slackbastard : critical reflections

Posted on September 27, 2007 by @ndy

@ndy… you think you’re getting to me… but you’re clearly not… I find it amusing that you are the Melbourne Punk Stalker! You know everything that’s going on! Your shitty little website there is probably better off being a gig website. You know when ALL the shows are on! … Anyway… anarchy is a fag… that’s all I have to say to you Mr Moran… ~ Chunga, chungacunt, September 23, 2007

    Slackbastard Anarchist Blog continues a series on neo-fascists with his latest title ‘Boneheads’. Sort of like a biologist whose field of research is slime molds. ~ Pat Murtagh, Molly’s Blog, September 15, 2007

for a good read – every day. ~ Luke, checkstainsthenleavehouse

    Meanwhile, with spotlight held fast on those eternal symbiotes, government spin and giddy mainstream press, real-world commentary like @ndy’s ’slackbastard’ blog shouted futile[l]y from the wings… ~ Norm, bondicigar, September 6, 2007

Another installment in my irregular series on extreme metal! Check out Andy’s post Metal Militia at his blog “Slackbastard”. It’s a good post. ~ gray, isn’t it about time we tried socialism?, August 1, 2006

    Slackbastard goes toe to toe with a few choice representatives from the obnoxious neo-fascist bloc that turned up to the main APEC demo on Saturday, and emerges triumphant, having barely broken a sweat. ~ Emmy Hennings, fangirl, September 11, 2007

In the meantime, the anarchist slackbastard has plenty to say on the topic of home-grown, ‘dinky-di’ fascists, hoping to find new converts in Australia. ~ The Happy Revolutionary, The Partisan, July 7, 2007

    Slackbastard Smart. Anarchist. And prolific. Really, really prolific! ~ Radical Cross Stitch

slackbastard covers the story in far more depth, so all I need to do is convey my amusement. ~ Brian, fitzroyalty, August 2, 2007

    More images and links to McLennan’s banned/controversial art, including a piece critical of Israel and fake Melbourne tram posters warning that ‘Muslim commuters may be subject to suspicion’, can be found on this blog- Slackbastard. ~ New Matilda, February 1, 2006

In between men chasing balls around a field, I’ve been keeping myself informed and entertained with these particular sites. Try them yourself at half-time. slackbastard casts a lazy eye over the current state of play and saves the hard tackles for Nazi goons in Oz. ~ durruti, love and rage, June 20, 2006

    I’m grateful to SlackBastard for this insight and for this delightfully tongue-in-cheek send-up of the term “IMG” which means “Interest-Motivated Group”, or spook-talk for protestor exercising a democratic right. ~ Marty, Ethical Martini, September 3, 2007

Andy has sort of an ongoing hilarious documentary on the weird, wild world of Marxist-Leninist splinter sects. It’s kind of like a form of neo-surrealist theatre in which the actors don’t realize that they’re part of a show. ~ Charles Johnson, Rad Geek People’s Daily, February 28, 2006

    The Slackbastard blog features the political and social musings of Andy, an anarchist living in Melbourne. Slackbastard offers an informed view on political issues that are relevant to Melbourne and also the world at large. ~ onlymelbourne

10. Slackbastard. I say slackbastard should be in charge of the entire internet! Wait, hear me out. It hasn’t been tried yet, right? So how do you know it wouldn’t be good? ~ Rosa Sparx, insultadarity, April 3, 2007

    I’ve got to give it to Welf and his cadre for having the restraint from braining these fools. New Right/New Reich!? That’s not even original! ~ “Ean Frick”, attackthesystem, September 14, 2007
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

But we’re not neo-Nazis! Honest! (You want fries with that?)

Posted on September 26, 2007 by @ndy

It’s a common lament among local members of the far right that they’re constantly being represented / lampooned / ridiculed, quite unfairly, as neo-Nazis. From Dr James Saleam to Darrin Hodges, David Innes to Luke Connors, the denial is as predictable as it is vociferous. For some, the problem is that they misapprehend the nature of Nazism / National Socialism, both in terms of its past (most notably in Germany, of course: see National Socialist German Workers’ Party [Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei] or NSDAP; the Nazi Party) but also in terms of its more contemporary manifestations (hence the appellation of ‘neo’ or new). Thus it was that only a few short years ago it had to be explained to Perth-based racist David Innes (formerly of Stormfront, now of the New Right) that ‘Nazi’ generally means ‘National Socialist’.

For others, the problem is not any failure of comprehension, but an all-too keen awareness of the function of the ‘Nazi’ label as a kiss of death to any political project to which it is legitimately applied. Thus Saleam finds that photographs of himself wearing a swastika, in addition to his continuing association with die-hard neo-Nazis like Ross ‘The Skull’ May (and er, Saleam’s criminal conviction for arranging an attentat upon a political rival) constantly serve to undermine his claims to be a ‘legitimate’ political organiser. By the same token, the fact that the Patriotic Youth League had to contend with the fact that it shared its address with — and one of its members declared their support for — an organisation such as Volksfront, meant that even the meatheaded likes of Luke Connors were eventually forced to admit defeat and move on to less browner pastures. Which, in Connors’ case, continues to be Stormfront; this, despite his apparent refusal to wear the tinfoil helmet other members pretend is made from titanium — and which is supposed to protect the wearer from the evil machinations of the Zionist Occupation Government (brought to you by the Elders of Zion).

Of course, over the last few years, and the last few months in particular, it’s been far from clear sailing on The Good Ship Übermensch. Following the departure, under a cloud of suspicion, of David Innes and Emma Peterson, a new moderator has been appointed: a 19-year-old Novocastrian named Rhys McLean (‘AustralianEuro’). Appointed in June 2007, Rhys has been notably quiet of late, leading some to wonder if he’s not a little tired of the whole ‘white nationalist’ malarkey. Me, I dunno, but I genuinely hope that one day he’ll realise that Hitler wasn’t such a Top Bloke after all, and that wearing a swastika is just plain… well… silly. Certainly, it’s something that Herr Doktor, leader of the rump of the NSW branch of the Australia First Party, understands — to his bitter regret.

Oh, and did I mention that Rhys is also a senior organiser for Australia First?

Murray pegged Hitler’s personality as “counteractive narcism,” a type that is stimulated by real or imagined insult or injury. According to Dr. Murray, the characteristics of this personality type include: holding grudges, low tolerance for criticism, excessive demands for attention, inability to express gratitude, a tendency to belittle, bully, and blame others, desire for revenge, persistence in the face of defeat, extreme self-will, self-trust, inability to take a joke, and compulsive criminality. Dr. Murray concluded that Hitler had these characteristics (and others) to an extreme degree and lacked the offsetting qualities that round out a balanced personality… ~ From the Introduction to Dr. Henry A. Murray’s 1943 essay ‘Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany’s Surrender’

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

Jeff Riley

Posted on September 26, 2007 by @ndy
Posted in Film, History, Media, Television | 3 Comments

Return of the Son of Anarchy is a Fag!

Posted on September 26, 2007 by @ndy

On this day in 2000, lots of queer things were going on in Prague. Crowd Bites Wolf documents some of them, including the activities of the nefarious pink bloc, whose antics continue to send chills down the spines of local fashion punks…

I can remember pissing myself laughing at excepts from Crowd at the launch (November 22, 2001) of Global Insights 4…

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Art, Sex & Sexuality | 6 Comments

“My name is Anna, and I’m an FBI informant.” “Hi Anna!”

Posted on September 25, 2007 by @ndy

My name is Anna
I live on the second floor
I live upstairs from you
Yes, I think you’ve seen me before
If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble
Some kind of fight
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was
Just don’t ask me what it was

Informant’s role in alleged eco-terror plot argued
Denny Walsh
Sacramento Bee
September 25, 2007

Opposing lawyers tugged a government witness one way and then another Monday on the question of how big a role an FBI undercover informant played in an eco-terrorism conspiracy at the heart of a trial in Sacramento federal court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Endrizzi engaged Zachary Jenson in a line of questioning designed to show that the informant, known to the jury only as “Anna,” did not have to prod defendant Eric McDavid toward violent action against segments of society he perceives as corruptors of the environment.

On the other hand, defense attorney Mark Reichel hammered away at Jenson on the money, equipment, transportation, housing and supplies “Anna” furnished McDavid, Jenson, and cohort Lauren Weiner, all of it underwritten by the FBI…

Note that “Anna” used the email address [email protected] and her writings using this can be found on a number of different forums, including anarchist (“The “Black Bloc” come together for organized protest against teh violence of a Police State… I will proudly join and fight with the bloc, as I have in the past”), animal rights (“I am interested in starting a South Florida Anti-Vivisection/SHAC Outreach group”) and independent media (“Is there a way I can plug into some events, do some filming and have a good time?”) outlets.

See also : Student’s path to FBI informant — Using alias, woman tells of alleged terrorism plot, Denny Walsh, Sacramento Bee, September 12, 2007; Green Scare Update (also AJODA #64).

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, State / Politics, War on Terror | 2 Comments

Belarussian antifa need support

Posted on September 25, 2007 by @ndy

Maksim and Vladislav are anti-fascists from Minsk, who are serving 3 year sentences in Belarussian camps for their activities. They support MTZ-RIPO [Traktor Boys], a football club which is famous for its uncompromisingly anti-fascist fans. Maksim turned 18 in late July. He has been in the anti-fascist movement for 3 years, and was one of the organisers of Food Not Bombs in Minsk, which has served food to the homeless, the elderly and the hungry in Gorki park, Victory square and elsewhere. In December 2006, FNB had an encounter with neo-Nazis, who ended up being defeated. One of the scum figured out that Maksim participated in the defense of FNB, and lagged to the cops. Eventually both Maksim and Vladislav were sentenced to 3 years jail for the crime of “aggravated hooliganism” under statute 339:2 of the Belarussian criminal code.

Write letters of support to Maksim and Vladislav! Their addresses are:

Maksim Gubski
VK-2 – 21
Batowa str. 4 Bobruisk
213800 Belarus

Vladislav Vladimirovich Plyashkevich
IK-10 otryad 4
Novopoltsk-5 Vitebskaya oblast
211440 Belarus

See also : ‘The secret history of the Nazi mascot’, Nick Bryant, BBC News, Melbourne, August 21, 2007: “Alex Kurzem came to Australia in 1949 carrying just a small brown briefcase, but weighed down by some harrowing psychological and emotional baggage. Tucked away in his briefcase were the secrets of his past – fragments of his life that he kept hidden for decades. In 1997, after raising a family in Melbourne with his Australian bride, he finally revealed himself. He told how, at the age of five, he had been adopted by the SS and became a Nazi mascot…”

Posted in Anti-fascism | Leave a comment

anarchy is a fag!

Posted on September 25, 2007 by @ndy

Note that the following comments are made by the lead vocalist (Chunga) for a band (The Worst) that has been selected to play with DOA at The Arty on October 19. Claiming that ‘anarchy is a fag'[!], relaying information (first produced by local neo-Nazis) regarding the identity of an anti-fascist activist and scabbing on a boycott of a neo-Nazi pub certainly has its rewards eh?

Monday, September 24, 2007

Coz it feels so empty without me…
Current mood: amused

So I write one little thing and it get’s [sic] posted all over [sic] the internet…

Pffft… check this shit out!

http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=858

@ndy… you think you’re getting to me… but you’re clearly not…

I find it amusing that you are the Melbourne Punk Stalker! You know everything that’s going on!
Your shitty little website there is probably better off being a gig website. You know when ALL the shows are on!
If I was a neo-nazi I’d definately [sic] be checking your site for all the upcoming b&h shows…

But seriously… all you’re doing is bringing more hate into this scene.
People hate you… because they are showing up to the Birmy expecting a fun night with bands… with no Swastikas in sight… and they show up to an empty pub because some loser is trying to boycott the place.
And now… you got a whole bunch of your fuckbag mates hating me coz apparently I’m a scab…
And how am I wrong when I say you need to get a life???
Surely you must be surfing through blood and honour websites 24/7 to be getting the information you put on your shitty site.
Anyway… anarchy is a fag… that’s all I have to say to you Mr Moran…

See how fast words travel my friends? Be careful what you write on the internet…
Coz you never know when some stalker is gonna put it on there [sic] website.
Thanx to the people who have supported us… and to the random [sic] people letting us know about this anarchist knobjockey Mr Moran…

See you in hell[!].

10:07 AM – 0 Comments – 0 Kudos – Add Comment

Sheesh.

In addition to death threats and other threats of violence (one well-wisher commented “I hope dirty muslim pakis rape your kids!” — which wasn’t very nice), I’ve been subjected to some fairly lame forms of abuse in the last few years, but I think Chunga must be coming close to having produced one of the lamest. Honestly, when I read a line like ‘anarchy is a fag’, I can’t help but laugh. So too, at Chunga’s lament over all those “people” who hate me because when they show up to a gig, the only other people there are people like themselves…

Making for quite a small crowd, according to Chunga.

At which point, it may be worthwhile recalling a little history:

Captain Charles Boycott was a former English army officer who served as the agent for an absentee landlord in Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. He was very harsh, refusing to lower rents in hard times and dispossessing tenant farmers who couldn’t pay. In 1880 the tenants, encouraged by the Irish Land League, retaliated: they organized a campaign to isolate Captain Boycott, encouraging the local people to refuse to have any dealings with him or his family. Charles Parnell of the Irish Land League said that those who refused to lower rents or who took the farms of people who had been evicted should be treated like “the lepers of old.” Boycott and his family found themselves without servants or farmhands and without mail delivery or service in stores. Their own crops failed, and they eventually fled back to England.

And so back to the present, and to conclude. First, if I weren’t ‘getting’ to Chunga, I doubt he would’ve been motivated to post. Secondly, the only thing I want anyone to ‘get’ is the reasons for Boycotting the Birmingham Hotel. Thirdly, I’m not the one helping to bring more ‘hate’ into the scene; on the contrary, I’m objecting to the use by neo-Nazi groups Blood & Honour Australia and the Southern Cross Hammerskins of a pub in Fitzroy. These groups are part of international networks, members of which routinely assault non-Whites, people they perceive to be homosexuals, the homeless, trade unionists, anarchists, socialists, punks, skinheads and others, and do so on the basis of their contempt and hatred for such groups. For example:

In June 1991, Arlington, Texas, was the site of further violence by Hammerskins. Three 16-year-old members of the Confederate Hammerskins murdered an African American, Donald Thomas, while he sat on the back of a truck with two white friends… That same year, in Birmingham, Alabama, Hammerskin Louis Oddo and his colleague Adam Galleon murdered a 50-year-old black homeless man on Christmas Eve. Oddo and Galleon killed the man, Douglas Garrett, by hitting him with a baseball bat and kicking him with their heavy boots. Oddo and Galleon were subsequently convicted of murder…

More recently, in 2004, B&H Australia and the SCHS organised for a band from Texas called the Bully Boys to tour Australia and to play the 2004 ISD memorial gig. A local bonehead describes their performance as follows:

Next was the band that we had all been waiting to see and we weren’t disappointed!! The Bully Boys!! They played an awesome set, with tunes like ‘Jigrun’ and ‘Fire Up the Ovens’. A few of the lads had gotten hold of some Jew[’]s yarmulke and took a light to it and handed it to Scott while he was singing ‘Six Million More’! Seeing that burn to the tune of that song was brilliant. What a showman!

The lyrics to ‘Jigrun’ read, in part: “Whiskey bottles / Baseball bats / Pickup trucks / And rebel flags / We’re going on the town tonight / Hit and run / Let’s have some fun / We’ve got jigaboos on the run / And they fear the setting sun”. The authors of these loving lyrics, the Bully Boys are closely linked to the Hammerskins. In 1990, drummer Sean Tarrant was one of several Confederate Hammerskins sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to civil rights convictions for involvement in the vandalization of a mosque and a Jewish community center in Dallas, and chasing and assaulting minorities in a park. Their current lead vocalist has also spent time in jail on assault charges.

Speaking of vocalists, Scott McGuinness of local band Fortress, scheduled to play their last ever show on October 13, lovingly warbles the following: “Reject an alien government, don’t recognise their laws / It’s time to close the floodgates, it’s time to shut the door / Repatriate, ship ’em out, send the bastards back / If they don’t fucking like it, it’ll be in body bags / Get out! We don’t want you around / Get out! Want the people to shout / Get out! Get outta my sight / Get out! Parasites… Parasites… Parasites.”

Most recently, three members of the Confederate Hammerskins lovingly attempted to assault an antifa in their house in Florida. Fortunately, the three were beaten back, and arrested while fleeing.

Posted in Uncategorized | 27 Comments

Hammerskins. Confederate, Western, Southern Cross…

Posted on September 24, 2007 by @ndy
    NB. On October 13, the local chapter of this mob, the Southern Cross Hammerskins, will be holding a gig somewhere in Melbourne…

SEMINOLE COUNTY, FL–Three days before Hammerfest 2007 kicks off, three members of the Confederate Hammerskins (CHS) will be standing before a judge for their role in the botched home invasion of a local antifa on Sep. 1.

Coby Wayne Stonecypher, 35, of Christmas, [Florida], Gary Allen Armstrong, 28, of Casselbery, FL and Johnathan Wayne Singleton, 26, of Ocoee, FL will be at the Criminal Justice Center on Oct. 2 at 1:30PM in Sanford, FL before Judge Debra S. Nelson. The three have either posted bail or were released pending trial. They have all been ordered not to go near the house where they attempted to stage an early evening attack on a well-known antifascist activist that Stonecypher [has] had a grudge against for years. The three ended up getting soundly beaten by that antifa and two others, and they were arrested as they tried to flee.

CHS has a long history in the state of Florida and over the years have engaged in a number of violent acts in the state. They were reportedly responsible for shooting out the window of the Jacksonville, FL club ‘Thee Imperial’ to prevent them from having a anti-racist show on Dec. 16, and earlier this year, CHS members Tom Martin, 23, and John Rock, 35, were arrested by the FBI after an informant wore a wire to a meeting and agreed to help them rob a drug dealer in Casselberry, FL. They [?] have also made them into virtual punching bags for antifa and underground music scenesters alike in the state. The most notable incident [occurred] when Forrest Fog[a]rty, the lead singer of the white power band Attack and current Army active duty who has done tours in Iraq, was beaten and cut badly by attendees of a show by the Buffalo, NY band Snapcase, which is known for being decidedly anti-racist. Coby Stonecypher has been noted by those familiar with him as the right-hand man of CHS’s leader Ritchie Myers, and has served time in jail on a hate crime charge in 1999 stemming from an assault charge for allegedly threatening a black man in connection with a neo-Nazi gathering at a hotel in Plant City, FL.

Ironically, the Hammerskin court date is also the same day that National Vanguard founder Kevin Alfred Strom will be in court in Virginia facing child porn charges.

See also : Hate-crime case award will be hard to collect, experts say, Sean Nelson, The Press-Enterprise, August 24, 2007:

    A man described as a recruiter for a white supremacist group and the parents and sisters of two men convicted of beating and slashing Randy Wordell Bowen, who is black, were ordered to pay damages…

    Some men charged and sentenced in the Bowen case were admitted members of Western Hammerskins, a regional branch of an international white-supremacy group. Roth said he filed the suit to stop Western Hammerskins from operating in the Murrieta area.

    Tim Hales, commander of the Murrieta-Temecula Regional Gang Task Force, said the prosecution and civil lawsuits against members and their families likely contributed to the declining visibility of Hammerskins.

    Riverside County prosecutors called the attack on Bowen one of the worst racially motivated crimes in county history.

    Bowen was struck in the head with a bottle and chased by a group of people — many of whom shouted racial slurs and Nazi slogans — during a 1999 bonfire party in the Temecula Valley Wine Country, prosecutors said at the time. He was then beaten and slashed across the back with a straight razor, prosecutors said.

    In 2001 and 2002, six men charged in the beating were sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to 20 years.

    The convicted men and three others involved in the attack but not criminally charged were subsequently sued in civil court and ordered by a judge to pay Bowen about $4.8 million in damages, Roth said.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Music | 25 Comments

“Nazis. I hate Melbourne Nazis.”

Posted on September 22, 2007 by @ndy

In just a few short weeks, on October 13 — and as I’ve been attempting, vainly, to draw other’s attention to for the better part of three months now — a large group of perhaps as many as 1-200 neo-Nazis will be gathering in Melbourne to attend a gig. The gig will * three local neo-Nazi bands — Bail Up!, Fortress and Quick and the Dead — in addition to at least one act from overseas. The gig will allegedly be Fortress’ last performance, and as one of the world’s leading neo-Nazi bands, is expected to draw a crowd far in excess of the 50 or so boneheads who attended last year’s Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig (among whom numbered Welf Herfurth).

By way of background, here’s two recent reports of anti-Semitic incidents in Marvellous Melbourne:

Hoons mar first Shabbat of year
Melissa Singer
Australian Jewish News
September 17, 2007

A CARLOAD of hoons who drove through St Kilda East shouting anti-Semitic comments through a megaphone has marred the first Shabbat of the new Jewish year, according to security personnel. The Community Security Group (CSG) said the car passed the Yeshivah Centre and Chabad House Caulfield on Saturday around 6.45pm, with the men shouting “F***ing Jews” and other insults through a megaphone. While several congregants from Yeshivah pursued the car, they were unable to obtain sufficient information to identity the offenders. The car later returned to the area and its passengers reportedly pelted eggs at Jews who were walking the streets…

Anti-Semitic attack at golf club
Grant McArthur
Herald Sun
September 20, 2007

JEWISH golfers are outraged at vandals who carved a large swastika and KKK into the green of a historic Jewish golf club. The anti-Semitic attack destroyed parts of the Cranbourne Golf Club’s fourth green on September 12, the first night of the Jewish New Year. The club was founded by Jewish golfers in 1954 after they were excluded from other golf clubs, and general manager Sean Constable said members were distressed by the latest attack. “It certainly upset some of our members, but hopefully it was just local kids who have nothing better to do,” he said. “It’s not the first time. We have had big swastika done on the greens in the mid-1990s and we had to replace a whole green.” About $4500 damage has been caused by vandals at the club this year, including another anti-Semitic attack on the 13th green…

A month ago, on August 18, a Jewish teenager was assaulted on Carlisle Street. Last October, footballers from Ocean Grove abused and assaulted a Jewish pedestrian in Caulfield. One of three men to be charged, Simon Christian, pled guilty and was convicted of making a racist taunt (“Go Nazis!”); happily, he later won the Bellarine Football League’s reserves grade “best and fairest” award, while “Another footballer charged over the incident, James Dalton, 29, was runner-up in Bellarine League’s best and fairest senior grade awards” (Racist footballer awarded best and fairest medal, Mark Dunn, Herald Sun, September 1, 2007). On the other hand, “The cricketer who set up a page on a social networking site that sledged the Maccabi Ajax Cricket Club has been suspended from the sport for eight years”, which together suggests that while hatred of Jews may be expressed by the best and fairest in the world of football, as far as the Victorian Turf Cricket Association (VTCA) is concerned, it’s just not cricket.

Most recently, in fact just a few days ago, a teenage fascist from Melbourne — one who traveled to Sydney to take part in the neo-Nazi black bloc at the APEC summit protest — commented, on Stormfront, in response to the publication of new photographs of Nazi staff at Auschwitz, and a photo of “Nazis having fun in the sun” in particular:

    They are celebrating the girl[‘]s graduation from Jewish strangulation school? Haha, jokes, haha!

Elsewhere, but on a related note, in the world of local music, ‘Chunga’, the singer for local Melbourne fashion punk band The Worst states, in relation to local neo-Nazi venue The Birmy:

And yes… I know there have been a couple of Nazi gigs there in the past… but to be honest… I couldn’t give a left nutsack what bands have played there before! […] All these tossers that care sooo much about shutting down The Birmy need to get a fucking life!!! Them accusing us [of] supporting racists for playing at a pub… is no better than being a [N]azi! […] The crusty wankers who think they’re so good for being anti-racist are no fucking better than the [N]azis… They think they’re better than everybody!!! And they dislike anyone who doesn’t share their beliefs… Fuck off you cocksuckers and get a life!!!

Apparently then, according to Chunga, I’m a tosser who cares too much, has no life, is a crusty wanker, is morally equivalent to the Nazis, superior, intolerant and a cocksucker. All because I support a boycott of a pub in Fitzroy called The Birmy — which has served as a venue for neo-Nazis for almost a decade — and describe punk bands who’ve played there as being scabs. Judging by the slight tone of upset in Chunga’s otherwise measured response, I’d have to say it’s working.

But speaking of ‘fucking off’ and ‘getting a life’, in New Zealand / Aoteraoa:

A juror in a white supremacist kidnapping trial who received a drawing of a swastika with the words “not guilty” is leaving New Zealand so he can protect his family. The note was left on the doorstep of his Hutt Valley home on July 13.

Lloyd James Bowling was ordered yesterday to stand trial for being party to an attempt to corruptly influence the juror, but no explanation has been given for how the juror’s home address was traced. The juror, whose name was suppressed, said his first thoughts were for his family then he rang the High Court at Wellington where the trial was being held… He said he was taking steps to protect his family, “as best I can”. He would not stay in New Zealand.

Police searching the Stokes Valley home where Bowling, 40, was living, found photographs of the kidnapping victim from the trial in which the juror had been sitting. Nazi propaganda and obscenities had been written over the photos. One of them included: “Lucky you didn’t die”. Bowling, unemployed, was remanded in custody to appear in the High Court on October 15, when a trial date may be set. Bowling’s lawyer, Keith Jefferies, had said there was no certainty about who wrote the note and no evidence about who delivered it. For the police, lawyer Grant Burston said it was alleged Bowling had helped or encouraged the crime. He was a close associate of the four men – Jaydon Russell Borland, Jason George Gregory, Mark Alexander Gage and Benjamin Peter McPadden – on trial for kidnapping and robbing Canadian tourist Jeremie Kawerninski in April last year. Gage was discharged, and the other three have been sentenced on various charges… ~ Swastika threat juror to flee NZ, The Dominion Post, September 8, 2007

Posted in Anti-fascism, History, Music | 52 Comments

Rod Coronado : Meet Ms. Trial; Ms. Trial, meet Rod Coronado // Jena 6

Posted on September 20, 2007 by @ndy

Mistrial declared in ‘eco-anarchist’ trial
Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
September 20, 2007

SAN DIEGO — A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the prosecution of “eco-anarchist” Rodney Coronado after the jury said it was deadlocked.

Coronado, 41, was accused of urging a gathering of vegans to throw firebombs. He was charged under a seldom-used federal law that makes it a crime to describe how to make an explosive device with the intent of encouraging a lawless act… [cont.]

Oh yeah. The Jena 6. Today’s a National Day of Action in the US. A blog called Facing South asks why no progressive (white) bloggers have paid much attention to the case, which involves six black teenagers from Jena, Louisiana, being charged with (second-degree) attempted murder for beating a white student… Crazy shit! The first student convicted is sentenced today, and faces up to 22 years in prison.

Posted in Anarchism, State / Politics, War on Terror | 5 Comments