EDL? MAC? Same Thing! [Malatesta]

Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; / The British far right begat the EDL; and the EDL begat the SDL and their brethren (the WDL, the ADL and the DDL).

They also begat this post by Malatesta, reflecting on the EDL’s most recent protest versus fellow English mentalists ‘Muslims Against Crusades’.

EDL? MAC? Same Thing!
malatesta32
November 15, 2010

The Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) and English Defence League (EDL) are really 2 sides of the same idiot. Last week saw the MAC protesting in Trafalgar Square during the 2 minutes silence. It also saw the EDL in small numbers ‘protesting peacefully’ against them. But despite their apparent differences they often serve the same purpose in inflaming anti-Islamic sentiment and allowing the state to monitor extremists.

The MAC acted disgracefully and disrespectfully with their publicity seeking poppy burning stunt on Thursday. The EDL turned out about 40 members to confront them. The police separated them and saw that both the EDL and MAC got their publicity fix and achieved nothing. Sharia law was neither implemented nor stopped. Following the poppy burning incident the EDL and Casuals United have both reported increased interest in their websites and are claiming that they have gained many new members. However, signing up to Facebook and being an effective activist are completely different things: what matters is shoe leather on the cobbles not writing LOL next to some anti-Islamic web statement. The EDL demos have been getting smaller despite growing web traffic.

The EDL are politically naïve [and] do not understand either the Muslim community nor the array of opposition against them. The EDL think that anyone who disagrees with them automatically supports extremists like MAC. They think that UAF, local Muslim community associations and antifascists are all the same which is clearly not true. The EDL stereotype all Muslims as extremists as is clear from their web forum: they completely fail to differentiate between publicity seeking characters like MAC, who are no threat really, and the vast majority of Muslims in this country who simply want to get on with their lives peacefully. The MAC do not represent the Muslim community in general and are more like the delusional incompetents portrayed in 4 Lions, full of their own self-importance and following either an agenda that is unrealistic or 1 that is a wee bit more suspicious.

Earlier this year, The Independent published an interesting, if speculative, article on the secret services coercion of vulnerable Muslims in prison. Candidates facing either prison sentences, citizenship difficulties or deportation were approached in order to gain information on radical Islamicists in the UK. It is not too difficult to see the advantages of this, i.e., join up with a dodgy outfit like Anjem Choudhary’s Islam4UK or MAC, monitor what is going on and provide information to the feds. Also the publicising of groups like the MAC helps the state justify the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and promotes the extremist image of Islam.

And the exact same can be said for the EDL. That there are hooligans and criminals at the helm of the EDL is obvious: their glorious leader ‘Tiny’ Tommy Robinson AKA the more poshly named Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is under pressure from the feds on several fronts, for his organisation’s violent conduct on the streets of Britain and also for more mundane matters. The last couple of weeks have seen Tommy nicked over fraud allegations as well as at the demo on Thursday – which is the 6th time this year. Rumours have been flying around the internet that Tommy is being pressured and compromised by the state. The EDL leadership is a volatile mix of extremists from the BNP, Combat 18 and other fascist groups as well as more unsavoury characters from the various football firms. Their hoodies emblazoned with their hometowns, enormous amounts of CCTV monitoring, stop and searches and general surveillance allows the police to know exactly who is doing what and when on the far right.

Tommy’s blatant publicity stunt on Thursday of jumping over a barrier into a large bunch of coppers to ‘take the flag’ of the MAC was a calculated move. It meant he could get his wee face on telly to impress his mates and elevate himself to martyr status. Few political activists in their right minds would do this as it means an obvious nicking, a night in jail and the time wasting and expense of the judicial process. Tommy has been nominally charged with assaulting a copper but whether the charges stand given the amount of evidence is dubious: he basically leapt into the copper’s arms and was immediately surrounded and didn’t have time to do anything.

[youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZFVc2uwMY]

Some cruel wag suggested it gave Tommy a chance to speak with his MI5 handlers but ‘Malatesta’ finds that very hard to believe. Tommy also needed to save face after the embarrassment of having HIS flag snatched by Dutch Antifa the other week which has been widely publicised and can be seen here at about 9.50 in. The ‘No Surrender’ EDL then ran away.

[player.omroep.nl/?aflID=11633256]

What is just as interesting are the photos of other demonstrators. Over the last couple of weeks the Welsh Defence League ‘leader’ Jeff Marsh announced a name change to the Cymru Defence League due to the constant exposure of links with the Nazi Combat 18 outfit. C18 member Luke Pippen helped run the Casuals United website and organise things in Swansea with Marsh. This association is now over apparently but guess who turned up at the EDL demo on Thursday and was photographed wandering around with a loudhailer rallying the troops? Only the melon headed Luke Pippen of C18 whose chest sports a large swastika tattoo. Oh dear.

Homophobes

The non-homophobic EDL have also been rocked by a rather unpleasant row over on their forum. A member of the LGBT division approached some blokes in EDL tops in a pub and started talking to them only for the situation to rapidly descend into violence and the guy received a beating. Read all about it!

[s1.zetaboards.com/EDL_The_Forum/topic/3922963/1/]

This does not look good for the ‘gay friendly’ EDL and illustrates the kind of people the EDL attracts. It also shows that what the EDL say on their website and what goes on in reality are often mutually exclusive.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, Death, History, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Burdened with Debt: “Debt Crisis” and Class Struggles in Greece

Melancholic Greek Troglodytes give birth to a big fat Greek analysis (via libcom):

    BURDENED WITH DEBT
    “Debt Crisis” and Class Struggles in Greece
    TPTG
    August-October 2010

    Through the constant terrorism of the media for almost a year now concerning “our” debt, the modern moralists, the preachers of the word of capital and money are trying violently to convince us, the “debtors”, that in order to pay back “our” debt to “our” creditors we are obliged to take up our cross of torture and sacrifices, to place our faith in the orthodoxy of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies and the Stability Pact and filled with awe to anticipate in the fullness of time the post-deficit life.

    For months now, fiscal terrorism attempts to become more effective targeting, through the collective responsibility of the debts, our own subjectivity. The storm of the imminent threats against “our” national economy aims at the internalization of the crisis as fear and guilt: “our” debts (Schulden) should become our collective guilt (Schuld). Thus, the original sin recurs even more violently to make us, paraphrazing Nietzsche, pledge our already low wages, our already labour-intensified life, our very expectations for a world where capitalist domination will be history. They want us to pledge our own claims for a life liberated of debts and guilt now and in the future; to get indebted with the burden of a depressingly insecure present so that we eliminate even from our imagination any possibility of abolishing this old, burdened with guilt and debts, world…

More blah here [PDF].

Posted in Broken Windows, History, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , | Leave a comment

From Melbourne to London…

…no one likes a rat!

THEN:

G20 riot suspects unmasked
The Age
January 18, 2007

Police have released images of 28 “people of interest” as they tighten the net on rioters wanted over the violent G20 protests in Melbourne.

A police officer’s wrist was broken and several were bitten and injured by broken glass when mobs of protesters clashed with police outside the G20 summit in central Melbourne in November.

Police are reviewing thousands of hours of video footage and more than 10,000 images of the riots as they hunt those responsible.

Images of 28 people, some wearing face scarves, were released today with police calling on the public for help…

NOW:

Do you recognise these student rioters?
The Telegraph

Riot rabble who targeted Tory HQ: Unmasked, the hardcore leaders of the student mob
Richard Pendlebury
Daily Mail
November 12, 2010

See also : mad props! (November 11, 2010) | occupy california | Free Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (Zagreb)

Bonus Billy!

Posted in Broken Windows, History, Media, Student movement, Television, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , | 1 Comment

…para el compañero de Colombia…

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Racist rampage?

Two Melbourne teenagers have been convicted of engaging “in a four-day racist rampage” last December. The pair, Julius Medina and Peter Salapura, were members of a larger gang of up to eight yoof what robbed several Indian men “of their wallets and mobile phones, while several were punched and beaten with a metal bar”. News.com.au makes note of the fact that “Medina’s mother, born in the Philippines, and Salapura’s mother, born in Serbia, both wept … as details of their sons’ crimes were read in court”.

“It’s the same hideous, racist behaviour that their parents would have been terrified of when they came here and to see that their children are behaving in the same way to migrants must be almost too terrible to bear,” Judge Gaynor said.

Which may or may not be true. But it’s hardly unique, nor even unusual: the reasons why some individuals (especially male yoof) find ethnic or racial animosity sufficient motivation to assault others, or choose to employ ‘racist’ beliefs to rationalise their behaviour — and others don’t — are often quite complex. Thus it may seem odd that two of the most notorious Australian neo-Nazi leaders of the last few decades are of non-White or ‘mixed race’ descent, but this certainly didn’t prevent either man from espousing a return to White Australia, or of recruiting a small number of followers on that basis. (Note that while ‘Java’ Jack van Tongeren has retired from political life, Dr James Saleam is still actively pursuing his dream of a White Australia: see ‘Australia First denies racist mailbox flyers’, Soraiya Fuda, Campbelltown Macarthur Advertiser, November 10, 2010).

By the same token, former academic Andrew Fraser, a recent proponent of the same policy, was born and raised in Canada; the leader of Volksfront Australia, Welf Herfurth, was born in Germany; many of the most outspoken critics of Australian immigration and multicultural policy are also foreign-born; Pauline Hanson attracted the support of immigrants and their children (including, notably, a ‘de-wogged’ John Pasquerelli); the ‘Australian Defence League’ and similar formations experience a relatively high level of participation from them foreigners what cause trouble…

And so on and so forth.

It’s a funny olde worlde.

Prosecutor Amelia Macknay told the court the group discussed going “Punji hunting” before setting out to rob the Indian men.

“These were group attacks on vulnerable victims who are minding their own business at night,” Ms Macknay said.

Defence lawyer Chris McLennan, for Medina, told the court the attacks were not racially motivated.

“They targeted these victims because they are peace-loving and they probably have more expensive equipment,” Mr McLennan said.

See also : Bashing of Indian man not racial, Norrie Ross, Herald Sun, November 6, 2010 | Bash attack not racist, court hears, despite ‘Indian dog’ slur, Norrie Ross, Herald Sun, October 21, 2010 | Reverse racism?msicar esreveR (February 21, 2010) | Deep veins: Australia and race (February 6, 2010).

Posted in Broken Windows, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | 1 Comment

Jock Palfreeman : November 2010 Update

Update : Court unable to make final ruling on Jock Palfreeman case, Boel Eriksson, The Mosman Daily | Family pleased at Bulgaria killing appeal, The Sydney Morning Herald (AAP) | Appeal hears Bulgaria stabbing was self defence, ABC (AM) | Jock Palfreeman pins appeal hopes on statement conflicts, Peter Wilson, The Australian | Father pleased evidence backs jailed son, ABC (The World Today).

Jock Palfreeman is a young Australian who in December 2009 was sentenced by a Bulgarian court to 20 years jail for ‘murder by hooliganism’. Currently, his sentencing is the subject of a court appeal, with the next hearing scheduled for November 25.

The case against Jock contains many inconsistencies: Jock has always maintained that he acted in self-defence. For more information on Jock’s case, and how you can help offer him support, please see Free Jock. You can write to Jock at the following address:

Jock Palfreeman
Sofia Central Prison
21 General Stoletov Boulevard
Sofia 1309
BULGARIA

Witness says jailed Australian acted in self defence
Emma Alberici
ABC
November 11, 2010

A police witness at the appeal of an Australian man serving a 20-year sentence for murder in Bulgaria has confirmed Jock Palfreeman was acting in self defence when he attacked a group of men with a knife.

Palfreeman, from Sydney, was sentenced to 20 years in jail last December for stabbing 20-year-old Andre Monov to death in Sofia during a street brawl in 2007.

The 23-year-old was found guilty of murder and attempted murder, but he says it was self defence.

Two witnesses took the stand on day two of the appeal at Sofia’s palace of justice.

Both Bulgarian men, one of them a policeman, were challenged to explain why they had said one thing in their police statements and an entirely different thing in the trial of Palfreeman.

The policeman who appeared in the dock said the three years that had passed since his original statement had caused him to forget he had been told by eyewitnesses that Palfreeman went to the aid of a Roma Gypsy being attacked by a gang of Bulgarian youths.

See also : Jock Palfreeman’s murder case adjourned in Bulgaria, Lucy Carne, The Daily Telegraph, November 12, 2010 | International Week of Solidarity with Jock Palfreeman: October, 2010.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Death, State / Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Victoria Police throw rotten tomatoes @ Melbourne yuppies & LA zombies!

Transcendental fascist Richard Wolstencroft (Führer of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival), and director Bruce La Bruce have today been subjected to some withering criticism by the Victoria Police Film Criticism Unit. In fact, critics at VicPol were so appalled by La Bruce’s prohibited film LA Zombie — and Wolstencroft’s role in inflicting it upon local audiences — that today they raided Richard’s house looking for a copy of the turkey. Apparently, they failed.

It is believed the detectives considered removing every DVD in Wolstencroft’s house, as well as computers containing two movies on which he is working. They were eventually dissuaded by his insistence that he had destroyed his only copy of the film, on DVD, after the August screening. Wolstencroft also admitted to police that the August 29 screening had gone ahead and that he was solely responsible for it.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Wolstencroft would face court at a later date.

Personally, I think the police only want to ensure there’s quality films in Australia, anyway. Well, in essence. They may be a little excessive in their zeal, but that can be forgiven now given some historical distance. MUFF was a pointless self-promotional exercise guided only by Wolstencroft’s arrogance. 10BA would have protected the Australian film industry and it would exist in a greater glory to this day if it had been allowed to. In the end England has lost everything and parts of London now resemble Afghanistan. Some victory!

See also : Art = Ego (January 21, 2006).

Posted in !nataS, Art, Death, Film, Media, Sex & Sexuality, State / Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

mad props!

ROOFTOP OCCUPIERS STATEMENT: “We oppose all cuts and we stand in solidarity with public sector workers, and all poor, disabled, elderly and working people. We are occupying the roof in opposition to the marketisation of education pushed through by the coalition government, and the system they are pushing through of helping the rich and attacking the poor. We call for direct action to oppose these cuts. This is only the beginning of the resistance to the destruction of our education system and public services.”

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Broken Windows, State / Politics, Student movement | 20 Comments

Armistice Poppy Remembrance Day

November 11, 1887 : The Haymarket Martyrs — August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel — murdered by the state. November 11, 1918: The formal end to The War To End All Wars™.

“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” ~ Jay Gould (attributed)

Join the Herald Sun Brigade to Afghanistan!

“Well, there’ve always been people going around saying someday the war will end. I say, you can’t be sure the war will ever end. Of course, it may have to pause occasionally–for breath, as it were–it can even meet with an accident–nothing on this earth is perfect–a war of which we could say it left nothing to be desired will probably never exist. A war can come to a sudden halt–from unforeseen causes–you can’t think of everything–a little oversight, and the war’s in the hole, and someone’s got to pull it out again! The someone is the Emperor or the King or the Pope. They’re such friends in need, the war has really nothing to worry about, it can look forward to a prosperous future.”

~ Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children (1939)

“All of which goes to show that the State represents all the autocratic, arbitrary, coercive, belligerent forces within a social group, it is a sort of complexus of everything most distasteful to the modern free creative spirit, the feeling for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. War is the health of the State.”

‘War Is the Health of the State’, Randolph Bourne (1918)

Posted in Death, History, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | 12 Comments

Jason Devine (ARA Calgary) : Neo-Nazi Home Invasion

In the early hours of Monday November 8, Jason Devine (30) and a guest at his home in Calgary (Canada) were attacked by a group of five masked men. The attack appears to have been in retaliation for Jason’s participation in ‘Anti-Racist Action Calgary’, and is the latest in a series of such incidents. Jason received cuts and bruises and his friend a broken arm. Both were hospitalised. Jason’s wife Bonnie and their four young children, asleep at the time, were unharmed. See:

It’s been speculated that the men belong to one of several neo-Nazi groups based in Calgary, including the Aryan Guard, Blood & Honour and White European Brotherhood, but so far none have been arrested for the attack or otherwise positively identified. (A good source of infos on the Canadian racist right is Anti-Racist Canada: The ARC Collective blog.)

Of the attack Jason wrote:

At 1:30 AM 5 males carried out an armed home invasion on the house of Anti-Racist Activists Bonnie and Jason Devine. Bonnie Devine recently ran for Mayor of Calgary in the 2010 municipal election. This is the most recent in a long line of attacks on the Devine’s. Every time their 4 children were asleep in the home.

The armed assailants overwhelmed Jason and a friend who was visiting. They repeatedly beat Jason and his friend with blunt objects. His friend was bludgeoned throughout the head area and sustained a broken arm. Jason was surrounded as each assailant took turns beating his head, back, body, arms and legs, sustaining stitches and a concussion. Both were rushed to the hospital to receive treatment.

It is believed the attack is related to the recent leafleting and postering, by Anti-Racist Action Calgary, of a neighborhood where neo-nazi’s are known to live. THIS WAS NOT A ROBBERY and reports to the contrary are incorrect. Again nothing was stolen. Later it was discovered their family vehicle was also damaged while the assailants fled the scene…

As a result of the attack, Canadian Social Services have threatened to remove Jason and Bonnie’s children from their care. According to Jason: “They stated that because of our high level [of activity] we have placed our children in [unnecessary] risk and that we should stop before they either see it or are a victim of it”.

The further victimisation of the family by the state may seem unfair, but it’s not an atypical reaction to these kinds of events, sadly. You can read more about the issue at Dawg’s Blog: Calgary Social Services: “Anti-racist? We’ll take your kids!” (November 8, 2010) and Painted: Bullied to be silent (November 8, 2010). Also issuing a statement on the attack is ‘Rebel Youth’ blog, a publication of the Young Communist League of Canada (the Devines are members of the Communist Party of Canada).

Posted in Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, State / Politics, War on Terror | Tagged | 2 Comments