Australian Pride /// Flagwit Rally, June 25, 2017 : Recap

Posted on June 25, 2017 by @ndy


Above : A choice poster from the Carlton Gardens.

The Melton-based grouplet True Blue Crew (TBC) organised an ‘Australian Pride’ rally in Melbourne today; the Campaign Against Racism & Fascism in conjunction with No Room For Racism organised a counter-rally to oppose it.

In brief:

About 100 or so fascists (possibly fewer, and mostly familiar faces), assembled in Carlton Gardens at approximately 11am, near the corner of Victoria & Rathdowne streets, as did a larger counter-protest nearby (and closer to the intersection). Several hundred police were also present, separating the two groups and otherwise maintaining a presence in the Gardens. After half-an hour or so of milling about and shouting, the fascists made their way to the Gardens near the corner of Victoria & Nicholson streets. With several hundred police reinforcements, they then marched up Nicholson onto Spring street before assembling in front of the Parliament — the counter-rally tried to follow but was blocked by police and forced to approach Parliament up Bourke street, before again being blocked by a police line at the corner of Bourke & Spring streets.

For maybe 30 minutes or so the fascists chanted, sang an awful rendition of the STRAYAN anthem (stopping after the first verse — lol), while also being treated to some speechifying by United Patriots Front (UPF) fuehrer Blair ‘A picture of Adolf Hitler in every Australian classroom!’ Cottrell and his sidekick, Li’l Tommy Sewell. (On a brighter note, the patriotik dregs were also treated to ‘77%’ by The Herd, which was blasting from the counter-rally.) The fascists were then marched by police back the way they came, up Nicholson street and to the Gardens, at which point they dispersed. The counter-rally was blocked by police from returning to the Gardens and at some point police used pepper spray (near the corner of Russell & Lonsdale streets), which affected maybe 10 or more individuals.

Spotted at the fascist rally were members of TBC and UPF, obviously, Soldiers of Odin, and a handful of members of neo-Nazi grouplet Right Wing Resistance Australia. (Most who sported merch were wearing TBC gear, although a handful had UPF.) Notable for their absence was the Kekistani Army, with just one yoof sporting the flag. Finally, rather than retire to The Pumphouse as on previous occasions, a small group of fascists was escorted by police to Fed Square, where they were welcomed by Transport Bar.

So:

Congratulations to police (I guess) on facilitating a fascist rally and march through Melbourne (and for pepper-spraying opponents — for medical advice, please see Black Cross Resilience); the size of the fascist crowd was approximately the same as it was 12 months ago, if not slightly smaller, with those present forming the core of extreme-right opinion in Melbourne. They were vocal, and cobbled together from every tinpot group in town and from further afield (principally Bendigo). Despite some frothing-at-the-mouth commentary by some TBC loons, there were no clashes between the two sides as far as I’m aware, with police being delegated the task of protecting the rally and march — which, with overwhelming force, they achieved. Finally, any possibility of halting a fascist march in future will likely depend on there being (many) more counter-protesters — a possibility, but one requiring a good deal of work.

In any case, mAd props to every one who came out today to oppose the flagwits!

See also : Knife, knuckleduster confiscated as right-wing, anti-racism protesters clash in city, Alexandra Laskie, The Age, June 25, 2017 | ‘Australian Pride’ protesters face anti-racism protesters in Melbourne, SBS (AAP), June 25, 2017. Note that police had declared the CBD a designated area between the hours of 8am and 8pm today, giving them carte blanche to conduct searches.


Above : As noted, a handful of members of neo-Nazi groupuscule ‘Right Wing Resistance Australia’ were present. From L to R : Cleve Pepprell (?); ‘Sammy Chelsea’; James Lawrence; unknown. Note that one member of RWRAU, Ricky White, was arrested in September last year and charged with the arson of a church in Taree: I’ve no idea what’s become of his case. Finally, note that most neo-Nazis have too many smarts to wear their swastikas in public and for today’s performance the Nazi flag was replaced by the Australian.

NB. NO BEER FOR YOU!

At around 3.30–4pm today, a small group of TBC gronks, including their lvl boss Kane Miller, attended The Curtin Hotel opposite Victorian Trades Hall Council.

Upon entering the premises they proceeded to the bar, but were denied service, and left. As they did so the boys shouted something about ‘slanty-eyed c*nts’, and otherwise entertained pub-goers and passersby with abuse (‘f*cking dirty lefties’ etc., etc., etc.).

Props to the staff at The Curtin for showing the boys the door.

Otherwise, while they remain a very small group of racist meatheads, the fact that the TBC receives the nurturance and support of VicPol means incidents like this will become more likely … and the situation end in tears.

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The SUWA Show : June 2017 edition w jews against fascism

Posted on June 22, 2017 by @ndy

This month’s episode of ‘Floating Anarchy’ on The SUWA Show features an interview with Max Kaiser of local trouble-makers ‘Jews against fascism’. 5.30–6.30pm, Friday, June 23, 2017 on 3CR: 855AM or livestreaming on the 3CR website.

You can read more about Jews against fascism on their Facebook page; Max K’s podcast is called Mazel Tov Cocktail and you can listen to it here. For Max’s academic writings, see academia.edu.

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Australian Pride March / Flagwit Rally, Melbourne : June 25, 2017

Posted on June 18, 2017 by @ndy

Update (June 25, 2017) : See : Australian Pride /// Flagwit Rally, June 25, 2017 : Recap.

Next Sunday, June 25, Phillip Galea’s favourite patriotik gang the True Blue Crew (TBC) have organised a flagwit rally in Melbourne. (Note: that’s Phill at last year’s flagwit rally above.)

In response, the Campaign Against Racism & Fascism and No Room For Racism have organised a counter-rally.

So why are the TBC rallying?

According to the somewhat incoherent blurb which accompanies the Facebook event page, the flagwit rally in June last year was much victory, very success, so they wanna make it an annual affair. In terms of political content, the TBC claim that Australian nationalism and culture is under attack by leftists and other ‘traitors’, who must be crushed. As evidence of treasonous behaviour, they cite the the traitorous left’s desire to: ‘destroy’ Australia Day and ANZAC Day; increase immigration and allow refugees into the country; close the offshore concentration camps for asylum seekers and; enact the Safe Schools program. The chief problems facing Australia, according to the TBC, are the existence of African crime gangs and the threat of Muslim terrorism. Worse, both these subjects are — despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary — unable to be discussed in public because of ‘political correctness’.

To put it another way: the TBC flagwit rally is basically a particularly angwy Andrew Bolt blogpost come to life.

At this stage, it’s unclear if the fundamentalist Christian political party ‘Rise Up Australia’ will be attending (as they did last year), but presumably whatever remains of the United Patriots Front will attend, as will the Soldiers Of Odin, and numerous other little far right groupuscules, as well of course as a busload of TBC boys from Bendigo and Melton, and maybe even members of the Asolate Security Group, who knows?

PS. The Pumphouse Hotel (128 Nicholson St, Fitzroy) is likely to be the watering hole of choice for the dingbats after they’ve finished all their whinging and whining, thus maintaining the pub’s status as a fascist-friendly venue: boo!.

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antifa notes (june 13, 2017) : andrew bolt glitters edition

Posted on June 13, 2017 by @ndy

glitter!

Reactionary commentator and convicted racist Andrew Bolt was a special guest at a book launch at Il Gambero restaurant in Carlton this time last week. Organised by a group called The Unhinged The Unshackled, the event was intended to promote a paean to Donald Trump penned by RMIT academic Steven Kates. Called The Art of the Impossible, ‘The entire book is comprised of blog posts on my own website: www.lawofmarkets.com some of which were also then published on my shared website: www.catal[l]axyfiles.com.’

Sounds riveting.

In any case, prior to the launch two people accosted Bolt outside the restaurant, and one of them poured sparkles on his suit. This triggered Bolt, and there was a brief scuffle, captured on both CCTV and by a photojournalist. Or as Kates puts it on his blog: Violent thugs attack speaker at Art of the Impossible book launch. Thus far, Bolt himself has managed to squeeze out a mere 14 blog posts on the subject (and counting), the first titled ‘ON THE FASCISTS WHO ATTACKED ME’ (June 6): ‘Watch the fascist Left attack me and get clobbered. Luckily the cameras do not capture me kicking one between the legs.’

From here the story quickly snowballed into an heroic epic in which Bolt became an Antipodean Alt-Knight bravely battling the fascist anti-fascists with his bare fists (e.g.: Here’s A Thug’s-Eye View Of That Antifa Attack On Andrew Bolt, The Daily Caller, June 8, 2017; Watch Conservative Commentator Beat Down Leftist Thugs Attacking Him Over Trump Book, FrontPageMag, June 8, 2017; Thunder Down Under: Aussie Columnist Fights Off Antifa, National Review, June 8, 2017).

A writer unlikely to ever win a Walkley, in one post Bolt quotes ‘Melbourne Antifa’ as having assumed responsibility for the glitter-bombing on behalf of their ‘family’:

Of course, the one slight problem with this claim is that the Facebook page to which Bolt links — https://www.facebook.com/antifamelb — is a fake account, created by one or another species of nazi troll. In fact, as I’ve noted previously, ‘Melbourne Antifa’ is one of several such accounts on Facebook and Twitter (a recent addition is ‘ANTIFA Toowoomba’: legit accounts are Antifascist Action Brisbane, Antifascism Tasmania, Anti Fascist Action Sydney and Melbourne Antifascist Info). Such trollery, especially when performed for a gormless reactionary like Bolt, often works, but not always: the nazi(s) trolling Socialist Alternative in Perth being a case in point (‘Fake’ anti-Semitic Socialist Alternative posters appear in Leederville, Natalie Richards, The West Australian, June 12, 2017). Rather, generally speaking, these fake accounts only manage to fool teenyboppers, the ignorant, and the naif … and occasionally professional trolls like Bolt (when it suits them). See : Houston Chronicle, KPRC Duped by Alt-Right Trolls Over Sam Houston Protest, Craig Malisow, Houston Press, June 1, 2017; Fake Antifa Twitter Accounts Are Trolling People And Spreading Misinformation, Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed, May 31, 2017 (‘This is part of a coordinated campaign to create fake accounts in an attempt to troll and discredit anti-fascist activists’).

See also : Andrew Bolt sprayed with dye and glitter by masked men outside Melbourne restaurant, ABC, June 6, 2017 | Some Dudes Tried To Glitter Bomb Andrew Bolt And It’s All On Camera, Rob Stott, Buzzfeed, June 7, 2017 | Andrew Bolt Got Glitter Bombed In Melbourne And Is Very Upset About It, Tom Clift, Junkee, June 7, 2017 | Andrew Bolt assault: Third man on the scene says he is ‘just a photographer’, Neelima Choahan, Liam Mannix, The Age, June 8, 2017.

nazis!

Nazis have been a bit more active of late. Leaving aside the nipsters of Antipodean Resistance, their various attempts to gain publicity (pro-tip: try Bolt), and the wreckage of the zombie Aryan Nations, Combat 18 has been rearing its head again in WA. But more on that later … in the meantime, this article by Spencer Sunshine about ‘The Growing Alliance Between Neo-Nazis, Right Wing Paramilitaries and Trumpist Republicans’ in the US of A (Colorlines, June 9, 2017) is essential reading:

I have been following Far Right movements for more than a decade as a researcher and journalist. Over the past few months, I’ve seen an increase in the visibility of a new, violent, right-wing street protest movement that I call “Independent Trumpism.” It unites neo-Nazis, members of the alt-right, Patriot movement paramilitaries and Trumpist Republicans.

Two things set Independent Trumpism apart from usual right-wing politics. First, the group’s rallies are in support of the president, but are organized outside of the Republican Party structure. Second, mainstream Republicans are appearing alongside open White supremacists, especially at events billed as “Free Speech” marches …

See also : Confronting the Nationalists and Their Police: A Full Report from Portland on June 4, CrimethInc, June 6, 2017; Is there a neo-Nazi storm brewing in Trump country?, Lois Beckett, The Guardian, June 4, 2017 (‘Can national socialism, repackaged as ‘white identity’ politics, earn votes in rural counties that voted for Trump?’). More generally, see : It’s Going Down and Antifa International for news, views, and links to local organising.

Oh, and finally, I suppose I should also note the recent death of Bob Whitaker, Presidential candidate for the fascist American Freedom Party and author of the slogan ‘Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white’.

vigilantes!

On June 11, a small group of local far-rightists gathered in Dandenong in order to discuss the establishment of a vigilante gang to protect the ‘burb from marauding African kidz. While this is not the first time that fascists and the far-right have openly discussed taking the law into their own hands — the Soldiers Of Odin were gamely compared by The Age to Guardian Angels, and the UPF once discussed covertly organising some Right Wing Death Squad Entertainment — the participation of an actual registered security organisation in the project is novel, as well as ambitious.

Spearheaded, seemingly, by a patriotik fella called Daniel Purton (who’s the leader of a nü gang called A26A), those at the meeting included ‘True Blue Crew’ lvl boss Kane Miller, some Soldiers Of Odin, and various other minor characters on the far right. Police kept an eye on things, as did members of a new security company called Asolate Security, who’ve expressed full support for the budding vigilante campaign. This seems rather odd behaviour for a licensed security company, but then we live in interesting times.

See also : Expect More Murders: Why the Radical Right Kills, Spencer Sunshine, truth-out, June 2, 2017.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, Media, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

From Portland to Penrith

Posted on May 28, 2017 by @ndy

Portland, Oregon, Friday:

Suspect in Portland double murder posted white supremacist material online, Jason Wilson, May 28, 2017:

Police in Portland, Oregon, have charged a white supremacist with a double murder and hate crimes, after he allegedly cut the throats of two passengers and stabbed another on a commuter train late on Friday afternoon.

According to police, while riding the MAX train in suburban north-east Portland, Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, began “yelling various remarks that would best be characterized as hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions.”

When fellow passengers attempted to intervene, Christian stabbed three of them. One man, 53-year-old Ricky John Best of Happy Valley, Oregon, died at the scene. Another, 23-year-old Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche of south-east Portland, was pronounced dead at a local hospital. A third, 21 year old Micah Fletcher, was treated for injuries that police said “are not expected to be life-threatening”.

A Pattern of Enabling Racist Violence, Rose City Antifa, May 27, 2017:

On Friday May 26th, a man on Portland public transit was reported to have yelled Islamophobic hate speech at two women, one in a hijab. He was confronted by other passengers, and now two of these people are dead, and another is in the hospital. White supremacist Jeremy Christian was arrested for the attack. Christian is well-known to anti-fascist activists in Portland, because he was recently seen at one of Joey Gibson’s free speech rallies.

Joey Gibson, a video blogger from Vancouver, WA, has already taken to Facebook to plead that people not “politicize” these deaths, well aware of how Portland is already long tired of his endless circus. The deaths are tragic, but the crime was always political. The attack occurred on the day before Ramadan. The islamophobic slurs that witnesses reported Christian yelled before the attack are no different than those used by Joey Gibson’s friends, the homophobic and xenophobic street preachers, seen around Portland screaming at immigrants and others. This is the rhetoric that Gibson defends under the banner of free speech. Jeremy Christian posted often and at length with threats of violence against anti-fascist activists. The victims of this crime were killed because they were standing up to hate speech. These are identical to threats that Gibson’s group and other associated far-right groups have made against those same activists.

See also : Portland deaths: Son who died trying to stop Muslim abuse ‘a hero’, BBC, May 28, 2017 | Tri Met Heroes GoFundMe fundraising campaign for the families of the deceased and injured.

Penrith, NSW, Sunday:

Anti-Islamic protest takes place in Penrith, Troy Dodds, the western weekender, May 28, 2017.

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Blogs are dead. Long live blogs!

Posted on May 27, 2017 by @ndy

Having previously surveyed Journals & Zines and so on and so on, I’m now updating my blog links …

dead and/or resting:

a-films (–2014)
After The Greek Riots / Occupied London [see : libcom]
anarchia
angry news from around the world (–2012)
Angry White Kid [see : Falling Into Incandescence]
Amor Y Resistencia (–2010)
“Black Flame: the revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism” (–2015) [see also : anarchist notes (april 25, 2017) : IWA-AIT, Michael Schmidt +++]
CrimethInc Far East Blog
Cruz Negra Anarquista de Venezuela (–2009) [see also : Cruz Negra Anaquista en Contra Info]
Fires Never Extinguished (–2012; A journal of the Phoenix Class War Council)
Mike Boda
Molly’s Blog (–2015)
Orthodox Anarchist [see : daniel sieradski]
Our War
Punamust
RAG/revolutionary anarchafeminist group (–2014)
riot porn (–2007)
run amok (–2011)
The Boulevardier
the disillusioned kid (–2015)
this is our job
Truth, Reason & Liberty (–2012)

still kicking:

Anarchist Writers
אנרכיסטים נגד הגדר Anarchists Against The Wall [Facebook]
Anarchy Alive! [Facebook]
Aragorn! blog
Avtonom [ENG]
Bombs & Shields (?) [see also : In Our Hearts]
FIRE To The Prisons (–2011) >>> Fire to the Prisons
John Kinsella >>> Mutually Said: Poets Vegan Anarchist Pacifist [A blog shared between poets John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan]
Mickey Z
Mujeres Creando
Old Punks Never Die! [2014: Currently Under Reconstruction]
Rad Geek People’s Daily
Revolution By The Book [see also : AK Press]
Robert Graham’s Anarchism Weblog
rob’s revolting
sketchy thoughts [see also : Kersplebedeb]
subMedia
three way fight
void network

nü(ish):

DISACCORDS — ‘An anarchist news blotter following events in Oceania & South East Asia.’
everyone can do something — ‘Resources, provocations and practical things for action, ‘cos the world doesn’t just get better / stop getting worse on its own.’
Insurrection News — ‘news, counter-information & incitement from the global front lines of anti-capitalist insurrection & social war.’
It’s Going Down — ‘a digital community center from anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements.’
Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group — ‘Statements and opinions from the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group.’

Posted in Anarchism, Art, Broken Windows, Death, History, Media, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The SUWA Show : May 2017 edition w Dr Jason Wilson on #AltRight

Posted on May 26, 2017 by @ndy

On this month’s edition of ‘Floating Anarchy’ on The SUWA Show (5.30pm /// Friday, May 26 /// 3CR /// 855AM or livestreaming) Dr Cam Smith & I chat w Dr Jason Wilson (The Guardian) about the Alt Right, the far right, fascism, irony and more.

See : Hiding in plain sight: how the ‘alt-right’ is weaponizing irony to spread fascism, Jason Wilson, The Guardian, May 23, 2017 (Experts say the ‘alt-right’ have stormed mainstream consciousness by using ‘humor’ and ambiguity as tactics to wrong-foot their opponents) | Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online, Data & Society, May 15, 2017 | Kill All Normies, Andrea Nagle, Zero Books (2017) | The New Man of 4chan, Andrea Nagle, The Baffler, No.30, March 2016 | Who are the new jihadis?, Oliver Roy, The Guardian, April 13, 2017 (Biographies of ‘homegrown’ European terrorists show they are violent nihilists who adopt Islam, rather than religious fundamentalists who turn to violence).

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Media, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

journals & zines : may 2017 update

Posted on May 24, 2017 by @ndy

i thought i may as well update the links to journals & zines i’ve chucked up on the blog. many of these are anarchist or otherwise radical; others liberal &/or left: some are lost, a few are found. at some point, i’ll prolly go thru the rest of the links, many of which are similarly gone, but which otherwise remind me that i’ve been blogging for freaking ages/far too long nao …

dead &/or resting:

A Murder of Crows [2006–2007]
Abolishing the Borders from Below [–2010]
aduki [–2012?]
Alternative Press Review [–2010?]
Black Star Review [?]
clamor [1999–2006]
Collective Action Notes [–2009]
D!ssent [2014?]
Do Or Die [1992-2003]
Eat The State [?]
FIRE To The Prisons [–2011]
Green Anarchy [2000–2009]
Harbinger [–2003]
ideas & action [1982–1997]
Incendio! [?]
Killing King Abacus [2004?]
Last Hours [2003–2010]
Linchpin [–2013?]
Multinational Monitor [–2009?]
Mutiny [–2014]
Mute [–2013]
Race Traitor [–2005]
SchNEWS [1994–2014]
shift magazine [2007–2012]
The Commoner [–2012]
The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest [–2014]
The Northeastern Anarchist [–2011]
turbulence [–2010]
venomous butterfly publications
zine library [?]

still kicking:

325 /// Anarchist Studies /// Anarcho-Syndicalist Review /// Anarchy /// Arena /// Aufheben /// b o r d e r l a n d s /// Breakdown Press /// Capital & Class /// Chain Reaction /// Columbia Journalism Review /// counterpunch /// Direct Action [?] /// Dissident Voice /// Dollars & Sense /// Earth First! Journal /// El Libertario /// Fifth Estate /// Freedom Fight /// Foucault Studies /// Going Down Swinging /// Le Monde diplomatique /// Links /// MAXIMUMROCKNROLL /// Monthly Review /// New Internationalist /// New Left Review /// New Matilda /// New Politics /// NOT BORED! [?] /// Organise! /// Overland /// Prickly Paradigm /// Profane Existence /// Quarterly Essay /// Radical Philosophy /// Rebel Press /// slingshot /// Smearcasters /// Social Alternatives /// Social Anarchism [?] /// The Baffler /// The Indypendent /// The International Journal of INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY /// The Monthly /// Upping The Anti /// Upside Down World /// Urban 75 /// Wildcat /// WW4 Report /// Z Magazine

nü(ish):

MORTAR : ‘Mortar is the theoretical journal of Common Cause.’
Perspectives on Anarchist Theory : publication of the Institute for Anarchist Studies (US).
Rolling Thunder : CrimethInc’s semi-regular glossy.
The Anarchist Library : heaps of @ stuffs.

Posted in Anarchism, Broken Windows, Death, History, Media, State / Politics | 1 Comment

antifa notes (may 23, 2017) : The Three Stooges (United Patriots Front) Go To Court +++

Posted on May 23, 2017 by @ndy

The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges — Blair Cottrell, Neil Erikson and Chris Shortis — made a brief appearance in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today for a contest mention. The three have been charged with four offences — serious religious vilification, defacing property, willful damage and behaving in an offensive manner in public — following a UPF publicity stunt outside Bendigo council offices in October 2015. The circus returns to court on September 4.

According to Ben Hillier, more than 50 people attended court in order to support the trio, while another few dozen protested in opposition outside the court. The Five Flag General dominated proceedings outside, while inside Neil Erikson demanded Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Police Commissioner Graham Ashton be subpoenaed to appear. Last week, his co-accused, Blair Cottrell, called upon his followers to be prepared to stage an occupation of the court room in the event that they were found guilty. A very odd proposal, given that it was a contest mention, and one which begs the question: stupid, or just plain liar? In any case, beheading a dummy is a big step up from attempting to decapitate his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend, so fair play.

See : Comedy Company at the Magistrates’ Court as fascists wait for hearing, Ben Hillier, Red Flag, May 23, 207 | Punches thrown as supporters of far-right group clash with protesters outside Melbourne court, 9news/AAP. May 23, 2017.

Snakes On A Plane? Boneheads On A Train!

In a rare sighting, two boneheads were spotted on a train on the Ballarat line yesterday. (It’s unknown if the bones have any relation to the bones spotted in Ballarat back in March.)

Fakes and AltReich Creeps

As mentioned previously, there’s been a few fake antifa soc.media accounts created recently. Recent entrants include Brisbane Antifa (Twitter), Hobart Antifa (Facebook), Melbourne Antifa (Facebook), Sydney Antifa (Facebook/Twitter).

Fair dinkum accounts are : Antifascist Action Brisbane /// Antifascism Tasmania /// Anti Fascist Action Sydney /// Melbourne Antifascist Info.

STRAYA follows Yanqui fashions, and the AltReich trend is no exception, from Breitbart to Proud Boys to various patriotik deformations. One bizarr0 publication, called xyz.net.au, features the musings of former hemp crusader Ryan Fletcher. For reasons best known to himself (possibly because of one too many knocks to the head?), of late Ryan has dropped HEMP for Hitler.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

See also : Hiding in plain sight: how the ‘alt-right’ is weaponizing irony to spread fascism, Jason Wilson, The Guardian, May 23, 2017 (Experts say the ‘alt-right’ have stormed mainstream consciousness by using ‘humor’ and ambiguity as tactics to wrong-foot their opponents).

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Letter from accused ‘terrorist’ John Zakhariev, currently on trial in Sofia, Bulgaria

Posted on May 22, 2017 by @ndy

UPDATE (June 6, 2017) : As expected, Zakhariev has been found guilty of ‘training with a Kalashnikov with the intention of carrying out a terror attack’ and sentenced to four years in jail (Australian-Bulgarian John Zakhariev sentenced for terrorism, Nick Miller, The Age, June 6, 2017).

John Zakhariev (above) is a 21yo dual Australian-Bulgarian citizen currently on trial in Sofia, Bulgaria. Arrested in September 2016, John is accused of undertaking weapons training in Bulgaria in order to join Daesh in Syria. He denies all charges.

I was recently forwarded the following letter from John which I reproduce below:

======

Since the 20th of September 2016 I have been stripped of my liberty and locked up in the heart of darkness otherwise known as Sofia Central Prison. The reason being that the Bulgarian authorities allege that I came to this country in order to train with firearms in order to fight with Islamic State or Daesh. To date, after nearly seven months, neither me nor my lawyer have seen or been presented with any evidence by the prosecution to back up these absurd allegations. One would expect that there would be a huge burden of proof on the part of the prosecution to back up her claims, which she herself has proudly boasted in court is ‘irrefutable’. Yet to date all that the court has been presented with in terms of evidence are as follows:

Firstly, workers from the legal shooting range I attended in Sofia (four times over a four week period), who all testified that my behaviour was perfectly normal and that they never had any issues with me as a client. Furthermore they all testified that I stopped attending the shooting range in early August 2016. This is in complete contrast to the claims of the prosecutor that I continued to attend until the 19th of September. Other witnesses to testify include a police provocateur who was sent to befriend me at the Banya Bashi Mosque in Sofia, Muhammad Dabbousi. In his witness statement he claimed that I said to him that I love Daesh and that me and him have to go and fight alongside them and yet in court he claimed that I was merely talking about them in a neutral manner. He made no mention of the alleged attempted recruitment or anything about me saying that I love them. He even expressed shock when the judge presented him with his original witness statement, leading me to believe that the police wrote his statement for him and asked him to sign it without even looking at it: an all-too-common practice here in Bulgaria with its law enforcement. At this point I wish to note that all the witnesses from the shooting range testified that I was always accompanied by a man to the shooting range. I never went alone. I knew this man as Peter Petrov, who I strongly suspect was a police agent.

Secondly, the prosecution presented to the court statuses which people on my Facebook friends list wrote about the ongoing war in Syria which was pro-opposition in nature. I will now make a point here which is that I never commented, shared or even liked these statuses, nor have I ever corresponded with the individuals who wrote them. The prosecution has further sought to use religious books on my computer as evidence of my support for Daesh even though a court-appointed expert himself testified that the books, though conservative in nature, do not in any way promote violence and cannot be linked to the ideology of ISIS. In my view this further shows the sheer Islamophobia of the case against me where anything even remotely connected to Islam is labelled extremist or jihadist. Yet even more disturbing for me is the court’s unwillingness to allow my defence to present any evidence in my favour. On the 21st of December I told the court that I had already left Islam months before my arrest. I further told the court evidence which could be found to support my claims including a 12 page email I sent to Canadian ex-Muslim Abdullah Sameer titled ‘Notes on Islam’ where I point out several flaws in the Islamic faith and also its claims of being a perfect faith valid for all times and places. I also told the court about some anti-radical Islamic literature which could be found on my computer and which were all downloaded in the same period beginning in early August ’til my arrest on September 20th. I also informed the court about emails I wrote to the Canadian Tourism College and International Guide Academy in Denver, Colorado enquiring about courses available in 2017, which clearly show my intention to continue my studies and not to join ISIS. And finally I told the judge that my Facebook correspondence would prove that I am indeed anti-ISIS since I spent a lot of time on it refuting the ideology of ISIS to its supporters. I even told the judge that I was also in touch with ex-Muslims weeks before my arrest discussing the possibility of setting up a Council of ex-Muslims in Australia similar to the one in the UK. The judge ordered that all this evidence be gathered, which raised my hopes of receiving a fair trial. Yet on May 16th 2017 when after many delays all this evidence had been gathered and presented to the court, the judge suddenly did a 360 and refused to even look at the evidence and calling the request of my lawyer to examine the Facebook correspondence, emails and for an examination of the books ‘groundless’ and ‘unnecessary’ since there was already enough evidence gathered by the prosecution seemingly ignoring the fact that they only ever sought evidence which would support their case.

This decision by the court confirms my fears since day one of my arrest that I would be subjected to a show trial and denied a fair hearing. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be found guilty even though I will always maintain my innocence and insist that I was the victim of a poorly-attempted entrapment operation, whose pathetic nature would be almost laughable if its consequences weren’t so serious.

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SEE : BULGARIAN PRISONERS’ ASSOCIATION

See also : Accused Australian John Zakhariev criticised jihadist doctrine before arrest, Nick Miller, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 17, 2017 | Australian-Bulgarian dual citizen John Zakhariev pleads innocence over terrorism charges, ABC/AP, May 17, 2017 | Australian John Zakhariev grim about outlook for his Bulgarian terror trial, Nick Miller, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 17, 2017 | Australian John Zakhariev remains in custody as media barred from court in Bulgaria, Teodor Spasov, The Sydney Morning Herald, April 9, 2017 | Court delays John Zakhariev’s terror case after problems with tape recording, Lisa Millar, ABC, March 18, 2017 | Australian Government sent Bulgaria letter saying John Zakhariev was ‘interested’ in terrorism, lawyer says, Danuta Kozaki, ABC, March 14, 2017 | Aust told Bulgaria about NSW man: lawyer, AAP, March 14, 2017 | Sydney man John Zakhariev, 21, arrested in Bulgaria on terrorism charges, Rachel Olding, The Sydney Morning Herald, March 13, 2017 | Australian John Zakhariev held on terror charges in Bulgaria, Sam Buckingham-Jones, The Australian, March 13, 2017 | Former Sydney private schoolboy arrested on terror charges, Yahoo7 News, March 13, 2017 | John Zakhariev: Sydney private school boy to jailed terror suspect, news.com.au, March 13, 2017.

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