With that said …<\/p>\n
January<\/strong><\/p>\n January saw the release<\/a> of Romper Stomper<\/em> on Stan, in which I was virtually cast in the role of ‘the ideological ringmaster, McKew’, a University lecturer who functioned as the bRanes behind ‘Antifasc’, and who published his insights on a website named ‘The Slacker\u2019s Guide To Fascists’.<\/p>\n LOL.<\/p>\n I reviewed the show in Romper Stomper Pulls On Its Boots Again (But Forgets To Thread Its Laces)<\/a> (January 13, 2018).<\/p>\n tl;dr : Romper Stomper<\/em> was entertaining, but rather silly.<\/p>\n Also in January, Channel 7 provided some free advertising<\/a> for the anti-African street patrol members of the racist street-gang the ‘True Blue Crew’ had cooked up with members of the neo-Nazi groupuscule ‘The Lads Society’: #7SummerOfNazis : The True Blue Crew & Co. Go Hunting Blacks While Channel 7 Cheers<\/a> (January 16, 2018).<\/p>\n The journalist responsible for the report, Jodi Lee, was given the opportunity to gain some greater insight into the nature of the milieu Channel 7 was promoting when, 10 months later, serial pest Neil Erikson attempted to sabotage her broadcast from the scene of Hassan Khalif Shire Ali’s awful crime<\/a>, and he was later to remark that, given her obvious irritation, she may have secretly desired him to rape her.<\/p>\n At best, this remark was in very poor taste, but has added menace given that the leading members of both TBC and The Lads have criminal convictions for violent crimes against women. Not normally the kinds of men you’d want to entrust with ‘community safety’, but what would I know eh.<\/p>\n In any case, the following synopsis of the inglorious history of the TBC by Tom Tanuki bears repeating:<\/p>\n The TBC were formed after a few of their original core crew got into a scrap with some Antifa kids after a 2015 rally. \u2018Never again,\u2019 they said! So, the TBC were originally meant to be a patriot answer to black bloc Anteefa contingents.<\/p>\n Their red letter day came in May 2016, when they took part in an organised attempt to have the far-right march through Coburg<\/a>. Their brief, televised fights with masked lefties were a big popularity boost for them. TBC started charging membership fees – $20 a week, $10 for \u2018casual\u2019 members. At one point, they were earning tens of thousands of dollars in just a few months! The money was being managed by TBC \u2018President\u2019 Kane Miller\u2019s partner and her sister and all of that money was going to Kane. He was largely spending it as he liked.<\/p>\n Behind closed doors, the \u2018President\u2019 was abusing his partner. He even broke her back. He wasn\u2019t the only woman-bashing TBC member, either – and when photographic evidence of another member\u2019s brutal assault on his wife was made public, Kane avoided the increasing media spotlight on TBC by kicking Mark out. Members knew that decision made Kane a bit of a hypocrite, for the abovementioned reasons… So they started leaving the TBC. Kane\u2019s abused partner finally left him too and the money management side of TBC went down the drain. The things she revealed about the abuse meant even more TBC members left the group – and they took their membership fees with them.<\/p>\n Kane went quiet for a long while, feeling defeated. TBC \u2018club meetings\u2019 dwindled after a time to little more than 12 unemployed blokes sitting around sucking cones in Kane\u2019s mum\u2019s living room. But the lure of conning working class Aussies out of their hard-earned wages still called to Kane. So TBC returned somewhat with an Australia Day BBQ in St Kilda<\/a> (a genius idea he came up with after a sesh watching the new Romper Stomper<\/a><\/em>). And he had some stupid fucking idea to wander around parks with a bunch of other losers looking for Sudanese children to fight. A meeting he held at Tom Sewell\u2019s Cheltenham clubhouse<\/a> was televised, with Channel 7 airing a description of the TBC\u2019s initiative as being \u2018like a Neighbourhood Watch\u2019 – and it seemed to the world like the TBC were back!<\/p>\n It was not like a Neighbourhood Watch. It was just more hare-brained, shard-addled fantasy garbage from a man who was desperate to be given more membership fees to enjoy himself with. He says it\u2019s for a \u2018clubhouse\u2019 but it isn\u2019t and it never will be. TBC only have about 5-10 people contributing membership fees and they get most of their cash from merch. It\u2019s not enough. Kane just wants to siphon more money out from poor, angry, confused Aussies.<\/p>\n That money won\u2019t do anything but fund the TBC \u2018President\u2019 and his lifestyle. This is a man who gets cash-in-hand from his Muslim boss (serious!) and has membership fees go into his mates\u2019 bank account so child support can\u2019t take it. This is a man with convictions for domestic violence (he was also violent to his last ex, who also dumped him), multiple AVO breaches and firearms charges who won\u2019t pay for his own child. Money given to TBC is fleeced money, and it pays for a shit fucking dude.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Finally, in January Victoria Police began to undertake arrests and charge various individuals, including Erikson<\/a>, with various alleged offences arising from confrontations outside the Milo Yiannopoulos event at Melbourne Pavilion in December 2017. (VicPol also declared that the organisers of the event would face a phat invoice for the cost of policing it — a bill which main organiser Damien Costas declared that he simply would not pay.)<\/p>\n February<\/strong><\/p>\n In February I took note<\/a> of the very large march through Melbourne on Australia\/Invasion\/Survival Day.<\/p>\n I also took the opportunity to examine Keyboard Warriors of the Australian #AltRight : XYZ & David Hiscox<\/a>, an online publication which, like others of its ilk, has become increasingly brazen in its commitments to promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, White supremacy, and other fun stuff. Regular XYZ columnist Ryan Fletcher:<\/p>\n Finally, Oxford University Press released The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right<\/em>, to which myself and Aurelien Mondon contributed a chapter on the radical right in Australia. I also drew attention<\/a> to the Perth trial of members of Aryan Nations for murder, the fact that they played host to the UPF when they journeyed to Perth for the ‘Reclaim Australia’ rally in November 2015, and the fact that the Aryan Nations household was used as the location for the UPF’s announcement that they were going to form a political party, ‘Fortitude’.<\/p>\n March<\/strong><\/p>\n Just two posts this month, one on ‘Firearm Owners United’<\/a> — a gun lobby whose President, James Buckle, was one of the founding members of The Lads Society — and another detailing a whole load of stuff, including the murder convictions of Aryan Nations, the beginning of the end of the Sydney-based Party for Freedom, alleged terrorist Phill Galea being deemed fit for trial, and more besides<\/a>.<\/p>\n April<\/strong><\/p>\n In April I began<\/a> to examine some of the chancers and spivs on the right who, looking at the lucrative tour by Milo in December, decided that they too wanted a piece of the action; took note of a whiny<\/a> Blair Cottrell; outed<\/a> a member of neo-Nazi grouplet ‘Antipodean Resistance’; and wrote a reply<\/a> to an article in the US radical press which claimed anTEEfa was a species of ‘liberalism’.<\/p>\n On a rather different note, I also profiled<\/a> Melbourne’s second-hand bookshops.<\/p>\n Oh, and on April 21, the Sydney Criminal Lawyers website published \u2018The Rise of Australian Neo-Nazis: An Interview with Online Activist Slackbastard\u2019<\/a> by Paul Gregoire, which discusses Antipodean Resistance in the context of a broader discussion of fascism and the far right Down Under.<\/p>\n May<\/strong><\/p>\n Again, just two posts this month<\/a> (‘antifa notes’), including infos on the forced cancellation of a neo-Nazi heavy metal gig in Melbourne, Aryan Nations, Right Wing Resistance, the disruption of a church service in Gosford by serial pest Neil Eikson & Co., and a bizarre interaction with a right-wing propaganda outlet in the US.<\/p>\n June<\/strong><\/p>\n I was a bit more busy in June. First, I detailed the role of the Arcadia Hotel in South Yarra as the favourite watering-hole<\/a> for the Australian Liberty Alliance (the owner is also an anti-Muslim bigot), then detailed<\/a> preparations by ‘Axiomatic Events’ for the tour Down Under of batshit right-wing propagandists Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern (both celebrated by Newscorpse), and its battles<\/a> with rival hate-profiteers ‘Future Now’. I also promoted<\/a> solidarity with Flemington estate arrestees (cf. Milo Yiannopoulos), recounted<\/a> the TBC’s annual flagwit parade, published<\/a> an extract from Roger Griffin’s new title on the fascist concept of the ultra-nation, and finally detailed<\/a> Neil Erikson’s various battles with the forces of law & order.<\/p>\n In June, I also done a interview<\/a> with socialist group Fightback in Aotearoa\/New Zealand.<\/p>\n July<\/strong><\/p>\n July<\/a> was dedicated to Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern’s tour of Australia, including by way of drawing attention to its support by the AFL in Cairns. (Nobody else cared.)<\/p>\n August<\/strong><\/p>\n Just three posts in August, concerning the promotion of neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell by Sky News (Australia’s answer to Fox News) in Neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell & Useful Idiots Adam Giles & Sky News Australia<\/a>; Who are Antipodean Resistance? (August 2018 Update)<\/a>; and a final post<\/a> on the ‘March for Men’ in Melbourne (for which neo-Nazis from The Lads Society helped provide security) and a pathetic neo-Nazi rally in Canberra. Note that, in private, The Lads’ expressed some rather typical — and I suppose mildly disturbing — opinions about the organiser of the March for Men’s organiser, Sydney Watson.<\/p>\n September<\/strong><\/p>\n September saw alleged terrorist Phillip Galea back in court<\/a>. The Age : ‘An accused far-right extremist spoke often about bombing two left-wing groups in Melbourne and said any innocent bystanders hurt would be \u201ccasualties of war\u201d, an associate says. Phillip Galea is charged with making preparations for terrorist attacks on the Melbourne Anarchist Club and Melbourne Resistance Centre between November 2015 and August 2016.’ It also saw Nigel Farage<\/a> in The Colonies. In Melbourne, Farage — whose tour was organised by Damien Costas — was hosted by the Sofitel Hotel. Among those in attendance were serial pest Neil Erikson (who was briefly detained by police) and his kamerad<\/em> Andy Nolch, the man responsible for vandalising the memorial to murdered woman Eurydice Dixon.<\/p>\n I made note of some of the leaks from the secret Facebook group of neo-Nazi grouplet The Lads Society. On this occasion, it concerned the antics of some boneheads (see img above) in Brisbane, and Blair Cottrell’s upset at them being so open in their public displays of commitment to Nazi politics: The (neo-Nazi) Lads Society : Blair Cottrell\u2019s pro-tip : Wear Your Swastikas On The Inside<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also in September, I republished a letter from philosopher Simone Weil, recounting her experiences in the Spanish Civil War and involvement with a CNT militia, and made some notes<\/a> on the role of the International Brigades in the conflict, updated<\/a> the Trot Guide, and published<\/a> an extract from an essay Elizabeth Humphrys wrote on \u2018Halcyon Days? The Amalgamated Metal Workers\u2019 Union and the Accord\u2019. In the Trot Guide update I also made reference to the recently-published book The Far Left in Australia since 1945<\/em> (Routledge, 2018), edited by Jon Piccini, Evan Smith & Matthew Worley.<\/p>\n See also<\/em> : How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia\u2019s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project<\/a><\/em> (Brill, 2018).<\/p>\n Finally, in antifa notes (september 28, 2018) : Anning, Coulter, Fortress, Palmer, Yaxley-Lennon, Yiannopoulos et. al.<\/a>, I took a good look at the various tours Down Under of a number of foreign right-wing carpetbaggers, the activities of a number of local fascist creeps, and more.<\/p>\n October<\/strong><\/p>\n On October 6, go-to lawyer for the far right, John Bolton, organised a tiny rally<\/a> outside Lakemba. It attracted the support of All The Usual Suspects, including a handful of neo-Nazis, at least one of whom was implicated in later political shenanigans in NSW. Thus October also brought the sensational news that a bunch of nazis had infiltrated<\/a> the Young Nationals in that state. Finally, in mid-October, right-wing Christians in Melbourne held a ‘March for Babies’<\/a>. The organisers also employed neo-Nazis from The Lads Society to provide security.<\/p>\n Typically, no reference was made to this in media coverage.<\/p>\n *Oh. Also in October, I closed my blog and social media accounts for a few days. Which prompted various right-wing meatheads to proclaim that I’d been arrested and prolly flown to Guantanamo or something. LOL.<\/p>\n November<\/strong><\/p>\n A relatively busy month, with eight posts, two of which were dedicated to examining (inter alia<\/em>) the AltRight tour circuit: antifa notes (november 2, 2018) : milo & mcinnes; lads, proud boys & natzis<\/a> and Damien Costas Presents : Gavin McInnes & Tommy Robinson Live in Australia (December 2018)<\/a>. I also took note of the death of The Last of the Spanish Anarchists Exiled to Australia<\/a>, republished an article<\/a> from the recently-revived Tribune<\/em> on The ’43 Group (which smashed the re-emergent fascist movement in E-E-England after the end of WWII) and took a look<\/a> at some of the (far) left and (far) right candidates for the Victorian state election.<\/p>\n Finally, I examined<\/a> the denunciations of Australia First Party propagandist Nathaniel Jacob Sassoon Sykes<\/a> by members of The Lads Society (as detailed in their secret Facebook group) and highlighted<\/a> the ongoing campaign to shutdown The Lads’ organising space in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield.<\/p>\n December<\/strong><\/p>\n In December, I wrote some general reflections On Right-Wing Trolls Touring Australia in 2018<\/a>, published \u2018Me-ism and The Left\u2019 : A response to Joshua Dabelstein<\/a>, and went into some detail regarding Milo Yiannopoulos’ recent travails in Milo Yiannopoulos (Penthouse Florida) ~versus~ Damien Costas (Penthouse Australia)<\/a>. I also examined<\/a> the fortunes of (far) left and (far) right candidates at the Victorian state elections.<\/p>\n Finally, from The Department of The Strange, The Bizarre & The Disturbing, came Anarchy : Deep in the Woods<\/a> (on ‘eco-extremism’) and Right Wing Resistance, Ricky White, & slackbastard<\/a> in which, courtesy of the NSW Supreme Court, I was cast in the role of Ricky White.<\/p>\n #TrueStory<\/p>\n See also<\/em> : Blogging 2017 : A Summary<\/a> (December 30, 2017). <\/p>\n Another year done gone, and another opportunity to review what the Hell I’ve been writing about. Please note that, at this stage, I’m unsure if I’ll continue blogging in 2019 as — combined with having a social media presence on … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/guide-1024x757.png\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n~ On a final note, thank you to all who’ve expressed support over the course of the year — I genuinely appreciate it. ~<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"