This Is Collingwood, Not Cronulla; or: No Gary, No!

Well… Fitzroy too. It ain’t fuckin’ L.A., that’s for sure. (Or Boston for that matter.)

Point is:

NO GARY, NO!

‘Neo-Nazi gig incites chorus of protest’
Marika Dobbin
The Melbourne Times
September 27, 2006

LOCAL punk [sic] music venue the Birmingham Hotel in Collingwood is under fire for hosting an international network of neo-Nazis at a gig on Saturday night to commemorate the death of their white supremacist leader Ian Stuart.

Neo-Nazis from around Australia attended the gig on [333] Smith Street, many of them wearing swastikas, to listen to “hatecore” bands.

The concert was sponsored by Blood & Honour Australia – the local chapter of a global neo-Nazi organisation that is banned in Germany – and Aryan supremacists the Southern Cross Hammerskins.

[Blut und Ehre was banned in Germany in September 2000; the banning presumably precipitated by a number of murders and bombings in the months prior. In August 2000, three German boneheads “were sentenced to long jail terms for the murder of a Mozambican man in a vicious racist attack in the east German town of Dessau…”, while in July, “a bomb in Duesseldorf seriously injured 10 foreigners – six of them Jews”.]

It was one of the few events organised by the secretive groups that was open to the public.

Collingwood police said it was well known that [boneheads] and neo-Nazis frequented at the Birmingham.

Union groups at Trades Hall and Yarra Councillor Stephen Jolly are considering organising a protest outside the hotel.

“These people (Blood & Honour) are much more than right-wingers, they are into the politics of the gas chambers, genocide politics,” Cr Jolly, a candidate for the state election, said.

“These dangerous fruitcakes have no place in a municipality where we have migrants from around the world, not to mention gays and lesbians.”

Birmingham Hotel owner Gary, who refused to give his surname, denied it was a neo-Nazi gig.

“It was a punk, skinhead gig that was the same as any night of the week,” he said. “I do parties for anyone, doesn’t matter what religion or faith, I don’t judge anyone … When someone comes through the door I don’t ask them what they are [then again, when they’ve got a fucking swastika tattooed on their fucking forehead, you really don’t need to, do you Gary?]

“When the Iraq war was on, I had Iraqis in the pub, and I don’t judge them. This is about people trying to get their names in the paper.”

People wore Ku Klux Klan outfits at similar Blood & Honour concerts in other countries to commemorate the death of the Scottish [sic: Stuart was English] white-power leader.

Songs by Newcastle band Blood Red Eagle, which played on Saturday, include lyrics such as “from the blood soaked ground on the battlefield, we shall rise up and never yield … on the city streets we fight to win.”

Above : Damien Ovchynik (vocalist, Bail Up!) performing at the 2005 Ian Stuart Is Dead celebration; also held at The Birmingham

Oh dear.

“Gary” is no genius. For if he’s being truthful — which he’s not, and for obvious reasons — then in stating that “It was a punk, skinhead gig that was the same as any night of the week”, he’s effectively admitting to the fact that neo-Nazi skinheads are constantly drinking and playing at his pub… which certainly appears to be the consensus at the local cop shop!

Gary’s pointless denials also contradict statements made by those in attendance (not to mention photographic and video footage taken of the event). Thus on Scumfront, Gary’s mate Hammerskin38 writes:

Some tool rang up the owner and said he was some construction union boss and had 200 union members in the city that were going to come and picket outside and [a]lluded to [maybe] doing more than that.

They also rang the owner all night and hung up and harrassed him.

There was even the gig[‘]s address/details/map/location/phone number on ‘the site we aren[‘]t allowed to talk about here’ on the day of the gig [a reference to a ruling by Lilith Peterson — Perth-based neo-Nazi and moderator on Shitfront — banning any talk of Fightdemback on the site].

Well we waited all night to ‘say hello’ to these scum and NOT [one] person turned up.

It[‘]s amazing how these cowardly dirtbags can even stand up without a spine. Gutless fags.

The gig was brilliant[:] great bands, great people and a good time was had by all.

UP YOURS FAG ANTI-RACIST VERMIN!

GOD FORGIVES, HAMMERS DON’T!

Another fascist twat — “Jake the Poacher” — writes:

“Slackbastard” had threatened to bring violence to the Birmy Hotel in Melbourne at the Blood and Honour Gig to be held there last night. How did it go? Hope you gave the fags a good thumping.

Poor old “Gary”. In denying the facts, he seems to think that readers of The Melbourne Times are as stupid as his clientele.

Speaking of which, this Saturday, the 30th, is the date for the annual Melbourne Punk Pub Crawl, and The Birmy is traditionally among one of the many inner-city pubs punks crawl to… and, as Conflict sang:

“It’s time to see who’s who.”

Understand this, you might not agree with what they say, do, or stand for
You may just like the music, and if that’s all that concerns you, fair enough
But don’t ride along on the back of change, to play to all us caring, staring people
Forget it, we won’t be fooled again
If a tune becomes so fucking important, if all that’s talked about is notes, chords and bands, when a record becomes rebellion – an alternative to action
An excuse for doing nothing — you help them… to oppress us