt Tomas described them — “scum” — and that, further, they know it. Hence the need to resort to subterfuge.

Of course, also interesting is the anonymous bonehead’s claim that “After some discussion and reassurances it was agreed the concert would go ahead”. In other words, the MCSC knowingly authorised the holding of a neo-Nazi event, thus putting paid to another, subsequent lie, this time by “club committee member Ivan Skunca… [that] the premises were booked for a concert, but… the club did not know who made the booking. “It was a mistake. Perhaps we had an obligation to check these people out and we didn’t. We apologise for that”.”

Note that just a few weeks prior to the ISD gig in Melbourne, the US branch of the Hammerskins attempted to hold ‘Hammerfest’, another neo-Nazi celebration in Portland, Oregon. Unfortunately for them, the management of the Elks Lodge are made of much different stuff to the management of the MCSC, and consequently, upon being informed that their facilities were being used by scum (scum who also pretended to be a “rock group reunion of friends”), Elks’ management immediately told them to piss off. In other words, Elks management refused to collaborate with a small group of local neo-Nazis, to lie about their use of club facilities, and to accept their “reassurances” that there would be no further repercussions for doing so. And it’s the repercussions for their friends at the MCSC that B&H appear to be most upset over (they themselves presumably confident that they will be able to continue — as they have for the last 20 years or so — to operate with relative impunity).

    …In spite of outward appearances, the evidence soon indicated that we had been very badly misled, and the guests in our facility were indeed an organization whose beliefs we can neither condone or support. They had also [misrepresented] themselves in renting the facility, and continued to misrepresent themselves in the evening. We shut down the event as quickly and as safely as possible after that and the group left before 8:00. None of the guests ever did admit who they were and their organizational affiliation. The members of our organization are both shocked and embarrassed by this event, and thank everyone for quickly bringing the true identity of these folks to our attention.

Unfortunately, while claiming that Greg Roberts’ article is poorly-researched, B&H offer no evidence to substantiate their argument, only mealy-mouthed words to the effect that “those responsible for bookings were informed a couple of bands were to play”.

One of those bands, Final War, came from Orange County in California. (They, like literally thousands of other neo-Nazi scum, find a place on myspace.) The fact that Final War, like the other bands playing, and the two local groups organising the gig, were neo-Nazis, was apparently kept from the MCSC. I say “apparently” because although being informed on the night of precisely these facts, as outlined above, the MCSC allowed the gig to go ahead. Further, representatives of the Club lied — and continue to lie — about the gig taking place, and the circumstances under which it did so.

As evidence of the character of the bands which performed at the Social Club — and with its blessing — Greg Roberts quoted one song by Final War called ‘Defenders of the Reich’. Here’s a few further samples of their lyrics:

‘Land of the White’

No Jews in power with money to bribe
I see our people once again having their pride
I see our children learning who they really were
I see the Jewish lies being taught no more

‘Tales of Honour’

He took the reins of power in 1933
The appointed deputy führer of the N.S.D.A.P.
This is the story of Rudolf Hess, a brave and loyal man
Gave his life for his beliefs because he loved his land

On that night of May 10th in 1941
He boarded an Me-110, for his mission had just begun
Destination — Scotland, the Duke of Hamilton he must seek
But what was to unfold from this emissary of peace?

Sieg Heil! — Rudolf Hess, your legacy lives on
Your courage and your honour keeps us marching strong
Sieg Heil! — Rudolf Hess, amongst the gods you lie
You live on in Valhalla, ‘cause true heroes never die

‘Victory or Death’

You gave it your all, you gave it your best
In beating the odds against time’s test
Locked away, shackled in chains
Despite the conditions your honor remains

Nothing can stop you not even death
Forever loyal until the last breath
You gave it your all, you gave it your best
The men of The Order you’re above the rest

Race over all, endless pride
Dedication and strength the will to survive
Whatever it takes, victory or death…

Finally, the anonymous bonehead also claims that “the concert occurred without incident and those who attended left late that evening in a peaceful manner”, but this is contradicted by pseudonymous members of the Melbourne Knights Army forum, whose discussion of the incident which did occur — and which evidently included a racial dimension — is so sensitive that it was censored by the Board’s moderators. Nevertheless, one opines that it “musta had something to do with the blokes hanging out at the front gate”; another that “if what I heard is true then the perpetrators need to be identified and publicly shamed”; yet another asks “why would our boys vandalise our own property”? Finally, another member concludes that, as a result of the incident, it’s “Time to bring out the trusty old srbosjek“: literally ‘Serb-cutter’ in Croatian, a specially-designed knife used for the rapid slaughter of Jews, Serbs, anti-fascist Croats and other victims of the Ustaše regime during WWII.

Top stuff from the angry white boys…

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media, Music, State / Politics | 2 Comments