Reflections on the Uprising in France
A new and in some ways unprecedented radical movement has emerged in France. Beginning in February as a protest against the CPE, a law that would have made it easier to fire young workers, it rapidly developed into a widespread and much more general contestation. Over the next two months millions of people took part in demonstrations, universities and high schools were occupied, public buildings were invaded, train stations and freeways were blockaded, and thousands of people were arrested. A compromise offered by President Chirac on March 31 was rejected by just about everyone. On April 10 the government backed down and canceled the CPE.
:: Above: Nim Chimpsky, suspected leader of the revolt, possibly making out with a sexy French student or merely whispering instructions to her regarding the next occupation ::
You forgot to mention Andy is advocate trying to get some respect for the mentally ill on a site that is supposed to be an anti-fascist [forum] and being told that he is a “fucking idiot” and to “bugger off”. Then being banned from a forum. A forum being a place to discuss things – not a place to be threatened – read Balaclava. Threatening behaviour is a sign. Sounds like fascism to me. Freedom of speech is the first thing a fascist removes. Post-Stalin they used to lock up dissenters because they were mentally ill. FDB just slags off with terms like “nutzi” and direct statements linking mental health to fascistic behaviours. Then denies it. Spot then adds insult to pain by claiming that I am mentally ill for speaking out. Now somehow FDB thinks this is just and fair treatment.
They also give you the flick on some shallow pretext just like the French bosses. (P.S. I have been a resist[e]r to fascism for more than twenty years. Imprisoned an[‘] all – then to be treated like a dog isn’t very nice.) The fascist pubs in England used to hang signs out: No Irish, no blacks, no dogs. FDB should post a sign ‘no folk who care for the mentally ill’. Rhombus and Balaclava seem to be intent on making FDB’s resistance to racism and fascism look hypocritcal. Thug mentality like that is fascistic mentality. What [I] want is for you… to not just be swept along but to [analyse things critically] and speak out without fear or favour.
rancitas,
a pity that the above has nothing to do with with knabb’s analysis of the radical movement in france and everything to do with fdb’s allegedly discriminatory behaviour towards people with mental illness(es).
that said…
try as i might, i simply don’t understand yr first sentence: are you suggesting that i AM advocating something, or that i should? or are you referring to yrself (yr references to someone — ‘Andy’? — being informed that they are “a fucking idiot” and to “bugger off” would seem to suggest so…). dunno, perhaps that first sentence should read something more like this:
“You forgot to mention Andy… [I am an] advocate [for people with mental illness(es) who is] trying to get some respect for the mentally ill on a site that is supposed to be an anti-fascist [forum] and [as a result is] being told that he is a “fucking idiot” and to “bugger off”.
does that sound right?
as for the remainder of yr comment… well, to be honest, it doesn’t improve much on that first sentence. so rather than respond in detail, i’ll simply state this:
you nominate Balaclava, Spot and Rhombus as being particularly to blame for fdb’s allegedly discriminatory behaviour towards people with mental illness(es). beyond that, i fail to see yr point. as such, yr point — whatever it might be — is obviously better directed at fdb.
@ndy I was enlarging on your “About” page. You say “Andy is a gay …blah, blah, blah”: I thought wivya could be added to that list of maltreated people. I recognised your AKA when on Cam Sexenheimer’s Bluexo as one of the folk that didn’t get what my concerns are on the FDB forum. You argued against wivya. WIVYA was banned and ridiculed on FDB. (See threads: “I’m Famous” and “G’day boys and girls”.) FDB has banned Wivya for discussing an issue that embarrassed FDB. At first I regarded it as an oversight but now FDB has confirmed its position. It then has spiraled to freedom of speech — a fundamental element of a true non-fascistic society (of community). I think my posts were responsible and Socratic, unlike FDB’s response which was fascistic and anti-free, responsible speech. I think it is because they didn’t like the fact that someone had seen that FDB are, in some respects, just like Dem.
No, I didn’t blame them for discrimination towards mentally ill people. It is beyond that now. Rhombus, Balaclava and a few others I blame for fas[c]i[s]tic behaviour towards a poster who simply wanted FDB to be more considerate of the mentally ill.
For instance:
wivya wrote:
“I am asking FDB one last time to be more careful not to slag off at the racists/fascists on mental health grounds.”
Rhombus:
“No.
Now bugger off.”
Balaclava added his little attack calling Wivya a “fucking idiot”. No need for that.
I see calling Nazis “nutzis” and refer[r]ing to the far right as the “lun[a]tic fringe”, as Cam has done, as the same as calling Indigenous activists “uppity niggers” or academics with new progressive ideas madmen. Read Foucualt’s article about how people with new ideas are often seen as mad. It is just a slag off.
It is far wiser to just point out the flaws in their position. The far right’s ideas are racist and extreme and more to the point usually show that they lack empathy with ‘the Other’. I think FDB has shown a lack of empathy for the mentally ill in our society by its attitude to wivya’s concern that the mentally ill are being subjected to (albeit then unintentional – now deliberate) taunts and usage that indirectly are offensive to mentally ill folk.
Not only is that dehumanising (fascist’s first line of offense is to rationalise violence against ‘the Other’) but it it places the mentally ill in the same category as people who are quiet deliberate and calculating in their behaviour.
I once saw a film at the local Trades Hall. In it one of those redneck types was referring to the American Negro as an ape. He pointed out a few traits that he thought they both shared. It was just silly talk. No basis in science – no logic at all.
By attributing the illogical ideas of the far right [to mental] lunacy and and racists’ behaviours as due to mental illness, and using terms like “nutzis”[,] FDB is assigning the same traits to the mentally ill. Just like the redneck in the video.
@ndy, FDB banned me so that is that. I thought that you were more involved. So I’m sorry for bothering you. Be kind to yourself.
P.S. At this stage I don’t think Spot gave a lot of thought to his post. I have also had a look at his blog. Seems a nice person. Adam also said some stuff that suggested he wasn’t getting it either. I have shown my posts to others who understand my position. No worries.
I am a graduate; got straight HDs. You may also note that wivya politely asked FDB on a number of occasion[s] to reconsider – their response “sod off”, “bugger off”; sugggestions that wivya was mentally ill and “a fucking idiot”. That is fascistic talk. Don’t rationalise that away because that is how it all started in the 1930’s pre-Holocaust.
rancitas,
You state:
“I recognised your AKA when on Cam Sexenheimer’s Bluexo as one of the folk that didn’t get what my concerns are on the FDB forum. You argued against wivya.”
FTR, “wivya” made sixteen (16) posts on fdb in three (3) threads:
http://www.fightdemback.org/forum/search.php?mode=results&sid=cfb80fe9e271054aef2ca208fad0b742
1) ‘NEW MEMBERS PLEASE READ!’
http://www.fightdemback.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1462&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
2) ‘gday boys and girls’
http://www.fightdemback.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2145&highlight=
3) ‘Im famous!’
http://www.fightdemback.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2128&highlight=
So.
1) wivya is a fan of the Dropkick Murphys.
2) My only comment on this thread was directed at ‘Iron Brotherhood’.
3) I made a number of comments on this thread. Two (2) to be exact:
======
“Racism and mental illness are two seperate (but sometimes related) subjects. The only evidence I have with regards Ben’s mental state is drawn from his blog and his (criminal) record. Ben has indeed stated that he has been diagnosed — presumably by a competent medical authority — as having some kind of mental illness, for which he has been prescribed medication. Given the nature of his illness, it’s possible that he regularly consults with some kind of medical health professional… Again, I don’t know.
The point is: Ben is a fascist, with a criminal record in its cause, and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that he has altered his views at any point since his conviction. Instead, Ben’s taken it upon himself to embark on a one-man campaign of vilification and harassment. The only difference being that instead of driving around Perth with his fascist mates and spraying stupid racist slogans, he’s transferred his activities to the internet, where, among other things, he publishes the personal details of any anti-racist or anti-fascist he can find. Further, he does this with the clear intention of intimidating such people.
PS. I don’t “di[s]miss these people as being mentally ill”, even if some appear to display symptoms which conform to such a diagnosis. In Ben’s case, it’s difficult to say to what extent his possible psychosis determines the nature of his political scribblings, and to what extent his political leanings merely function in order to (further) entrench his paranoid, delusional state.
The problem with comments such as yours is their superficiality. The only person “carrying on” is Ben. I’m not demanding that you “sod off”, merely that you calm down.”
======
“wivya wrote: Point out the superficiality in my posts…
@ndy wrote: You make assumptions, specifically regarding the nature of FDB’s critique of Ben Weerheym’s politics. To begin with, you write “Please don’t carry on with the idea that… racists’ behaviour involves mental illness”. Leaving aside the fact that some forms of mental illness express themselves through an irrational fear and loathing of some nominal group of ‘others’, and that this group may well be of an ethnic or racial character, this statement implies that FDB, as a whole, is guilty of confusing racism with mental illness.
This is untrue.
You then write: “I have read some of the nasty letters [on] [Weerheym’s] site mocking/attacking him for being mentally ill and it made my anti-racist blood boil”. Who wrote these posts? How many of them are there? And do they really constitute definitive proof with regards the attitude of FDB as a whole towards the mentally ill?
wivya wrote: [I’ve] said [it] before and I”ll say it again, when you have a go at BW’s behaviour, when his illness is your main focus, then you are no better than the racists…
@ndy wrote: Targetting the mentally ill has never been FDB’s focus. To suggest otherwise, especially without proof, is slanderous.
wivya wrote: You lot have associated stupidity with mental illness and BW’s behaviour with mental illness.
@ndy wrote: You lot? Who’s “you lot”? Name names.
wivya wrote: I was told to “sod off”. I wasn’t told to “calm down.” Or what is “sod off”[?] [S]ome sort of code for “calm down”[?] I don’t understand the FDB lingo. Say what you mean and mean what you say – please.
And “calm down” you say. How patronising. I suppose you think I am mentally ill too. That is the kind of down-the-nose speak [the mentally ill] get even when they are calm and collected.
I offer some mild criticism in your approach to the mentally ill and you lot jump up and down like I was a Nazi. I think that you lot are the ones that have difficulty with difference.
@ndy wrote: You were told to literally “sod off” by one person: misanthrope. And to “calm down” by me. I say what I mean and I mean what I say.
I don’t know if you’re ‘mentally ill’, nor do I care.
Condemning FDB for an offence which it has not committed is not ‘mild’, nor is comparing FDB as a whole to a fascist political formation.
This is my last post on this subject. Feel free to pm me if you wish.
======
In the unlikely event that someone other than you and I is reading this — and is actually interested in this topic and not merely disappointed that is has nothing whatsoever to do with Knabb or recent events in France — they are, of course, free to read the relevant threads on FDB, links to which are provided above. In the even *more* unlikely event that they do so, I believe they’ll discover that the story you present above regarding wivya’s participation on FDB is misleading.
At best.
I “get” what your concerns are; however, I believe them to be similarly misplaced. They also rest on a number of assumptions, assumptions which I reject:
i) you have a mandate to speak on behalf of all people with some form of mental illness.
ii) ‘mental illness’ is a homogeneous category. Fact: it is not.
‘Mental illness’ is a general term that refers to a group of illnesses, in the same way that heart disease refers to a group of illnesses affecting the heart. Episodes of a mental illness can come and go in periods through people’s lives. Some people experience their illness only once and fully recover. For others, it recurs throughout their lives…
Mental illnesses can be separated into two main categories: psychotic and non-psychotic.
*Psychotic illnesses*
A psychosis is a condition caused by any one of a group of illnesses that are known, or thought, to affect the brain causing changes in thinking, emotion and behaviour.
People experiencing an acute stage of a psychotic illness lose touch with reality. Their ability to make sense of thoughts, feelings and external information is seriously affected.
Psychotic illnesses include schizophrenia and bipolar mood disorder (previously called manic depressive illness)…
*Non-psychotic illnesses*
Everyone has experienced strong feelings of depression, sadness, tension or fear.
Some people’s feelings can become so disturbing and overwhelming that they have difficulty coping with day-to-day activities such as going to work, enjoying leisure time and maintaining relationships.
These states describe a group of mental illnesses that are called non-psychotic illnesses. They are a common experience for many people and include phobias, anxiety, some forms of depression, eating disorders, physical symptoms involving tiredness or pain, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Source: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/illnesses/facts.htm
END OF CONVERSATION.
Andrew: How do people get a mandate to speak on anything? I lived with family who are ill. I have read mountains of stuff like that very basic stuff above. That is not even P[syc]hology 101 level. What a foolish and unfair assumption you’ve made. Do you think I came to FDB out of a vacu[u]m. I have not just read as much as I can, it I have lived with it. I have seen the upset and damage that those thoughtless little sayings create.
That mental illness is a homogeneous category. How simplistic. We spent years trying to find what kind of schizophrenia my daughter had/has. So there are sub-categories as well. We needed to know this so as to get the correct medication. When I mentioned this on FDB I thought it would be a simple matter of “Hey guys that’s not fair on the mentally ill who wo[u]ldn’t hurt a fly or if they did it would be beyond their control.” But I get a completely unfair backlash. I expected a response like “Yeah. No offense or disrespect was or is intended towards the mentally ill or their carers. But Ben is non-compliant. We oppose racism and while it is debatable whether mental illness is genetic and falls outside our charter we will be more considerate”. When I copped that backlash I started to question the authenticity of a site that claimed to be anti-fascist but spoke and approved of disrespect towards the mentally ill. The mentally ill generally are treated like blacks by some people. MacGowan wrote: “No Irish, blacks, or dogs I think he forgot to add the mentally ill.” (I’m also a Pogues (when Shane fronted them), Popes fan. Not to mention Black Flag, Rancid, Blowhard (Rollo rocks), Black Market, Dead Kennedys (when Biafra fronted them and Peligro is the fastest drummer in the world) you get the drift. Haven’t heard any Yidcore up here but yet but heard the name somewhere.)
The other point is, we must never under-estimate the mental capacity of our enemy. Hitler’s early enemies dismissed him as a nutta. Had they taken him more seriously they could have prevented the upsurge in irrational thinking. That just because we see something as crazy doesn’t mean that the populist press can’t swing it around so that it is soon seen as the norm – killing Jews became a normal “sane” approach to the Nazis. It is understandable to shake one’s head and say that that the right in Australia are crazy, a lunatic fringe etc. No they are dangerous, calculating and the press is starting to swing to their way of thinking.
It is impractical and beyond my meagre writing skills to speak specifically about which aspect of mental illness offends folk. No I don’t have mandate but I betcha a lot of mentally ill people agree with me. I have as much of a mandate ot speak for the mentally ill as you do for non-whites and others that the far right seek to walk on.
Andrew I was not ever intending to tag FDB as fascist as a whole. There are aspects about FDB that do concern me – more so now then before this got out of hand. As whole I support FDB.
rancitas,
in my comment above i concluded ‘END OF CONVERSATION’.
ooops.
i’ve chosen to publish yr comment above because i think it’s quite helpful. but rather than add a comment now, i may post something on the subject of ‘racism & mental illness’ later instead… pls to be patient!
Thanks for your time. I mucked up posting it here. Not at all computer savvy.