antifa notes (june 6, 2015) : fascism consolidated

Posted on June 6, 2015 by @ndy

Zionists … I’m sick of hearing that coward word. Get some guts people and just say Jews, they are all Jews or Jewish servants. For thousands of years these Jews have been expelled and chased out of European Nations for the same shit. Napoleon and Hitler were the last to stand against them (please don’t reply to this comment with ‘muh holocaust’ bullshit, cause that is a load of crap too). I[‘]m fed up with all the tiptoe words like [I]lluminati and [Z]ionist … I’ve found that all these so-called ‘truth-seekers’ delve into free information until they hit the plateau of the real truth; that point at which they must admit that there is no [I]lluminati or [Z]ionist conspiracy, only a Jewish conspiracy. Very few people make it past that plateau, they are too pacifist and too egalitarian to accept the reality of the Jewish nature and so they become weird peace & love people who forever talk about the ‘universe’ because they failed to acknowledge the reality of racial dispositions of the Jews. There is no “new” conspiracy with an “[I]lluminati” or “Zionist” foundation, there is only Jews; the same old Jews from a thousand years ago practicing the same old shit, only now they are actually succeeding.

~ Blair Cottrell, leader of United Patriots Front (Melbourne)

nalliahandco
Above : Leader of the Rise Up Australia Party, Danny Nalliah, chillin’ with the United Patriots Front leadership (Blair Cottrell on far right).

1) Der Führer (Shermon Burgess AKA ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’) has declared that ‘patriotic’ members of the far right will be entering into a Grand Coalition in order to smash the left in Melbourne on July 18 (the date of the next ‘Reclaim Australia’ rally). As of this date, Burgess has declared that the alliance consists of Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front (two groups already on board with July 18), the Southern Cross Soldiers (a defunct group of white teenagers), a Facebook group called ‘Aussie Brotherhood’ and the (remnants of the) Australian Defence League. He further hopes to enlist the Australia First Party, the Patriots Defence League of Australia and a handful of other Facebook groups what hate Mooselems. (It seems likely that boneheads belonging to the ‘United Australian Front’ and the ‘Full Blooded Skips’ will also be ‘smashing the left’ in Melbourne on July 18.)

Ho hum.

andthatsofficial2

Beyond this, the UPF has begun to more solidly locate itself as the Antipodean expression of European fascism, being celebrated in a video which includes the Front National (France), Svoboda (Ukraine), Jobbik (Hungary), National Action (UK), Party of the Swedes (Sweden), Slovak National Party (Slovakia), Forza Nuova (Italy), Golden Dawn (Greece), The Immortals (Germany), Ataka (Bulgaria) and National Rebirth of Poland (Poland) — as well as Alianza Nacional (Spain), Britain First, British National Party, English Defence League and Party for Freedom (Geert Wilders’ mob, not Nick Folkes’).

(On the Front National, see : Front National’s victory will have a serious impact on both France and the future of Europe, Aurelien Mondon, May 27, 2014 | On Svoboda, see : Who are Ukraine’s fascists?, Matthew N Lyons, threewayfight, March 4, 2014 | On Jobbik, see : Hungary heads to the right, Deutsche Welle, May 13, 2015 | On National Action, see : #hitlerwasright: National Action and National Socialism for the 21st Century, Paul Jackson, Journal for Deradicalization (2014) and Anti-Fascist Network (UK) on ‘National Action’ | Note: The Party of the Swedes — a neo-Nazi organisation — announced its dissolution in May 2015. In March 2014 the Party celebrated International Womens’ Day by attacking and stabbing a group of feminists. | On Forza Nuova, see : The BNP Partied with European Fascists in Rome This Weekend, Leonardo Bianchi, VICE, March 5, 2014 and Tear gas, clashes as anti-nationalist rally in N. Italy turns violent (VIDEO), RT, October 19, 2014 | The leadership of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in Greece is currently on trial; in Australia, nominal XA Australia leader Iggy (Akis) Gavrilidis has expressed support for both RA and moreover UPF. See also : So who were these nazis anyway? Australia First & Golden Dawn in Brisbane, May 4, 2014 | On the (now-defunct) German neo-Nazi project “The Immortals”, see : YouTube Neo-Nazis: The Far Right Updates Its Online Image, Sarah Mühlberger, Spiegel Online, February 12, 2013 | On the National Rebirth of Poland (NOP), National-Radical Camp (Polish: Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny, ONR) and Polish fascism, see : The Rebirth of Radical Nationalism: Welcome back to the ’30s (November 17, 2012) | On Ataka, see : What’s left when you are (far) right in Bulgaria?, Nikolay Nikolov, Open Democracy, April 29, 2014.)

Burgess’s followers tend to be political illiterates so may only be expected to thrill at what they understand to be ‘patriotic’ movements in Europe. Those with some grasp of European politics will understand that the UPF consciously wishes to emulate extreme-right parties and movements. In any case, the context of Burgess’s declaration of unity is the following:

• The launch of the UPF on May 31 was not very successful. The UPF failed both to hold a rally outside the Richmond Town Hall and to ‘smash the left’ and attracted only a relatively small number of supporters (between about 50-70).
• The presence of the nazi (Glenn Anderson) in the t-shirt — and the failure not only to eject him from the rally but to instead welcome and march alongside him — has not played very well, either in the eyes of the general public or among a very small segment of the UPF’s followers.
• As a result, the UPF has been forced to revise its position on the groups (RA especially) previously denounced as weaklings and traitors. In other words, the UPF has demonstrated it has even more limited appeal than RA and to attract hundreds if not thousands of ‘patriots’ to rally in Melbourne on July 18 requires reconciling with RA as well as attempting to draw together the dregs of the ADL, PDLA and other, principally social media creations.
• The fact that the leadership of the UPF in Melbourne — Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson — are neo-Nazis does not register with Burgess’s followers and has received zero attention in mass media reporting to this date.
• There’s ample opportunity — time and other resources — available to ‘the left’ in Melbourne to organise to oppose and disrupt the fascist rally on July 18. Whether it does so is an open question. See : RALLY AGAINST RACISM – Stop ‘Reclaim Australia’ – Melbourne and Melbourne Counter-Rally Against racism, Islamophobia and the far right.

2) In Perth, a small group (perhaps a dozen or so) of anti-Muslim activists gathered in order to … have a slave auction. Or something. Anyway, the rally was ostensibly called in order to express solidarity with persecuted Christian minorities in Muslim countries. I dunno who organised it but a large group of counter-protesters rocked up anyway.

3) In the northern suburbs of Adelaide, some bloke has been stuffing letterboxes with leaflets promoting neo-Nazi group ‘Blood & Honour’. It’s not clear from the Channel 7 news report which faction of B&H distroed the leaflet: one faction is aligned with the (Southern Cross) Hammerskins, the other ‘Combat 18’. In Melbourne, the principal propagandist for C18 is Patrick O’Sullivan, who in March was kicked out of a gig for distributing flyers promoting ‘Reclaim Australia’, but is mostly known for slapping up poor-quality B&W stickers around town denouncing Muslims and praising ‘White Power’.

Curiously, Neil Erikson — one of the leaders of the UPF in Melbourne along with Blair Cottrell — has links to both B&H factions, having attended gigs organised by SCHS/B&H in Melbourne as well as having “Aussie Aryan friends” in the loose network of boneheads that is C18 in the city.

4) Finally, a mysterious cat with the body of a man is suspected of having stolen political maverick Buddy Rojek‘s cap from him when he attended the UPF rally on May 31. Accordingly, Rojek has been making noises online about organising a protest at Channel 7 studios in Melbourne in order to castigate the media for failing to highlight this dread crime.

catbuddy

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners Saturday, July 25, 2015

Posted on June 5, 2015 by @ndy

[Source : NYC ANTIFA | See also : antifascistactionsydney]

free all antifa prisoners

International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners
Saturday, July 25, 2015

Antifascists fight against those who—in the government or in the streets—dream of imposing their fascist and other Far Right nationalist nightmares on the rest of us. Throughout the world, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and racist bigotries are on the rise. Antifas are on the frontline in confronting these reactionary politics, and we will not forget our comrades imprisoned in the course of this struggle.

The July 25 International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners originated in 2014 as a Day of Solidarity with Jock Palfreeman, an Australian who is imprisoned in Bulgaria for defending two Romani men from an attack by fascist football hooligans. Groups around the world took action: holding demonstrations, benefits supporting the Bulgarian Prisoners Association, writing to Jock, and talking about the plight of the Romani and Sinti people in general.

In 2015 we would like to expand this day of solidarity to all antifascist prisoners around the world. We encourage groups to take the day to plan an event of their choice—whether it is a letter writing, demonstration, benefit, or other action—and to focus on the prisoners and related issues that are of most importance to them locally.

Below is a list of global antifascist prisoners; if there is an antifa prisoner who is missing, please e-mail us with his or her details and the language(s) they can read.

No Pasaran!
Until All Are Free!

Send prisoner updates, announcements for local events, and additional group endorsements to [email protected].

LIST OF ENDORSING GROUPS:

EVENTS:
TBA

LIST OF ANTIFA PRISONERS:

EUROPE

Belarus
Roman Bogdan

Roman Bogdan was arrested on April 15, 2015, as part of the long-going state repression of anti-fascists in Brest, stemming from a fight between anti-fascists and fascists on May 8, 2013. Roman is facing up to fifteen years in prison on charges of group hooliganism and weapons charges.

He can read Russian and simple English phrases.

Address:
Roman Bogdan
224030
Brest
ul. K. Marksa, 86,
SIZO-7
BELARUS

Dzmitry Stsyashenka

Dzmitry Stsyashenka was arrested on October 4, 2013, for his alleged involvement in a fight between antifascists and neo-Nazis in Brest on May 8, 2013, that sent one Nazi to the hospital. He is also accused of another fight with neo-Nazis during the summer of 2013. He was sentenced to four years in prison, but in 2014 his term was reduced by one year due to an amnesty.

He can read Russian and simple English phrases.

Address:
Dzmitry Stsyashenka
224030
Brest,
ul. K. Marksa, 86,
SIZO-7
BELARUS

http://abc-belarus.org/?cat=3&lang=en

Dzmitry Zvan’ko

Dzmitry Zvan’ko was arrested for his alleged involvement in a fight between anti-fascists and neo-Nazis in Brest on May 8, 2013, that sent one Nazi to the hospital. He was arrested the next day, along with four other people, in a police raid on the homes of known anti-fascists. Dzmitry filed a complaint to the prosecutor about psychological and physical abuse while in custody. He was accused of malicious group hooliganism and serious bodily assault and faced up to ten years of prison. Dzmitry was found guilty and sentenced to five years of prison, but after paying off about 4,000 euro in damages he was granted amnesty, which has reduced his term by one year.

He can read Russian and simple English phrases.

Address:
Dzmitry Zvan’ko
225295
Brestskaya oblast Ivatsevichi
p/b 20 IK-22
Volchi Nory
BELARUS

http://abc-belarus.org/?cat=3&lang=en

Bulgaria
Jock Palfreeman

Jock Palfreeman is an Australian anti-fascist political prisoner serving a twenty-year prison sentence in Bulgaria for the rather mysterious death of a neo-Nazi football hooligan who was part of a group attacking two Romani men in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2007. Jock came to the aid of the Romani, and quickly found himself the focus of the attack. Bulgarian authorities did everything they could to ensure that Jock did not receive a fair trial, and after his sentencing have refused–in contravention of their own treaties–to transfer him to Australia to serve the rest of his time closer to his family. Jock wants donations for him sent to the Bulgarian Prisoners’ Association, which he is part of.

He can read English and Bulgarian.

Address:
Jock Palfreeman
Sofia Central Prison
21 General Stoletov Boulevard
Sofia 1309, BULGARIA

www.freejock.com
http://www.brightonabc.org.uk/jock.html

Russia
Aleksandr Kolchenko

Aleksandr  Kolchenko was arrested in Crimea on May 17, 2014, along with several others, and accused by Russian authorities of participation in a “terrorist group” which planned explosions near the Eternal Fire memorial and the Lenin monument in Simferopol, as well as having sabotaged railway tracks and electricity lines. Aleksandr is also alleged to have carried out two arson attacks in April: against the headquarters of the Russian Unity-Party, and the Russian Community of Crimea. He was transferred to Moscow and is being kept in draconian conditions. His lawyers are under a gag order, and have been refused elementary rights to defend him. He faces fifteen-to-twenty years in a labor camp.

Russian authorities claim that Aleksandr is a member of Right Sektor, a Ukrainian ultra-right nationalist organization, but he has no connection to the group—a fact confirmed by relatives and friends. Moreover, Aleksandr is an antifascist and anarchist who consistently opposed nationalistic movements in Crimea and faced constant fascist attacks for his activism. For example, after a film screening about murdered anti-fascist journalist Anastasiya Baburova, he was attacked by thirty Nazis with knives.

Since this case is highly political, Aleksandr’s legal costs are high, around 850 euro per month. The investigation has created a heavy financial strain on local ABC groups, and there is a call for financial support and information distribution. You can make donations via PayPal to abc-msk@riseup.net or using a bank account (write to the same e-mail address for details).

Address:
Kolchenko Aleksandr Aleksandrovich, (born 1989),
Lefortovskiy val, 5, p/b 201
111020 Moscow
RUSSIA

Please note: Moscow ABC advises that letters in English are seldom accepted in Russian prisons, so please write only in Russian (try using a translation program), or just send photos and postcards.

http://avtonom.org/en/news/repressions-against-crimean-activists-political-context
http://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Aleksandr_Kolchenko

Alexey Sutuga

Alexey Sutuga is a longtime anarchist and anti-fascist who was arrested in April 5, 2014, for a fight with members of the ultra right in Moscow. He was sentenced on September 30, 2014, to three years and one month in prison for his alleged involvement in the fight.

However, this sentence comes in the context of an earlier case from April 2012, when he was arrested for allegedly taking part in a fight at a punk/hardcore concert in Moscow on December 17, 2011. The conflict began after club security, consisting of members of the far right, provoked guests. The concert was stopped prematurely because of the fight, but the security then attempted to take some of the audience hostage and threatened to call their nationalist football hooligan friends in reprisal. The audience members resisted and the club security opened fire with rubber coated metal bullets. However, the club security was neutralized and sent to the hospital. The case against Alexey and several others was eventually dropped in January 2014 on the eve of the Sochi Winter Olympics as part of the amnesty bill, approved as a PR stunt on initiative of Vladimir Putin.

Address:
Earlier this year, Alexey was in transit to a prison in Irkutsk, Siberia.
We are waiting to confirm his new address.

Please note: Moscow ABC advises that letters in English are seldom accepted in Russian prisons, so please write only in Russian (try using a translation program), or just send photos and postcards.

http://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Alexey_Sutuga

Sweden
Joel Almgren

Joel Almgren was sentenced to five years and six months for defending a local community-organized anti-racist demonstration in Stockholm against a brutal Nazi attack on December 15, 2013. The peaceful protest—against fascist assaults on local anti-racists and the dissemination of Nazi propaganda in area schools—was attacked with knives, sticks, and glass bottles by the most militant Nazi group in Sweden. Anti-fascists at the scene defended the demonstration from the attack and many were injured themselves.

He can read Swedish and English.

Address:
Joel Almgren
KVA Tidaholm
Skogsholmvägen
522 85 Tidaholm
SWEDEN

https://www.facebook.com/freejoel

Linus Soinjoki

Linus Soinjoki was charged and convicted for actions related to his involvement in the anti-fascist movement in Sweden. He was sentenced to fourteen months in prison and has large financial obligations relating to his trial.

Linus can read Swedish and English.

Address:
Linus began serving his sentence in mid-May 2015, and is moving around the prison system. We will post his address when it becomes available.

http://heyevent.com/event/keiajdw7gqvtga/free-linus-break-down-the-walls

NORTH AMERICA

United States
Luke O’Donovan

On New Year’s Eve of 2013, Luke O’Donovan attended a house party in Reynoldstown, a neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. Luke was seen dancing with and kissing other men at the party. Later in the night he was insulted with homophobic slurs, and attacked by several people at once. Luke unsuccessfully attempted to escape, at which point several witnesses reported watching between five and twelve men ganging-up on Luke and stomping on his head and body, evidently with the intent to kill him. He was called a faggot before and during the attack, throughout the course of which he and five others were stabbed. Luke was subsequently imprisoned and charged with five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as well as one count of attempted murder.

Luke’s trial concluded on August 12, 2014, when he accepted a negotiated plea deal. He agreed to a two year sentence beginning that day, and then eight years of harsh probation. The judge  also banished Luke from the state of Georgia for the term of his probation.

He can read English.

Address:
Luke Patrick O’Donovan
#1001372271
Washington State Prison
P.O. Box 206
Davisboro, GA 31018
USA

https://letlukego.wordpress.com/

Jason Hammond

Jason Hammond accepted a non-cooperating guilty plea and was sentenced to forty-one months on January 2015 for his part in an organized direct action taken against a group of white supremacists.

In 2012, a group of racists and white supremacists organized a White Nationalist Economic Summit in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park. Groups of anti-fascists and anti-racists from the Midwest confronted the meeting and successfully shut down the event through a righteous melee. In the aftermath, five antifascists were arrested, and dubbed the Tinley Park 5. The five were sentenced to upwards of three years and all have since been released. Jason was arrested later, and is the last person still in jail for this action.

He can read English.

Address:
Jason Hammond, M50190
P.O. Box 500
Vandalia, IL 62471
USA

http://freejasonhammond.blogspot.com/
https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/0w0Ma/ab/94SfS3

Posted in Anti-fascism, History, Media, State / Politics, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

#Facebook + nazis ~versus~ slackbastard

Posted on June 4, 2015 by @ndy

I had to remove another photo from my Facebook page today:

facebookcensorshitjune4

The photo has been in very wide circulation since May 31 and you can find the original photo on Kenji Wardenclyffe’s Facebook page here.

This follows upon my original Facebook having been removed following a campaign of mass reportage:

sbunpublished

A number of different groups and individuals have claimed responsibility for this, as well as celebrated its demise:

ASPsuckcess
crediblethreats
mickvslack

Before Facebook deleted it, I also had to remove a range of other materials. Below is a sample:

faggot
The above img was originally produced by AFA in Denmark/Sweden.

kickedofffacebook
The above image is of veteran neo-Nazi Ross ‘The Skull’ May at a rally in Penrith in January 2015, organised by neo-Nazi grouplet ‘Squadron 88’ and aimed at protesting the construction of a local mosque.

nazifacebook
The above photo shows a group of Golden Dawn party members posing with a Nazi flag. The photo is one of several such photos which came to light midway through last year. See : Photos show Golden Dawn leaders’ Nazi salutes, June 25, 2014.

perthmosquefacebook
The above image documents vandalism at a mosque in Perth in February 2015. It was sourced from ‘Islamophobia Register Australia’ where the original appears here.

timoff
Daily Stormer has also recently (March 2015) published an article by Sydney-based neo-Nazi and Australia First Party member ‘Nathan Sykes’ criticising my blog for being jolly rotten:

paw

facebookcensorshit
The above img is a screenshot of a comment on my blog left by a [pseudonymous nazi] which I thought was batshittingly entertaining … Facebook obviously thought otherwise.

yuno2
TBH, I’ve got no idea re the above.

Obviously, I’ve attracted the ire of a number of nazis and other fascists over the course of the last few years. One is John Oliver, the President of the ‘Patriots Defence League of Australia’:

unhappycamper1

Oliver even established a campaign to help obtain my d0x:

johnoliver

Mike Holt (of ‘Restore Australia’) is also not. a. fan:

mikeholtandyfleming

You can read moar about Holt’s antics in Anti-Islam lobby group funds mosque fight in Bendigo; Bendigo mosque a cause celebre for right-wing outsiders, Chris Johnston, The Age, June 28, 2014 | One Nation in sticky spot over anti-halal campaign, Kim Stephens, The Sydney Morning Herald, July 25, 2013.

‘Who is andy fleming’ is one of a number of Facebook pages dedicated to batshit crazy denunciation of my writings — none of which violate Facebook’s ‘Community Standards’, apparently.

*rolls eyes*

In any case, you can find my replacement page, ‘slackbastard2’, here.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Death, Media, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

antifa notes (june 1, 2015) : #UnitedPatriotsFront + #Facebook

Posted on June 1, 2015 by @ndy

1) My original Facebook page was subject to mass reporting by local nazis + other radical, right-wing users + consequently Facebook has deleted it. I’ve established a second page but I’ve no idea how long it will last as there’s a campaign by the same groups + individuals to remove it, too. In any case, it can be found here.

2) Facebook is no longer allowing me to publish various materials documenting nazi shenanigans so here’s a few things I can no longer publish there.

naziupf

First, a video of a brief confrontation between a local Muslim woman + the United Patriots Front (UPF) at their unsuccessful rally on May 31. The neo-Nazi acting as The Great Aussie Patriot’s bodyguard on this occasion is apparently some local fella called Glenn Anderson. Anderson was obviously an active participant in the UPF rally, joining them in Citizens Park and marching with them to Richmond Town Hall. State/corporate media accounts of the day’s events have included reference to Anderson + subsequently Shermon Burgess + the UPF have had to pretend that they didn’t spot him over the course of the 3 or 4 hours they were getting along swimmingly. (Of course, if the UPF was srs about not having neo-Nazis form a part of the grp it would have to expel Blair Cottrell + Neil Erikson — its leadership in Melbourne — as well as a number of others.)

In any case, Anderson can be seen at the Reclaim Australia rally in Melbourne along with a dozen other neo-Nazis here.

glennfist
glennandersonnazitatts

3) Finally, one of the beta + moar amusing memes to have been generated by the UPF’s fail yesterday.

backtocooma

Posted in Anti-fascism, Death, Media, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

#UnitedPatriotsFront sent packing in Richmond

Posted on May 31, 2015 by @ndy

naziboneheadmay31

“Come To Richmond”, They Said; “It Will Be Fun”, They Said …

Briefly:

The United Patriots Front (UPF) is a fascist splinter from Reclaim Australia (RA). Its leadership in Melbourne consists of two local neo-Nazis: Blair Cottrell (‘National Democratic Party of Australia’) and convicted anti-Semite Neil Erikson (‘Nationalist Republican Guard’). Several weeks ago, the UPF declared that they’d be holding a rally outside Richmond Town Hall. Why Richmond Town Hall? Because Steve Jolly of the Socialist Party is a Yarra councillor and the UPF hold him and the SP responsible for the disruption to the RA rally of April 4.

UPFleadershit

The weeks leading up to today’s rally saw a stream of (increasingly batshit) invective directed at ‘leftists’ by the UPF, and the fascists boldly declared that nothing and nobody would stop them from holding their little Nuremberg rally at the Town Hall. The UPF also claimed that ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’ — aka Shermon Burgess — would be sure to conduct a huge rally of ‘patriots’ to the Town Hall steps, whereupon he would presumably lead them in chants of ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi’ and denounce the spectre of communism that is haunting their dreams.

But Richmond is a very long way from Cooma, and things didn’t go quite as the fascists hoped it would …

The UPF began assembling in Citizens Park at least an hour ahead of their scheduled rally (1pm). In total, they numbered around at least 50, with various others — including a handful of Croatian fascists — milling about on Bridge Road. Anti-fascists meanwhile, who numbered in the many hundreds, assembled outside the Town Hall, determined not to allow the fascists to reach the Town Hall steps.

At a little after 1pm, the UPF began marching the short distance from Citizens Park up Gleadell Street to Bridge Road and then along it to the Town Hall. A police vanguard formed and attempted to lead the fascists on to the Town Hall steps. Anti-fascists formed a blockade at this point to prevent the UPF and their police escort from reaching the Hall. After several minutes of pushing and shoving, police gave up trying to smash their way through the picket and the UPF were left penned in by a police kettle outside the post office next door to the Hall. This stalemate continued for about half-an-hour or so, before police escorted the fascists down the alleyway next to Town Hall and back to the Park.

upfmay31

In summary, despite a concerted effort by police, anti-fascists in Melbourne were able to prevent the UPF from reaching their goal — or doing much of anything apart from look like a pack of racist dropkicks.

mAAAAAAd props to all who turned out today to stop the UPF and to turn their fascist rally into a deeply humiliating defeat. The UPF will be back on Saturday, July 18 to re-join Reclaim Australia and to continue their public campaign of racial hatred and religious vilification. Rest assured that the people of Melbourne will again be taking to the streets to oppose them.

See also : Anti-Islam protesters and anti-racism activists clash in Melbourne, The Age, May 31, 2015 | ‘You will always lose in Melbourne’: fascists fail in Richmond, Ben Hillier, Red Flag, May 31, 2015.

alwayslose

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

#Facebook slackbastard down — slackbastard2 up

Posted on May 30, 2015 by @ndy

basterd

For reasons best known to itself, Facebook has again relented to mass reporting by nazis and closed my Facebook page.

Ho hum.

You’ll find my replacement page here.

Please spread the word.

Cheers!

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

antifa notes (may 29, 2015) : United Patriots Front, neo-Nazism and moar

Posted on May 29, 2015 by @ndy

There are two events on in Melbourne this weekend which may be of interest.

1) UNITING AGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA – How can we stop ‘Reclaim Australia’? – Sunday May 31 /// 2-4pm /// Melbourne’s Multicultural Hub /// 506 Elizabeth St, Melbourne:

This free community forum is hosted by No Room for Racism and supported by the Islamic Council of Victoria. The forum will consist of a panel of speakers followed by discussion on how to counter the growing threat of right-wing, racist and Islamophobic groups like ‘Reclaim Australia’. The forum will be used to prepare for the July 18 ‘Rally Against Racism’ (counter-demonstration to ‘Reclaim Australia’).

Speakers: Vivian Malo – First Nations activist; Ghaith Krayem – President, Islamic Council of Victoria; Yassir Morsi – Author of ‘Islamophobia is Racism’; Robert Stary – Lawyer and anti-terror law expert; Omar Merhi – Electrical Trades Union organiser; Mel Gregson – No Room for Racism campaigner.

The forum will be co-hosted by Monique Toohey & Cllr Stephen Jolly. If you are concerned about rising Islamophobia and want to join the fight against racism come along and get involved! The time to get organised is now. (Everyone is welcome except Islamophobes & racists.)

2) Also on Sunday, in Richmond, ‘Reclaim Australia’ splinter group ‘United Patriots Front’ will be assembling in Citizens Park before marching to an empty Richmond Town Hall, where they’ll be ranting and raving about Muslims and leftists. A counter-rally has been organised by the ‘Campaign Against Racism and Fascism’. Start time for the CARF event is noon, but there will be other folks ITA from 11am …

3) In related news, Steve Jolly (Yarra Councillor, Socialist Party) was interviewed by Tom Elliott of 3AW this afternoon on the subject of the UPF’s little Nuremberg rally in Richmond and the Islamophobia forum in the city. You can listen to the interview here. The former face of ‘Reclaim Australia’ turned UPF leader Shermon Burgess is very upset at the interview, because not only was Jolly (“the communist traitor that hates the fucking ANZACs”) given air time, but Burgess’s comrade and fellow UPF leader Neil Erikson (the convicted anti-Semite and neo-Nazi) was not given an opportunity to speak on air. In response, Burgess has published a video on Facebook in which he implores his dwindling number of supporters to call 3AW and to “tell them they are traitors. They are the people helping these communists support terrorists. 3AW you are fucking filth. Oh and another thing, if ya ever want … any interview in future, where UPF gets bigger, ya not gonna fucking get it. You’re a bunch of dickheads.”

Silly boy.

For those joining anti-fascists and anti-racists in Richmond, this post by FightDemBack! includes a neat spotting guide to local neo-Nazis, while the Melbourne Activist Legal Network has a good collection of Resources.

4) As previously noted, the UPF leadership in Melbourne consists of two men: Neil Erikson and Blair Cottrell. Both men are anti-Semites and pro-Nazi, although only Erikson has a criminal conviction for the former, while Cottrell claims to have been jailed for arson. In any case, Cottrell is a serious young fascist and further claims to have been inspired to form his ‘National Democratic Party of Australia’ by the events of April 4.

In the same manner as Shermon Burgess has attempted to re-write his history as an Australian Defence League militant — celebrating the deaths of asylum seekers at sea, the anti-Muslim pogroms in Cronulla in December 2005, and advocating the killing of Muslims and the destruction of mosques — so Cottrell has sought to erase his history of online misogyny, racism, anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism. Give the rank ignorance and prejudice which saturates its ranks, it’s unsurprising that none of Burgess’s followers have any ever expressed any reluctance to form a coalition with the neo-Nazi and fascist right — and nothing is likely to alter that situation. Nonetheless, for anti-fascists, it’s worth taking note of who it is that will assemble in Richmond on May 31, in the city on July 18, their views and political perspectives, and what drives the RA and UPF leadership in their self-declared war on Islam and socialism.

blairjewsculture
blaironeuropa
blaironjews
blaironmarxismvnationalism

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

antifa notes (may 24) : United Patriots Front rally + counter-rally: Richmond, Sunday, May 31

Posted on May 24, 2015 by @ndy

The newly-formed ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF) has organised a rally at 1pm on Sunday May 31 in Richmond. The UPF plan to assemble at Citizens Park before proceeding to Richmond Town Hall, the location of Yarra City Council.

upfrallyloc

The UPF has organised the event in order to protest the presence on council of Socialist Party (SP) member Steve Jolly. Jolly and other SP members — Anthony Main and Mel Gregson — are held responsible for disrupting the Reclaim Australia (RA) rally at Federation Square on April 4, as well being guilty of the crime of being ‘Un-Australian’.

A counter-rally has been organised by the ‘Campaign Against Racism and Fascism’, which has issued the following statement on May 31:

STATEMENT ON MOBILISATIONS ON 31 MAY 2015 IN MELBOURNE

1. Reclaim Australia was very successful on 4 April in aggregating racist and fascist forces throughout Australia.

2. This had been a long term project of the far right in Australia for many years and for many years the left had prevented it from occurring.

3. Reclaim Australia has now split in to right wing racists and outright fascist components. Their components are still as dangerous as they were before.

4. Reclaim Australia and fascist groups have now called something like 18 rallies to take place in various locations in the near future.

5. On 19 July they plan at least 14 rallies around Australia against Islam, against Mosques, against the right to wear cultural dress, against Muslim businesses, against refugees and against multiculturalism. We are working with comrades all around Australia to counter each one of those racist rallies.

6. On 18 July they plan at least one rally in Melbourne on all of the above issues. However, in their publicity, they are describing it as a retaliation against the Melbourne left for having successfully opposed them on the 4 April. We will join with No Room for Racism in a united counter rally that stops the Reclaim Australia movement.

7. On 31 May, the fascist components are promising a very aggressive rally against Yarra City Council, the Socialist Party and prominent members of the Socialist Party including Stephen Jolly, Anthony Main and Mel Gregson.

8. It is possible that on 31 May splinters of the fascist components will attempt to attack the meeting called Uniting Against Islamophobia that will be held at the Multicultural Hub, 506 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, as the leadership of the Socialist Party will be participating in the meeting.

9. A number of left organisations are attempting to mobilise against this new threat.

10. One left meeting that was held on 19 May established a coalition to help organise against the fascists and racists. It is understood that what is required is actually a much wider mobilisation in the labour movement and in the left, and in communities across Melbourne and Australia. However, this was a useful first step.

11. We called this coalition Campaign Against Racism and Fascism. It is not meant to be exclusive or even the complete answer to what we are facing. However we need structures in order to organise.

12. We have called a counter mobilisation to the fascist rally expected in Richmond on Sunday 31 May.

13. We have also called for defence of the Uniting Against Islamophobia meeting that will be held on 31 May at the Multicultural Hub, 506 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne at 2pm.

14. We will defend Stephen Jolly, Anthony Main and Mel Gregson and the Socialist Party and the meeting.

15. We have stopped the fascists before. We will stop the fascists again. They will not break our movement.

Campaign Against Racism and Fascism
21 May 2015

The principal spokespersons for the UPF are Shermon Burgess, Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson. Burgess is from NSW while Cottrell and Erikson are from VIC.

shermonupf

Burgess is better known as ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’ and until recently was the principal propagandist for RA, a network of anti-Muslim activists which emerged in January 2015. Prior to this, Burgess was active as a member of the Australian Defence League. He is also notorious for having composed songs for the Internet project ‘Eureka Brigade’. The chorus for their song ‘Border Patrol’ (now removed from YouTube) gives some indication of the pathological hatred for Muslims, asylum seekers and refugees the band expressed: ‘We’re sick of your shariah burn your fucking mosques, it’s time to show you muzzrats we’re the fucking boss, you thought you had it easy but you surely lost, Cronulla was Australia’s Muslim holocaust.’ Other songs include ‘ADL Killing Machine’ and ‘Shit On A Mosque’.

See also : Far right targets Muslims with hate campaign, Greg Ansley, The New Zealand Herald, April 26, 2014.

blaircottrellupf

Cottrell is the face of a newly-formed group called ‘National Democratic Party of Australia’ and spoke at the RA rally in Melbourne in the company of members of neo-Nazi grouplet ‘Nationalist Alternative’. Over the past several years Cottrell has expressed admiration for the achievements of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, hatred and suspicion of Jews, and an especially virulent form of misogyny. (Like Burgess, Cottrell has made some effort to erase his online record.)

neilupf

Erikson is the face of another fascist project called ‘Nationalist Republican Guard’ (NRG) and throughout 2015 has worked closely with Burgess to promote RA, chiefly through the publication of various videos. Like Cottrell, Erikson has publicly endorsed Nazism, has attended neo-Nazi events in Melbourne — including neo-Nazi gigs organised by Blood & Honour and the Southern Cross Hammerskins and attendance at the tour of Canadian Holocaust denialist Paul Fromm — and has a criminal conviction (February 2014) for harassing a rabbi.

Finally:

• Please note that UPF has become increasingly shrill in their appeals to their supporters to attend on May 31 and to take up the fight against ‘the left’, a force which is understood as being one of the main impediments to their goal of cleansing Australia of Muslims.

• Richmond is a suburb with a diverse cultural, ethnic and national population and residents should be rightly concerned at the presence of of an organised group of neo-Nazis, fascists and racists on their streets. This applies both before, during and after the event.

• Those attending the counter-rally may find the following links useful: A quick guide to staying safe and being effective: all out against ‘Reclaim Australia’!, Anarchist Affinity, April 3, 2015 | Activist Rights | Melbourne Street Medic Collective.

Posted in Anti-fascism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Who are the United Patriots Front?

Posted on May 20, 2015 by @ndy

As noted previously, Shermon Burgess (‘The Great Aussie Patriot’) has abandoned ‘Reclaim Australia’ to establish a new organisation called the ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF). In essence, the UPF is a coalition of neo-Nazis, fundamentalist Christians belonging to the Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP), and a handful of semi-pro Islamophobes.

may31socialists

The UPF’s first excursion into the public domain will be on May 31, when it and assorted other neo-Nazis, fascists, racists and Islamophobes will be protesting outside Richmond Town Hall (see : Former Reclaim Australia member to hold rally in Richmond on May 31, Toby Prime, Melbourne Leader, May 20, 2105) because a socialist (Stephen Jolly) is on Yarra Council and because socialists (‘the left’) are understood to be in league with Muslims to destroy Australia.

The UPF got off to a slightly rocky start: having appropriated an image produced by Australian Geographic to promote the Front, the magazine promptly informed the motley crew that this was a copyright violation (to which at this stage there has been no response).

[UPDATE : Australian Geographic successfully arranged for the UPF to remove their image from their Facebook page. See : Reclaim Australia Offshoot Tangles With Australian Geographic, Max Chalmers, New Matilda, May 21, 2015.]

The two principal neo-Nazis belonging to the leadership of the UPF are Neil Erikson (‘Nationalist Republican Guard’) and Blair Cottrell (‘National Democratic Party of Australia’). Erikson has a criminal conviction for harassing a rabbi and has otherwise been active with the (now defunct) ‘European Australian Civil Rights League’ and ‘Nationalist Alternative’, as well as having attended neo-Nazi gigs organised by Blood & Honour and the Southern Cross Hammerskins, met with Canadian Holocaust denialist Paul Fromm during his tour here in late 2010 and attended various anti-Muslim protests in the company of other neo-Nazis.

Blair Cottrell is a relative newcomer, though he has been very active online in the last few years, expressing vile misogyny, a hatred of Jews and a love of Hitler, recommending that all Australian school children should be forced to read Mein Kampf at least once a year.

blair2
blair3
blair4
blair5

Like Burgess, Cottrell has made some effort to rewrite his history, deleting his commentary upon the Facebook page ‘Dispossessed’ (a repository of Nazi revisionist history and White supremacist ideology), on YouTube and elsewhere. In this context, it’s worth noting that none of Burgess’s followers have expressed any misgivings regarding the involvement of neo-Nazis in his political projects, a fact amusingly echoed by Pastor Danny Nalliah (who has happily joined Burgess in the UPF) when he made the transparently absurd claim that the several dozen neo-Nazis who attended the Reclaim Australia rally in Melbourne on April 4 — in his version, there was one — were planted by the Socialist Alliance(!):

The leader of the Rise Up Australia party has accused left wing groups of “planting” neo-Nazi protesters at Saturday’s controversial Reclaim Australia rally at Federation Square.

Danny Nalliah, one of the key speakers at the rally, told Tom Elliott he would not have been a part of the event had he known otherwise.

Photos of a man with a swastika tattooed to his head went viral following the event, leading many to brand the protest racist and fascist.

“The guy who came in was an implant, possibly by the Socialist Alliance,” Mr Nalliah said on 3AW Drive.

“Because the guys who organised the rally told every single person for three months that this was going to be a peaceful rally.

“I wouldn’t have been a part of it (if it wasn’t).”

Can neo-Nazism and fundamentalist Christianity get along? Time will tell.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Collingwood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Reclaim Australia Does The Splits

Posted on May 19, 2015 by @ndy

splitz

After several days of bitter internal disputes, Shermon Burgess (aka ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’) — the face of anti-Muslim movement ‘Reclaim Australia’ — has declared that ‘Reclaim Australia’ is dead and that a new organisation, called the ‘United Patriotic Front’, has been formed to take its place. According to Burgess, the UPF will initially consist of himself, local (Melbourne) fascist Blair Cottrell (aka ‘National Democratic Party of Australia’), local neo-Nazi and convicted anti-Semite Neil Erikson (aka ‘Nationalist Republican Guard’), deeply unpopular former ‘Rise Up Australia Party’ candidate (Queensland state election, Oxley, 2013) and semi-professional Islamophobe Scott Moerland, ‘Rise Up Australia Party’ leader and Christian fundamentalist Pastor Daniel Nalliah and a handful of other Facebook personalities.

UPFAFP

Perhaps the first thing that should be noted is that Dr James Saleam’s Australia First Party declared itself in favour of organising a ‘United Patriotic Front’ way back in January 2011. The concept was also invoked by Brisbane party member Aaron Heaps at the time of the ill-fated attempt by AFP to hold a rally in Brisbane in May 2014 in solidarity with the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn (the Golden Dawn leadership is currently on trial in Greece, accused of organising murders and a range of other violent crimes and of constituting a criminal organisation). (See : Australia’s Golden Dawn Rally Falls Embarrassingly Flat, Lauren Gillin, Vice, May 7, 2014.)

traitor
micktholt

Secondly, Burgess’s dummy-spit follows declarations by the organisers of RA in Bunbury (WA), Canberra and Hervey Bay (QLD) to leave the RA fold, seemingly on the basis of either: a) resentment at the lack of consultation from the RA committee and/or; b) an unwillingness to promote RA merch on account of the fact that it’s produced in Bangladesh (a Muslim country). It also follows upon the denunciation of Burgess by Mike Holt (aka ‘Restore Australia’) as a public embarrassment, due in part to his attacks upon individuals associated with RA in Hervey Bay and elsewhere as ‘traitors’.

Thirdly, Burgess has registered the name ‘Reclaim Australia Rallies’ with ASIC while Monika Evers (of ‘Stop the Mosque in Bendigo’ fame) apparently retains copyright of the RA logo. As a result, both are presumably in a position to determine who else can employ the name and logo in order to conduct and to promote anti-Muslim activity.

Fourthly, a coalition comprising neo-Nazis, fascists and Christian fundamentalists — united only by a shared hatred of Muslims and a mawkishly sentimental nationalism — is an inherently unstable one, and it would be surprising to see it last long. Nalliah himself claims both that God speaks to him and that, more notoriously perhaps, the Victorian bushfires of 2009 — which killed 173 people — were God’s punishment for the Victorian state government’s decision to decriminalise abortion. The coalition functioned tolerably well on April 4, when Nalliah’s followers in Melbourne were joined by neo-Nazis and a host of other Islamophobes, but seems unlikely to have much of a future beyond this. Then again …

Finally, Burgess’s decision to form a Front may also be evidence of a determination to form a network that is more solidly based on a radical, right-wing agenda. The rally organised by local fascists to take place at Richmond Town Hall on May 31 will provide some indication of the ability of the Front to mobilise against the ‘communist traitors’ it believes infests local councils (Stephen Jolly, a member of the Socialist Party, is the councillor for Langridge Ward), as well as the appeal of explicitly ‘anti-leftist’ political activity.

What do you think?

Posted in Anti-fascism, Media, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments