The Hun’s “War on Terror”

The corporate media is always eager to do its bit for the ‘war on terror’, on this occasion aiming its not-very-smart bombs on innocent civilians: the wives and children of 13 “allegedly ‘would-be’ terrorists”…

Families benefit as accused go to jail
By LINCOLN WRIGHT
28may06

AUSTRALIA’S 22 terror suspects and their families receive more than $1 million a year in taxpayer-funded welfare and legal aid.

“Tax-payer funded” eh? Gee, I always wondered where the money comes from…

And simply because the men were locked up, their families received a social security pay rise of as much as $1700 a year.

A fact which, as is revealed by Wright below, is perfectly unexceptional.

One of the jailed Melbourne men, Abdul Nacer Benbrika — leader of a radical group of Islamists — has been in Australia for 10 years and has never had a job.

SFW? John HoWARd’s been Prime Minister for 10 years, an MP for 32, and consequently wouldn’t know an honest day’s work if it bit him on the arse. But I somehow doubt the fact that he’s been paid a small fortune to lie to the Australian public for that length of time will ever be breathlessly revealed in an article published by The Hun, do you?

Taxpayers provide his wife with almost $50,000 a year in welfare.

A Sunday Herald Sun investigation uncovered generous payments to the families of men charged with plotting terror in Australia.

Yes, the families of the 22 men charged; is The Hun suggesting that they too, should be on trial?

Obviously, yes.

By media.

As for Wright’s ‘investigatory’ (sic) skills, little other than access to Centrelink‘s website and knowledge of the composition of the men’s families is required in order to compose this particular kind of filler.

And that $50,000 is presumably intended to support not only that one woman, but her seven children as well.

What’s $50,000 divided by eight, Lincoln?

Adding tens of thousands of dollars in parenting payments, rent assistance and family tax benefits to the cost of legal services for the accused makes a total bill to taxpayers of more than $1 million.

Since November, 22 allegedly would-be terrorists have been arrested in Melbourne and Sydney under Operation Pendennis, a joint ASIO, AFP and state police forces operation.

Mr Benbrika was among 13 Melbourne men charged with belonging to a terrorist organisation.

Of Algerian descent, he has a Lebanese-born wife and seven children.

(OK, so that’s one million dollars divided between seven children, and two adults.)

Does the fact that Benbrika’s wife was born in Lebanon alter her entitlements?

No.

But it does reinforce the notion that, not only are the families of “would-be (sic) terrorists” profiting from terror — at the expense of the Australian tax-payer — they’re foreigners to boot!

Subtle as a brick.

Under Centrelink rules, she is entitled to almost $50,000 a year in welfare while her husband is in prison, awaiting trial.

As is customary in the extensive corporate media reportage of such cases, Wright is using figures drawn from Centrelink, not the family in question. Thus Benbrika’s wife’s entitlement is not necessarily the same as her actual income.

Ahmed Raad, another Melbourne suspect, has a child and his wife is entitled to about $21,500 a year, as are the wives of Ezzit Raad and Abdullah Merhi.

OK, so that’s one million dollars divided between eight adults and eight children.

The wife of another suspect, Hany Taha, who has three children, is entitled to up to $30,000 a year.

Which now makes it one million dollars divided between ten adults and eleven children.

Among nine Sydney suspects charged with conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack was engineer Mohamed Ali Elomar, 40. He has five children and his wife is entitled to about $38,000 a year in taxpayer payments.

Let’s see… that’s one million dollars divided between twenty adults and sixteen children.

Omar Baladjam, a former actor on the ABC TV program Wildside, has two children.

Which brings our tally to twenty adults and eighteen children.

A Centrelink spokeswoman said the fact someone had been jailed for terrorist offences did not stop their spouse or children receiving welfare. The maximum parenting payment increases from $377.50 a fortnight to $444.20 when a spouse is in jail, she said.

I apologise for doubting Wright’s talents as an investigative journalist: he not only looked at the Centrelink website, he actually asked a Centrelink spokesperson their legal opinion. Still, as strenuous as Wright’s efforts have been to uncover important, one million dollar facts, and to place these before the Australian public for their intense critical scrutiny, I somehow doubt there’ll be a Walkley waiting for him at the end of it.

Two so-called “Anglo” terrorist suspects, Jack “Jihad” Thomas and Shane Kent, also have children and benefit from Centrelink payments.

“So-called”? By whom? Is Wright implying that the two men in question are not, in fact, of “Anglo” descent? Or is this merely intended to reinforce the notion that “Anglos” — unlike ‘foreigners’ — are incapable of “terrorism”?

Subtle… very subtle.

Mr Kent has two children, while Thomas, who is appealing against a conviction for receiving funds from a terrorist organisation, has three children.

Ooops. That’s one million dollars divided between twenty-two adults and twenty-three children.

Now, according to my calculations, one million dollars divided by forty-five is $22,222.20.

Not much of a headline really, is it?

Victims of crime groups expressed outrage at the payments.

Well, no surprises there then. And, I suspect, precisely why Wright bothered to contact them for their opinion in the first place.

I mean, he couldn’t actually ask the families of any victims now could he?

Posted in Media, War on Terror | 3 Comments

Two years later…

Almost exactly two years ago, on May 30, 2004, I decided to start blogging.

I’m still not sure why, exactly. Maybe just to give me an excuse to write about things I was interested in but which, for various reasons, I’d failed to find an appropriate outlet for.

In Australia, the anarchist press is almost — but not quite — non-existent, and radical scholarship tends to be either: a) operating within a ‘Marxist’ framework; b) produced by individuals completely uninterested in building radical social movements committed to struggling against capital, state and patriarchy or c) both.

(There are, of course, many exceptions to this rule, and a great deal of interesting scholarship is being produced on contemporary struggles. But I find most of it to be produced by folks with whom I feel little real political or personal affinity… Hell, maybe I just need to get out more?)

I suppose that one of the main problems I’ve been struggling with — apart from various health-related issues — is the fact that, if this situation is going to change, I really am going to have to do it myself. By myself. Which is fine, but still a daunting prospect. And, given that I already devote a considerable proportion of my time to other anarchist projects…

Well, I guess you could say that DIY is a double-edged sword.

Still, as far this blog’s concerned, I ‘ve really only started writing regularly since late December, 2005; that is, five months or so.

Is it worth the time and the trouble? I don’t know. What do you think?

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

DreamHosting a White Europe

POLAND ASKS U.S. TO HELP SHUT DOWN FAR-RIGHT WEBSITE
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Poland has asked the U.S. government to help it shut down an American-based server [DreamHost] hosting a Web site run by a banned extreme right group, an official said Sunday.

Redwatch, allied with the far-right Blood and Honor movement, recently posted a list of journalists and activists they considered “anti-fascist” on the Web site, complete with details of where they can be found.

[NB. According to other reports, the site has been operational since January.]

One of the activists listed on the site was stabbed on a Warsaw street earlier this month, the knife narrowly missing his heart, the Reporters Without Borders organization said.

The Web site, an offshoot of a site run by Blood and Honor, is hosted by a server in the United States and Polish authorities cannot shut it down, said Konrad Ciesiolkiewicz, spokesman for Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. He said he did not have specifics on which state the server was in.

[Huh?!? Well, the company’s offices are located in Brea, California. Maybe the authorities should consider asking them? After all, they do boast that “You can reach us any time – day or night!”

DreamHost Offices
DreamHost
PMB #257
417 Associated Rd.
Brea, CA 92821
USA
FAX: 714-990-2600]

“It’s a political gesture, we sent the request two days ago. We’ve also been in touch with the FBI,” he said.

Redwatch is an international far-right group based in Britain. Its Web site posts names, photos and addresses of human rights activists, gays and left-wing journalists under the slogan, “Remember places, traitors’ faces, they all pay for their crimes.”

[5/30/06]

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media, State / Politics | 6 Comments

Cowardly neo-Nazi THUGs on di attack? Balls to that!

Once upon a time, there was a proud white man by the name of Peter Campbell. So proud was Peter, he adopted a pseudonym: ‘Kromlek of Asgard’. Using this moniker, Peter — a middle-aged salesman living in Sydney — liked to inform others of his views. For example, in reference to Mat Henderson-Hau, spokesperson for Trans-Tasman anti-racist network Fightdemback, Campbell writes:

This Lefty maggot will sneer at us and laugh its fake tits off unopposed because WE cannot muster even a HANDFUL of people, FAIR DINKUM blokes with gonads swingin’ between their legs, to oppose him! What? You people want to bend over, grease up your ring piece and have this filth fuck you up the arse?

Um, thanks for that Peter… and ah, how are your gonads swingin’ these days? Still living in fear of Mat bending you over and…

Well, suffice it to say that Campbell certainly has a talent for purple prose, but what about his political analysis?

“Who are the REAL thugs?” asks diddums in one of his latest blog entries (this time employing the pseudonym ‘Victor Whitelaw’):

Once again Mathew Henderson-Hau and the FDB Marxist criminals have attempted to use the alleged attempted murder of an Antifa supporter in Poland to rally the thugs. [Notwithstanding] the fact that no one has been charged nor any claims… been proven to be true, the Left are shrieking for blood. No surprise, the Left and… Antifa are well known in Australia and around the World for their violent behaviour.

Well blow me (down) and call me Buster Gonad and admire my Unfeasibly Large Testicles as, gonads swingin’, we examine that statement a little more closely, shall we?

But first, a tune!

Who’s that dragging what looks like a pink sack of spanners down the road?
His swollen folly on a supermarket trolley to alleviate the load
Testicular tomfoolery
To the rescue of humanity
It looks a lot of balls to me

Fun and japes and merry frolics
With Buster Gonad’s bulbous bouncing . . .
Bags of fun with Buster
And his super scrotal cluster

Who’s that lad with his cobblers clad in a disguise of some form?
When the cosmic power of a meteorite shower made them swell beyond the norm
Now here he comes to save mankind
His enormous nuts not far behind
And they’re not the salted kind

He cures mutes and alcoholics
When they first see his bulbous bouncing . . .
Bags of fun with Buster
And his super scrotal cluster
There’s bags of fun with Buster
See them shine with evil lustre

Buster! Watch out for that revolving door
Ooh Buster! They look so incredibly sore
Buster! Especially as you drag them through that powerful
cleaning agent someone spilled upon the floor
Ooh Buster! why do you let your sack swing so low?

“Sax swing solo?” Yeah!

Fun and japes and merry frolics
With Buster Gonad’s bulbous bouncing . . .
Bags of fun with Buster
And his super scrotal cluster

Doctor Who could defeat the Daleks
if he had Buster’s swinging space age . . .
Bags of fun with Buster
And his double Sputnik thruster
Bags of fun with Buster
Just to stroke them would disgust her
Bags of fun with Buster
If she held them would you trust her?
Bags of fun with Buster
Loads more balls than General Custer
Bags of fun with Buster
Lots more scrots than you could muster

Ahem.

Campbell makes a number of claims with regards FDB:

i) it consists of ‘Marxists’ and ‘criminals’ and;
ii) the group is “using” the attempted knifing to death of Maciek, a Polish antifa, to “rally the thugs”.

This last ‘fact’, according to Campbell, is merely one (further) example of the Left’s (sic) general proclivity for “shrieking for blood”. Apparently, Campbell BELIEVES that everybody COMMUNICATES in the same manner he does:

But revenge, as the old adage goes, is a dish best served cold, and once I recovered from the initial shock and shame at having been so comprehensively outplayed by the Darpists through their superior skills in I.T. technology [those fiendish geeks!] I settled down to planning and scheming my ultimate revenge. And it will be so sweet as to be sickly. I have become consumed by a (some might say unhealthy) slow burning rage against this vile creature. I think of little else these days. But if it is true that one gets out of something what one… puts in then I am due to reap a bumper harvest indeed. I fully intend to prove to all that it has never been an idle boast when I have said that one does NOT want ME on their case! I can be so single minded, so focused, so motivated, so determined when it comes to the evening of scores. Most of my waking hours have been occupied with researching, writing letters, designing counter-propaganda etc. to combat the aforementioned maggots.

(Er, fair enough Peter: would you like to borrow my handkerchief so that you can wipe the spittle from your mouth?)

Thus this shrieking violent, being a keen-eyed STUDENT of HISTORY, can confidently proclaim that “shrieking for blood” is “no surprise” as “the Left and the [sic] Antifa are well known in Australia and around the [w]orld for their violent behaviour”.

Hmmm. Well, if nobody ever opened a book, Peter would probably be on safe territory. Unfortunately for Campbell (and, presumably, his gonads), this is not the case.

i) By any standard definition, a ‘Marxist’ is someone who is a follower of Karl Marx, while ‘Marxism’ is “the philosophy, social theory and political practice based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century German socialist philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary”. A ‘criminal’, on the other hand, is someone that has committed or been legally convicted of a crime.

By any standard definition, then, FDB is neither ‘Marxist’ nor ‘criminal’.

Still, for the purposes of his audience — that same audience that Campbell’s mentor, Adolf Hitler, disparaged as being of “limited receptivity”, whose “intelligence is small”, and whose “power of forgetting is enormous” — nonsense like this plays well. After all, those few sad losers who have the misfortune to find Campbell’s ideology attractive are presumably far too busy fiddling with their tinfoil helmets to bother peeking out from under them; thus saving themselves from having the opportunity to take a good look at the real world as it passes them by…

ii) In this instance, Campbell appears to be reacting — quite badly, by the sounds of it — to the news that his comrades in Blood & Honour (Poland), their site redwatch, and its host, DreamHost, may soon be experiencing some legal difficulties, courtesy of both Polish and US authorities. And who knows if the statements made by Victor Ashe, the US Ambassador to Poland, Polish Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Ludwik Dorn, or Konrad Ciesiolkiewicz, a spokesperson for the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, are intended to be taken seriously?

Time will tell.

Of course, aside from presenting no evidence to support his claim that “the Left” is “shrieking for blood”, Campbell fails to note that:

a) the near-fatal assault upon Maciek (a Jew, according to the US Embassy in Poland) on May 16 was followed by another on Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, only a few weeks later.

b) Polish Jewish students have also been threatened. According to one source:

Two Jewish student leaders in Poland have received anti-Semitic messages on their telephones.

The threatening calls came during the run-up to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Poland and during his stay there this week, JTA has learned. [T]he text messages received by the Jewish student in Warsaw threatens to blow up the synagogue and put Jews in concentration camps.

The police are trying to find out the source of the text messages, and the Polish Prime Minister’s Office is working to give the case top priority.

The calls come only a few weeks after the stabbing of an anti-fascist activist in Warsaw, allegedly by two [boneheads] who remain at large.

The stabbing victim’s contact information and picture had been listed on a xenophobic Web site that also lists Jews, gays and their supporters.

It is believed that the [bonehead] attack was connected to the Red Watch extremist Web site, which Polish authorities want to shut down.

Campbell’s world is a very small one, his Weltanschauung even smaller, and ignorance and bigotry mark its borders. Fortunately, he belongs to a very small minority of local (Australian) fascists, and, like them, is chronically incapable of understanding the Big Bad World outside of it. For example, the Council of Europe’s 2005 ‘Report on racism in Albania, Croatia, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom’ states:

In Poland, some measures have been taken in favour of the cultural and linguistic rights of national and ethnic minorities. However, there is still no comprehensive body of civil and administrative legislation prohibiting discrimination in all fields of life. ECRI is concerned that cases of racial hatred are rarely investigated and prosecuted while publications containing racist, and particularly antisemitic material are still available on the market.

Someone capable of interpreting the world, let alone changing it, might recognise in this statement a message from EU authorities to their Polish equivalents. Further, such a person might have some understanding of the importance of EU membership to Poland, and why Polish authorities might be keen to demonstrate to others that, while Poland may have hosted a number of extermination camps for European Jews during WWII, it no longer wishes to be perceived as a happy home to murderous anti-Semites (a privilege that is currently DreamHost’s).

Anyway, so much for Campbell’s ludicrous attack on FDB. The remainder of his diatribe consists of:

a) an account of a violent assault upon fascists associated with the German Republican Party by a group of masked assailants in April 1992 in Neukolln, Berlin;

b) the claim that “[i]n the 1970s [Campbell’s heyday] Australian Jews openly attacked and vandalized Australian Nationalists and their property”;

c) the reproduction of an article, ‘Website seeks net loss for net-Nazis’ (June 17, 2005) by Peter Kohn, profiling FDB for the benefit of readers of the Australian Jewish News and;

d) the reproduction of one of my own posts to the FDB Forum.

In response:

A) Campbell fails to provide the political background to the trial. From the same source:

Since 1990, fascists and racists have killed at least 75 people – immigrants, refugees, homeless, disabled and young anti-fascists – in Germany; thousands of attacks and firebombings have been aimed particularly at immigrants and refugees as well as against the small Jewish community. In 1991/1992 [for example], the pogrom in Hoyerswerda took place. Mete Eksi, a Turkish youth, was killed on the street by racists in Berlin. The situation was and has been escalated to a point where internationally known Jewish writer Ralf Giordano publicly called on all Jewish people and other victims of fascist terror to arm themselves, because they could not rely on the German state for protection.

I’ve been unable to discover the results of this particular trial online, but this provides some further detail.

What Campbell’s example — seemingly picked at random — has to do with FDB, I’ve no idea.

B) Campbell refers to four separate incidents to support his thesis. The first, allegedly reported in The Herald (January 31, 1971) concerns an attack upon two bikies, who were allegedly thrown into the Yarra River and had their bikes “destroyed” by “a large crowd of Antifa, egged on by Communist Jews”. The second, which occurred on the same day, involved an assault upon a man whose crime, according to Campbell, was that he “spoke with a European accent”. The third incident is a reference to a famed assault upon the Carlton headquarters of the National Socialist Party of Australia. The fourth and final incident Campbell claims occurred in 1972, when a group of Jews trashed the residence of another would-be Fuehrer, this time in St Albans.

Jews eh? ‘Can’t live with ’em, can’t oppress ’em without ’em fighting back.’

As for the incidents themselves…

In April 1972, sixteen sticks of gelignite exploded in the Communist Party’s Brisbane office, lifting the floor of the building almost six centimetres off the ground. Later the same evening, three rifle shots ricocheted through the Maoist East Wind bookshop…

The next month, the terror campaign returned to Melbourne with an attempt to set the Third World bookshop alight. A week later, the East Wind bookshop in Little Londsdale Street received a fire-bomb through the front door, while Molotov cocktails hit the Radical Action Movement’s headquarters in Palmerston Street, Carlton, the China Friendship Society, and the Source bookshop in Collins Street…

Many naturally suspected the NSPA of involvement in the bookshop attacks, since the Nazis had previously clashed with the Left. In January 1971, the NSPA announced a fascist rally to be held on Melbourne’s Yarra Bank. The Left and the Jewish community organised a counter-rally. When the Nazis did not appear, thousands streamed up to their headquarters in North Carlton. The party’s leader Cass Young later complained:

All this time we could hear a noise such as that at a football ground, getting louder. Looking outside, I saw that a huge crowd was coming down the street towards our headquarters.

Within minutes there were several thousand people, mostly reds and those of the chosen race, milling around outside. We closed all the doors and windows and I posted sentries at the back and on the roof. We hoisted the mighty flag of our race — the swastika — and the Eureka flag at the top front window. The crowd outside began throwing anything it could get its hands on: eggs, tomatoes, rocks and tins. Soon all the windows had been smashed by flying missiles.

In June 1972, the NSPA tried to hold its annual conference. The fascists kept the location secret. Protesters instead marched to a triple-fronted brick veneer in St. Albans, which served both as Young’s house and the new [neo-]Nazi HQ. To resounding chants of ‘Death to the Nazis’, they tore the building apart. Surveying the wreckage of his property, Young lost some of his enthusiasm for overt displays of Nazism, and the NSPA collapsed in a bout of internecine warfare, a process nicely captured in the title of David Harcourt’s study of Australian Nazism: Everyone Wants to Be Fuehrer.

Source : Jeff Sparrow and Jill Sparrow, Radical Melbourne 2 : The Enemy Within, The Vulgar Press, 2004, pp.149-150.

Again, quite what Campbell’s examples — seemingly picked on no other basis than his rampant Judeophobia — have to do with FDB, I’ve no idea.

C) And what an interesting article it is too. But its relevance seems, once again, to rely on Campbell’s hatred for Jews. Thus the moral of the tale is that “Jewish groups, [which] in the [1970s] carried out violent attacks against Patriots [sic] in Australia, now use stupid Goyim or Shabbos Goy ([Helpful] Gentiles) to push the[ir] violent agenda. The Jews who no longer want to get their hands dirty now use the “useful idiots” of groups like FDB as their Militant Henchmen.”

Further commentary is, I think, superfluous.

D) As Campbell simply reproduces this post, there’s really nothing for me to add. Presumably Campbell thinks it sufficient evidence of FDB’s perfidy that one of its members is an (gasp!) anarchist.

Finally, Campbell devotes the rest of his post to blathering on about Mat, FDB, and the various offences that Campbell — and Campbell alone, it seems — believes him to be guilty of, and concludes by ‘demanding’ that Australian authorities subscribe to his bizarre, neo-Nazi political program, one centred on combating the nefarious activities of FDB, Andrew Bartlett, the Democrats, the Greens, the AWU and Dr. John Casey.

And presumably, if the authorities decide to ignore Peter Campbell’s ‘demands’ — and call me a crazy anarchist who labours day and night “to destroy the nation and create some sort of sick Maoist society”, but I think that they might — this will be further proof of the political stranglehold the ZOG holds over Australian law enforcement.

The more things change

Posted in Anarchism, Anti-fascism, History, Media | 9 Comments

[Polish] Government demands closure of [DreamHost’s] far-right website

IFEX, the International Freedom of Expression eXchange reports:

Français: Le gouvernement demande la fermeture du site néo-fasciste Redwatch

Country/Topic : Poland
Date: 29 May 2006
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Person(s):
Target(s): journalist(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): threatened
Urgency: Bulletin

(RSF/IFEX) – On 28 May 2006, the Polish government called on US authorities to shut down the far-right Internet website Redwatch, which is run from the United States, a government spokesman said. The move follows a 24 May appeal by RSF to Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro to investigate far-right Polish groups, such as “Blood and Honour”, that are publicised by Redwatch.

A Polish prosecutor looking into “Blood and Honour” had said it was impossible to identify its militants in Poland because the site is hosted in the US.

Since January, the Redwatch-Poland site has carried a list of what it calls “enemy” journalists working for left and far-left groups, with their names, addresses and photos.

A journalist of the daily “Trybuna” is the latest addition to the list, bringing the number of threatened journalists to 16.

But what is IFEX?

As profound violations of the right to free expression continue around the globe, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) has emerged as a strong and growing force of opposition.

IFEX was born in 1992 when many of the world’s leading freedom of expression organizations came together in Montreal to discuss how best to further their collective goals…

At its core, IFEX is made up of organisations whose members refuse to turn away when those who have the courage to insist upon their fundamental human right to free expression are censored, brutalized or killed. Comprised of 72 organisations – located everywhere from the Pacific Islands to Europe to West Africa – IFEX draws together a tremendously diverse and dedicated global community.

What, haven’t they read the First Amendment? According to the brains trust at DreamHost, this Amendment guarantees the company the right to host a site intent on intimidating journalists and encouraging attacks upon Jews. And who on Earth would be silly enough to argue that this isn’t precisely what James Madison had in mind in 1791?

I wonder how many more Jews have to be assaulted before DreamHost acts?

Six million?

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media | 1 Comment

redwatch has a friend in Ben Weerheym

[img removed : it was freakin’ me out, man.]

As mentioned below, redwatch is a project of the Polish division of the bonehead Blood & Honour organisation. Despite lying protestations to the contrary, Welf Herfurth (currently a prominent member of James Saleam’s Australia First party) is one of its main organisers in Australia, and has a long history, both here and in his previous home, Germany, of neo-Nazi militancy. When not discussing his exciting travels in Asia, Herfurth can be found working in close collaboration with Saleam, acting as MC at the most recent fascist ‘Sydney Forum’ (August 27-28, 2005). Unfortunately for Herfurth, he was unable to extend a personal welcome to Gerd Finkenwirth of the German neo-Nazi National Democratic Party as the Australian Government denied Finkenwirth a visa.

See also : Francis De Groot Brigade

Posted in Anti-fascism | 1 Comment

DreamHost’s undiplomatic love of fascist violence at a diplomatic crossroads

Excellent!

Le Monde (via AFP) reports that the co-operation of US authorities inre redwatch is being sought. I wonder how much longer it will be that DreamHost places profit above people?

Varsovie demande l’aide des USA pour fermer un site néonazi en polonais
AFP 28.05.06 | 16h02

Varsovie a demandé aux autorités américaines de les aider ? fermer un site internet néonazi qui a publié notamment des listes noires d’homosexuels et de personnalités et militants de gauche en Pologne, a annoncé dimanche le porte-parole du gouvernement.

“Le ministère des Affaires étrangères a adressé une note aux autorités américaines”, a indiqué M. Konrad Ciesiolkiewicz cité par l’agence PAP.

Selon Varsovie, le site www.redwatch.info/sites/redwatch.htm lié ? la branche polonaise de l’organisation internationale “Sang et Honneur” (“Blood and Honor”) est hebergé par un serveur américain et échappe ainsi aux compétences de la justice polonaise.

En février, le parquet de Varsovie a ouvert une enquête sur ce site ? la suite de la publication de ses listes noires de personnalités de gauche accompagnées parfois de leurs adresses ou numéro de téléphone.

Dans le cadre d’une opération dite Redwatch, Blood and Honour avait demandé ? ses sympathisants de rassembler des informations “sur les personnes engagées dans une activité antifasciste et antiraciste, sur les immigrés de couleur, sur les activistes et les sympathisants de la gauche ainsi que du lobby homosexuel et pédophile”.

Le 16 mai, un militant des droits de l’homme, dont le nom se trouvait sur les listes de Blood and Honour, a échappé de peu ? une tentative d’assassinat au couteau dans une rue de Varsovie. Selon l’ambassade américaine, la victime était juive.

L’organisation Reporters sans frontières a alerté le ministère polonais de la Justice sur de graves menaces proférées contre une quinzaine de journalistes de gauche dont les noms ont été publiés sur le site néonazi.

[Insert Babelfish in ear, and tweak:]

Warsaw requires the assistance of US authorities to close a Polish neo-Nazi website
AFP 28.05.06 | 16h02

Warsaw requires the help of US authorities to help them close a neo-Nazi website which has published a black-list of [presumed] homosexuals and leftist ‘militants’ in Poland, announced a government spokesperson on Sunday.

“The Ministry for Foreign Affairs addressed a note to the American authorities”, indicated Mr. Konrad Ciesiolkiewicz, as quoted by the PAP agency.

According to Warsaw, the [redwatch site] is linked to the Polish branch of the international ‘Blood and Honour’ organisation, is hosted on an American server [DreamHost], and so escapes the jurisdiction of Polish legal authorities.

In February, the parquet floor of Warsaw opened an investigation into the site, following the publication of its black-list of ‘personalities’ of the left, sometimes accompanied by their addresses or telephone numbers.

Within the framework of an operation known as Redwatch, Blood and Honour had asked its sympathizers to gather information “on people engaged in anti-fascist and anti-racist activity, on coloured immigrants, left-wing activists and their sympathizers, as well as [members of the] the ‘homosexual lobby’ and paedophiles”.

On May 16, a ‘human rights militant’, whose name was on the Blood and Honour black-list, barely escaped an attempted murder [by an assailant wielding a knife] on the streets of Warsaw. According to the American Embassy, the victim was Jewish.

The organisation Reporters Without Borders alerted the Polish Ministry of Justice of serious threats made against about fifteen ‘leftist’ journalists whose names were published on the neo-Nazi site.

See also : Threats to 15 journalists appear on neo-fascist website

Q. Is hosting a site that threatens to kill journalists on the basis of their opposition to fascism likely to harm or hinder the struggle for ‘freedom of speech’?

Discuss.

Supplementary question: Given DreamHost’s primary concern is making money, is its role in allowing for the circulation of such information as is contained on redwatch likely to attract or repel potential customers?

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media | Leave a comment

“Free Speech”

People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. — Kierkegaard

As noted in my previous post, DreamHost has a discussion forum in which a number of people have expressed their views on the company’s decision to act as a host for a site intended to facilitate violent assaults by neo-Nazis and other fascists on those whose identities, beliefs and actions they disapprove of: Jews, gays, lesbians, anarchists, leftists, non-Whites et. al..

Like (too) many other discussions on this and related topics, the commentators (chiefly, it seems, DreamHost employees) who defend DreamHost’s ‘right’ to make money from the provision of this service to those who would cheerfully incinerate Europe’s Jewish population are confused as to what ‘free speech’ is, and what responsibilities DreamHost (arguably) possesses on the basis of the rights that the company has been granted by the US state to conduct business.

(And, as I suspected, the reply I received to my first enquiry regarding DreamHost’s hosting of redwatch was a standard one.)

On the forum itself, two commentators request DreamHost stop aiding and abetting Polish fascists in their attempts to murder persons (who have rights) deemed to be Untermensch. The first essentially recapitulates my own views.

Anonymous comrade (‘webeditor423’) :

Friends –

Free speech is wonderful. However, redwatch.info is not about expressing a nazi political philosophy. Its function is to display the names, photos, and personal data of those who disagree with nazis for the explicit purpose of terrorizing these individuals…

This isn’t a question of legality — I don’t doubt that DreamHost is perfectly within US laws while hosting redwatch.info. Instead, since this matter was brought to DreamHost’s attention, this is a question of whether DreamHost is willing to continue to provide nazis with the tools to terrorize, injure, and kill those that they disagree with. Personally, I trust DreamHost to take steps to stop users from using DreamHost’s tools towards a goal of violent attacks on innocent folks who happen to disagree with nazis.

Another anonymous comrade (’cal4226′) argues that DreamHost may be acting in violation of a Californian law on ‘hate speech’:

DreamHost could be prosecuted as an associated party to a crime under Sections 422.6 and 422.55 of the California penal code against hate crimes.

[Quote:]

The U.S. Congress defined in 1992 a hate crime as a crime in which “the defendant’s conduct was motivated by hatred, bias, or prejudice, based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity of another individual or group of individuals” (HR 4797).

422.55. For purposes of this title, and for purposes of all other state law unless an explicit provision of law or the context clearly requires a different meaning, the following shall apply:
(a) “Hate crime” means a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of one or more of the following actual or perceived characteristics of the victim:
(1) Disability.
(2) Gender.
(3) Nationality.
(4) Race or ethnicity.
(5) Religion.
(6) Sexual orientation.
(7) Association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.
(b) “Hate crime” includes, but is not limited to, a violation of Section 422.6.

The role of hate speech in the hate crimes is defined here:

422.6. (a) No person, whether or not acting under color of law, shall by force or threat of force, willfully injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress, or threaten any other person in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him or her by the Constitution or laws of this state or by the Constitution or laws of the United States in whole or in part because of one or more of the actual or perceived characteristics of the victim listed in subdivision (a) of Section 422.55.

(emphasis added)

In section (c) it’s clear that hate speech is a relevant factor in convicting someone of a hate crime in California, even hate speech alone without an action is a crime – under the very special circumstances defined in that law, such as threatening violence against a specific person, which is clearly the case for the redwatch.info site:

However, no person may be convicted of violating subdivision (a) based upon speech alone, except upon a showing that the speech itself threatened violence against a specific person or group of persons and that the defendant had the apparent ability to carry out the threat.

So DreamHost’s clients (of the redwatch.info site) are committing a crime under Section 422.6 of the Californian Penal Code since they are making “speech which itself threatens violence against specific persons”. They risk 12 months prison or a $5000 fine.

DreamHost has a clause about not allowing content which is illegal.

If DreamHost management acts in “good faith” to prevent the continued crime, then they would presumably be able to defend themselves from being convicted as a supporting partner in crime and avoiding having to manage the DreamHost service from inside a prison cell.

And again, the same person — I think? — argues here that redwatch may be in violation of DreamHost’s own ‘laws’ :

TOS: netiquette and lawfulness

DreamHost has two ways of legally terminating redwatch.info’s client contract:

INTERNET ETIQUETTE

“1. Electronic forums such as mail distribution lists and Usenet news groups all have expectations regarding subject area and appropriate etiquette for posting. Users of these forums should be considerate of the expectations and sensitivities of others on the network when posting material for electronic distribution. The network resources of DreamHost Webhosting may not be used to impersonate another person or misrepresent authorization to act on behalf of others or DreamHost Webhosting. All messages transmitted via DreamHost Webhosting should correctly identify the sender; users may not alter the attribution of origin in electronic mail messages or posting.”

Since when has threatening to kill people and publishing their personal biodata been consistent with netiquette?

DreamHost also has a terms of service clause which shows that it is not going to defend free speech at all costs: it refuses child pornography and copyright violations and other legal restrictions on free speech:

LAWFUL PURPOSE

“1. Customer may only use DreamHost Webhosting’s Server for lawful purpose. Transmission of any material in violation of any Country, Federal, State or Local regulation is prohibited. To this effect, child pornography is strictly prohibited as well as housing any copyrighted information (to which the customer does not hold the copyright) on DreamHost Webhosting’s Server.”

This also says that DreamHost respects laws of other Countries (regarding transmission of any material). It can cut off redwatch.info’s access according to the Terms Of Service since redwatch.info certainly violates Polish law on protection of personal data and against murder and against attempted murder (the authors of redwatch.info are prime suspects).

DreamHost employee ‘norm1037’ replies :

I am sure that most DreamHost customers would abhor the type of sites you refer to, myself included.

But I always have two phrases keep [sic] popping into my mind, “know thine enemy” and “knowledge is power”. I am sure it is better to know where these sites are, who is posting to them and who is reading them.

No doubt DreamHost could delete these sites in a micro-second, but I wouldn’t want them popping up again from some strange anonymously routed site or untouchable island in the middle of an Ocean. Perhaps where they are now is most convenient.

Let us perhaps be a little cunning [“we’re hunting wabbits!”] and wait and watch!

Just my two-pennyworth.

Two-penny? Hmmm. While it’s to be hoped that most DreamHost customers — with at least one obvious exception — would abhor redwatch, it’s not especially relevant. After all, whatever DreamHost customers might “abhor”, none are in a position to deny redwatch its access to DreamHost webhosting facilities. That responsibility lies with DreamHost.

Norm writes: “I am sure it is better to know where these sites are, who is posting to them and who is reading them.”

Why?

Better than what? Not knowing where these sites are, who is posting to them, and who is reading them?

Well, the first question is easily answered: DreamHost is where Polish fascism’s at. As to who’s posting to them and who’s reading them, until such time as DreamHost or someone else states otherwise, only DreamHost and (presumably) the site’s owner knows.

What’s the alternative?

They could be hosted elsewhere.

That’s the point.

“Know thine enemy”? Um, yeah. neo-Nazis for a start…

“Knowledge is power”? Um, OK…

Your first question, for 10 points, is:

Which German dictator once remarked in his autobiography:

The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan. As soon as you sacrifice this slogan and try to be many-sided, the effect will piddle away, for the crowd can neither digest nor retain the material offered. In this way the result is weakened and in the end entirely cancelled out.

Your second question, for 20 points, is:

The text below (from the opening address for the prosecution) is extracted from a famous trial, named after a German city, and held at the end of WWII. Robert Jackson was the prosecutor. Which country was he representing?

The Nazi conspiracy, as we shall show, always contemplated not merely overcoming current opposition but exterminating elements which could not be reconciled with its philosophy of the state. It not only sought to establish the Nazi “new order” but to secure its sway, as Hitler predicted, “for a thousand years.” Nazis were never in doubt or disagreement as to what these dissident elements were. They were concisely described by one of them, Col. General von Fritsch, on December 11, 1938, in these words:

“Shortly after the first war I came to the conclusion that we should have to be victorious in three battles if Germany were to become powerful again: 1. The battle against the working class[.] Hitler has won this. 2. Against the Catholic Church, perhaps better expressed against Ultramontanism. 3. Against the Jews.” (1947-PS).

[Page 129]

The warfare against these elements was continuous. The battle in Germany was but a practice skirmish for the worldwide drive against them. We have in point of geography and of time two groups of crimes against humanity — one within Germany before and during the war, the other in occupied territory during the war. But the two are not separated in Nazi planning. They are a continuous unfolding of the Nazi plan to exterminate peoples and institutions which might serve as a focus or instrument for overturning their “new world order” at any time. We consider these Crimes against Humanity in this address as manifestations of the one Nazi plan and discuss them according to General von Fritch’s classification.

1. The Battle Against the Working Class

When Hitler came to power, there were in Germany three groups of trade unions. The General German Trade Union Confederation (ADGB) with twenty-eight affiliated unions, and the General Independent Employees Confederation (AFA) with thirteen federated unions together numbered more than 4,500,000 members. The Christian Trade Union had over 1,250,000 members.

The working people of Germany, like the working people of other nations, had little to gain personally by war. While labor is usually brought around to the support of the nation at war, labor by and large is a pacific, though by no means a pacifist force in the world. The working people of Germany had not forgotten in 1933 how heavy the yoke of the war lord can be. It was the workingmen who had joined the sailors and soldiers in the revolt of 1918 to end the First World War. The Nazis had neither forgiven nor forgotten. The Nazi program required that this part of the German population not only be stripped of power to resist diversion of its scanty comforts to armament, but also be wheedled or whipped into new and unheard of sacrifices as part of the Nazi war preparation. Labor must be cowed, and that meant its organizations and means of cohesion and defense must be destroyed.

The purpose to regiment labor for the Nazi Party was avowed by Ley in a speech to workers on 2 May 1933, as follows:

“You may say what else do you want, you have the absolute power. True we have the power, but we do not have the whole people, we do not have you workers 100%, and it is

[Page 130]

you whom we want; we will not let you be until you stand with us in complete, genuine acknowledgment.” (614-PS).

The first Nazi attack was upon the two larger unions. On April 21, 1933 an order not even in the name of the Government, but of the Nazi Party was issued by the conspirator Robert Ley as “Chief of Staff of the political organization of the NSDAP,” applicable to the Trade Union Confederation and the Independent Employees Confederation. It directed seizure of their properties and arrest of their principal leaders. The party order directed party organs which we here denounce as criminal associations, the SA and SS “to be employed for the occupation of the trade union properties, and for the taking into custody of personalities who come into question.” And it directed the taking into “protective custody” of all chairmen and district secretaries of such unions and branch directors of the labor bank (392-PS).

These orders were carried out on May 2, 1933. All funds of the labor unions, including pension and benefit funds, were seized. Union leaders were sent to concentration camps. A few days later, on May 10, 1933, Hitler appointed Ley leader of the German Labor Front (DEUTSCHE ARBEITSFRONT), which succeeded to the confiscated union funds. The German Labor Front, a Nazi controlled labor bureau, was set up under Ley to teach the Nazi philosophy to German workers and to weed out from industrial employment all who were backward in their lessons (1940-PS). “Factory Troops” were organized as an “ideological shock squad within the factory” (1817-PS). The Party order provided that “outside of the German Labor Front, no other organization (whether of workers or of employees) is to exist.” On June 24, 1933 the remaining Christian Trade Unions were seized pursuant to an order of the Nazi Party signed by Ley.

On May 19, 1933, this time by government decree, it was provided that “trustees” of labor, appointed by Hitler, should regulate the conditions of all labor contracts, replacing the former process of collective bargaining (405- PS). On January 20, 1934 a decree “regulating national labor” introduced the fuehrer-principle into industrial relations. It provided that the owners of enterprises should be the “fuehrers” and the workers should be the followers. The enterpriser-fuehrers should “make decisions for employees and laborers in all matters concerning the enterprise” (1861- PS). It was by such bait that the great German industrialists were induced to support the Nazi cause, to their own ultimate ruin.

[Page 131]

Not only did the Nazis dominate and regiment German labor, but they forced the youth into the ranks of the laboring people they had thus led into chains. Under a compulsory labor service decree on June 26, 1935, young men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 were conscripted for labor (see 1654-PS). Thus was the purpose to subjugate German labor accomplished. In the words of Ley, this accomplishment consisted “in eliminating the association character of the trade union and employees’ associations, and in its place we have substituted the conception ‘soldiers of work’.” The productive manpower of the German nation was in Nazi control. By these steps the defendants won the battle to liquidate labor unions as potential opposition and were enabled to impose upon the working class the burdens of preparing for aggressive warfare.

Robert Ley, the field marshal of the battle against labor, answered our indictment with suicide. Apparently he knew no better answer.

…And so, your final question, for 40 points, is:

Coventry City last won the FA Cup in what year?

On February 3rd 1931, Italian police arrested Michael Schirru in a hotel room in Rome. He was Italian by birth but had become a US citizen. He had returned to Italy with one purpose, to kill Mussolini. Schirru was just one of many anarchists in the pre-war years who put their lives on the line in the fight against fascism.

Schirru’s ‘trial’ took place on May 28th. The judge was Cristini, a young fascist cut-throat raised to the highest ranks in the hierarchy. No jury. A contemporary account of the trial in a US anarchist paper described how “Schirru conducted himself with great dignity during his trial – which, under the circumstances could hardly be called a trial. He repeated his former declaration of intention to kill Mussolini and gave his reasons”. The Tribunal sentenced Schirru to be shot in the back.

“At 2:30 o’clock, the next morning, he was awakened from his sleep and told that his execution would take place at sunrise. He asked permission to write his last words to his dear ones; declined the assistance of the priest and then was taken to the Braschi fortress, on the outskirts of Rome, where he was executed – only eight and a half hours after sentence had been passed – by a firing squad of twenty-four fascist militiamen”.

Individual acts like these were just the tip of anarchist organisation against fascism. In this period every western government saw fascism as a useful bulwark against ‘communism’. From the early 1920’s Italian anarchists had physically fought the fascists and even after World War II anarchists were being jailed for fighting the fascist Italian state in that period.

German resistance

In Germany the anarchist-syndicalist FAUD (Free Union of German Workers) had decided in 1932 to go underground once Hitler came to power and to work towards a general strike. This proved impossible, the FAUD was far too small to do so on its own and of course once Hitler came to power its numbers were further decimated as many members were either arrested or forced to flee into exile. However with the help of Dutch anarchists they did succeed in setting up a FAUD secretariat in exile in Amsterdam.

Inside Germany FAUD members like labourer Franz Bunget and unemployed steelworker Julius Nolden attempted to continue operating underground. Both were to be arrested by the Gestapo. However with others they succeeded in getting an underground network going that smuggled people out of Germany and smuggled anti-Nazi pamphlets in, often with strange titles to mislead the fascist authorities.

Court records show that one pamphlet went under the title of ‘Eat German fruit and stay healthy’ and became “so popular among miners that they used to greet each other with: ‘Have you eaten German fruit as well?'” The outbreak of the Spanish Revolution in 1936 saw an underground network that raised money for the Spanish anarchists and their fight against fascism and recruited technicians to go to Spain and provide needed expertise.

In December of 1936 however the Gestapo managed to discover the first of these groups and in raids then and in 1937 arrested 89 male and female members of this anarchist underground. In early 1938 these comrades were charged with “preparing acts of high treason”. All but six were convicted.

Julius Nolden was ‘lucky’ and spent the next 8 years in Luttringhausen prison until the arrival of the ‘allies’ in April of 1945. Others were not so ‘lucky’ and were murdered in prison. Lathe operator, Emil Mahnert was thrown out of a window, bricklayer, Wilhelm Schmitz, died in “unexplained circumstances”, Ernst Holtznagel was sent to a military punishment battalion where he died, Michael Delissen was beaten to death by the Gestapo in December 1936 and Anton Rosinke was murdered in February 1937.

The history of the anarchist resistance to fascism is something we are never told about in mainstream or even left histories. The victors over fascism wrote the ‘history’ of anti-fascism after WWII. They gave prominent place to the aristocratic German officers who failed to kill Hitler late in the war but ignored the ordinary workers who struggled in the 1920’s and 1930’s when the western governments saw Hitler as an ally. The account here is but a snippet, based on the valuable work done by the ‘Kate Sharpley Library’ in recovering, translating and publishing this history.

After the war in August 1946, Ernst Binder wrote:

“Since mass resistance was not feasible in 1933, the finest members of the movement had to squander their energy in a hopeless guerrilla campaign. But if workers will draw from that painful experiment the lesson that only a united defence at the proper time is effective in the struggle against fascism, their sacrifices will not have been in vain.”

Andrew Flood

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media | 2 Comments

Poland’s chief rabbi attacked on Warsaw street

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, was attacked in a central Warsaw street on Saturday in what the Interior Ministry said was probably a provocation meant to portray Poland as an anti-Semitic country.

[Rather than, say, evidence that Poland is an anti-Semitic country.]

The attack coincided with a visit to Poland by German-born Pope Benedict, who was due to pray later on Sunday at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, where 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were killed during World War Two.

Police have yet to apprehend the man responsible. I suggest they search local Internet cafes: his “friends” at DreamHost eagerly await his application for webhosting.

UPDATE : The US Embassy has, according to Radio Polonia, “condemned the attack on Michael Schudrich… In a special statement Victor Ashe, the American ambassador to Poland has wished the Rabbi a quick return to health and thanked Polish authorities for their effort in establishing the perpetrator of the physical assault… He called on all who hold intolerance and anti-Semitism in contempt to unite in countering such practices. Rabbi Schudrich is a U.S. citizen. He was verbally insulted and attacked by a young man in Warsaw city center. Deputy premier and interior minister Ludwik Dorn has ordered a special police investigation to apprehend the attacker and establish his motives.”

A perfect opportunity, one might think, for US authorities to co-operate with the Polish Ministry of Justice and Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders) in an investigation into the links between this (and other recent violent assaults), on the one hand, and the neo-Nazi redwatch — and, of course, its (Dream)Host — on the other.

Posted in Anti-fascism | Leave a comment

“We are such stuff… As dreams are made on”

I wrote a letter to DreamHost the other day.

They opened it; read it; and concluded I was a sucker.

Here it is:

Dear DreamHost,

You provide hosting facilities for redwatch.info

Over a week ago, on May 16, in Poland, a young Polish anti-fascist was attacked, pepper-sprayed and knifed by two neo-Nazis. Prior to this vicious and cowardly attack, the young man in question was profiled on the site: a site which is dedicated to publishing the names, descriptions, photographs, addresses (both home and work) and any other details that may be discovered by fascists and neo-Nazis in Europe regarding those who do not wish to see Poland, or Europe, revert to fascism.

I politely request that you explain why you choose to support the publication and dissemination of such information, information which, when acted upon by its target audience, has almost resulted in one man’s death.

I received the following in reply:

DreamHost strongly believes in the [F]irst [A]mendment of the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees its citizens freedom of speech and freedom of the press, among other things (both of which can apply to websites). We made a business decision long ago to value freedom of speech above any potential offense someone might take over the content of a site hosted by us.

Thanks,
Sam

I imagine that this is a form letter: one sent to anyone who might complain in a fashion similar to myself. Fairly certain that I would be wasting my time, I decided to reply in any case.

Here it is:

Dear Sam,

Thank you for your reply. I suspect that nothing I write will make the slightest difference to you or to DreamHost. Nevertheless…

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

So reads the First Amendment of the US Constitution. As would seem obvious, this places (theoretical) restrictions on the ability of the US Congress to pass certain kinds of laws, viz:

those which would have the effect of elevating any particular religion to the status of a ‘state’ religion (aka the doctrine of the separation of Church & State) or, alternatively, the prohibition of any particular religion or religious practice (leaving aside the tricky question of what constitutes a ‘religion’ and what practices may be legitimately ascribed to it; a question for which there is a long history of jurisprudence);

those which would have the effect of abridging/restricting (literal, spoken) freedom of speech, or of the press (publishing — obviously, including the Internet);

etc..

DreamHost’s “belief” or otherwise in this Amendment is irrelevant. It exists, as do the mechanisms for its legal enforcement (the US State). In other words, I do not dispute DreamHost’s legal entitlement to receive money in exchange for the provision of services, up to and including such services as webhosting for redwatch.info.

DreamHost is therefore — theoretically, at least, under the provisions of the First Amendment, and irrespective of each and every other US law — at liberty to allow for the publication of — literally — any form of any speech of any kind.

For example:

‘Sam X is a DreamHost employee. S/he lives at [this address], works at [this address], looks like [this], drives a car with [this registration], [etc., etc., etc.,]. S/he is a filthy dirty [gay / lesbian / leftist / Jew et. al.] who must be killed, and the following describes the best method for doing so without getting caught [blah blah blah]. We at [such-and-such an organisation] urge you to distribute this information as widely as possible, and wish to thank our webhost [Nightmare Inc.?] for their business sense in allowing us to do so’.

Obviously, this is a nightmare scenario. But, crucially, one that is legal. (Again, under the provisions of the First Amendment, and irrespective of each and every other US law.)

One question that might be posed at this point is: would Sam X be potentially ‘offended’ by this? Or would Sam X — depending on the nature, accuracy and origin of such information — have legitimate grounds for concern over their safety?

What if Sam X was not in fact the first employee of DreamHost to be targeted in this fashion? Further, what if, in the past, other employees of DreamHost had been similarly targeted, and perhaps even murdered (possibly by having a knife driven into their back) by someone acting, consciously and deliberately, on the basis of this information?

In such circumstances, would the webhost in question have any ethical obligation to ensure the removal of such content from their site?

I think so.

I also think that such a scenario is roughly analogous to the one which prompted me to write DreamHost, requesting the company’s considered response.

Which prompts [my] second question: would a morally justifiable response on the part of the webhost in question be: we “believe” this activity to be legal, and in any case, we are paid an extremely minimal sum of money to provide such a service?

I don’t think so.

Do you?

Finally, inre to ‘freedom of speech’: the First Amendment makes legally possible various forms of speech; crucially, however, it does not mandate them. In other words, DreamHost is under no legal obligation to provide neo-Nazis with a means with which to allow adherents to their ideology to hunt down and kill their opposition. This is, in fact, a choice.

Sincerely,

Andy.

PS. If I am completely wasting my time in engaging in any further correspondence, please feel free to let me know.

Some discussion — and a much more elaborate justification of DreamHost’s decision to contribute to the circulation of information regarding the identity of antifa, as well as numerous other (principally legal) ancillary issues — is available for perusal on the DreamHost Forum.

See also : Polish Jewish students threatened; Justice minister warned about danger posed by threats on neo-fascist site; Preparations under way for World Cup hooligans; Russia: racism on the rise. And don’t forget Shakey!

Oh, and I just got this reply from Sam / DreamHost:

We thank you for your opinions, however they are not doing anything illegal. It is not illegal to post personal information on the internet. Implying isn’t illegal and neither is posting personal information. We thank you for your concern regarding this matter. However, we are not taking the site down.

Thanks,
Sam

But somehow or other, I don’t believe that this is the end of the matter.

What do you think?

:: Above : The results of another business decision made long ago… ::

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media | 15 Comments