40 Kiwis arrested in Toronto!

Posted on June 28, 2010 by @ndy

From the Department of Fat @ndy: “What’s a Riot?” & “Who Remembered to Bring the Marshmallows?” comes news of the arrest in Toronto of over 9000 40 75 500 suspected Kiwis following a riot, called to celebrate the arrival of 20 war criminals robber barons heads of state. The 20 are understood to have arrived in Toronto earlier in the week in order to attend the latest in a series of secretive meetings in luxury hotels. The gang group calls themselves the ‘G8’ (or alternatively ‘G20’), and are known to be extremely powerful and violent concerned about global poverty and environmental degradation.

According to The Australian, some of the anarchist group’s leaders were among 75 arrested yesterday (that is, Caturday), and police knew the identities of other troublemakers from photographs taken after the melee (in which a police vehicle was badly damaged). But a yellow dog, widely believed to be il Capo di tutti capi and known by various pseudonyms, some of the more common being ‘Loukanikos’ and ‘Kanellos’, has once again escaped police custody.

The Kiwis and their canine leader are understood to have been criss-crossing the globe in pursuit of the 20, and in recent years their tour has taken in Melbourne, Athens, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Pittsburgh and now Toronto. “What we saw yesterday … is a bunch of thugs that pretend to have a difference of opinion with policies and instead choose violence in order to express those so-called differences of opinion,” Dimitri Soudas, spokesman for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told a news conference.

A Marxist concurs:

The anarchist crazies involved in the ultra-violence were in no serious sense part of Caturday’s demo. Just like their black bloc mates in Europe they simply exploited the demo for their own purposes.

Right throughout the lead-up to Caturday they made clear their hostility to and contempt for other protestors. On Caturday they did all they could to disrupt the demonstration and were hostile, abusive, threatening and ultra-sectarian towards people on the demo.

Canada, fortunately, has not previously been blighted by the sort of black bloc anarchist activities which have had such a disastrous impact on demonstrations in Europe. These people are simply provocateurs that open up protests to police repression. In Europe their ranks have been riddled by police agents and fascists.

What gave them a certain critical mass at the G8/G20 was the presence of considerable numbers of anarchists from overseas. A Marxist from New Zealand said he recognised at least 40 Kiwi anarchists. He knew at least 20 of them by name. There were also a considerable number of black bloc anarchists from Europe. We know of people from Sweden, Germany and England. These people are like football hooligans who travel the world looking for violence.

On top of that there were also a considerable number of anarchists from outside Ontario.

Because of the behaviour of these provocateurs the media and the law and order brigade are having a field day.

The left should offer no comfort to these crazies. We should do whatever we can to isolate them. They are wreckers. If they grow in Canada it will simply make it harder to build future protests and movements.

See also : Rebel Dog | In Dog We Trust | Anti-Capitalist Convergence of Montreal (CLAC 2010) : Warning Shot! An anticapitalist reader on the G8/G20 | G20 and G8 Summit Protest Reporting.

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Broken Windows, Media, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Alizee Sery pays tribute to Uluru

Posted on June 27, 2010 by @ndy

Alizee Sery’s tribute to Uluru is the latest in several centuries worth of tributes to indigenous peoples and cultures — not that them’s grateful. In any event, her salutation has certainly gone some way to ‘deepening and broadening the visitor experience of Uluru’, a development which Peter Garrett, the Minister for Uranium Mining, Woodchipping & The Yartz, is certain to welcome.

“What we need to remember is that traditionally, the Aboriginal people were living naked. So stripping down was a return to what it was like. After such a hard climb, when you reach the top, the view and the magic of the place gives you an amazing feeling of peace and freedom. You want to sing, dance and strip.” ~ Alizee Sery (Indigenous group wants Uluru stripper deported, ABC, June 27, 2010)

See also : Garrett to allow Uluru climbs, Lindsay Murdoch, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 9, 2010: “…under a new 10-year management plan announced by Mr Garrett yesterday, the 348-metre rock will remain open to climbers until its popularity dwindles or new visitor experiences are developed. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, were among the people who said the rock should be kept open to climbers. Mr Garrett told reporters in Sydney that the key issue for the rock was to deepen and broaden the visitor experience.”

Posted in !nataS, Sex & Sexuality | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Photo of the now

Posted on June 27, 2010 by @ndy

G20 capitalism is attacked in the streets of Toronto, No-One Is Illegal MONTREAL, June 27, 2010.

Posted in Anarchism, Broken Windows | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Toronto : G20 // G8 Summit Protest Reporting

Posted on June 27, 2010 by @ndy

http://2010.mediacoop.ca/

Reads like the usual tactics are on display in Toronto this weekend. See also : Pittsburgh beefs up security to greet G20 (September 21, 2009). And do read Canada’s brewing ‘insurgency’ by Jon Elmer (Al Jazeera, June 26, 2010):

In Manitoba, 71 per cent of prisoners are native, although natives represent only 15 per cent of the province’s population; in Saskatchewan, the number is even higher, with natives accounting for 80 per cent of prisoners but only 11 per cent of the population.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police recently characterised the prison system as “community colleges for [native] gangs”.

These “gangs” are increasingly politicised and some of Canada’s leading military planners are warning that a full-blown uprising is gathering.

The groups operate in what the military calls “ungoverned spaces” that are increasingly difficult to police.

They are also sophisticated, operating under the “Robin Hood” principle of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, say military planners.

When combined with their tangible grievances, “you have the root causes which can be the fuel for an insurgency. It’s entirely feasible,” said Bland.

Fingers crossed!

State authorities have developed and continue to implement (and to revise) a fairly standard repertoire of repressive tactics inre (anti-)summit protests. In addition to reinforcing otherwise routine forms of infiltration and surveillance of protest movements, authorities:

i) conduct propaganda campaigns — in conjunction with state/corporate media, selected public figures and media and political commentators — aimed at transforming the image of the ‘good’ protester into that of the ‘bad’ terrorist, raising expectations of ‘protester violence’, and thus justifying and providing a pretext for paramilitary-style policing;
ii) introduce new or augment existing laws in order to provide for a wider range of offences and greatly increased penalties inre protest activities;
iii) ensure police are able to perform their duties either with virtual legal immunity for their actions or in the reasonable expectation of having the responsibility for any unfavourable legal outcomes assumed by the state;
iv) identify and target for arrest presumed ‘leaders’ (either before, during or after protest activity);
v) construct (temporary) walls and establish perimeters around summit locations, often including the designation of particular areas as being under special laws;
vi) conduct pre-emptive strikes upon convergence spaces, frequently involving mass arrests, and invariably the identification of those present and the collation of (other) materials leading to the identification of (other) participants;
vii) sever, on the basis of tactical differences, links between groups operating in coalition;
viii) destroy and/or seriously damage and/or confiscate materials intended to be used in the course of protest or during its organisation;
ix) obstruct the activities of independent media, legal monitoring and medical aid in particular.

Posted in Broken Windows, History, Media, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Humanist, all too Humanist

Posted on June 26, 2010 by @ndy

Huh I says. Huh. The NSW Humanist Society — one of whose patrons, the ABC broadcaster Robyn Williams, gave an amusing address at the Global Atheist Convention in March, and whose former Vice President, Rosemary “Waratah” Gillespie, died recently — is the subject of a hostile takeover. The takeover is the subject of a newspaper article, the first to discuss the issue since fascist groups meeting at the Society’s offices in Chippendale were the subject of protests in October and November 2009 (protests which have themselves been the subject of debate in the anarchist zine Mutiny)…

“Of course one ought to express pity, but one ought to guard against having it; for unfortunate people are so stupid that they count the expression of pity as the greatest good on earth.”

Ageing idealists begin to see vultures
Andrew Stevenson
The Sydney Morning Herald
June 26, 2010

A humanist body believes it is under threat from opportunists, writes Andrew Stevenson.

WHAT do the Henry George Foundation, the Blavatsky Lodge of the Theosophical Society, the British-Israel World Federation and NSW Humanist Society have in common? Ageing memberships, open doors and very, very valuable assets.

The Georgists are still trying to remake the world according to the model described by a 19th century economist; the Theosophists aim to ”form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour”; the British-Israelites reckon Anglo-Saxon-Celtic people are the true descendants of the Israelites of the Holy Bible; and the Humanists battle to present an ethical, secular approach to life based on compassion and tolerance.

But the NSW Humanist Society, according to one member, is actually battling for its very existence, having been ”infiltrated by racist groups”.

It started with Humanist House, a small but valuable property in Chippendale, just off Broadway, which the society hires out to a plethora of activist groups for public meetings.

For years one customer was the Public Information Forum – which has recently been turfed out [for the second time, apparently] and accused of links with the Ku Klux Klan and other racist outfits.

But it retains a foot in the door. One of its members, Mark Pavic, is now a Humanist vice-president. At least ”until they execute me”, he says.

Humanist Fred Flatow accuses the PIF of seeking control of Humanist House in order to ”sell it or put it to uses most of us would be alarmed by”.

”The infiltrators are very disciplined and vote as a bloc; they are playing for keeps,” Mr Flatow writes to members. ”They are not amenable to persuasion to desist. They have to be voted out!”

Mr Pavic concedes a few things. The PIF does contain fringe left and right-wingers, he says, and, while emphatic that he is no Nazi (”I have Jewish friends; I even had a Jewish girlfriend”), he does acknowledge some in the PIF have been ”metaphorical swastika armband wearers”.

”They [the Humanists] found a couple of PIF people who are dabblers in pretend-Nazism so they branded us all as fascists,” said Mr Pavic, 51.

Nazism is not the only dirt being dished.

Also raised is Mr Pavic’s conviction for the manslaughter of his mother in 1985.

At the trial he confessed to tying bricks to his mother Danijela’s body and tossing her into Lake Burley Griffin after she died suddenly during an argument.

”They can bring it up; it’s not relevant,” Mr Pavic says now.

In fact Mr Pavic – who insists he is a humanist – says the controlling group, headed by the society’s president, John August, is actually the real enemy as its members are beholden to the Secular Party, who themselves have taken over the society.

The NSW Humanists have an ageing and declining membership and so little money they have considered obtaining a reverse mortgage to stay afloat. But they do have Humanist House, worth well in excess of $1 million.

Ripe pickings for a takeover. ”There’s a lot of this going on,” Mr Pavic says. ”They have declining memberships and they have real estate they bought many years ago which is extremely valuable. There are people who join committees with an eye on the money.”

It has even happened a couple of times when Mr Pavic has been around. Two organisations, the Henry George and British-Israel foundations, found themselves mired in long and costly court action with Mr Pavic [peripherally] involved, although he [insists] he has always been a campaigner for the defence.

The Humanists, distracted from their true business, are optimistic they will ”weather the storm”, John August writes. ”It is a case of battening down the hatches … nevertheless, it is an object lesson of what can happen to an incorporated association when it is infiltrated by an outside group.”

Note that, in a strange twist of fate, the Secular Party of Australia has been registered with the AEC at the same moment as the Australia First Party. The leader of AF, Dr James Saleam — who certainly has own convictions — has commented on The Curious Case of the British-Israel World Federation (Patron: The Rt Hon The Viscount Allenby of Megiddo) in his tract ‘The Liberal Party’s ‘Nutzi Connection’ Revealed As The British-Israel World Federation $500,000 Takeover Plot Takes New Directions’. In typically deathless prose, Herr Doktor claims, inter alia, that a law-talking guy named John Boyle “travelled to meetings (Humanist House ‘Open Forum’ and the ‘Conservative Speakers’ Club’) with neo-nazi Mark Pavic, a man who served a prison sentence over the killing of his mother and the disposal of her body in Lake Burley Griffin, way back in 1985”.

[home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/kangarooreich/partten.html]

Another ‘humanist’ to be elected to the NSW committee of management is Ken Cratchley. Cratchley is — or was — a member of the Christian Separatist Church Society (whose beliefs are not that removed from those of the British-Israelites), and the author of the timeless classic ‘Can a Non-National Socialist be a True Christian?’, and — notwithstanding the Vatican’s ratlines — come to the rather startling conclusion that “National Socialism is the political expression of true Christianity”.

If correct, then there’s surely no reason to doubt that National Socialism is the religious expression of true Humanism amirite?

See also : John August ~versus~ slackbastard (March 19, 2010) | NSW Humanist Society 1 ‘Public Information Forum’ 0 (January 17th, 2010) | Fascist infiltration of the ‘Humanist Society of New South Wales’ (Inc.) (November 25, 2009) | Klub Naziya / Klub Nation / Public Information Forum / Jason Rafty… (November 15, 2009) | Is neo-Nazism humanist? (October 14, 2009) | Neo-Nazism ~versus~ humanism (November 4, 2009) | Klub Naziya in Chippendale (November 7, 2009).

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Aryan Strike Force : Do Not Collect $200

Posted on June 25, 2010 by @ndy

Huh.

Two British neo-Nazis — Michael Heaton, 42 (aka ‘Wigan Mike’), and Trevor Hannington, 58 — have been convicted of inciting racial hatred after posting abusive comments on a nutzi website belonging to the ‘Aryan Strike Force’, a forum utilised by themselves and a range of other fascist kooks to plan for RaHoWa! Mike was given a 30-month jail term for his keyboard heroics, while Trev got two years.

Hannington’s hate-filled postings include messages which read: “Kill the Jew, Kill the Jew, Burn the synagogues, and Burn the Scum”. Heaton wrote, “Jews will always be scum, and must be destroyed, I would encourage any race who wants to destroy the Jews, I hate them with a passion.”

Sentiments which, to anyone who has spent any time browsing nutzi websites (or even social networking sites such as Facebook), while they may be considered unusual (in addition to repulsive), would realise are very far from unique. To the best of my knowledge, however, this is — I think — only the second occasion upon which a British citizen has been convicted of such offences for their online rants (the other convictions being those of Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle in July 2009). Further details about the dynamic duo’s trials, tribulations and now jailings are available by way of Mike Hornby and the Press Association (White supremacists jailed over ‘vicious’ online messages, The Independent, June 25, 2010):

The “proud neo-Nazis” were unanimously cleared of soliciting murder at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday but Heaton was jailed today for 30 months after being convicted of four counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words likely to stir up racial hatred.

Hannington previously admitted two counts of stirring up racial hatred, two further counts of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism and disseminating a terrorist publication.

He was jailed for two years.

In Perth, Australia, Brendon O’Connell is currently on trial for racial vilification. He was last spotted at an anti-censorship rally in Perth (in the company of a handful of fascists belonging to Nationalist Alternative).

See also : Neo-Nazis jailed over anti-Jewish internet posts, BBC, June 25, 2010 | Nazis Jailed, libcom, June 25, 2010: “The other question that remains is that of web content. With Sheppard and Whittle behind bars and Heaton and Hannington about to sample HMP’s finest cuisine for the next year or so how does this affect the other extreme websites? On places like VNN and Stormfront there are many threads that, late at night, ‘having strong drink taken’ descend into amusing bitchiness and not-so-amusing threats, racist outpourings and vile anti-Semitism. The EDL are not exempt either with current threads like ‘***k Palestine’ and ‘how many uaf are gonna get done over today.’ Having achieved a couple of high profile convictions, are the cops going to be trawling through the sites and trying to secure a few more promotion boosting arrests? This affects militant anti-fascists as well as nutjob fascists. Posters beware!”

Bonus Wesley!

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

…whatever…

Posted on June 25, 2010 by @ndy

Yeah. Having consulted their horoscope — and having accomplished his allotted role of providing the electorate with a bland alt.HoWARd — the Labor Right has made a tactical decision to get rid of the multi-millionaire’s husband ahead of the next Federal election. Michael Kroger blames seven, or possibly eight men for KRudd’s demise, but names only six: David Feeney, Bill Shorten, Don Farrell, Karl Bitar, Paul House (sic) and Bill Ludwig. Phillip Coorey casts the net slightly wider, including Steve Hutchins, Mark Bishop, Mark Arbib, and Paul Howes in the plot. “By daybreak, it was estimated Ms Gillard had about 83 of the 112 votes. Anthony Albanese told Mr Rudd he was doomed and should not contest to spare humiliation.” A supposedly crucial factor in the leadership spill was ‘research that showed Labor would suffer a ”total wipeout” under Kevin Rudd’ at the next Federal election.’

As a result of these machinations, Australia has its first female PM, and another nerd has been made to cry on TV. The election will now see not one but two former student politicians battle for political supremacy. Law-talking grrl Gillard will likely win; law-talking guy The Mad Monk will likely lose. Also exiting stage left is a law-talking guy named Lindsay Tanner, whose retirement from the seat of Melbourne means that — as Christian (‘The Christian’) Kerr notes — another law-talking guy, Adam Bandt, will likely be the first Green to be elected to the Lower House. (Note that Bandt, like Gillard, was once employed by Slater & Gordon.)

Uncle Rupert giveth, and Uncle Rupert taketh away.

See also : Australian prime minister Rudd ousted in political coup, Nick Beams, wsws.org, June 24, 2010 | ALP’s desperate rebadging could mask a shift to right, Peter Boyle, Green Left Weekly, June 24, 2010 | Chairman Rudd, Julia Gillard, and coming up behind Miranda the Devine and Gen Y … loon pond, June 23, 2010.

You Take Part in Creating This System

Posted in State / Politics | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Resource Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Profit Tax

Posted on June 23, 2010 by @ndy

I may not be the first to notice this, but the Rudd Government’s ‘Resource Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Profit Tax’ (PDF) has been subjected to some rather harsh criticism since its announcement in early May (Miners reject the Resource Super Profits tax grab, Mathew Murphy, The Age, May 3, 2010). Much of this criticism appears to be emanating from The Rich Working-Families-With-An-Above-Average-Income. In fact, some were so upset that a few weeks ago they staged a riot rally (Thousands attend protest rally over tax, ABC, June 9, 2010):

The organiser of the rally, David Flanagan from Atlas Iron, says dozens of mining companies and their workers will be protesting as the Prime Minister arrives to address the Perth Press Club… “We employ a lot of working families and we’re not being listened to. So, this is our best chance of getting our voice heard.”

Flanagan himself is — rather like Tom Switzer — a Man of the People, and a First Among Equals. (And That’s Official.)

But what about the effect of the new tax upon The Poor? And The Indigenous Poor?

According to the ABS, in 2006 approximately 45% of all Indigenous people were in the lowest income quintile (“an associated equivalised gross household income of less than $315 per week”), the unemployment rate was 16%, while just 6% of Indigenous people aged 18-24 years are attending university, technical or further education (compared to 25% of non-Indigenous people).

Statistics such as these give reason for despair.

But wait!
Look!
Up in the sky!
It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!
It’s Twiggy Forrest!

In 2008, Andrew “Twiggy” Forest had a Big Idea: to create 50,000 jobs for Aborigines (Leo Shanahan, The Age, August 4, 2008):

AUSTRALIA’S richest man will attempt to create 50,000 jobs for indigenous people under an ambitious scheme that will shift the emphasis of Aboriginal job creation from government to business.

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest, chief executive of Fortescue Metals Group, has announced that the Australian Employment Covenant will sign up hundreds of companies to employ a total of 50,000 indigenous people within the next two years…

And for the benefit of those of you coming in late: “The Australian Employment Covenant (AEC) is a national industry-led initiative which will bring Australians together to break the vicious cycle of unemployment and poverty amongst Indigenous Australians.” Forrest thus threw down a diamond-encrusted gauntlet at the feet of Australian business: declare your preparedness to break this vicious cycle, and to give unemployed Indigenous Australians a job — or don’t.

This was truly a revolutionary breakthrough, and as such naturally attracted the support of a range of Very Important Persons, including Marcia Langton, Sue Gordon, Sir Rod Eddington, Noel Pearson, Warren Mundine and David Bussau. It also gained the support of Uncle Rupert and his appointed KRudd, who formally launched the scheme in October 2008.

Even more remarkably, perhaps — given the (Other) Idea’s etymology — KRudd declared in his speech launching the jobs revolution that Twiggy had not only brought VIPs together, he had also ended a long-standing philosophical dispute, saying: “The death of ideology lies in the fact that we are all here together as Australians, indigenous and non-indigenous, all sides of politics, about one objective, and that’s how to fix this thing.”

Sadly, there hasn’t been much news from the Australian Employment Covenant of late. In fact, the last piece of Good News to emanate from the “good people seeking to do good things” was the fact that Business Leaders enjoyed a nice breakfast in Brisbane in February. Be that as it may, Twiggy’s attempts to end poverty have obviously been overtaken by other concerns, and he might be excused for temporarily taking his eye off the ball. In this case, that unfair distraction takes the form of former comrade KRudd’s attempt to destroy the mining industry. Even more sadly, the fact that KRudd’s mindless vandalism is shattering the hopes and dreams of thousands of Indigenous Australians of obtaining employment has been ignored in this debate.

Thankfully, Twiggy is not the only keen employer, or party to the Australian Employment Covenant, to have spoken out against the tax: so too has Sir Rod “I’m not a spy!” Eddington. But of course the keenest, and most amusing, critic of the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Tax is billionaire and amateur Marxologist Clive Palmer: “I think it comes from Das Kapital in 1868 [sic]. The super tax comes about by Marx and Engels and their famous work which inspired the Russian Revolution.”

For his part, Noel Pearson has registered alarm at the Wilderness Society’s ability to dictate the Queensland government’s land management policy, and thereby put an end to a bauxite mining project in Cape York (Aborigines need to turn radical, Noel Pearson, The Australian, June 5, 2010). The developer, Matilda Zircon, cited “environmental sensitivity surrounding the Queensland government’s Wild Rivers legislation” as reason for its withdrawal from the project. Undeterred, the Cape York Land Council has launched a High Court challenge to The Wild Rivers Act (Aborigines fighting waterways law, Christopher Adams and Kathy Marks, The New Zealand Herald, June 12, 2010). (Note: “Few will know that the Prime Minister was [Pearson’s] first official employer, when [Pearson] was invited by him to join his cabinet office in Queensland so many years ago.”)

As for Mr. Mundine, he has divided loyalties. On the one hand, he’s a former ALP President; on the other, he’s currently the CEO of NTSCORP, and has a long-standing commitment to the mining industry as a source of employment, royalties and hence (economic) self-determination for Aboriginal peoples. Qualified criticism is expressed in Rudd mishandled mining tax: Mundine (AAP, June 22, 2010).

In conclusion: this tax is Bad, not only because it robs Good men like Twiggy and Clive (and fair dinkum Aussie blokes like Ross and Todd) of their hard-earned wealth, but because it distracts from attempts to break the vicious cycle of unemployment and poverty amongst Indigenous Australians. Donations to the Minerals Council of Australia may be made by visiting its website.

¡La lucha continúa!

See also : The resource curse, Marcia Langton, Griffith REVIEW, No.28 | Is Mining Truly Good For Indigenous People?, Sarah Burnside, New Matilda, June 22, 2010 | Wanted: a real super-profits tax, Bob Briton, The Guardian, No.1459, June 16, 2010 | Power Trip. David Marr talks to Robert Manne about Rudd’s political journey, Slow TV, June 2010 | Saying No To The Evidence, Again, Eva Cox, New Matilda, June 22, 2010.

Bonus Dylan Lewis!

Posted in State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Leave MTR 1377 alone!

Posted on June 23, 2010 by @ndy

Despite a dizzying array of phenomenal talent — from The Angry Dwarf to Andrew Bolt to Jason Akermanis to Sam Newman to Steve Vizard to Chris Smith to Martin King — Melbourne Tory Radio is struggling to attract listeners outside of the male, middle-aged, lower-middle class, right-wing ghetto.

Slow start for third player in radio talkback wars
Michael Lallo
The Age
June 23, 2010

FLEDGLING talkback station MTR 1377 must change its format to succeed, media observers warned after its poor performance in yesterday’s ratings report.

MTR attracted a market share of just 1.7 per cent and an average audience of 10,000, making it Melbourne’s lowest-rating station.

More than 1.5 million people listened to 3AW or 774 ABC during the 10-week survey period, of which MTR was on air for seven weeks, while 145,000 tuned in to MTR and its precursor, 3MP…

Hear also : 3CR Community Radio 855 AM | Democracy Now!

Posted in Death, Media | Tagged , | 22 Comments

nutzis are W E I R D : Forrest Fogarty (& Co.)

Posted on June 22, 2010 by @ndy

Otto Skorzeny (1908–1975) was a Nazi, a member of both the (Waffen) SS and the Gestapo. He took part in Kristallnacht (Pogromnacht) in 1938 and, after being injured while fighting in the Soviet Union in December 1942, joined the foreign intelligence service of the SS. His most (in)famous wartime exploit, however, was taking part in the rescue of Mussolini in September 1943; this, or his subsequent role in quashing the attempted coup of July 1944 (which underwent a Hollyweird revision *ing Tom Cruise in 2008). Following the end of WWII, like many other Nazis, Skorzeny found employment with US intelligence, and enjoyed a long career as a businessman, spy, and Nazi stalwart. On June 12, neo-Nazis in Budapest, Hungary organised a gig in tribute to his memory, *ing ‘Tar Had’, ‘Szebb Napok’, ‘Vérvád’ and ‘Revizorok’. The gig was held at a club called ‘Bluehole’.

In the US, Forrest Fogarty, a leading member of the Florida-based Confederate Hammerskins, has, inter alia, been accused of being… a stoner! Fogarty’s previous claim to fame was being nominated as one of ‘A Few Bad Men’ to have joined the US military. “There are some dirty Arabs enjoying their 70 virgins because of my actions and that of my fire team,” Fogarty boasted in the Winter 2005 issue of Resistance.

Skorzeny, on the other hand, became wealthy selling guns to “dirty Arabs”; so that they could kill “filthy Jews”, presumably.

*sigh*

Plans to produce a Pioneer Little Europe in Perth have been interrupted recently by shenanigans involving shotguns. Be that as it may, Paul Innes’ mates on Stormfront have come under some further scrutiny lately, with John Harold Browne’s Tip of the Spear Consulting Services possibly being less than — shall we say — kosher. According to Larry Keller (‘Charismatic’ Felon is Top Advertiser on Major Racist Website, Intelligence Report, No.138, Summer 2010): In the end, it’s hard to say exactly what motivates John Harold Browne. What is known is what he told a skeptical Stormfront member during the exchange about his credit repair service last fall. “I do not,” Browne said, “run a scam.” LOL. Writing in the Broward Palm Beach News (Advertiser on Local White Supremacist Site May Not Be Legitimate Racist, June 14, 2010), Thomas Francis notes that:

In addition to the financial sleight of hand, Tip of the Spear’s web banner offers “intellectual and physical protection.” In that latter capacity, Browne attended the October 2009 speech by Nazi Holocaust denier John [sic] Irving at the Ritz-Carlton in Manalapan [Florida]. After a fracas led to one neo-Nazi stabbing another, Irving blamed Browne for being slow to react. Browne is the surname of the “John” we referenced in this November 17 Juice post about hackers who leaked Irving’s emails, including those the historian had with Browne.

Note that the person stabbed at Irving’s speech — John Kopko — was reportedly a member of Crew 38, the junior burger version of Fogarty’s Hammerskins.

Speaking of fraud, Dr James Saleam’s party Australia First had a crack at winning a seat on local council (Hawkesbury) on the weekend, as well a seat in State parliament.

Pitted against a Green, a Liberal and two independents, AF’s Tony Pettitt managed to score almost 1 in 10 votes (3,003), coming fourth and almost doubling the vote received by the Christian, Extropian, Monarchist, Triumphalist and patriotic optimist Nathan Zamprogno. Mick Saunders, meanwhile, had neither the advantage of the donkey vote or the AF banner. This helps to explain why he attracted just 764 votes in Penrith, with 98% of voters preferring one of the (seven) other candidates. On the bright side, Saunders proved to be more attractive than the ‘Outdoor Recreation Party’, the expansive nature of AF’s vision for Australia ensuring that Mick can also take heart from the fact that his support for Nepean Hospital (“Turning to local issues, Mr Saunders said Nepean Hospital needed more nurses. He suggested changing nurses’ training so that they spent half of their year at university and the other half in hospital, learning the latest medical procedures.”) ensured he won the heart of at least one voter at the Hospital.

Bonus Steele!

“I’m coming back soon … and now I’m really pissed off …” stated neo-Nazi crazy person law-talking guy Edgar (J.) Steele on April 25. As of June 22, he’s now able to sing “Hello Dad… I’m In Jail”. Steele is alleged to have paid a man to murder his wife and mother-in-law. He’s also known for his legal advocacy on the part of neo-Nazi groupuscule the Aryan Nations.

Bonus Reagan!

Anxious about rising nationalist sentiment, the West German chancellor decided that, at the very least, a symbolic gesture was necessary to placate his right-wing critics. Kohl’s riposte came when President Reagan ventured to West Germany to participate in a solemn wreath-laying ceremony on May 5, 1985, at a military cemetery in Bitburg, where forty-seven SS men were buried along with two thousand Wehrmacht soldiers. Its ostensible purpose was to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the end of World War II, but Reagan used the occasion to get in his digs at the Evil Empire — not the Third Reich, of course, but the Soviet Union. German war veterans who insisted that Hitler should not be judged too harshly, because he fought the Red Menace, felt vindicated when Reagan restricted his comments on human rights abuses to only those occurring in Communist countries. The president’s one-eyed view of history transformed Nazi culprits into victims. He depicted the Third Reich not as a system of mass terror but as the work of a single maniacal despot. The fallen SS fighters were Hitler’s victims “just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps”, Reagan asserted. Absolving Germany of its wartime sins was the president’s way of thanking Kohl for backing the unpopular nuclear missile buildup in Europe.

Not surprisingly, Jewish organisations were outraged. So, too, were U.S. veterans groups. The American Legion, usually a staunch supporter of the president, reminded Reagan that the Waffen SS had murdered more than seventy unarmed American prisoners at Malmedy, just thirty miles from Bitburg. “Are these the same SS troops buried beneath the stones of Bitburg?” a Legion spokesperson asked. Other veterans recalled that the city of Bitburg was a staging area for German soldiers — including Otto Skorzeny’s notorious SS units — who fought against the Allies in the Battle of the Bulge. Bitburg also contained the graves of men from the Second SS Panzer Division, which massacred 642 French civilians in Oradour-sur-Glane in June 1942.

~ Martin A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, Little Brown & Co., 1997, p.220. Note that credit for Reagan’s speech at Bitburg has been given to multi-millionaire neo-conservative hack Pat Buchanan.

See also : nutzis are W E I R D : Arthur Kemp / BNP (August 30, 2009) | nutzis are W E I R D : Tina Greco / CNKKKK (August 26, 2009) | nutzis are W E I R D : Sheppard & Whittle Go to Jail (July 11, 2009) | nutzis are W E I R D : Kyle Chapman. The Mormon. (May 3, 2009) | nutzis are W E I R D : David Lane’s Ashes (February 13, 2009)

ALSO! The BNP, EDL & Violence, Malatesta, Norfolk Unity, June 20, 2010: “As the BNP continue to implode the EDL are siphoning off support for their own brand of racism.”

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