G20: Police fight terrorism; arrest protesters

Posted on March 15, 2007 by @ndy

In George II‘s ongoing and everlasting War on Terrorism™, in a joint operation involving members of the Federal, NSW and Victoria police, and acting under the direction of the ‘Police Terrorism Investigation Squad’, five people were arrested yesterday in dawn raids on a number of houses in Sydney. The five — “Sunil Menon, 25, from Darlington, Daniel Jones, 20, from Balmain East, Timothy Davis-Frank, 22, from Bronte… Daniel Robins, 24 [from Newtown]”, and an unnamed teenage male — appeared in Sydney’s Central Local Court, and were bailed to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, March 20. (“The 17-year-old from Haberfield, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was granted bail in Bidura Children’s Court.”) According to AAP, “They have been charged with a variety of offences, including aggravated burglary, riot, affray, unlawful assembly, criminal damage and conduct endangering person”: with the possible exception of aggravated burglary, the same charges currently facing dozens of others arrested since G20 as a result of the efforts of Operation Salver — the police taskforce established immediately following the meeting in Melbourne last November 18–19. (‘Five charged over G20 protests’, [AAP], Herald Sun, March 14, 2007.)

Another, triumphant account in Murdoch’s Herald Sun, titled ‘Anti-terror cops swoop in raids’ (Mark Buttler and Paul Anderson, March 15, 2007), reports that:

The dramatic arrests followed a four-month search for activists allegedly associated with Arterial Bloc, a radical protest group blamed for much of the violence at the meeting of 20 of the world’s economic powers. Police from the NSW anti-terrorism unit joined Victorian detectives in the pre-dawn raids. Supporters of the arrested men accused police of kicking down doors. They said dozens of police ransacked the homes. It is believed three of the men are Sydney University students and a fourth is a librarian there…

According to one unconfirmed report, the warrants authorising the arrests were applied for by ‘Gary Charles Lowe’ of the ‘Terrorism Investigation Squad’; a NSW police officer by the name of Gary Lowe may work for the NSW State Crime Command. Then again, the only online reference I can find to anything like the above squad is the “terror investigation squad” referred to in the following account of the ongoing trial of The Sydney Nine:

‘Ethnicity question in terror trial’
Tracy Ong
The Australian
March 9, 2007

THE lawyer of one of nine Sydney terror suspects has accused police of not laying terrorism charges against a 10th man because he is not a Muslim. Paul King, the barrister for Mazen Touma, yesterday asked James Pratt, a detective senior constable attached to the terror investigation squad, why George Lord was not “sitting here in the dock with everybody else”…

Still, it’s worth noting that the draconian legislation rushed through Parliament by the HoWARd Government following 9/11 defines ‘terrorism’ in extremely broad terms, and it may be that — in the context of state preparations for the upcoming APEC Summit in Sydney (September 7–9), and at which George II himself will be making an unwelcome appearance, in addition to other war criminals such as Russian President Vladimir Putin — authorities are going to want to send a very clear message that any form of active opposition will be crushed: by any means necessary…

    House raids and arrests of G20 protestors: Defence campaign launched in Sydney
    [Media release]
    Wednesday, March 14, 2007

    Five people have been arrested in Sydney this morning in relation to the G20 protests in Melbourne last November.

    Five houses were raided in operations involving NSW, Victorian and Federal Police. The “Police Terrorism Investigation Squad” [is] reportedly co-ordinating the operation.

    Supporters have formed a “G20 Defence Collective”, demanding immediate release of the protestors and the dropping of all charges.

    “These actions by the ‘Police Terrorism Investigation Squad’ are a gross attack on democratic rights. That these police are even being used for protest matters is outrageous”, said Paddy Gibson from the G20 Defence Collective.

    “Doors were kicked in this morning and places ransacked by dozens of police. The ‘Counter Terrorism’ unit is in fact being used to terrorise young people and their families [and] anyone who dares to stand up against the war and poverty being inflicted on the world by the G20. We demand all charges be dropped immediately.”

    “These raids follow on the heels of brutal police intimidation of protestors during recent actions against US Vice-President Dick Cheney, where we were physically stopped from demonstrating and two people were hospitalised”, said Emma Torzillo from the Sydney Stop G20 collective.

    “What about the 650,000 people that Howard, Cheney and other delegates to G20 have killed in Iraq? If the police are so concerned about ‘violence’ why don’t they raid Howard’s office – he is the real terrorist”.

    “People across the country are turning fast against the war and these raids are simply an attempt to intimidate those who have been most active, particularly in the lead up to Bush’s visit at the APEC summit in September”.

    “We will not be intimidated. Protests are happening tomorrow and Friday morning at 8:30 outside the Downing Centre local court demanding dismissal of charges laid during Dick Cheney’s visit. We will be there also demanding and end to the house raids and charges on G20 protestors”, said Ms Torzillo.

    The G20 Defence Collective will join… rallies [on] Thursday 15th and Friday 16th March at 8:30am outside Downing Centre Local Court demanding an end to police intimidation of protest.

      For more information or media statements contact:

      Paddy Gibson on 0415 800 586 (Sydney University Student Representative Council) or Emma Torzillo on 0412 472 224 (Anti-War Action Group) | And in Melbourne, Anita Thomasson on 0411 680 052 (Ongoing G20 Arrestees Solidarity Network — also 0408 307 722)

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics, Student movement, War on Terror | Leave a comment

The KKK took my perspective away

Posted on March 14, 2007 by @ndy

Two recent articles from Crikey on the KKK and FDB!

The KKK took my perspective away
Cam Smith
Crikey
March 12, 2007

The news last week that a Ku Klux Klan group (The White Legion Knights of the KKK) was attempting to recruit in the Queensland city of Toowoomba via a leaflet campaign has been blown somewhat out of proportion and is just a little bit pathetic. Surely a proper Invisible Empire would never do anything as tacky as sticking propaganda (American propaganda! Very UnAustralian) under people’s windscreen wipers. It’s just not the done thing.

The Mayor (Dianne Thorley), the local members (Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane and Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine) and Premier Peter Beattie have all come out slamming the pamphlets. Just how worried should they actually be?

Let’s put this group into perspective. There’s already a KKK group operating in Australia — they’re called the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Australia and the organisation is run (Grand Wizarded) by a bloke called David Palmer, a retired electrician who divides his time between doing his bit for the incredibly beleaguered white race and sinking beer at his local RSL. Unlike these classless Toowoomba sheet-heads, he reportedly does much of his recruiting the old fashioned way: in mental institutions and jails.

The crowning achievement of the IEKKKKA has probably been the establishment of their 100% Aryan Breeding Program, wherein women wishing to ensure the racial integrity of their offspring can (for a small fee) do the “horizontal Austrian polka” with Dave or one of his kameraden. To date there have been no takers.

We are possibly not dealing with the cream of the crop of Australian society. The fact that Dave completely disavows any connection to this new group and disparagingly refers to them as “the Toowoomba Centrelink Mob” speaks volumes as to just how insignificant they are. If these losers can’t even organise themselves some jobs, how are they expected to organise a cross burning (it’s actually harder than you’d think).

The authorities should definitely keep an eye on them (in case they should grow beyond what we estimate are 5-10 members), but as Dr Mark Copland from the Catholic Social Justice Commission has pointed out, there are actually more important racial issues in Toowoomba for Di, Ian, Kez and Pete to be dealing with. Perhaps the shocking state of Aboriginal education and health should be prioritised above the activities of a few losers in bedsheets.

Cam Smith – poseur or van Tongeren?
Christian Kerr
Crikey
March 13, 2007

Crikey made an error of judgement granting space to the self-styled anti-racism campaigner Cam Smith yesterday, since Smith is either one of two things: a poseur or an advocate of violence.

Smith says he represents an organisation called “Fight Dem Back”. Fight Dem Back has a website, but like most groups on the political fringe there appears to be little more to the entity than some self-selected spokespeople and a message.

In Fight Dem Back’s case, that message is ambiguous.

The organisation’s homepage talks about its “opposition to all groups who would seek to propagate racial hate and division”.

It provides chapter and verse on some strikingly obnoxious groups and individuals who do this – people such as Jack van Tongeren, the white supremacist who served 12 years in prison from 1989-2001 in Western Australia for firebombing Asian businesses.

Nowhere, however, in all the detail on its site, does Fight Dem Back precisely spell out how it expresses its “opposition” to racism.

Violence plays no part in political decision making or debate in Australia. We recognise this. It is why we send people like van Tongeren to jail.

Yet Fight Dem Back explicitly meets violence with violence in its name. Does it also do so in its activities?

It might not have all that many. Smith and his confreres may do little more than run a website and occasionally offer opinions to hard-pressed, naïve or gullible journalists and editors.

If this is so, then they are nothing but… puerile political poseurs. Political poseurs who exploit decent minded people’s repugnance at racism to gain themselves media notoriety.

And if Fight Dem Back uses or condones violence, then Cam Smith is as offensive to our democracy as Jack van Tongeren.

Either way, Crikey should be embarrassed for giving him a platform.

Yes, how embarrassment…

It’s difficult to know precisely what Kerr was thinking when he wrote his rejoinder to Cam; perhaps he wasn’t doing anything else on Sunday afternoon. Or maybe he’d had a bit too much to drink. But who’s Christian Kerr anyway, and why has he bothered to produce such a grotesque caricature?

To begin with, it’s obvious that he’s a Christian: Christian is, after all, his name, and such a conclusion simply follows from Christian the Christian’s impeccable logic regarding the violent implications of the name Fight Dem Back!. Kerr is also, according to The Age, a former Tory party hack and corporate propagandist (Susan Brown, ‘Crikey! Name behind column comes clean on dishing dirt’, July 4, 2004), having been employed by “a string of federal Liberals and a premier”, including Senators Robert Hill and Amanda Vanstone and former South Australian premier John Olsen.

As for Kerr’s diatribe… more later.

However Crikey readers may respond to Kerr’s smears, its publication has certainly been warmly received on Scumfront Down Under. Thus David Innes (‘Baron von Hund’) exclaims “In your face Cam”, and extends a note of appreciation to the neo-Nazi New Right group for bringing the article to his meagre attention span. Note that, like most groups on the fringes of the far right, New Reich is little more than a platform for the articulation of bizarre racist conspiracy theories, in this (nut-)case, those produced by one Welf Herfurth: a former member of the German neo-Nazi NPD and One Nation, and current member of the Australia First Party and Blood & Honour Australia.

Responding to an enquiry by neo-Nazi Carl D. Thompson (‘Wodensvolk’) as to Cam’s identity, Canadian racist Frank! White! informs Thompson that Cam is “the loon who goes by the name Dr. Sexwithmeninheimer”: hurr hurr. Ever-helpful, convicted neo-Nazi criminal Ben Weerheym (‘Patriot Alliance Downunder’) points interested readers in the direction of his blog, where he has published a profile of Mr. Smith, further stating that “He is a deviant peice [sic] of slime that likes to joke about homosexual rape, illicit drug-taking and sodomy”, and requests further information on Cam “so that we can help parents that live in his vicinity know about this creep so they will be able to be vigiliant [sic] when letting their kids go to the local park in Collingwood”.

Hmmm, yes.

Luke Connors (‘young_soldier’) joins in the critical chorus, augmenting Kerr’s not-quite-accurate description of FDB! by further claiming that it’s composed of middle-aged men who “spend their time trying to rev up 16 [year old] kids who hate their parents and John Howard to attack people they don[‘]t like”; which is an odd remark coming from someone who, as ex-spokesperson for the now-defunct Patriotic Youth League, celebrated the racist pogrom in Cronulla in December 2005, claiming that “about 15 [PYL] members handed out literature to the Cronulla crowd, as well as buying drinks for some participants”, and who eagerly predicted further outbreaks of racial violence in the Melbourne suburbs of Heidelberg, Preston, Reservoir and Springvale.

Bonehead James Newman (‘JN’) — like Welf Herfurth, a member of both the Australia First Party and Blood & Honour Australia, and most notorious for uploading to Scumfront celebratory videos of the racist pogrom / ‘White uprising’ in Cronulla for the enjoyment of other racists and fascists around the globe — concludes that, while he and other racist schmucks have long-maintained that FDB! are “idiots”, “apparently mainstream people do too”. Well yeah… if Kerr can be considered ‘mainstream’, as well as representative. Time will tell who, if anyone, wishes to join Kerr and Scumfront in their condemnations. Indeed, perhaps Kerr would like to supplement his accusation of ‘violence’ — on the basis of the occurence of the word ‘Fight’ in the group’s name — by also highlighting the belief among the fine folks at Scumfront that FDB! is the product of a Jewish conspiracy to keep The White Man down?

By crikey, that would be interesting.

PS. Fear and loathing of Jews is “Official Stormfront Policy”, and those who question it are not welcome, no ifs, buts or maybes. “Chief of Staff” ‘jack_boot’ lays down the law:

Insofar as [Scumfront] has a policy, or platform, that platform consists of three major planks:

First, we share a racialist vision for the general prosperity, security, and betterment of our people.

From that commitment flows our most important message: we name the Jew as the deadliest, if not the only, threat to our existence as a race. Forge this message in titanium…

This is one of the reasons why neo-Nazis such as David Innes, his brother Paul Innes (‘Steelcap_Boot’), David’s partner and Scumfront Down Under moderator Lilith Petersen (‘Lilith’), Carl D. Thompson, Ben Weerheym, Dr. James Saleam (‘radnat’) and James Newman (Australia First Party), Luke Connors, and all the other racist losers find Scumfront to be such a happy home.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Media | 15 Comments

Greeks students are revolting

Posted on March 12, 2007 by @ndy

‘Arsonists attack Greek police station’
[AP]
International Herald Tribune
March 12, 2007

“ATHENS, Greece: Dozens of youths hurled petrol bombs at a police station near central Athens early Monday, damaging a patrol car and the building’s entrance, authorities said. No one was hurt in the attack in the Zografou area of the capital and no arrests were made. The attackers emerged from a nearby university campus, where police are forbidden to enter under Greek law. Monday’s incident followed riots in central Athens on Thursday, when anarchist youths clashed with police in front of parliament for more than three hours and set fire to a presidential guard post at the city’s tomb of the unknown soldier. Clashes between police and anarchist groups have intensified in recent weeks amid widespread student protests against planned university [sabotage] by the country’s [reactionary] government.”

The law prohibiting the entry of police onto University grounds was introduced following the overthrow of the military junta in 1974, and constitutes one of the lasting legacies of the student revolt that helped end the dictatorship. On November 17, 1973, striking students at the National Technical University of Athens (also known as the Athens’ Polytechnic) barricaded themselves behind the walls of the University. The Greek government, under Georgios Papadopoulos, ordered the army in to crush the occupation, and the army, literally, sent the tanks in, declaring that — like the Mayor of Copenhagen — there would be no negotiations with anarchists. The exact number of persons murdered by the army in the subsequent attack remains disputed, but most sources claims anywhere between dozens and scores of students (and civilians who had gathered at the Polytechnic in support of the students) were killed, while hundreds more were injured and thousands arrested.

In addition to abolishing free education, the current government plans to abolish the right of asylum.

    And what is war, what is needed for success in war, what are the morals of the military world? The object of warfare is murder; the means employed in warfare — spying, treachery, and the encouragement of it, the ruin of a country, the plunders of its inhabitants… trickery and lying, which are called military strategy; the morals of the military class — absence of all independence, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery, and drunkenness.

    ~ Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1872

Posted in Anarchism, History, State / Politics, Student movement | Leave a comment

Jared Taylor versus reality. Again.

Posted on March 12, 2007 by @ndy

Jared Taylor, the racist schmuck and self-described ‘race realist’ from Virginia, has had another crash-course in reality, his latest attempt to talk shit in Halifax, Canada at Saint Mary’s University, being cancelled by University authorities. The grinning idiot was scheduled to debate Peter March (an Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at St. Mary’s), previously stating that “I had such a warm reception [last time], how could I stay away?”. Despite March’s assurances that “I’m quite sure that this time it will go very smoothly”, University authorities, claiming security concerns, withdrew permission (March 5) for the use of University premises for the event, scheduled for Tuesday, March 6. In a later press release (March 6), Saint Mary’s stated that:

…the debate between Dr. Peter March, Philosophy Department, and Jared Taylor took place on March 6, 2007 at a location off campus.

The University made arrangements to have the debate videotaped, and copies have been provided to Dr. March and Mr. Taylor.

The University made the decision to withdraw use of campus facilities for the debate because of high security risks and potential threat to both our campus community and to visitors. The University remains committed to academic freedom, diversity of opinion, and supports open debate in a forum that does not put the personal safety of our community at risk.

Those wishing to view the videotaped debate are advised to contact Dr. March directly.

CBC, on March 6 (‘SMU says no racism debate on campus’), reported that:

University officials said Monday they decided to cancel Tuesday’s debate between Peter March, a philosophy professor, and U.S. author Jared Taylor because of a threat on a website [ie, Stormfront]. According to the posting, somebody would be stabbed if the event went ahead, said Chuck Bridges, a Saint Mary’s spokesman…

And while, according to one report, some less troubled individuals planned on responding to Taylor’s visit by violating The Laws of Nature and engaging in some ‘inter-racial’ kissing (‘Protesters ponder giving Taylor big kiss-off’, John Gillis, The Chronicle Herald, March 3, 2007), Taylor and March exchanged views on radio. Taylor also exchanged views with Peter Duffy in The Chronicle Herald (‘On the menu: Opposing racial diversity’, March 8, 2007), in which Duffy confesses he’s “confused” by Taylor’s racist babbling. In reference to March and Taylor’s broadcast debate, Duffy writes: “Peter March would make a case for racial diversity and I’d agree with it wholeheartedly. But then you’d say something and I could recognize myself in your anti-diversity argument”. Elsewhere, another Chronic journalist, Jim Meek (‘Speech is free, and everywhere in chains’, March 8, 2007) opines:

Is gun violence in Toronto centred in the immigrant Jamaican community? Yes.

Are Asian gangs becoming the dominant drug kingpins in Canada? Yes.

Are our native communities besieged by poverty and drugs? Yes.

Are we addressing these issues through successful public policy? For the most part, no!

So I say let Taylor speak, not because he’s right or wrong, but because his views – however offensive – reveal our failure to address some pretty important issues.

I’m all for multiculturalism, in short, but not for drowning in the warm soup of sentimentality that surrounds it in this country…

Therefore, Taylor makes a valuable contribution to the ‘debate’.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media, State / Politics | 10 Comments

S11: Lawyers eh?

Posted on March 11, 2007 by @ndy
    Q. What’s the difference between an echidna and two lawyers in a BMW?
    A. An echidna has the pricks on the outside.

Another lawyer joke:

Secret S11 deal twist
Chris Tinkler and Kelvin Healey
Sunday Herald Sun
March 11, 2007

THE law firm that brokered a controversial payout for S11 protesters who sued police is now representing injured police.

In another secret deal, the Police Association has struck a pact with Slater & Gordon, which received an estimated $600,000 in the S11 case.

It is understood the law firm has now stopped taking on cases against Victoria Police.

The revelation is a remarkable twist after the S11 saga.

Normally outspoken Police Association secretary Paul Mullett, who slammed the S11 deal, refused to comment on the Slater & Gordon pact on Friday.

Asked if the association had hired the law firm that represented the S11 protesters, he would only say: “We use a range of solicitors.”

But Slater & Gordon spokesman Andrew Taylor confirmed the law firm was working for the association in a range of areas.

“It’s generally industrial stuff and sometimes personal injury work,” Mr Taylor said.

He said the firm had been working with the Police Association for “six months to a year”.

That would mean that a separate unit within the firm was representing the association at the same time as another unit was suing its members.

It is understood all Slater & Gordon employees have been given a directive as part of the association deal not to accept any new cases against the police. When a Slater & Gordon help-line adviser was asked this week about representation for a man claiming to have been beaten by police, he was told: “We are not taking on any claims like that any more.”

The Bracks Government provoked widespread [sic] outrage when the Sunday Herald Sun revealed last week it had agreed to a secret $700,000 payout to protesters who clashed with police in the S11 [police] riots outside the World Economic Forum at Crown Casino in September 2000.

Forty-seven demonstrators and Slater & Gordon are sharing the windfall [sic], though the law firm is believed to be picking up about $600,000 in payment.

News of the payout also fuelled worries that the S11 protesters’ success could prompt similar action from participants in November’s G20 riots in Melbourne.

Opposition police spokesman Andrew McIntosh described the latest revelation as “the irony of ironies”.

“First you have a secret deal between the Bracks Government and Police Association, next you have a secret compo deal between the Government and Slater & Gordon and now there is a secret deal between Slater & Gordon and the Police Association,” he said.

“It is a merry-go-round of secret dealing. But I guess it proves if you can’t beat them, join them.”

Slater & Gordon is also preparing for a possible public listing later this year, with a prospectus due to be released within days.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Crazy anarchists in Greece… crazy anarchists in Denmark… crazy anarchists everywhere!

Posted on March 11, 2007 by @ndy

Megalo, megalo, megalo! Crazy crazy crazy Greek anarchists are up to their old tricks, setting fire to banks and cameras and throwing things at police:

“ATHENS, Greece: Suspected anarchists destroyed three traffic surveillance cameras within 10 minutes in different parts of Athens early Tuesday, and later attacked a bank, authorities said…” (‘Greek arsonists target traffic cameras, bank’, International Herald Tribune, (AP), March 6, 2007). “ATHENS, Greece: Riots broke out in Greece’s second largest city [Thessaloniki] early Friday, hours after hundreds of anarchist youths rampaged for several hours in Athens amid mass student demonstrations against government education reforms [sic]…” (‘Riots break out in Greek cities amid mass education protests’, International Herald Tribune, (AP), March 8, 2007).

See also : ‘Greek police, youths clash over education sabotage’, Reuters, March 8, 2007; ‘More Than 40 Hurt in Athens Rioting’, The Guardian (AP), March 8, 2007.

Further north, the Mayor of Copenhagen, Ritt Bjerregaard, has expressed anger at the anger expressed at her mindful destruction of the Ungdomshuset, an act of vandalism strongly resisted by local anarchists and other radicals. According to a report in The Copenhagen Post (‘Mayor loses patience with protestors’, March 5, 2007) Bjerregaard whinged that “‘I think they are completely out of line with what [I] can accept’ she told Politiken newspaper. ‘Violence isn’t a viable means in a society like ours'”; which is rather odd, given a) the use of a police terror squad to evict the Ungdomshuset to make way for a fundamentalist Christian sect in the first place, and b) the use of Danish mercernaries by the US state in its illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

An article in The Economist (‘Of riots and righteousness’, March 8, 2007) reveals something of the nature of the Mayor’s allies in her struggle to cleanse Copenhagen of youths uninterested in going to church or buying the over-priced commodities that cram its streets:

…The buyer was Faderhuset, a conservative Christian sect led by Ruth Eversen, a firebrand evangelist preacher [who has also compared her opposition to the forces of !natas].

Ms Eversen says that God told her to buy the house. “God often tells me to do things,” she claims. Her mission is to return Denmark to the Christian path, starting in Nørrebro, the district that houses not just the Ungdomshuset but also many Muslims. Ms Eversen has not revealed if she was also acting on God’s orders when she decided to demolish the building within hours of gaining vacant possession…

And who can argue with God? Certainly not a social democrat like Bjerregaard.

David Rovics, on the other hand, might. Further, he’s written a really neat summary of ‘The Battle for Ungdomshuset’ (t r u t h o u t, March 7, 2007), which also provides a useful account of the political context for this, the Danish bourgeoisie’s latest assault on radical culture — of which the Ungdomshuset was but one painful reminder (another, of course, being Christiania):

…Since 1982, Ungdomshuset has been a major center in Europe for the autonomous movement. People who have stood against corporate greed, stood for an egalitarian society. Against nationalism, for a world without borders. Against racism, for a world without discrimination and xenophobia. To these and other ends, Ungdomshuset has been host to thousands of concerts, workshops, meetings, conferences and protests.

The building that, at least up until last Thursday, housed Ungdomshuset, had a long history before 1982. It was built by the Danish labor movement in 1897 and was called Folkets Hus – The People’s House. VI Lenin spoke there before he [sic] launched The Russian Revolution. The Second International took place there. From that house, the first International Women’s Day was declared. It fell into disrepair and disuse in the late ’70s, and was squatted in 1982 by autonomous youth.

The police takeover of Ungdomshuset and the draconian security measures adopted over the weekend come at a time when the Danish government has shifted markedly to the right. The Rasmussen government has sent Danish soldiers to participate in the illegal occupation of Iraq. Denmark has recently passed some of Europe’s most restrictive asylum laws…

The eviction of the Ungdomshuset has been the catalyst for actions and protests around the world, including in Melbourne, where, according to a report on MIM, the Royal Danish Consulate-General of Melbourne had the words “Revenge For Ungdomshuset” sprayed on the front of the building housing it.

    Royal Danish Consulate-General in Melbourne
    Ground Floor
    492 St Kilda Road
    Melbourne VIC 3004
    Tel : (03) 9866 1242
    Fax : (03) 9886 1243
    Email : [email protected]

In Israel, Jonathan Pollock, an anarchist involved in the group Anarchists Against the Wall, was among one of 16 protesters injured by the IDF on Friday, March 9 during the weekly protest in the village of Bil’in. And ah, members of the Armenian Libertarian-Socialist Movement have established a blog, and are seeking contacts from around this bright, blue, but sadly dying planet.

And speaking of blogs and blogging, in the US, Josh Wolf continues to be imprisoned for refusing to submit to state authority (‘He must be crazy!’), now having spent 200 days in jail for so doing (Bob Egelko, ‘Mediator fails to free imprisoned blogger’, San Francisco Chronicle, March 9, 2007). Howard Kurtz questions Wolf’s status as a journalist in ‘Jailed Man Is A Videographer And a Blogger but Is He a Journalist?’ (Washington Post, March 8, 2007), a topic which Mark A. Phillips further pursues in Editor & Publisher Journal (‘Who’s a Journalist These Days?’, March 9, 2007): “Journalists with the “Big Ego disease” often point at bloggers and other people without press passes and accuse them of not being “real journalists.” But bloggers who provide analysis about newsworthy events are journalists…”.

Australian media continues its intensive coverage of the issue at the links below:

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, History, Media, State / Politics | 8 Comments

Traitors! Boo!

Posted on March 10, 2007 by @ndy
    Australia First Spits The Dummy Over Australians Against Further Immigration: Another bunch of wankers decides to split racist vote in Cronulla and entertain the people of New South Wales

Oh dear.

While “Extreme Right party One Nation has been effectively wiped out of NSW politics after it failed to nominate a single candidate for the state election”, according to The Daily Terror (‘One Nation out of NSW’, March 9, 2007), it appears that the racist vote in the up-coming election (March 24) in the seat of Cronulla will now be split: between the Australia First Party (John Moffat), on the one hand, and Australians Against Further Immigration (Warren Feinbier), on the other. Dr. James Saleam, Führer of the AFP, is not happy, and has accused AAFI of stabbing AFP in the back. Worse: “In not being tighter with our investigative functions, we were deceived by a spiv”!

A spiv!

The ‘spiv’ in question, according to Saleam, is some wanker called Edwin Woodger: he, apparently, constitutes the leadership of AAFI, and, oddly enough, like AFP councillor Bruce Preece in Adelaide, is an accountant. There’s obviously no love lost, then, between AFP and the 56 candidates AAFI will be fielding in the election. But “…[a]s for Edwin Woodger himself, we go one step further: there will be no place where the wrecker will rest in peace”. Exactly what Saleam means by this is difficult to say, although it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll organise another shotgun attack — as he did on ANC representative Eddie Funde‘s house back in 1989 — on Woodger… at least, that’s what one hopes!

Finally, I can now reveal — thanks to ZOG — the contents of a very special addwess Herr Doktor recently made to a public gathering at Cronulla:

    [trumpets]
    CROWD: [cheering]
    SALEAM: People of Cwonulla!
    CROWD: [chuckling]
    SALEAM: Democwacy is your fwiend.
    CROWD: [laughing]
    SALEAM: To pwove our fwiendship, it is customawy at this time to ewect a wacist.
    CROWD: [laughing]
    GOON #3: [chuckling]
    SALEAM: For whom would you like to vote?
    AGENT GERBIL: Vote for Woodger!
    CROWD: Yes! Vote for Woodger! Vote for Woodger! [laughing]
    SALEAM: Vewy well. We shall vote for Woodger!
    CROWD: [cheering]
    NEWMAN: Führer, uh, we don’t have a ‘Woodger’, Führer.
    SALEAM: What?
    NEWMAN: Uh, we don’t have anyone of that name, Führer.
    SALEAM: Ah. We have no ‘Woodger’!
    CROWD: Ohhh!
    AGENT GERBIL: Well, what about Wawwen, then?
    CROWD: Yes! Vote for Wawwen! Vote for Wawwen!
    SALEAM: Newman, why do they titter so?
    NEWMAN: Just some, uh, Jewish joke, Führer.

See also : ‘Pressure to assimilate won’t work, leader warns’, Richard Kerbaj, The Australian, March 5, 2007, in which Waleed Aly of the Islamic Council of Victoria makes the obvious point that ‘assimilation’ requires that new citizens of a state — in this case, referring specifically to Muslims in Australia — be provided with the opportunity to do so; ‘But co-founder of Australia First Party Denis [“The Racist Menace”] McCormack [ex-AAFI] argued that Muslim immigration into Australia was problematic and that the nation was set up to “remain predominantly white”. “This is an immigration problem that has gotten out of control,” he said. Mr McCormack later told The Australian some Muslims exploited the West to “advance their own agendas”. He said the gap between Muslim and non-Muslim birthrates in Australia would only be exacerbated by immigration’. Mike Steketee (‘Facts and figures punch holes in the fear of veils’, The Australian, March 8, 2007), on the other hand, tries hard to at least sound like a nice liberal (even if “True, most terrorists these days are Muslims”!), opining that “it is useful to keep these things in perspective”. My take? It’s a Joooish conspiracy! To avoid tackling the real issue! Which is the pernicious spread and influence of Buddhism! They’re taking over! AAARRRGGGHHH!

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

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at Andrew Bolt on S11 (Continued)

Posted on March 9, 2007 by @ndy
    Investigation of police action at the World Economic Forum demonstrations, September 2000, Report of the Ombudsman, June 2001 [PDF]

…for what it’s worth (is it worth writing?), here’s the second part of my reply to Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt‘s lies regarding S11, the three days of protest and carnival in opposition to the Asia-Pacific Summit of the World Economic Forum at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Monday, September 11 — Wednesday, September 13, 2000.

While the corporate lickspittle‘s main concern appears to be assisting local Tories to score a few cheap political points against the current Brack’s Labor State Government — and to also assist his mates in the Police Union in its battles with Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon — Bolt himself has had a bee in his bonnet regarding the propensity of local activists’ to embarrass his paymasters for some time: including, at S11, attempting to pay a visit to the H&WT building…

Now, consider the specific clash, which had 47 of the protesters suing 953 police.

Huh?

I obviously do not know the details of the case brought by Slater & Gordon on behalf of the 47 litigants and, given the nature of the subsequent agreement between the company and the Government, won’t know them at any time in the near future, if ever. However, one of the reasons the litigants ‘sued’ 953 police — ie, pursued a claim against a corporate entity — is because they were forced to. In other words, one of the major problems experienced by protesters interested in seeking redress for their taxpayer-funded injuries through the courts was the fact that approximately 80-90% of police deliberately chose to attempt to avoid identification by removing their ID.

The reasons for this are obvious: individual police — especially those on the frontlines — had legitimate concerns that their actions — punching little girls and grandmothers in the face etcetera on behalf of the richest men on the planet — might leave them open to litigation. And while the corporate/state media ignored and continues to ignore this issue, Perry does at least discuss it on pp.180-184 of his Report. His hand-wringing, and Deputy Commissioner O’Loughlin’s tall tales regarding his attempts to ensure police actually did follow their own guidelines, would be considerably funnier if the results of police attempts to avoid accountability for their actions did not have such serious consequences for those subject to their violent assaults.

Oh, and as far as I’m aware, Bolt is again lying when he claims that the “specific clash” for which the 47 litigants sought legal redress is that which took place at the time of Dick’s arrival at Crown (below). Thus, of the handful of litigants who have made public statements regarding the case, none support Bolt’s lies: Rod Quantock recalls being beaten on Tuesday night (‘Comedian objects to brutal police’, The Age, March 4, 2007); “serial protester” — ie, long-time political activist — Ciaron O’Reilly, on the other hand, was beaten and kicked in the head by police on the Tuesday morning.

O’Reilly’s account of the police heroes’ action is worth recalling at length:

    At 7 a.m. on the Tuesday we joined 30 folks already in a sitting blockade position at that gate [at the intersection of Queensbridge and Power / Whiteman Streets]. These included two Green Members of Parliament from New Zealand [/Aotearoa: Nandor Tanczos and Sue Bradford]. We had a very nonviolent vibe, plenty of singing, no verbal abuse etc.

    Fifteen minutes in, the riot squad, armed with batons, ran out of the casino and assembled behind police ranks. Riot police [189 members of the Force Response Unit, 63 transit police and 306 members of the regular police force, according to the Ombudsman’s Report (pp.107–108)] than ran into, over and through our bloc, many stopping to kick people in the face and groin with their heavy boots, many wielding batons as they went. I was struck in the head several times by batons and kicked in the face. We kept oming.

    Some folks were screaming in pain. One Lismore woman had her arm broken, one Melbourne man his wrist broken, an Irish guy scored a broken nose. There were head wounds, broken ribs, concussions, loss of blood, pissing blood and glasses smashed. On reflection we felt sitting made our bloc more resolute and less vulnerable to limb and facial injuries. Membership of an affinity group was a decisive factor in this act of resistance being an empowering rather than a demoralising experience.

    Groups of riot police then began snatching people off the blockade. Four police grabbed me by my dreads, legs & arms and dragged me 40 metres on the bitumen away from the rest of the crowd. I was isolated on the far side of the tight riot squad formation that was claiming the intersection in preparation for rapid entry of delegate buses. The police then batoned me around the body and the head. Throughout this experience I asked “Have I done anything illegal?” and “Am I being charged?”. They continued the bashing without any verbal response. They left me in a heap and retreated behind the shoulder-to-shoulder, batons-extended riot formation.

    The buses were speeding into the casino through a gap in the formation using the far lane. I jumped up and ran across the road, managing to take a standing star position in front of the last bus, which screeched to a halt in front of me. I was then jumped by four riot police who batoned me on the road and then dragged me onto the sidewalk against the wall and bashed me again. Interrupted by an ABC film crew they retreated behind the riot formation that had secured the intersection.

The lying liar continues:

On the blockade’s first day, a car carrying the then West Australian premier Richard Court tried to drive up to the casino, but protesters blocked it, bashing its panels, letting down its tyres, and threatening it with fire.

Five police negotiators pleaded with the crowd to let the trapped Court go free but were ignored. After nearly an hour, one protester climbed up on the car’s roof and whipped up the crowd even more, and police commanders knew the time for talk was over.

A phalanx of police rushed into the maddened mob, and had to fight their way to Court’s car. Some struck out with batons, one using an overhead action instead of the approved sideways swing, for which he was later officially reprimanded.

Wrestling the protesters at every step, they squeezed the car to safety. Some officers were injured, with one policewoman falling after her horse was deliberately tripped up.

Oh dear…

Another remarkable work of fiction by Bolt.

To begin with: if Dick were less arrogant, this situation could have been completely avoided. Thus while police made arrangements for other delegates to avoid the blockade by entering the casino by boat or helicopter, as Dick remarked at the time, “I’m not interested in exotic forms of transport. If I go to a convention I like to roll up at the front door”.

Dick’s car went as far as it could, but then stopped: the driver, presumably, not being prepared to actually run people over in order to allow Dick to reach his target. At which point, of course, the car was surrounded (by peasants armed with pitchforks), at least one of its tyres deflated, and, eventually, one protester climbed onto its roof, taking advantage of the platform Dick had inadvertently provided in order to address the crowd on the subject of Aboriginal land rights. Perhaps this is the “fire” Bolt believes threatened Dick and his car? Who knows — it’s a completely novel claim as far as I can discern. The “maddened mob” Bolt refers to is also a product of Bolt’s imagination; certainly, if those who’d assembled to marvel at Dick’s arrogance had wanted to, they had ample time to drag him from his car and deliver him a beating.

As it happens, that privilege was seized upon by another maddened rent-a-mob: the police.

Now, lastly, consider how such a violent protest led to the suing not of the perpetrators but the police.

Activists, especially those working in the law, have worked out a great new way to push their agenda – especially now that so many new judges and magistrates sympathise with their politics.

They sue. And they don’t even need a win to win.

In reality, only police and lawyers have ‘won’ as a result of the out-of-court settlement: the police victory consisting of having avoided going to trial, and losing, and the lawyers’ victory amounting to something like $1.3 million. The non-existent “windfall” the Herald Sun elsewhere lyingly claims 47 protesters have received consists of a paltry pay-out of approximately $2,000 (on average).

To Be Concluded…

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

Upcoming Events

Posted on March 8, 2007 by @ndy

All Ages Benefit Gig for G20 Arrestees :

When : 8pm, Friday, March 16
Where : Irene Warehouse, 5 Pitt Street, Brunswick
What : Pisschrist, DJs, food, drink
Entry : $5

Latin American Solidarity Network / Red de Solidaridad con los Pueblos Latinoamericanos (LASNET) Friday Film Nights :

March 16 : Bolivia: Our Struggle
March 23 : Mexico: Zapatista
March 30 : Colombia

April 20 : Argentina / Chile
April 27 : Brazil: MST

All films showing @ 6.30pm @ RMIT City Campus, Student Union Meeting Room, Building 12, Level 4, Room 19 | 360 Swanston Street, City | Tickets $5 | Further details: Claudia 0422 516 905, Lucho 0402 754 818 or Maria 0432 241 219

Such is Life DIY Punk Festival :

When : 4pm, Saturday, April 28 — 9pm, Sunday, April 29
Where : Opoeia (Airey’s Inlet)
What : Crux (Sydney) | Guantanamo Bay City Rollers (Adelaide) | Kyklooppien Sukupuutto* (Tampere, Finland) | Miso Maniax (Melbourne) | Mispent Youth (Melbourne) | Pisschrist (Melbourne) | Scum System Kill (Sydney) | The Focus (Melbourne) | Tranny Cops (Sydney) … and more … DJs ’til late and cheap vegan food also available.
Tickets : $25 + b/f, available through Greentix and (soon through) Missing Link.

~ Free camping or beds available through Opoeia : (03) 5288 7393 ~

* Also April 26 @ The Tote and April 27 @ The Arthouse.

“…a parcel of big ugly fat-necked wombat headed big bellied magpie legged narrow hipped splaw-footed sons of Irish Bailiffs or english landlords which is better known as Officers of Justice or Victorian Police…”

— Ned Kelly (1855–1880), the Jerilderie Letter, February 1879

Posted in Film, Music | Leave a comment

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at Andrew Bolt on S11

Posted on March 8, 2007 by @ndy
    “There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.” ~ Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

Andrew “at worst, dishonest and misleading and at best, grossly careless” Bolt, in one of his numerous and pathetic attempts to re-write history, claims (Just a seedy deal, Herald Sun, March 7, 2007):

PREMIER Steve Bracks has now made three excuses for secretly paying $700,000 to S11 protesters. And each of them is false…

Like I care?

…But why are you [ie, Bracks] talking money, anyway, instead of your duty to uphold the law? All of which makes your decision to give in to an orchestrated campaign by far-Left activists not just stupid, but seedy. Everything about this payoff should have screamed “no” to a government with the public interest in mind.

As far as I’m aware, the decision to settle out-of-court was made by lawyers — you know, the law-talking guys? And they did so on the basis that reaching such a settlement would be in their best interests… and er, those of their clients: the Victorian Government, on the one hand, and the 47 litigants, on the other.

So, they had their reasons: 1.3 million reasons, as it happens.

As for the Premier’s “duty to uphold the law”, unless Bolt is thinking of, say, defaming another magistrate, it’s something most don’t need to be reminded of.

Or perhaps Bolt is implying that Bracks himself has broken a law?

Or something?

Speaking of which, in June 2002:

    Victorian Supreme Court judge Bernard Bongiorno ruled that Bolt, a Herald Sun columnist, had seriously defamed Deputy Chief Magistrate Jelena Popovic, and awarded her almost $250,000 in damages…

And if screaming persists, see your doctor.

Consider how it all started.

Let’s.

On September 11, 2000, several thousand people began not a protest, but a three-day blockade of a World Economic Forum meeting of businessmen and politicians from around the world.

Well, actually, tens of thousands. And besides being a blockade and protest, it was also a festival. But let’s face it: when wankers like Bolt hear the word “festival” they reach for their electrodes. (And yeah: it’s sometimes called civil disobedience.)

Their aim was confrontational and illegal — to physically deny people their right to meet and speak.

Well shit, fancy that. Bolt and I are here in rare agreement: the aims of the World Economic Forum are both ‘confrontational’ and — when pursued by its corporate members (as they are, vigorously) — frequently result in gross violations of the law (not to mention human rights). Thus the WEF promotes policies consciously designed to further exclude the masses from meaningful participation in both the development and implementation of social policy, as well as seek to restrict their ability and willingness to exercise their basic rights to speech and assembly. See : Public Citizen, Davos World Economic Forum: Pricey Corporate Trade Association Loses Its Camouflage (2002).

What’s more, it was clear from the official S11 protest website that violence was not just likely, but planned, at least by some. Read some of the posted messages:

“If you’re not ready to go home with a few bumps and bruises, then don’t bother because it will be bloody.”

“Violence is not a morally wrong tactic.”

“I suggest bringing marbles, which when rolled out in large quantities make the (police) horses unable to walk.”

Y’know, sometimes Bolt stoops so low, I think he must be in training for a limbo dance competition. Well, either that, or he’s just a vulgar corporate propagandist; one of many.

In reality — a concept with which Bolt is obviously only very loosely familiar — the defunct “official S11 protest website” — www.s11.org — was neither “official” — it was maintained by an autonomous group of geeks — nor the source of these comments, which are derived from a yahoo list. Further, this list — melb2000, also defunct — was open to anyone to join and to post comments.

So much for the actual context. As to the comments themselves:

    the first is indeed an accurate one — police were fully expected to violently abuse protesters, and they did. In fact, in addition to “a few bumps and bruises”, the taxpayer-funded police broke bones, smashed teeth, and inflicted numerous other injuries on literally hundreds of protesters;

    the second is merely an argument which, like all three comments, is deliberately removed from its context;

    as for the final comment, Bernard Barrett, in his excellent dissection of the corporate propaganda produced by Bolt and other hacks inre S11 (Beating Up: A Report on Police Batons and the News Media at the World Economic Forum, Melbourne, September 2000), writes:

      AAP’s 2.54pm story, containing quotes from deputy commissioner O’Loughlin, included some significant information about missiles. It said: “A bag of marbles was taken off a protester this morning.” (It would be interesting to find out whether this person had obtained the marbles idea from reading Andrew Bolt’s Herald Sun article on August 31.)

      This AAP story affirms that these marbles were confiscated, in a bag, not thrown. However, for the benefit of the evening TV news, the marbles were removed from the bag so that they could be displayed in a policeman’s hands – eleven marbles in one hand and three nuts and a screw in another hand (Channel Ten). Thus, viewers were left with the impression that the marbles were thrown.

      Thursday’s Herald Sun also reported that the marbles had been thrown and omitted the information about the marbles being confiscated in a bag. The Herald Sun and the TV stations need to explain what happened to the 2.54pm AAP story about the marbles being confiscated and in a bag, rather than thrown…

Actually, the only thing the corporate sector “need” do is continue to feed the chooks.

To resume:

The police, alarmed, tried to talk to the protesters’ main spokesmen to find ways to avoid trouble. And they asked if the protesters planned to be peaceful, why did they want a first-aid tent?

Excellent question. By the same token, if — and that’s if — the police do not actively seek to promote bloodshed, why do they carry guns? Taxpayer-funded guns? Do they actually want to provoke members of the general public to violent confrontations with the forces of Laura Norder?

Yes. Yes they do.

Obviously.

Nothing the S11 organisers said was reassuring.

Nor was it accurately reported; least of all by Bolt.

And so 2400 police were brought in to protect the meeting in our biggest policing operation in living memory.

Yet, the mayhem that broke out on September 11 was even worse than feared. Police were punched, pelted and kicked. Workers at Crown and its shops were attacked, with one suffering a suspected broken jaw and another broken ribs.

Buses trying to bring in forum delegates were smashed and turned back. Property was trashed, cars vandalised, motorists on nearby streets stopped, ambulances blocked and journalists assaulted.

And in those three days of violence 170 police were hurt, some seriously.

Um… really?

1) Fears of police violence were well-founded. As for protester violence, not one single protester was convicted of a violent offence.

2) As the lying liar knows full well, the “suspected broken jaw” of the Crown employee he refers to above was later diagnosed as “severe bruising” (Ombudsman’s Report, Appendix 1). Further, it’s worth noting that none of the alleged injuries to Crown personnel — including privately-contracted security personnel / hired goons — have been proven; and in such circumstances, if any injuries did occur, they may just as likely have been the result of police action. In fact, in his Report, the Ombudsman merely notes that he received uncorroborated “advice” from anonymous police sources that “some” Crown personnel were injured.

3) Journalists were indeed assaulted: by police. In fact, Luke Roche, an SBS camera operator, was one of the 47 litigants! Further, according to one source, two “Age photographers were thrown to the ground” by police on the morning of September 12. (Incidentally, it further notes that ‘A young protester was run over by a police car after she became pinned under its wheels. An AAP journalist who witnessed the incident said: “I saw the car rise up and come back down with a loud thump”, yet the police failed to stop.’).

Finally — at this point — the only reference I can find to anything like what Bolt is alleging to have occurred is on p.189 of the Report, in which Perry claims that there was a police report on Monday or possibly Tuesday of unidentified “missiles being thrown at boats as they moved along the river, including a filmed attack on a television news crew”. Further, Perry does not record whether or not this “attack” actually succeeded, or whether or not the paper planes launched at the film crew merely joined the rest of the debris filling the Yarra.

To Be Continued…

Posted in !nataS, History, Media, State / Politics | 1 Comment