An email to DreamHost re Redwatch (I)

Posted on July 12, 2006 by @ndy

First, IFEX, the International Freedom of eXchange reports:

Police shut down neo-fascist website that threatened journalists

Français: Le site néofasciste Redwatch-Pologne appelant ? l’agression de journalistes fermé par les autorités

Country/Topic: Poland
Date: 10 July 2006
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Person(s):
Target(s): Internet/website(s)
Type(s) of violation(s):
Urgency: Bulletin

(RSF/IFEX) – On 5 July 2006, police closed the Polish website of Redwatch, an international neo-fascist group based in the United States. The http://www.redwatch.info/sites/redwatch.htm site had posted the names of at least 17 journalists, calling them “traitors to the race” and threatening them with reprisals for their anti-fascist views. The Polish authorities also shut down http://www.bhpoland.org/strona/pl, the website of Blood and Honour, another far-right group.

In response to a Reporters Without Borders letter to the Polish justice minister on 22 May about the danger of attacks against journalists named on the Redwatch-Poland website, public prosecutor Jerzy Zientek wrote on 22 June that the authorities were investigating the case and had carried out arrests.

An anti-fascist activist named on this website was rushed to hospital in a serious condition after being attacked and stabbed on a Warsaw street on 16 May.

MORE INFORMATION:

For further information, contact Annabelle Arki at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 67, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: europe[at]rsf[dot]org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org

Secondly, my never-to-be-answered email:

dear dreamhost,

not unexpectedly, redwatch.info has been shut down.

has or will the company be making a public statement inre this matter?

when i first contacted the company inre redwatch, in response, in an email dated 27/05/06, i was informed by one of yr employees, sam, that:

“DreamHost strongly believes in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees its citizens freedom of speech and freedom of the press, among other things (both of which can apply to websites). We made a business decision long ago to value freedom of speech above any potential offense someone might take over the content of a site hosted by us.”

and in a second and final email sam stated:

“We thank you for your opinions, however they are not doing anything illegal. It is not illegal to post personal information on the internet. Implying isn’t illegal and neither is posting personal information. We thank you for your concern regarding this matter. However, we are not taking the site down.”

does this mean that dreamhost now believes that redwatch.info WAS doing something illegal, and NOT innocuously publishing “personal information”, of an unspecific nature, in a completely arbitrary context?

further, what does it mean to state that “implying isn’t illegal”? in other words, what did dreamhost believe redwatch.info was “implying” by its publication of “personal information”? and does dreamhost now consider whatever it was that was being “implied” by redwatch.info THEN [to be] illegal NOW?

what’s changed?

the facts?

or dreamhost’s interpretation of these facts?

thank you for yr time.

sincerely,

andy.

Naturally, I’m yet to receive a response, and most likely won’t. However, since the issue of DreamHost’s cheerful hosting of a neo-Nazi hit list first came to my attention in late May, DreamHost has taken a consistent line which may be summarised as follows:

Redwatch Poland is a perfectly legitimate, lawful project — albeit one which some may find distasteful — which merely provides ‘personal information’ on a range of individuals who happen to have generated the ire of neo-Nazis. If Redwatch Poland is guilty of anything, therefore, it is guilty, at worst, of being potentially ‘offensive’ (to overly-sensitive readers).

This position has been defended not only by DreamHost itself, but also a number of its customers, one ‘rlparker’ in particular; at great length, and probably — to rlparker’s credit — in the most reasonable fashion. Responding to one concerned person’s referencing Californian law on ‘hate crimes’, ‘rlparker’ writes:

While I appreciate your recitation of the California statutes that follow in your post, [neither] California, nor U.S. federal, law attaches criminal liability to a person or corporation as “an associated party to a crime”. There are provisions for… attaching [jeopardy] for “accessories” and “accomplices”, though each of those catagories requires specific intent, and overt action(s) on the part of the accessory or accomplices for the “association” to be criminal. There is also the crime of conspiracy, but that entails an entirely different level of cooperative action exist than mere “association”.

Dreamhost’s “association” with the criminal acts of a customer is much like that of a landlord, who is “associated” with the criminal acts of a tenant by having rented the space where a crime is committed to one who commits a crime – a concept that does not exist in California, or U.S. federal, law, absent the other types of involvement mentioned above.

Perhaps. But what if the landlord in question is made aware of the fact that the leaseholder is using the rental property as a meeting place for members of an illegal association? Further, that members of this criminal association were planning, in conjunction with others, violent assaults upon innocent civilians? Suppose, further, that the criminal association in question is Islamic — rather than, say… oh, I don’t know… neo-Nazi? And that it forms one part of a much larger, international network of terrorist cells; a network with a long history of violent crime?

Would DreamHost be as flippant about its legal and moral responsibilities inre a hypothetical group of Islamic terrorists as it appears to have been in a real case involving actual neo-Nazis?

I kinda doubt it.

I don’t know when DreamHost was first alerted to the possibly illegal — certainly unethical — content of ‘Redwatch Poland’. But the following notice appeared on Indymedia on June 17 (that is, over two weeks prior to Redwatch Poland’s closure):

You have been hereby notified of the illegal activities occuring on your servers. You have been provided sufficient evidence regarding the illegal activities and violations of your terms of service. Refusal or neglect to remove these sites will result in further action which could result in prosecution for knowingly and willingly allowing criminal activities to occur on your server and criminal neglect. From this point on, you will be held responsible for any damage that occurs as a result of your hosting of these sites…

So what DreamHost has to explain is: what took you so long?

rlparker continues:

As I do not speak/read Polish, I cannot comment as to whether or not that statement [essentially, Redwatch Poland is an unlawful site] might be accurate, though I should point out that, irrespective of your opinion, the truth of that statement can only be determined by a court ;-).

Tee hee!

That being the case, the question now becomes: why, in the absence of a court order, did DreamHost close Redwatch Poland?

To be continued…

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media | 2 Comments

Fightdemback interview with Dave Hann, co-author No Retreat

Posted on July 11, 2006 by @ndy

Dave Hann is the co-author with Steve Tilzey of the book No Retreat : The Secret War between Britain’s Anti-fascists and the Far Right (Milo Books). The interview below was conducted by Fightdemback and published August 9, 2005.

Dave Hann has kindly given us some of his time for this interview.

You’ve been popping in and out of FDB for a while now, what are your impressions?

Dave: What I most enjoy about FDB is the refreshing lack of petty sectarian bickering on the forum. Similar forums in the UK seem to be full of anonymous snipers and back-stabbers with an axe to grind, a point to score, and nothing helpful to contribute at all. I think the potential of the internet as a tool to aid communication and organisation amongst anti-fascist and progressive groups is enormous, but more often than not, any useful initiatives become bogged down by petty arguments and bickering caused by anonymous gossip-mongers hiding behind their computer screens.

You recently visited New Zealand as well, did you have a chance to get a grasp on what was happening there with the NF?

Dave: I’ll have to be honest and admit that I didn’t get involved in any politics while I was in NZ, but I have seen photos of Kyle Chapman and agree that he is indeed “rather jolly”.

Talking shop, how do the Aussie and Kiwi fash stack up against the NF/BNP/B&H hordes you took on ‘back in the day’?

Dave: The boneheads in the UK have largely been eradicated, due to the efforts of Anti-Fascist Action in the 90’s. They were basically a bunch of bullies who didn’t like it when they were confronted by people who were prepared to stand up to them. I think as far as boneheads and their friends are concerned that’s pretty much the picture the whole world over. They can look quite intimidating when there’s a whole mob of them together, but whenever they were faced with equal numbers, or when they were on their own, they acted pretty much like bullies have always done. Mickey Finn, a docker and anti-fascist from the East End of London summed it up pretty succinctly when he said “the fascists looked pretty tough customers, some of them even wore para-military uniforms… but when it came down to it they weren’t very good on the pavement.”

Well none of us were full-time professional anti-racists, we were just ordinary people who either worked for a living or were unemployed, meaning we had neither the time nor the resources to partake in expensive, and often futile, propaganda campaigns. I think we always tried to be realistic about what we could achieve, and concentrated our energies where we felt we could make a difference. The fascists at the time had a policy of “controlling the streets,” and that’s where we took them on. We challenged them on the streets, and destroyed the myth of invincibility that they had built up. We also targeted our propaganda at the potential recruits of the fascist groups, the white, working class. I think there was a real point of separation between AFA and the more traditional anti-racist/anti-nazi groups on these two points. We were the only group willing to tackle the fascists physically, and the only group trying to undercut their support in places they regarded as their traditional strongholds.

In places where these policies were properly implemented in the 80’s and 90’s, it’s a fact that the fascists have never really recovered, even when they are doing well elsewhere in the country. We took out a whole generation, and in places like Manchester there is no organisation or infrastructure for potential new recruits to join.

I think that’s the most important point I’d like to get across. Set yourselves an achievable target, work out the best way of achieving it, and then keep on going for it until the job’s done.

Reading through No Retreat, they sound like some crazy days. My favourite anecdote was when you cleared the BNP from the Rochdale Town Hall steps and were swamped afterwards by groups of Asian kids paying “respect”. Do you think that anti-fascist groups need to do more to build links with the communities most affected by racist violence?

Dave: I’d better explain that the events in Rochdale took place on the day of the local elections in May 1994. We had plotted up in a pub near the Town Hall, which was where the election count was taking place. We were hoping to ambush the BNP candidates on their way into the count, but this plan was foiled when the three candidates and their election agents were escorted into the Town hall in the back of a police van. However we’d been in the area all day, and had picked up reports that a busload of fascists had been spotted in the area, although we couldn’t track them down. Incidently, we’d cut the phone lines of the BNP’s North-West Election HQ earlier in the day and that had apparently thrown their plans into complete disarray, so we thought that maybe the mysterious busload of fash had been unable to make contact with their people and had gone home. Shortly after 11pm, and with no sightings reported for 5 or 6 hours, we decided to get in our vans and head for home ourselves.

On our way out of town, we drove past the town hall again and spotted a big mob of fash moving into the area. The van drivers screeched to a halt and we steamed out, charging straight into the back of the fash mob, scattering them in all directions. It must have looked like a cunningly executed plan to draw the fash out into the open and ambush them, but it was all a complete accident. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the fash got battered, and were chased all over the place.

There were a number of Asian youth in the area who joined in on our side, but on the whole, the Asian community was very wary of getting involved in anti-fascist activity because of fears that they would be singled out and targeted by the police. On the few occasions when contact was made, this is precisely what happened, and it was a very difficult situation to work around.

How much of a gutless wonder was Ian Stuart (lead singer of infamous neo-Nazi band, Skrewdriver)?

Dave: Stuart was a coward who couldn’t fight to save his life. The fascists might regard him as some kind of nationalist super-hero, but he was just another bully who didn’t like it when the odds weren’t heavily in his favour. He was ambushed several times by AFA activists in London, and eventually fled to Derbyshire in order to escape the constant attacks. Hardly the actions of a brave street-fighter. A couple of friends of mine jumped him before a Blood and Honour gig at Swiss Cottage, and managed to hit him a couple of times before he ran away. At the gig afterwards, he deliberately left the blood to dry on his forehead, so that he could appear more heroic, and then went on stage and claimed that he had fought off a whole mob of “reds” single-handedly.

Did you ever go toe-to-toe with Nicky Crane?

Dave: No, and I’m glad I never had to. He was one of the few genuine hard men on the bonehead scene. I came across him twice. The first time was at the Main Event in Hyde Park, where he disembarked from a mini-bus with a dozen members of Skrewdriver Security. He immediately jumped back onto the bus when he saw the posse of anti-fascists charging out the park at him. The other occasion was when he was heading home from the West End one evening with a number of rent-boys in tow. We followed him for a while, but lost him at Charing Cross station. The interesting thing about Crane was that he was openly gay, but was never challenged about it by his bonehead mates until he was physically weakened by AIDS. He apparently renounced his fascist past during his dying days.

In Australia, we’re currently dealing with a racist academic who feels that his right to free speech guarantees that he should be able to publicly claim that Africans are genetically inferior to “other groups” and that Australia should stop importing third world immigrants less we become a colony of the third world, a colony ruled over by super-intelligent Asians who kick everyone’s arse in exams.

His comments have hurt many members of the Australian community and have been the impetus for increasing racial violence against Sudanese refugees. In light of this, do you believe that [Andrew] Fraser can take his right to free speech and shove it fair up his arse?

Dave: I don’t see how he can be regarded as an academic with theories like that. It’s a bit like David Irving, the “historian” who claims that the holocaust never happened. Surely it’s unacademic to skew the facts to fit your own warped politics. I think there should be no right of free speech for ignorant bigots who abuse the right by promoting intolerance and suppression of free speech on the basis of skin colour.

A perspective on the London Bombings. Everyone condemns these attacks and Britons of all ethnicities were affected by them. What so far has been the ‘fash’ response to these attacks? We’ve seen some grainy footage of a bonehead march through Hackney (?) but not much more.

Dave: There was a march by the NF numbering about 100, but more worrying has been the heightened level of racist attacks on Muslims and Asians. The BNP response has been to bring out propaganda saying “We told you so. Don’t get mad. Get even. Join the BNP.” The bombing has been a godsend for the BNP, and the more bombs that go off the better, as far as they’re concerned. I personally believe that the “War on Terror” will go on for generations. It took thirty years for the Irish conflict to be resolved, and the IRA numbered no more than 600 members, with the support of the wider community in the north of Ireland, and smaller pockets of support in the UK, and the Irish diaspora around the world. The potential support for Al-Qaeda is much, much bigger than that, and I think we’re all in for hard times ahead.

You still keep in touch with Big Nose (co-author Steve Tilzey)?

Dave: I still see Steve at the football, although we support FC United these days. It’s a club set up by Manchester United supporters after an American billionaire bought Old Trafford. They’ve started at the bottom rung of the football league, but are still getting several thousand along to matches. Steve’s not really involved in anti-fascism these days, but with a record stretching back 25 years I think he’s earned a rest.

Did you guys really bug BNP meetings with a homemade device and then sit in Tilzey’s car and listen in to their meetings? What was that like? Did you just sit there and cack yourselves stupid over the crap they were coming out with?

Dave: It was more boring than anything else. It was just the turgid predictability of the crap they were spouting that made you realise what a bunch of sad, inadequates some of these people were. Everyone else was blamed for their own failings. If they couldn’t get a job it was because the blacks were taking all the work. If they couldn’t get a council house it was because the council were giving them all to Asians or Asylum Seekers. The Jews were controlling the media and the banks and keeping the country on its knees. Blah, blah, blah.

The fight against the fash has well and truly taken off in cyberspace. Do you feel that this theater of operations has turned the fash into a bigger bunch of cowards now they have a monitor to hide behind?

Dave: Well it’s all so easy on the Internet isn’t it? You can be anyone or anything. It’s a godsend for your average fascist no-mark. They can sit behind a computer screen and spout off all kinds of crap without any risk of retribution whatsoever.

John Tyndall dead – your thoughts?

Dave: In some ways it’s a shame he couldn’t hang on for another couple of years, because he was proving to be a real thorn in the side of the BNP chairman Nick Griffin. Now the field is free of serious challengers for the throne of potential tin-pot dictator of Britain, and Griifin couldn’t look more pleased with himself.

It must have been one hell of a buzz to have Mensi dedicate ‘Anti-Nazi’ to you at the recent Angelic Upstarts gig in Morecombe. What was that like? Are the Upstarts still kicking arse?

Dave: Yeah it was nice, although I have to be honest and say that it wasn’t just dedicated to me, there were a few others there as well. The fash had threatened to give the Upstarts a kicking, and I got a few people together to ensure that everything passed off peacefully. Of course, the fash never showed their faces, which is true to form for them these days.

Any other thoughts, things you wish to pass on?

Dave: In the words of The Redskins, ‘Keep On Keeping On’. The fight is the same the whole world over, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences… [and England are shit at cricket.]

See also…

The Guardian‘s Special Report on the Far right in Britain
The Anti-Nazi League : A Critical Examination (Colin Roach Centre)

Posted in Anti-fascism, History | 12 Comments

More on MUFF 777

Posted on July 11, 2006 by @ndy

[Listening : Choking Victim. Cheers Evan]

BadLit > Diving Into MUFF done some kinda pingtrackbackthing. It lead me to Esoteric Rabbit. On the Festival : “The informality of the setup really added to opening night’s already prevalent air of alternativeness (Lloyd Kaufman was in attendance, screening a couple of scenes from his upcoming Poultrygeist), not to mention the festival’s in general, which is one of the best things it has going for it.” On Wolstencroft : “…to the extent that his entire project is about not making concessions to anyone, at any level or on any issue, his lack of decorum, so to speak, is both completely in character and politically loaded.” Speaking of character, Toby the Punk Poofy Cat assassinates Wolstencroft’s in this entry, unloading both barrels (metaphorically speaking). A sample of Toby’s invective :

I’m always amazed by how much people kid themselves, that is, believe their own bullshit eg. John Howard, George Bush, Kim Ill Jung [or even Kim Jong-Il], all the powermongering fuckwits earnestly believe the guff they ladle out, especially when it’s to do with their own prowess and activities. A case in point is Richard [Wolstencroft], the “director” of MUFF, the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. In his brochure for this year’s crap-fest he writes, so badly it’s almost unreadable, that he’s a true-blue supporter of the grass-roots Auz Film Industry, that the govt. funders are a bunch of tokenistic, mean Philistines and that he and his gang are revolutionaries, eschewing money and fame for cinematic bean sprouts and tee-pees in Utopia, or somesuch nonsense, all the time quoting Heidegger, promoting German expressionism and squawking anarchism. Who does he think he’s kidding? 14 year old Hollywood wannabes?

This jumble of contradictory sensibilities hid the nature of fascisms as “revolutionary” regimes, whose rejection of liberal and democratic modernity aimed not for a return to a bygone era but to the establishment of a new order, hierarchical, authoritarian, non-egalitarian, nationalistic, even racial, but not backward-looking: fascist mysticism is biologized, its cult of technology aesthetisized, its scorn for democracy founded on the mobilization of the masses, and its rejection of individualism proclaimed in the name of a “community of the people,” sealed by war.

Posted in Film | Leave a comment

R.I.P.

Posted on July 9, 2006 by @ndy

David Heidelberg (Fightdemback) :

Monday, July 03, 2006

Sad news

I wish to advise that David passed away last night after a long illness.

Thanks to all who have sent their condolences… Your sentiments have been so helpful during this difficult time.

Linda

Robbie Watts (Cosmic Psychos) :

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Cosmic Psychos guitarist Robbie Watts passed away early Saturday morning after a show with the band in Bendigo, rural Victoria, on Friday night. He was 47. Condolences to his family and friends.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Lies? Libel?

Posted on July 9, 2006 by @ndy

Uh-oh, spaghetti-oh.

Subject : Re: DreamHost allows Nazi Violence
Posted by : norm1037 (DH Smarty Pants)
Posted on : 07/07/06 12:00 PM

I think you are right.

[Norm, responding to a previous comment by another user on the subject of the now defunct neo-Nazi website / online hitlist Redwatch Poland, and the attempt to bring the issue to DreamHost’s attention : Their “offensive free speech” would accomplish less if you ignored it rather than posting about it for everyone to read.]

And the trouble with these so called free speech sites is that if the free speech made by others does not fit their own ideas then just change the speech and lie about what was said and by whom.

I have been targeted and libelled at this site just for making a comment in this thread.

Seems I work for DreamHost and mentioned something about rabbits or wabbits.

Clearly a strange person who runs the site and has never bothered to read the whole thread… sigh.

Just as well I am able to switch to another parallel universe and ignore it all!

—
Norm

Opinions are my own views, not DreamHost’s.
I am NOT a DreamHost employee OK!
You act on my advice at your own risk!

OK!

But still…

Here’s what I wrote:

DreamHost employee ‘norm1037′ replies :

I am sure that most DreamHost customers would abhor the type of sites you refer to, myself included.

But I always have two phrases keep [sic] popping into my mind, “know thine enemy” and “knowledge is power”. I am sure it is better to know where these sites are, who is posting to them and who is reading them.

No doubt DreamHost could delete these sites in a micro-second, but I wouldn’t want them popping up again from some strange anonymously routed site or untouchable island in the middle of an Ocean. Perhaps where they are now is most convenient.

Let us perhaps be a little cunning [”we’re hunting wabbits!”] and wait and watch!

Just my two-pennyworth.

======

Two-penny? Hmmm. While it’s to be hoped that most DreamHost customers — with at least one obvious exception — would abhor redwatch, it’s not especially relevant. After all, whatever DreamHost customers might “abhor”, none are in a position to deny redwatch its access to DreamHost webhosting facilities. That responsibility lies with DreamHost.

Norm writes: “I am sure it is better to know where these sites are, who is posting to them and who is reading them.”

Why?

Better than what? Not knowing where these sites are, who is posting to them, and who is reading them?

Well, the first question is easily answered: DreamHost is where Polish fascism’s at. As to who’s posting to them and who’s reading them, until such time as DreamHost or someone else states otherwise, only DreamHost and (presumably) the site’s owner knows.

What’s the alternative?

They could be hosted elsewhere.

That’s the point.

“Know thine enemy”? Um, yeah. neo-Nazis for a start…

“Knowledge is power”? Um, OK…

Your first question, for 10 points, is…

What ‘lies’?

OK, so Norm’s not a DreamHost employee; I mistakenly assumed otherwise.

And for 20…

What ‘libel’?

Norm’s ability to switch, at will, to another parallel universe is truly awe-inspiring, but I’m less than impressed by his seeming inability to articulate his concerns to me directly.

Posted in Media | Leave a comment

notes from nobody to nowhere

Posted on July 8, 2006 by @ndy

Everybody admires the bravery firemen exhibit by rushing into a burning building when the human survival instinct calls for exactly the opposite behavior. It is for similar reasons that you are likely to find Daryle Lamont Jenkins so fascinating, since this 37 year-old black man born in Newark devotes most of his free-time to monitoring the movements of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists… A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed “large numbers of neo-Nazis and [bonehead] extremists” to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization… WARSAW (AFP) — Poland’s Jewish community is to set up a database listing incidents of anti-Semitism, which have been on the rise in the EU member state in recent months, a Jewish official said Thursday… [This following extract is an unpaid presentation of a “Special service by AGI on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister’s office”:] Turin, Jul 7 – The alarm for parcel bombs arriving in Turin has already been given off yesterday by the police, after the second paper bomb attributed to anarchist groups… [On the Italian state’s infamous ‘strategy of tension’ see here; also here. And here] BERLIN (Reuters) – The ceremonial burning of the diary of Holocaust victim Anne Frank by far-right extremists in eastern Germany was condemned by the German government on Friday amid calls to intensify efforts to stamp out neo-Nazi activity…

So is there a role for Marxist intellectuals in these new movements. Yes, absolutely, I’d say. It’s true that they’re theoretically unsophisticated (though Michael Hardt told me that some of the anti-sweathop activists at Duke, where the movement started in 1997, are really liking his class on Capital).

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Kids Love Animals!

Posted on July 8, 2006 by @ndy

FRIDAY THE FOURTEENTH OF JULY
THE ARTHOUSE
8PM
$6

MACROMANTICS
TERROR FIRMA
MAKE THE MOST
J-LO BIAFRA

a benefit show for kids love animals animal liberation collective

Posted in Anarchism, Cats, Music | Leave a comment

“You’re only as good as your fans” : The Chaser

Posted on July 8, 2006 by @ndy

It takes a great person to get an idea
But don’t go public it’ll ruin the plan
Because no matter how clever and original you are
You’re only as good as your fans.

And in the case of The Chaser, never a truer word was spoken.

Or sung.

Which is interesting, ‘cos on their online Forum, The Chaser team state:

Welcome to the Chaser Fascist Regime, now featuring more moderators and admins. Please be abusive only in jest, and we take a fairly dim, PC view on sexism/homophobia/etc as well. Kind regards, Thought Police.

So when I stumbled onto a thread on ‘Redwatch’, I thought that because a) The Chaser is generally more than willing to take the piss out of various forms of bigotry that b) its fans (and Forum users) would be distinct from the bigots whose views The Chaser regularly lampoons.

I was wrong.

“Pertinax”:

I think the good people at Redwatch need to be commended for their actions in kerbing terrorist activity. Especially given the left’s desire to overturn the natural order of any capitalist society. Any group that advocates armed class struggle should [be] proscribed and hunted down for being the subversives that they are.

I don’t know why you’d need a website to list them anyway. All you’d need to do is follow the stench to their door. Dirty Commie Bastards.

Hmmm. Sounds like “Pertinax” has a pathological aversion to “communists”. Speaking of doctors, in reference to my enlightening readers of the Forum of a few facts inre Redwatch (prior to its forcible closure by US authorities yesterday), our anonymous anti-Communist writes in defence of the site:

You might need to see a doctor about that twist you’ve got your undergarments into there digger.
Redwatch out people for being communists, not gay, transgendered, black, Jewish, Romany, disabled, or for not being Polish or any other nationality. I think you need to make the distinction between Redwatch and other anti-communist organisations and ultra-fascist groups with an agenda of racial purity.
I am, however, entirely comfortable with the summary extra-judicial killing of as many anarchists and leftists as possible.

At first, I thought that “Pertinax” was a not very amusing parody of a wingnut… but no.

He’s serious!

Not that this keyboard hero has the slightest intention of carrying out such extra-judicial killings himself, of course.

Well… presumably.

Which is not to say that there aren’t others in Australia who would find such measures appropriate: Peter Campbell (White Pride Coalition Australia // Blood and Honour Australia), Welf Herfurth (Australia First Party // Blood and Honour Australia) and Blood and Honour Australia collectively being three obvious examples.

A second interlocutor, “fadeaway”, writes:

Either it’s Alek… himself, or his “friend”. Either way, this @ndy fellow is definitely gay. You can see it written all over his post. No wonder he thinks a little strangely…

Hurr hurr.

Not being able to contact them via their site, I addressed the following to The Chaser via the ABC:

I wish to declare war on The Chaser‘s non-enforcement of their stated policy inre participation in their online forums:

“Welcome to the Chaser Fascist Regime, now featuring more moderators and admins. Please be abusive only in jest, and we take a fairly dim, PC view on sexism/homophobia/etc as well. Kind regards, Thought Police.”

I do so after having commented on a thread concerning Redwatch — a neo-Nazi website which, until closed by Polish and US authorities, facilitated assaults upon feminists, homosexuals, non-Whites, anti-racists and antifa — and being met with homophobic abuse.

The Chaser is funny; this is not.

All joking aside, the situation in Poland is very serious. Jews and other ‘enemies of the White race’ are being subjected to threats, intimidation and even attempted murder. It’s not without reason that Redwatch Poland was closed by authorities, and the fact that some of your ‘fans’ regard this situation as being in some way ‘amusing’ or as representing an opportunity to engage in homophobic abuse is appalling.

Appalling too, that the attempt to draw attention to a number of (apparently inconvenient) facts inre a site which has targetted journalists — threatening them with death — should be subjected to ridicule; worse yet, the Redwatch site itself given lying, hypocritical support.

The Chaser‘s “Thought Police” take a fairly dim, PC view on racism, sexism and homophobia… except in this case.

Who knows why?

On July 4, 1998, two skinheads — Lin “Spit” Newborn, 24, and Dan Shersty, 20 — were murdered by boneheads in the rocky desert northwest of Las Vegas, USA. Their crime, like that of Maciek D., was to be effective in the fight against racism and fascism…

It pains [Dan’s father] that his son’s sacrifice is unheralded while the media obsesses on the cultural war between liberal and conservative values. It’s a war, he says, that demands no risk whatsoever from its TV-talking head combatants. “Dan died as a soldier who believed in his cause — anti-racism,” says Walter. His son’s ARA troops are still fighting for the cause, though police advised them to leave when rumors surfaced that the Nazis had created a hit list. The cause unites them with something valued in military custom: courage and a code of honor.

APPENDIX

The Wild Dog Howls
Killing King Abacus

“A story is told of Diogenes, probably the best known of the ancient greek cynics: It is said that one day, as he was sunning himself in the bathtub he called home, Alexander the “great” came to speak with him. This emperor of many nations said, “I am Alexander, prince of macedonia and the world. I have heard you are a great philosopher. Do you have any words of wisdom for me?” Annoyed at such a petty disturbance of his calm, Diogenes answered, “Yes, you’re standing in my sun. Get out of the way.” Though this story is most likely fictional, it reflects the scorn in which cynics held all authority and their boldness in expressing this scorn. These self-proclaimed “dogs” (wild dogs, of course) rejected hierarchy, social restraints and the alleged need for laws and greeted these with sarcastic mockery.

How utterly different this ancient cynicism was from what now goes by that name. Several years ago, a radical group in England called the Pleasure Tendency published a pamphlet entitled “Theses Against Cynicism”. In this pamphlet, they criticize an attitude of hip detachment, of shallow, sarcastic despair – and particularly the penetration of this attitude into anti-authoritarian and revolutionary circles.

The proponents of this present-day “cynicism” are everywhere. The hip, sarcastic comedy of Saturday Night Live or the Comedy Channel presents no real challenge to the ruling powers. In fact, this smirking know-it-all-ism is the yuppie attitude par excellence. It has nothing to do with a real understanding of what’s going on, but is rather a justification for conformity. “Yes, we know what the politicians and corporate executives are up to. We know it’s all a dirty game. But there’s nothing we can do about it, so we’re gonna get our piece of the action”. There’s nothing we can do about it: that is the message of this modern cynicism — not disdain for authority, but disdain for those who still dare to challenge it rather than joining in its game with a knowing smirk.

This attitude has entered the circles of so-called revolutionaries and anarchists through the back-door of post-modern philosophy in which ironic hyper-conformity is presented as a viable revolutionary strategy. With a straight face (or just the trace of a smirk), the most radical of the post-modern philosophers tell us that we need only push the logic of capitalism to its own “schizophrenic” extreme and it will break down on its own. For these present-day “radical” cynics, attempts to attack and destroy this society are foolish and ineffective, and attempts to create one’s own life in opposition to this society is attachment to an out-dated individualism. Of course, these mostly french philosophers are rarely read. Like mainstream “cynicism”, post-modern “cynicism” needs its hip popularizers — and they certainly have appeared. Sarcastically tearing down every significant insurgent idea or activity of the past century while promoting pathetic liberal eclecticism and ridiculous art or mystical movements as “revolutionary” or “iconoclastic”, these alternative yuppies — who often claim to reject individuality — mainly just to promote themselves and their own pathetic projects. One needs only to notice Stewart Home‘s Mona Lisa smirk to realize he is just Jay Leno with a shaved head and a pair of Docs.

Perhaps the worst effect of the post-modern penetration into anarchist circles is its reinforcement of a tendency to reject theory. Any attempts to understand society in its totality in order to fight it more effectively are either called dogmatic or are seen as proof that those who make such attempts are hopelessly naive with no understanding of the complexity of “post-modern” post-industrial society. Of course, the “understanding” these oh-so-wise(-ass) anti-theorists have is simply their faith in the impossibility of analysis, a faith which allows them to continue their ritual of piecemeal activism which has long since proven ineffective for anything other than occasionally pushing the social system into making changes necessary for its own continued reproduction. Those who continue to make insurgent theory are accused by the self-proclaimed activists of sitting in ivory towers, regardless of how much this insurgence is put into practice.

When one considers the original greek cycnics, one is averse to using the same term for their modern namesakes. Yet the present-day “cynics” are much more like the dogs we are familiar with — pathetic, dependent, domesticated pets. Like well-trained puppies, they rarely make it past the front yard gate before they run back cowering to the safety of their master’s house; then they learn to bark and snarl at the wild dogs who dare to live outside the fence and, in exchange for a milkbone, lick the hand that keeps them on the leash. I would rather be among the wild dogs howling out my scorn for every master, prepared to bite any hand that tries to tame. I reject the sarcastic despair that passes as cynicism today, in order to grasp as a weapon the untamed cynicism which dares to tell authority, “You’re standing in my sun. Get out of the way!”

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media, Television | Leave a comment

Redwatch Poland : D.O.A.

Posted on July 7, 2006 by @ndy

There are only two roads, victory for the working class, freedom, or victory for the fascists which means tyranny. Both combatants know what’s in store for the loser.

— Buenaventura Durruti

FBI, Polish police shut down neo-Nazi Web site
Jerusalem Post
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
WARSAW, Poland
July 6, 2006

Polish police, US FBI block neo-Nazi Website
Middle East Times
July 6, 2006

No more ‘Blood and Honour’
Radio Polonia
06.07.2006

Police shut down Neo-fascist website
Radio Polonia
06.07.2006

Poland shuts down neo-Nazi site
JTA
[‘Breaking News’ — July 6/7]

Poland shuts down neo-Nazi site
BBC
July 6, 2006

Polish Police, FBI Shut Down Neo-Nazi Website
Joanna Wypior
All Headline News
July 6, 2006

Polish police shut down neo-Nazi Web site, charge suspected administrator
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
[The Associated Press]
Friday, July 07, 2006

Commentary to follow…

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media, State / Politics, War on Terror | 4 Comments

No shit Sherlock

Posted on July 6, 2006 by @ndy

Jake Arnott is a Best selling author still ‘learning to write’ writes Robyn “I really love heavy metal. No, really” Doreian.

In his new novel, Johnny Come Home, Arnott trades brass knuckles for bell-bottoms as he depicts glam-rock London in 1972.

Set in a squat, the story revolves around anarchist O’Connell, who commits suicide; Pearson, his artist boyfriend, left behind; Nina, his activist squat housemate; and Sweet Thing (named after a Bowie song), a pretty rent boy who comes to live with them.

Once again the politics of the era loom large. Arnott depicts an era of stacked boots and glitter balls punctuated by protests and acts of terrorism (in 1971 anti-capitalists the Angry Brigade bombed London’s Biba boutique).

“The whole radical politics of that time interests me,” he says. “There was a very radical agenda, but like glam rock, it kind of flared up and then disappeared.”

Well yes, Biba’s boutique was blown up. On May Day, no less. Hell, they even wrote a communiqué to commemorate the occasion:

IF YOU’RE NOT BUSY BEING BORN, YOU’RE BUSY BUYING.

All the sales girls in the flash boutiques are made to dress the same and have the same make-up, representing the 1940s. In fashion as in everything else, capitalism can only go backwards — they’ve nowhere to go — they’re dead.

The future is ours. Life is so boring there is nothing to do except spend all our wages on the latest skirt or shirt.

Brothers and Sisters, what are your real desires? Sit in the drugstore, look distant, empty, bored, drinking some tasteless coffee? Or perhaps BLOW IT UP or BURN IT DOWN. The only thing you can do with modern slave-houses — called boutiques — is WRECK THEM. You can’t reform profit capitalism and inhumanity. Just KICK IT TILL IT BREAKS.

REVOLUTION. COMMUNIQUE 8. THE ANGRY BRIGADE.

According to Biba, the “real desires” of the “Brothers and Sisters” revolve around wardrobes, cosmetics, soft furnishings, washing powder and food — for both themselves and their pets — “all presented in the distinctive Biba packaging”. Well, that’s what some reckon:

Biba remains the most evocative name in post-War British fashion.

Born as a small boutique in 1964 just as London started to swing, its upward mobility followed a path diametrically opposed to that of the society around it…

Drawing on Art Deco, Nouveau, Victoriana and the golden age of Hollywood, it was more than just fashion: it was a whole world, a lifestyle choice. At the height of the store’s glory, the committed shopper could buy not only a new wardrobe, fully co-ordinated from head to toe, but also a complete range of cosmetics and soft furnishings, together with the washing powder to care for her clothes, and food for both herself and her pets, all presented in the distinctive Biba packaging. Alternatively she could just hang out, either lounging in the shop-windows (Biba didn’t do window-displays), or sipping cocktails upstairs amongst the flamingos that lived in the Roof Garden, or in the Rainbow Room, where on a good night there might be a live performance by the likes of the New York Dolls, Liberace or the Manhattan Transfer.

It was not so much a department store as a theme park devoted to elegantly wasted decadence.

Brigitte Bardot, Raquel Welch and Princess Anne may have shopped there; Mick and Marianne, Sonny and Cher, David and Angie may have been regular visitors; but the store was never the exclusive preserve of the rich and famous: prices were kept deliberately low, and anyone who could tolerate the disdainful inefficiency of the staff was encouraged to soak up the glamour of an unforgettable shopping experience.

And then it crashed and burned.

Ha! The whirligig of time does bring in his revenges!

Of course, despite the prevalence of any number of exciting fashions — even lifestyles — some people are still angry. Angry enough to pour some type of dirt into gas tanks, to set fires, and even to write letters and to send emails!

A letter sent anonymously and widely to media outlets on Monday read in part: “There is no excuse for suburbs. Development must stop.” It noted that equipment at a Victoria Road South site was vandalized on the weekend of June 25, by unknown individuals who poured some type of dirt into the gas tanks. It was signed: The Anarchist Fire Brigade. This whole situation is not unfamiliar, but should still cause concern. In a separate incident, the Mercury and other media organizations received an e-mail last week allegedly from the Earth Liberation Front, claiming responsibility for a fire that destroyed a home under construction in the city’s east end, causing $200,000 in damage. In addition, previous letters from the [ELF] and Anarchist Solidarity have claimed responsibility for a fire at a new home on Dawn Avenue and the vandalism of equipment at the Memorial Gardens demolition site, respectively.

Bizarre.

Quick, somebody call an expert!

The [ELF], by its very nature, has no structure, according to an expert interviewed by the Mercury last week. John Thompson of the Mackenzie Institute, a body which studies organized violence [sic], noted after last week’s house fire that “It’s a methodology and a habit rather than an organization.” He speculated the crimes could be the work of a single person or a group of up to six people. When police do track down who is responsible, whether for one incident or all, there should be serious consideration to charge those responsible under organized crime or terrorism legislation. It appears these activities are planned, and new development is the target.

When in reality, New Development is our New God, before which the “Brothers and Sisters” must prostrate themselves… or not, as the case may be.

See also :

Generation Terror : The Angry Brigade : BBC documentary
Looking Back At Anger : An Interview with Stuart Christie
‘Mackenzie Institute: Police As Counterinsurgency Force’
‘An open letter dated 10 October 2004 to John C. Thompson, President of The Mackenzie Institute’

Posted in Anarchism, History, Media, State / Politics, War on Terror | Leave a comment