antifa notes (january 30, 2016) : Black Rose, UPF and moar

Black Rose

On Thursday night in Newtown an altercation occurred outside of Black Rose anarchist infoshop involving Ralph Cerminara (Australian Defence League/Left Wing Bigots & Extremists Exposed Facebook page) and Dan Evans (Reclaim Australia and principal organiser of the February 6 PEGIDA rally in Canberra) on the one hand and two or three people at the infoshop on the other.

Charges laid following brawl – Newtown
NSW Police Force Media Release
January 29, 2016

Four men have been charged following an alleged brawl in Newtown last night.

Just after 8pm (Thursday 28 January 2016), emergency services were called to a service station on Enmore Road, following reports of a brawl nearby involving men armed with poles, bottles and fluorescent light tubes.

On arrival, officers attached to Newtown Local Area Command located a 37-year-old man [Ralph Cerminara] and a 36-year-old man [Daniel Evans] suffering minor injuries.

They were assisted at the scene by Ambulance Paramedics, before being taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a stable condition.

Both men were arrested this morning (Friday 29 January 2016) after leaving hospital, and taken to Newtown Police Station.

Police also arrested two men, 21 and 23, at the scene.

They were also taken to Newtown Police Station.

The 23-year-old man was charged with affray, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and being armed with intent to commit actual bodily harm.

The 21-year-old man was charged with affray and being armed with intent to assault.

The two younger men were refused bail, to appear in Newtown Local Court today.

Both the 37-year-old and the 36-year-old were charged with affray; with the younger man also charged with being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.

They were both granted strict conditional bail, to appear before Newtown Local Court on 18 February 2016.

See also : Four arrested over brawl outside Newtown service station, Megan Levy, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 28, 2016‎ | Newtown petrol station brawl: Members of rival political groups allegedly fight using fluorescent lights as weapons, Jessica Kidd, ABC, January 28, 2016‎ | Four men charged after Sydney brawl, Channel 9 (AAP), January 29, 2016 | Rivals armed with fluro tube, pole and golf club brawl outside anarchist bookstore, Emma Partridge, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 29, 2016 | Political rivals used broken light, metal pole and golf club in battle, police say, Matt Bamford, The Daily Telegraph, January 29, 2016.

Cerminara — a valour thief and close comrade of Shermon Burgess (‘The Great Aussie Patriot’), has previously been arrested for trying to provoke a fight in Lakemba in December 2014 and generally tries to make mischief by filming himself harassing Muslims and leftists on the streets; videos which are later uploaded to his Facebook page. In recent months, Black Rose has become the focus of his ire. He published this video on November 14, 2015:

Otherwise, the incident has provoked the usual response from ‘patriotik’ folk — and anarchists and other anti-fascists should expect further attacks.

blahviolence

Walter Benjamin, eat yr heart out.

United Patriots Front

In February the UPF is embarking upon a promotional tour for its yet-to-be-registered political party, ‘Fortitude’. They’re planning on holding public rallies in Toowoomba, Queensland on February 13; Orange, NSW on February 20; and Bendigo on February 27. Chris ‘The United Nations is attempting to install the Pope as leader of a new world government!’ Shortis has been announced as the party’s candidate for the Senate in Victoria at the next federal election.

UPFnazi

In other news, neo-Nazi UPF supporter Nathan Davidson has been charged with “drug trafficking, dealing in the proceeds of crime and firearm-related offences” (Man faces court after guns, drugs, large sum of cash seized at Wanniassa, ABC, January 15, 2016). See also : Man arrested after drugs, weapons and cash seized from Wanniassa home, Michael Inman, The Canberra Times, January 15, 2016.

Another neo-Nazi UPF supporter, Phillip Galea, was due in court on January 27 (Police on the hunt for missing stun guns amid fears of use by extremists, Angus Thompson, Herald Sun, January 13, 2016). Gallea was arrested by police after meeting up with UPF member John Wilkinson (‘Farma John’) in Sandringham at the beginning of the year:

Det Sgt Tierney said Mr Galea met anti-immigration ­activist “Farmer John” Wilkinson, as well as other UPF members, across the road from a UPF barbecue at Sandringham Beach on January 3.

The court heard that Mr Wilkinson told police on January 7 that he had bought up to 22 stun guns, and that police were still searching for seven of these.

Previously, Wilkinson gave the following stirring address at a Reclaim Australia rally in Melton in November alongside Casey councillor (and deputy president of the Rise Up Australia Party) Rosalie Crestani. According to the Herald Sun:

Farmer John, from United Patriots, spoke to the crowd while it chanted “No Muslims in Melton”, and threatened more violent action. “We’re going to burn every mosque down if they build them … Let’s stick it up them,” he said.

*smh*

… in Bendigo

On Australia/Invasion/Survival Day, the UPF paid a visit to Bendigo. Among other things, they went to the house of a man, Jason Godwell, they believed had registered ‘United Patriots Front’ as an ABN. The home visit was filmed and uploaded to the UPF Facebook page, and as well as being named and having his address published, Godwell was denounced to the UPF’s 30,000+ followers. (Subsequently, the video was deleted.) Godwell himself later stated that he had not registered UPF and was a victim of identity theft. Having been publicly named by the UPF as a Bad man, Godwell further claims that he was forced to abandon his home and the care of his child.

JG1
JG2

Maajid Nawaz /// PEGIDA /// Tommy Robinson/Stephen Yaxley-Lennon

Former Islamist Maajid Nawaz is currently undertaking a brief tour of Australia. You can listen to an interview with him on ABC radio here (January 27), while a critical account of his political evolution has been published in New Republic (What Does Maajid Nawaz Really Believe?, Nathan Lean, January 27, 2016).

Curiously, Nawaz makes explicit reference to the role of neo-Nazi grouplet ‘Combat 18’ in ‘radicalising’ him as a teenager; in Melbourne, there have been numerous reports of ‘Combat 18’ stickers popping up around town in the last few months, meaning former Creatard Patrick O’Sullivan and his nazi chums have been more active than usual. Coincidentally, some wanker stuck a sticker up in Chapel Street Prahran reading “Cure AIDS, kick a poofter to death”.

Nawaz is also famed for helping to establish the Quilliam Foundation, a UK-based project which claims to attempt to ‘de-radicalise’ Islamists and other ‘extremists’. Its most famous success story is (was) Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (‘Tommy Robinson’), the former leader of the English Defence League (EDL), who announced (in conjunction with the Foundation) his resignation from the group and the anti-Muslim movement in October 2013. The mouthy little gobshite claims that the Foundation paid him thousands of pounds to resign in a move that many saw as a bribe: Robinson stepped down, and Quilliam took credit for bringing about his departure. The money, Robinson said, went to pay “my wife’s rent and help with basic bills, [and] in return Tommy Robinson would be their poster boy.”

Fast-forward a year or two and Yaxley-Lennon is back, baby, this time as the spokesperson for PEGIDA UK, and will be addressing a rally in Birmingham on February 6. On the same date, another dozen or so anti-Muslim protests are planned, while in Australia, neo-Nazis, fascists, racists and a motley assortment of other bigots will be converging on Parliament House in Canberra. See : Pegida meets with European allies in the Czech Republic, Deutsche Welle, January 23, 2016.

See also : Muslim mainstream snubs counter-extremist, SKYnews (AAP), January 29, 2016 | Former Islamic extremist: ‘The far Left is helping ISIS’, Trevor Treharne, The West Australian, January 27, 2016. (Oddly, Nawaz gives props to the Kurdish struggle against ISIS; a struggle whose leading edge is ‘far left’.)

BONUS STICKERS!

I have a stack of stickers to give away to good homes. If you’d like some, leave a comment, send me an email or contact me via my Twitter account or Facebook page.

AFAstickers

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2024 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.
This entry was posted in Anarchism, Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, Media, State / Politics, War on Terror and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

6 Responses to antifa notes (january 30, 2016) : Black Rose, UPF and moar

  1. al says:

    Not everyone who opposes Muslim migration is a “Nazi, fascist, racist or other assorted bigot”. Most are just normal people who have had enough of the behaviour and attitudes that pervade within the Islamic community.

  2. ablokeimet says:

    Al: “Not everyone who opposes Muslim migration is a “Nazi, fascist, racist or other assorted bigot””

    Wrong. Al would have been correct if he had finished the sentence after the word “fascist”, but only a racist or a bigot would lump all Muslims in the same basket and deny immigration to the whole category on the basis of the behaviour of a minority.

  3. Futilitarian says:

    As a good quietist I was at home watching Q.I. (Shakespeare theme) when the unfortunate incident at Black Rose was underway. As I went by B.R. today the place was all closed up and had obviously been vacated. They’ve either scarpered or been evicted. Over the last 30-plus years B.R. has undergone many incarnations and been ensconced in various locations. I look forward to its popping up again somewhere soon.

  4. @ndy says:

    They’ve neither scarpered nor been evicted — the lease ended at the end of January. Apparently, BR will re-open sometime soon at another location.

  5. Futilitarian says:

    Thanks, s/b, that’s good to know. I assumed a causal connection between the Incident and the Departure. It just goes to show how fallible human reasoning can be.

  6. Pingback: A Synagogue Beat-Up, Nazis In Bondi And The Strange Ambivalence From The Jewish Leadership - New Matilda

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