Footy Fans Against Dictatorship

Posted on February 14, 2011 by @ndy

See also : Footy Fans Against Mass Murder.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Art, Broken Windows, Collingwood | Tagged | 2 Comments

Like Sarkozy, I seem to see the River Seine foaming with much blood.

Posted on February 13, 2011 by @ndy

minus one

In a rare excursion into the wilds of politics, Australia’s leading climate change scientist has examined the doctrine of multiculturalism and declared himself agin it: “Time we woke up. To spend public money to create a nation of tribes is the great experiment that has failed—because it’s succeeded only too well” (Professor Andrew Bolt, The Pond’s Institute Inter-corporate Panel on Climate Change, February 9, 2011).

zero

“British jobs for British workers.” ~ Gordon Brown, Labour Party conference, 2007.

one

Similar warnings about multiculturalism have been sounded by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. But, if anything, Mr. Cameron went further. He called on European governments to practice “a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism,” and said Britain would no longer give official patronage to Muslim groups that had been “showered with public money despite doing little to combat terrorism.”

Perhaps most controversially, he called for an end to a double standard that he said had tolerated the propagation of radical views among nonwhite groups that would be suppressed if they involved radical groups among whites…

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As for the general population, many doubtless were also enthusiastic about the opportunity to “kick a little ass” in Panama — to borrow some of the rhetoric designed by George Bush’s handlers in their comical effort to shape an effete New England aristocrat into a Texas redneck.

three

[Forty years ago…]

Unarmed Algerian Muslims demonstrating in central Paris against a discriminatory curfew were beaten, shot, garotted and even drowned by police and special troops. Thousands were rounded up and taken to detention centers around the city and the prefecture of police, where there were more beatings and killings.

How many died? No one seems to know for sure, even now. Probably around 200…

four

In the wake of September 11 and Samuel Huntington’s claim that the world is defined by a “clash of civilizations”, some pro-Western protagonists might argue that “multiculturalism” in the West is a case of “letting the side down”, and a more robust pro-Western assimilationist approach is more in order. If, in a democracy, an electoral majority of citizens are also of this opinion then a democratic polity has every right to shift from a model of nation premised on multiculturalist assumptions, to a constitutive conception of the nation which insists on assimilation to certain overarching goods, values and (even) lifestyles as a precondition for citizenship. But that polity needs to be told clearly that these are the choices open to it. The Citizenship Test introduced by the Howard government might have been consistent with a multicultural model of the nation if its purpose was to examine citizenship applicants on public sphere values alone, demanding allegiance and obedience as citizens to these. But we have seen that the Howard government’s Citizenship Test moved beyond this toward a definite “constitutive” assimilationist goal…

Posted in !nataS, Broken Windows, History, State / Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

antifa notes (february 12, 2011) : BANANAs & Dresden

Posted on February 12, 2011 by @ndy

BANANAs

As previously noted, on May Day in San Francisco last year there was an altercation involving members of the bizarro White supremacist groupuscule BANANA and a handful of antifascists. The bunch of BANANAs had joined a small counter-protest organised by the anti-immigrant group the Minutemen–not to be confused with the 1980s punk rawk group or the 1960s right-wing loons–in order to whinge in public about all-them-Mexicans-flooding-across-the-Arizona-border. As a result of the clash, the BANANAs’ Kameraden in the SFPD laid felony charges against two individuals, Dee and Kelsey. In June, the felony charges were dropped: “Judge Cynthia Ming-Mei Lee dropped charges against Donnell Allen for assault with a deadly weapon for using a ballista battering ram baselard broadsword battle axe ball-on-a-chain bardiche bill bayonet bisento bazooka battery (as in an Energizer) and robbing a backpack from BANANA leader Andrew White (aka Andrew Yeoman). Allen’s assault charge against White was reduced to a misdemeanor” (Felony Charges Reduced to Misdemeanors for Alleged Attackers of White Separatists, Lauren Smiley, SF Weekly, June 7, 2010).

Last week, the pair’s legal troubles ended. There was no trial. On Tuesday, Dee agreed to do 15 hours of community service (after which his case will be dismissed) and Kelsey agreed to plea no contest to a single violation of California Penal Code Section 415, commonly referred to as “disturbing the peace”. (Dee was facing one count and Kelsey four misdemeanor counts of “assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury” (245(a)(1)), each with a potential 1 year jail term.)

The BANANAs last came to prominence in September, when Yeoman/White popped a film critic hat onto his pointy little head and proceeded to briefly protest a local screening of Mexploitation flick Machete. Moar recently, a couple of BANANAs have expressed butthurt following the cancellation/’smashing’ of A Convocation of Bigots: the 2011 American Renaissance conference.

American Renaissance conference smashed again

The weekend of February 4th-6th 2011, the white nationalists of American Renaissance tried to resurrect their destroyed conference of 2010, this time trying Charlotte NC instead of their usual metro DC conference. NEFAC joined on to a coalition spearheaded by One People’s Project and the Southern Anti-Racism Network to make sure that the AmRen conference didn’t happen smoothly. And it didn’t. AmRen 2011 was cancelled. And in its place, Charlotte had a forum on combatting white supremacy…

Froot Loops

In an interview with Michael Orion Powell (Even In The Bay Area, Nationalism Takes Root, little green footballs, October 26, 2010), chief BANANA Yeoman/White credits Sydney businessman Welf Herfurth for introducing him to ‘national anarchism’. Herfurth himself has moved on from ‘national anarchism’ and returned to organising with the openly neo-Nazi ‘Volksfront Australia’, the Australian franchise of the neo-Nazi network formed by a small group of boneheads in an Oregon jail in 1994. Last month, the network’s leader, Randal Krager, was exposed by Rose City Antifa as ‘President of Neo-Nazi Organization Contracted to Work in the Middle East’. (Note that when Krager helped form the gang, he was doing time “for nearly beating to death an African American father of four—leaving him paralyzed—in a racially motivated attack”.)

Having abandoned ‘national anarchism’ for Volksfront, apart from Yeoman/White, Herfurth has left behind a mere handful of former followers. According to neo-Nazi blog Whitelaw Towers, one is Nicholas Cole, a student in Perth, WA. Otherwise, an odd couple in Tasmania also continue to be silly online, while Geelong-based Scott Harrison has become a self-proclaimed Reverend in a tinpot White supremacist kvlt. By throwing in his lot with ‘Creativity’ and Blood & Honour, Harrison has betrayed his former leader Herfurth, but the rivalry between Volksfront and B&H/SCHS in Australia, unlike elsewhere in the world, is fairly tepid, and clashes confined to leaking infos on one another to local anti-racists.

Dresden

This week in Dresden, Germany, antifascists will be attempting to block the annual march by neo-Nazis through the city. Last year, despite massive police reinforcements, the neo-Nazis had heap ’em big trouble trying to drag their sorry arses into town. The victory enabled troubadours to write a neat little toon to commemorate the fact that the boofheads lost another little battle. As for 2011…

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Nothing wrong with falafels Eddie!

Posted on February 11, 2011 by @ndy

Dear Eddie,

Falafels are yummy! OMGWTF we have them in Melbourne too!

Signed,

Collingwood fan.

PS. F*ck McDonald’s.

See also : Bite my falafel Eddie, Antoun Issa (ABC Unleashed) | An open letter to Eddie McGuire, from the Land of the Falafel, Wordsmith Lane, February 11, 2011.

Posted in Collingwood | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Jason Dowling sacked for slurs on Facebook

Posted on February 9, 2011 by @ndy

Man sacked for slurs on Facebook
Anne Lin
ninemsn
February 9, 2011

A Gold Coast man has lost his job after his employer confronted him about derogatory comments he published on Facebook.

Jason Dowling, who worked on the Hinze Dam Project managed by Thiess Pty Ltd, has been stood down after admitting to posting offensive remarks following a tip-off by a member of the public.

A 25-year-old law student from Lismore who only wanted to be identified as Caroline told ninemsn she emailed Thiess on January 30 with a link to Mr Dowling’s Facebook page.

Four days later she received a response from Thiess group HR manager Mark Vining saying Mr Dowling’s employment at the company had been terminated following an investigation.

In addition, a second unidentified employee was also fired and a third tendered his resignation.

“Those comments are in no way supported by our business practices, are in breach of various Company and Project policies, and certainly not encouraged or endorsed by the management of Thiess,” Mr Vining wrote in that letter.

“Thiess has a long and proud history of promoting diversity and equality in our workforce, and have many programmes in place to support these objectives.”

Caroline told ninemsn she first saw screen shots of Mr Dowling’s comments posted on the website PWSNT.com and “out of curiosity” looked him up on Facebook…

Jason’s comments were admittedly pretty bad–Muhammad Ali is “just another loud mouth nigger”; an Aborigine with a stutter is a “cocoon”; Dreamworld is sadly “full of gooks n Muslims”; blah blah blah–but not all that unusual. There are mountains of hateful idiocy on Facebook, which The Antibogan blog regularly documents.

See also : Richard Wolstencroft ~versus~ Richard Wolstencroft (January 23, 2011) | F— Off We’re Facebook (January 25, 2010) | F*** Off, We’re Full (Of Terrie-Annes) (July 2, 2009) | Nicole Hanley : For Blood & Honour (April 6, 2009).

Posted in !nataS, Broken Windows, Media, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | 12 Comments

Brendon O’Connell and The Campaign to Free Martin Bryant

Posted on February 7, 2011 by @ndy

Martin Bryant was FRAMED for the Port Arthur Massacre!
Brendon O’Connell has uncovered PROOF that Abe Saffron, working in close collaboration with The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, was responsible for the killings!
In order to keep the TRUTH from the public, ZOG arranged for O’Connell’s capture and imprisonment!

Free Martin Bryant!
Free Brendon O’Connell!

See also : Martin Bryant Facebook profile removed, ABC, January 19, 2011.

Posted in !nataS, Death, History, Media, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged , | 14 Comments

…so…

Posted on February 3, 2011 by @ndy

…i’m feeling pretty uninspired…

…i’ll probably write little this month…

…here’s some links…

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Against Tony Judt (and for Dresden Antifa)
February 13, 2010

Back in December, the New York Review of Books published an essay by Tony Judt with the title “What is Living and What is Dead in Social Democracy?” based on a lecture he delivered in October 2009.

You may have read it. Bit.ly tells me that over 2,200 people have clicked on one of their links for it.

I think it sucks.

Here’s why…

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Melbourne Black (Vol.1, No.5, January 2011). Fifth issue of local anarchist zine.

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The Spectre / El Fantasma (No.1, 2011). Monthly, local, bilingual zine produced by the ‘International Co-ordination Against Multinational Policies’ (Observatorio Internacional Contra las Políticas de las Multinacionales).

Posted in Media | 3 Comments

Brendon Lee O’Connell found guilty of racial hatred

Posted on January 28, 2011 by @ndy
    Update, January 31, 2011. Brendon O’Connell has been sentenced to three years jail for his crimes. O’Connell has the distinction of being the first person to be successfully prosecuted under WA’s laws against racial and religious vilification, legislation introduced following the racist violence of the neo-Nazi ‘Australian Nationalists Movement’ under Jack Van Tongeren. Van Tongeren’s former arch-nemesis is Dr James Saleam, leader of the Australia First Party. AF has urged its followers to support O’Connell, whom the party denies is anti-Semitic and argues is instead merely a good Christian.

Israeli oranges + Jewish yoof + Labor Party + Multicultural Industry + the very model of a KGB/Gestapo operation + a treasonous judge + a kangaroo court + King James Bible + the Constitution = Jews did WTC! guilty verdict on six counts of racial hatred + remand + court on Monday.

Brendon Lee O’Connell found guilty of racial hatred
AAP
January 28, 2011

A PERTH man who posted a video online showing him arguing with a Jewish man and calling him a “racist, homicidal maniac” has been found guilty of racial hatred.

Brendan [sic] Lee O’Connell, 38, represented himself before a jury in the Perth District Court after firing the lawyer who had been defending him against an accusation that he posted an anti-[S]emitic video online.

O’Connell faced seven charges related to the posting of a verbal altercation he had with Stanley Keyser and Timothy Peach, who are Jewish, and was found guilty on six.

An argument broke out between the three men at an IGA supermarket in South Perth on May 2, 2009, where a Friends of Palestine group was holding a protest against Israeli oranges.

Mr Peach, 19, told the court during the trial that he was a member of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students at the time and had attended the rally to “observe” and hand out flyers to educate the protesters about Israel.

He said he was “angry”, “confused” and “offended” by O’Connell when he started to film the two Jewish men and argue with them about their religion.

During the trial, O’Connell refused to acknowledge Judge Henry Wisbey when he entered the court and, instead, rose to bow to the jury.

About a dozen supporters in the court cheered when O’Connell labelled the proceedings “a kangaroo court” and gave a long, repetitive rant about the King James Bible and the Constitution.

The video that O’Connell posted online was shown on the first day of the trial.

“You have a religion of racism, hate, homicide and ethnic cleansing,” O’Connell says to the men on the video.

“You are a racist, homicidal maniac.”

When the jury found O’Connell guilty on Friday, he shouted: “Free Palestine! Free Iraq!” before being taken away.

Outside court, Mr Keyser’s mother Shelley said it was “a big relief” for the “terrible” ordeal to be over.

O’Connell was remanded in custody and is due to reappear in court on Monday.

See also : Man found guilty over race hate video, Belle Taylor, The West Australian, January 28, 2011.

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics | Tagged , | 67 Comments

Difficulty of Governing : Bertolt Brecht (1937)

Posted on January 28, 2011 by @ndy

1
Ministers are always telling the people
How difficult it is to govern. Without the ministers
Corn would grow into the ground, not upward.
Not a lump of coal would leave the mine if
The Chancellor weren’t so clever. Without the Minister of
Propaganda
No girl would ever agree to get pregnant. Without the
Minister of War
There’d never be a war. Indeed, whether the sun would rise
in the morning
Without the Fuhrer’s permission
Is very doubtful, and if it did, it would be
In the wrong place.

2
It’s just as difficult, so they tell us
To run a factory. Without the owner
The walls would fall in and the machines rust, so they say.
Even if a plough could get made somewhere
It would never reach a field without the
Cunning words the factory owner writes the peasants: who
Could otherwise tell them that ploughs exist? And what
Would become of an estate without a landlord? Surely
They’d be sowing rye where they had set the potatoes.

3
If governing were easy
There’d be no need for such inspired minds as the Fuhrer’s.
If the worker knew how to run his machine and
The peasant could tell his field from a pastry-board
There’d be no need of a factory-owner or landlord.
It’s only because they are all so stupid
That a few are needed who are so clever.

4
Or could it be that
Governing is so difficult only
Because swindling and exploitation take some learning?

Posted in Anarchism, History, Poetry, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Walk like an Egyptian

Posted on January 28, 2011 by @ndy

A rally in solidarity with revolting Egyptians has been called for this Sunday from 3pm @ the Consulate General of the Arab Republic of Egypt, (Level 6) 50 Market Street, Melbourne. The official tag is ‘Come and support the right of the Egyptian People to choose their government and parliament’. Being Sunday, the Consulate will be closed. Also, seeing as it’s gonna be like 40°C or something, it’s probably a good idea to take supplies if you’re going. Otherwise… President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak’s regime is in some slight trouble ’cause of public protest, but moreover ’cause of who’s gonna take over after he goes he goes he just goes. ‘Mubarak’s Last Breath’ by Adam Shatz (May 2010) provides a neat overview of the historical background, while Robert Fisk (January 28, 2011) reckons ‘Egypt’s day of reckoning’ has arrived.

People talk of revolution but there is no one to replace Mubarak’s men – he never appointed a vice-president – and one Egyptian journalist yesterday told me he had even found some friends who feel sorry for the isolated, lonely President. Mubarak is 82 and even hinted he would stand for president again – to the outrage of millions of Egyptians.

The barren, horrible truth, however, is that save for its brutal police force and its ominously docile army – which, by the way, does not look favourably upon Mubarak’s son Gamal – the government is powerless. This is revolution by Twitter and revolution by Facebook, and technology long ago took away the dismal rules of censorship.

A real crisis of leadership among the ruling elites in Egypt, in other words, and also a revolution facilitated by Facebook, Inc. and Twitter Inc.. Jadaliyya is an interesting sauce of infos too, and one writer sounds a horribly optimistic note:

We were told, time and again, that “revolution” and “the people” were obsolete terms, irrelevant in a post-revolutionary world, especially in the Arab world. This, after all, was a place where the burden of the past weighed so heavily and the cultural DNA somehow preconditioned those who carried it to feel more at home with tyrants and terror. Too many trees were killed theorizing about the region’s inhospitability to democracy. “Reform” was the most one could hope for. Revolution? No way! That was the stuff of outmoded leftists and dreamers left behind as history marched forward. The referent for “revolution” resided in the past (or in the west), but never in the present, or near future. The latter, was eternally deferred. Revolutions were dormant in archives, dictionaries and documentary footage. Revolutions were celebrated and imagined in songs and poems fading from collective memory and oral history.

Even those of us who didn’t buy into this narrative for obvious reasons fell prey to despair and pessimism. It wasn’t just hereditary dictatorships mushrooming left and right, but neocolonialism, military occupations, sectarianism and civil wars. It was even difficult, at times, to be a pessoptimist à la Habibi.

Then there was Tunisia…

Posted in Broken Windows, History, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged | 6 Comments