Left, Right…

Posted on November 28, 2007 by @ndy
    Update Saturday December 8.

Having examined the Leninist vote at the 2007 Federal election, it’s time to turn right…

AUSTRALIA

Neither Pauline nor her former Party experienced much success at the polls this election. Well, not in terms of votes anyway. In terms of money, she’s laughing ka-ching! all the way to the bank, with a cheque for over $162,000 (Loser Hanson cleans up, Herald Sun, Ellen Whinnett, November 25, 2007).

In what will probably be her final tilt at Parliament, Ms. Hanson came fourth in the Queensland Senate race, having gained 95,131 votes or 4.12% and 0.2883 of a quota. One Nation, on the other hand, gained a meagre 4,144 votes, or just 0.18%, placing them fifteenth of 24 Senate tickets. In other states, One Nation fared a little better: in NSW obtaining 16,611 votes or 0.41% (by contrast, Pauline’s United Australia got 38,165 votes or 0.95%); in Victoria, 12,414 votes or 0.41%; in WA, 10,354 votes or 0.93%; and in SA, 5,583 votes or 0.61%. In total then, across the nation ON received 49,106 votes: a far cry from 2004, when in Queensland alone ON received 71,032 votes. In 2001, the Hanson ticket in Queensland received 215,400 votes…

In the seat of Murray, Diane Teasdale, with 623 votes, placed sixth of nine candidates. In Werriwa, Dr James Saleam’s comrade Joe Bryant fared a little better, gaining 2,019 votes, and placing fourth among a field of six.

Other parties on the right include the Jesus Freaks in the Christian Democratic and the Family First Parties, and the Free Market Fanatics in the LDP (Liberty and Democracy Party). In the Lower House, 129 Family First candidates received 245,144 votes, or 2.0%; 63 Christian Democratic Party candidates Hallelujah! received 104,433 votes or Can I Get A Witness? 0.8%. In the free market of ideas, the Liberty and Democracy Party found much fewer buyers, their 47 candidates collecting just 17,003 votes or 0.1%.

God and the Market have spoken.

Finally, in one of the finer displays of complete gibberish I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, here’s Sue ‘I hate Jews’ Bateman with her election screed, one apparently worth 801 votes by the people of Fremantle:

    VOTE 1 – SUE BATEMAN
    ONE NATION WESTERN AUSTRALIA
    FREMANTLE

    This Election is possibly the most crucial,
    This Nation has ever faced.

    Your VOTE and Preference will decide whether
    we continue
    this greedy and destructive course we are on.

    Or will you say enough is enough?

    This election, Stop! And sit quietly.

    Clear all your mind of all of the confusion
    and propaganda that has been forced upon you.

    Quietly think of your 5 million Australian
    Brother and Sisters who live below the poverty line.

    Think of the depth of moral degradation
    WE have stuck to.

    Quietly, visualise how obscenely the Rich and
    Privileged few have become and how the poor have to
    Struggle harder each day just to exist.

    As you “THINK”, let your conscious and commonsense
    Guide you.

    Do not be afraid of change it will be unhurried.

    It will only effect, what is disadvantageous to YOU,
    Or OUR country AUSTRALIA.

    What do you think you will miss out on If you vote
    For a new and vibrant unshackled party?
    What could be worse than the two BURNT OUT,
    “Derelicts” we have now.

    VOTE 1 – SUE BATEMAN
    ONE NATION WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Speaking of “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!”…

GERMANY

On November 17, a group of around 30 neo-Nazis, armed with cobblestones and batons, attacked the Casablanca restaurant in Dortmund. According to the police report, the group shouted “shit Turks” and “shit foreigners,” a reference to the Turkish guests inside. Nevertheless, the police are refusing to admit that the attack was racially motivated, and the offenders have been charged only with disturbing the peace…

Using a variety of tactics, the right-wing scene has attempted since the 1970s to establish itself in Dortmund and has a long record of criminal offences. At one time, in an attempt to recruit football fans, it formed Borussenfront. It also established the since-banned FAP (Free Comradeship) and most recently the “Anarchist Nationalists” and the RechtsRockszene (right-wing rock scene)… ~ Germany: Neo-Nazi attack in Dortmund restaurant, Sybille Fuchs, wsws.org, November 27, 2007

Also in Germany, four Übermensch allegedly carved a swastika into the leg of a sixteen-year old girl. They did so after the teenager tried to stop the men from harassing a six-year old outside a supermarket (Police Hunt Neo-Nazis Who Cut Swastika Into Woman’s Hip, Spiegel Online, November 26, 2007). The story was apparently originally reported on German indymedia. Of course, numerous other accounts of fascist and neo-Nazi intimidation never make it even as far as this.

RETURN TO OZ

On a completely unrelated note, I sometimes wonder why Welf Herfurth, the German-born neo-Nazi yuppie and chief (and only) ideologue of national anarchism in Australia and New Zealand fled Germany to come to Australia all those years ago…

On a somewhat related note, this Saturday night local scabs will be gathering at The Birmy in Fitzroy to reward Gary K’s support for neo-Nazi groups Blood & Honour (banned in Germany) and the Southern Cross Hammerskins over a period of a decade; a privilege recently claimed by the Melbourne Croatia Social Club. Herfurth attended the 2006 Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial, but I’ve no idea if he attended this year’s. It’s likely that Jim Perren did however. (See also : Allon Lee, The Music of the Nightmare: “Sounds of Hate” revisited, Australia/Israel Review, December 2007; response to follow)

Oh yeah, and someone claiming to be a corporate shill from some advertising agency sent a message to the Boycott the Birmingham blog. Here’s what it read:

John Hawley Says:
November 21, 2007 at 8:01 pm

To Whom it May Concern,
I would like to inform the persons running this site that some one in your organisation is illegaly [sic] placing posters inside JCDecaux bus shelters.
As these are owned by us and are private property we will be contacting the Police and prosecuting if any further posters are found in our shelters. We will also charge for advertising and removal costs.
I hope that this does not re-occur.
Regards,
John
JCDecaux Australia

JC Decaux are an interesting mob. Based in Paris, with branches in 45 countries including, obviously, Australia, they’re also apparently the second-largest outdoor advertising corporation in the world, and likely able to afford some otherwise expensive legal representation. Thus according to a Reuters report from March: “The company said 2006 net profit rose 4.1 percent to 201.1 million euros ($265.1 million) and announced a 5 percent dividend hike to 0.42 euros per share. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased 10.9 percent to 331.9 million euros and EBITDA rose 12.6 percent to 533.6 million euros.” Coincidentally, and perhaps encouraged by the sale of another former public asset — our ‘public’ transport system — to another French corporation — Connex — Jesus Christ Decaux wants to buy advertising space from the Victorian Government in exchange for bicycles.

Keen-eyed students of European radical history, as I’m sure most of my readers are, will note that this is in fact the neo-liberal, corporate version of a scheme first attempted to be implemented by Dutch radicals in the 1960s. According to Peter Marshall (Demanding the Impossible):

The Provos set out to provoke the staid burghers of Amsterdam and upholders of the Dutch State. In their journal Provo, they announced a series of White plans to deal with city problems. These included the White Bicycle Plan, which set up a number of white bikes around the city to be used communally; unfortunately, and perhaps predictably, many were stolen. They also mooted the White Chicken Plan (kip, or chicken, is slang for policeman); this would have seen policemen dressed in white uniforms and had them distributing contraceptives. Provo (which as a monthly reached a circulation of ten thousand) regarded anarchism as the ‘inspirational source of resistance’ and wanted to revive anarchism and to teach it to the young. The happenings and demonstrations of the Provos reached its climax in a violent confrontation with the police during a royal wedding on 10 March 1966…

Fast forward 40 years and traverse a continent (or two), and the situation has obviously shifted. 1) The ‘organisers’ of a blog advocating a boycott of a local pub which has 2) hosted White supremacists for the last 10 years is 3) the subject of a legal threat from 4) the local arm of a foreign corporation which is 5) simultaneously seeking to acquire advertising rights over public property by implementing a White Bicycle scheme first proposed by 6) anarchists in Europe and 7) from which political tendency the boycott is being most actively promoted. Meanwhile, the pub in question continues to be patronised by both boneheads and people who wear @ symbols on their clothing.

AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

In New Zealand/Aotearoa, another well-known bonehead, 22 year-old Brendon ‘Nasty’ Rimmer, has recently gone to court for exhibiting similar fortitude in the struggle against ZOG as his German comrades, in Rimmer’s case, by spitting in the face and then allegedly assaulting an Asian teenager:

A Taupo man who spat in an Asian teenager’s face and told him to “get out of my country” has been labelled as nasty by a judge. Brendon James Rimmer, 22, appeared in the Taupo District Court yesterday facing three charges of common assault. He has pleaded guilty to the charges, which relate to an incident in Napier in July when Rimmer approached a group of four teenagers – aged between 15 and 17 – and verbally abused them before assaulting some of them.

Judge James Weir described Rimmer as “nasty” after hearing the details of the incident. Rimmer ran up to a group of boys walking along Wycliffe St in Napier and began verbally abusing them, a police summary of facts said Rimmer asked them “why are you hanging around with this chink?”, the summary said. He then asked the Asian teenager what he was doing in “my country” before saying “why are you here? Get out of my country”.

Rimmer then spat in the teenager’s face before hitting him in the face. Three of the boys escaped but one was left with Rimmer who pulled on his shirt, then asked why he was crying and threatened to “smack” him in the face…

Rahowa! you wanker.

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Anti-fascism, History, Music, State / Politics | 3 Comments

Viva Chávez? WSJ on the student opposition…

Posted on November 26, 2007 by @ndy

To Oppose Chávez, Youth In Caracas Rally Behind Stalin
John Lyons and José Córdoba
Wall Street Journal
November 24, 2007

CARACAS, Venezuela — As Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez attempts to push through what he calls 21st-Century Socialism, his biggest obstacle is an army of students led by a leftist named Stalin.

Ivan Stalin González, who prefers to be called just plain Stalin, is president of the student body at the Central University of Venezuela, or UCV, Venezuela’s biggest public university. During the past few weeks, Mr. González and other student leaders here have organized protest marches by tens of thousands of students opposed to a constitutional referendum set for Dec. 2. The proposed changes would dramatically expand Mr. Chávez’s power and allow him to seek perpetual re-election.

“Historically, students have represented the hope and conscience of Venezuela,” says Mr. González, who, unlike his bushy-moustached and sinister-mannered Soviet namesake, is scruffy-bearded and laid-back.

The student movement has taken the government by surprise, highlighting an embarrassing irony for the fiery Mr. Chávez: University students, long a bastion of the left here as in the rest of Latin America, are overwhelmingly opposed to him. They have also emerged, along with the Catholic Church, as among the last major opposition to Mr. Chávez in a country where he already controls the congress, courts, army and most media outlets.

Elia López, a 22-year-old architecture student at UCV, worries that by the time she is designing buildings, the only client will be the state, limiting her creativity. “Imagine if you studied to do something creative, and suddenly you couldn’t do it, or you could do it only if your ideas were the same as the government,” she said.

Variations of that concern are almost universal among Venezuela’s university students, whether they are majoring in sociology, dentistry or law. In a UCV campus election that became national news in mid-November, anti-Chávez student slates won 91% of the vote. Mr. Chávez’s student supporters garnered 9%.

Students like Mr. González have traditionally played an outsized role in Latin America’s turbulent politics. In the 1950s, University of Havana students led a struggle against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Fidel Castro, who forced Mr. Batista from power — and who is Mr. Chávez’s revered mentor — got his start as a student leader at the university. In Mexico, a massacre of students and other protestors in 1968 helped inspire the creation of half a dozen small guerilla groups in the 1970s.

And in Venezuela, UCV holds an important place in political history. In 1957, a student strike that began here eventually led to the downfall of dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez. Half a century later, many Venezuelans hope Mr. Chávez will meet his political Stalingrad at UCV. “Student struggles have always preceded great historical changes,” says Fernando Ochoa, a former defense minister who was jailed when he participated in the 1957 strike as a high school student.

The sprawling UCV campus shows the scars of battles between pro- and anti-Chávez students earlier this month, involving stones, homemade bombs and gunfire. The law school’s student-center room, a base for Chávez supporters, still smells of charred wood and plastic from a fire that recently destroyed it. Workmen are still cleaning up the School of Social Work. There, pro-Chávez students barricaded themselves for several hours during a standoff with a crowd of students, until a group of armed civilians on motorcycles intervened to allow the Chávez supporters to escape.

On a recent day, the student radio station that plays constantly from speakers around the campus augmented the usual salsa tunes with student-movement classics, such as “Age of Aquarius” from the musical “Hair.” Protest marches, although sometimes met with violence by police, have been generally marked by whimsy and wit.

Taking to the streets, students have thrust their palms up in the air. The idea: They are a peaceful movement, bearing no weapons. This week, at a student press conference, a tortoise bearing the initials of Venezuela’s Supreme Court crept across a table while students complained that the court had been slow to take up their challenge to the proposed constitutional changes. (The court rejected the students’ request to delay the referendum to give citizens more time to study the proposals.)

Anti-Chávez sentiment on Venezuelan campuses burst into the open in May, when the government pulled the plug on RCTV, a television network critical of Mr. Chávez. Tens of thousands of students viewed the move as a blow to freedom of speech. They were also alarmed by Mr. Chávez’s promises that the “revolution within the university” would be next — likely expanding government control over areas like the curriculum. They took to the streets, creating a protest movement in campuses across the country. The Dec. 2 referendum has sparked a round of new protests.

Caught off guard, Mr. Chávez has called the students “terrorists” and written them off as “pampered, rich mama’s boys.” UCV, which charges no tuition, has a range of students, from the scions of businessmen to the sons of taxi drivers.

Mr. Chávez’s description also hardly fits Mr. González. The 27-year-old, sixth-year law student grew up in a poor household that dreamed of a Communist Venezuela. His father, a print-machine operator, was a high-ranking member of the Bandera Roja, or Red Flag, a hard-line Marxist-Leninist party that maintained a guerrilla force until as recently as the mid-1990s. Its members revered Josef Stalin as well as Albania’s xenophobic Enver Hoxha. As a boy, Mr. González remembers packing off to marches with his sisters, Dolores Engels and Ilyich, named in honor of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

As a young man, Mr. González burnished his leftist credentials, joining Marxist youth groups and following his father into the Bandera Roja. He traveled to Socialist youth conferences in Latin America.

Mr. González was still in his teens when Mr. Chávez was voted into office in late 1998. Even then, he says, he was skeptical about Mr. Chávez’s socialist rhetoric, as are many Venezuelan leftists. Mr. Chávez, a lieutenant colonel who had staged an unsuccessful coup attempt in 1992, would be more authoritarian than egalitarian, Mr. González reasoned.

He says his suspicions were confirmed when Mr. Chávez started forming the “Bolivarian Circles” of civilian supporters, some of which turned into armed gangs used to break up opposition gatherings. “Military men belong in the barracks,” he said.

Still seeking to make a life out of left-wing politics, Mr. González enrolled in 2001 at UCV. Rising in the ranks of the student body can be a fast track into political life, and as head of the 40,000-member student federation, his studies have taken a back seat to politics. He plans to graduate next year.

Even before the recent marches, Mr. González took positions on Venezuela that set him apart from other leftists. In 2003, organizers of a conference for young socialists in Guadalajara, Mexico, jumped him to the top of the speakers’ list.

“I think they saw my name, Ivan Stalin, from Venezuela, and put me first,” he says.

They regretted the move, he says. Speaking about a coup attempt against Mr. Chávez the year before, Mr. González pointed out that Mr. Chávez had been reinstated by generals in the military — not by a popular protest of supporters as the audience seemed to think.

“After I spoke, the place went nuts. All the Cubans were lining up to denounce me,” Mr. González says. He says he wasn’t invited to the group’s meeting this year in Quito, Ecuador.

For all his disappointment with Mr. Chávez’s brand of leftism, Mr. González still holds a candle for his revolutionary heroes. He has a signed copy of a seven-hour speech Fidel Castro delivered at the university several years ago. “I never got bored,” he says.

He also hasn’t totally broken with his namesake, who was responsible for the deaths of millions. “Of course, there’s the murder and repression,” he says. But the Soviet leader defeated Hitler, he says, and propagated ideas of fairness and sharing that inspired the left in subsequent decades. “He was important for publicizing some important ideas.”

See also : Media lies about Venezuela’s democratic revolution, Lauren Carroll Harris, Green Left Weekly, November 17, 2007 (and generally) for supportive accounts | El Libertario for anarchist analyses from Venezuela (English)

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

Socialism vs. 2007 Federal Election: Results

Posted on November 25, 2007 by @ndy
    Update Thursday May 22 2008 (final results!).

    Update Saturday December 8.

    Update Saturday December 1 : The SEP has published its own assessment of its performance at the election.

    Update Monday, November 26 : Figures constantly updated. The latest issue of the GLW is understandably quiet on the fate of its candidates; the SEP, meanwhile, has published its own version of events: “The working class will soon come into conflict with the new Labor government, directly posing the need to build its own political party. Herein lies the significance of the Socialist Equality Party’s election campaign. The SEP advanced the only independent political perspective for the working class, and fought to clarify both the current and historical role of the Australian Labor Party and the unions as the key props of bourgeois rule. We explained that Rudd Labor in no way represented a “lesser evil” to Howard and that it would rapidly emerge as even more ruthless in prosecuting the interests of corporate Australia at the direct expense of the working class.”

Yeah so Kevin07 won. But how did the Trots fare? A cynical whining rightwinger posing as an anarchist guides you through the results…

In general, the Socialist Alliance continues to have the upper hand in its struggles with its arch-rivals in the electoral arena, the members of the LaRouche cult, beating them into second-last place in almost every contest. On the other hand, despite being jam-packed with experienced socialists who’ve contributed enormous amounts of time and energy to building literally innumerable social campaigns and struggles, this revolutionary enthusiasm does not appear to be reflected at the ballot box. Meaning that The Lessons of The Bolivarian Revolution have yet to be translated into Australian terms.

House of Un-Representatives:

Blaxland, NSW: Raul Bassi got 522 votes, or 0.7% of the total, a gain of 0.2% on 2004. On the other hand, and slightly less positively, in the popularity stakes socialism remains the most unpopular political doctrine among the voters in Blaxland, Bassi polling last of eight candidates; his closest rival, Gabrielle Kent of Family First, gaining over twice as many votes.

Brisbane, QLD: The massive swings to the ALP in Queensland didn’t quite translate into massively increased votes for SA. Nevertheless, Ewan Saunders (placed first on the ballot) gained 566 votes in Brisbane, an increase from 0.4 to 0.7% of the vote since 2004. In other positive news for the Alliance, Ewan, while not proving to be quite as popular as either the Democrats or Family First, managed to absolutely trounce the CEC candidate, much to the undoubted chagrin of the cult’s followers.

Calwell, VIC: Frank Gagliotti (SEP) asked for the votes of the people of Melbourne’s outer north-western fringe, and the people responded by giving him 273. Unfortunately, 99.7% of votes went elsewhere, Frank finishing last of nine candidates.

Charlton, NSW: Terry Cook of the SEP got 404 votes, or 0.5%, which, on the bright side, is an increase of 404 votes on 2004. Terry also managed to beat David Stow of the CEC by 110 votes; which, given the fact that Lyndon LaRouche is a bona fide genius, is no small feat.

Chifley, NSW: A good result for the SEP, James Cogan getting 1,069 votes, or 1.3%. Still, at risk of being called a cynical whining rightwinger posing as an anarchist, I suspect this may have had something to do with James being placed first on the ballot.

Corio, VIC: Hmmm. Chris Johnson appears not to have fared so well, gaining just 332 votes, a decline of 0.3%, from 0.7% to 0.4%.

Cunningham, NSW: Congratulations go to Jess Moore of the SA. With 706 votes, or 0.8% of the total (a gain of 0.4), Moore has beaten John Flanagan of Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting) into last place, John gaining a measly 489 votes.

Denison, TAS: Susan Austin of SA has at this stage proven to be slightly less popular than her predecessor, gaining just 494 votes, a decline of 0.1 (from 0.9 in 2004) to 0.8% of the total.

Franklin, TAS: Matt Holloway has managed to maintain the line for SA in Franklin, gaining 365 votes or 0.5% of the total, a swing of 0.0%.

Fraser, ACT: A bit of a disaster in the ACT for the SA. Farida Iqbal got just 539 votes, or 0.5% of the total, an actual reduction in support of 3/4 from a dizzying high of 2.1% in 2004.

Fremantle, WA: Dockworker Sam Wainwright of the SA has experienced a disappointing result in the struggle for the hearts and minds of voters in Fremantle in this, his first tilt at the seat. With 361 votes, or 0.5% of the total, Sam is in a remarkably similar position to SA in 2004. Less positively, Sam has proven to be a lot less popular than the Jew-hating Sue, Ms. Bateman of the One Nation Party gaining 988 votes.

Gellibrand, VIC: Ben Courtice trounced both the CEC and the Democrats, gaining a relatively massive 1,334 votes or 1.6% of the total, a gain of 0.9% on 2004. Well done Ben! (Note: this may have had something to do with Ben being placed first on the ballot…)

Grayndler, NSW: Pip Hinman did really well, gaining 1,394 votes, or 1.7% of the vote, a gain of 0.5%. Patrick O’Connor of the SEP did less well, gaining just 328 votes, or 0.4%. At this point, the Trots have trounced both the Democrats (on 1.7%) and also the CDP (1.2%).

Griffith, QLD: A disappointing result for SA in Griffith, Jim McIlroy receiving just 293 votes or 0.4%, a decline from 0.7% in 2004. The halving of the socialist vote is doubly perplexing in Jim’s case, given that he’s been politically active since opposing the Vietnam War in the 1960s, is renowned locally as a grassroots campaigner (from anti-WorstChoices to the Dr Haneef civil rights campaign), and especially as he spent 2006 in revolutionary Venezuela reporting for Green Left Weekly, as well as having authored numerous pamphlets in labour and socialist history. Are beardy blokes that unpopular?

Kingsford Smith, NSW: Another relatively good result for the SEP, Alex Safari gaining 1,096 votes, or 1.3% of the total. Unfortunately, Safari still managed to come last, his combination of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky being (slightly) less popular than the winning combination of Christianity and Democracy embodied by Marcus Campbell of the CDP.

Melbourne, VIC: This seat would not seem to be a socialist stronghold. Will Marshall of the SEP got 418 votes; Kylie McGregor of the SP 539. This renders them the two least popular candidates, less popular even than the LaRouche fanatic, Andrew Reed (586 votes — Andrew was placed first on the ballot).

Moncrieff, QLD: Another mixed result for SA in Moncrieff. Perhaps the most positive dimension to Tim Kirchler receiving 315 votes for Socialism is that this proves Socialism is more popular than Lyndon LaRouche (214 votes), and adds yet another victory to the SA in their intense rivalry with the CEC.

Newcastle, NSW: Unfortunately, despite wearing a hardhat, Geoff Payne gained a rather meagre number of votes for the SA, just 333 or 0.4% of the vote, a decline from 0.5%. Noel Holt of the SEP didn’t do quite as well as Patrick O’Connor, gaining a relatively meagre 277 votes, or 0.3%. As such, the socialist candidates in Newcastle came last.

Parramatta, NSW: Here, the SA and SEP fared better, Rachel Evans of the SA gaining 1,015 votes or 1.2%; Chris Gordon of the SEP 261 votes, or 0.3%.

Pearce, WA: Annolies Truman of the SA scored 316 votes, or 0.4% of the total; steady as she goes for the SA in Pearce.

Perth, WA: Chris Latham of the SA got 464 votes, a decline from 1.3 to 0.6%.

Swan, WA: Not a great result for Joe Lopez of the SEP: 157 votes or 0.2%. On the bright side, Joe thrashed Norman R Gay of the CEC, who received a meagre 92 votes or 0.1%.

Watson, NSW: Results obtained by Ronald Poulsen of the Communist League suggest that the inevitable historical transition from Capitalism to Communism is indeed dragging its heels. Ron got just 424 votes, or 0.5% of the total. Still, that’s an increase from 0.3. In which case, a majority Communist vote will surely be obtained by… a long, long time from now.

Wills, VIC: The rappin’ skillz, phat beats with tight cuts and incisive lyrics of Zane Alcorn, aka MC Doc Fruit, have failed to set the electorate on its head. Zane got 624 votes, or 0.7% of the total, a reduction of 0.4%. On the bright side, he still managed to soundly defeat the CEC candidate, which is something.

    Party Totals

    Socialist Alliance: 17 candidates, 9,973 votes, 0.1% (average approximately 587 votes)
    Climate Change Coalition: 7 candidates, 9,470 votes, 0.1% (ave 1,353 votes)
    Democratic Labor Party: 4 candidates, 6,018 votes, (0.0%) (ave 1,505 votes)
    Socialist Equality Party: 9 candidates, 4,283 votes (0.0%) (ave 476 votes)
    What Women Want: 4 candidates, 3,870 votes (0.0%) (ave 968 votes)
    Conservatives for Climate: 4 candidates, 3,239 votes (0.0%) (ave 810 votes)
    The Fishing Party: 2 candidates, 2,083 votes (0.0%) (ave 1,042 votes)

Senate

New South Wales

17) Socialist Alliance: 3,351 votes or 0.08%
[20) Citizens Electoral Council: 2,224 votes or 0.05%]
21) Socialist Equality Party: 2,139 votes or 0.05%
25) Group P Independents (Progressive Labour Party): 948 votes or 0.02%

Queensland

17) SA: 1,941 votes or 0.08%
[22) CEC: 1,155 votes or 0.05%]

South Australia

16) SA: 770 votes or 0.08%
[19) CEC: 267 votes or 0.03%]

Victoria

[12) Group I Independents: 5,695 votes or 0.18%]
17) SA: 2,535 votes or 0.08%
18) SEP: 2,403 or 0.08%
[19) CEC: 1,697 votes or 0.05%]

Western Australia

[12) Group P Independents (Graeme Campbell): 1,621 votes or 0.13%]
[15) CEC: 1,002 votes or 0.08%]
17) SA: 928 votes or 0.08%

Total SA vote: 9,525
Total SEP vote: 4,542
Total ‘anarchist’ vote: 5,695

Posted in State / Politics, Trot Guide | 53 Comments

It’s time to go…

Posted on November 24, 2007 by @ndy

…John HoWARd.

PM Howard condemns fake leaflets
BBC
November 22, 2007

Australia’s prime minister has condemned members of his own party for distributing leaflets implying the Labor opposition supports terrorism…

Australian PM on defensive over ‘dirty tricks’ campaign
November 22, 2007

SYDNEY (AFP) — Embattled Australian Prime Minister John HoWARd was thrown on the defensive Thursday just two days ahead of a general election after senior members of his party were implicated in a dirty tricks campaign. HoWARd’s Liberal Party admitted it had expelled two members for distributing fake flyers falsely linking the opposition Labor Party to Islamic extremist bombers…

Australian PM Condemns Election Fraud
Rod McGuirk
November 22, 2007

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Prime Minister John HoWARd battled Thursday to contain a last-minute scandal ahead of weekend elections, after campaigners for his Liberal Party were exposed distributing pamphlets accusing the opposition of sympathizing with terrorists…

Howard election campaign hit by dirty tricks scandal
Barbara McMahon
Guardian Unlimited
November 22, 2007

Australian prime minister fends off party scandal days before election
Tim Johnston
International Herald Tribune
November 22, 2007

SYDNEY: Prime Minister John HoWARd’s struggling re-election campaign in Australia took another blow Thursday after a scandal over a phony pamphlet from nonexistent Islamic radicals distributed by supporters of HoWARd’s Liberal Party.

Tough Race in Australia for Supporter of Bush
Tim Johnston
New York Times
November 23, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia, Nov. 22 — The center-right coalition of Prime Minister John HoWARd, who has been in power for 11 years and is one of the most stalwart supporters of President Bush in the Iraq war, faces a stiff challenge in Australia’s elections on Saturday, polls indicate…

The final days of the campaign have been dominated by a scandal in which the husband of a candidate for Parliament from Mr. HoWARd’s Liberal Party was photographed distributing leaflets that represented themselves to be from an Islamic group — a fictitious one, it turned out — thanking the opposition Labor Party for “support to forgive our Muslim brothers who have been unjustly sentenced to death for the Bali bombings,” in 2002, in which 88 Australians were killed. Mr. HoWARd said the party had not approved the leaflets, and the candidate, Karen Chijoff, knew nothing of her husband’s plans.

Howard rocked by smear scandal as defeat looms
Kathy Marks
The Independent
November 23, 2007

John HoWARd, Australia’s Prime Minister, was fighting for his political life yesterday as details emerged of an attempt by senior members of his Liberal Party to smear the opposition Labour Party and whip up anti-Muslim feeling in a key marginal seat…

Red faces for Howard’s party over fake leaflets
Barbara McMahon
The Guardian
November 23, 2007

· Fliers circulated in Sydney linked Labor to Islamists
· Hoax likely to damage chances of re-election

Australian prime minister John HoWARd’s faltering re-election campaign was badly damaged yesterday by a last-minute scandal in which supporters were accused of a dirty tricks campaign that sought to show the opposition as terrorist sympathisers…

Howard has form in race politics
Irfan Yusuf
Canberra Times
November 23, 2007

Many allegedly conservative commentators were amused by suggestions of former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser that Muslim Australians would be used as political wedges in the next election. Fraser’s remarks were dismissed as politically correct mumbo-jumbo. Yet for many of the 300,000-odd Australians who tick the “Muslim” box on their [census] forms, Fraser’s claims represented the prophetic words of an insider. He had, after all, worked with John HoWARd as his treasurer. And Fraser knows a thing or two about political strategy. Just ask Gough. HoWARd has frequently used ethnic and ethno-religious minorities as wedges. In the 2001 election, he and his ministers suggested that Iraqi and Afghan asylum-seekers were just a bunch of queue-jumpers or, worse still, potential terrorists…

Pamphlets bring community together
Katherine Fenech
St Mary’s-Mt Druitt Star
November 23, 2007

Priest Peter Confeggi has condemned the bogus Islamic pamphlets distributed by Liberal Party volunteers in Lindsay, but has thanked them for bringing the Muslim and Catholic communities closer together.

Father Confeggi, the Parish Priest at Holy Family Church in Emerton, said talk at a meeting with the church’s reconciliation committee yesterday centred around the pamphlets.

“We just arrived speechless in the face of what the Liberal Party had done in Lindsay, utterly disgusted that Jackie Kelly could treat it as a joke, and unbelieving that she and the candidate didn’t know that their husbands were doing it,” Fr Confeggi said…

Kelly going ahead with Seven appearance
AAP
The Age
November 23, 2007

Embattled outgoing Liberal MP Jackie Kelly is still set to participate in the Seven Network’s election night coverage on Saturday night, despite her part in a bogus leaflet scandal…

And introducing…

The stranglehold the far right has on the NSW branch of the Tories — tolerated for over a decade, with a nod and a wink, by HoWARd and the Federal branch of the Party — has finally started paying electoral dividends for “the Uglies”, as their dirty tactics are transposed from successful internal struggles for control over branches to the battle for seats, power, and the ability to impose their ideology through government channels. Of course, if they were smarter, the Uglies would simply allow the out-sourcing of such activity to continue to remain in the safe hands of the bizarros of the Exclusive Brethren, the radical Christian sect only too happy to Prepare Ye, the Way of the Lords. In the meantime, Alex Hawke, former Führer of the Young Liberals, and loyal lapdog to David Clarke, has branch-stacked his way to a seat in the Federal Parliament, having secured pre-selection to one of the safest Tory seats in the country: Mitchell. In July, HoWARd stated that “I… completely support the decision of the Liberal Party preselection committee in Mitchell, I totally support their (decision)”. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

    Karen Chijoff, the Liberal candidate, points out that interest rates were higher under Labor. “Like many local families, my husband and I work hard to raise our children and pay the mortgage. That’s why it is so important to us that the economy is well managed,” she said. “And why my husband — but not me, I knew absolutely nothing about it, and neither did anyone I know, it’s just not something a husband and wife would ever discuss, honestly, something like that I mean — felt compelled to issue shit sheets implying that the ALP supported Islamic fundamentalism. Not that I knew anything about it, of course.”

See also : Unholy battle for Bible belt, Paul Bibby, Sydney Morning Herald, November 23, 2007

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics | 11 Comments

Naughty Russian neo-Nazi fined over execution video

Posted on November 23, 2007 by @ndy

Blogger fined for putting murder video on Net
RussiaToday
November 21, 2007

A Russian blogger found guilty of circulating a racially-motivated murder video on the internet has been sentenced. Viktor Miklov will have to hand over 10 per cent of his salary for the next year. A Court in the Southern Russian Republic of Adygeya convicted the student of inciting racial, religious, and national hatred. The 24-year-old, who was detained in August, admitted to uploading the video of the execution-style killing. The video showed the brutal double murder of a Tajik and a Dagestani by Russian neo-Nazis. Scenes of the beheading of the two victims circulated on the web for 18 hours.

Which is bullshit. The video remains in circulation, and probably always will.

But wait! There’s more!

In another report on RussiaToday (which basically duplicates the one above), the blogger’s ID is given as being “antigispyone” on livejournal. That account appears to be no longer active, but the Russian neo-Nazi forum in which he posted the video — and from which it has since been distributed to countless other sites — is still up-and-running, and receives the full support of not only livejournal but, like the movement as a whole, the Russian nanny state.

In other news, according to the UCSJ:

Izhevsk Court Sentences Killers of Anti-Fascist Youth
November 21, 2007

Two youths in Izhevsk, Russia (Republic of Udmurtiya) were sentenced to 13 years in prison for murdering an anti-fascist youth, according to a November 15, 2007 report in the local newspaper Den. The republic’s supreme court found the defendants guilty of murdering Stanislav Korepanov on March 27, 2007. Between 15-20 youths, described by witnesses as neo-Nazis, attacked Mr. Korepanov and his friends as they were skateboarding near an apartment building. Witnesses reported that the attackers yelled “White power!” in English as they beat their victim with chains and bottles and jumped on his head.

However, the prosecutor in charge of the case consistently denied that the killing was motivated by extremism, treating the case instead as an ordinary murder motivated by “hooliganism.” A conviction on an additional count of extremist activity would probably have added to the defendants’ prison time. The author of the Den article accused local officials of deliberately ignoring eyewitness testimony about the attackers’ neo-Nazi links in an effort to cover up the existence of neo-Nazi gangs in the city. “It’s easier just to say that ‘skins’ [that is, boneheads] don’t exist, and then to decide that the problem doesn’t need to be addressed,” the author of the article concluded.

Further:

Saratov Anti-[Fascists] Sentenced for Attacking Youth They Thought Was a Neo-Nazi
November 21, 2007

Four anti-fascist activists were sentenced on November 15 to fines and in one case prison for attacking a young man they thought was a neo-Nazi, according to a November 16, 2007 report in the Saratov regional supplement to the national daily Komsomolskaya Pravda. The youths were found guilty of attacking Oleg Yakovlev on June 24 while screaming anti-fascist slogans. The three defendants who were sentenced to fines were convicted of beating Mr. Yakovlev with fists and kicking him; a fourth defendant got three and a half years in prison for hitting their victim with a metal object. Mr. Yakovlev denies being a neo-Nazi and points to pictures of him with normal-length hair as proof[!]. However, his attackers claimed that those photos were altered and that he looked like a neo-Nazi, wearing a typical uniform and having a shaven head at the time of the attack. Danil Vapilov, one of the defendants, was quoted in the article saying that they went hunting for neo-Nazis to attack after attending an anti-fascist rally. “In the battle against fascism, all measures are good,” he reportedly said. “I was right to think that he was a skinhead [that is, bonehead] and I would do it again.”

In Germany meanwhile, the home of Nazism (the doctrine which consigned the Slavs who compose Russia’s neo-Nazi movement to the gulags), the far right, especially in the form of the NPD, is gaining support in the east of the country, especially among poorer, rural workers; angry victims of both the mainstream left and right. According to an ‘expert’ cited in a recent BBC report: “There is little resistance because there are fewer democratic alternatives in eastern Germany, fewer churches, trade unions and NGOs, so civil society is much weaker there. And the mainstream parties are just not active in many places.” Another legacy of the success of ‘Communism’, in other words — a victory which contemporary Bolsheviks have only just recently completed celebrating the 90th anniversary of on November 7. In Australia, the occasion has been noted by the Communist Party of Australia, the DSP organ Green Left Weekly and the Socialist Party, among others, presumably. A correspondent for the Communist Party USA writes of Russian celebrations:

Among those giving solidarity greetings were the Cuban ambassador to Russia Jorge Marti, who said the Great October Revolution touched every country and part of the world. He said humanity was at a crossroads and in order to survive, global transformation would have to be guided by the ideals of the revolution.

Also speaking was a representative of the Communist Party of China. He said the “root of the Chinese revolution lies in the October revolution, which introduced Marxism into China. We are taking our own path to socialism, but we will always remain loyal to the ideals of October.”

Savitskaya recounted the story of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. She said he came from a poor family in a rural town. “Look what socialism did for him, what he and the scientific community achieved,” she said. “We want that for every child today – a future with free education and health care.”

The program ended with all the performers on stage. A chorus line of Young Pioneers who have experienced a growth in membership in the last year joined them, in a very moving display.

In Australia, celebrations have been much more subdued, but the ideological descendants of Marx, Engels, Lenin and (usually) Trotsky are concentrating their energies on the upcoming election, either not-praying for a few more votes for Greens or socialist candidates, but certainly for an ALP victory.

Anarchy is a fag… still

In Melbourne, local fashion punks have organised another gig at local neo-Nazi venue The Birmingham on December 1, one week after the election. Blood & Honour and the Hammerskins, who’ve most recently drawn support from the Melbourne Croatia Social Club, have recently been joined by a group based largely in Sydney, known as the New Right, and led by a former NPD member and German-born yuppie businessman Welf Herfurth. Like the neo-Nazi movement in Germany, Herfurth espouses the ideology and practice of Kameradschaften; in essence, the construction of an extra-parliamentary support base. Thus in Germany, according to the same BBC report cited above:

Michael Andrejewski “emigrated” from west to east in 2003. He is a lawyer by profession with no political training. Last year he became an MP for the NPD in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. I spoke with him at an NPD rally in the town of Pasewalk and asked him about the aims of the party… we help in daily problems, we listen to people and help them with admin and social services. I have street credibility with them because I have been unemployed myself. I have shared their sorrows.” Up to 500 far-right activists took part in the demonstration through Pasewalk. They waved banners and flags with slogans such as “National Resistance” and “More jobs. Fewer immigrants.” Most of the demonstrators belonged to Kameradschaften – or comradeships. The police describe some of these groups as “militant neo-Nazis” and say many are violent and racist.

“Go the Nazis!”

This is precisely the kind of movement and activity the New Right is intended to help crystallise in Australia. Events such as the annual ISD gig, and groups such as B&H and the SCHS, are intended to provide some recruits; the role of local fashion punks and, latterly, the Croatian community, is to help support the institutions which in turn make themselves available for use by these groups (and to not ask any questions). In this regard, the Melbourne Croatia Social Club and the scabs who continue to play The Birmy have proven to be excellent company.

In the meantime, while a 16 year-old Spanish antifa (a skinhead) was stabbed to death by a 24 year-old neo-Nazi soldier in Madrid, and Bulldog Spirit, despite having a neo-Nazi on drums, continues to receive the support of a wide range of local punks and skinheads, in a local court:

A MAGISTRATE has fined two Ocean Grove footballers and convicted one of them for their “appalling” anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish man outside his home last year. The attack, which involved one of the men calling Menachem Vorchheimer a “f—ing Jew”, caused his family to temporarily move overseas, the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday.

The court heard Mr Vorchheimer was walking to a synagogue with his two children in St Kilda when James Dalton, 27, reached out from a bus carrying his football team to snatch Mr Vorchheimer’s sabbath hat and yarmulke from his head.

After Dalton threw the two items on the ground, an unidentified occupant of the bus “smacked” Mr Vorchheimer in the face with a fist.

When some of the footballers on the bus discussed apologising to Mr Vorchheimer, and Matthew Cuthbert, 24, was wrongly accused of the assault, he made the comment: “I’m not going to apologise to no f—ing Jew.”

Dalton pleaded guilty to behaving in an offensive manner earlier this week while Cuthbert pleaded guilty to using insulting words. A third man, Simon Christian, 21, was convicted and fined $1000 in April. He pleaded guilty to using insulting words, after he chanted “go Nazis” during the attack.

Mr FitzGerald yesterday fined Dalton $1000 without conviction because he had no prior offences and wanted to work overseas. Cuthbert was fined $750 with conviction because he had unrelated prior offences. ~ Anti-Semitic behaviour ‘appalling’: perpetrators fined, victim’s family fled, Julia Medew, The Age, November 16, 2007

Writing in HoWARd’s Herald Sun, Christopher Bantick reckons we oughta “cut to the chase here. Three footballers have been punished for not only offensive behaviour, but racist, anti-Semitic language. They did not turn themselves in. And the “big man” at Ocean Grove who belted a Jewish dad in front of his kids is no hero” (Racist attack on Jews in our midst, November 17, 2007).

See also : Ocean Grove Football Club breaks its silence, Rebecca Tucker, Geelong Advertiser, November 16, 2007

    On a brighter note : MORE TO COME. STAY TUNED. CHOCOLATE AND SEX.
Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, State / Politics, Trot Guide, War on Terror | 2 Comments

Jackie Kelly: “if you read it you’d be laughing”

Posted on November 22, 2007 by @ndy

Further Update : Jackie Kelly may be in disgrace now, but ten years ago, she predicted HoWARd’s government would last another ten years. Does this mean Kelly was somehow responsible for the downfall of his Government, and the device of distributing a racist shit sheet — followed by a staggeringly inept interview concerning it — was her attempt at ensuring this outcome?

Yes. Yes I think it does.

Jackie Kelly, is a former RAAF squadron leader who won the Labor seat of Lindsay at the last election. She also believes the public doesn’t like politicians saying, “they think we are lower than journalists actually”.

Their observations of the week’s unprecedented events permit us a unique insight into the debate, it’s consequences and the political process. When Sunday reporter Paul Ransley gathered them together and asked them if they thought the public would ever trust them after Travelgate, they spoke frankly. Joel says “no”. Annette would like to think they will but says, “I will need to prove myself”. Jackie says, “some members of parliament will never be trusted again. But not John Howard. He’ll be here for the next ten years”.

Politically and personally, the four MP’s have much to gain or lose by the outcome of the travel rorts debate. Each claimed between $10,000 and $12,000 in travel allowance in the past 12 months. Money they are perfectly entitled to, though in the current climate, it’s a touchy subject.

Each day Jackie Kelly is in Canberra, she claims the $145 tax free allowance. “I stay with an ex friend of mine from the RAAF”. Does she pay a $145 a night rent? “I make it up for her in gifts and things around the house”. It seems she would pocket a fair proportion of the allowance but Jackie maintains that when she’s in Canberra expenses go up. “Compared to Penrith it’s an incredibly expensive city”.

~ Paul Ransley, Politicians & Travel Rorts, Sunday, October 5, 1997

Update : In another pathetic attempt to cover their tracks, the Glenmore Park Action Group (presumably either Mary Cook – Director & Web Administrator and/or Mick Carthey – Web Designer & Administrator) has REMOVED the reference to Greg Chijoff, husband to Tory Party candidate for the seat of Lindsay Karen Chijoff. Note that the President of the GPAG, Troy Craig, is one of the men apparently responsible for producing and distributing the racist shit sheet.

Tee hee. Tee hee hee.

The retiring member for Lindsay, Jackie Kelly, was cruelly deceived this morning by a Union Thug working for the Pink Mafia at the Communist-controlled ABC. Told that she was auditioning for a part on The Chaser, Kelly proceeded to do her very best impression of a politician whose nearest and dearest has been caught out engaged in a dirty tricks campaign on behalf of a fellow Tory. The results speak for themselves.

Also auditioning for parts on The Chaser, according to Kelly, are Kelly’s husband, Gary Clark, NSW Tory Party state executive member Jeff Egan and Troy Craig, president of the Glenmore Park Action Group. As noted by Weezil, Greg Chijoff — in addition to being “Assistant to the Director” of the Action Group — is also the husband of Karen Chijoff, the Tory Party candidate for the seat of Lindsay.

The pamphlet at the centre of the scandal was attributed to the fictitious “Islamic Australia Federation”, and purportedly urged a vote for Labor because of its support for Muslim causes. “We gratefully acknowledge Labor’s support to forgive our Muslim brothers who have been unjustly sentenced to death for the Bali bombings,” the pamphlet says. “Labor is the only political party to support the entry to this country of our Grand Mufti Reverend Sheik al-Hilaly and we thank Honourable Paul Keating for overturning the objections of ASIO to allow our Grand Mufti to enter this country.”

“Ala Akba!”

On the bright side, Kelly’s efforts have so impressed The Chaser, they’ve offered her a job: “The Chaser has invited outgoing Liberal MP Jackie Kelly to apply for a job with the comedy team, after she described a political scandal involving her husband and the Liberal party as just a “Chaser-style of prank” (Chaser to Kelly: Come and work for us!, Arjun Ramachandran, Sydney Morning Herald, November 22, 2007). John HoWARd, on the other hand, is unhappy that some of his minions have been caught doing a ‘dodger’: “I am very critical of what has happened, and I want to make it very clear – very, very clear indeed – that this dodger should never have been put out,” he said. Well, according to the Communist-controlled ABC anyway (Australian PM condemns fake pamphlet, Radio Australia, November 22, 2007).

It also appears possible that this is a running gag for Kelly. According to other Communist sources:

…a former campaigner for Ms Kelly says her team has used questionable tactics before – including issuing fake ‘how to vote’ cards on the 2001 polling day.

Ken Higgs says it was openly discussed at campaign meetings as a way to counter a threat from a resident action group which was campaigning on a platform to save a local defence site.

“It actually said how to save the ADI site and the number one preference was Jackie Kelly and our Liberal party booth workers were told to put on a ‘Save the ADI site’ T-shirt and hand out this bogus how to vote card,” he said.

Surely not. After all, the love and affection HoWARd has for Jackie Kelly is likely only second to that he once had for Pru Goward.

See also : Liberals expel members over ‘offensive’ flyer | Tory! Tory! Tory! | Liberal race hate scam exposed on poll eve, Katharine Murphy, The Age, November 22, 2007

Posted in !nataS, State / Politics | 1 Comment

Tory! Tory! Tory!

Posted on November 22, 2007 by @ndy

I mean honestly. No: strike that.

First Andrew Robb reckons not one not two not three but thirteen Labor Party candidates are ineligible for election. Why?

According to Mr Robb, high-level legal opinion suggests that Mr Newhouse was a member of the New South Wales Consumer trader and Tenancy Tribunal when he nominated as a Labor candidate for the election…

The other candidate[s] named by the Liberal Party include Victorian candidate for McEwen, Rob Mitchell, who the Liberal Party claims may still be employed as a senior adviser to the Brumby state government.

The others are: Tony Zappia (Makin, SA), Yvette D’ath (Petrie, Qld), Peter Conway (ACT senate), Shayne Neumann (Blair, Qld), Garry Parr (Hinkler, Qld), Alan Neilan (Kennedy, Qld), Sharon Thiel (Kalgoorlie, WA), Belinda Neil (Robertson, NSW), Mark Buttugieg (Cook, NSW), Ross Daniels (Ryan, Qld), Mark Reynolds (Tangney, WA).

Mr Robb said the party’s list of candidates was compiled after “investigative public searches”.

Mr Robb said the Liberal Party had not informed the AEC of its findings but said the issue of eligibility could be easily resolved if candidates produced the relevant documentation. ~ ’13 Labor candidates ineligible’, Gerard McManus and AAP, Herald Sun, November 20, 2007

Unfortunately, what “Mr Robb” meant by “investigative public searches” was “Google”: “The Herald Sun last night confirmed the Liberal Party claims were based on scouring websites, and did not involve any checks or phone calls to the respective boards, authorities and agencies involved” (Web search smear falls to pieces, Herald Sun, November 21, 2007).

Antics such as these would tend to suggest that the Tories are a little nervous heading into the polling booths on Saturday, as well they might be.

But wait!

There’s more!

Libs busted over vile race slur
Malcolm Farr and Brad Watts
The Daily Telegraph
November 22, 2007

THE Liberal Party has been hugely embarrassed over a campaign team caught delivering fake letters linking Labor with the Bali bombers.

The grubby night-time operation in St Marys, in the seat of Lindsay [Marginal Liberal 2.9%], was busted by a squad of ALP sleuths who conducted a stake-out.

Police have been called in to investigate the distribution of the letter, as well as the Australian Electoral Commission.

The Liberal Party yesterday expelled two members involved in the scheme.

The gang included Gary Clark, husband of retiring MP for Lindsay Jackie Kelly, and party state executive member Jeff Egan. Another was named by Labor as Troy Craig, president of the Glenmore Action Group.

Liberal sources said a group of campaign volunteers were involved and had not been authorised.

Mr Clark, a dentist, has a reputation among party campaigners for coming up with distinctive ideas and trying to carry them out…

I like that last line.

See also : Young Tories: Recruiting now! | I Was A Teenage Tory : John Hyde Page | Many Young Liberals are racist, sexist, homophobic nerds. And proud. Who knew?

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

Socialism vs. 2007 Federal Election

Posted on November 22, 2007 by @ndy

Who should socialists vote for? is a vexing question. Ostensibly, one might think that socialists should vote for socialist candidates. In the upcoming Australian federal election, there are several:

    House of Representatives

    ACT

    The Socialist Alliance (SA) is running a candidate in Fraser.

    NSW

    SA is running candidates in Blaxland, Cunningham, Grayndler, Newcastle and Parramatta. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is running candidates in Charlton, Chifley, Grayndler, Kingsford Smith, Newcastle and Parramatta. Finally, the Communist League is running a candidate in Watson.

    NT

    None.

    Queensland

    SA is running candidates in Brisbane, Griffith and Moncrieff.

    SA

    None.

    Tasmania

    SA is running candidates in Denison and Franklin.

    Victoria

    SA is running candidates in Corio, Gellibrand and Wills. The SEP is running candidates in Calwell and Melbourne. The Socialist Party is also running a candidate in the seat of Melbourne.

    WA

    SA is running candidates in Fremantle, Pearce and Perth. The SEP is running a candidate in Swan.

    Senate

    ACT

    None.

    NSW

    SA is running four candidates: Alex Bainbridge, Susan Price, Kamala Emmanuel and Tim Dobson. The SEP is running two candidates: Nick Beams and Carol Divjak; as is the Progressive Labour Party: Klaas Woldring and Max Bradley.

    NT

    None.

    Queensland

    SA is running two candidates: Sam Watson and Amelia Taylor.

    SA

    SA is running two candidates: Renfrey Clarke and Liah Lazarou.

    Tasmania

    None.

    Victoria

    SA is running two candidates: Margarita Windisch and Jeremy Smith. The SEP is also running two candidates: Peter Byrne and Tania Baptist. Arguably, Joe Toscano and Jude Pierce may also be included in the list, as libertarian socialist candidates. (Joe is the Libertarian Workers’ for a Self-Managed Society, and has been since 1977.)

    WA

    SA is running two candidates: Trent Hawkins and Julie Gray.

In the latest issue of the Green Left Weekly, a publication of the SA/DSP, Chris Peterson & Simon Cunich of the DSP/SA’s youth wing, Resistance, address the question “Why socialists should vote for socialist candidates” (No.732, November 17, 2007). Not unexpectedly, they urge GLW readers to “vote 1 Socialist Alliance, 2 Greens and then Labor before the Liberals”:

Today, the primary aim of socialists running in elections is to use them as a platform for winning people to our ideas. By running in elections, the Socialist Alliance is following the example of past socialists, such as the Bolsheviks in Russia, who despite the undemocratic nature of the tsar’s parliament, used it as a platform to promote their ideas.

In other words, if it was good enough for the Bolsheviks under the Tsar, it’s good enough for Bolsheviks under Howard as the old saying goes. The DSP/Resistance’s former partners in the SA, the ISO, disagree, however, as does every other significant socialist (‘Bolshevik’) groupuscule in Australia — with the exception of the CL, SEP and SP, that is. “Should we support socialist candidates?” asks David Glanz: no, appears to be the answer; at least, not in this election (Socialist Worker, No.575, November 16, 2007). Instead, the message is: Vote 1 Green.

Posted in State / Politics, Trot Guide | 1 Comment

Happy Days!

Posted on November 21, 2007 by @ndy
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

APEC : Notional Anarchists

Posted on November 20, 2007 by @ndy
    BONUS! Nichola X from Stormfront, Newcastle branch Australia First Party; partner to Rhys McLean, Stormfront Moderator and amateur neo-Nazi.

The first photo is of Darrin Hodges, Internet filth-monger, aka the “Anglo-Australian National Community Council”. Note that the blonde Übermensch with the faux-hawk in the fourth photo has very noticeable facial scarring. These and following photos taken @ anti-APEC protests, New Reich contingent, Sydney, September, 2007. See also : Anarchist statement on the New Right | All Heil the New Reich* | APEC : New Reich / “National Anarchists”

…oh yeah. There’s this one too. This keen young amateur photographer was spotted outside of Football Federation Victoria a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, he wasn’t keen on discussion, preferring to leave speculation regarding his resemblance to one of the fellows above to another time and place.

Posted in Anti-fascism | 35 Comments