Anarchist press in Australia?

Posted on January 25, 2009 by @ndy

There are exactly two — or perhaps three — regular ‘anarchist’ publications in Australia. They are:

Anarchist Age Weekly Review
Mutiny &
Rebel Worker.

The first two are explicitly anarchist; Rebel Worker is an anarcho-syndicalist publication. I’ve no idea what the circulation is of any of the three, but presumably it numbers in the hundreds, not thousands.

Anarchist Age Weekly Review

The Anarchist Age Weekly Review began publication in 1991, and has been produced consistently since then; the edition of January 12, 2009 is No.819 of the Weekly to be published. The Weekly‘s format is usually a photocopied, double-sided, folded A3 sheet of four B&W pages, with occasional supplements.

Since its inception, the Weekly has been almost entirely the work of one person, Dr. Joe Toscano, a veteran activist, and provider of almost all of the Weekly‘s contents (based on those of his weekly radio show, Wednesday, 10–11am, on local community radio station 3CR).

The January 12 edition of AAWR contains Joe’s thoughts on:

    the Israeli war on Gaza;
    the significance of Barack O’bama’s election for US/Israel relations;
    the failure of state governments to address climate change;
    PM KRudd’s claim that, like the Coke ad, ‘we’re all in this together’;
    why a journalist is wrong to describe the current situation in Somalia as ‘anarchy’;
    anarchism and education;
    the importance of remembering Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner;
    William Dampier’s piracy and inadvertent ‘discovery’ of the Kimberley coast in January, 1688;

a book review, a personal observation, a short poem by Stephen Roberts, and a series of advertisements for Joe’s other political projects (Sedition Charter, Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule, Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion and the Anarchist Media Institute). In addition to these, Joe has recently campaigned for Mayor of Melbourne (unsuccessfully), to Defend & Extend Medicare (DEMG), and is also the Libertarian Workers For A Self-Managed Society (LWSS) and People for Constitutional Human Rights (PCHR).

While the DEMG and PCHR groups are moribund, the LWSS is still existant, although it appears to have been largely subsumed by the AMI (Joe). In 1998, the LWSS (Joe) declared “The Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society have been active in Melbourne, Australia since 1977. The group was formed to act as a focus for Anarchist activity in Melbourne.” Over the last three decades, I’m unaware of anyone other than Joe speaking on behalf of the AMI/LWSS at any point, so it might be more accurate to state that, for whatever reason(s) the group was initially formed, it acts as a focus for Joe’s activity in Melbourne.

Anarchy now!

IN ALL the media ownership machinations, why is it that the Anarchist Age Weekly Review fails to attract buy-out offers from the big players?

The weekly journal of the Anarchist Media Institute is humble in appearance, but punches above its weight as it decries the corporate world, the military machine and politics of pretty much every persuasion.

What an infinitely better world we would have, says Joseph Toscano, the public face of the institute and enthusiastic dispatcher of missives to letters editors, if people took to the streets and demanded direct democracy…

~ Diary, The Age, June 30, 2008

Mutiny

Mutiny is a monthly zine, which began publication in April 2006, and is produced by an anarchist collective of the same name based in Sydney.

We started this zine to explore different avenues of disobedience & resistance, & to encourage people to write about their ideas, actions & experiences. Mutiny is currently exploring ways to resist gentrification, in particular the ‘redevelopment’ proposed in the Redfern area by the Redfern Waterloo Authority. We’re keen to work with other people opposed to this redevelopment & the displacement, rent hikes & ugliness it involves…

The zine is produced in Sydney and distributed in paper format in lots of places.

It is B&W, photocopied, A4-folded, and generally around 20 pages in length.

Formed in 2003 in order to employ direct action against Australia’s involvement in George II’s Coalition of the Killing, the group consists of a number of layers of trust and information management according to police intelligence. “These are feral, low-life people that want society to be in a state of near anarchy for their own perverse pleasure. Let’s not mince words here. People who say they are anti-war but resort to violence and destruction to put their case are clearly a bunch of people who are dangerous to society. These are just anarchists that enjoy disrupting civil society. They do not have one fig of credibility” according to the Deputy Premier of South Australia.

The December 2008 edition (#35) contains:

    an article on ‘Militant Research and Organisation’ by Bad Robot;
    two texts on the uprising in Greece;
    20 Theses Against Green Capitalism by Tadzio Mueller (Turbulence) and Alexis Passadakis (ATTAC);
    news briefs (Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Gaza, Greece, Iceland, Thailand, United States) and;
    reviews (Wai Quarterly, Quantum of Solace).

I may interview the Mutiny collective at some point in the near future…

Rebel Worker

The first issue of Rebel Worker is dated February/March 1982, and was published by the Australian IWW. In 1983 the Sydney IWW was disbanded, and RW — now an ‘anarcho-syndicalist’ paper — was published by the ‘Rebel Worker Group’. In 1986, the RWG became the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation Sydney (another group existed in Melbourne), and RW a publication of the ASF. In 1992, the ASF Sydney left the ASF, and (eventually, in 1995) adopted the name Anarcho-Syndicalist Network (ASN). From 1982 through to today, Mark Maguire has been its editor.

Currently, RW is produced several times a year. Four issues were produced in 2008, the issue of July/August being the 200th.

At various points, RW claims, somewhat bizarrely, that “We are a revolutionary labour movement”, rather than what it is — an occasional publication of the ASN “for the propogation [sic] of anarcho-syndicalism in Australia”.

The latest edition of RW available online (Vol.27, No.3, July/August 2008) is B&W, printed and 20 pages long. The issue contains a range of material typical of most issues produced since the ASN’s formation:

    a June 27 statement from the Socialist Party on a recent court case (minus its conclusion);
    an anonymous report on a union ballot seeking approval for industrial action;
    a brief statement on the importance of workplace health and safety for shift workers;
    an interview with an anonymous bus driver at the Port Botany depot;
    another interview with an anonymous wharfie at Port Botany;
    a report by Liz Thompson on a taxi drivers’ meeting in Melbourne on June 19 (originally published on the Leftwrites blog);
    a brief report on a postal workers strike in Melbourne (originally published on Libcom, June 13, 2008);
    an interview with an anonymous employee of V/Line;
    two brief articles on events in the UK (one by Brian Bamford and the other from Freedom);
    a report by Laure Akai on a bus strike in Poland (originally published in STRIKE! No.3, the newsletter of the Warsaw ZSP (Związek Syndykalistów Polski/Union of Syndicalists);
    another, slightly longer report, also by Laure Akai, concerning the unfair dismissal of a worker by the Warsaw office of Lionbridge Poland;
    a book review of Social Ecology and Communalism by Murray Bookchin (AK Press, 2007) by Graham Purchase;
    an article by ‘PJS’ on the recent split in the DSP;
    an article — Oil tanker drivers’ strike: Solidarity fuels the struggle — originally published in World Revolution, No.316, July/August 2008;
    an article (July 9, 2008) — One worker killed as security guards attack Indian diamond workers strike — also taken from Libcom;

and finally Mark’s reflection on 200 issues of RW:

We have reached an important milestone in the history of anarcho-syndicalism in Australia with the 200th edition of Rebel Worker. We who stand before the masthead of RW, have come a long way, but still we have a way to go in regard to assisting the emergence of mass syndicalist unions and the transitional steps to achieve such bodies.

While many are excited by the possibility of spectacular protests and exotic antics during the Pope’s visit to Sydney during World Youth Day, the ASN has been busy on the unglamorous industrial front. Entailing assisting militant rail workers to expose a nefarious con-trick by the union hierarchy in league with the bosses and the media regarding the current RailCorp Enterprise [Bargaining] Agreement [EBA] negotiations. It involves the union hierarchy falsely claiming a victory in the negotiations in regard to preventing job losses in the CityRail station network.

Currently, the ASN is assisting a nationwide effort by militants to uproot the ALP fat cats which dominate the Rail Tram & Bus Union and achieve grass roots control of the union. Associated with this push is a move to orient the union away from its current path of constant cave-ins to the [Government] and the bosses’ demands and privatisation, toward the pursuit of direct action and the achievement of workers control of industry.

To say that there is a long way to go before there are mass syndicalist unions/a revolutionary labour movement in Australia is no exaggeration. Mark has been publishing RW for almost three decades now: so what progress, if any, has been made? I may discuss this question at a later point, but I’m reasonably convinced that any detailed discussion would be a waste of time given that there is minimal interest in the subject. More generally, nothing has changed since I wrote the following:

Like the numerous Marxist organisations anarchism in contemporary Australia is a fringe movement, and in terms of its organisational framework and popularity, even more so. Anarchism also has far fewer allies in the academy and the media, no regular journals of any standing, and fewer historical roots. To the extent that ‘anarchism’ has influence within contemporary Australia, therefore, it’s largely through culture, and the adoption of broadly ‘anti-authoritarian’ ideas and practices within other social movements — the environmental, peace and women’s movements in particular, but also on the fringes of the labour movement.

Having said this, there are a small number of formal, self-consciously ‘anarchist’ groups and projects currently in existence, almost all concentrated in the two major cities of Melbourne (Pop. 3,850,000) and Sydney (Pop. 4,300,000). Further, individual anarchists are involved in a broad range of campaigns, groups and projects: animal liberation/rights, anti-racist and anti-fascist, ecological/environmental, feminist, media, queer, indigenous and prisoner solidarity, squatting, student, and union, among others.

In any case, the basic political orientation of the ASN is expressed, quite painfully, in the 2005 document ‘Anarcho-Syndicalism – Catalyst for Workers’ Self Organisation Not Leftist Sect Building’.

(See also : Rebel Worker and Accountability, John Englart, July 2002.)

*Sparks

In essence, the strategy of the ASN may be described as follows: workers outside of the transport industry agitating for the emergence of an anarcho-syndicalist union (“democratic unionism”) within it. The means (tactic) to achieve this is publishing a zine for public transport workers. This zine is called Sparks, and several issues have appeared over the last few years — September/October 2007 (#127), March/April 2008 (#128) and October/November 2008 (#130). (An edition, #129, somewhat mysteriously dated December/January 2008, is also available.)

In terms of content, Sparks is very similar to RW, only where RW includes items other than interviews, Sparks consists almost exclusively of these, with the addition a few news items regarding public transport (in Australia and overseas) and a few cartoons.

Note that Sparks was originally published by a group of anarcho-syndicalist transport workers in Melbourne; the first issue appearing in May 1986. Takver writes:

A small number of anarchists had been working in public transport for some time. In 1985 a small group of rail workers put out a news sheet called Stopping All Stations. This transformed into a broader journal, called Sparks, covering public transport workers in rail, tram and buses. The Melbourne local of the Anarcho Syndicalist Federation (ASF) published the first issue of Sparks in May 1986. In February 1987, the Public Transport Workers Association was admitted to the ASF and continued to publish Sparks, which became the most popular publication in Melbourne’s public transport industry, with a circulation of over 5,000. A core group of four to seven people published and distributed Sparks, with many more contributing news and donations to cover its free distribution.

Sparks provided transport workers with a means to communicate with each other. The tone of the journal was down to earth, humorous, and always willing to take the piss out of management and union factions and officials. The journal advocated direct democracy and anarcho-syndicalism, and built up a substantial readership by workers in the public transport industry in Melbourne. In fact, the journal had far more street credibility than the official union journals. This was dramatically demonstrated when just before a tramways division union election, one union faction republished an entire issue of Sparks with the addition of a middle page election insert – no other text or graphics were changed. This just highlighted the bankruptcy of the traditional union factions.

The influence of anarcho-syndicalism became most apparent during the 1990 tramways occupation, when workers occupied their depots and ran the service for free — before the government cut the power to the system. The ASF initiative of establishing ‘passenger support groups’ was another major innovation, and allowed members of the community to show their support for the trammies.

One tram depot during the dispute, South Melbourne, at one stage even seriously debated leaving the [Australian Motor Omnibus and Tramway Employee Association] and joining the ASF. The fact that such a motion was seriously considered and debated by 100 odd workers in a depot indicates the degree of cynicism of the ATMOEA union leadership; the attraction of syndicalist ideas of direct union democracy and solidarity; and the influence Sparks and the ASF had on the militancy of the dispute.

The last issue of Sparks, #27, came out in early 1991. By the end of 1991, the anarchist militants had all left, or been forced out of, the public transport industry.

A New South Wales version of Sparks is still published as a “rank-and-file transport workers’ paper”, one which advocates anarcho-syndicalism [‘democratic unionism’]. This magazine, while informative, is very serious, and lacks the humour and inspiration of the Victorian Sparks.

Further discussion on the 1990 tramways dispute may be found in ‘The end of the line: an examination of the 1990 Victorian tram dispute’ by Drew Cottle, Angela Keys and Kristie Martin (University of Western Sydney), a paper presented to ‘The Past is Before Us’, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History conference, June 30–July 2, 2005, University of Sydney.

This paper is an examination of the 1990 Melbourne tram dispute. A fiscal crisis generated by colossal financial failures led the Cain Labor government in Victoria to attempt to rationalise the workforce of Melbourne’s tramways. Such a move followed the dictates of the Federal Labor government’s Accords which enforced union amalgamations. The attempt to introduce a new ticketing system threatened the jobs of the trams’ conductors. The tramway union’s refusal to comply with the new ticketing led to a lockout and the struggle to save the conductors’ jobs. Depot occupations and a tram blockade ensued. Throughout the dispute, the government refused to negotiate with the union. The dispute left the tramways’ union divided and defeated. While conductors’ jobs were eventually eliminated, the government remained in debt.

The paper does not mention the ASF or Sparks, but does reference Kristie Martin, ‘Derailing the Trammies: A Study of the 1990 Tram Strike’ (BA Honours Politics thesis, University of Western Sydney, 2004), which presumably refers to these at least once. The paper is also “dedicated to Dick Curlewis, life-long labour activist, advocate of workers’ control, and supporter of tram workers during the dispute”. Dick [1917 – 2002] wrote an essay on the subject: ‘Melbourne Tram Dispute and Lockout January–February 1990: Anarcho-Syndicalism in Practice’ (Jura Media, 1997). (Another account of the dispute occurs in Jeff Sparrow and Jill Sparrow, Radical Melbourne 2: the enemy within (Vulgar Press, 2004), which similarly ignores Sparks and the ASF.)

Unlike the earlier Sparks, the NSW edition is also produced by workers outside of the industry.

It’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to gauge what effect, if any, 130 editions of Sparks has had on the ‘morale’ of public transport workers in NSW. To the best of my knowledge, its influence has not been remarked upon anywhere outside of the ASN. Thus Mark writes that “In March 1998, wildcat action broke out at Waverley bus depot and other STA bus depots [on] the [North Shore of Sydney] — where many drivers are regular Sparks readers — over issues related to the Sydney Harbour Bridge — [issues] raised in Sparks — and different issues in regard to Waverley”. Further, following a one-day strike by railway workers in September 1999, “Sparks appears [?] to have assisted the agitation of militants at [a] meeting via its [previous] exposure of union officials who collaborate with management and [by] assisting militants in presenting a critique…”. Finally, in 2002, “the Sparks network assisted militant bus drivers to distribute leaflets at mass meetings of the Bus Division of the RTBU to oppose an enterprise agreement”.

Of more interest, I think, is Vigilance, produced by Marxist Shane Bentley. Shane wants the Maritime Union of Australia to be under rank ‘n’ file control, and the industry to be nationalised “under workers’ control”. (See ‘the Vigilance Bulletin maritime action program’.) Shane has produced 39 issues of Vigilance, the latest being dated November 3, 2008.

Also of note in this context are the very short-lived zines Dishrag (for dishpigs) and On Call (for call centre workers). The following is an account of dishpig involvement in the 1998 MUA dispute:

On April 7th 1998 MUA workers were run off the Swanston Docks of Melbourne by balaclavaed thugs with dogs… in a military and brutal manner… as part of an attempt by the company [Patrick] to break the union hold on the waterfront by sacking the union workforce and using scab labour from the ranks of the desperate and stupid. Earlier in January a similar event happened on Webb Dock to facilitate the setting up of an “alternative” workforce.

The immediate response of the union was to set up picket lines bringing the transit of goods from the main docks of Melbourne (and around Australia) to a halt…

With the threat of forceful breaking of the picket line on April 18th the call went out and by the time Victoria’s Finest arrive to do their duty they find 4–5000 people gathered in support of the MUA dockers determined that it wasn’t gonna happen…

Totally outnumbered the police stand off, making a few optimistic feints towards the crowd, but never really seriously trying it on…

The feeling is electric… spiky punks stand and links arms with burly wharfies on one side and grannies on the other… searchlights try and pick their way through the swathes of thick smoke pouring from the fires lit to warm ourselves as the news and police choppers circle overhead…

With the arrival of several hundred building workers at 7am on the Saturday morning the police finally admit defeat and withdraw to lick their figurative wounds and wait for further orders…

As the day goes on people come and people go… the numbers up and down but never less than a few thousand with the comforting promise of doubling that again at the first sign of trouble… barricades are fortified, awnings and tents spring up about the place as people settle in to wait it out…

After a day of false alarms and drill after drill of linking arms to hold the line we (Dishpigs and others) leave with the general call for food ringing in our ears… promising to return the next day.

So come noon Sunday a few of us arrive in the (now dead but fondly remembered) Food Not Bombs van… equipped with a huge pot of soup and enough to make another…

Quickly setting up a table and and setting to on the vegies it was not long before the delicious aroma of the soup drew takers… cold and hungry from the long night…

From such small beginnings grew Food Not Scabs, a collective made up of DishPigs, Food Not Bombers and others, which fed that multitude of unionists and supporters 24 hours a day for going on 4 weeks.

We soon got into the swing of it… churning out delicious soup after delicious soup along with a few vege stews and with considerable respectful remembrance to Rocky who in that first 24 hours ran a marathon of stir fries without pause…

Amazed at our ability to operate non-stop providing good sustaining food the wharfies and other unionists and supporters couldn’t do enuff for us… from a rickety trestle table with a single burner and a handful of bowls and cups, Food Not Scabs soon found itself in a fully-equipped kitchen tent with a new burner and as much cooking materials and utensils as we wanted… Having a solid base became more and more important and most of us decided to move in for the duration with some living in the dead van whilst other slept under the cover of the infamous PTU tent which tended to act more like a windsock cum weather balloon than a shelter… nevertheless it did keep the sun off heh heh.

As time went on FNS very quickly became a well-organised force with a loose roster, regular supplies being brought in by the unions or donated by supporters, and enuff structure to be able to organise daily food drops to the other smaller pickets holding the lesser gates around the docks, as well as sending a bit of food to Webb Dock from time to time…

For three and a half weeks we fed people from all walks of life… wharfies, retired, kids, unemployed and professionals… all coming down to stand beside the MUA; to fight for their own right to organise and be unionised… through supporting the rights of the waterside workers. As it was in the 1930s people were quick to see the significance of the waterside dispute and recognise that a defeat for the wharfies would mean a long-ranging defeat for us all…

And throughout it all Food Not Scabs cooked
and cooked
and cooked
…and even took up organising entertainment with various gigs put on over the time to entertain the picketers and keep up the public awareness as well as attract people to come down in support.

We marched beside the MUA at the May Day rally (with much cynical humour) listening to the brown-nosing politicians always found at the picket line looking for cheap points. We linked arms at the sight of trouble and attended the drills. We even mounted a campaign against the use of disposable utensils… but ALWAYS our biggest concern was whether there was any soup.

Sadly what should have been a resounding victory for workers that would have sent the company dogs howling to their respective kennels was twisted, manipulated and finally sold out, with an agreement to sell off another 600 jobs and allow non-union labour into the maintenance and cleaning positions… the thin edge of a malicious wedge which will eventually destroy one of the last remaining stronghold of militant unionism…

    “Perhaps our greatest challenge and achievement has been the successful reform of the Australian waterfront: Patrick’s employees now embrace the new culture of productivity and service. Continuous improvements in work practices will remain our primary focus – a happy workforce equal better performance and better client service.”

Regardless of the abysmal sellout, many good and encouraging things came from the 30 odd days we gathered at the docks… the feeling of unity, the breaking down of false barriers between sections of the community, and even different unions themselves, and the level of autonomous co-operation that grew from the dock gates occupation is something not seen since the days of the tramways dispute or the deregistration of the BLF. Strong bonds were forged between union and community… employed and unemployed… bonds that will last and add further strength to the struggles that surely lay ahead…

Food Not Scabs itself was hilarious… an ever-evolving experiment in a return to propaganda by deed… it grew faster than we could ever have imagined… from a symbolic pot of soup on a old grey Sunday, Food Not Scabs became one of the central meeting points for cold weary and hungry picketers… marathon soup sessions would take place overnight… pots steaming in the midnight hours and rumours of cooks that never slept…

Incredibly successful in it own right, providing essential food to the picket line… Food Not Scabs was also a demonstration of spontaneous collectivity… providing ourselves with a chance to practice what we preach… and others an example of our ideas in action…

Food Not Scabs also provided food to picketers during an industrial dispute at the Australian Dyeing Company in 1999: the Clifton Hill factory closed its doors at the end of 2006, and the factory was demolished at the end of 2007.

Posted in Anarchism, History, Media | 5 Comments

Invasion Day Rally // Share the Spirit

Posted on January 25, 2009 by @ndy

January 26, 1788 : The day Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson (landing at Camp Cove), in order that King George III’s loyal servant might declare the establishment of a British penal settlement. Arfur arrived with 717 convicts on board (of whom 180 were women), “convicted of crimes in the Country of England since 1783 and … sentenced by His Majesty’s Judges to be sent to that part of New Holland known as New South Wales”, guarded by 191 marines under 19 officers. (NB. Accounts vary as to exact numbers.)

Three cheers and a loud huzzah for King George!

Long may He reign!

Invasion Day Rally

A march will start from the front of the Fitzroy Stars Gym (184 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy) @ 11am on Monday, and make its way to the Share the Spirit concert @ Treasury Gardens (Spring Street, City).

BYO banners, loudhailers and seditious chants…

Invasion Day 2008

Share the Spirit

The Treasury Gardens is set to come to life with a musical explosion of rock, roots, reggae and hip hop at Melbourne’s premiere Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Festival, Share the Spirit, on Monday 26th January.

The line-up includes Australian music legend Bart Willoughby; one of the country’s most powerful singer-songwriters, Archie Roach; Deadly award-winning performer, Ruby Hunter; Jazz aficionado, Liz Cavanagh; and the multifaceted musical melting pot that is Sol Nation. Sharing the stage will be a group of young Indigenous artists – including Little G, Rakia and DJ Deadly – from the independent Indigenous hip hop label, Payback Records.

Payback Records was established by Essendon footballer Nathan Lovett-Murray twelve months ago to create opportunities for young and talented indigenous hip hop artists to make their way in the music industry. At Share the Spirit, Melbourne audiences will have the unique opportunity of catching some of Australia’s best underground hip hop musicians on the one stage.

The festivities will kick off at 2pm with a Welcome to Country and Healing Ceremony, which will be followed by a spectacular fire dance performance by the Koori Youth Will Shake Spears and a smorgasbord of non-stop music.

Share the Spirit also plays host to the colourful Koori Market – where Indigenous artists and designers will be selling their locally made crafts, boomerangs, traditional artefacts, t-shirts, bags, CDs, homewares, photography, art and much more.

Once the sun goes down and the music stops, festival goers can continue to kick their heels up at the official after party at Section 8 in the city.

Presented by Songlines Aboriginal Music Corporation and proudly supported by the City of Melbourne, Share the Spirit is a day that has been created by Aboriginal People for all Australians to come together and celebrate the beginning of the post-Apology era.

See also : The Black Arm Band : presents music of the Australian indigenous experience. Koorie Heritage Trust : a not-for-profit Aboriginal community organisation that aims to protect, preserve and promote the living culture of Aboriginal people of south-eastern Australia. The Koori History Website.

The Clayton’s Promise: If elected, Labor will move Australia Day
Chris Graham
National Indigenous Times

NATIONAL, January 22, 2009: Astute media watchers may have noticed that over the weekend, the Rudd government began hastily promoting Australia Day 2009 as having ‘special significance’ to Indigenous people.

On Sunday, CEO of the Australia Day Council, Warren Pearson hit the media hustings with a message of unity: “We’re calling on all Australians to reflect on what we’re getting right as a nation and to get to know other cultures in the nation, particularly Indigenous culture, because Australia Day can be an important process in the reconciliation movement,” he said.

Which is of course complete horsesh*t. Reconciliation has as much to do with Australia Day as cancer does with snips and snails and puppy dog tails.

The official spin (and it’s quite a stretch but bear with me) goes something like this: Because the national apology to the Stolen Generations was delivered in February last year, and this Australia Day will be the first one since, that makes it a really, really special day for black people.

For reasons that should be blindingly obvious, January 26 is never a ‘special day’ for Aboriginal people, and never will be. Regardless, the story got a small run in mainstream media this week. And here’s why it has suddenly emerged as an issue…

Australia, IMPORTED FKN SIMIAN PIECE OF NEGRESS CRAP, and lets get the ovens raised in melbourne (January 27, 2008) | Australia Australia Australia (January 11, 2008) | Have A Slack Invasion Day… You Bastards (January 26, 2007) | John HoWARd, Fun-da-mentalist, Playing with Fire (January 21, 2007) | Racist attacks on Australia Day (January 29, 2006) | Happy 218th Birthday Australia! (January 18, 2006)

Posted in Art, History, Music, State / Politics | 11 Comments

Young Liberals embrace Southern Cross Soldiers

Posted on January 24, 2009 by @ndy

Young Liberals call for national service
John Stapleton
The Australian
January 24, 2009

THE Young Liberals are proposing nine months of compulsory national service to be completed before the age of 24 and which people will not be able to dodge by going to university.

Participants would receive a social security payment and an accommodation allowance if their service required them to live away from home. The plan, to be put at the Young Liberals’ national conference in Canberra this weekend, is not restricted to the military. Young Australians could complete their service in overseas aid programs. Or they could serve in hospitals, old-age homes and other community organisations.

Young Liberals president Noel McCoy said the aim was to provide a sizeable low-cost workforce that would help to offset the impact of the financial crisis. At the same time it would help to instil a work ethic and sense of national pride, he said…

Compulsory national service is an assault upon the free enterprise system, one which can only discourage the young entrepreneur; punish, rather than reward, risk-taking; disable workplace flexibility; and stifle productivity and skill development. Government should stick to its core business and not compete with the private sector; its intervention in the labour market is an Evil which must be avoided at all costs if the individual’s liberty — including his liberty to dispose of his labour as he sees fit — is to be preserved. Thus if the Young Liberals really believe in the importance of voluntary effort and voluntary organisations, then they must also reject the introduction of policies which render national service compulsory.

Rather than force young people to serve their country — and in order to demonstrate their own commitment — the Young Liberals would be much better advised to make it a condition of membership in their own organisation that the individual perform nine months of compulsory national service.

Adopting this policy would bring the Young Liberals numerous benefits.

In addition to enabling them to wean themselves off welfare, it would also provide a social benefit by developing in the Young Liberals an even deeper appreciation of Australian society and its traditions (especially its military ones), as well as a solid work ethic, a true sense of patriotism, mateship, camaraderie and self-sacrifice. At the very least, making nine months of national service compulsory for office-bearers would inspire many within the ranks of the Young Liberals, and they in turn young Australians: a win-win situation. (Unfortunately, being 30, Noel McCoy would be ineligible for such a program.)

On the other hand, young people do have a mutual obligation to society, and there are a large number of patriotic young Australians who are simply itching to become soldiers, so…

    And what is war, what is needed for success in war, what are the morals of the military world? The object of warfare is murder; the means employed in warfare — spying, treachery, and the encouragement of it, the ruin of a country, the plunders of its inhabitants… trickery and lying, which are called military strategy; the morals of the military class — absence of all independence, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery, and drunkenness.

    ~ Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1872

Posted in State / Politics, Student movement | Leave a comment

Marxism: Last Gasp of the Bourgeoisie?

Posted on January 24, 2009 by @ndy

The Nepali revolution has not won, but neither has it lost. Historical materialism can explain and shed light on all periods of human history. Historical materialism does not seem able, however, to explain itself. Trotsky’s criticisms against Stalin seem correct, but Stalin’s criticisms of Trotsky also seem correct. They both seem correct and both seem incorrect. International revolution was impossible and socialism in one country was impossible. Otto Ruhle, a German Marxist of the early 20th century, in a provocative essay entitled ‘The struggle against Fascism begins with the struggle against Bolshevism’, argued that Hitler and Mussolini only copied the Bolshevik model for their Fascist ideology, because the party and state structure of Fascism bears remarkable similarities, in form, to the Bolshevik party and state. When the Peruvian state captured Chairman Gonzalo and other central committee leaders of the PCP (Communist Party of Peru), their entire struggle collapsed. Even now, the remnants of the Shining Path go on and on about the great leader Chairman Gonzalo, even though Gonzalo now resides in a top security prison and cannot even lead himself to the toilet. From tragedy we move to farce, and the strange behaviour of Chairman Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party of the USA. Even though Chairman Avakian has not led any kind of Peoples War or any major revolutionary struggle, he has declared a ‘new synthesis’ that goes beyond Marx, Lenin and Mao. RCP USA comrades describe Chairman Avakian as ‘the American Lenin’ (which, I presume, would make Lenin the Russian Avakian). An unquestioned assumption behind this kind of argumentation in the Communist movement is the belief that Marx and Lenin were unquestionably right, simply because Marx is Marx and Lenin is Lenin, and the Russian revolution ‘succeeded’. Frankly speaking, the longer and longer the Bolshevik revolution fades into the past, the less and less convincing the tales and legends of the great Lenin will seem. Now, in the 21st century, we can see that Marx’s criticisms of Bakunin were correct, but Bakunin’s criticisms of Marx were also correct. Both are correct and both are incorrect.

Roshan Kissoon is both correct, and incorrect.

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, State / Politics | 11 Comments

Simon Sheppard & Stephen Whittle : “The Heretical Two” // Redwatch

Posted on January 24, 2009 by @ndy

http://www.heretical.com/

Prosecution of the Heretical Two (H2).

Simon Sheppard was found guilty on Friday July 14, 2008 of eleven counts of ‘race hate’ – all relating to internet publishing posted on servers in the U.S.A. Stephen Whittle (Luke O’Farrell) was found guilty on five counts also relating to internet publishing.

The case has some analogies with the (failed) extradition hearings in London for Dr Toben’s deportation for trial in Germany for ‘holocaust denial’ and with the Zundel trial. However the Germans claim jurisdiction over German nationals even if they post material on the internet abroad and / or live abroad. In the case of the H2 an English court is going further still by asserting jurisdiction over writings on the internet if they can be downloaded in England.

    Toben flies home to ‘freedom’, ABC, December 3, 2008, “South Australian man Frederick Toben has returned to Adelaide after avoiding a recent German attempt to extradite him from the United Kingdom…”

Simon’s remaining seven charges were to be considered by the jury on the following Monday. These related mainly to printed material on which the jury was unable to reach a decision. However, the authorities neglected to take their passports and they left over the weekend for Ireland, then flew to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and surrendered to officials in order to seek political asylum in the U.S.A.

The law over internet publishing in the UK has been reinterpreted without debate to end freedom of speech on the internet, presumably acting on the orders of their masters in the E.U. and the Heretical Two were facing the imminent prospect of lengthy prison sentences. They are currently being held under the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) System at Santa Ana Jail, P.O. Box 22003, Santa Ana, CA 92701, USA.

Simon’s prison number is 0800006404 and Stephen’s number is 0800006408…

The first immigration court session was held on September 17 with Bruce Leichty as defence attorney. The judge claimed that she did not have the power to release the Heretical Two under the defensive procedures adopted by the US authorities. The ‘asylum-only proceedings’ for the Heretical Two was heard by immigration judge, Rose Peters, on October 14. The move by their attorney to get them released before the ruling on asylum was denied by the judge, whose reasoning appeared contradictory.

At the ‘calendar meeting’ of the immigration court on Thursday 13 November – the judge set the merits (main) appeal for three afternoons in blocks of four hours from 2 pm on March 10, 12 and 24 of 2009. It therefore looks very likely that the H2 will spend at least another 4 months in prison in the USA for activities in America which the British government now deems to be crimes, i.e. exercising the right to free speech, but which ironically are not held to be crimes under American law.

Simon’s retrial on the outstanding six charges [one charge was dropped] was held in his absence, as the British government was not prepared to wait for the outcome of the political asylum proceedings in the US. The new trial commenced on Monday December 8 at Leeds Crown Court and was deferred on December 22 to January 5, 2009 – the following day the jury went out to deliberate and on January 8 found Simon guilty on three counts relating to Tales of the Holocaust and later in the day, by a majority verdict on two charges relating to Don’t be Sheeple – even Professor Rabkin’s cogent arguments that the Jews were a religion and not a race had failed to impress the jury.

Although the establishment have so far effectively managed to contain reporting on the trials and asylum attempt to cold and slanted reports in the Yorkshire media, without any discussion of the many issues arising the case, the Heretical Two are, at least, getting considerable publicity at last in this area – the most extensive being in the Yorkshire Post.

Simon Sheppard is a racist, right-wing lunatic, whose writings are both disturbing and occasionally funny — devoted to publicising theories of “procedural analysis”, racist theories and caricatures, holocaust denial and the inferiority of women. (Stephen Whittle wrote a column on Simon’s site about the ‘Brave Jew World’ the White Man is forced to inhabit: http://www.heretical.com/ofarrell/index.html.) Simon was also responsible for establishing ‘Redwatch’, a website dedicated to publishing photos of ‘Reds’ and asking The World if anyone knows who the Hell the people in the funny pictures are (names, aliases, homes, workplaces, telephone numbers, et cetera).

On 8 June 1999, Sheppard and David Hannam were arrested in Hull for distributing racist election literature on behalf of the British National Party. He was expelled from the BNP the same day (though not Hannam, who remains a senior administrator in the party), and on 14 June 2000, Sheppard was convicted at Hull Crown Court of publishing or distributing racially inflammatory material. According to his own website, Sheppard has been banned from every public library in Hull, Hull University and Hull College “merely for expressing opinions”.

Supposedly, Redwatch was largely the work of Tony Foy, Simon Sheppard, Kevin Watmough and Carol White; it is now — again, apparently — largely the work of Kev the Head. Kev is a member of a tiny nutzi party in the UK called the British People’s Party (BPP). The BPP’s most recent claim to fame was in October last year when a little more than a dozen hardy souls stood together outside a shop in Leeds. Or: Leeds Under Threat from ’90s Rap: BPP Takes Courageous Stand (to Popular Acclaim).

Redwatch – BBC 31.10.2007:

Since the BBC report, Redwatch has experienced some turbulence on teh Interwebs, and a number of its mirrors — redwatch.org.uk / redwatch.net / redwatch.org — have gone kaput!, but the site is still available here http://www.redwatchonline.org/indexx.html here http://www.aryanunity.com/redwatchonline//index2.html and here http://elvis.redwatch.org/. Redwatch Poland, while also having experienced some turbulence, and even prosecutions, is also still alive and well (see: http://www.redwatch.info/) as is http://www.antiantifa.net/.

Antifa England has made the following, rather disrespectful, remarks on the subject of Redwatch:

11/05: “Redwatch” – Do we care? Do we f**k!

Redwatch’ is a so-called fascist ‘hate-site’, where members of the far-right post pictures of the enemies they will ‘one day make pay’. While the site is undoubtedly designed to intimidate, as with many myths by and about fascists, and often circulated by the pseudo antifascist entity Searchlight, the reality about ‘Redwatch’, is very different to the fascist wanking fantasy they would like us to believe.

Experienced antifascists have long realised that fascist fantasies about ‘Aryan hard-men’, also long propagated by Searchlight, were far from the truth. The reality is that most fascists are snivelling little cowards.

So it is with ‘Redwatch’, the reality is very far from the myth Searchlight have helped to create. The site is filled with photos taken from Indymedia and suchlike, showing trade unionists, anti-war protestors, students, and liberal anti-racists. Along with the photos are a sprinkling of contact details gleaned from public sources. Much of this information is out of date, and frankly drivel.

Included in the glaring lack of information posted on ‘Redwatch’, mixed in with pictures of people who happened to go on a demo at some point in their lives, are pics of a few militant antifascists. But so what?

Do we really care that Kevin Watmough, the main architect of Redwatch, knows what a few of our comrades may look like? Do we f**k! Watmough, of 58 Abbeydale Oval, Leeds, LS5 3RF is typical of the fascist reality – A pathetic degenerate, who when he leaves his bedroom, shambles about in his dirty, un-ironed clothes, afraid to take his eyes from the pavement.

‘Redwatch’ may be violence by proxy, but there’s a big difference between Watmough cackling in his bedroom because he’s taken a new picture from Indymedia, and any threat. Despite the occasional secret gatherings of inbred swastika-wearing morons, the far-Right are not in a position to carry out their pathetic fantasies.

If it were not for the likelihood that we’d be inundated with unwanted pizza, and we thought these cowards would actually come to us for a change, we’d post up our addresses ourselves, so that we didn’t have to spend so much time chasing gutless Nazis.

The reality is that we know more about the fascists than they ever will about us, and unlike them we have the guts and determination to act. While we advise all antifascists to take their personal security seriously, ‘Redwatch’ is a joke.

Despite their well-publicised antipathy, the state manipulated bogey-man ‘Redwatch’, and the state affiliated Searchlight, enjoy an almost symbiotic relationship. If ‘Redwatch’ didn’t exist, then Searchlight would probably invent it – that’s if they didn’t anyway!

Searchlight on Redwatch:

Gerry Gable, British nazis exploit internet freedom, April 2003: “Last month’s jailing of a nazi thug [Tony White] led to an almost immediate reprisal against a teacher whose complaint to the police had resulted in the prosecution. The reason why the nazis could so easily exact their revenge by fire-bombing the teacher’s car was that details of the victim appeared on the nazi Redwatch website…”
Nick Lowles, Redwatch, November 2003: “Redwatch is the scourge of anti-racists everywhere…”
The case against Redwatch, September 2006: “It has become common wisdom that the authorities cannot act against Redwatch. It is hosted by a US server, so outside the jurisdiction of the British authorities, and as a result it is protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which enshrines Freedom of Speech…”
Nick Lowles, It’s time to get Watty! – British nazi admits to running Redwatch, September 2006: “A veteran British nazi has publicly admitted to being behind the pernicious Redwatch website. Kevin Watmough, from West Yorkshire, made the claim in June on a nazi bulletin board. While Watmough’s role has long been known to Searchlight, this is the first time he has publicly confirmed his involvement in writing…”

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

Kyle Chapman : ‘I have a cunning plan…’

Posted on January 23, 2009 by @ndy

MOAR LATER!

As previously noted, media in New Zealand/Aotearoa have picked up on the fact that Kyle & Co. wish to build themselves a little White nest. According to reports, the beans were spilled when an email was ‘leaked’. Maybe so, but Kyle has been flogging the idea on Stormfront Down Under for some time, and announced his cunning plan on The World’s #1 White Supremacist Website on December 20, 2008. (Kyle uses the pseudonym ‘NZTrooper’, having joined the site in February 2003.)
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=553254
Prior to this, Kyle had touted the idea that maybe he and his friends could form a little clubhouse of some kind, one which would exclude undesirables (Asians, blacks, Jews, Maoris, Polynesians, leftists, queers, people who can spell) but do so legally.
At present, Kyle claims to have raised $1,000 towards his pet project, so it may be some time before his Utopia comes to fruition.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism | Leave a comment

Not racists. Just patriotists. Southern Cross Soldiers go to war on Australia. Day.

Posted on January 23, 2009 by @ndy

    Above: SCS cymbal. And yeh, their rool god spelers ‘n’ tht.

Southern Cross Soldiers plan Australia Day rally
Staff writer
Herald Sun
January 23, 2009

A RIGHT-WING nationalist group has organised a show of strength at a popular Melbourne beach on Australia Day.

The Southern Cross Soldiers, or SCS, has told members to gather at Mordialloc beach in Melbourne’s south this Monday to promote “Aussie Pride”.

The nationalist group, which boasts about 900 MySpace members, plans to meet at the steps of Flinders Street station at 12pm before heading to the beach “for drinks, etc” in what it describes as “the biggest day for SCS 2009”.

Police are monitoring the group and have assured beachgoers that existing patrols will be able to deal with any antisocial behaviour.

Members of SCS yesterday said the group was not racist and there were no plans to cause trouble at Mordialloc beach on Australia Day.

Anti-racism campaigner Cam Smith said the meeting was unlikely to get out of hand if police patrolled the popular beach on Australia Day.

“I don’t think there will be 5000 people there, so I think even normal beach patrols should be able to handle it,” Mr Smith said.

The Southern Cross Soldiers came to prominence last year after the police shooting of Northcote teenager Tyler Cassidy in December.

Tyler, 15, was a participant on the group’s chat sites before he was shot dead at a Northcote Shopping Centre.

A police spokeswoman said the group was known to police, but police recognised the right of people to join groups and meet as they wish.

“The aim of police is to ensure that these groups do not cause any harm or offend the wider community,” she said.

“Any gathering of a large group of people would be monitored by local police.”

SCS boasts chapters in Melbourne, the city’s north, north-east and west.

The group also has chapters in New South Wales, and the Gold Coast, with one member who uses the name “The Australian Defence Force”.

See also : Southern Cross Soldiers : Last Words (January 9, 2009) | Doctor Saleam Jumps the Shark (December 23, 2008) | International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) on callous and brutal police (December 19, 2008) | Southern Cross Soldiers, Tyler Cassidy and the far right (December 16, 2008) | The Ugly Australian(s) (December 14, 2008) | Southern Cross Soldiers : Into the Blogosphere, More press on Tyler Cassidy shooting (December 13, 2008) | Tyler Cassidy and the Southern Cross Soldiers, Southern Cross Soldiers’ first casualty (December 12, 2008) | OH NOES! Southern Cross Soldiers go to war (November 23, 2008)

Posted in Anti-fascism, History | 4 Comments

Jump! You Fuckers!

Posted on January 23, 2009 by @ndy

Jump! You Fuckers!

Dan Hind
dcehind[at]hotmail[dot]com
19 January, 2009
[PDF]

“…They will not jump, these people. They cannot easily accept that they are presiding over a system that must be replaced. They will not give way willingly to new ideas and a new reckoning with the problems facing the planet. The world will always be run by confident and impressionable men (mostly men), because they want power so badly…

I am not saying that we should push those responsible out of tall buildings to their deaths. I am not saying that. They will, if properly handled, do what is required.

But we do have to push them.”

Nice title. Somewhat tepid conclusion. Thus while “The choice is not simply between state control and private capitalism” Hind maintains “The state needs to be more thoroughly democratised”. Then again: “Readers are welcome to revise the text and forward it with changes if you feel so moved.”

How about a little anarchy?

[Cheers Alex.]

Posted in Music, Poetry, State / Politics | Leave a comment

Rape and a slap and a tickle : The Keys to a Successful Marriage?

Posted on January 23, 2009 by @ndy

I used to think that maybe the keys to a successful marriage were something like ‘commitment’, or ‘communication’, or ‘chocolate’. But Coburg mosque cleric Samir Abu Hamza apparently reckons that for married women it’s three strikes and you’re out. That is, after first having been advised (“for a long long time”), and then having been denied sex, if a married man believes that his wife is not showing due deference, he may then “beat” her in order to make her see things more clearly. As in “shape up woman”. Fortunately, a married man may not bruise or cause his wife to bleed by beating her, and the use of broomsticks is completely out of the question. Which is something, I guess. Oh yeah, and — like the laws in Victoria until 1985 — Samir maintains that there is no such thing as rape in marriage.

Anyways, the cleric’s remarks — apparently made six years ago — have naturally caused a furore, just as those of Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali on men, women, cats and meat did three years ago. However!

The President of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) Ramzi Elsayed said he had spoken with Mr Hamza about the lecture, titled The Keys to a Successful Marriage. “He told me he was speaking in a metaphorical sense,” Mr Elsayed said. “In regards to hitting your wife, his position is that it has always been metaphorical – it’s not a whack, it’s not a slap, it’s a wake-up call.” ~ Cleric’s lecture ‘taken out of context’, AAP, The Australian, January 22, 2009

On the other hand:

…the senior honorary legal adviser to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Haset Seli, hit out at Mr Hamza, calling him a lunatic. “His lecture was absolutely ludicrous, unIslamic and highlighted the ignorance of the man,” Mr Seli said. He said anyone who thinks he can force his wife to have sex with him is a lunatic and certainly not a Muslim.

Bonus!

17 The sadness of the heart is every plague: and the wickedness of a woman is all evil.
18 And a man will choose any plague, but the plague of the heart:
19 And any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman:
20 And any affliction, but the affliction from them that hate him:
21 And any revenge, but the revenge of enemies.
22 There is no head worse than the head of a serpent:
23 And there is no anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a wicked woman.
24 The wickedness of a woman changeth her face: and she darkeneth her countenance as a bear: and showeth it like sackcloth. In the midst of her neighbours,
25 Her husband groaned, and hearing he sighed a little.
26 All malice is short to the malice of a woman, let the lot of sinners fall upon her.
27 As the climbing of a sandy way is to the feet of the aged, so is a wife full of tongue to a quiet man.
28 Look not upon a woman’s beauty, and desire not a woman for beauty.
29 A woman’s anger, and impudence, and confusion is great.
30 A woman, if she have superiority, is contrary to her husband.
31 A wicked woman abateth the courage, and maketh a heavy countenance, and a wounded heart.
32 Feeble hands, and disjointed knees, a woman that doth not make her husband happy.
33 From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die.
34 Give no issue to thy water, no, not a little: nor to a wicked woman liberty to gad abroad.
35 If she walk not at thy hand, she will confound thee in the sight of thy enemies.
36 Cut her off from thy flesh, lest she always abuse thee.

~ Sirach Chapter 25

Posted in !nataS, Sex & Sexuality | Leave a comment

Patriots, Pies & Pioneers

Posted on January 22, 2009 by @ndy

Boneheaded Kyle Chapman’s shit-talking on Stormfront about a Pioneer Little Europe (PLE) for Aotearoa/New Zealand has earned him a guernsey in The Press.
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=553254
Curiously, the article by Ian Steward fails to mention King Kyle’s first priority for his new Kingdom: a pie shop.

Boom-tish.

For readers wanting to help Kyle in his quest, here’s the bank account details for his ‘Nationalist Alliance’:

    Name: Nationalist Alliance
    Number: 03 1591 0227948 00
    Bank: Westpac (Eastgate, Christchurch)

The Alliance is composed of most of the major fascist acts in Aotearoa/New Zealand: National Democrats, National Front and New Right, and little fuehrers Kerry Bolton, Kyle Chapman and Anton Foljambe. Of these three figures, Bolton is the one to be most fearful of: his !cinataS powers forced the administration at Waikato University to remove from public circulation a completed thesis he didn’t like.

Oh yeah: a Trans-Tasman alliance between the Alliance and the Australia First Party was declared on April 25 last year. In October, AF’s fueher Dr James Saleam travelled to Wellington to take part in a fascist rally. On a fairly bizarre note, while there, he and Kyle Chapman had themselves photographed fondling children’s books and toys once belonging to a young Jewish man…

Also dead-keen to establish a PLE is plasterer Paul Innes (above, w/- Sue Bateman, former One Nation candidate, at a Stormfront event), currently Chief Swinging Dick on Stormfront Down Under. Paul’s target is The Shire of Kalamunda in Perth (Australia), and his mission is being aided by boneheads belonging to Blood & Honour, who to celebrate the deaths of Australian soldiers in WWII have arranged a special gig for ANZAC Day (April 25), starring local bands Indigenous Hate and Quick & the Dead and Melbourne band Ravenous.

Paul isn’t happy that The Jew has picked up on the story either: “The media will praise and encourage the non-white establishment while denou[n]cing and degrading the White man’s establishments. That is persecution.”
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showpost.php?p=6399835&postcount=17

European-only ‘mini-state’ planned
Ian Steward
The Press
January 22, 2009


SEEKING DONATIONS: Former bonehead, National Front leader and Christchurch mayoral candidate Kyle Chapman wants to set up a community for “like-minded Europeans” in North Canterbury.

“Shaven-headed, jack-booted, race-based, white power” – meet your new neighbours Rangiora.

Former bonehead, National Front leader and Christchurch mayoral candidate Kyle Chapman is attempting to set up a “unified mini-state” in North Canterbury.

The proposal, a commune-style arrangement for “like-minded Europeans”, has drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum.

Chapman’s “Land Base” proposes to have:

* Training areas for “sport fighting”.
* A “protected community”.
* A “meeting house for gatherings of leaders and active nationalists”.
* A “social bar for fundraising and building unity”.
* A large vegetable garden.

Chapman’s plans were uncovered after a copy of an email to members of a far-Right group, the Nationalist Alliance, was leaked on to the internet.

Beginning “Hello Patriots”, Chapman asked for donations for the project.

“With an ever decreasing European population we face the real risk of having no power in our Nation,” it said. “It currently crumbles through the current system of bad government policies, greedy politicians and businessmen. We must act to build a unified mini-state that we could build up in future to be a base for other like-minded Europeans to come to from other dying countries.”

Once established, the Nationalist Alliance intended to use its “high concentration of like-minded folk” to elect local officials and a member of Parliament sympathetic to its views.

Other “benefits” included:

* Keeping “our children away from the multicultural brainwashing of current system schools.”
* “Encouraging, supportive and friendly interaction with like-minded people.”
* “Ability to put our European skills and intelligence to create new technologies and build something to be proud of.”
* “Safety in numbers.”

The proposal said the base would be established “in the North Canterbury area”.

Chapman declined to comment to The Press, saying there was plenty of information in the email.

Waimakariri MP Clayton Cosgrove said Chapman’s plans were of concern, “given his track record of shaven-headed, jack-booted, race-based, white-power activity”.

“If the motivation is some sort of extreme white-power compound, I’d be deeply concerned, as would any community.’ Cosgrove said the language Chapman used in the email “bred hate and division”.

“This is nutty stuff. He’s 50 or 60 years behind the world. People have moved on. It’s crackpot stuff,” Cosgrove said.

Hurunui Mayor Garry Jackson was unavailable for comment but a spokeswoman, Naomi Woodham, said the proposal was “abhorrent and offensive”.

“All of us here at the Hurunui District Council welcome and embrace cultural diversity, and if there was a proposal to set up a white supremacist movement in the Hurunui District it would be strongly opposed,” she said. “Especially one encouraging sport fighting and survivalist training. This sounds like a form of surreptitious terrorist instruction.”

National MP Kate Wilkinson, a North Canterbury resident and Associate Minister for Immigration, said most “thinking people” would not consider membership of Chapman’s “exclusive club”. Discrimination and division were not part of our culture, she said.

Chapman resigned as leader of the National Front in 2005, citing pressure on his children, who were being shunned at school.

Finally, note that, in addition to wanting to establish a Whites-only enclave in Canterbury, Kyle is also heavily invested in another fascist project called ‘Survive Club’. This involves men running around the bush in Aoetearoa/New Zealand in camo, killing and eating possums, and otherwise honing their skills for the impending Race War. Unlike the October 15 mob, this sort of activity is apparently all fine and dandy as far as the state is concerned.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism | 2 Comments