Mutiny is an anarchist group consisting of a number of layers of trust and information management

Posted on September 7, 2008 by @ndy

Or so says police intelligence.

In 2007, tricksy state authorities, given the task of protecting the preciousss APEC summit — one of HoWARd’s last hurrahs — announced that they’d compiled a list of ‘excluded persons’. This list was made possible by the working class NSW Government, which in June 2007 passed a piece of legislation called the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Bill 2007. The following Clauses spelled out the ways and means by which police — to be precise, the Commissioner of Police, Andrew Scipione — could protect the summit from party poopers:

Clause 24 provides that certain persons (excludable persons) may be excluded from APEC security areas. These persons include persons who have failed, without lawful excuse or special justification, to comply with requirements made of the persons under the proposed Act. Another category of excludable persons are persons who are named in an excluded persons list prepared under proposed section 26.

Clause 25 enables a police officer to exclude and remove persons from a restricted area if they fail to comply with a request made of them under the proposed Act to identify themselves. It also enables persons to be excluded from such an area if they possess or have in their control prohibited items without special justification or if they are in the area without special justification…

Clause 26 enables the Commissioner of Police to prepare one or more lists of persons that the Commissioner is satisfied are persons who would pose serious threats to the safety of persons or property (or both) in an APEC security area during the APEC period.

At the time, authorities announced that the list consisted of 29 POIs (‘persons of interest’ in the nomenclature of the state), although — to the best of my knowledge — only a handful were publicly identified, and then only as a result of their attempts to bring the issue before the courts. Thus in September 2007, the violent football hooligans Dan Jones, Paddy Gibson, Dan Robbins and Tim Davis-Frank attempted to have this provision of the Act ruled unconstitutional. Thankfully for democracy, Michael Adams, Margaret Beazley and David Ipp ruled otherwise.

In any case, while tricksy police claimed that 29 persons were on the Commissioner’s Top Secret list (28 of whom were there because they had been charged with offences deriving from the G20 protest in Melbourne in 2006), in actuality the list comprised 61 party people in the place to be:

Beware of the police bearing lists
Edmund Tadros
The Sydney Morning Herald
September 6, 2008

University activists and Greenpeace members made up a third of a secret list of 61 people NSW Police considered so dangerous they were banned from public areas near last year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.

In the months before the event, the NSW Government passed special legislation so police could create a list of “excludable persons”, who were told they were on the list and would be immediately arrested if they entered Martin Place and other public areas around the Opera House during APEC Leaders’ Week.

At the time the newly appointed Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, refused to release the names on the list, or the reasons why they were on it. He said: “Our intelligence tells us there is an intent to act violently.” The Assistant Commissioner, Dave Owens, said those on the list “present a threat to the safety and security of APEC”.

The Herald has obtained the excludable persons list using freedom-of-information laws. While the names have been removed, the reasons for inclusion on the list, including membership of various “issue-motivated groups” [!], have been disclosed…

The 61 all presumably received a letter a little like this:

And while the names have been removed, “activists” and trainee spooks around Australia are being invited to participate in another fun game of ‘Identify the Excluded Person of Interest’. Mick Armstrong of Some Alternative is convinced troublemakers all derive from The Land of the Long White Cloud and Fush and Chups.

    What do you think? Try your luck! APEC excluded list (PDF). First neatest, correctest entry to identify the largest number of ultra-violent wreckers what should be locked up in jail receives a complimentary blogpost on slackbastard.

Now the news:

Feral, low-life people (from New Zealand) that want society to be in a state of near anarchy for their own perverse pleasure 1 | Arms industry 0

SA defence expo cancelled over violence fears from radical groups
Nigel Hunt
Sunday Mail
September 7, 2008

A MAJOR defence expo due to start in Adelaide on Remembrance Day has been cancelled amid fears of violence by radical protest groups.

Organisers of the Asia-Pacific Defence and Security Exhibition made the decision after talks with the State Government and police over planned protest action against the three-day event.

In recent weeks, police have given the Government several confidential briefings on the scale of the planned protests – including the participation of an ultra-radical group responsible for violence at last year’s APEC meeting in Sydney – and the cost of the huge police operation to counter them.

Acting Premier Kevin Foley said yesterday the Government had full confidence in police to manage “these feral anarchists that would be descending on Adelaide” if the event, at the Convention Centre, had proceeded.

“However, the organisers had to take into account a number of factors, ranging from security issues as well as the level of support from the Defence Department,” he said, also labelling the protesters “feral low-lifes”.

“We had to weigh up a number of factors and the decision was taken that the cost of security, the possible threats of violence, were risks that on balance the organisers of the event and the Government agreed were not worth proceeding with.”

Mr Foley said the decision should not be seen as a “victory” for the protest groups because the contacts with manufacturers made so far would be followed up.

The APDSE – an armaments trade fair – was to be held from November 11-13. The fair was part of a concerted push by the State Government to sell South Australia to the rest of the world as a defence state.

The executive director of APDS Exhibition Ltd, Phil Guy, yesterday confirmed the discussions with the Government and police leading up to the decision.

“The major issues discussed revolve around public safety, security risk levels and increased costs, plus the Commonwealth’s failure to support the event,” Mr Guy said.

“Earlier this week, SAPOL advised the Government and APDS about issues of public order and security leading up to and during the event.

“Police advise that the APDS exhibition is being targeted by highly organised and violent protesters with a history of focusing on similar defence and security events.”

Sources said the State Government was alerted to the scale of the protests several weeks ago.

Police then briefed the Government’s Emergency Management Committee on August 28. It is understood further meetings were held between the Premier’s office and senior police this week which resulted in the discussions with organisers.

Mr Foley was critical of the protest groups, particularly those who resorted to violence.

“These are feral, low-life people that want society to be in a state of near anarchy for their own perverse pleasure,” he said.

“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.”

Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Burns yesterday declined to comment, but police sources said senior officers had detailed to the Government the expected scope of the protests – around 500 protesters – and the “strong” likelihood of violence erupting.

The size and cost of the police operation was also detailed, along with assessments concerning public safety risks and disruption to the city over the period.

SAPOL’s Protective Security Service command had been planning a massive security operation involving almost 500 police to control the protests.

All annual leave for police had been cancelled a month ago for the week of the operation and those involved were having their riot training updated.

It is known police had received accurate intelligence on the protesters who would attend, including members of the ultra-militant protest group Mutiny.

Mutiny, and another group called Arterial Bloc, were behind the violence at last year’s APEC meeting in Sydney [?] and the G20 meeting in Melbourne in 2006.

Many other protest groups have been attempting to rally support for their cause in recent weeks by dropping pamphlets at various events in the city.

Prior to the event being cancelled, peace activist Jacob Grech from OzPeace told the Sunday Mail he anticipated “around 500” protesters at the event.

Mr Grech organised similar protests at Canberra’s AIDEX events in 1989 and 1991. The violence at the 1991 event resulted in a third defence expo planned for 1993 being cancelled.

He said plans were under way for several busloads of protesters to travel from Melbourne and Sydney and many had intended making their own way to Adelaide.

“We have a policy of non-violent direct action,” he said. However, Mr Grech confirmed members of the militant Mutiny group were also planning to attend.

“I have heard some of them will be coming down from Sydney, but again the nature of the protest is going to be non-violent as far as we can determine,” he said.

Remix : Remembrance Day show abandoned, Sunday Herald Sun, Nigel Hunt, September 7, 2008: “FERAL” rioters who wreaked havoc at 2006’s G20 meeting have forced a Remembrance Day event to be cancelled. The three-day defence expo due to start on November 11 has been scrapped amid fears of violence by “low-life anarchists”.

Incidentally, Mutiny zine editors wish the world to be informed that the deadline for the next feral issue is:

    Friday, September 12.

    Send us:

    * 350 words of news, actions, resistances, occupations, updates on political situations, etc
    * 1500 words worth of articles
    * 350 words worth of reviews on recordings / screenings / gigs / films / books / ‘graphic novels’ / etc

    Please send your submissions ASAP to mutineers[at]graffiti[dot]net

Posted in Anarchism, State / Politics, War on Terror | 11 Comments

Brea|k

Posted on August 31, 2008 by @ndy

I’m taking a break from blogging for a week or two as ZOG has demanded that Agent Gerbil and I attend an important conference of Miscegenists, Race Traitors and Zionist Puppets in Jerusalem. Or possibly Tahiti. Anyway, we’ve both been promised there’ll be loads of booze, chicks, drugs and food. Or not. In the meantime, a few items of interest…

one

AK Press finally done got themselves a blog: Revolution By the Book : AK Press Blog.

two

There’s a new film about

p0rn

The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality and Relationships

Once relegated to the margins of society, pornography has become one of the most visible and profitable sectors of the cultural industries in the United States. It is estimated that the pornography industry’s annual revenue has reached $13 billion. At the same time, the content of pornography has become more aggressive, more overtly sexist and racist.

The film features the voices of consumers, critics, and pornography producers and performers. It is particularly revealing when male pornographers openly discuss their views about women and how men should relate to them, and when male and female porn users candidly discuss the role pornography has played in shaping their sexual imaginations and relationships. The film paints both a nuanced and complex portrait of how pleasure and pain, commerce and power, and liberty and responsibility are intertwined in the most intimate aspects of human relations.

At the same time, the film examines the unprecedented role that commercial pornography now occupies in U.S. popular culture. Going beyond the debate of liberal versus conservative so common in the culture, The Price of Pleasure provides a holistic understanding of pornography as it debunks common myths about the genre.

The film features interviews with scholars of mass media (Gail Dines and Robert Jensen), economics (Richard Wolff), and psychology (Dr. Ana Bridges); writers on pornography and popular culture (Ariel Levy and Pamela Paul); producers and performers from the pornography industry (John Stagliano, Joanna Angel and Ernest Greene); and a former stripper/porn performer-turned-author (Sarah Katherine Lewis).

three

Climate change camp has given George Monbiot an opportunity to reiterate his craptastic critique of anarchism, one which echoes his thoughts in that book he wrote.

Climate change is not anarchy’s football
“In seeking to put politics ahead of action, Ewa Jasiewicz is engaging in magical thinking of the most desperate kind”
George Monbiot
guardian.co.uk
August 22, 2008

four

The IWCA — which emerged during the late 1990s, and partly as a result of the dissolution of the Marxist groupuscule Red Action — done some analysis on immigration and its implications for working class struggle in the UK:

Kicking away the ladder at home and abroad: immigration, globalisation and neo-liberalism
Independent Working Class Association
August 8, 2008

The administrators of the British economy and UK plc have openly admitted that the recent large scale immigration into the UK has acted to depress wages, something they welcome as a positive development. Meanwhile, the middle class left condemns anyone who acknowledges the possibility that immigration may being used as a weapon of class warfare by business against the domestic working class as reactionary, racist and right-wing, a stance that benefits no-one except the BNP. What might be a progressive, pro-working class position on this most contentious of issues?

five

Some techno dude known as Adultnapper got some interesting stuff to say about music and politics:

Against the day: Adultnapper
RA
Todd L. Burns
August 7, 2008

Brainy philosopher, schizophrenic comic book character, or globe-trotting DJ? Try all three. RA’s Todd L. Burns tries to keep up with Adultnapper as he gets ready for his upcoming sets at New York’s Minitek and Sunday School for Degenerates.

“To me, if you’re having someone say that you can’t be a techno producer if you aren’t getting rid of vinyl and involving yourself fully in new technologies, tells me that you’re saying “fuck you” to Underground Resistance and to everybody who was against that consumer capitalism. And the moment that techno becomes associated with consumer capitalism, I’ll fucking walk right away. I don’t give a shit. Sure, I want to make a living, but I don’t want to invest fully in my artform to create this consumer product for people to digest—and contribute to an ever-growing problem of people who don’t want to take the time to understand an art or take the time to understand to actually involve themselves in something and have a real conversation about something. And I think the digital realm takes that away. Everybody thought that if you open the internet that it was going to be, “Oh wow, it’s freedom.” But as you can see, it’s basically populist fascism.

That sounds really pretentious, doesn’t it?”

And here’s the other half…

six

What is Real Utopia?
Chris Spannos
ZNet
July 5, 2008

UTOPIAS HAVE A LONG, mixed history in Left movements. Sometimes they have propelled our imagination toward what better worlds might look like. Other times they have trumpeted heaven on earth, a world for angels rather than mortals, a far fetched leap to the impossible, where birds can play guitar and human beings are able to flap their arms to fly. Utopia, the word, has its origins in Greek, meaning “nowhere,” suggesting that it doesn’t—and maybe cannot—exist. Still, it has been conceived as an island perfectly designed in all ways societal and moral, and an ideal place or state of being where no wrong can be done. Where utopia offers vision escaping reality it has rightly been rejected by serious Leftists. But even when vision is not pie in the sky, objections are made that any long-term goals can become a blueprint that carries inherent danger of authoritarianism with people reacting as spellbound children naively following the Pied Piper. In this book,1 we hope to transcend all such problems by drawing from history and real-world conditions, offering vision and strategy for what is possible in transforming society’s defining institutions and in revolutionizing human existence in all spheres of life.

seven

Reading Gay Pride: New Books for the Queer Left
Kenyon Farrow
The Indypendent
June 26, 2008

If you’re a grumpy, anti-capitalist, nearing middle-aged queer like myself, the June Gay Pride festivities can be really annoying — especially in New York. Because there are five boroughs, the events seem to go on forever. Rainbow striped flags, key chains and booty shorts sprout all over the city, defying the drab earth tones of your camouflage shorts and black tank top. Cheesy dance remixes of even cheesier top 40 songs drown out your reflective folk tunes. Yep, June is no bowl of organic free-trade cherries for the political queers.

eight

Terrorists Shouldn’t Profit From Their Crimes
David Gelertner
The Wall Street Journal
June 20, 2008

An unrepentant terrorist named Theodore Kaczynski (the “Unabomber”) used mail bombs to kill three people and injure 28 – including me – between 1978 and 1995. He is now attempting to cash in on his brutal crimes, and a federal appeals court will soon decide his case.

nine

Agent of Influence: Reassessing Wilfred Burchett
Robert Manne
The Monthly
June 2008

Following the collapse of communism in Europe and the conversion of China from Marxism-Leninism to an unpleasantly authoritarian version of Market-Leninism, the reputation of Wilfred Burchett, the most controversial and influential communist in Australian history, seemed destined gradually to sink. Oddly enough, this has by no means been the case. At present two Australians, Ross Fitzgerald and Simon Nasht, are reported to be making films on Burchett. In the past three or so years, Melbourne University Press has published a long pro-Burchett biography, Tom Heenan’s From Traveller to Traitor; the University of New South Wales Press, an enormous unabridged autobiography, Memoirs of a Rebel Journalist; and Cambridge University Press, an anthology of Burchett’s work, Rebel Journalism: The Writings of Wilfred Burchett. The reception to these publications revealed that Burchett is, in general, still supported by leading Australian left-wing academics, like Stuart Macintyre, Gavan McCormack and Ben Kiernan; by some of its most prominent expatriate left-wing journalists, like John Pilger and Phillip Knightley; and by some talented student Leftists as well (last year a stridently pro-Burchett thesis won a University of Sydney undergraduate prize)…

ten

Pedagogy, Ideology, and Space in the Classical Anarchist Conception of Freedom
Michael Vastola
Reconstruction 6.2 (Spring 2006)

Abstract: This article attempts to understand the term “freedom” through a comparative analysis of how it was mobilized in various anarchist texts from the nineteenth century. Such an analysis helps to differentiate the anarchist conception from its mainstream liberal and libertarian variants. This is accomplished with the aid of a broad spatial framework in which incommensurable notions of space and spatiality are clarified. Likewise, the framework demonstrates the extent to which popular assumptions about pedagogy from the anarchist tradition are based on a contradictory recognition of ideal educational practices. Such practices often utilize a propaganda model that is in many respects antithetical to their ideas about the spatial dimensions of freedom, as well as the central role of freedom in a moral social relation. Though critical of their conception of state power, the author claims that there is still much to learn from the philosophical foundations of classical anarchist thought, particularly when they draw upon (in a largely critical fashion) some of the indispensable concerns and suppositions of the Enlightenment—which may modestly contribute to the post-postmodern reactualization of theories of subjectivity, ideology, and praxis for our historical moment. The importance of new theories of ideology is emphasized, since the absence of a more sophisticated recognition of the concept is a major reason why the anarchist tradition has often failed to sufficiently consider real power relations in its immediate circumstances—as exemplified by many of its simplistic assumptions about authority and pedagogy in the nineteenth century.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

RNC 2008

Posted on August 31, 2008 by @ndy

“There were no bombs or anything in there”

Following on from the DNC protests, this coming week brings protests against the other wing of the party of capital, the Republicrats. Fox News reports — kinda redundantly — that “The FBI won’t specify about any ongoing investigations pertaining to the Republican Convention, but say they’re keeping a close eye on an anarchist group that’s been making threats on their website”. CNN reports that:

Police raid headquarters of RNC protesters

* Armed police officers raid rental hall used by group planning RNC protest
* Police temporarily detained, photographed 50 people inside building
* No word yet as to what police were looking for

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) — Police raided a rental hall used by a group organizing protests at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday. The RNC Welcoming Committee, which describes itself as “anarchist/anti-authoritarian,” accused St. Paul police of trying to disrupt their protest planned for Monday, the day the GOP convention is set to begin. While no one was arrested, the group said police temporarily detained and photographed at least 50 people who were inside the building. St. Paul Police spokesman Tom Walsh said they were executing a search warrant. “The cause for the search warrant is not public at this time,” Walsh said. As many as 30 police officers entered with guns drawn, according to witnesses in the building. “The convergence center is simply a gathering place and is not used for illegal actions — it is a place for workshops and trainings,” a statement from the protest group said. “Tonight, we were watching films and sharing food.” “We are now accused of a simple fire code violation,” the statement said. Oddie Miller, a 19-year-old from Fort Collins, Colorado, said it was “just a space to get food, free Internet, community organization.” “There were no bombs or anything in there,” Miller said.

CNN didn’t report that incredibly brave police handcuffed a 4 year old child in the space!

Can’t be too careful eh?

Funnily enough, if the police were looking for bombs, they might well have had better luck elsewhere… Say, at a US military base; I’m sure there’s at least one or two somewhere in North America. Oh, also Afghanistan, Bahrain, British Indian Ocean Territory, Cuba, Djibouti, Ecuador, Germany, Greenland, Guam, Iraq, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, The Netherlands, Panama, The Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom… (see also : Department of Defense, ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY PERSONNEL STRENGTHS BY REGIONAL AREA AND BY COUNTRY (309A), DECEMBER 31, 2005 [PDF]).

A more extensive report is available via Twin Cities Daily Planet:

Police break down doors in night-time raid on anarchist meeting
Mary Turck

“I heard somebody saying, ‘They’re coming, they’re coming!’ And feet pounding on the back stairs, pounding on the door saying they had a search warrant. They busted through the door. They’ve got their guns cocked at people.” Sammy Schutz held tightly to five-year-old Gabe, who had been watching a video with his mother and father and about 20 other people when the police stormed into 827 Smith Avenue in St. Paul, ordering everyone down on the floor.

“All I could feel was Mama Bear—do whatever you want to do to me, but I need to get my son out safe. He was watching his dad get handcuffed. And he’s saying, ‘Mommy, mommy, why did they crash through the door?’”

Anyway, the Stimulator is once again on the case. And as in the case of protests against the DNC, there’s (literally) fuck-all reportage in the Australian media about the upcoming protests, but no doubt massive attention will be paid to the horse trading going on within the halls of Democratic Republican privilege.

See also : Protest RNC 2008 | Twin Cities Indymedia

    PRESS STATEMENT FROM RNC WELCOMING COMMITTEE AFTER SHERIFF AND SPPD RAID OF CONVERGENCE SPACE
    FRIDAY AUGUST 29 2008

    Assitant Police Chief Bostrom has talked about the St. Paul Standard, and on the anniversary of last years’ critical mass police riot, we saw its true face. The ramsey county sheriff’s dept and the SPPD raided the RNC convergence space and detained over 50 people in an attempt to preempt planned protests of the rnc on Monday.

    Looking for items found in any twin cities house like jars, paint, and rags, this attempt to portray us as criminals and destroy our credibility has already backfired as evidenced by the masses who have come to support us.

    We are now accused of a simple fire code violation – which is outside the scope of the sheriffs department and clearly not justified provocation for a forceful raid with guns being drawn. Children and elderly people were inside the convergence center when the police violently busted down the doors. The police may claim that the raid was executed according to protocol – however, the violence inherent in this action may only be a hint of the violence to be expected on Monday and beyond, and is only a hint at the violence perpetrated daily by the police.

    The convergence center is simply a gathering place and is not used for illegal actions – it is a place for workshops and trainings. Tonight we were watching films and sharing food.

    This action will not deter us from our plans to protest the RNC on September 1st. We want to invite all people who oppose this police oppression to join us on Septemeber 1st. See you in the streets.

Posted in Anarchism, State / Politics, War on Terror | 1 Comment

Tee hee… tee hee hee! Hackers 1 Blood & Honour 0

Posted on August 30, 2008 by @ndy

Report: Left-Wing Hackers Break into Neo-Nazi Server
Deutsche Welle
August 30, 2008

Left-wing computer hackers have reportedly broken into the secure server of one of the world’s largest neo-Nazi groups, copying more than 30,000 pieces of data.

Members of the anti-fascist left-wing group Daten-Antifa on Friday, Aug. 29, managed to break the access codes and enter the databank of Blood and Honour (B&H), a neo-Nazi organization that has been banned in Germany since 2000.

“Now some people in the far-right extremist scene are going to get very nervous, including activists from the NPD (Germany’s far-right National Democratic Party),” Guenther Hoffmann from the Center for Democratic Culture told the Frankfurter Rundschau on Saturday.

According to Daten-Antifa, 31,948 pieces of data were collected clandestinely from the B&H server, including 500 from Germany. This indicated that the international network is also used by members of the German neo-Nazi scene, which authorities had previously suspected.

Katharina Koenig from the Action Alliance against the Right in Jena told the Frankfurter Rundschau that evidence had been found that B&H concerts had taken place in Germany and that German extremists had organized far-right concerts abroad.

Koenig said that the new information would be helpful to police, although the data was gathered illegally.

Founded in the UK in the 1980s by [dead former] punk rock musician Ian Stuart Donaldson, B&H uses mainly music to spread its neo-Nazi ideology across Europe.

The name Blood and Honour stems from the motto of the Hitler Youth: “Blut und Ehre.”

    Interested parties can download the contents of the B&H forum here. The Australian B&H franchise is co-organising with the local Hammerskins franchise a vewy secwet gig to take place in Melbourne on Saturday, September 13.
Posted in Anti-fascism, Media | Leave a comment

Lock ’em all in a room…

Posted on August 30, 2008 by @ndy

…and give the survivors a lollipop when they come out.

White supremacists vs. Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ Inc. Etc.

Ding ding!

‘Ready for War’: Thousands Join Militant Black Supremacists
Intelligence Report
Fall 2008

…The notorious white supremacist leader Tom Metzger once remarked of extremist [as opposed to moderate] Hebrew Israelites, “They’re the black counterparts of us.” The belief system of extremist Hebrew Israelites is basically the reversed-color mirror image of the Christian Identity theology embraced by many white supremacists, which holds that mainstream Jews are the descendants of Satan and that white people are the chosen ones, divinely endowed by God with superior status over “mud people,” believers’ term for non-white individuals…

Extremist Hebrew Israelites have a long, strange list of enemies. At the top of the list are white people, who they preach are descended from a race of red, hairy beings, known as Edomites, who were spawned by Esau, the twin brother of Jacob (later known as Israel) in the Old Testament…

History of Hebrew Israelism
The Hebrew Israelite movement is rooted in Black Judaism, a belief system birthed in the late 1800s by black Christians from the South’s Pentecostal “Holiness” movement. They claimed to have received a revelation: America’s recently emancipated slaves were God’s chosen people, the true Hebrews…

1930 — Door-to-door silk salesperson Wali Farad Muhammad (born Wallace Fard) founds the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in Detroit, U.S. Though he believes Islam to be the natural religion for Africans, Farad does not emphasise the traditional “five pillars” of the faith – the five actions a Muslim must fulfil to achieve salvation. He focuses on explaining the historical oppression of the black race. This mythology includes the claims that black people — as members of the tribe of Shabazz — were the original human race and came to the Earth 66 trillion years ago. White people were the result of an experiment performed by the deranged black scientist Yakub 6,000 years ago. ~ The birth of the Nation of Islam, CNN, April 30, 2002

See also : God and the General: Leader Discusses Black Supremacist Group, Intelligence Report, Fall 2008 | The Yaweh ben Yahweh Cult, Julia Scheeres, truTV Crime Library | Snarling at the White Man (Leaders of the New Black Panther Party, unlike those of its namesake of the 1960s and 1970s, speak of ‘white devils’ and ‘bloodsucking Jews’), Intelligence Report, Fall 2000 | John Safran Vs God …

… Internet Infidels Inc. | Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc. | Atheist Society (Melbourne, Australia)

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

The Striking Age

Posted on August 29, 2008 by @ndy

Workers at The Age (and other Fairfax publications) have done gone on strike:

Fairfax Media journalists in Australia stage four-day strike

SYDNEY (AFP) — Journalists working for Australia’s second largest press group, Fairfax Media, on Thursday launched a four-day day strike to protest at plans to axe 550 jobs, staff and their union said.

Journalists at the company, which publishes the flagship Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, walked out two days after bosses said they were slashing five percent of the workforce to save 50 million dollars (43 million US)…

Funnily enough, the job cuts come at a time of fat profits for Fairfax: “Fairfax last week announced a 46.8 percent jump in net profit to 386.9 million dollars for 2007-08 on the back of a strong performance from its online businesses.”

And while the union is on strike, scabs are being used to produce what is likely to be a large number of unsold copies of this weekend’s newspapers:

Fairfax strike-breakers take over as staff walk out
Brad Norington
The Australian
August 29, 2008

FAIRFAX Media will use strike-breakers to publish its flagship newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review in a high-stakes battle with staff after journalists yesterday walked out until Monday in protest at 550 planned job cuts. A group of specially trained staff was put into action on Fairfax papers last night to ensure production could proceed…

Printers @ Fairfax are displaying their solidarity with management by staying on the job: “Australian Manufacturers and Workers Union national print secretary Steve Walsh said the union was monitoring the situation but his members would keep working” (Fairfax printers to work through strike, AAP, August 29, 2008). Although it’s possible that, with enough political pressure, printers might be persuaded to join the striking journalists; it’s likely that most workers would be reluctant to cross a picket line.

Finally, in a move that’s unlikely to win them much support — aka a PR blunder — poor old bloody Mike Carlton has lost his job for acting in solidarity with striking journalists by failing to submit a column:

Striking columnist Mike Carlton sacked
The Australian
August 29, 2008

RADIO broadcaster and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton has been sacked for refusing to write his weekly column during a strike. Carlton, a member of the journalists’ union, the MEAA, took the stand on the grounds that filing the column amounted to crossing a picket line. Carlton does the breakfast show on 2UE, owned by Fairfax Radio. A Fairfax spokeswoman confirmed Carlton had his contract to write a column for the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald terminated because of his refusal to write…

There’s presumably a picket line down on Spencer Street, which members of the public are free to visit and to show support. In the meantime, I just hope hackers don’t launch some kinda DDOS attack on Fairfax’s online services.

That would be just plain wrong, and cause management all kinda headaches.

Posted in Media, State / Politics | 6 Comments

Neo-Nazi Muzak : Denmark, Germany… and Australia

Posted on August 29, 2008 by @ndy

2 in Denmark arrested over neo-Nazi music
The Associated Press
August 27, 2008

FRANKFURT, Germany: German investigators say Danish police have arrested two men as part of an effort to halt the production and distribution of neo-Nazi music.

Prosecutors in Frankfurt say the two men — a Dane and a German — were arrested in northern Zeeland on Wednesday.

Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet says the men were jailed for two weeks on a German extradition request. Prosecutor Arne Stevns was quoted as saying the Justice Ministry would decide on extradition. Stevns was not immediately reachable for comment.

The arrested men — identified only as Flemming C. and Stephan G. — are accused of overseeing the production and distribution of neo-Nazi music under the label Celtic Moon.

Investigators say the pair produced as many as 100,000 copies of the music.

Of even greater interest, Deutsche Welle reports that:

Two key figures in the right-wing music scene have been arrested in a major international operation. Police say the arrests, which follow three years of investigations, are a major blow to the extremist scene. A German and a Dane with ties to the right-wing music distributor Celtic Moon were arrested on Wednesday, Aug. 27, in Denmark, said Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). The BKA said the arrests, the outcome of international cooperation, shook up the extremist music distribution scene, dispelling its sense of security. Flemming C. and Stephan G. have been accused of financing, commissioning and distributing recordings that have been deemed illegal because of their extremist content. They are presumed to have had contact [with] a partner in Australia, who allegedly copied the CDs and sent them to Denmark for distribution. The group reportedly produced CDs worth a five-figure sum. The accused allegedly have ties to German music groups, music managers and high-ranking members of the right-wing scene, including leaders of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). Authorities on Wednesday also investigated several individuals [from] Werwolf Records, a far-right music distributor with ties to Celtic Moon.

How about that eh? Note that Werwolf Records distributes Douglas Schott‘s Newcastle-based band Blood Red Eagle.

Locally, neo-Nazi titles — Blood Red Eagle (AUS), Bound For Glory (UK not US), Fortress (AUS), Legion of St. George (UK), Retaliator (UK), Skrewdriver (UK) and the incomparable Southern Storm (”Niggers, Jews and Communists / Look out scum, you’re on our list!”) — are available through Snapshot Records in Sydney. (Oddly, Snapshot also endorses Class War — and, presumably, Class War endorses Snapshot; or at least, the use of its logo.) Other distributors include Scythian Sevices (which deals exclusively in neo-Nazi muzak) and Deadset Music, which stocks a small range of fascist / neo-Nazi / RAC and white power music — including but not limited to Bakers Dozen, Battle Scarred, Combat 84, Condemned 84, Hateful, Kampfzone, Knockdown, Les Villains, Marching On, Retaliator, Scum, Tattooed Motherfuckers, The Gits and Unit Lost.

    In June, police raided a property outside Bathurst belonging to David Pollard, the owner of neo-Nazi online store Noble Front. To the best of my knowledge, charges are still pending.

In just a few weeks, on Saturday September 13, neo-Nazis will be gathering in Melbourne to commemorate the death of Skrewdriver lead shouter Ian Stuart Donaldson. Performing will be local boneheads Blood Red Eagle and Ravenous, and a neo-Nazi band from overseas (almost certainly from either the UK or US). Last year, the Melbourne Croatia Social Club played host to US band Final War, Melbourne bands Bail Up! and Fortress and Perth band Quick and the Dead. The latter band features Murray Holmes, formerly of Skrewdriver. Murray is making a minor comeback with the assistance of another Perth punk band called The Homicides — The Homicides are also releasing a split album with Sydney band T.H.U.G., which features two former members of the 1980s neo-Nazi band White Lightning. The East Brunswick Hotel provided a stage for T.H.U.G. in July, when the band supported English band Sham 69.

    “Keep on keeping on against the Bonehead scum that stand for nothing but cowardice. When you think of the Australian blood given in the fight against Fascism in WW2 it must have old soldiers turning in their graves at the site of Neo Nazi scum playing gigs in your town. Always stand firm against this threat. FUCK FASCISM.” ~ Roddy Moreno, The Oppressed, June 11, 2007

Much further afield, in Russia, “Police in Oryol, Russia refused to properly investigate an arson attempt that nearly took the lives of the family of a local human rights activist who has received numerous death threats from neo-Nazis, according to a statement by the intended victim, Dmitry Krayukhin” (Police in Oryol, Russia Refuse to Properly Investigate Probable Neo-Nazi Arson, UCSJ, August 27, 2008). Thankfully, the handful of death threats I’ve received aren’t supported by a large fascist movement, and boneheads are both few and far between and generally very quiet. On the other hand, local neo-Nazis can rely on the support of a handful of local punks and Skinheads Neither For Nor Against Racial Prejudice, one of whom, Doug Smith (of local band Bulldog Spirit) late last year published what he believed to be my work address on a forum thread dedicated to discussing the annual Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig (one accompanied by threats of violence).

‘It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt’, as they say.

The gig itself is being organised by local chapters of international neo-Nazi networks Blood & Honour and the Hammerskins. Recently:

A white power band called The Caucasoids, accompanied by an apparent minor and boasting the threatening symbol of a hangman’s noose, played the Independence Day concert put on a day late at a secret location in Orlando, Fla. The concert, entitled The Fourth Fest, was thrown by the Confederate Hammerskins, a Southern division of the notoriously violent Hammerskin Nation. Only the lead singer (second from left), Coby Stonecypher of Chuluota, Fla., has been identified. The concert was the second Hammerskin show of the year in Florida, following a “St. Patty’s Day” concert that took place on March 17 in Tampa. The Hammerskins, and especially the Confederate Hammerskins, have been growing recently after a period of relative stagnation, rising from nine chapters in 2006 to 14 chapters last year.

The above article is lifted from the latest # (131, Fall 2008) of the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s Intelligence Report, a very useful compilation of reportage on racist groups and movements in the US.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Music | 3 Comments

DNC 2008

Posted on August 29, 2008 by @ndy

…and The Stimulator is on the case. There’s (literally) fuck-all reportage in the Australian media about the protests, but massive attention is being paid to the horse trading going on within the halls of Democratic privilege.

Ho hum.

Note that yesterday (August 27) police raided the Long Haul infoshop in Berkeley. Police “broke down every door, and confiscated all computers on the property. Computers taken included those used by the Slingshot Collective and East Bay Prisoner Support. Police also broke into cabinets, cut locks, and went through mail.” Police in Denver have also raided the convergence space; another standard police tactic intended to maximise disruption.

One of the more amusing incidents to have occurred involved a hack from Fox News being told to fuck off.

Anyway, here’s The Stimulator:




So much for political science. In the natural sciences:

Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every action with which it comes into contact.

A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to occur, to take from four days to four years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

…aaand remember folks: anarchy is a fag!

It’s enough to make a young punk drool.

See also : 2008 DNC / RNC Protests and Events @ infoshop.org | colorado indymedia DNC 2008 | “The RNC Welcoming Committee is an anarchist / anti-authoritarian organizing body preparing for the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.”

Posted in Media, State / Politics | 3 Comments

Costa and Iemma : Dickheads. And That’s Official!

Posted on August 28, 2008 by @ndy
    MICHAEL COSTA stormed across the room – his face flushed, his hands clenched – towards John Robertson, the secretary of Unions NSW. “You blokes can get fucked,” he screamed. “You’re going to look like dickheads on Monday morning.”

Working families in NSW and their comrades in China’s Red Bureaucracy have been dealt a bitter blow with the withdrawal of State Gub’mint legislation to allow the sale of the NSW electricity system. Barking mad anti-Communist, nutty neo-con and former crackademic turned Newscorpse hack Imre Saluskinzky is Johnny-on-the-spot:

NSW Government withdraws electricity sell-off legislation
The Australian
August 28, 2008

THE NSW Labor Government has been forced into a humiliating retreat over its plan to privatise the state’s electricity industry. NSW Premier Morris Iemma withdrew the privatisation legislation from a special sitting of parliament earlier today, when it became clear it would be defeated by a combination of the Coalition, Independent and minor party MPs, and Labor renegades. The decision by Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell to vote down the $10 billion sell-off, announced this morning, ends a year of controversy around the proposal, which has split the Labor Party down the middle. Mr O’Farrell said this morning there was too much “current uncertainty in the energy sector” to justify a sale…

Alex Mitchell sheets home the blame for the failure to flog off state assets to the highest bidder to Iemma and ex-Trot turned chief bean-counter Michael Costa, but makes no mention of the revulsion expressed by labour movement activists and the majority of Morris and Michael’s own party (They break our legs / And we say “Thank you” when they offer us crutches, May 6, 2008).

NSW power privatisation dead: any life in Iemma?
Alex Mitchell
Crikey
August 29, 2008

…They had a golden opportunity to persuade the NSW ALP, Unions NSW, their backbenchers and the general public to support a plan to raise billions of dollars to help repair old infrastructure and start new projects.

Instead, they behaved like old-style political bosses issuing orders, cracking the whip, shouting down opponents and threatening them. Even with the Sydney media in full throat backing the Thatcherite “solution” to the state’s energy needs, they failed to sell their message anywhere outside the city’s Central Business District.

What gives today’s parliamentary defeat a seismic quality is that Morris Iemma and Michael Costa both placed their credibility on the line for privatization. They raised it to a matter of confidence in them.

Iemma’s premiership is now in ruins: it is completely lacking in credibility, and it is difficult to know how long he can continue in the job.

If Costa had any sense of the proprieties of public life and the Westminster system, he would be submitting his resignation later today.

Costa came to parliament with the specific intention of becoming treasurer and succeeding Michael Egan. He wanted to achieve power privatization where Egan failed.

In the next few days, Iemma will announce his much-postponed reshuffle. There is some evidence he take the opportunity to dump the widely unpopular and divisive Costa and replace him with Planning Minister Frank Sartor or Education Minister John Della Bosca who is coming back from suspension if, as expected, he is cleared of any offences arising from the Iguana’s restaurant fracas on June 6?

But if he is removed from the Treasury portfolio, Costa doesn’t have the personality to accept demotion. He’d rather move to the backbench.

He became a member of the upper house on November 21, 2001, and he is entitled to his taxpayer-funded parliamentary pension after he has served seven years — that’s in 11 weeks’ time.

He’s likely to stay in parliament until he is entitled to draw down his fully indexed lifetime pension which is estimated to be around $130,000 a year, and then head to the investment banking world where his former political patron, ex-premier Bob Carr, is esconced at Macquarie Bank. Maybe Babcock & Brown could pick him up or the Fairfax board?

The end game of this political drama is yet to be played out. Costa is a goner, but what will they do with Iemma?

Good question. Fortunately, the fruit-picking industry is screaming out for workers, and being a working class man in a party of, by and for the working class, the soon-to-be former NSW Premier is sure to examine this option very closely.

Just like Noel.

Posted in State / Politics | Leave a comment

G20 : Courts allow violent foreign football hooligans to spit in the face of law-abiding citizens

Posted on August 28, 2008 by @ndy

one

Taking rights to an extreme
Herald Sun
[Idiotorial]
August 28, 2008

PEOPLE have a right to protest, but calling a politician a Hitler intent on raping the countryside and waving a hangman’s noose in his face is going too far.

Victorian Water Minister Tim Holding was confronted by an angry mob when he arrived in Mildura to meet the members of the new water authority.

The unruly protest was over the decision to sack Mildura’s water trust following its loss of $2 million in Victorian Government funds on the US mortgage market.

The crowd of several hundred shouted “sieg heil” at the minister and threw up their arms in Nazi salutes.

At Shepparton, Mr Holding was pelted with eggs in protest over the Government’s controversial north-south water pipeline.

This extreme behaviour over water follows the planned invasion last month of a property owned by Premier John Brumby and managed by his wife.

That pipeline protest was averted only after police told demonstrators they would be arrested.

The protesters may be justly passionate, but they risk their demonstrations being taken over by extremists.

The G20 riots in Melbourne are an example. Some of these protesters are still being dealt with by the courts, and one demonstrator was sent to jail.

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

These people are simply provocateurs that open up police to violent attack.

In Europe their ranks have been riddled by fascists.

What gave them a certain critical mass at the G20 was the presence of considerable numbers of anarchists from overseas.

One of our staff from New Zealand said he recognised at least 40 New Zealand anarchists. He knew at least 20 of them by name.

There were also a considerable number of black bloc anarchists from Europe. Police authorities know of people from Sweden, Germany and England.

These people are like football hooligans who travel the world looking for violence.

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

The public should offer no comfort to these crazies. We should do whatever we can to isolate them. They are wreckers.

Taking protests to these extremes is an affront to democracy.

two

G20 rioters have sentences cut
Katie Bice and Georgie Pilcher
Herald Sun
August 28, 2008

FOUR demonstrators involved in the violent G20 riots have had their sentences cut on appeal.

The Herald Sun reports Beth Nathan, Sofia Todorova and Rosalie Delaney had convictions recorded against them overturned and Julia Dehm had a suspended sentence reduced to community work.

The County Court heard the group were part of a mob that outnumbered and attacked police at a demonstration against the Group of 20 nations summit at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne in November 2006.

Protesters tried to break a police blockade at Collins St, pushing and hurling barricades at officers, and throwing wheelie bins and milk crates. They vandalised a brawler van in a riot where bottles and objects were hurled at police.

Serial protester Ms Dehm had applied to have her conviction overturned so she can still practise as a lawyer. But Judge David Parsons said her offending – where she threw a barricade that injured a policewoman – warranted a conviction.

He said that should serve as a special punishment and deterrent so he reduced her seven month suspended jail term to 250 hours community work.

Judge Parsons said Ms Nathan, Ms Todorova and Ms Delaney had committed offences against symbols, like the police van, rather than the officers.

David Nguyen, who threw a bottle at police, lost his appeal and a conviction and 250 hours community work stands.

Steve Medcraft, from People Against Lenient Sentencing, said the upheld convictions of Ms Dehm and Mr Nguyen was to be commended but the clear record given to Ms Delaney, Ms Nathan and Ms Todorova was disappointing.

“I am sick to death of all this remorse and rehabilitation. Get down to basics if you commit crime you get sentenced,” Mr Medcraft said.

He said lifting Ms Dehm’s suspended sentence did not take into account the extent of the injuries she caused to Senior Constable Kim Dixon. The 41 year-old policewoman can no longer work after being hit when Ms Dehm threw a water filled barricade at her during the G20 protests in Collins Street.

Mr Medcraft said it was worrying Ms Dehm wanted to become a lawyer.

“If the legal profession has got this sort of person coming through the ranks [G]od helps us in the future[?]”

three

G20 protesters win reduced sentences
ABC
August 28, 2008

Four protesters sentenced over riots at the G20 summit in Melbourne in November 2006, have had their sentences reduced on appeal.

The protesters pleaded guilty to charges of riot and were convicted in the Melbourne Magistrates Court earlier this year.

The County Court overturned convictions for Sofia Todorova, Rosalie Delaney, and Beth Nathan, who are in their twenties, but sentenced them to do community work.

Twenty-five year Julia Dehm had her suspended jail term reduced to a community based order, with conviction.

Delaney, Todorova and Dehm have each been ordered to pay almost $14,000 compensation.

four

G20 protest sentences overturned
Miki Perkins
The Age
August 29, 2008

Four G20 protesters have had their sentences cut on appeal in the County Court and a fifth has lost his appeal.

They had been involved in two riots during protests at the G20 summit in Melbourne in 2006 that included throwing barricades and wheelie bins at a police brawler van.

Rosalie Delaney, 20, of Parkville, Beth Nathan, 22, of Brunswick and Sofia Todorova, 26, of Moonee Ponds had convictions recorded against them overturned.

They were ordered to do unpaid community work of between 180 and 200 hours.

Julia Dehm, 25, had her seven-month suspended sentence reduced to 250 hours of community work.

Dehm had applied to have her conviction overturned so that she could practice as a lawyer. David Nguyen, 23, of Coburg, lost his appeal. His conviction and sentence of 250 hours community work stands.

Earlier this week Doris Dehm told the court her daughter had assured her the protest would be peaceful.

After watching a video of her daughter in the demonstration Doris Dehm said: “That’s a part of Julia we’ve never seen in the 23 years (before it occurred) and have never seen since.”

The court was also shown footage of Rosalie Delaney emptying a wheelie bin into the window of the damaged police brawler van.

“Rather than follow the example set by many thousands of demonstrators, she has taken her protests up a notch,” crown prosecutor Chris Beale said.

Her lawyer, Michael O’Connell, said Delaney’s plans to spend a year studying in Paris as part of her degree could be in jeopardy because her sentence made it difficult to obtain a visa.

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics, Student movement, War on Terror | 2 Comments