This post is dedicated to Ron Edwards. (And the KKK.)
See also : Ozzy Osbourne – “Scream” (CD), EdgeoftheWorld, metalunderground.com, June 12, 2010.
Collingwood
The FIFA World Cup is on. Best chant: “Somos los hinchas, más anarquistas, los mas borrachos, los más anti-fascistas … (“We are the fans, the most anarchist fans, the drunkest, most anti-fascist fans …”). Go Chile!
Anti-fascism
Call to Action Against Racism and Fascism:
During the early morning hours of March 27th, a Portland, Oregon anti-racist activist was shot in what appears to be a well orchestrated attack. It is suspected that the attackers were members of the neo- Nazi movement…
The March 27th shooting occurred within a backdrop of growing Right wing, racist, and emerging fascist organizing and activity. There has been a dramatic escalation of rhetoric and action from the broad Right. While all sectors of the working classes and poor face economic and social uncertainty, the racists, the Right wing, and the smaller but significant sections of the neo-Nazi and fascist movements are looking to divide our class and peoples…
We propose Saturday July 31, 2010 as a Call to Action Against Racism and Fascism. We want to use the CA to both engage the broad, independent, and radical anti-racist/anti-fascist movements… we argue for a maximum of creative and independent initiative… to use the CA as a means to increase collaboration between our forces and work in a popular manner to highlight the need for a mass, radical response to racist and fascist organizing.
Autonomous nationalism and why antifascism needs a working class perspective, Phil Dickens, Truth, Reason & Liberty, June 11, 2010. Moaron ‘autonomous nationalism’, antifascism, teh workers and local developments coming soon.
Beating the Fascists: The Authorised History of Anti-Fascist Action, Freedom Press. A brand spanking NEW! book which, as the title suggests, is an ‘authorised’ history of AFA, to be officially (and with the requisite authority) launched on July 28 — the 25th anniversary of the now-defunct group’s launch. See also : Antifa England.
Casa Pound and the New Radical Right in Italy, Moyote Project, mute, April 20, 2010. Local bizarro Luke Connors (ex-AF/PYL) once adopted ‘Casapound’ as his handle on Interwebs forums. He reckons Unkle Ezra was not a fascist. The moar you know…
A Dangerous Place to Defend Human Rights, Vaclav Havel, Desmond Tutu and Grigory Yavlinsky, et al., The Moscow Times, May 31, 2010. In which various VIPs x swords with local yuppie experts regarding the contemporary political situation in Russia.
Free Jock
No appeal date set for imprisoned Palfreeman, Boel Eriksson, The Mosman Daily, May 16, 2010.
Australian Jock Palfreeman is currently serving a 20-year prison term in Sofia, Bulgaria, having been found guilty of murder and attempted murder in December 2009. In February 2010, Jock was placed in isolation for an indefinite period while an appeal against his sentence is being processed by the courts.
Background
In December 2007, Jock witnessed a group of men assaulting two Roma (“Gypsies”) in Sofia. Jock went to the aid of the Roma men and interrupted the assault. The men were able to escape, but the gang continued their vicious attack on Jock. Following the fight, one member of the gang (Andrey Monov) was killed and another (Antoan Zahariev) injured. Jock maintains that he tried to escape the violent gang, and was forced to act in self-defense.
Judge Provides Written Verdict, May 29, 2010: “After 5 months the senior judge in Jock’s case has finally handed down his reasons for the unacceptable verdict he delivered in December of 2009. The document is in Bulgarian and is currently being translated into English. Only now can Jock’s file be sent to the appeal court and an appeal date set. We do not have a date for the appeal as yet…”
For moar infos on Jock’s case, please see freejock.net. Of related interest: Eight “Neo-Nazis” Arrested over Tram Attack in Sofia, novinite.com, June 7, 2010.
Art The Yartz
vexta.com.au Rhymes with texta.com.au. But not Art. Which is funny. ‘Cause they’re an artiste… who may be found lurking, apparently, some where between ‘Acute Social Commentary’ and ‘Aching Beauty’ (which I’m pretty sure is located just after Stony Point Station). Or some thing.
Bloggy
- ‘Why I Blog’, Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic, November 2008. Old but good. And prolific. Really, really prolific. Really.
A Journey Round My Skull can has a truly wonderful collection of imgs compiled by a thirty-something bibliophile.
Critical Masculinities Written by a poof. Probably.
Hack This Zine. Go on: I dare ya.
Rai Ko Ris Punk. Nepal. Anarcho.
Sex, Drugs, & Third-Wheel Politics Ah, er, um.
The Driftless Area Review “is a blog devoted to reviewing books and TV” and should therefore be approached with extreme caution.
Undangon ang Mina. “This site is intended to bring the internet audience a comprehensive information and education about The Mining Situation in the Philippines. From the top most part of the archipelago to the bottom [tip], what’s shown here are the different scenarios and devastation the mining industry has brought about to the Philippine biosphere over the last several decades…” See also : KP Solidarity.
Undercurrents “is an award winning alternative news service producing videos of people taking inspiring actions” — and this is their blog.
Void Network is Theory! Utopia! Empathy! Ephemeral! Arts! and partly Greek (to me). See also : Anticapitalist media.
we are not afraid of ruins but we are scared of clowns. maybe. that’s what rob los ricos reckons anyway.
History
Accusing Dreyfus’s accusers, Max McGuinness, The Irish Times, May 29, 2010.
Media
The Josh Wolf Saga, Take 2, Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones, May 28, 2010. See also : First Josh Wolf now Tim Lewis (July 14, 2008).
zinelibrary.info is what it suggests. Speaking of which, ‘A history of squatting campaigns in Melbourne’ (June 1, 2010) by Iain McIntyre is one of the articles featured in the new issue (#3) of Melbourne Black.
Music
Trufflegate: Rapper M.I.A’s fancy french fries don’t sit well, Alison Loughman/Omnivore, Creative Loafing Atlanta, June 8, 2010.
White Supremacist “Nordic Fest” Event Held in Mokena, IL, South Side Chicago Anti-Racist Action, June 7, 2010. LOL. The original location for the celebration of all things nutzi Nordic — the IKA kkkompound — was withdrawn. “Why? Because a week before the fest, the IKA headquarters was raided by federal authorities who arrested IKA “Imperial Wizard” Ron Edwards, his girlfriend Christine Gillette, and Jeremy Katro for dealing methamphetamines, marijuana, and hydrocodone. So much for “family values”!”
State / Politics… Philosophy
US cable television host slanders socialism, David Walsh, wsws.org, June 10, 2010. In which Walsh has a crack @ Glenn Beck, one of anarchism’s most famous double-agents working at the ♥ of the military-industrial-entertainment complex. Posing as the latest in a long string of capitalist stooges, Beck regularly brings to the attention of a mass audience the newest subversive texts and technologies.
Simon Critchley – Articles and Interviews is a place where ah, you’ll find articles, and er, interviews, with um, Simon Critchley. He’s from Barcelona a philosopher you know, so be nice.
Hidden Labor and the Delight of Otherness: Design and Post-Capitalist Politics, Tom Holert, e-flux, No.17, June 2010. LOL.
The European Far Right is Far Left (on Economics), Michael C. Moynihan, Reason Magazine, June 2, 2010. Michael C. Moynihan is not to be confused with fascist bizarro Michael Moynihan (see : Kevin Coogan, How Black is Black Metal?, Hit List 1, February/March 1999).
Noam Chomsky: “The Center Cannot Hold: Rekindling the Radical Imagination”, Democracy Now, May 31, 2010.
That’s Capitalism!
Experts fear spread of social unrest as financial crisis continues, Nick Amies, Deutsche Welle, May 26, 2010.
Nick Cohen on Iraq, the Left and the anti-globalisation movement, Matt Kennard, The Comment Factory, May 25, 2010.
War on Terror
Argentina opens dirty war torture garage trial, Bridget Huber/AP, June 3, 2010:
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — From the street, it was an unremarkable auto-body shop in a busy middle-class neighborhood.
Behind its metal garage door, Automotores Orletti was a tactical operations center for Operation Condor, a coordinated effort by South America’s dictatorships to eliminate dissidents who sought refuge in neighboring countries.
Bound, blindfolded prisoners were scattered on the oil-stained concrete floor among disabled cars and machinery. Engines ran to mask the screams as prisoners were given electrical shocks and hoisted on pulleys, then submerged headfirst in water — torture they called “the submarine.”
Sandro Soba was just 8 years old when he and his family — who sought refuge in Argentina from the Uruguayan dictatorship — were detained and taken to Orletti. Soba saw his father suffering from bruises and burns, barely able to speak or see, his eyes crusted with pus.
Soba and his mother and siblings were returned to their native Uruguay. They never saw Adalberto Soba alive again. For years, the son resisted sleep.
“I was afraid to close my eyes and forget the details of what I had seen,” he told The Associated Press. “I knew I would need to tell someone one day, so I could understand where they had taken us and where I had seen my father for the last time. And so there could be justice.”
See also : Paul Schäfer : The Good Die Young (April 29, 2010).
Law and Disorder @ PSU – Jeff “Free” Luers : Free got free on December 16, 2009 after serving 9 1/2 years for ecotage. He’s continued to be an active and outspoken critic of environmental and social injustice.
Political Violence for Dummies: German Authorities Concerned about Far-Left Terror Manual, Spiegel Online, June 7, 2010.
Bonus Film!
See also : Charlie Brooker’s How to Report the News – Newswipe – BBC Four.
Added Bonus Film!
Cultures of Resistance director Iara Lee was aboard the [Mavi Marmara] and has since returned home safely.
Despite the Israeli government’s thorough efforts to confiscate all footage taken during the attack, Iara Lee was able to retain some of her video recordings. Below is the unedited footage from the moments leading up to and during the Israeli commandos’ assault on the Mavi Marmara. You can also download this footage by clicking here.
As Anti-fascists, how should we deal with an offender who is associated with Neo-Nazi’s? Does he deserve the death penalty, life imprison, counseling?
1. Dunno.
2. Depends on:
a) who ‘we’ are;
b) the nature of the offence and;
c) the nature of the association.
Obviously, simply expressing ‘neo-Nazi’ ideology doesn’t merit the death penalty or imprisonment, but some form of counselling might be useful… although the success of any form of ‘counselling’ or ‘therapy’, as I understand it, depends upon the ability and the willingness of the person or group being counselled to participate.
Why do you ask?
I am just interested in your response to the case of Benjamin Hermansen.
OK.
Well: there’s no death penalty in Norway. Of Hermansen’s murderers, Joe Erling Jahr received a 16-year sentence, Ole Nicolai Kvisler was jailed for 15 years, while Veronica Andreassen got 3. The three yoofs were members of a neo-Nazi gang, not just associated with one. Their sentences were less than the maximum possible.
In general, what makes the crime of murder especially tragic is that there’s no redress. That is, no matter how contrite a perpetrator is, no amount of remorse can bring the dead back to life. So, in terms of punishment, the question would seem to be: what measure might serve to make similar crimes less likely in future? My impression is that, in general, severe sentencing cannot be relied upon to produce ‘just’ outcomes: crime is produced by other factors, and the most relevant question, in this case, is: how can the anti-social attitudes that motivated these boys and girl to join a neo-Nazi gang — and then to murder someone because they considered them to be sub-human, and therefore unworthy of living — be counter-acted? Or to put it another way: by the time a neo-Nazi has committed murder, it’s too late to do much more than pick up the pieces.
And so on. That was 2002 — I dunno if things have improved much in Norway since then, but yeah…
Hey, listen, who muddled your brain, fellow, with this rubbish?
Who made you live according someone’s infected programme?
Who defiled the white list of your life?
Why did you start to name yourself “racist”?
You’d better read books and have less booze
And now, lit up, you are ready for a silly crime
It is so easy to set people on each other
But much harder to leave a vicious circle
Old rubbish of diseased systems
No racism – no problems
Old rubbish of diseased systems
No racism – no problems
Years before there were muggers and just stupid pieces of beef
They thoughtlessly punched the mugs, getting completely drunk from the morning
And nowdays as it became fashionable to be a racist
The polics was put to use, but fairly – these are the same mugs
Time goes by, only stupid people who lives here
Always find stupid troubles and problems to decide
Just forget about racial gibberish
And you will have plenty of time for other things