Hammerskins? ¡Ay, ay, ay, no me gusta!

Posted on August 12, 2009 by @ndy

Hammerskins in Spain are in heap ’em big trouble with Spanish authorities. In fact, late last month the organisation was declared unlawful by a Madrid court, and 15 of its members sent to jail — the culmination of an investigation begun in 2003 (‘Condenados por asociación ilícita 15 integrantes de un grupo neonazi’, Anaís Berdié, El País, July 25, 2009). The bonehead’s leader, Jose Eduardo Chapela, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment, while the other boneheads have been sentenced to 18 months (with the exception of Angel Martinez, who received an additional one-year sentence after being found guilty of possession of an illegal weapon).

The outlawing of the Spanish franchise of the US-based neo-Nazi skinhead/bonehead network follows similar declarations by state authorities regarding their kissin’ cousins in ‘Blood & Honour’ (B&H) in Germany, Portugal (2005) and Belgium. The Spanish state’s declaration is significant as it is the first time that membership of a neo-Nazi organisation has been declared illegal — that is, with the possible exception of the local B&H franchise.

In Australia, the local Hammerskins franchise — known as the ‘Southern Cross Hammerskins’ (SCHS) — was established in 1993 by Melbourne bonehead Scott McGuinness, the vocalist in now-defunct band Fortress (Fortress played what was supposedly their final gig in 2007 at the Melbourne Croatia Social Club in Sunshine). Scott is also widely blamed for introducing ‘Blood & Honour’ (B&H) to Australia in the same year (1993). B&H and the SCHS are jointly organising the ‘Ian Stuart Donaldson’ memorial gig on September 12 this year in Melbourne, an annual event held each year since the Skrewydriver’s death in 1993.

The last gig organised by B&H and the SCHS was scheduled to take place on April 25 in Perth. Word on the street is that former Skrewdriver and current Quick & the Dead band member Murray Holmes is being blamed for its (apparent) failure. As far as B&H/the SCHS are concerned, however, the gig has disappeared down the memory hole, so who knows?


See : Chumbawamba & Credit to the Nation : ‘The Day the Nazi Died’ for further deets on the individuals featured in the video. For further infos on B&H/SCHS, see:

http://www.youtube.com/user/genocidal88
http://9percentproductions.com
http://www.bloodandhonouraustralia.org
http://schammerskins.org

Note that the Hammerskins, especially in their heartland in the United States, have a long history of engaging in racist violence. As well as being perpetrators, they have also been victims (and not only as a result of internecine squabbling). Thus:

Joe Rowan (Nordic Thunder)

In keeping with the aim of “forging a new destiny for white power music”, Resistance Records held a tribute to Ian Stuart; a memorial gig held on September 30, 1994 commemorating the second [sic] anniversary of Ian Stuart’s honourable death in a car accident. “The Flame That Never Dies” concert was organised professionally at a large venue in Racine, Milwaukee featuring No Remorse from Britain, Bound For Glory, RAHOWA, Centurion, Berserkr and Das Reich. Less than 300 showed up to this event, billed convincingly enough as “The Concert Event Of The Decade”. Immediately after the concert, Joe Rowan, the vocalist for Nordic Thunder decided to commemorate Ian Stuart’s passing in his own special way. Following an altercation in a convenience store, a black man dispatched Rowan to Valhalla with a handgun blast to the head. A video release of the concert is set for release sometime this year, so hopefully it will include some stunning post-concert footage!

Eric Banks (Bound for Glory)

In a bid to reach out to a broader ‘white’ market in North America, Resistance Records have made it a priority to organise and appeal to the metal scene. At the tail end of 1994, Resistance Records had signed four ‘White Power metal’ bands, Centurion (Milwaukee), New Minority (formerly Ritual, New Jersey), Berserkr (Oklahoma), and Bound For Glory (Minneapolis). Bound For Glory, a Northern Hammerskin band who formed in 1989, are quite popular on the world-wide scene and even featured in the American Pit Magazine, which caters to the metal audience. BFG’s original singer, Eric Banks, was put down for a dirtnap via shotgun blast by a SHARP skin in Oregon early on in 1994.

~ ‘Antifa Info-Bulletin’, Vol.1, No.6 (1996) / Fighting Talk, No.13, March 1996

See also : Anti-fascist organizing in Portland 1988-1993, October 9, 2007. A very useful analysis by M.Treloar…

…Let’s start at the beginning, right after Mulugeta Seraw’s death in 1988.

The first rally to protest the death of Seraw was called by African students in Portland a few days later, in spite of opposition by the police and neo-liberal politicians (and some progressive groups).

When hundreds of people showed up, the governor of Oregon, Neil Goldschmidt, asked to speak. The rally organizers, who did not even know who he was, allowed him to talk. So began a continuing effort to coopt the grass-roots movement against neo-fascists, while attacking those who carried out militant actions.

The Coalition for Human Dignity initially met in the same chambers used by the Portland City Council. The community activists and college kids who composed its members spent much of 1989 vacillating between calling rallies, attempting to get city and union resolutions passed and taking direct action.

The decision was finally made to attack the boneheads where they lived, worked and played. While the Oregonian and neo-liberal politicians made speeches against “hate”, the remaining members of CHD, along with the new groups Anti-Racist Action and Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice decided to destroy the fascist groups in town. This meant that they were to be confronted when they appeared publicly but, more importantly, they would be attacked in ways that they were not prepared for.

ARA, SHARP and members of the punk music community, including members of CHD, began to drive the boneheads out of the clubs and the culture. Bands that had huge local followings, such as Poison Idea or Sweaty Nipples, stopped concerts to speak against boneheads and vowed not to play if they congregated at their shows. Some bands changed their names, such as Wehrmacht or took on confrontational anti-racist names, such as Crackerbash.

Security at most of the clubs began refusing to let open boneheads into the clubs – which led to tense scenes such as the 1991 Fugazi show at Pine Street Theater when a hundred boneheads, male and female, showed up and threatened to burn it down if they were not let in. They didn’t get in…

Posted in Anti-fascism, History, Music, State / Politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Defamation (The FILM)

Posted on August 12, 2009 by @ndy

Yeah.

So, before being rudely interrupted by the “strategic, proactive and well connected talent management company that successfully creates and maximizes opportunities for its clients with major media partners” — aka Profile Talent Management — I was gonna write a review of a film Dr. Cam and I saw last week as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). The film is titled

DEFAMATION

and had its Australian premiere at the Festival. (See also : Still Looking for Eric, July 19, 2009.)

I didn’t take notes or nothin’, so am relying on memory.

    “The immediate object of the League is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.” ~ ADL Charter October 1913

In Defamation, director Yoav Shamir’s quest is to understand ‘the new antisemitism’, and in particular the role of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in combating its spread. The ADL is not. happy. Yoav. with their depiction in the film, which is largely unflattering: attention is drawn to the fact that, while the ADL has an enormous budget (US$70 million in 2008), the instances of anti-Semitism documented in the film as being of concern to it are relatively trivial — the most serious incident being when some stones were thrown at a skool bus containing (sleeping) Jewish children.

Eclipsing efforts to fight such actions — and the circumstances which give rise to them — the film concentrates, though certainly not exclusively, on examining the relationship between the ADL and the Israeli state, and the role the ADL plays as an apologist for Israeli government policy.

With the exception of a relatively small number of denialists/historical revisionists (see : Irving. Big bad Irving… Again., July 28, 2009; UnKKKle FredricKKK Töben fights on!, May 28, 2009; Father Peter Kennedy ~versus~ Bishop Richard Williamson, March 10, 2009) the historical background is well-known, even infamous: the Holocaust (Shoah). In this context, Shamir asks: “What is anti-Semitism today, two generations after the Holocaust?” A very good question, especially given the numerous controversies surrounding the relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism (see : Anti-Fascism, Anti-German, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism…, June 29, 2009).

As for the ADL, further indication of its current role is given by the fact that, as the ADL put it: “When the 9/11 terrorist tragedy struck our nation, ADL’s motto became: ‘9/11, the day hate became everyone’s problem'”. In the context of The War On Terror™ — which the ADL appears to generally support — and its conduct of a propaganda campaign in support of the Israeli state’s most recent military assault upon Gaza (see : Chomsky on Gaza, January 19, 2009), such questions become especially urgent.

When Israel fought back against Hamas rockets in December 2008, ADL immediately mounted a comprehensive campaign making Israel’s right to self-defense concrete and personal. The goal was to ensure, through a variety of classic and innovative ADL approaches, that a broad audience grasped the danger and terror experienced by increasing numbers of Israelis on a day-to-day basis. ADL experts continuously updated special Web pages providing extensive information and analysis about the conflict. We advocated. We communicated through ads and op-ed pieces. We monitored reaction and issued reports. We alerted and aided campus officials. We took polls, issued statements and wrote to world leaders. In so many ways, ADL’s voice — and message — was heard.

In general, the film provides some insight into the ADL’s role in contemporary politics — whether in terms of US domestic, Middle East or European — as well as the ways in which the Shoah, and the existence of the Jewish state of Israel, informs contemporary understandings of anti-Semitism. The extent to which the figure of The Muslim (Terrorist) has supplanted that of The (Avaricious) Jew as the hate figure of choice in the minds of various, predominantly Western, publics, is also noted (though briefly).

Shamir probes the ADL in a number of ways, including by way of accompanying ADL Chairman Abraham Foxman to Poland, and to Auschwitz — the Nazi death camp Foxman survived as a child. Shamir also follows a group of Israeli high skool students to the camp. (Their teenage antics on the way to and within Poland cause their minders — Israeli secret squirrels — some (frequently amusing) headaches.) The Israeli kids’ visit forms part of a more general effort to educate them about the war, and in particular the Nazi genocide. Notably, as part of their preparation, the students are informed that Jews are still hated in Poland, and that locals cannot be trusted not to attack them. Some of the students do, however, speak to some elderly Poles, and the old men’s query (‘Are you from China?’) is lost in translation, the students leaving the conversation thinking that they have been racially villified, and the elderly Poles none the wiser.

    Incidentally, this scene reminded me of a documentary I saw some years ago examining Jewish life in contemporary Poland. At one point, participants in a Jewish cultural event learn that there may be a neo-Nazi mob on its way intent on disrupting their activities: it is only when the mob turns the corner that it is revealed that they are in fact Polish antifa/classwarhooligans, come to offer support and, presumably, in the expectation that by doing so they might have an opportunity to confront the (neo-)Nazi scum. (See also : Poland: Solidarity for Tomek Wilkoszewski, July 26, 2006 | http://tomek.most.org.pl.)

The ADL itself is generally hostile to anarchism, anarchists, and anarchist participation in anti-racist and anti-fascist activism, especially in its more militant forms. (At one point, the ADL classified the circle ‘A’ as a hate symbol.) This reflects its statist, and otherwise politically conservative — which is to say, classically bourgeois — perspective. In essence, the ADL maintains that the police/state can and should protect the rights of Jews in the United States (and elsewhere), the Israeli state is the ultimate guarantor of Jewish survival, and the fight against anti-Semitism should properly be conducted within the legal and political constraints of bourgeois society.

This approach can, of course, be understood, not only by reference to the genocidal campaigns conducted by the Nazis (and those of other fascist regimes of the era — see : Ljenko “Little Goebbels” Urbancic) but by way of recognising the status of anti-Semitism as ‘the oldest of hatreds’.

Russia — to which Shamir travels to briefly interviews some Jews in St. Petersburg — was once awash with anti-Semitism, and hatred of Jews cynically employed by the Tsarist regime to sap popular anger and direct it in a harmless (to elites) direction. Notably, the country gave birth both to the Tsarist forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion — available for download from Australian Protectionist Party member Martin Fletcher’s website, along with a wealth of other anti-Semitic and otherwise racist materials — as well as the Anarchist Black Cross.

The rulers of [Russia] had in effect declared a civil war against their own subjects. In particular they used the Cossacks to murder the Jews. The Jewish population was a hostage to the revolution. If the Russian workers protested, the Czar diverted their revolutionary aims by organising a pogrom. It was at once an example to the Russian masses, and a warning as to what would happen to those who incurred official displeasure. When the “Black Hundreds” raided the Jewish districts, the police stood by. If ever the Jews resisted (and Anarchists and Bundists at times organised Self Defence Committees that fought back) the police stepped in and fought the defenders, arresting them for violent activity.

International Jewry organised its own committees for relief of the Russian Jews; but such bodies did not extend their help to the Anarchists and Bundists who had — dreadful to relate to the bourgeois sponsors of such committees — had the temerity to fight back. So a committee was formed in America, amongst Russian Jewish workers in particular, called the WORKERS RED CROSS (which changed its title after a few months to ANARCHIST RED CROSS, since the Red Cross Workers, asked them to do so to avoid confusion).

See also : UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union.

In addition to Foxman and other members of the ADL, Defamation also features interviews with Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearsheimer, authors of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007), and a rather cranky Norman G. Finkelstein, author of The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering (2000) and Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History (2005). In May 2008, Finkelstein was denied entry to Israel, and then banned from entering the country for another decade. A documentary film about Finkelstein, AMERICAN RADICAL: the trials of Norman Finkelstein, is due for release later in 2009.

On the whole, apart from a few technical flaws (especially the poor audio during a number of scenes involving hushed conversations), and the presentation of a somewhat incomplete picture of contemporary manifestations of anti-Semitism in the US in particular (see, for example, James von Brunn), Defamation is very worthwhile viewing, especially given that no film could cover such a broad topic in a comprehensive fashion.

It even has a few laughs.

As for Australia, in a month or so (September 12), neo-Nazi skinheads will be gathering in Melbourne, as they have every year for the last 15, to celebrate their rank bigotry and to commemorate the death in 1993 of Ian Stuart Donaldson, the principal instigator of the contemporary neo-Nazi music industry. Other anti-Semites will be gathering at the Sydney Forum two weeks later (September 26/27), where the MC will be the German-born Holocaust denialist — and close comrade of the Adelaide-based denialist Fred Töben — Welf Herfurth (see : Terrie-Anne Verney : Take the Money And Run, August 11, 2009).

With regards the Melbourne gig, its occurrence has met with general indifference on the part of those who might otherwise be expected to organise to oppose and to sabotage its conduct — a product, in part, of the relative obscurity and generally marginal status of boneheads in Australia, but also, on the one hand, a symptom of the yuppification of punk and other yoof subcultures, and, on the other, the near-total absence of a broader, radical left-wing movement. My own role in helping to expose such activities has resulted in death threats, threats of beatings, the publication of my alleged work address on an Internet forum frequented by boneheads, and other tomfoolery. Nevertheless, those responsible will always be held to account — one way, or another.

Bonus!

Gianfranco Cresciani, “The Proletarian Migrants: Fascism and Italian Anarchists in Australia”. First published in The Australian Quarterly (March, 1979).

Anarchists took to visiting clubs, restaurants and boarding houses known to be frequented by Fascists, and provoked the latter to fight. The anarchists were armed with knives, truncheons and even pistols. Uncorroborated evidence indicates that during the 1928 Victorian timber strike they were considering the use of explosives, in support of the strikers. Yet, the most common form of violence during these years was the practice of assaulting members of Fascist organisations and of ripping from their coats the Fascist Party badge, that the anarchists publicly and contemptuously named the nit. Even Fascist Consuls were not exempt from this treatment. Count Gabrio di San Marzano, Italian Consul at Brisbane, while attending a reception given in his honour at Ingham had his badge stripped from his official dress and, adding insult to injury, the triumphant anarchists also encouraged the band to play the Internationale. This same Consul was repeatedly beaten and spat upon during his visits at Ingham, Babinda and Cairns, and was eventually and humiliatingly driven to accept police protection when he went to Innisfail.

This philosophy of direct action, incessantly preached and practised by Italian anarchists, starkly differentiated them from the other Italian political groups who, like the Communists, devoted themselves to organisation or who, like the more respectable Socialists of the Concentrazione Antifascista dell’Oceania, concentrated their effort on commemorations of past victories and defeats. Indeed, it was this recourse to action which made the anarchists so popular and attracted to them such a large following. As Carmagnola said in 1930, ‘we must remember our martyrs not only with speeches and flowers, but with guns, not like slaves, but like men. We must not celebrate, but avenge. A people that does not fight violence by means of violence, that bends its knees and cowardly tolerates the impositions of infamous mercenaries, is unworthy of such a name’…

The political decline of Anarchism in the ‘thirties was considered by many of its followers as a mere temporary setback in the long march towards the form of society that they dreamed of accomplishing. During those dark years of Fascist triumphs they believed stubbornly in the defiant words which end Malatesta’s pamphlet Anarchy [?] and which, in the final analysis, prove to be historically relevant when applied to the anti-Fascist activities of Italian anarchists in Australia:

Whatever happens, we shall have some influence on events, by our numbers, our energy, our intelligence and our steadfastness. Also, even if now we are conquered, our work will not have been in vain; … If today we fall without lowering our colours, our cause is certain of victory tomorrow.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Film, History, State / Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

Terrie-Anne Verney : Take the Money And Run

Posted on August 11, 2009 by @ndy

I feel sorry for Darrin Hodges sometimes.

Well, not really. But still.

In July, a racist dingbat named Terrie-Anne Verney was sacked from her job as a sales rep for Griffith FM community radio station 2MIA. Terrie-Anne’s dismissal followed hot on the heels of her exposure as a racist (Multicultural radio presenter linked to anti-immigration Facebook groups, Asher Moses, The Age, July 2, 2009). In solidarity, Darrin — the face of the ‘Australian Protectionist Party’ (APP) — organised to raise a sum of money to donate to Terrie-Anne. Over a two-week period, over $400 was raised (or at least that’s what Darrin wrote on the Facebook page for the group ‘Fuck Off, We’re Full’) which sum Darrin dutifully transferred to Terrie-Anne.

A grateful Terrie-Anne tearfully wrote the following in appreciation (July 20, 2009 at 11:26pm):

The amount of support I have recieded [sic] in the last 2 weeks has amazed me.

The money that was raised on my behalf by Darrin Hodges has been appreciated and I thank everyone who parted with some of their hard earned cash to help a fellow Australian. I have been amazed by the generousity [sic] of my fellow Australians. The strength, support, kindess [sic] and friendship extended to me over the past fortnight has been overwhelming.

I thank each and every one of you have [sic] offered me your support and thrown whatever you could afford into the account, and thankyou to Darrin for putting it all together and offering me whatever assistance he could.

It is good to know that in times of need, that we can still rally around and offer suport [sic], strength and help to some body who needs it.

Perhaps the Aussie Spirit is alive and well after all.

Sadly for Darrin, a week later it was announced that ‘Terrible’ Terrie-Anne would be addressing the 2009 Sydney Forum (September 26–27), an annual event organised by Darrin’s arch-rival Dr James Saleam:

Terrie-Anne Verney

Being persecuted and fired from your workplace due to the personal political opinions you hold only happens in totalitarian regimes overseas, it would never happen in Australia in 2009… or would it? Hear a strong and brave young woman talk about how this happened to her in liberal democratic Australia because of her views on multi-culturalism and immigration.

A strong and brave young woman whose presence at the Forum was aided by one of its principal (‘white nationalist’) critics! (On the ding-dong battle between ‘Australia First’ (Saleam) and the ‘Australian Protectionist’ (Hodges) parties, see : Dreaming of An Aryan Jeannie : Australia First, Australian Protectionist Parties, July 10, 2009.)

NB. Also addressing the forum will be Andrew ‘I ♥ blonde hair and blue eyes’ Fraser; Dr. James ‘The Mad Arab’ Saleam; John ‘911 Was An Inside Job!’ Bursill; David ‘I wish we had more like you, Pauline’ Astin; and a mystery guest from the United States (whoever could it be?). (On Astin, see also : Free speech at Crikey?, March 3, 2005.)

[img deleted]

Terrie-Anne, Andrew, James, John and David will be joined by Welf ‘Holocaust? What Holocaust?’ Herfurth, Nicole ‘For Blood & Honour’ Hanley, a few dozen middle-aged racists in cardigans, a scattering of ‘national anarchists’, and various other paranoid wackos.

The paranoid wackos of this seedy West London tenement had one thing in common — the conviction that Jews, Freemasons, homosexuals, Gypsies, Jesuits, anarchists and Communist Party members were all agents of subversion under the control of a ruthless global elite directing world events to their advantage…

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

Kimjongilia!

Posted on August 10, 2009 by @ndy

yes Yes YES!

Kimjongilia — can’t wait for that one!

See also : Long live KIM JONG IL! Long live the immortal JUCHE IDEA and SONGUN POLITICS! (July 14, 2009) | Victory to the Dear Leader! (March 10, 2009) | Hail, Great Leader! Long live the DPRK! (February 16, 2009)

Defend North Korean Deformed Workers State!

How? Write! To! SPARTACIST! LEAGUE! OF! AUSTRALIA! Melbourne! GPO Box 2339! Melbourne! Vic 3001! Australia! Phone! (03) 9654 4315! [email protected]! Sydney! GPO Box 3473! Sydney! NSW 2001! Australia! Phone! (02) 9281 2181! [email protected]!

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

Happy Birthday… to me!

Posted on August 9, 2009 by @ndy

Posted in Death, History | 9 Comments

Defend the Legacy of Michael Jackson!

Posted on August 8, 2009 by @ndy

Singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, choreographer, actor, businessman, “King of Pop” — and Philosopher King — Michael Jackson is dead.

The intellectual legacy of Michael Jackson is complex and controversial. Best known as the author of Off the Wall and Thriller, James also made significant contributions in the fields of music criticism, African-American history, literary criticism, Pan-African politics and Marxist theory. Though many academics and political activists have attempted to do so, it is impossible to isolate any one period of Jackson’s life as his true legacy. Many have lamented the lack of “a coherent sense of Jackson’s life as an integrated whole“.

Jackson’s musical and political activities extended over more than four decades, crossing all continents. Such a long and extensive career easily lends itself to interpretative debate. Nevertheless, his key insight remains: “The success or failure of the working class to achieve victory depends upon the organization and consciousness of the struggling masses, i.e., on revolutionary leadership. The revolutionary party is the indispensable weapon of the working people for their victory.”

As an expression of political solidarity with The International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) — “a proletarian, revolutionary and internationalist tendency committed to the task of building Leninist parties as national sections of a democratic-centralist international” — I re-publish the following.

Long live James Robertson and the intransigent revolutionaries of the ICL (FI)!
For the communism of Lenin and Trotsky!
Defend the advanced positions of Nina Hartley and the musical genius of Michael Jackson!

Michael Jackson and Racist America

Workers Vanguard, No. 940
July 31, 2009

On June 25, black megastar and musical icon Michael Jackson died at his home in Los Angeles. The “King of Pop,” as he has been known for decades, was one of the most successful recording artists of all time and has remained hugely popular throughout the world. Following his death, there were spontaneous gatherings of fans dancing to his music in Harlem and doing the “moonwalk” or holding tributes as far away as Mexico City, Hong Kong and Paris. Rio de Janeiro’s mayor announced the construction of a statue of Michael Jackson in the slums where he filmed one of his videos to “They Don’t Care About Us.” In Algiers, hundreds of singers and dancers from across the African continent performed the Jackson 5’s “Blame It on the Boogie.”

The tragedy of Jackson’s death is that an extremely influential music career was driven to the brink of destruction by a savagely racist and puritanical witchhunt spanning more than a decade. The mass hysteria whipped up against Jackson over charges of “child molestation” was an indictment of this anti-sex, bigoted capitalist society, where being an eccentric black celebrity is enough for the state to try to frame you up with something. The stunning hypocrisy of the bourgeois media—which hounded and scapegoated Jackson as a “pedophile” when he was alive, even after he was acquitted of all charges, but then teemed with adulation and tributes after he died—was captured by an article in the Los Angeles Times (27 June): “The tabloids that had baited him mercilessly, dubbing him ‘Wacko Jacko’ for his erratic behavior, increasingly strange looks and accusations of child molestation, were suddenly effusive in their praise of a man ‘who provided the soundtrack to a billion lives’.”

Victim of Racist Vendetta

During his highly publicized career—which soared when he was only eleven years old as the lead singer of the Jackson 5 under Motown Records, through his solo career as a songwriter, musician and performer up until age 50—Michael Jackson was famous not only for his talent and versatility, but also for challenging both racial and sexual identities. In the spirit of other “crossover” artists like Chuck Berry—who was one of the first artists to perform to multiracial audiences—Jackson was known for breaking down racial barriers and was the first black artist to get heavy airplay on MTV.

But the “inexcusable” racial barrier that he attempted to break down was his appearance. Whether due to vitiligo or to skin bleaching, the fact is that his gradual “whitening” and plastic surgeries did nothing to make him less black in the eyes of racist America—a twisted confirmation of the color-caste nature of black oppression. No money in the world, no changes to your “racial” appearance, could ever change the fact that, if you are born black, capitalist America will make sure to try to put you in your place. In a country where the white supremacist ideology of racial “purity” resulted in the “one drop of black blood” rule, Jackson’s physical transformation became a transgression that the bourgeois media and “public opinion” would not let him get away with.

There is a real connection among blacks to someone who, no matter what he did, always had to respond to this society’s expectations of what a black person should look like, act like and sleep with. Even in death, the mud continues to be slung against this enormously talented and idiosyncratic man, with most black people defiantly coming to his defense. In the last few weeks, it was not rare for TV and radio commentators to ask why black people seem to identify with Michael Jackson since he “looked white.” Rabidly vile Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly ranted on his show The O’Reilly Factor against blacks seeing Jackson as their own when he looked white and “chose to have white children.” In pure O’Reilly fashion, this was a bitter and unfiltered expression of the American bourgeois psyche.

Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged , | 7 Comments

APOC ~versus~ CrimethInc : Final Thoughts

Posted on August 7, 2009 by @ndy

There’s a hella lotta stuff I wanna blog about, and will. (And in fact have: 1,966 posts, to be exact, generating 9,894 comments in reply — not all of them mine! — and over 1,300,000 spam goddamn.) But, being an anarchist (to be precise: believing ‘anarchism’ to be the political philosophy with which I feel the closest affinity), a leftist trainspotter, and devoting considerable time and energy to blogging about issues to do with race, (anti-)racism and (anti-)fascism, I feel compelled (and not only by my ZOG controllers) to blog some more about APOC ~versus~ CrimethInc.

To begin with, my previous post on the subject has generated very little in the way of dialogue (apart from an appreciative note by Aragorn!, an emotional one from Dr. Cam, and some useful fact-checking by Ernesto). “Will it be ever thus?” (“Ungracious wretches!”) Much of the remainder of the online commentary on the incident — @ anarchistnews.org, infoshop.org, various IndyMedia sites, blogs, email lists and so on — has been painful to read. Having considered the question ‘Why is this the case?’, it seems to me that there are at least three main reasons.

First, and most obviously, i can has trolls.

Secondly, and more importantly, anarchism (not only in North America, but perhaps especially so, and for various reasons), remains, in general, the domain of yoof. Further to this, there is a divide between the ‘yoof’ what are ‘active’, and the generally older (former) yoofs what are engaged in ‘serious’ forms of political analysis and social research; the production of forms of knowledge useful, perhaps even critical, to dismantling those forms of authority and expressions of power identified as being the primary obstacles to the realisation of anarchy.

In this context, a number of individuals have made the point that the kinds of cultural norms and practices which constitute ‘contemporary anarchism’ in North America (and not only there), including a reluctance to engage in open-ended, critical inquiry, tends to alienate many, who frequently find other, more welcoming — but not necessarily ‘safer’ — social spaces and political projects in which to explore and to enact their ideas.

Thirdly, because anarchism is a label, and not a warranty.

One, slightly odd development has been the extension of the practical critique on display in Pittsburgh to ‘Food Not Bombs’. According to one (and perhaps more) APOC, FNB is, like CrimethInc, “a white supremacist movement” (sic). This written, and as yet not practical, assault on FNB appears to be even more tendentious — even slightly unhinged — than the attempted eviction of CrimethInc (see : kilwaii.blogspot.com/). On another level, however, it is, in fact, its logical extension. That is, ‘race’, ‘whiteness’ and ‘white supremacy’ are viewed as being the product of moral failures, not history.

Like CrimethInc, there are criticisms to be made of FNB, some of which emanate from members of the hundreds of FNB collectives themselves. In any case, the criticisms being advanced by one (and perhaps more) APOC, being of little substance, do not require any serious response; a response which would, in any case, be best made by those involved in its activities.

Some might ask ‘Why do I bother?’ (I sure fucking do), and what interest is it of mine to pay any attention to the rather odd activities of ‘anarchists’ of one sort (or another) on the other side of the world. Certainly, the same criticism has been levelled with regards my interest in a range of other subjects, from documenting some of the similarly odd — but fascinating — antics of the far left and the far right in Australia; fascism and anti-fascist struggle in Russia; and the triumphant march of the Collingwood football club to ultimate victory in September.

For what it’s worth, and leaving to one side the fact that such incidents at least have the virtue of raising a number of interesting questions regarding the intersection of race and class in the United States — and the anarchist understanding of such matters — the fact is that in terms of the maintenance of global capitalism, the United States is at the heart of Empire. Given also that race (or racial segmentation) continues to form one of the fault lines upon which US society is built — and even, some argue, constitutes its principal social contradiction — how radical movements in the US tackle such questions is of enormous significance. (If I were a Marxist, I might declare it to be a question of ‘world-historical’ importance: I’m not and I don’t.)

To end: ‘Smack A White Boy: The Sequel’ may be considered to have been an ill-conceived stunt, performed by a small number of non-local Pittsburgh APOC, reflective of an impoverished analysis and — irrespective of whatever degree of personal satisfaction was obtained by those who participated — on the whole, counter-productive in terms of challenging either gentrification in (the East End of) Pittsburgh or ‘white privilege’ in the North American anarchist movement or the United States in general. Secondly, the action is the responsibility of those who took part in it: not ‘APOC’ as a whole. Thirdly, the action has the virtue of forcing other APOC to clarify their views. Fourthly, it exposes (or helps to further expose) the political tensions inherent in the APOC project, especially in regards to issues of racial or ethnic nationalism. Finally, while it is alleged that ‘CrimethInc’ and ‘Food Not Bombs’ are ‘white supremacist’ institutions, the real white supremacists, such as those belonging to fascist groupuscules such as BANANAS, are laughing.

And so they should.

See also : 6 years ago, I was there! but I’m not there now, A Philosophy of Migration, August 5, 2009 | Re: APOC Slap a White Boy Action Against Crimethinc, Joaquin Cienfuegos, August 5, 2009

Continue reading →

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Defamation?

Posted on August 6, 2009 by @ndy

This afternoon the redoubtable Dr. Cam & I saw a film called Defamation. Leaving aside some rather annoying technical flaws, it was very enjoyable, funny, and sad. I intend writing a fuller review later.

By some strange force of synchronicity, at approximately the same time I was sitting down to watch Defamation, I was sent an email alleging that I had made some defamatory remarks on my blog.

Life’s funny like that eh?

Posted in Film | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Aryan Martyrs’ Brigade Are Go!

Posted on August 6, 2009 by @ndy

‘Struth!

Apparently, a handful of nutzis in the UK have issued a title challenge to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade! Their brave attempt to become real-life martyrs follows Brüno’s scathing criticism of Osama bin Laden’s fashion sense; a joke which fell flat as far as Ayman Abu Aita — a Christian and a member of Fatah, but featured in the film as the leader of an un-named (Muslim) terrorist group — is concerned.

As for the British would-be “Martyrs”…

Far right launch campaign of violence and intimidation against opponents
Matthew Taylor
The Guardian
August 2, 2009

Aryan Martyrs’ Brigade issues death threat against anti-fascism activist Weyman Bennett, while student attacked after BNP protest

Far-right activists have launched a campaign of intimidation and violence against political opponents including a series of death threats and physical attacks.

Hardline fascists are targeting students and leading anti-racism activists who campaigned against the British National party in June’s European elections.

A group calling itself the Aryan Martyrs’ Brigade has issued threats including a “death warrant” sent to Weyman Bennett, the joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, stating he will be killed before the end of the year “for crimes against all loyal white patriots and British nationalists”.

The threat, which the police are investigating and has a picture of Bennett in cross hairs, states: “We know exactly what you look like and what venues you frequent and can strike at will. The police, special branch, MI5, Searchlight cannot save you from the bullets coming your way. No matter where you are, we will get you, all we need is a lock on your mobile phone signal and you are one dead nigger”…

This is not the first time that the ‘Aryan Martyrs’ Brigade’ has popped up on The Guardian‘s radar. In January 2004, Matthew Taylor wrote:

Far-right group issues threat to MPs
The Guardian
January 17, 2004

A rightwing splinter group calling itself the Aryan Martyrs’ Brigade has launched a hate campaign against black, Asian and Jewish MPs.

The organisation, which is believed to be linked to the extreme-right website Redwatch, has sent letters to a number of MPs threatening them and their families.

Yesterday, Scotland Yard confirmed it had launched an investigation, and said that the threats were being taken seriously.

“We can confirm that in November a number of members of parliament received malicious communications,” a spokeswoman said. “Police currently investigating the incident are treating them seriously, and have sent the A4 leaflets off for forensic examination.”

The police confirmed the letters were “offensive and racist”…

A similar story appeared in The Northern Echo: Death threats to MP probed, January 19, 2004.

Prior to this, the Brigade made an appearance in Searchlight magazine (December 2003), as well as an issue of TUFS News (No.11, Autumn 2003), the newsletter of ‘Trade Union Friends of Searchlight’ [PDF].

The December 2003 article links the Angry Aryans to Kevin Watmough’s ‘Redwatch UK’ site, which in turn is portrayed as being a vehicle the BNP uses(/used) to intimidate its political, ‘anti-fascist’ opposition. In summary: “The [Aryan Martyrs’ Brigade] does not exist. Its name is just a cover for the Redwatch and BNP thugs who are setting out to silence media critics.” Watmough himself lives in Leeds and is a member of the British Peoples’ Party: a tinpot BNP which is dedicated to re-enacting the Third Reich and saving White children from the pernicious effects of listening to ’90s rap music.

According to Searchlight, the Redwatch site was originally established by a trio of racist losers — Watmough and ‘The Two Tonys’: Tony Foy and Tony White. (Sadly, Simon Sheppard, another fascist bizarro who maintained/registered the site, is currently a guest of Her Majesty, following his imprisonment for talking shit.) In its original, ‘offline’ form, Redwatch was a circular, published in the early 1990s by ‘Combat 18’ by way of US-based nutzi Harold Covington.

The internet version of Redwatch emerged in 2001 from a group of men then associated with the National Front. Soon it became clear that their politics were too extreme for the NF. At first they regrouped themselves separately as Aryan Unity. Later they became the White Nationalist Party. The WNP was then, to all intents and purposes, the political wing of Combat 18. Led by Eddie Morrison, a lifelong nazi from Leeds, and its supporters included Simon Shepherd [sic] from Hull. In 1999, while Shepherd [sic] was the local organiser for the BNP, he was arrested and later imprisoned for producing antisemitic material. The contact name on all three is Shepherd [sic] but while Shepherd [sic] might give some technical advice and support, the men who are really behind Redwatch are based in Leeds. They include Kevin Watmough, White and Tony Foy. All three are diehard nazis with a history of violence.

And again: “…a letter was delivered to the offices of the local paper threatening to blow up the building if the paper continued to run anti-BNP stories. The letter was written in the name of the Aryan Martyrs Brigade. This is the same group that sent a threatening letter to a journalist from Wales on Sunday, whose crime had been to write an article about the BNP. The group does not exist. Its name is just a cover for the Redwatch and BNP thugs who are setting out to silence media critics.”

BNP’s ‘Red White & Blue Festival’

The publication of Taylor’s article comes just a few weeks prior to the BNP’s ‘Red White & Blue Festival’, scheduled to take place in a village called Codnor in Derbyshire, on a farm belonging to some bloke called Alan Warner (an ex-Tory councillor), on the weekend of August 14–16. (On the 2008 RWB, see : Unite Against Fascism is a weird mob, August 1, 2008.) UAF has declared that they will be protesting against the Festival on August 15; the threat against Bennett (UAF joint secretary) has also been noted by his party’s publication, Socialist Worker:

Nazi thugs’ threats won’t stop protest at BNP hate-fest
Esme Choonara
August 4, 2009

“We won’t be intimidated by Nazi thugs—we will step up our campaign to build a mass movement to drive back the fascists.”

This is the defiant response of Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism (UAF), to a Nazi hate campaign that has targeted prominent anti-fascist activists.

Weyman himself has received a number of direct threats, including a “death warrant” from a group calling itself the Aryan Martyrs’ Brigade…

UAF will be joining a number of other groups at the protest, including the ‘Amber Valley Campaign against Racism and Fascism‘, Midlands TUC and (seemingly) the main, local organisers, ‘Notts Stop the BNP’. In February, 2008, the Notts mob described itself as follows: “The Stop the Red, White and Blue campaign is a politically independent network of anti-fascists, dedicated to ideological opposition to, and direct action against the BNP’s Red, White and Blue festival.”

In 2008, police protecting the Festival invoked the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, a piece of legislation which grants them wide-ranging powers, and which is frequently used in order to stifle militant (and not-so-militant) protest. Police may also be expected to utilise s.76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, which entitles them to arrest anyone suspected of taking photographs of police.

Besides these legal manouevrings, chances are high that several hundred or possibly several thousand people will, under the watchful eye and with the permission of police, gather somewhere nearby the Festival, listen to some speeches, perhaps go for a stroll (under the watchful eye and with the permission of police), and then go home. The effect this will have on the BNP’s organisational efforts may reasonably be considered as being rather minimal, but the protest will almost certainly attract media attention.

Which is, of course, the whole point as far as I can see. In fact…

Protesters banned from Red, White and Blue event
Ripley & Heanor News
August 6, 2009

Amber Valley Borough Council has banned protesters from the British National Party’s Red White and Blue event this year.

The council’s order to prohibit ‘trespassory assemblies’ of 20 or more people on land owned by Alan Warner on Codnor Denby Lane, between August 14 to August 18, was granted by the Home Office following an application by Derbyshire’s Chief Constable Mick Creedon.

A spokesman for the borough council said: “The trespassory assembly order is aimed at preventing large numbers of protesters attending the event. A similar order was made last year.”

Orders to close the footpaths in the area have also been made by Derbyshire County Council.

On Tuesday night, Mr Creedon held a meeting at John Flamsteed School for the residents of Codnor and Denby to hear their views about the forthcoming festival.

A spokeswoman for Derbyshire police said: “Police are expecting a large number of people to come to this part of Derbyshire, both to attend the Red, White and Blue event, and also to protest against it.

“The police’s main aim for the weekend is to ensure that it passes off peacefully and with the minimum of disruption for local people.

“Officers are also consulting with the organisers of the festival and a number of groups who have indicated that they will be taking part in a protest against it.”

Last year, more than 400 anti-BNP protesters took part in a peaceful rally and protest march, organised in Codnor and 1,000 are expected this year.

See also : Racist ‘Wolves’ emerge from shadows, BBC, April 25, 1999 | Anti-terror police seek White Wolf racist over bombs, Stuart Millar, The Guardian, April 28, 1999 | ‘White Wolves’ linked to Soho bomb, BBC, April 30, 1999 | A Good Fascist, December 3, 2006 | The BNP & The Farmer (August 18, 2008) | BNP’s RWB vs SWP’s UAF (August 21, 2008)

From the archive.org:

Redwatch closes ranks but the threats continue

The net is beginning to close in on the men behind the notorious Redwatch internet site. The site, which reproduces pictures of anti-racists, and a closed email discussion group where participants plan and discuss violent attacks are now the subject of a police investigation.

Last month Searchlight exposed the men behind Redwatch and the vital part it plays in the British National Party campaign to silence its critics. Our revelations, together with the fact that several trade unions have taken up the case, are forcing the authorities to act…

In Oldham, several anti-BNP activists have complained to police after Tony Wentworth, the BNP youth organiser, took pictures of them during the Failsworth by-election and promised to post them on the Redwatch site.

However, it is events in Liverpool that have been instrumental in forcing the authorities to look into Redwatch. In the past few weeks there have been two serious threats against an individual and a newspaper that highlights the role and purpose of Redwatch.

The first was a verbal threat left on the mobile telephone answer service of one leading Anti Nazi League activist. The mobile was a contact number for people wanting to get involved in the anti-BNP campaign.

Addressing the anti-fascist by his real name, the caller gave him a tirade of abuse and said: “This call is from the BNP and we stand for the white people of Great Britain. If you ever go to Liverpool city centre again we will cut you up.”

A week later, a new Liverpool section appeared on the Redwatch site, containing photographs and personal details of those behind the newly formed Merseyside United Against Racism and Fascism.

When the Liverpool Echo contacted the local BNP organiser for his comments, he had little to say. Literally hours later a letter was delivered to the offices of the local paper threatening to blow up the building if the paper continued to run anti-BNP stories.

For the local BNP organiser, this was personal. It was, after all, the Liverpool Echo that had put a picture of him on the front page in April with the headline: “Vote Scum”.

The letter was written in the name of the Aryan Martyrs Brigade. This is the same group that sent a threatening letter to a journalist from Wales on Sunday, whose crime had been to write an article about the BNP.

The group does not exist. Its name is just a cover for the Redwatch and BNP thugs who are setting out to silence media critics.

There is now a clamour for action. It is deplorable that so far the police have not moved against those behind Redwatch. Given the evidence that the perpetrators also discuss and plan violent assaults, it can only be hoped that action will finally be taken.

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, is studying a dossier on Redwatch and several MPs have promised to take up the issue. But the matter must not be left there. Searchlight readers need to continue to write letters of complaint to their local MPs and support anti-racist campaigners, journalists and newspapers under attack.

Bonus!

Alan Warner
The Bungalow
Codnor Denby Lane
Denby Village
Derbyshire, DE5 8PT

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, Death, History, Media, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

G20 : Kids bait/yell/shove/provoke/counter police/state/corporate propaganda

Posted on August 5, 2009 by @ndy

Having successfully collected evidence that there are leftists in Berlin, and that they sometimes engage in sabotage (who knew?), Paola Totaro can now read about how tricksy Citizen journalism counters police propaganda (Paul Lewis, The Guardian, August 4, 2009). Alternatively, Totaro can re-examine the photographs of ‘persons of interest’ her employer published 30 months ago (in what was certainly not a propaganda exercise) and which remain online, despite the fact that the last (?) trials arising from the protest have concluded. Or, perhaps, contemplate the following:

The theory that Tomlinson’s assailant was an imposter was short-lived. Within 24 hours of the broadcast, the TSG van driver gave himself up. When he watched footage of his attack on Tomlinson on the evening news on 7 April, he had collapsed in front of his partner. The same TV bulletins were being watched in Derbyshire by Alan Edwards, the 34-year-old man seen in the video helping Tomlinson to his feet.

Edwards came forward to recount Tomlinson’s last conversation. “I didn’t talk to him straight away. I was more concerned the police wouldn’t get at him. They’d already pushed him over,” he said, adding he was particularly wary of the officer who struck him.

“I tried to eyeball him to see if I would remember who he was but he was balaclavaed up. All you could see was his hands and his eyes.” When the officer walked off, Edwards lifted Tomlinson from the ground. “I said: ‘You OK, mate?’ He said: ‘No, I live down there – that’s where I live. I can’t get there any other way. I’m trying to get home.'”

See also : Bristle’s Blog from the BunKRS : Ian+Tomlinson | BIT OF STICK (April 8, 2009) | The World (of G20) According To Paola Totaro (April 11, 2009) | G20 : Sunil & Tim (& Co.) (July 30, 2009)

Bonus!

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