No Gary, No! More on neo-Nazism @ The Birmy

Posted on October 19, 2006 by @ndy

Following last month’s article on The Birmingham Hotel (Cnr. Johnston & Smith Sts, Fitzroy, 9417 2706) detailing its hosting a gig organised by two local neo-Nazi groups, The Melbourne Times has published another; this time reporting the racial abuse of a lone woman — by a group of seven men — on the same night, in Johnston St..

‘Victim of white supremacist abuse returns to join protest chorus’
Marika Dobbin
Melbourne Times
October 18, 2006

A LOCAL woman who was intimidated and racially abused by a group of men last month will attend a protest against neo-Nazism outside a Fitzroy pub.

A coalition of local groups is organising the “peace movement” in response to a neo-Nazi concert at the Birmingham Hotel on Saturday, September 23, held to commemorate the death of British white supremacist Ian Stuart.

    Ian couldn’t drive a car
    As we all know
    He trusted too much in all his gods
    And though he was a human being
    We don’t feel any sorrow for him

    Now we got rid of one of those cunts
    He’s been one of our most important enemies
    So we forget our respect for life
    Cause all he did was senseless shit

    […]

    Now we’re here and having our fun
    Having our fun and thinking about him
    He’s been the one who misused the word Skinhead
    He himself was never one – he was a fucking Bonehead

Blondien (not her real name) says she was walking alone to her car on Johnston Street the same night when she was surrounded by about seven men. She says the men screamed abuse at her, calling her a black c..t and forcing her to repeat the insults.

“It’s disgusting that people would single out one person and you have to say stuff about your race to get out of it,” Blondien said.

Music is planned for the protest on Saturday, October 28, at 1pm outside the Birmingham.

Hotel co-owner Gary (who wouldn’t give his surname) said: “I’m not getting involved in someone else’s bullshit.”

Anti-racism network Fightdemback, one of the organisers, has called on the Tote Hotel to cancel a gig this Friday night by Brisbane satanic-black-metal group Gospel of the Horns.

Gospel of the Horns’ songs include Vengeance is Mine, Call to Arms, Slaves and Trial of Mankind.

Fightdemback member Cam Smith said the band had links to neo-Nazi groups and had played at white supremacist gigs.

However, Tote manager Lance Petrie said it was “bonehead rock”, not neo-Nazi music.

“We don’t let people in with swastikas on their coats,” Mr Petrie said. “I know one member of the band and it’s all long hair and leather, he’s certainly not into Nazism.”

Protesters at the rally will hand out local flyers about neo-Nazism and ask shopkeepers to put anti-racism stickers in their windows.

A women’s collective representative helping to organise the event said it was important to send a message that racism was not welcome locally and make the Birmingham accountable.

And of course, one of the simplest ways of making The Birmy accountable is to drink elsewhere; an option which a number of local punks failed to take when the annual punk pub crawl eventually wound its way to The Birmy last month. On the other hand, thus far, only a small number of local punk bands — Marching Orders and Slick 46 from Melbourne and The Assailants and Standard “Our slogan is unionism not racism”! Union from Adelaide — have actively scabbed on the boycott, and at least one band — to their credit — has cancelled a performance at the pub. Further, word is slowly circulating — both among locals but also among others in the hotel and music industry — that a boycott of the pub has been called for.

Disappointingly, the pub owner Gary (whose surname I won’t publish — yet) has further entrenched his reputation for contempt for the local community: racial abuse is, apparently, “someone else’s bullshit”. This attitude is, of course, precisely what a growth in racism and fascism depends upon. (Gary isn’t a woman walking alone to her car, so why should he care?) That, and the provision of a platform from which to promulgate such doctrines; a platform which Gary has been only too happy to provide, and which some local punks (a/k/a scabs) have been only too happy to support… although presumably only after (cheerfully) having agreed to being stuffed head first into a disembraining machine.

And on a lighter note…

Paling into significance

NEO-NAZIS hate a lot of people, communists in particular.

So it is no surprise that Socialist-about-town Steve Jolly is particularly reviled by local Nazis, especially given his comments in our article three weeks ago about their get-together concert at the Birmingham Hotel in Fitzroy. Jolly’s gripes that Neo-Nazi groups were “dangerous fruitcakes” and into “genocide politics” have provoked angry responses on white nationalists’ internet chat sites [ie, Scumfront].

One furious chatter from NSW posted the councillor’s photograph on the site and labelled him Steve “I never get out in the sun much” Jolly, referring to his pasty complexion.

“Contact the healthy looking, ruddy-cheeked councillor” the chatter sarcastically implores his fascist mates.

Jolly certainly is pale, but Metropolis is confused, isn’t a porcelain skin a plus in neo-Nazi-land?

Which Side Are You On?
by Florence Reese

Come all of you good workers
Good news to you I’ll tell
Of how that good old union
Has come in here to dwell

(Chorus)
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

My daddy was a miner
And I’m a miner’s son
And I’ll stick with the union
Till every battle’s won

They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there
You’ll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair

Oh, workers can you stand it?
Oh, tell me how you can
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?

Don’t scab for the bosses
Don’t listen to their lies
Us poor folks haven’t got a chance
Unless we organize

Posted in Anti-fascism, Collingwood, Music | 1 Comment

A Day At The Racists

Posted on October 18, 2006 by @ndy

The Ocean Grove Football Club is one of ten clubs that form the Bellarine League. Two years ago they featured in an article in The Age regarding the crisis in rural and regional football leagues as the exception that may yet — unfortunately — prove the rule:

In growing areas such as the Surf Coast, country football is enjoying a renaissance.

Ocean Grove Football Club coach Damian Clark says he has 65 players battling it out for 40 senior positions each week. Morale is good, and the club is able to provide the community with a social hub.

“We’ve just got that many kids coming through, it’s out of control,” he says.

Speaking of good morale, community spirit and the crime of walking while Jewish:

Race hate attack
Matt Cunningham
Herald Sun
October 17, 2006

A JEWISH man was racially abused then bashed in front of his two young children by a busload of country footballers drunk after a day at the races.

Police are investigating the savage attack on Menachem Vorchheimer, 33, by players from the Ocean Grove Football Club.

About 20 footballers had just left Caulfield racecourse in a mini-bus.

Mr Vorchheimer said the men yelled “F— off Jews” and “Go the Nazis” before motioning as if they were shooting a machine gun at him and his children.

He told the Herald Sun his children, aged 6 and 3, were screaming and crying during the attack that left him with cuts and bruises to the face.

Witnesses surrounded the bus and stopped it from driving off until police arrived.

Ocean Grove Football Club president Michael Vines confirmed players from his club were involved in the incident.

“Like any sporting club at our level we expect our players to behave responsibly,” he said.

The trouble began when Mr Vorchheimer and his children were walking along Balaclava Rd, Caulfield, about 6.30pm on Saturday.

Mr Vorchheimer was wearing traditional Jewish dress including a shabbat hat and a yamulka, the skull cap worn by Jewish men.

As the minibus drove past, some of the players were laughing and yelling racist abuse.

When the bus stopped at a red light, Mr Vorchheimer went to the driver’s door.

“I wanted to find out where they were from so that… I could make approaches to that organisation,” he said.

But the bus driver appeared to ignore him and took off when the light turned green.

As the bus drove past, two men reached out the back window, grabbed Mr Vorchheimer’s hat and skull cap and hurled more abuse.

A driver who saw the incident pulled in front of the bus and stopped it.

Mr Vorchheimer said the men threw one of his hats out the bus window but when he asked for the other hat he was attacked.

“I was pulled toward the open window and then punched by a right hand into my left eye by a passenger on the bus. I fell back and was in enormous pain.”

Mr Vorchheimer said he felt blood running down his face as the men threw his other hat out the window.

“Meanwhile my kids are on the sidewalk crying and screaming,” he said.

He said witnesses surrounded the bus and stopped it from moving.

Mr Vorchheimer said he sat in front of the bus and said. “You’re not going ’til the police come.”

When St Kilda police arrived they took details from the footballers and witnesses. They confirmed the men had been to Caulfield races.

Mr Vorchheimer was treated at Cabrini Hospital. He said he had suffered headaches and nausea since the attack and his children had undergone counselling.

He said he had no doubt he was attacked because of his faith.

Caulfield MP Helen Shardey condemned the attack. She said the AFL needed to do more to educate footballers at all levels about behaviour.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Grahame Leonard said the attack was the fifth unprovoked assault on a member of the Jewish community in Victoria this year.

Confusingly, according to an article in The Australian, ‘Ocean Grove Football Club president Michael Vines said he did not know the circumstances of the attack but apologised and said the club took the allegations seriously. “If that did in fact occur, on behalf of the club I would apologise to him most sincerely,” he said on Southern Cross Radio today.’ While at the same time:

Club coach Matthew Sproule said Mr Vorchheimer’s hats were removed “accidentally” in a tussle through the bus window.

“The driver… did not know the person at the back had the hat. We realised the person was chasing us down the street for his hat. We pulled over and we put the hat to the side, then we got run off the road by another person who wouldn’t let us move after his hat was returned,” he said on Southern Cross Radio.

“We don’t know (who threw the punch) with all the commotion that was going on at the time.

“At the time the man in question asked for an apology and we gave an apology to him and he said, ‘No, it’s 10 seconds too late. I’m calling the police’.”

Twenty men vs. one man and two children; racist abuse and assault… and a coach who just wants to protect his ‘boys’.

Have ‘fun’ at the court hearing boys.

    “A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.” — Mickey Mantle
Posted in Anti-fascism | 3 Comments

Heinemann Strikers Victorious!

Posted on October 18, 2006 by @ndy

OK, so the workers — as part of a generalised workers’ revolt — may not have fired the bosses and placed the factory under workers’ self-management, but still…

Heinemann Strikers Victorious
Cheryl Cemeljic
October 17, 2006
clc73[at]optusnet[dot]com[dot]au

46 employees of the Mulgrave company Heinemann Electric Pty Ltd, who have spent the past 7 weeks protesting the company’s theft of a full week’s wages, have yesterday returned to work. While celebrating the victory, workers remain cautious while OH&S matters remain neglected, including the unprecedented PIN for bullying…

Workers attending an early morning meeting on 16 October 2006, were elated to hear the confirmation that management had finally agreed to their requests in the current negotiating of an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. They had been on strike since 30 August 2006.

The Workers’ Requests:

*** Roll over of previous EBA which the company has operated profitably under for 3 years
*** Continued guarantee of accrued entitlements
*** 12.5% over 3 years wage increase (4.5%, 4%, 4%) [inflation is currently running at over 4%, with increases to it more than likely]

The Company’s Initial Proposal:

*** A complete scrap of the previous EBA
*** Averaging out of working hours
*** Extension of normal operating hours to allow for a 12 hour shift on normal rates and to include Saturday and Sunday as normal working days
*** 152 hour month as opposed to 38 hour week with overtime rates kicking in only after the 152 hours have been worked
*** Forced flexi-time, potentially allowing the company to work employees 84 hours a week on normal rates, including Saturday and Sunday, and potentially stand workers down for a week to avoid overtime rates
*** The initial company offer was for a 1% per annum wage increase
*** The removal of the already guaranteed accrued entitlements

It was this initial company proposal which led to workers placing a ban on the working of voluntary overtime hours until the company returned to the negotiating table. As has been previously noted, more than half the striking workers had never been asked to work overtime hours prior to August 22, 2006, when management interviewed each employee to make up a list of “industrial action” workers who would not be paid for their normal worked hours.

We are now proud to announce that the previous EBA has been in the majority rolled over, with clarifications having been made (to the workers’ benefit), and the company has agreed to keep the existing hours of work, thus securing overtime rates. The workers have achieved their 12% wage increase, with 4% in the first year, 3.5% for subsequent two years, and 1% being paid up front.

The company also agreed to a “Sign-on Bonus” of $1,100, which is to be paid to all employees due to discrimination laws. The issue of the stolen week’s pay is still unresolved, and will rely upon due parliamentary process. We have been advised by several MPs that an investigation is underway.

Workers are keen to get on with the job, as there has been much improvising of standards in their 7 week absence. The Slegers division reports that many wrong items were sent to customers and some goods were sent without invoices, making the computer stock figures an interesting read.

Production standards are also of a concern. For example, in the moulding area, which manufactures plastic moulded cable clips, there is evidence that machines have been running with 100% re-granulated material. The regular formula never goes above a 50/50 ratio, or else brittle clips can result.

Of course, one would assume that Quality Control would pick up on such processes. However the Quality Control manager has also been a despatch clerk for the past couple of years. This makes us ponder upon the ISO9002 tick which appears on their packaging.

Workers also learned that during their time of protest, there were some workers who refused to work overtime. Strangely enough, there was no punitive action taken, no pay stolen, and they remain in the company’s new rhetoric “The Loyal”.

The first day back at work was as expected. There was a measure of attempted chest-beating by management who held meetings in each manufacturing department. For the Slegers division, this was an iconic moment as it was their first meeting ever [!] with their manager, Brett Traynor, who has held the position since August, 2005.

Brett Traynor rallied his troops with messages of “if you’re not positive we don’t want you”. It always amazes me that some managers assume they can demand loyalty and respect, without ever treating their workers in a likewise manner.

The small canteens located conveniently around the Heinemann premises have been removed, stating that this was to address some OH&S issues. The general feeling amongst workers however, is that this is merely a petty and childish move by management who are sore at their humiliating loss. No mention has been made of what is going to be done about the exposed asbestos. Asbestos, food, asbestos, food – yes, we can see how the food was the more pressing issue. It was also claimed by a manager that mouse droppings had been sighted in the factory, although when this was challenged by employees who had never seen evidence of mice in their many years in the company, the reply was “Don’t quote me on that” (I wouldn’t dream of it).

So while workers celebrate their mammoth win against the petulant management team of Heinemann Electric, and the union celebrates yet another win against the Freehills team (anyone know any good lawyer jokes?), we wait to see if the company is serious about the addressing of its outstanding OH&S notices. They’re not off to a good start on the bullying one.

The striking workers of Heinemann Electric would like to thank the ETU, most especially Shaun, Colin, and Azza who stood by us daily, took care of our financial needs, and most importantly, fed us (sorry, that should be fought for us – heh).

A big fuzzy thank you to the team from Union Solidarity, who donated their time to help keep morale up, and taught us so many wonderful chants. In the words of an absolute legend, we’ve defeated the “mangy monkey managers”.

Of course, to the many industries and unions who financially helped to keep us strong, we are very grateful. We are honoured by your generosity.

And remember – IF YOU DON’T FIGHT, YOU LOSE!

See you at the ‘G’!

Lawyer jokes :

    A group of terrorists hijacked a plane full of lawyers. They called down to ground control with their list of demands and added that if their demands weren’t met, they would release one lawyer every hour.

    Q: Where can you find a good lawyer?
    A: In the cemetery.

    Q. What’s wrong with lawyer jokes?
    A. Lawyers don’t think they’re funny, and nobody else thinks they’re jokes.

Posted in Poetry, State / Politics | Leave a comment

Andrew Sanders, White supremacist, back in court

Posted on October 17, 2006 by @ndy

White supremacist ‘had guns, grenades’
Drew Cratchley
The Australian [AAP]
October 16, 2006

AN alleged white supremacist had a gun, smoke grenades and a terrorist handbook in his Sydney home when police raided it a week after the Cronulla race riot, a court has been told.

Andrew Sanders, 25, was charged with one firearms offence and six prohibited weapons charges following a police search of his western Sydney home in the early hours of December 19 last year.

Police allege they uncovered swords, ammunition, literature titled The Terrorist Handbook and a poster carrying the slogan White Pride…

Mr MacMahon adjourned the hearing to October 30, when Sanders is expected to give evidence.

Some mothers do ‘ave ’em… Sanders is the bloke what back in January at an earlier court appearance got bail conditions meaning he couldn’t leave his mum’s side. He’s also responsible for authoring the website fightback.org, established just prior to the Cronulla ‘riot’, which urged concerned citizens to arm themselves with a variety of items before attending the protest… items not terribly dissimilar to those which Sanders is currently facing charges for possession of.

Of course, had Sanders been brown-skinned and/or Muslim…

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics, War on Terror | 12 Comments

Sydney Forum 2006 Redux

Posted on October 17, 2006 by @ndy
    :: Above : “Australian youth took the matter into their own hands” according to the Australia First Party ::

As promised, here’s a re-cap of Australia’s premiere gathering of assorted racists and fascists: the Australia First Party (AFP) organised Sydney Forum (August 26 — 27).

First, the venue for the first day’s events — Estonian House, 141 Campbell St, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010 — and an unanswered email to Boris Lees, Secretary, the Estonian House Co-operative Society :

Dear Boris,

It has come to my attention that on Saturday the 26th of August, the Estonian House Co-operative Society — for which you are the Secretary — authorised the use of its premises for the ‘2006 Sydney Forum’. The ‘Sydney Forum’ is an annual gathering of racists, fascists and neo-Nazis from all over Australia, and is organised by the Australia First Party (AFP), a racist party whose leader, Dr. James Saleam, has been convicted for crimes of racial hatred, and which has as its central policy opposition to multiculturalism and a return to a White Australia. Aside from its endorsement of racism and fascism, the AFP is perhaps best known for distributing racist propaganda during the riots in Cronulla in December last year — although it has also been the subject of more recent media attention as a result of endorsing the contents of racist pamphlets distributed in Port Maquarie earlier this month.

Given the decision by the Russian Club to withdraw their support as [host] for last year’s Forum, could you please explain why the Estonian House Co-operative Society has decided to align Sydney’s Estonian community with the propagation of racism and fascism?

PS. For further information:

Racism outrage: Pamphlet condemns Muslims
By LYNN HORD
Port Macquarie News
Wednesday, 16 August 2006

White supremacy in our backyard
By DAN BOX
The Australian
Monday, 6 March 2006

Reference to Saleam’s criminal conviction may be found in this short speech by Anthony Albanese.

Given Boris’ silence, one may well expect next year’s Sydney Forum to be held at the same venue; a form of collaboration presumably aided by the ‘anti-Communist’ veneer surrounding fascist parties such as Australia First, and Estonia’s many decades of subjection to rule by Communist Russia.

Secondly, the speakers :

Following the withdrawal of filmmaker David Bradbury, the Syrian Ambassador to Australia, Tamman Sulaiman, and — last but by no means least — “a bloody funny sheila” named Sandy Thorne, the list of publically-advertised speakers was quite short: Neil Baird, Jim Cassidy, Greg Clancy, Andrew Fraser and Dr. James Saleam.

No one was scheduled to replace David Bradbury, but it was announced at the time that A SURPRISE SYRIAN SPEAKER WILL ADDRESS THE FORUM in place of the Syrian Ambassador. And guess what? Having returned from his too-long holiday in the Carribean, Agent Gerbil can now reveal that the — SURPRISE! — replacement speaker turned out to be another fascist, a Syrian one: Dr. E. Melhem of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP).

The SSNP is a weird mob: initially modelled, when first established in Beirut in 1932, on classical European fascism, it has since undergone a number of political shifts. In terms of support, the SSNP apparently has had some — both within Syria itself, and among elements of the Lebanese and Syrian diasporas — and has recently found increased tolerance, even Syrian government approval. Lack of support for the SSNP outside of Syria may have something to do with the (un-)popularity of the party’s vision of the imperialist project of constructing a ‘Greater Syria’, one comprising Syria, Lebanon, Palestine (/Israel), Iraq, Jordan… and who knows, perhaps even parts of Tempe.

(Interestingly, a representative of the SSNP also addressed the Sydney Forum in 2003. See also the reactionary historian — and one of George II’s favourite academic poodles — Daniel Pipes on Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition. Another ‘mystery’ speaker was Rex Gilroy, described in publicity material as being “a historian and archaeologist”, he spoke on ‘The Ancient European Contact With Australia And The Pacific’. Apparently Gilroy “has investigated the contacts between… peoples of Eu[ro]pean racial origin from the Near East and Old-Europe… with Australia”.)

So where to from here for the AFP?

As Ben Weerheym has revealed, the (de-registered) AFP is currently preparing — with the endorsement of the remnants of One Nation in NSW — to contest local council elections in the Sutherland Shire. Currently, however, “A member of Australia First, running as an independent, is on the ballot in the St. Johns Wood Ward of the Prospect City Council in Greater Adelaide. The result will be in by late October (the vote is a postal ballot). The ward is a small one and there are only two other candidates”; thereby, presumably, drastically improving the chances of a fascist obtaining a seat on council (only three candidates are in the running for just two seats).

Intriguigingly, the candidate in question, Bruce Preece — in addition to the usual bland assurances regarding financial accountability — states in his election profile that “I want to see the legacy that we have inherited from the past generations maintained and improved for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations”. Currently, as the AFP has noted with some disgust, Prospect City is a ‘refugee welcome zone’, a welcome which is strictly verboten according to the Whites Only AFP. Still, if Preece’s previous effort in Morialta in 2002 is anything to go by — with just 219 votes (1.3%), he came last of seven candidates — chances are AFP will be forced to look to establishing a beachhead in Cronulla instead.

And won’t that campaign be fun?

…Oh, and it appears that the AFP have hit the news again, this time for glorifying racist violence:

[Fascist] party promotes race riot game, [AAP], The Australian, October 16, 2006 and Game glorifies race riot, Elizabeth Gosch, The Australian, October 17, 2006

Both items mention the AFP’s upcoming campaign for a seat in the Sutherland Shire; neither mentions Bruce Preece’s current campaign in Adelaide…

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

Mentalfest : November 11, The Espy

Posted on October 15, 2006 by @ndy

Pith Records presents Mentalfest, 3pm, Saturday, November 11, @ The Espy. Art, stalls, DJs, info, cheap food and much frivolity. Tickets $14 from Missing Link, The Espy and the usual suspects. All proceeds to charity. Fuck Becton. Shoot the black dog.

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Taking a brea | k

Posted on October 7, 2006 by @ndy

I’ve decided to take a break from blogging, in order to concentrate on other activities. Blogging is time-consuming, and the rewards, such as they are, often amount to little more than annoying a few fascists and racists (and their sympathisers and collaborators)… Well, judging by many of the comments I receive anyway. (Too easy.)

Still, feel free to continue commenting, and we’ll return to the revolution after these messages…

ninetynine launched their new! album last night, Worlds Of Space, Worlds Of Population, Worlds Of Robots [Unstable Ape] at The Tote… Cheers Bonnie!

Hailing from Melbourne, Ninetynine combine indie rock stylings with tuned percussion and layerings of casio keyboard to create a unique kind of pop music. Variously described as ‘wonderful’ (Melody Maker) and ‘versatile and talented’ (Australian Rolling Stone) the band originally began as a solo project for Laura MacFarlane (the original drummer for Sleater-Kinney) in 1995. Ninetynine’s self titled debut on Patsy followed soon after as well as tours of the U.S., New Zealand and Europe…

Great live too! So like um, if you’re in Finland, Russia, Iceland, Spain or the UK and you’re reading this… now’s your chance!

    Europe 0ctober 2006 (ninetynine tour dates)

    fri 13 Tampere FINLAND (Club Vastavitra) w Echo Is Your Love
    sat 14 Helsinki FINLAND (Semifinal)
    sun 15 Turku FINLAND (TVO) w Echo Is Your Love

    tues 17 St Petersburg RUSSIA
    wed 18 Moscow RUSSIA
    thurs 19 Moscow RUSSIA

    sun 22 Reykjavik ICELAND (Smekkleysa)

    tues 24 Madrid SPAIN
    wed 25 Bilbao SPAIN
    thurs 26 Pamplona SPAIN
    fri 27 Zaragoza SPAIN
    sat 28 Barcelona SPAIN

    tues 31 London UK

Posted in Collingwood, Music | 13 Comments

UK : abusive racist Internet user goes to jail…

Posted on October 7, 2006 by @ndy

‘Walker race hate messager jailed’
BBC
October 6, 2006

A man who posted racist messages on a website set up in memory of murdered black teenager Anthony Walker [21.2.87 — 30.7.05] has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Neil Martin, 30, of Maghull, posted the offensive remarks just days after the 18-year-old student was killed with an ice axe in Huyton, Merseyside.

He pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to publishing material intended or likely to stir up racial hatred.

The teenager was murdered in McGoldrick Park in Huyton on 29 July 2005…

The two men convicted of Anthony’s murder, Paul Taylor and Michael Barton, “had ambushed Anthony after shouting racist abuse at him as he waited for a bus with his girlfriend and cousin”. Both received life sentences.

[BBC video]

During police interviews, Martin admitted posting the messages but insisted he was not racist.

Heather Lloyd, defending, said Martin had no history of racist behaviour and that he felt “deeply ashamed”.

She said: “He was isolated and living in a fantasy world, spending hours on his computer in his room where his persona could be as he made it, good or bad.”

See also : Scumfront Down Under | Be careful what you wish for… | FDB! Press Release on Blood & Honour Australia, the Southern Cross Hammerskins and The Birmingham Hotel

[Doffing of yarmulke : Dr. Sexenheimer]

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

“Working class punk” : Oi fucking oi

Posted on October 5, 2006 by @ndy

…ha fucking ha.

Working class punk bands are holding a working class punk gig this working class punk weekend (Saturday, October 7th). The working class punk bands in question are the working class punk The Assailants and the working class punk Standard Union (from working class punk Adelaide), and the working class punk Marching Orders and the working class punk Slick 46 (from working class punk Melbourne).

The working class punk venue for the working class punk gig?

The Birmingham Hotel.

The same pub that two weeks prior to this Saturday’s gig happily played host to a neo-Nazi gig — organised by the neo-Nazi Blood & Honour Australia (B&H) and the Southern Cross Hammerskins (SCHS) — to mourn the death, in 1993, of the founder of Blood & Honour, Ian Stuart. An article in the local Melbourne Times (claimed weekly readership: 145,000) informed residents of inner-city Melbourne that this was the case; what it didn’t mention was the fact that this was the second year in a row that the annual ISD Memorial gig had been held at ‘The Birmy’. Nor, for that matter, did it record the fact that ‘The Birmy’ played host to the gig in years previous (prior to 2005, the ISD gig was held at The Jam Tin / Skull Bar in Cheltenham).

In other words:

How it is for B&H and the SCHS, in their putrid fantasies, is that Asians, blacks, Jews, gays, lesbians, people with disabilities, anarchists, leftists and leftist journalists and unionists have to move aside or be forced to stand in line before then being forced to enjoy a bus ride to a convenient venue — perhaps accompanied by the rent-a-cop James Newman and B&H gauleiter Welf Herfurth — whereupon the neo-Nazi scum will lock them in and then burn it down.

So don’t waste my time, ‘cos the time’s up for hiding behind a gutter punk image; this is part of the class fight and it’s time to wake up ‘cos the spotlight is on you. But I guess only time will tell if there’s punx ahead… or mere poseurs.

It’s really pretty simple: from start to end, people before pubs, and punx before boneheads.

B O Y C O T T__T H E__B I R M I N G H A M !

Captain Charles Boycott was a former English army officer who served as the agent for an absentee landlord in Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. He was very harsh, refusing to lower rents in hard times and dispossessing tenant farmers who couldn’t pay. In 1880 the tenants, encouraged by the Irish Land League, retaliated: they organized a campaign to isolate Captain Boycott, encouraging the local people to refuse to have any dealings with him or his family. Charles Parnell of the Irish Land League said that those who refused to lower rents or who took the farms of people who had been evicted should be treated like “the lepers of old.” Boycott and his family found themselves without servants or farmhands and without mail delivery or service in stores. Their own crops failed, and they eventually fled back to England.

…and please stop pissing on working class history and working class solidarity in the name of working class punk.

People see the Eureka flag, and they consider it a symbol of National Action,” laments Shannon. “Really, though, those bastards have stolen it: it’s the working class flag, and it’s non-racist. Our slogan is Unionism Not Racism.

Fuck slogans. Working class punk is as working class punk does. And

In the underground, integrity lies within
in the underground, image doesn’t mean a thing
when the substance lacks, it’s plain for all to see
if the deal is right, then respect is where it should be

For the fakes and frauds, it’s a fucking fashion show
total compromise, will have them sell their soul
all the negative, all the useless influence
all the emptiness, all the violent detriment
makes no sense…

Please have more to give than fashion and images
please have more to give than fashion and images

Caught up in a trap of media crap that’s no way to live
Caught up in a trap of media crap so little to give
Caught up in a trap of media crap that’s no way to live
Caught up in a trap of media crap so little to give

In the underground, integrity lies within
in the underground, image doesn’t mean a thing
we can do away, with this negativity
it’s a golden day, we can force them to stepdown

Posted in Anti-fascism, Collingwood, Music | 1 Comment

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 / We want Mosley, dead or alive

Posted on October 5, 2006 by @ndy

70 years ago, on October 4th, 1936, the people of the East End of London — men, women and children, young and old, “bearded Jews and Irish Catholic dockers” — told the British Union of Fascists to fuck off.

And they did.

(And black residents of Notting Hill did it again in 1958.)

La lucha continúa…

‘Day the East End said ‘No pasaran’ to Blackshirts’
Audrey Gillan
The Guardian
September 30, 2006

They built barricades from paving stones, timber and overturned lorries. Women threw the contents of chamber pots on to the heads of policemen and children hurled marbles under their horses and burst bags of pepper in front of their noses.

Next Wednesday [October 4th] marks the 70th anniversary of the day that Jews, communists, trade unionists, Labour party members, Irish Catholic dockers and the people of the East End of London united in defiance of Sir Oswald Mosley‘s British Union of Fascists and refused to let them march through their streets.

Shouting the Spanish civil war slogan “No pasaran” – “They shall not pass” – more than 300,000 people turned back an army of Blackshirts. Their victory over racism and anti-Semitism on Sunday October 4 1936 became known as the Battle of Cable Street and encapsulated the British fight against a fascism that was stomping across Europe.

Mosley planned to send columns of thousands of goose-stepping men throughout the impoverished East End dressed in uniforms that mimicked those of Hitler‘s Nazis. His target was the large Jewish community.

The Jewish Board of Deputies advised Jews to stay away. The Jewish Chronicle warned: “Jews are urgently warned to keep away from the route of the Blackshirt march and from their meetings.

“Jews who, however innocently, become involved in any possible disorders will be actively helping anti-Semitism and Jew-baiting. Unless you want to help the Jew baiters, keep away.”

The Jews did not keep away. [“Anarchist!” Herzl shouted. “Bourgeois!” replied Lazare.] Professor Bill Fishman, now 89, who was 15 on the day, was at Gardner’s Corner in Aldgate, the entrance to the East End. “There was masses of marching people. Young people, old people, all shouting ‘No Pasaran’ and ‘One two three four five – we want Mosley, dead or alive’,” he said. “It was like a massive army gathering, coming from all the side streets. Mosley was supposed to arrive at lunchtime but the hours were passing and he hadn’t come. Between 3pm and 3.30 we could see a big army of Blackshirts marching towards the confluence of Commercial Road and Whitechapel Road.

“I pushed myself forward and because I was 6ft I could see Mosley. They were surrounded by an even greater army of police. There was to be this great advance of the police force to get the fascists through. Suddenly, the horses’ hooves were flying and the horses were falling down because the young kids were throwing marbles.”

Thousands of policemen were sandwiched between the Blackshirts and the anti-fascists. The latter were well organised and through a mole learned that the chief of police had told Mosley that his passage into the East End could be made through Cable Street.

“I heard this loudspeaker say ‘They are going to Cable Street’,” said Prof Fishman. “Suddenly a barricade was erected there and they put an old lorry in the middle of the road and old mattresses. The people up the top of the flats, mainly Irish Catholic women, were throwing rubbish on to the police. We were all side by side. I was moved to tears to see bearded Jews and Irish Catholic dockers standing up to stop Mosley. I shall never forget that as long as I live, how working-class people could get together to oppose the evil of racism.”

Max Levitas, now 91, was a message runner and had already been fined £10 in court for his anti-Mosley activities. Two years before Cable Street, the BUF had called a meeting in Hyde Park and in protest Mr Levitas whitewashed Nelson’s column, calling people to the park to drown out the fascists. Mr Levitas went on to become a Communist councillor in Stepney.

“I feel proud that I played a major part in stopping Mosley. When we heard that the march was disbanded, there was a hue and cry and the flags were going wild. They did not pass. The chief of police decided that if the march had taken place there would be death on the road – and there would have been,” he said.

“It was a victory for ordinary people against racism and anti-Semitism and it should be instilled in the minds of people today. The Battle of Cable Street is a history lesson for us all. People as people must get together and stop racism and anti-Semitism so people can lead an ordinary life and develop their own ideas and religions.”

Beatty Orwell, 89, was scared and excited. “People were fighting and a friend of mine was thrown through a plate glass window.”

Punk. Fucking. Rock.

See also : An Anarchist-led Mass Movement in Britain (London Socialist Historians’ review article; “…such traditions of direct action may partially account for their inclination towards greater militancy than the CPGB’s national leadership in episodes such as Cable Street”) and a brief biography of the criminally-neglected Rocker, Rudolf, 1873-1958.

scab (skăb) pronunciation
n.

1. A crust discharged from and covering a healing wound.
2. Scabies or mange in domestic animals or livestock, especially sheep.
3.
1. Any of various plant diseases caused by fungi or bacteria and resulting in crustlike spots on fruit, leaves, or roots.
2. The spots caused by such a disease.
4. Slang. A person regarded as contemptible.
5.
1. A worker who refuses membership in a labor union.
2. An employee who works while others are on strike; a strikebreaker.
3. A person hired to replace a striking worker.

Posted in Anti-fascism, History, Music | 2 Comments