Australia First ~versus~ Australian Protectionist Party (March 2010)

Posted on March 20, 2010 by @ndy

For those of you coming in late, the Australia First Party (AF) and Australian Protectionist Party (APP) are currently fighting a ding-dong battle for the hearts and minds of White nationalists in Australia. Both parties — neither of which, it should be noted, are as yet registered with the AEC — oppose non-White immigration and ‘multiculturalism’ and, as part of a broader-ranging nationalism, wish to see a return to a White Australia policy on the part of government. Sadly, they part ways over the question of who and/or what constitutes the greatest threat to White Australia. For AF, it is New World Order liberal-globalist-capitalism and the ‘traitor class’ — heavily-indebted to the Zionist lobby nudge nudge wink wink — which is responsible for our current malaise. APP, on the other hand, like the BNP, claims not to be anti-Semitic, and views Islamisation (and Asianisation) as being matters of the most pressing concern.

Beyond any political differences, acrimony between the parties is also fuelled by the fact that the APP emerged as a reaction to the perceived failings of AF’s current leadership, and the poor character of Dr James Saleam (dubbed ‘The Mad Arab’ by right-wing critics on account of his Lebanese ancestry and personal style). For its part, AF accuses APP of going soft on The Jewish Question, and of being far too close to the far right within the Liberal Party (Darrin Hodges, chief spokesperson for APP in NSW, is a former member) in both its organisation and its political perspectives. Further, while AF looks to Germany and the NPD for its inspiration, APP models itself upon the more ‘moderate’ British National Party (which AF has denounced in favour of the National Front).

Given the collapse of such groups as Australians Against Further Immigration (AAFI), and the continuing disintegration of the One Nation Party (ONP) in its various forms, it’s possible that, in the longer term (and barring the emergence of another right-wing demagogue such as Pauline Hanson), either or both AF and APP will become the leading racist, right-wing fringe party. Given that’s the case, how are they faring? Some recent developments are outlined below.

See also : Deep veins: Australia and race (February 6, 2010).

Those Pesky Protectionists

APP member Nicholas (Hunter) Folkes *s in a report by Kate Carr in a Sydney local newspaper concerning his supposed candidacy for the seat of Sydney at the next Federal election.

Folkes is a rather funny fellow. In previous remarks on my blog, he’s accused me of being a “racist wanker”, a “Marxist Nazi turd” and an “anti-Semite”, described Greens leader Bob Brown as an “anarchist homo” and a “poof” who will be killed by Muslims if they’re given the opportunity (a point also made by APP NSW chairperson Darrin Hodges during the course of his brief appearance on an episode of Q&A), and who believes that “Nazis, Pinkos and Greens” are “all part of the same divisive mob”.

Elsewhere, Nicholas treats readers to the following words of wisdom (January 10, 2009):

You are mentally challenged… just read your crap comment regarding muslim school at camden. That psycho nutter is you and all your muslim rapist friends. Australia was wealthier and better off when it was ‘whiter’. Now that all the foreign trash has arrived, isn’t it amazing that our standard of living has dropped?

In August 2009 Folkes, a rabid supporter of the British National Party (BNP), denounced Filipinos on the BNP Facebook page in the following terms:

Filipinos are gold diggers, they’d marry your grandfather and clear out all the silver and kick dysfunctional idiots like you onto the street. Britain does not need foreign labour in good times or bad. Cheap foreign labour reduces wages, increases house and rental costs, increase [sic] welfare costs, increases crime and anti-social behaviour. Remember toad, Britian [sic] is first world and the Phillipines [sic] is third world, do you get my drift. Import these blowflies and you will go down to their level.
August 26, 2009 at 5:36am

Paula, the Filipinos will build shanty towns like Smokey Mountain in Britain. We have plenty of these free loaders in Australia, do not let them into Britain. Their qualifications are not the same standard as Britians [sic]. The more foreign rubbish you let in the weaker the British economy will be. Vote BNP for a return to common sense and British first policies.
August 26, 2009 at 5:42am

Paul – you are a dickhead. Filipino women like you because you are a ticket out of their third world hellhole. About being good in bed, they told me that you are shit in bed[.]
August 27, 2009 at 5:03am

Typically, Folkes denies the allegation of racism; that honour, apparently, belongs to myself. Similarly, Folkes attacks Islam for its homophobia, but is himself hardly enamoured of “anarchist homos” or “poofs” such as Bob Brown. In other words, Folkes is a garden variety bigot who lacks the intelligence to properly disguise his bigotry by way of coding his language.

Inner west residents infuriated by the Australian Protectionist Party
Kate Carr
Inner West Courier
March 17, 2010
http://inner-west-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/protecting-australia/

HE thinks Pauline Hanson was misunderstood and that Australia should accept migrants primarily from Europe and Britain, but ask the Australian Protectionist Party’s (APP) Nick Folkes if he is racist and you will get a resounding “no”.

The APP has been infuriating residents in the Inner West by distributing leaflets which call for an end to “African crime”, and blame migrants for everything from unemployment and the housing crisis to climate change.

According to Mr Folkes the party was just talking about “the facts and the reality of what is going on”.

“We call for an end to high numbers of migrants,” Mr Folkes said.

A Rozelle resident for 17 years, Mr Folkes denied his party was on the fringe of politics. “We are here [to] dispel the myth that nationalists are Nazis,” he said. “We are rightwing but not extreme.”

Mr Folkes said he was aware his party would struggle in the left-leaning Inner West but he was still going to run in the seat of Sydney in the next federal election.

“As we get more multicultural and diverse we are just having more problems,” Mr Folkes said.

The APP is particularly focused on Islam and has three flyers on its website addressing the issue of extremism.

Mr Folkes said he was concerned at the treatment of women and gay people by Islam, however his own party opposed adoption rights for same-sex parents and government funding of “homosexual groups”.

The party’s leaflets have prompted several residents to contact the Courier…

Complaints regarding allegedly racist leaflets have also occurred in the nearby suburb of Chippendale, on that occasion being produced and distributed by fascist groupuscule Nationalist Alternative (NA). NA most recently came to attention by way of staging an abortive Nuremberg Rally in Perth earlier this month, attempting to promote er, water conservation and opposition to immigration at a rally against the Federal Government’s plans to introduce a web filter.

Chippendale is, of course, one of the suburbs in Tanya Pilbersek’s electorate — the (very) safe seat of Sydney; it is also the location of Humanist House. Humanist House is a property owned by the Humanist Society of NSW, at which local racists have been meeting for the last eight years. The Humanist Society itself contains dozens of racists and fascists in its ranks and, according to another local newspaper report, last month even had one of these fascists, Mark Pavic, elected its Vice-President (see : John August ~versus~ slackbastard, March 19, 2010).

Australia First : Keep On Truckin’

Australia First declared this week (Eureka!, No.219, March 17, 2010) that it will be standing two candidates in western Sydney at the next Federal election: Tony Pettitt, a 55-year-old truckie, in the seat of Greenway and Mick Saunders, a 52-year-old truckie, in the seat of Lindsay. (See also : The Idealistic Faces Of “Australianism”, November 28, 2009). Party Führer Dr James Saleam says: “The party is running on a programme which will focus on the refugee invasion, contract labour and the globalist attack upon Australian small business and workers. We are concerned with the need for direct democracy to deliver Australians from the party dictatorship.”

The latest date given for the registration of the party is now May 1, almost one year since it announced (July 2009) it had obtained the requisite numbers to do so.

AF has also declared that it will be throwing its puny weight behind cockie Peter Spencer who, before coming to fame for sitting up a pole and not eating, was renowned for his love of chopping down trees. Thus:

Australia First (Toowoomba) is sponsoring and co-organising a meeting with Peter Spencer, hero of the pole protest hunger strike. The meeting is [Saturday, March 27]. Peter will be warning Queenslanders of the property grab policies that governments can enforce against landowners. It is expected that hundreds of Darling Downs residents will attend. More details are on the Queensland website.

Nicole Hanley, a neo-Nazi and co-organiser of AF’s annual Sydney Forum, attended a protest rally held in support of Spencer in Canberra on February 2, providing a breathless account of the event for the benefit of readers of Stormfront, the world’s leading source of news and views on all thing White, and host to members of both AF and APP.

Finally, AF is also currently raffling a copy of Imperium by good fascist Francis Parker Yockey. If you really want to secure a copy of Yockey’s magnum opus, however, local neo-Nazi distro 9 percent productions has Imperium for sale for the measly sum of $35.

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

John August ~versus~ slackbastard

Posted on March 19, 2010 by @ndy
    NB. I began writing this in mid-January, put it aside, and am only now returning to it. In the interim, the NSW Humanist Society/Humanist Society of NSW held a meeting on February 14, 2010, to elect a new Committee of Management, but I’m unaware of the results of this meeting (see below), and who now constitutes the Committee. The latest edition of the Society newsletter, however, states that the person previously responsible for letting the Hall (David Duffy) has been replaced, and those wishing to hire it will be more stringently vetted in future.

Introduction

As noted, John August, the President of the NSW Humanist Society/Humanist Society of NSW, has recently released a statement regarding the Society, Humanist House, and the ‘Public Information Forum’ (PIF), a fascist grouping whose meetings at the House in October and November 2009 were accompanied by protest. After detailing some recent history involving the Society’s relationship to and with the PIF (aka ‘Klub Nation’/’Klub Naziya’/’Mark Pavic Group’), as well as an attempt to introduce a statement in opposition to racism and xenophobia into the group’s Constitution, August notes that the Society’s last AGM:

…resulted in a committee which included many PIF members who had not previously attended social gatherings or committee meetings, contributed to the Humanist Viewpoints or otherwise taken an interest in the NSW Humanists. The election was itself problematic, with no scrutiny of candidates before the election, and confusion about preferential voting.

The Society zine (Humanist Viewpoints, Vol.48, No.4, October/November/December 2009) states that the:

2009 AGM was well attended and the new committee consists of John August (President), David Duffy and Waratah Rosemarie Gillespie (Vice Presidents), Victor Bien (Treasurer), Affie Adagio (Hon Sec/Editor) and Angela Drury (Assist. Sec). Ordinary committee members: Dylon Anderson, Ken Cratchley, Tony D’Angiolillo, Hugh Drewitz, Gillian Ellis, Fred Flatow, Robin Hall, Mark Pavic, Andrew Wilson, and John Wright.

The same number also welcomes the (‘White nationalist’) Australian Protectionist Party’s NSW spokesperson Darrin Hodges into the Humanist fold.

Protest

In relation to public protest at Humanist House, August has little new to add. There were two such protests — in October and November — timed to coincide with the meeting of the neo-Nazis. August reiterates the fact that he considered the protests violent (a Society member who witnessed one of the protests asserts that the protesters struck the building, and “a glass panel inside Humanist House was damaged around this time”) and therefore unwelcome, and that he remains at a loss as to the identities of those participating. August also complains that participants failed to contact the Society prior to the protests in order to communicate their concerns, and have not done so since. For their part, the neo-Nazis apparently accused August and the committee of collaborating with the protesters and, inter alia, “claimed that the police would be investigating the damage which resulted to Humanist House”. In summary: “The protester’s careless and ill-thought out actions exacerbated an already difficult and stressful situation. Great work, guys.”

Police

Again, not a great deal of new information. August spoke to Redfern police about the protests, who expressed knowledge of the involvement of participants in other political activity (“The protesters knew that the group went by the name “Klub Nation”… and it seems had been protesting elsewhere”).

Politics

In news just to hand:

I was intrigued to note that the Humanist Society of NSW was not an exhibitor at the Global Atheist Convention, an event at which one of its Patrons, Robyn Williams, was a guest speaker.

Pam Walker has authored an article — Anti-fascist protests at Humanist House, City Hub, March 17, 2010 — which states that Mark Pavic was elected Vice President of the Society at its February 14 meeting. If correct, then the fascists have not only not been removed from the Society but, seemingly, further cemented their place within it. Which is, of course, unfortunate: moaron that subject — and August’s understanding of the political issues raised by neo-Nazi infiltration of a Humanist association — later.

In the meantime, however, readers should note other events from Australian history — from 100 or more years ago. Humanists in particular should discuss the relevance of this history with other groups in civil society.

NB. The Melbourne Anarchist Club was formed on May 1, 1886 by members of the Australasian Secular Association. Anarchists played a key role in challenging Christian domination of the colonies, and in particular bourgeois opposition to participation by the working class in public life. In 1889, and the years following, anarchist and socialist agitators such as Chummy Fleming, Sam Rosa and John White participated in regular public protests demanding the opening of libraries and other civic institutions on Sundays.

Bonus History!

[Source : Radical Melbourne, Jill and Jeff Sparrow, Vulgar Press, 2001, pp.161–164.]

In 1883, The Argus published an article condemning the presence of the poor in the Public Library on Swanston Street:

A visitor to the library may test the matter first by his nose. He can smell vagrancy the moment he crosses the threshold. Using his eyes, he can see it right up and down the long hall; peering curiously about, he can find it in any of the alcoves, nicely sheltered and walled about with books. If he chooses to particularise, he may see an unmistakable specimen enter, shuffle up to a bookcase, select a volume of light literature, choose a seat, set up his elbows as supports to his head, and bend his eyes on the print. In a little while he spits. In an hour he will sleep; if he snores an attendant may disturb him; then he will read and spit again.

The Argus proposed two solutions – regulations forcing potential entrants to show a letter of introduction from a ‘respectable’ household or, failing that, the division of the building into distinct areas for different classes. By name, the library might have been ‘Public’ (or ‘Free’), but there was more than a suggestion from Melbourne’s elite that the building and its collection remained rather too good for the populace, since ‘the books . . . are handled, and soiled, and spoiled, and frequently mutilated, by creatures who would be better bestowed within Her Majesty’s gaols’.

Continue reading →

Posted in Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, History, Media, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dear Leader exercises wise leadership and deep care

Posted on March 19, 2010 by @ndy

Bungling’ North Korea official executed
The Australian / AP
March 19, 2010

SEOUL: North Korea executed a former senior official last week as punishment for the country’s botched currency reform, according to a news report yesterday. In November, North Korea revalued its currency as part of efforts to cut inflation and reassert control over its nascent market economy. However, the measure reportedly worsened the food situation by forcing the closure of markets, causing anger among North Koreans left with piles of worthless bills…

The original source for the story according to Bloomberg is South Korean news agency Yon Hap News.

If correct, then the puppet military warmongers should clearly understand that the military retaliatory step will be implemented by the limitless merciless strike power of the strong revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu and a resolute action which can hardly be countered by any up-to-date means in the world.

If false, then those responsible had better make an apology before the nation for their crimes against the nation, people and reunification and immediately step down without delay instead of working hard to prolong its despicable remaining days through such mean and nefarious anti-DPRK ruckus.

In more important news:

New Scientific Films Produced

Pyongyang, March 17 (KCNA) — The Korean Documentary and Science Film Studio has recently produced new scientific films giving scientific and technical information and common knowledge about the greening of cities.

“Soilless Cultivation of Turf in Humus-cakes” offers an explicit explanation of the new turf cultivation method and its advantages.

By this method, it is possible to cultivate turf two or three times a year and raise the productivity three or four times higher than the existing methods.

“Let’s Plant Many Large Tara Vines” gives a scientific and technical solution to problems arising in extensively propagating large tara vine or Actinidia chinensis useful in different aspects.

The films are helpful toward garbing streets and villages in green in spring.

The hearts of all the adherents to the Juche idea, the Songun idea, and the progressive mankind valuing independence and justice to fully support the DPRK, the homeland of Juche and the fortress of socialism, and the Korean people’s cause of justice at present time when the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean warmongers are working hard to stage war exercises for aggression on the DPRK, were greatly warmed by news that:

A small group of members from the British Branch of the Korean Friendship Association picketed the South Korean Embassy followed by the United States Embassy today in London. The group are against the military exercises staged by the US in South Korea as well as the South Korean ‘Unification Ministry’ and the National Intelligence Service. London, United Kingdom, 15/03/2010…

The Slackbastard Central Committee voices firm solidarity with the Korean people in their struggle to defend the sovereignty of the country and demands the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet clique cancel their nefarious plans and the U.S. pull back its forces from south Korea at once. We call upon all the branches of the KFA to intensify the movement for solidarity with the DPRK.

Let’s Plant Many Large Tara Vines! Defence of DPRK Is a Must!

Posted in State / Politics | Tagged , | 2 Comments

What’s Goin’ On?

Posted on March 18, 2010 by @ndy

In Melbourne. In March/April. And also May. I’ll see you there all / some / none of the time.

On Saturday, March 20:
a rally in solidarity with popular struggles in Colombia, Haiti and Honduras @ 1pm @ Federation Square, Melbourne. For more infos, see : Latin American Solidarity Network / Red de Solidaridad con los Pueblos Latinoamericanos;
a rally against racism in Footscray @ noon @ Footscray Mall.

On Wednesday, March 24:
May Day housing action planning meeting @ 6pm @ Trades Hall, Carlton. The action is being planned by the RAAF (Renegade Activists Action Force).

On Saturday, March 27:
the Second Melbourne Vegan Bake Off is taking place @ 2pm @ Kindness House, 288 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy;
a Daggy Disco is being held @ 8pm @ Tetris Studio, 36 Phoenix Street, Brunswick. The beneficiaries are some thing called The Cambodian Prison Project.

On Friday, April 2–Sunday, April 4:
Such is Life punk rawk festival @ Palmers Rd, Truganina (Fri/Sat) / City (Sun).

On Saturday April 24– Monday April 26:
RAAF discussion, networking and planning @ Camp Eureka, Yarra Junction.

On May Day (Saturday, May 1), there’ll be the annual funeral procession for the labour movement from Trades Hall to the Treasury Gardens. If you’d like to know what the Melbourne May Day Committee has planned for 2008, check out their website. The Committee will be facing extremely stiff competition this year from zombie yoof, who will also be stumbling and moaning as they make their way from the Carlton Gardens to the CBD. Otherwise, a housing action is being planned, as is another action in opposition to the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

Posted in State / Politics | Leave a comment

Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!

Posted on March 17, 2010 by @ndy

Brendon O’Connell is an hero. Word on the street is that, in-between battling ZOG in the courts, he’s also consorting with Nationalist Alternative, a source placing him at the abortive Nuremberg Rally staged by Nationalist Alternative in Perth last week.

In other news, a 43-year-old self-described white nationalist has made himself the talk of Daisy Hill by flying a Nazi flag at his home (Swastika spurs war of words, Mark Flack, Albert & Logan News, March 17, 2010). Neo-Nazis are usually loathe to go public, so big ups to the anonymous Logan resident for agreeing to be photographed. For those interested, further copies of the Nazi battle flag are obtainable locally from neo-Nazi distro 9percent productions, where you can also purchase the book that inspired Timothy McVeigh to blow up the FBI building in Oklahoma City and the album Freezer Full of Nigger Heads by Grinded Nig. If you’d rather buy direct, you can do so at the gig to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s being organised for the Gold Coast on April 17. Oh, anybody wanting a tattoo from a bona fide neo-Nazi business should visit Hold Fast Body Art in Burwood.

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

God Is LSD

Posted on March 17, 2010 by @ndy

LOL. Haven’t heard this in a long while… G’day Scott…! Also… ATR are back. “Having previously worked with Saul Williams, Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails, CX KIDTRONIK is an unstoppable and explosive MC as politically minded as the rest of ATR that bring his own element to the band.” (Note to self: Do more posts like you’re doing liner notes for an ’80s grindcore band… like Doom… who’ve finally hit the mainstream c/o filthy icon Lady Gaga and her ‘Telephone’. Also G.I.S.M.… Useless Blockades For the Corporate Sector!)

See also : The Torture Playlist, Kasama, April 11, 2009 | Saoirse: Musicians of Americans Torture Playlist, Kasama, April 30, 2009.

Writing in The Guinea Pigs (Penguin, 1974, Minuteman Press, 1981), John McGuffin (1942–2002) defines sensory deprivation as follows:

Sensory deprivation (SD) refers literally to the artificial deprivation of the senses – auditory, visual, tactile and kinesthetic. In connection with the Northern Ireland ‘guineapigs’ it meant (1) hooding prisoners prior to their interrogation; (2) constant use of a sound machine which produces ‘white noise’, a high pitched hissing, mushy sound; (3) long periods of immobilization, being forced to lean against a wall, legs wide apart with only the fingertips touching the wall; (4) little or no food or drink; and (5) being forced to wear loose overalls, several sizes too big. In addition, (6) prisoners were deprived of sleep for days on end; while not technically SD this accentuates the process. There is a purpose behind all these actions. Measures (1), (2), (3) and (5) cause visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile deprivation while measures (4) and (6) deprive the brain of oxygen and sugar necessary for normal functioning. In addition, measures (1), (4) and (6) may disturb the normal body metabolism.

Bonus Culturcide!

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The murky politics of the Right (in New Zealand/Aotearoa)

Posted on March 16, 2010 by @ndy

FTR.

The murky politics of the Right
John McCrone
The Press (Christchurch)
[December 2009]

The country’s hardcore Right-wing factions look like they mean business. It’s just that their business never gets off the ground. JOHN McCRONE reports.

With a slightly self-conscious smile, the tattooed skinhead, New Zealand flag draped over his shoulder, places a flyer in my hand. Then he and his small rag- tag group continue their quiet parade around the sunny, tourist-filled streets of central Christchurch.

So this is white power, neo-Nazi politics, skinhead malevolence in 2009? Up in Wellington, the National Front’s annual rally drew larger numbers, but was a similarly subdued affair.

The anarchists and anti-fascists, the loyal leftie opposition, did not even bother to show up. With no confrontation, no aggro, the skinheads were reduced to wandering the streets, shyly interacting with the public, passing out their leaflets railing against immigration, multiculturalism, and threatened changes to the national flag. The TV cameras, finding no action, fast got bored and melted away.

White power was looking very much yesterday’s news in New Zealand. But then came the other events of the day. A first surprise was the sight of former National Front leader, Christchurch mayoral candidate and marae fire-bomber, Kyle Chapman, back in the thick of things at the Wellington Cenotaph gathering.

It was only last May that 38-year-old Mr Chapman renounced his white power activities following his marriage to a devout Mormon. Mr Chapman moved from Christchurch to live with his wife on her lifestyle block outside Hamilton.

Yet Mr Chapman says the pull of the movement – the importance of its ideas, the camaraderie of his mates – proved just too strong. “I never really gave it up,” he admits. So there he was with the troops again, split from his wife and full of plans as leader of the new “skinhead survivalist” faction within white power.

Mr Chapman says he wants to spread his Right Wing Resistance, a skinhead “community security” group he claims already patrols Christchurch, across the country. He also wants to build up his Survive Club, a military skills training squad which has been carrying out combat exercises with paint ball guns and ex-army Landrovers in preparation, he says, for the predicted collapse of society.

In a time of desperation and panic there will be no room for pussies, says Mr Chapman: “We want people who will not only stand up for themselves and their families, they have to stand up for the other club members and their families.”

Going even further, Mr Chapman has been fundraising to found a Nationalist Land Base, a protected skinhead commune with long houses and vegetable plots, somewhere in North Canterbury. A “unified mini state for like-minded Europeans”, as he describes it.

While Mr Chapman is organising for the apocalypse, there was also evidence that the National Front, under its new leader, 63-year-old Colin Ansell, is intent on relaunching itself after a chaotic few years under interim chief, Sid Wilson.

Mr Ansell, a Hawera print shop proprietor and former driving force of the New Zealand Nazi Party – in 1967, as a youth in Auckland, he was jailed for 18 months for his part in the fire-bombing of a synagogue – says he agreed to come out of retirement to prevent the movement folding entirely.

Mr Ansell plans to incorporate the National Front for the first time. He is busy redrafting its political manifesto. And crucially, he says, he wants a membership drive to get the party’s paid-up numbers to the point where it will qualify for state funding and free airtime at the next general election in 2011.

This would be following the similar achievements of Australia First, the far Right party emerging to fill the gap left by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation across the ditch. Australia First New South Wales director Jim Saleam was invited as a key speaker at the National Front’s annual meeting which followed the Labour Day rally, and Mr Saleam was able to tell how he has recruited the 500 members needed to take a tilt at Australia’s own next elections.

So this year is about showing the National Front is serious again, says Mr Ansell: “Members who came to the AGM were able to see a proper financial report this time and everything. We’ve set up a bank account to stop the people getting in who’re just going to milk it, as has happened in the past.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Anti-fascism, History, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Cops Are Tops!

Posted on March 16, 2010 by @ndy

Huh. I only just found this one. Funnily enough, the “I Hate Victoria Police” Facebook page which is mentioned later in the article and is (apparently) the subject of possible legal action by the police union was identified as being objectionable by 3AW’s Neil Mitchell last month. In October 2007, on the eve of the last Federal election, the “millionaire blabbermouth, professional boofhead and Liberal Party poodle” expressed support for then-Minister for Immigration & Citizenship Kevin Andrews when Andrews announced an end to immigration of black refugees from Africa. This Thursday, March 18, local Community Legal Centres will release a “damning” report into ‘Discriminatory Police Treatment of African Young People’. The launch of the report will be held at 5.30pm, on Thursday the 18th of March at the Multicultural Hub, 506 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. Read the press release here and here.

Facebook police page is faked
Wayne Flower
Herald Sun
March 10, 2010

A ROGUE Facebook page claiming to be an official Victoria Police website is being used by gay men trawling for sex and by cop haters accusing police of corruption.

The website features Victoria Police’s logo and contains a message from former police chief Christine Nixon taken from elsewhere.

It also has photos linking police to a religious group and hyperlinks to a racist thug’s website.

The website carries comments from people accusing police of everything from lying under oath to using torture as a means of investigation.

Police Association secretary Sen-Sgt Greg Davies labelled the website a disgrace. “It’s ridiculous that every halfwit who feels like it can defame police officers on what appears to be an official police webpage,” he said.

Unlike other obvious Facebook hate pages aimed at police, the rogue Victoria Police page appears to be fooling some users into believing it’s the real thing, with some posting messages of support for police.
A police spokesman said police would investigate the website.

“Like all user-generated websites, we have no editorial rights over its content,” he said. “However, abusive or illegal material will not be tolerated. We will have a look and any serious abuses will be reported to Facebook administrators for removal.”

The site’s administrator could not be contacted by the Herald Sun.

The discovery of the site comes just weeks after the Police Association threatened legal action against the creators of a Facebook site promoting violence against police.

More than 5000 people have joined the “I Hate Victoria Police” site since it was set up last August.

Police Minister Bob Cameron condemned the online attacks.

“The men and women of Victoria Police do a fantastic job putting the interests of the Victorian community first in order to help protect them,” he said.

The genuine Facebook page is called Victoria Police Forcebook.

Launched in March/April 2009, Victoria Police Forcebook has just over 1,500 members. At present (that is, prior to its removal), “I Hate Victoria Police” has over 5,400.

Posted in State / Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Moaron The Rise of Atheism…

Posted on March 16, 2010 by @ndy

…may be found @ Benjamin Myers’ blog Faith and Theology; @ PodBlack Cat (which includes a setlist of the songs that accompanied speakers to the stage); and of course @ Your ABC, whose commitment to Atheistic Communism & Homosexuality is being cleverly disguised, thank G*d, by a plethora of religious programming.

Anyway, one additional thing I learned by way of attending the Convention on Sunday was the fact that His Eminence Cardinal George Pell debated former Christian preacher turned atheist Dan Barker in Sydney last week on the proposition ‘Without God we are nothing’. Naturally, this brought to mind nineteenth-century anarchist Mikhail Bakunin: “I reverse the phrase of Voltaire, and say that if God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him”. Pell originally debated Drink-Soaked Ex-Trotskyite For War Christopher Hitchens on the subject in October last year, but given that Pell appears not to have quit his post in the interim, I can only assume Hitchens wasn’t very convincing.

I also forgot to mention that Peter Singer’s rejection of the moral injunction, generally associated with Christianity, to turn your cheek was interesting, as it opens up a whole series of other questions regarding moral reciprocity. (Of course, a quick glance over the history of Christianity reveals some few problems putting all the cheek-turning and cloak-giving-awaying into practice.)

And oh yeah. The summaries I made of the speeches made on Sunday don’t do them justice. Better summaries are provided by Chris Mulherin and Margaret Coffey: Being good without God? (Singer); Sunday – being good, and spiritual (Bechman and Robinson); and Giving thanks in a vacuum – Richard Dawkins. Regarding Dawkins, I seem to remember the title of his speech as being ‘Gratitude for evolution and the evolution of gratitude’ which, given that this was the title of his speech in Aotearoa/New Zealand last week, now appears to be correct.

In any case, Dawkins “concluded that indeed we should be grateful to be alive, and indeed that [we] have probably evolved to “lust” to be grateful (which in part explains the human desire for religion)”. Which case I found fairly unconvincing as, indeed, I find his earlier writings on The Selfish Gene (1976), at least or perhaps especially insofar as the same arguments have been applied to social evolution.

What are the evolutionary roots of gratitude and of religion? The fact that such characteristics of humans seem to be universal demands an explanation. Dawkins suggested that religion might be a by-product of another predisposition. For example, the child mind is predisposed to obey authority, a characteristic which has strong survival value. But a by-product of this predisposition might be vulnerability to “mental viruses such as religion,” just as a computer is vulnerable to viruses because it has no way of knowing whether a program is good or bad.

As for gratitude, Dawkins suggested it might be the by-product of the need, prior to the use of money, to keep mental accounts of what is owed and owing. Children early on develop a sense of fairness and in some cases it operates without a real target, for example, “it’s not fair that it is raining on my birthday.” Sexual lust too still operates although its original reproductive benefit is no longer ‘the target.’

Dawkins suggests “we have a similar lust to calculate debt, gratitude, fairness and it’s so powerful that it goes off in a vacuum.” Such psychological dispositions might also lead us to postulate God, he said. In a pastoral moment Dawkins assured us that “this sort of vacuum activity is nothing to be ashamed of” and that the first part of his talk gave sufficient reason for gratitude to be alive even though it is “gratitude in a vacuum.”

Or something like that anyway. That said — or written, by an Anglican minister named Chris — I’m not aware that “the child mind is predisposed to obey authority”, or that this is “a characteristic which has strong survival value”. I mean, it’s an interesting speculation, but I would expect anyone, especially a scientist, to be able to provide some evidence to support it. In fact, given the claim is a strong one, and concerns ‘human nature’, I’d expect quite a lot. Along with a demonstrated understanding of infant and child psychology, cultural history, anthropology and sociology — a working knowledge of the history of political economy and the emergence of marketised social relations probably wouldn’t hurt — and the various debates within and across these disciplines concerning what is at the centre of Étienne de La Boétie sixteenth century tract the Discours de la servitude volontaire (Discourse on Voluntary Servitude).

Which, in a political context in which atheism has been decoupled from anarchism, is another story (as Fred put it: “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress”).

Blah blah blah.

    This Be The Verse

    They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
    They may not mean to, but they do.
    They fill you with the faults they had
    And add some extra, just for you.

    But they were fucked up in their turn
    By fools in old-style hats and coats,
    Who half the time were soppy-stern
    And half at one another’s throats.

    Man hands on misery to man.
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.
    Get out as early as you can,
    And don’t have any kids yourself.

    ~ Phillip Larkin

See also : Michel Onfray : Militant Atheist (December 18, 2006) | Mysterious ways… Or: Down with atheism! (October 21, 2009) | God Hates Haiti (January 14, 2010) | God Hates Haiti (II) (January 16, 2010) | The Rise of Atheism : 2010 Global Atheist Convention (March 14, 2010).

!nataS sunoB

Bonus Wittgenstein!

See also : Wittgenstein.

Posted in State / Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Police, Yoof, Racism, Europe, Anarchists, Kiwis, Dogs

Posted on March 15, 2010 by @ndy

Undercover policeman reveals how he infiltrated UK’s violent activists
Tony Thompson
The Observer
March 14, 2010

For four years, Officer A lived a secret life among anti-racist activists as they fought brutal battles with the police and the BNP. Here he tells of the terrifying life he led, the psychological burden it placed on him and his growing fears that the work of his unit could threaten legitimate protest.

The “violent activists” Officer A infiltrated were the ‘Youth Against Racism in Europe’, a front group for the Trotskyist political party now known as the Socialist Party of England & Wales (a member of the Committee for a Workers’ international). They’ve responded to the story with a press release: Youth Against Racism in Europe answers disgraceful Observer ‘expose’, March 14, 2010. They don’t identify Officer A.

Tony Thompson writes that “During his tour of duty, the man – known only as Officer A – also had sexual relations with at least two of his female targets as a way of obtaining intelligence” — which is very naughty, but also naturally brings to mind Rob Gilchrist, the police informant exposed as such in Kiwi in late 2008. Gilchrist had a decade-long career as a paid informant, but was only exposed when his then-girlfriend (a political activist) happened to stumbleupon some information on his computer. In Australia, Setha Sann deserves a guernsey, as does Mehmet Ersoy/Osman. Funnily enough, despite claiming that in Europe, anarchist ranks “have been riddled by police agents and fascists”, Mick Armstrong failed to detect Setha Sann’s tricksy ways while a member of Socialist Alternative, although the possibility that this stick will be used by the International Students for Socialist Equality to beat SAlt over the head with is unlikely. To find out, attend ‘The revolutionary perspective of Trotskyism: A political exposure of Socialist Alternative’ [Clenched fist salute: Fatal Paradox].

Use of police infiltrators and informants is of course routine practice, and has been employed by police forces, in one form or another, since their origins (See : The International Campaign Against Anarchist Terrorism, 1880-1930s (Richard Bach Jensen) | Frank Cain’s The Origins of Political Surveillance in Australia (Angus & Robertson, 1983)). Indeed, some of the greatest works of late nineteenth century fiction were written by former police detectives. For example, Captain Michael Schaack‘s Anarchy and Anarchists (1889) is a priceless document, and has formed the basis for tabloid accounts of anarchist activity ever since:

In many of the smaller [anarchist] meetings held on Milwaukee Avenue or in that vicinity, a lot of crazy women were usually present, and whenever a proposition arose to kill some one or to blow up the city with dynamite. these “squaws” proved the most bloodthirsty. In fact, if any man laid out a plan to perpetrate mischief, they would show themselves much more eager to carry it out than the men, and it always seemed a pleasure to the Anarchists to have them present. They were always invited to the “war dances.”

Judge Gary, Mr. Grinnell, Mr. Bonfield and myself were usually remembered at these gatherings, and they fairly went wild whenever bloodthirsty sentiments were uttered against us. The reporters and the so-called capitalistic press also shared in the general denunciations.

At one meeting, held on North Halsted Street, there were thirteen of these creatures in petticoats present, the most hideous-looking females that could possibly be found. If a reward of money had been offered for an uglier set, no one could have profited upon the collection. Some of them were pockmarked, others freckle-faced and red-haired, and others again held their snuff-boxes in their hands while the congress was in session. One female appeared at one of these meetings with her husband’s boots on, and there was another one about six feet tall. She was a beauty. She was raw-boned, had a turn-up nose, and looked as though she might have carried the red flag in Paris during the reign of the Commune…

[Describing another anarchist:] He was a large man with a black beard and large eyes, and very shabbily dressed. He looked as though he had been driving a coal cart for a year without washing or combing. He also had the appearance of being on the verge of hydrophobia…

Bonus! Leader of 40 Kiwi Anarchists Revealed!

In a sensational and completely unexpected twist, the leader of The-40-Kiwi-Anarchists What-Have-Been-Criss-Crossing-The-Globe Causing-Heap-‘Em-Big-Trouble-Wherever-They-Go has been inadvertently exposed by social networking site Facebook and the journalistic efforts of Fairfax’s Europe correspondent Paola Totaro. According to sources at Fairfax, Totaro’s exposé on the eerie yoof cult that has developed around the mysterious dog — whose followers have formed inside the Global Justice Movement an anarchist faction with himself as leader — will be published later in the week.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged , | 27 Comments