From Greensboro to Washington

Posted on June 14, 2009 by @ndy

The recent shooting @ the USHMM — and the largely tedious debates which have emerged from it concerning potential radical right-wing terrorism (a product, it is frequently argued, of the equation Black President+economic dysfunction+white racism) — reminded me of a mass murder that took place 30 years ago in Greensboro, North Carolina, commonly referred to as the ‘Greensboro Massacre’. That, and the fact that the alleged shooter, James von Brunn, was a neo-Nazi and a ‘white nationalist’; for in reality, ‘white nationalism’ contains more nuts than a Kingaroy peanut farm.

One such nut is Harold Covington, whose brother Ben was interviewed by the SPLC for the Winter 2008 edition of its Intelligence Report (see : ‘Little Big Man’). According to the SPLC:

There’s little doubt that Harold Covington, 55, is a dedicated neo-Nazi. He was a key player in the National Socialist White People’s Party, helped pioneer cyberspace as a medium for neo-Nazi propaganda [whose premiere exponent is now Florida-based nutzi and convicted terrorist Don Black of Stormfront fame], and led the North Carolina unit of the National Socialist Party of America at the time it took part in the 1979 killings of five left-wing anti-Klan protesters in Greensboro, N.C. (He later bragged about his people “greasing communists” in Greensboro.) Two members of his group were among the 16 Klansmen and neo-Nazis arrested and charged with murder in connection with what came to be known as the “Greensboro Massacre,” although none of them was ever convicted. (Although Covington never faced criminal charges, he was named as a defendant in a civil suit brought by surviving protesters and the families of the dead. In the end, jurors found two police officers, a police informer and four Klansmen liable for compensatory damages, but Covington was not among them.) Covington was also associated at one point with a man who allegedly hoped to attack a shopping mall with napalm over the Christmas holidays, although he denied any role in that plot. Over the last 35 years, Covington has interacted with almost all of the important leaders and activists of the American radical right…

I don’t remember when I first read about the “Greensboro Massacre”, but the episode has all the essential ingredients to tempt a leftist trainspotter and nutzi h8r such as myself, pitting members of the ‘Communist Workers Party’ (a Maoist groupuscule) against members of the KKK and the North Carolina unit of the ‘National Socialist Party of America’ (Covington’s mob).

The Greensboro massacre took place on November 3, 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Five marchers were shot and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party while in a protest. It was the culmination of attempts by the Communist Workers Party (known as the Workers Viewpoint Organization at the time of the shooting) to organize mostly black industrial workers in the area.

The massacre resulted in the deaths of anti-Klan demonstrators César Vicente Cauce, 25; Michael Ronald Nathan, M.D., 32; William Evan Sampson, 31; Sandra Neely Smith, 28; and James Michael Waller, M.D., 36; and the wounding of demonstrators Paul Bermanzohn, Claire Butler, Tom Clark, Nelson Johnson, Rand Manzella, Don Pelles, Frankie Powell, Jim Wrenn; Klansman Harold Flowers, and news photographer David Dalton.

At the time of the 20th anniversary of the massacre, the idea of establishing a ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ was floated, inspired in part by the institution of similar projects in South Africa to examine apartheid-era crimes. Its final report was released on May 25, 2006, which is available (along with much other infos) at the Commission website.

One of the remarkable aspects of the massacre is the fact that nobody was convicted as being responsible for it. The Commission summarises the event as follows:

On Nov. 3, 1979, in the absence of a dissuasive police presence, a caravan of white supremacists confronted demonstrators preparing for a “Death to the Klan” rally planned in the cityʼs black Morningside Homes public housing community by the Communist Workers Party (CWP), previously known as the Workers Viewpoint Organization (WVO). In addition to the five demonstrators killed, at least ten others were wounded, and numerous residents and other witnesses were traumatized. Klan and Nazi members, some of whom were filmed by news cameras as they shot into the crowd, claimed self-defense and were twice acquitted of all criminal charges by all-white juries.

After more than two decades, the two criminal trials, and a civil trial that found members of the Greensboro Police Department jointly liable with Klan and Nazi members for the wrongful death of one victim, many in the Greensboro community still did not feel that justice had been served. For this reason, former members of the CWP joined with other community members and supporters to initiate the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project (GTCRP), launching a democratic process that engaged the community in nominating and selecting the seven members of this independent Commission, empaneled on June 12, 2004.

Footage of the massacre:

Mary Ann Clawson reviews two books written by CWP survivors, Through Survivors’ Eyes: From the Sixties to the Greensboro Massacre, Sally A. Bermanzohn (Vanderbilt University Press, 2003) and Love and Revolution: A Political Memoir: People’s History of the Greensboro Massacre, Its Setting and Aftermath, Signe Waller, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), here [PDF]. She writes:

…the history of the Workers Viewpoint Organization/Communist Workers Party in North Carolina suggests that the Maoist-inflected Marxist-Leninist party-building efforts of the seventies were among the period’s most racially diverse form of left activism, at a moment when a significant fraction of Black Power and Pan-African militants had turned toward Marxism and class politics. As a particularly diverse product of this trend, the North Carolina group was formed by the merger of the Durham Organizing Committee, a group of white leftists based at Duke University and including several physicians, and the Bolshevik Organizing Collective, an organization of black activists led by Nelson Johnson, and unified further through their affiliation with the Workers Viewpoint Organization, a would-be national organization whose founders and principal leaders were Asian Americans.

The massacre is also the subject of a doco by Adam Zucker: Greensboro: Closer to the Truth (2007).

(Yonni Chapman, another former CWP member, reviews Love and Revolution for Socialism and Democracy (Vol.17, No.2) here.)

As for Harold Covington, in the early 1990s, he also acted as the contact point for the UK-based ‘Combat 18’ — originally a nutzi offshoot of the British National Party, and closely allied to Loyalist paramilitaries. On this subject, Anti-Fascist Action (Ireland) write:

Charlie Sargeant, the former leader of Combat 18 now serving life in England for the murder of a fellow fascist, often boasted of his personal friendship with Johnny [‘Mad Dog’] Adair. In the mid 1990s C18’s control of the Blood and Honour ‘music’ network allowed them to put on several gigs in the North. ‘Blood and Honour’ magazine boasted of Welsh band Celtic Warrior’s visit to Belfast and published photographs of loyalist bandsmen playing alongside them at a ‘White Christmas’ gig on the Lower Shankill Road. Since the gigs were held in loyalist areas it would be impossible for them to go ahead without at least tacit sanction from the paramilitaries. The same issue of ‘Blood and Honour’ magazine which reported the Shankhill Road gig also printed photographs of two UDA prisoners in Long Kesh, who sent greetings to C18 and said that they were “dedicated to keeping Ulster British and white”. Again this had to have been sanctioned by their leadership within the jail. The loyalists’ prison journal ‘Warrior’ has published pro-C18 articles…

In July 1999 Combat 18 brought a group of 25 supporters from Britain to Portadown for the July 12th weekend. Combat 18 members were present at the unveiling of a memorial to Billy Wright in Portadown in July 1999. Wright is also idolised on a number of C18 websites. On July 11th 1999 a ‘Blood & Honour’ gig was held in Portadown. The English fascist bands ‘Razors Edge’, ‘Chingford Attack’ and ‘No Remorse’ played alongside loyalist flute bands.

In the same manner as local authorities in Greensboro and their friends in the Federal Government oversaw the activities of the KKK and neo-Nazis, the Russian nanny state looks after the interests of murderous little boneheads, and the Italian state has frequently deployed fascist groups to safeguard its interests, in Northern Ireland/The Six Counties, the British political establishment oversaw the activities of Loyalist death squads — as documented in, for example, Sean McPhilemy’s The Committee: Political Assassination in Northern Ireland (Roberts Rinehart, 1999).

    NB. Despite their last gig to celebrate the deaths of Australian soldiers in WWII/Adolf Hitler’s birthday being a bit of a shambles, the local B&H franchise, along with fellow boneheads belonging to the Hammerskins, have organised a gig in Melbourne for September 12, 2009.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Death, History, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged | Leave a comment

Anti-fascists attacked in Belgrade

Posted on June 14, 2009 by @ndy

Anti-fascists attacked in Belgrade
B92 | Source: FoNet
June 10, 2009

BELGRADE — The Belgrade Anti-Fascist Initiative says that a group of some 15 Neo-Nazis attacked three anti-fascists on Tuesday night in Belgrade, near the Odeon cinema.

“This attack is just one of many Neo-Nazi actions that have been happening in recent days in Belgrade,” according to the anti-fascist non-governmental organization.

“All indicators would suggest that this is a team that is a product of a coordinated action between registered fascist organizations like Obraz and illegal neo-Nazi groups like Nacionalni Stroj (National Formations), or Krv i Čast (Blood and Honor),” the NGO stated.

The NGO adds that these organizations use the New Serb Program citizens association as their legal front.

This is happening in tandem with a public terror campaign where fascist groups are attacking all who look like they might be active anti-fascists.

“It is unacceptable that someone in Serbia today is looking at the Nazis from World War II as their role models, and we will not tolerate the actions of neo-Nazi groups in our city,” the NGO stressed in its statement.

========================

On June 8, 2008, B&H Serbia (which aligned with C18) released the following statement on their site with regards a gathering of anarchists and faggots:

8th June 2008. Although there was a strong police presence, the gathering of anarchists and faggots on the 6th and 7th of June in the Cultural Centre of Petrovgrad was constantly sabotaged. National Revolutionaries attacked the scum before, during and after the gathering, and on the second day the gathering was stopped because of a anonymous tip off of a planted bomb. The gathering of these [sickos], masked as so called antifascists, was poorly visited as was confirmed by one of the organizers Milan Čergđžin: “This confirms the fact that 90% of the people here are people from abroad. The Zrenjanin people didn’t come because of the threats from the [neo-Nazis]… The people here have come from Georgia, from Canada and it wasn’t a problem for them to come, but for the Zrenjanin people it is”.

The Serbian youth showed that there is no mercy towards the enemies of Serbianhood – Anti-antifa Serbia ! SERBIA FOR SERBS !

See also : Far right parties elected into several town councils, Mark Hallam and Chuck Penfold, Deutsche Welle, June 10, 2009: “The far-right NPD party in Germany suffered slight losses in municipal elections at the weekend. But the result was far better than most had expected, and the group even secured some seats in western Germany…”

Posted in Anti-fascism, Broken Windows | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Hard-working, legitimate businessmen under persecution by The Age

Posted on June 14, 2009 by @ndy

I am shocked. Shocked and stunned. Hard-working, legitimate businessmen are being excoriated in the pages of The Age — simply for going about their entirely lawful and extremely profitable business. As Steven Shirreffs, SC, stated in the course of defending one of these men in 2006: “Not only does he help in providing housing for people in need … he assists them in getting their life back together”.

These men deserve a medal.

THE men who provide accommodation to many of Melbourne’s most vulnerable people have a history of criminality. In 2006, John Pisani, Joe Tomarchio and Arthur Oshan pleaded guilty to a series of offences connected to illegal brothels. Melbourne’s County Court heard how the men allegedly lured women, including an under-age girl, to work as prostitutes and sexually assaulted prospective brothel employees. One 17-year-old victim was taken to an apartment where up to seven men, including Oshan, had sex with her over a number of hours. She was given $160. After advertising for “topless work” in local papers, they would take the women to a strange location, pressure them into working as prostitutes and tell them to perform “trial massages” on two of them. The prosecution alleged the brothels turned over $5 million in two years.

Typical: women are always complaining about their job conditions.

And yes, unemployment may be rising, the cost of rental accommodation soaring, and the waiting time for State Government-run public housing may be stretching into years, but — and here I agree wholeheartedly with liberal progressives such as the University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis — that is simply no excuse for being a fuckwit, bum or lowlife — and squatting.

Slumlord millionaires cash in on hard times
Tom Reilly
The Age
June 14, 2009

SLUMLORD John Pisani has two simple rules when it comes to business: be discreet and never let anything get in the way of making a profit — rules that have made him a very rich man.

Pisani and his three partners — all convicted criminals, three of them for sexual offences — are pocketing about $100,000 profit a week by controlling Melbourne’s private rooming house market, a shadowy world where some of society’s most vulnerable members are forced to pay exorbitant prices, often in cash, for squalid accommodation or face life on the streets.

The four — Pisani, George Maatouk, Arthur “Arty” Oshan and Joe Tomarchio — control at least 220 homes across the city from Frankston to St Albans via a long list of companies, most of which are not registered in their names.

Many of the properties are little more than slums, with toilets that don’t work, cockroach infestations and bathrooms and kitchens shared by up to 12 people. It is believed that many premises operated by the men may be in breach of government residential, health and building regulations, especially in regard to fire safety…

See also : S is for SHACking Up, Soul Train & Squatting (January 16, 2009) | Thomastown slums chief elusive, Sandro Olivo, Whittlesea Leader, June 2, 2009 | Subletting stuns owners, Monash Journal, April 6, 2009 | Key witness says he lied to Brunswick fire deaths inquest, Moreland Leader, February 23, 2009 | Fire fear before Brunswick deaths, Tessa Hoffman, Moreland Leader, November 3, 2008 | Hostel owner ‘avoiding’ inspections, Dan Oakes, The Age, October 28, 2008 | Brunswick fire deaths puzzle, David Stockman, Moreland Leader, June 9, 2008 | Earthsharing Australia | Posts Tagged ‘affordability’ @ Prosper Australia | Design for Change | architects for peace

Posted in !nataS, Broken Windows, State / Politics | Tagged , | 4 Comments

A Perfect Day for the BNP : IWCA

Posted on June 13, 2009 by @ndy

Labour got what it deserved – and so did the BNP
IWCA
June 11, 2009

“The Labour party is dying, and fascism is on the rise. Where does the working class go from here?”

Whatever its flaws, the IWCA typically provides some of the better analyses of British politics from an unashamedly working class perspective. It concludes:

…Crucially, what has been lost in the whirlwind of liberal hysteria about the ‘Nazis’ is that a substantial part of the BNP appeal within working class communities comes from its depiction of its policies as ‘socialism of the old school’. Former Tory party chairman Norman Tebbit has said [Letter to the Daily Telegraph, April 21, 2006] ‘I have carefully re-read the BNP manifesto of 2005 and am unable to find evidence of Right-wing tendencies. On the other hand, there is plenty of anti-capitalism, opposition to free trade, commitments to “use all non-destructive means to reduce income inequality”, to institute worker ownership, to favour workers’ co-operatives, to return parts of the railways to state ownership, to nationalise the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and to withdraw from NATO. That sounds pretty Left-wing to me.’

At the moment this is something the BNP take particular delight in admitting. But this is also their Achilles heel. Currently they are effortlessly riding two horses. Alongside their work in former Labour heartlands they are equally at home in tapping into a sort of ‘hang ‘em and flog ‘em’ time-honoured conservatism in the more upmarket neighbourhoods.

Therefore, either as a result of achieving greater national prominence or as a consequence of being faced with an authentic working class challenge down the line, the contradictions in their philosophical underpinning must be revealed, forcing them at critical moments to bend in one direction or the other. Historically, when given the choice between opting for the nationalist or ‘socialist’ fork, the gravitational pull for fascism is nearly always toward the former.

When that time comes, if a progressive working class party were in a position to do so, rather than advance piecemeal on a ward-by-ward basis it could very well mop up across entire boroughs where previously Labour and then the BNP had once ruled the roost. Why such a possibility exists is because as Searchlight admits ‘in some places such as Barking and Dagenham, one of the fundamental problems is the absence of any mainstream alternative to Labour, so the BNP is the sole beneficiary of the anti-Labour protest vote.’ As the big three continue to shed activists (according to one report the Tories have shed 40,000 members since Cameron took over) and atrophy in terms of popular support, it is a trend that can only become more widespread.

But how to get from the present to there is the tricky bit. One factor is certain. A long-term strategy is now required. It is unlikely there will be any short cuts. So it is the long game or nothing. A daunting prospect. But on the plus side the opportunities unfolding before our eyes do have an undeniable once-in-a-century feel about them.

See also : Even more blah on European (and UK) politics (June 12, 2009) | More blah on European politics (June 11, 2009) | Andrew Brons : You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby (June 9, 2009) | Far left, far right, far out (June 8, 2009) | BNP ~versus~ British voters (June 6, 2009) | European Jobs For British Fascists (May 17, 2009) | British Workers Go Back to British Work (w/- BONUS! British Babes) (February 6, 2009) | British Jobs for British Workers? (February 4, 2009) | The ALP facing extinction? (January 31, 2009) | Uniting the socialist left: the Australian experience (Interview with Peter Boyle: national secretary of the Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP) by Socialist Voice (Canada) co-editor Roger Annis): “The formation of the Socialist Alliance was just one of a number of initiatives at the time to take this political momentum forward. While it has not had a smooth road since then, the Socialist Alliance is the only one of these initiatives surviving today in Australia. Regroupment projects inspired by anarchist ideology and attempts to create local social forums all proved short-lived.”

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

ZOG, Yanks, Feminists, Blacks : Bloody Hell!

Posted on June 13, 2009 by @ndy


See : Get Lost, Mate, Sharon Verghis, Time, May 14, 2009.

Bloody ZOG!

Holocaust shooting signals race turmoil, some say
Jesse Washington
AP
June 12, 2009

Crazies. Lone nut jobs. Isolated loonies. Those are frequent descriptions of people like James von Brunn, the 88-year-old white supremacist accused of opening fire at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and killing a black guard.

Others believe he represents something more dangerous: a growing racist movement motivated by a number of converging factors, including the first black president.

The potential for an increase in violence from whites who feel they are slipping from power is high, people from across the ideological spectrum say.

“I believe we are headed for an unprecedented level of conflict and racial turmoil,” said Carol Swain, author of the 2002 book The New White Nationalism in America and a professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University.

Swain cited anger over immigration, growing minority populations, racial preferences, high minority crime rates, the economy and multiculturalism as forces driving white people toward nationalism.

“It seems like the tables have turned for some white people, and they have no recourse except desperation,” Swain said…

Bloody Yanks!

Lifting the veil on our ingrained racism
Sandy Gifford
The Age
June 13, 2009

AUSTRALIA is a racist society. There, I’ve said it. I’ve wanted to say this for the past 24 years — from the time I arrived here. Within my first week on Aussie soil a well meaning young man offered to introduce me to “boongs” — I thought he meant an Australian kind of dope-smoking pipe. When I expressed my shock on discovering that it referred to an Australian form of racism, he assured me that I would agree with him once I knew the truth. Anyway, I was a Yank and a foreigner so what did I know?

Bloody Feminists!

The Dawn Chorus — by Australian feminists, for Australian feminists. Fresh, feminist commentary on pretty much anything and everything.

Bloody Blacks!

Coroner’s damning findings on elder’s prison van death
David Weber
ABC (PM)
June 12, 2009

The West Australian Coroner has given his findings in the case of a man who was effectively cooked to death in the back of a prison van.

Last January an Aboriginal elder known as Mr Ward was being driven in the back of the van through the searing temperatures of The Goldfields.

The air-conditioning unit was not working and the temperature inside reached 50 degrees Celsius.

Before he died, the 46-year-old from Warburton suffered third-degree burns where his body touched the hot metal floor.

Coroner Alistair Hope handed down his long-awaited findings today.

Mr Hope said Mr Ward died as a result of heat stroke which was caused by grossly excessive heat in the pod in the transit van taking him from Laverton to Kalgoorlie.

He said Mr Ward suffered a “terrible death” that was “wholly unnecessary and avoidable” and he died as a result of a “litany of errors”…

Aboriginal Rights Solidarity Rally & Public Meeting: Self Determination Not Invasion, Stand Up for Indigenous Rights
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009
Time: 12:00pm – 5:00pm
Location: State Library of Victoria
Street: 328 Swanston Street
City/Town: Melbourne, Australia
Phone: 0413597315
Email: freelexwotton[at]gmail[dot]com

A public meeting also on Saturday will be at 3pm at Trades Hall Meeting Room 1.

Lab Rat Productions present: Transfer of Knowledge Project Film Night
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2009
Time: 7:30pm
Location: Melbourne Anarchist Resource Centre
Street: 62 St. Georges Road, Northcote
City/Town: Melbourne, Australia
Email: monkeymarc[at]hotmail[dot]com // izzybrown[at]live[dot]com

Bonus!

RIP: The Black Mick Jagger (June 27, 2007). If you haven’t already, do yourself a favour and garb a copy of the Warumpi Band’s classic 1987 album ‘Go Bush’. I’m gonna upload some Tiddas to YouTube later too. One of their first performances was a benefit gig in Melbourne for the ‘International Workers’ Club’ — which, through various twists and turns of history, has now become known as the ‘Melbourne Anarchist Resource Centre’, the venue for Thursday night’s benefit gig. (An aged sober slackbastard remembers that a younger drunken slackbastard had a great time that night — I may even have the flyer lying around somewhere…)

See also : White With Fear : Flagging A New Hate (June 11, 2009) | The assault on American Indian tribal relationships… (May 31, 2009) | The Invention of the White Race (May 29, 2009) | Happy Invasion Day! (January 26, 2009) | Invasion Day Rally // Share the Spirit (January 25, 2009) | Not racists. Just patriotists. Southern Cross Soldiers go to war on Australia. Day. (January 23, 2009) | Whites not all right! Anti-White Conference bad! Exclamation marks good!!! (December 5, 2008) | Anarchism and Aboriginal sovereignty (July 16, 2008)

Posted in Anti-fascism, Art, Death, Film, History, Media, Music, Poetry, Sex & Sexuality, State / Politics | 6 Comments

June 2009 Day of Solidarity with Jeff Luers and all Eco-prisoners

Posted on June 12, 2009 by @ndy

June 2009 marks the 9th and final year that Jeff ‘Free’ Luers will spend in prison. Jeff was originally sentenced to 22 years and eight months in gaol for setting fire to 3 SUVs at the car dealership Romania Chevrolet (in Eugene, Oregon in the United States) in an attempt to draw greater attention to global warming. Since then, in early 2008, Jeff won an appeal against the severity of his sentence, and was re-sentenced to 10 years. As a result, Jeff will be released this December 2009.

    In Melbourne Tonight Barricade Infoshop & Friends arranged a screening of some films on radical environmentalism in the United States to raise some funds for imprisoned comrades. Other upcoming events for June include ‘Transfer of Knowledge’ (story, music and culture from Palm Island) on Thursday, June 18 and on Friday, June 26 another film night featuring Living Utopia (on anarchists in the Spanish Revolution) and The Potentiality of Storming Heaven (on the social revolt in Greece in December 2008).

Unfortunately, Jeff — arrested along with Craig ‘Critter’ Marshall in 2000, and sentenced on June 11, 2001 — is merely one of the first casualties in the US state’s war on the radical ecological movement, a war spearheaded by the FBI and given further impetus by George II’s regime declaring a bogus ‘War on Terror’ following 9/11. One of the most recent casualties of the ‘Green Scare’ is Marie Mason, sentenced in March 2009 to 21 years and 10 months for her role in a December, 1999 arson at a Michigan State University genetics laboratory at Agriculture Hall and a January, 2000 arson of logging equipment in Mesick, Michigan. Both arsons were claimed by the Earth Liberation Front.

For further information on the Green Scare see Green Is The New Red.

The most recent individual to join the growing ranks of eco-terrorists is Jessica Alba.

True story!


Above : Jessica Alba pictured in her Earth Liberation Front starter kit (minus the black mask).

Who are Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War?

There are over 150 political prisoners and prisoners of war in the United States at this time as well as countless politicized individuals and social prisoners resisting their captors. Jeff Luers is a political prisoner and has been granted this status because of his excessive sentence, politically motivated actions and his resistance on the inside.

Support for Jeff does not exist within a vacuum. We encourage people to work on political prisoner support and against the growing incarceration of people across [the United States — and the world]. You can find many groups that work with political prisoners, prisoners of war, detainees as well as prison abolitonists on our links page.

The most up to date [?] listing of political prisoners and prisoners of war in the United States is on the Prison Activist Resource Center.

A more up to date list (of ‘eco-prisoners’) is likely that provided by the Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network.

See also : June 10/11 : Resisting the Green Scare! (May 9, 2006) | US Political Prisoners (November 27, 2006) | When Does Green Rage Become… (January 25, 2007) | Free Free! Free Josh! (February 16, 2007) | Green Scare Update (June 14, 2007) | Neigh (February 25, 2008) | Jeff Luers: Now with more Free! (February 29, 2008) | Not-so-sustainable houses burn. Naughty Elves @ work in Seattle again? (March 24, 2008)

Posted in State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Beatnigs : ‘Nature’

Posted on June 12, 2009 by @ndy

Nature! Sitting in the green grass watching the strange world of ants. Nature! At the beach watching rocks smash into pebbles and whisper into sand.
People often ask me “Michael, if you love nature so much, why is it that you live in the city, where the only green grass and crushed rock is being smoked through a pipe?”
Well I look at ’em, and I tell ’em, “Cause people live in the city. And people are the best part of nature.”
So the next time you go to a shecky club, put on your shecky hairspray, put on your shecky make-up, remember that people still eat, people still think, and people still defecate!
No matter how hard, we try to
dehumanize
and
demoralize
and
deanimalize
with
ID numbers
credit card numbers
Social Security numbers
People are the best part of nature.

Posted in Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

Even more blah on European (and UK) politics

Posted on June 12, 2009 by @ndy

First, another great post by Leigh Phillips on ‘Far-right having difficulty clubbing together in EU parliament’ (EUobserver, June 11, 2009):

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Like chocolate and mustard, or orange juice and toothpaste, the various flavours of far right in the new European Parliament just don’t seem to go together and are already having trouble cooking up a united bloc in the chamber, despite the gains the extremists made in the European elections on the weekend…

[Vlaams Belang’s] ‘dream team’, [spokesperson Philip Claeys] said, would involve a core of themselves and Italy’s Northern League, the Danish People’s Party, the Austrian Freedom Party and the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders. This core would deliver only 19 seats from five countries, short of the 25 MEPs from seven member states that the parliament’s rules require.

“So we would have to add some other parties as well,” he said, such as Greece’s Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), the Slovak National Party or the For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK from Latvia.

The Flemish separatists are reluctant to work with parties further to the right, the Greater Romania Party in particular…

In 2007, 23 MEPs clubbed together to form the Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty political grouping in the parliament. It only lasted a few months before it exploded as a result of remarks by member Alessandra Mussolini about Romanian ‘criminals’ in Italy that the Romanian members of the group found insulting.

“There were major set-backs in the elections for the Front National in France and the Vlaams Belang in Belgium, the two slickest, most professional of the far-right outfits,” Graeme Atkinson said.

The Front National dropped from seven seats won in 2004 to just three on Sunday. The VB dropped from three to two.

“Without them forming a backbone, I don’t know whether they’ll be able to co-ordinate much in the parliament.”

“Nick Griffin supposedly has influence amongst some of the European far right groups, but he’s just not very smart. It’ll be very hard to glue anything together.”

He explained that the Front National has been riven with faction fighting, notably over the issue of succession following the presumed departure of the ageing Jean-Marie Le Pen, and is virtually bankrupt, having been forced to sell their headquarters…

Secondly, in the UK, a few fellow Trots have responded to the SWP’s appeal to form a new party: the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty has welcomed their ‘letter calling for a united left and for “a conference of all those committed to presenting candidates representing working-class interests”. This is in line with our call for a new Socialist Alliance’. This could be a reference to the Alliance for Green Socialism, or perhaps the remnants of a ‘revivified’ SA, I’m unsure:

The first Socialist Alliance was set up in Coventry in 1992 and the first national meeting held in 1996 with eight local alliances represented. Within two years 20 local alliances and twelve left groups had joined. During the next two years the project took off with 58 local SA’s across the country.

In 2001 the SA adopted a new programme and constitution and now involved all the main tendencies and groupings on the left, including the AWL, CPGB, International Socialist Group, Revolutionary Democratic Group, Socialist Party, SWP and Workers Power. The SA stood 98 candidates in the 2001 general election, making the biggest left challenge to the Labour Party for 50 years.

After the Bush-Blair war in Iraq, the SWP majority abandoned the SA for Respect and closed the SA down. However a significant minority did not accept this. In November 2005 the SA was relaunched at the London conference. The need for non-sectarian socialist unity remains central to the struggle for socialism. The Socialist Alliance is coming back.

And how!

The mighty Workers’ Power of Fifth International fame has also responded — IN CAPITALS — to the call: ‘IT’S TIME TO CREATE A NEW WORKING CLASS PARTY’, A response from Workers Power to the Socialist Workers Party’s ‘Open Letter to the Left’, 10 June 2009.

As far as I’m aware, these are the only formal responses to the SWP’s proposition thus far: no doubt the rest of the alphabet soup will respond eventually. However, one difficulty facing the SWP — apart from its own dismal record within ‘alliances’ — is the existence of several already existing projects of a (seemingly) very similar nature. The first is (Gorgeous George Galloway‘s) R E S P E C T. Councillor Salma Yaqoob, Respect Party Leader, shares these thoughts on the ‘Euro election results’ (June 9, 2009). The second is the Campaign for a New Workers’ Party. A project of the Socialist Party, it (that is, the SP) supported no2eu in the Euro election (as did the AWL and the CPB). Head cheese (Socialist Party general secretary) Peter Taaffe wants to ‘Step up the fight for a workers’ party’, but whether or not the SP can be made to see eye-to-eye with their comrades in the SWP remains to be seen.

Finally, the International Committee of the Fourth International has some interesting observations:

See also : If this debacle doesn’t wake up the British Left, absolutely nothing will, Phil Hearse, Marxsite, June 8, 2009.

Bonus!

The British National Party: the roots of its appeal, Peter John, Helen Margetts, David Rowland and Stuart Weir, Democratic Audit, [PDF]: “This report offers a comprehensive and objective analysis of the rise of support for the British National Party in the UK, using a range of data sources to understand the reasons behind it.” (Cheers Robert.)

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

James von Brunn’s Day at the Museum

Posted on June 12, 2009 by @ndy

Incensed at the Holohoax, James von Brunn, an 88-year-old US neo-Nazi, has launched a one-man assault on ZOG, shooting to death a security guard, Stephen Tyrone Johns, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. von Brunn was himself shot, and is now in hospital in a serious condition.

Unfortunately, von Brunn failed to truly become An hero.

In response to the shootings, the USHMM has published a brief statement on its frontpage:

There are no words to express our grief and shock over today’s events at the Museum, which took the life of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. Officer Johns, who died heroically in the line of duty, served on the Museum’s security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns’s family. We have made the decision to close the Museum Thursday, June 11, in honor of Officer Johns and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory.

Previously, ‘Conservative Media Freaked Out Over DHS Report On Right Wing Extremists‘ reckons Media Matters For America:

Locally, Queensland-based nutzi (and member of the Australia First Party) Jim Perren smells a rat, asking cui bono?

Yet another nail in the coffin for White Nationalism
Whitelaw Towers
June 10, 2009

Oh boy this stinks to high heaven. Ramp up the hate laws. Shut down the Web Sites. Round up the Nazis.

Who benefits from this type of Criminal Insanity[?] It has everything. Nazi’s [sic], Nazi web sites, Anti Government [sic], 88, Hitler. Very bloody convenient. The JDL will be screaming NEVER AGAIN. Jews around the world will be calling for extra protection from Evil Nazi’s [sic]. The Media will forget about everything else that has happened in the world for the next 3 days and subject us all to re-runs of Schindler[‘]s List.

Obama is disgusted, that[‘]s a good little Goyim.

Damn Jews!

Note that Jim’s email address is [email protected], and he is a close follower of the dispassionate political analyses of ‘Curt Maynard’, a US-based neo-Nazi blogger. Curt writes: “Big fucking deal – the guy [James von Brunn] was getting old and decided to lash out at those that had been persecuting him, before dying of old age. I commend him.”

Indeed.

In any case, following Jim’s advice, I thought I’d take this opportunity to highlight some recent and upcoming events on the Australian neo-Nazi calendar.

To begin with, it should be noted that I’m unsure of the outcome of the gig organised by local neo-Nazi networks ‘Blood & Honour Australia’ and the ‘Southern Cross Hammerskins’ for April 25 in Perth, WA. Given the apparent absence of boasting from these quarters, it’s possible that the gig failed to go ahead. In any event, whatever the actual outcome, the balls-up (one Perth-based reich ‘n’ roll band, ‘Indigenous Hate’, being kicked off the bill “for being lying scum”) has not prevented the boneheads from announcing yet another ‘Ian Stuart Donaldson’ memorial gig in Melbourne, scheduled to take place on September 12 and to feature the prodigious talents of Ravenous, Open Season and The Commieknockers.

Marvellous multicultural Melbourne has been the venue for the boneheads’ annual gig for many years. Of late, the gig has occurred at the following venues:

    2008 : Beaconsfield Hotel, Beaconsfield
    2007 : Melbourne Croatia Social Club, Sunshine
    2006 : Birmingham Hotel, Fitzroy
    2005 : Birmingham Hotel, Fitzroy
    2004 : The Jam Tin, Cheltenham

Having some inkling that most regard neo-Nazis as being on a par with paedophiles, B&H/SCHS naturally keep the venue for their nutzi prancing vewy secwet, only releasing details at the last moment.

This year will be no exception.

Of course, not all regard the nutzis with such contempt. In fact, many in the local punk rock music industry defend the nutzis’ right to spew filth, and instead reserve their anger for those actively opposed to the nutzis’ presence at ‘punk rawk’ venues. Thus Ben, the bassist for leading local ‘Skin Heads Neither For Nor Against Racial Prejudice’ band Bulldog Spirit (and Marching Orders and Napalm Hearts and so on) — sneakily posting as ‘Commie Killer’ — felt moved to comment on September 13, 2007 “…fuck you commies and fuck you stupid fucking anarchist pieces of shit. Fucking die already. We would all be better off.”

The Birmingham Hotel, proud host of the gig in 2006 and 2005, also found many other allies in its brave quest to provide neo-Nazism a platform, with literally dozens of bands (including of course Bulldog Spirit, Marching Orders and Napalm Hearts) scabbing on a boycott of the venue.

Despite their best efforts, however, the venue did undergo a change in management and ownership, and the pub celebrates its first anniversary under non-dickheaded management on June 27 (with Bonus! free entry). (“The venue held its last gigs on February 9 & 16, 2008 (featuring The Beefeaters, Bulldog Spirit, Napalm Hearts and The Worst) and closed its doors in late March/early April.”) As Doug Smith (Bulldog Spirit / Marching Orders) commented: “You would have to call that a pretty unsuccessful boycott.”

As for subsequent venues: the gig held at the Melbourne Croatia Social Club in 2007 (organised with the support of sympathetic Croatian/Australian fascists) actually made it into the ‘mainstream’ media, causing the management of the Melbourne Knights to denounce the boneheads as being what they are: “scum”. (Read the amusing response by Benson & Hedges here.) The 2008 gig at the Beaconsfield Hotel, on the other hand, was booked under a more determined pretext — as a compromise, B&H/SCHS were unable to hang swastika flags and other Nazi regalia inside the venue.

In summary: for the boneheads, publicity regarding their annual shindigs has proved irritating, but hardly stopped them from organising — nor will it. As for members of the local punk rock music industry, they are divided: a majority simply do not care, a minority oppose fascist organising, while the remainder are openly hostile to what they claim is an attack upon the right to assembly and speech. Thus:

“Anarchy is a fag. Thanx to the people who have supported us… and to the random people letting us know about this anarchist knobjockey Mr Moran” (Chunga, The Worst, September 2007); “As I stated on the Bombshell forum Andy, you are a liar, a hypocrite and no better than the trash that you fight against” (Dion, December, 2007); “Honestly, I am going to fucking kill you. I hope it was worth it” (Joel, December, 2007); “The one barrier me and my buddies have regarding beating the shit out of you is your anonymity… Give me your name, address, daytime and night time contact phone numbers, and I promise you I will beat the fucking shit out of you and then make a black man take a shit in your face… @ndy you’re a fucking idiot mate and you better watch your back because when me and my mates are out and about, if we see you, ur dead… @ndy im still going to bash you, fukn gooknigger scum” (Doug Smith’s mate Mark Bastard, December 2007).

Meanies.

While I take note that anti-fascism is a sensitive subject for the delicate little flowers that nestle among the local punk rocks, for some further disco on why neo-/Nazism might be a bad idea, and why it might be worth considering opposing — or at the very least, not supporting — neo-Nazi organising in its contemporary manifestations, see Ghosts of Dachau, April 12, 2009 (which includes videotaped testimonials from the USHMM).

    “We call ourselves Homo sapiens — the ‘wise man’ — but I sometimes wonder whether we should call ourselves Homo stultissimus — the ‘most foolish’ one. I think we haven’t learned and things can happen, can happen everywhere. You have to be on guard.” ~ Fritz Gluckstein (1927–), ‘Survivors Remember Kristallnacht’ (USHMM).

In terms of political skirmishes with local nutzis, what should be borne in mind is that, to this point, B&H/SCHS have, in reality, faced relatively little active opposition (hence the focus upon myself as a nasty howwible man). This is principally because a concerted campaign to shut ’em down depends upon the existence of a much broader political constituency — which, given the de-politicisation/yuppification of the punk sub-culture, on the one hand, and the relative obscurity of B&H/SCHS (and allied groups), on the other, means that their chief ‘obstacle’ (sic) is the state (via such agencies as the ‘Protective Security Intelligence Group’). Barring the occurrence of some such tragedy as has happened in the US, this situation is extremely unlikely to change over the course of the next three months, and the 2009 ISD gig will go ahead in relative safety and security. That said, it’s heartening what can be accomplished by a tiny handful of individuals: something which brings me back to the schmucks scheduled to perform at this year’s event.

To be continued…

Posted in Anti-fascism, Death | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Christ On A Crutch : ‘Requiem For A Scene’ // ‘Punk Business’

Posted on June 11, 2009 by @ndy

‘Requiem For A Scene’ : What the fuck do you want?

‘Punk Business’ : shut the fuck up, pay your money @ the door, and be a happy punk!

Posted in Music | Tagged | Leave a comment