No place for race hatred
Editorial
November 1, 2009THERE is no place in a modern multicultural society such as ours for race-hate groups.
Sadly, they do exist. One that has recently come to our attention is an insidious neo-Nazi group calling itself the Australian chapter of Blood and Honour.
Members of this group profess hatred for Africans, Asians, Jews, Arabs, Indians and Pakistanis – in fact, all non-white races. They detest Barack Obama, multiculturalism and refugees, while paying homage to the memory of Adolf Hitler and the symbol of the Holocaust – the swastika.
About 30 members of the paranoid hate group came from around the nation to a secret meeting at the Tivoli German Club in Windsor on September 11. In appearance, they were mainly stereotypes.
Many had shaved heads and wore bomber jackets. Some had racist slogans tattooed on their bodies. They came to share their hatred of “the enemy” and to meet with potential new members.
The Tivoli Club, now expressing regret for unwittingly hosting the meeting, said it had a “no-swastika” policy.
It is inappropriate for the Tivoli Club, or any local community venue, to allow neo-Nazis to gather at their premises.
The extremist groups, according to human rights groups, are becoming more dangerous because they can now use more sophisticated means of communication in the cyberworld and link internationally.
It is bad enough that the internet allows such groups a vehicle to peddle race hatred, misguided beliefs and poisonous propaganda.
But it is perhaps even more disturbing to realise that a neo-Nazi group can gather in a renowned Melbourne community venue to spew hatred.
Only four years after race riots in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla, we must come to terms with the reality that groups of white supremacists also exist in our part of the country.
These extremist groups are small in number, but their fist-clenching hatred is real. They are dedicated to recruiting new members into their armies, sometimes through seemingly innocent rock concerts.
We urge police to keep a close watch on all white-supremacist and neo-Nazi groups in our midst. All reasonable Victorians, who celebrate our multiculturalism, will be opposed to their existence.
B&H has been operating in Australia for many years.
The meeting on September 11 at the German Tivoli Club took place the day before B&H — together with their neo-Nazi comrades in the (Southern Cross) Hammerskins — organised a gig to commemorate the death in 1993 of B&H co-founder (with similarly dead bonehead Nicky Crane) Ian Stuart Donaldson (‘ISD’). The gig took place at an undisclosed venue, and featured local neo-Nazi bands ‘Open Season’, ‘Ravenous’ and at least one and possibly two other bands. In 2008, the annual ‘ISD’ gig took place at ‘The Beaconsfield Hotel’ in Beaconsfield; in 2007 at the ‘Melbourne Croatia Social Club’ in Sunshine; in 2006 (and in previous years) at ‘The Birmingham Hotel’ in Fitzroy. (Note that The Birmingham has since undergone a process of de-Nazification, following what, according to Doug Smith — of Bulldog Spirit / Marching Orders / Skin Heads Neither For Nor Against Racial Prejudice — was “a pretty unsuccessful boycott”.)
In Victoria, the principal organiser / ‘state representative’ for B&H is Justin O’Brien. Justin manages a tattoo shop in Burwood: ‘Hold Fast Body Art’. On Monday, September 28, Justin and three of his comrades paid a visit to the ‘Melbourne Anarchist Resource Centre’ in Northcote, where they interrupted a meeting of a group campaigning against sexual violence. According to witnesses, Justin stated, inter alia, that he wanted to know my location — and not, I think, in order to exchange recipes for lemon cheesecake — and threatened those present, and any other group — in fact, all other users of the space, and ‘antifa’ generally — with (continued) violence if anti-fascist activity in Melbourne did not stop.
This activity would include, presumably, my own blogging on the subject.
Thus far, Justin’s visit has received minimal publicity — only one local newspaper reported on it. On the other hand, news of his declaration of war upon all those in Melbourne who may not be kindly disposed towards Nazism — and those, like Justin, who continue to celebrate its legacy — has been spread around various local activist communities, and the general consensus, it seems, on my estimation, is that this action was neither big nor clever.
Speaking of neither big nor clever, John Kopko, one of the men involved in a knife fight during a speech given by Holocaust revisionist David Irving in Florida several days ago, was reportedly a member of ‘Crew 38’, the subsidiary mob for prospective members of the Hammerskins.
Of the four men who attended MARC on September 28, one was equipped with a ‘Crew 38’ patch.
- German Club Tivoli / Deutscher Verein Melbourne Inc.
291 Dandenong Road
Windsor VIC 3181
[email protected]
Telephone: +61 3 9529 5211
Facsimile: +61 3 9510 5271
http://www.bloodandhonouraustralia.org/
http://schammerskins.org/
http://www.myspace.com/crew38australia
NB. http://www.youtube.com/user/genocidal88 is the YouTube channel for Jesse ********, the principal organiser for the Hammerskins in Victoria (and hence a close comrade of Justin’s). Oddly, Jesse has recently decided — or perhaps been forced? — to remove his videos from circulation on YouTube. Also removed from circulation, sadly, is the song Jesse sang titled ‘Oh no here comes an Abo’; a song recorded with members of the Belgian neo-Nazi band ‘Kill Baby Kill’ while they were on tour (2008).
Finally, note that B&H and the Hammerskins are organising a gig on the Gold Coast a few days prior (April 17) to Hitler’s birthday (April 20). Scheduled to jackboot on stage are Jesse’s band ‘Ravenous’, the proudly (neo-)Nazi ‘Open Season’ and some foreign (neo-)Nazis.
Definitely one for the diary.
Sieg Heil!
Bonus!
Neo-nazis meet
Eleni Hale and Liam Houlihan
Sunday Herald Sun
November 1, 2009
VICTORIA Police has warned race-hate groups they will face the full force of the law following revelations of Melbourne’s neo-Nazi underworld.
In September, neo-Nazis met at a gathering organised by members of Blood & Honour at the German Club Tivoli in Windsor.
There they openly vilified minorities, encouraged each other to target non-whites with violence and showed off swastika tattoos.
The scenes have prompted authorities to remind the fascist groups their hate speech is illegal.
“Victoria Police does not tolerate unlawful racial and religious vilification and will use available legislation to pursue anyone who commits or incites such behaviour,” a spokeswoman warned.
The president of the German Club Tivoli, which hosted one of the neo-Nazi meetings, said he would now issue direct written instructions to staff not to accommodate members of the group.
Eddie Reichman said the booking was made in a man’s name and the staff member responsible was no longer with the club.
“If they’ve been in here, it’s been without our knowledge and against the policy of the club,” Mr Reichman said.
He said no swastikas were allowed at the premises.
“We’re following the guidelines that we’re getting from the Consular Department and the embassy (saying) what the German Government’s policy is and it’s just not on,” he said.
“That particular group is known to the club as some tattoo club, I was told.
“They were wearing all different tattoos, not particularly just swastikas, I was told.”
Anti-racist group Fight Dem Back said mainstream businesses hosting neo-Nazis was completely unacceptable.
Added Bonus!
Inside look at racist group
Eleni Hale and Liam Houlihan
Sunday Herald Sun
November 1, 2009
The gathering resembles a scene from Romper Stomper.
A skinhead in his late 20s shows off his newest “art” – a 30cm wide swastika tattooed across his chest, with a written tribute to Adolf Hitler below.
He is not out of place. About 30 men and women in their early 20s to late 40s – most with shaved heads, bomber jackets and tattoos on their arms and necks – are here.
But this is not a scene from a movie.
It is a secret meeting organised by members of the Australian chapter of Blood & Honour in a private room at Windsor’s German Club Tivoli – whose president has since denied knowledge of the meeting’s neo-Nazi roots – held on Friday, September 11.
It was witnessed by sources and relayed to the Sunday Herald Sun.
Those attending have come from across Australia, including many from Adelaide.
The room is adorned with two chandeliers, white table clothes and shiny cutlery.
There are menus in German and jugs of water on the tables, which are joined in a large U-shape like a boardroom.
But their words are far from civilised. There is fist-clenching and vein-throbbing.
They hate Africans, Asians, Jews, Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis, any women who partner men from those races and any resulting offspring.
They hate multiculturalism, Barack Obama and refugees.
And with the same intensity they love white skin, Hitler, ethnic cleansing, guns, the “brotherhood” they share … and the blonde German tourist present – a perfect specimen, they comment.
After dinner they debate the David and Goliath battle they face.
In their world, David is trying to “secure the future existence of our people and a future for white children”, while Goliath is non-white migration.
“I know an Irish girl with red hair and blue eyes who can’t get a visa here and yet they let every Asian or Indian who raises their hand invade our country,” one complains.
“That is treason, pure and simple.”
“The Immigration Minister should be hung for crimes against his own kind.”
A man says: “It’s not the Arabs you have to worry about. They always f–k things up for themselves.
“It’s the Indians and Pakis you need to watch because they fit in, keep their heads down and multiply.
“At work they think I love multiculturalism because I get to know the bastards. You have to know the enemy.”
Another describes his anger at a T-shirt worn by an Indian youth stating: “I haven’t seen a kangaroo around here for years.”
“I should have bashed the c—,” he says.
“I followed him for a bit, but I didn’t realise what it meant until I thought about it later. They are taking over this country and rubbing it in our faces.”
Another man nods.
“That’s why I have my gun licence. I am just waiting for one of them to break into my place, then I’ll have an excuse to blow their heads off,” he says.
Another man replies: “Maybe your gun will go missing – pop, pop, pop – and then I’ll disappear.”
Everyone laughs except the gun owner whose face remains stony.
“I’ll tell police I was robbed, they broke into my safe,” he says.
They also hate the Australian school system.
“I would home school my kids because all they need to know is how to read, write and shoot a target at 800m,” one says.
“There is no way I am sending them to class to write 1000 word essays about how great multiculturalism is.”
One boasts about dropping anti-migration leaflets in inner city locations.
The leaflet drops are organised by the Nationalist Alternative, which has campaigned against the building of a mosque on Blenheim Rd, Newport.
The meeting and extremist websites are evidence that neo-Nazism is flourishing in Melbourne.
Blood & Honour’s website, which promotes white power music, says: “We believe there is a need to provide White youth with an alternative to the ‘hip-hop’ culture so eagerly promoted by the Zionist controlled media.”
Another site is run by affiliated group, the Southern Cross Hammerskins and there is even a Women for Aryan Unity site.
Another site, Nationalist Network, encourages people to put “business cards in library books” – “learn to use and maintain all weapons at your disposal” – and even “recruit the elderly living in multicultural neighbourhoods”.
There has been a disturbing growth in racist groups and associated violence globally, including attacks on Asian shopkeepers in the UK recently.
Back in Windsor, the meeting ends with ominous whispers of “some action”.
Extra Added Bonus!
In January 1941, Australians fought their first major land battle in World War II when men of the 6th Division AIF, and other Allied troops, engaged Italian forces at the town of Bardia on the coast of Libya. On 3-5 January 1941, the Italian positions were attacked and Bardia was captured. Over 40,000 Italian prisoners were taken.
Advancing west along the Libyan coast, the 6th Australian Division captured Tobruk from the Italians on 21-22 January 1941 and the town became a garrison for the Australian and British forces. In early March, one of Hitler’s best generals, Erwin Rommel with his Afrika Korps, came to the aid of their Italian allies in Libya. By April, German forces had begun to cut off and surround Tobruk. For eight months, from April to December 1941, Tobruk was besieged and Australian forces, notably the men of the 9th Division, the 18th Brigade of the 7th Division and RAN ships of the famous ‘scrap iron flotilla’ played a prominent role in the town’s defence.
The year 1941 was a dark one for the Allies. The Germans conquered all before them but Tobruk held out against Rommel and stood in the way of his advance towards Egypt and the Suez Canal. The defiance of the defenders of Tobruk raised morale in the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Those who served there became known as the ‘Rats of Tobruk’, so-called because the German radio propaganda broadcaster ‘Lord Haw Haw’ described them as rats living in the ground.
“The toughest but least disciplined troops in North Africa” ~ Lt General Erwin Rommel, GOC Deutsches Afrika Korps, on the 9th Division.
See also : Generosity keeps Rats of Tobruk in their Albert Park nest, Geoff Strong, The Age, April 20, 2007: Murray Boules, one of the trustees, said: “We still stick to our motto — no surrender.”
- [For Uncle Bill & Uncle Clive: RIP.]
It is always a bit hard to know what would be under- or over-reacting to events like the threatening idiot incursion into the ‘Melbourne Anarchist Resource Centre’. The ‘Sunday Herald-Sun’ article you added-bonus-ed in this post says that the neo-nazi activity they discuss is “evidence that neo-Nazism is flourishing in Melbourne”, but do you think neo-Nazism, or any organised tendencies dedicated to racial violence, is really flourishing? This isn’t just about noting the obvious fact that much more violence, including overtly ‘racial’ violence, is regularly committed by unorganised racists and assorted, well, drunk boys etcetera. (Not to mention the state and police particularly.) It is also that I honestly don’t know. Are they getting bigger? Bolder? More dangerous?
The action in Northcote is some sort of evidence, but standing alone I’m not sure how seriously to take it. Obviously people need to take it at least a little bit seriously as a personal threat to you, because in neo-Nazi world it seems that targets of hate are chosen in the context of a particular perception of the political world. In this perception, I guess, you are at least a bit of a threat, as the person most successfully calling on-going attention to their existence/stupidity/horribleness/continuing activities in Australia (and beyond), not least in this very blog read by many people who are themselves more-or-less committed anti-fascists/anti-racists and who thus potentially might do things in line with this opposition. But also, as the incident sort of suggests, these idiots also often view the enemy in very broad strokes, so that if they get bold they may randomly choose to attack anyone or anything associated with non-white people, or queers, or a whole series of political or social movements, groups, etcetera. (Or individuals on the street of course, on race or other bases they consider sufficient warrant.) The last thing anyone needs is another group of blackshirts deciding to target single mothers of queer events, which is one kind of thing I associate with the mobilisation strategies of rightists trying to grow. Did they really expect that you would be there, or was it just intimidation?
I’d genuinely be interested in your assessment of the current situation. And also – do you have any specific suggestions as to what people might do, of the sort which could be publicly discussed in a blog?
In solidarity,
Benjamin.
Is ‘neo-Nazism flourishing in Melbourne’? That depends on your perspective, I guess. B&H and the Hammerskins claim that their numbers are rising, but then again, they reckon Uncle Adolf was a top bloke, and Ian Skrewydriver could sing, so, y’know…
I think Justin’s decision to throw his weight around in the manner that he did can be read in at least two ways. One is as evidence of an increasing boldness, arising from perceived strength. Something along the lines of ‘The fucking Jews / Communists / Homosexuals are getting ideas above their station — time to remind them we’ll crack their skulls open if and when we want to’. Another is that it was an act of desperation. Something along the lines of ‘The fucking Jews / Communists / Homosexuals are causing us some real problems — time to remind them we’ll crack their skulls open if and when we want to’.
Who knows what ideas were bouncing around inside Justin’s head? He’s staying quiet.
Curiously, the four gentlemen callers arrived on Monday, September 28 — the day after the conclusion of the Sydney Forum. In his post-match assessment, Dr James Saleam — who is NOT of Lebanese descent, Jim assures you — boasted that all major forces on the far right — AF, B&H, ON, “national anarchists”, NR, VF et cetera — were present at the Forum, and there engaged in — productive discussion.
I’m obviously speculating, but given ongoing issues with organising their annual gig in Melbourne (especially since 2006), the apparent failure of the Perth ANZAC Day gig (April 2009), and preparations for the Gold Coast gig a few days prior (April 17) to Uncle Adolf’s birthday (April 20), it could be that Justin, as B&H Victoria state rep, was under some pressure to ‘do something’ to stop all this monkey business, and it was decided that the best way of doing that was by threatening the fucking Jews / Communists / Homosexuals et cetera with having their teeth kicked in. In addition, the action outside the Sydney Forum, on its opening day at the Petersham RSL, would likely have further antagonised the Master Race. Also, this action followed upon an alleged attempt, by persons unknown, to break into The Bunker. Further, both actions — the attempted ‘break-in’ and the September 26 rally — are alleged to have been organised (and actively participated in) by yours truly. Finally, I am also being personally held responsible for the alleged vandalism of Justin’s Burwood business on or about September 14.
So much for the circumstances surrounding Justin’s action.
More broadly, there are attempts being made to re-organise and to re-energise far right activism, of which B&H and the Hammerskins are merely one, generally unapologetic, part. AF, for example, has declared that it has over 500 members, and is on the brink of Federal registration. The group ‘Nationalist Alternative’ has been spreading agit-prop on University campuses in Melbourne and Sydney, and has also gained a small amount of media attention (principally for its activities in Sydney).
On a more informal level, the SCS, while having generally subsided, are still present, and there is some evidence of bridge-building between it and other, more straight-forwardly white supremacist organisations / tendencies. In this context, there has been a noticeable increase in the adoption of various ‘nationalist’ symbols by white yoof, of which the SCS is (or was) a visible — or the most visible — expression. In general, there is also evidence to suggest that yoof gangs are being increasingly segmented along ethnic or racial lines; part of a more general transformation of various criminal and semi-criminal networks along the same or very similar lines (tho’ that’s another story).
As I understand it, the task of the far right is to attempt to educate these forces and to organise them in ways compatible with a broader political agenda of resistance to non-White immigration, to the presence of people of non-White descent within the Australian nation-state’s claimed borders, and to ‘multiculturalism’ as a whole. Obviously, this agenda, for it to be credible, has to be able to appear as an organic movement — as emerging from White discontent. The extent that it is, in fact, ‘organic’, is one measure of its actual strength.
As for the fascist understanding of the nature of their opposition… it’s certainly the case that, “in neo-Nazi world it seems that targets of hate are chosen in the context of a particular perception of the political world. In this perception, I guess, you are at least a bit of a threat, as the person most successfully calling on-going attention to their existence/stupidity/horribleness/continuing activities in Australia (and beyond)…” — I would add that I think it correct that I am considered as being “a bit of a threat”, both for my actual activities, but also, moreover, those for which I’m simply assumed to be in some way responsible for organising.
I also understand that my blog is closely followed by various h8rs. For example: on September 23, I posted ‘2009 Sydney Forum : This Weekend!’. Its final line reads “Hope to see you all there kameraden!”. This was immediately seized upon by QLD AF member Jim Perren to mean that I would be coming up to Sydney for the Forum (presumably in order to protest against it). Very shortly thereafter, AF released a message to its supporters claiming that I was organising a protest outside The Bunker.
A message Saleam posted on SF:
The moderator of SFDU (Paul Innes, the Perf plasterer) is so sensitive with regards acknowledging my existence on SF that he routinely removes any direct reference to myself, my blog, or FDB! (hence the absence of refs to slackbastard and Mat in the above, expurgated post).
Taken together, and leaving aside numerous other examples, this suggests to me that some elements of the far right not only feel slightly threatened, but are positively paranoid regarding my vast powers of persuasion. And, for what it’s worth, it’s partly as a result of this widespread paranoia that I think Justin concluded that the person responsible for graffing his shop was indeed — myself. Thus, in their paranoid world vision, it’s simply not possible for Them to understand that, in reality, many people feel that Nazism is like, kinda bad and stuff. Further, that in a city with almost 4 million inhabitants, even assuming that less than 1% of this population feels sufficiently motivated by their opposition to Nazism to like, do something about it — like graff a message on a shop owned by a neo-Nazi activist — that still amounts to 40,000 suspects.
Either that, or Justin and his comrades simply feel confident in their ability to bully a small group of strangers / they support acts of (sexual) violence.
More l8r…
“Did they really expect that you would be there, or was it just intimidation?”
Dunno if they expected me to be there, but it’s possible. They may not understand that the space has been, is, and will continue to be used by a variety of people. Thus, over the last year or two, MARC has hosted gatherings/conferences, workshops/skillshares, discos/parties, gigs, film screenings, a film festival, public/group meetings, and so on. The great bulk of this activity I’ve had nothing or very little to do with. On this basis, I think that their purpose was likely two-fold. One, to assault me, if I was present. Secondly, to intimidate both myself, the users of the space, anarchists in Melbourne, and ‘antifa’ generally. That is, the message that was being sent, on behalf of Justin O’Brien, B&H Victoria, B&H Australia, the Southern Cross Hammerskins, and assorted other neo-Nazis, was fairly straightforward, I think: either stop being ‘anti-fascist’, or get beaten up.
“…do you have any specific suggestions as to what people might do, of the sort which could be publicly discussed in a blog?”
Yes. MAC is having an Open Day on Saturday, November 28. You can attend, and you can also bring your friends. Also, if you or anyone you know is thinking about getting a piercing or a tattoo, avoid Hold Fast: neo-Nazis do not deserve ‘our’ money.
Finally, please feel free to spread this information as widely as possible. While there are differences between, for example, The Birmingham Hotel’s support for B&H/Hammerskin activity, and the subsequent call for a boycott, and the fact that a tattoo parlour, Hold Fast, is owned (?) and managed by a neo-Nazi activist actually belonging to B&H, there are also similarities. Thus, it surprised but also encouraged me to overhear conversations, by complete strangers, about The Birmy being a ‘Nazi’ pub when I was out and about several years ago: I think that the grapevine can be very useful at times, and word does definitely get around. And, for what it’s worth, ‘Hold Fast’ was rumoured to be ‘dodgy’ for some years — but it was only after the B&H forum was hacked, and certain other sources of infos became available/came forward, that this rumour was given greater substance.
I think that, in general, mobs like these boneheads constantly under-estimate just how despised they are by the general public, and that various individuals and groups are only too happy to take whatever action they deem appropriate to remind them that it’s Melbourne in the year 2009, not Munich in the year 1939. Further, that while the boneheads have a pretty shaky grasp of history, many individuals and groups have been harassed by these bastards over the years, and there is really very little love lost on their part.
Oh yeah. The reaction by a QLD neo-Nazi and member of AF named Jim Perren is worth recalling:
@ndy, I honestly think the reason they seem obsessed with you is they really haven’t any idea who else it could be.
Which is amusing, because after all these years they ought to know what various people’s modus operandi are, and you’d THINK they’d have enough self-awareness to work out what community of people they’ve taken a gigantic steaming shit on lately. But yeah, self-reflexiveness isn’t exactly a strong point with this mob, so they just pick you presumably because Darp isn’t in Melbourne. And then compound it by harassing a women’s group with fuck all to do with anything.
Dumb shits. But pissing on the wider community just widens the enemy list, and they might discover that the bookworms at FDB! will be the least of their worries if they keep widening the circle of harassment.
Just suppose someone like me decided to throw a rock through the window of ‘Hold Fast’? Should I write Robdog on the rock?
No one knows who the hell I am. I wouldn’t even know where to go since the days Barricade Books lived near the Sarah Sands Hotel.
“Should I write Robdog on the rock?”
Maybe — I dunno if it’d make much difference. They’d probably assume it was Yiddish for ‘slackbastard’.
This article is very interesting regarding the meeting at the Tivoli club, however edited badly…”They hate Africans, Asians, Arabs etc (that’s common knowledge)…and women who partner with them”. Didn’t the article mean to write “white” women who partner with them?
Furthermore, I know for a fact that a lot of boneheads in Blood and Honour/Hammerskins are less racist than the average bogan in Australian society to the extent that they accept Southern Europeans. This I attribute to the fact that on an international scale, most white supremacist groups have come to accept them…well, so it seems. It is commonly known that in Australian society, while our census does not identify people in terms of race, the general consensus is that Europeans of Mediterranean origin (Latins/Hellenics etc) are NOT socially percieved as “white” in Australian society.
I don’t care what anyone tries to say, but the ethnic slur “wog” IS a connotation for non-whiteness.
People I have known of who have been affiliates of BH/Hammerskins have had ethnic backgrounds ranging from Maltese, Polish to even mixed-race Aborigine!
“Didn’t the article mean to write “white” women who partner with them?”
I would assume so, yes. Or white men (arf arf).
“…a lot of boneheads in Blood and Honour/Hammerskins are less racist than the average bogan in Australian society to the extent that they accept Southern Europeans.”
Arguably… but I’m not convinced. That is: persons (men) of Southern European descent may be accepted as members of B&H Australia/Hammerskins, but even if a ‘bogan’ is contemptuous of an Australian from the same background as these members, their ‘racism’ is, I think, of a much more ‘casual’ nature: it does not form a central part of their identity, or motivate them to engage in political activism. However, I do think you have a point regarding the ‘internationalist’ dimension of neo-Nazi networks such as these. Thus for members or associates of B&H and the Hammerskins, theoretically at least, race trumps nation, and Whites belong to a range of different nations — European, North American, South American, and so on.
That said, there are some tensions between the various groups, and conflicts between them have emerged along national lines (fights at gigs between German and Polish neo-Nazis, for example). After all, Nazism proclaimed the Slavs — from which term, in English, we derive the word ‘slave’ — to be untermenschen, and the peoples of Eastern Europe were certainly treated as such by the Nazis and their foreign puppets. Or one might consider the fact that tens of thousands of Russians proclaim themselves to be ‘Nazis’ and worship Hitler — many regard this as quite perverse, given twentieth century Russian history.
With regards the racial status of peoples of Mediterranean origin, again, I think you have a point, and it’s useful to contrast prevailing attitudes of, say, the 1950s and ’60s to The Now. What I think this history suggests is the manner in which groups previously regarded as being properly subordinate may come to share in the values and privileges of whiteness. (Looking further back, it’s possible to see a similar process in place with regards the racial status of the Irish within British Empire.) I suppose much depends on how expansive or restrictive is the definition of ‘Whiteness’ being employed (on the narrower side of things, some racists advocate ‘Nordicism’). In Australia, it seems to me that mild contempt has largely been transformed from grudging acceptance to ‘who gives a shit?’ (on the part of ‘White Australia’) — but the pattern is not uniform, and various individuals — including ‘bogans’ — continue to exhibit their inter-racial (and inter-ethnic) anxieties.
As for the term ‘wog’ — yeah. It’s still used as — or is intended to be — a slur. On the other hand, it seems to me that others have embraced it as a largely positive term — if only, and generally, when employed by self-identified ‘wogs’. (Slightly OTT, but I can remember one of my primary skool teachers — a Filipina — explaining to the class that WOG meant ‘Western Oriental Gentlemen’! Looking back, I think it was her attempt to somewhat lessen or combat the negative connotations of the term.)
Finally: yeah — “affiliates of BH/Hammerskins have had ethnic backgrounds ranging from Maltese, Polish to even mixed-race Aborigine”. These kinds of apparent contradictions, while not common, are also not that rare. Dr James Saleam is of Lebanese — which is to say ‘non-White’ — descent, and yet heads a ‘White nationalist’ party; the same was true of ‘Java’ Jack van Tongeren and the ANM. In my high skool, a Koori kid wore a swastika to class (he was working through some issues at the time, and remains a friend). On the other hand, I’m White as fuck, but ’cause I denounce racism and fascism, I’m sometimes denounced as a Jew!
All of which goes to show: it’s a funny olde worlde.