antifa notes (nov 10, 2015) : #UnitedPatriotsFront and moar …

Posted on November 10, 2015 by @ndy

UPFnazi

G’day patriots,

Here’s a few notes about recent developments on the far right.

1) Chris Shortis : “It’s in Revelations, people!”

United Patriots Front (UPF) leader Chris Shortis appears in an article in The Age, which details his rather bizarre religious and political convictions: Gun-toting anti-Muslim ‘crusader’ at lead of United Patriots Front (Luke McMahon, The Age, November 7, 2015). Dr Chloe Patton states: “Here we have an individual who is clearly radicalised, who is brandishing firearms while preaching holy war. The intricate conspiracy theories and crusader symbolism immediately brings to mind Anders Breivik“. The Daily Mail also features Shortis in ‘We should be doing it with absolute brutality’: Outrage at new leader of anti-Islam group’s online rant calling for Muslims to be wiped out ‘like the Japanese in WWII’ (Leith Huffadine and Nelson Groom for Daily Mail Australia, November 8) while Channel Ten aired a segment about Shortis and the UPF on November 8.

2) UPF ~versus~ 3CR

UPFvCummo

Chris Shortis was one of five UPF members who invaded the Melbourne Anarchist Club (MAC) and 3CR last weekend (November 1). The MAC released a statement and held an ‘Open Day’ on November 8. 3CR has also issued a statement, and a report on the invasion is carried by Crikey. I republish them below:

3) 3CR COMMUNITY RADIO STATEMENT RE THE UNITED PATRIOTS FRONT [November 8, 2015]

On Sunday 1st November, five members of the fascist group United Patriots Front (UPF) gained entry to the premises of 3CR Community Radio and filmed throughout the building without permission. In an effort to intimidate the station and its programmers, they then posted the video on their Facebook page.

3CR reasserts its commitment to progressive politics and our core mission of providing a voice to people denied one elsewhere in the media and in society. We stand by our commitment to providing a voice for Muslims, newly arrived migrants, Indigenous people, unions, women, queers, the working class, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and people with a disability.

3CR was established in 1976 and the station currently has about 400 programmers broadcasting over 120 programs a week in 19 different languages. There are a diverse range of organisations affiliated to the station ranging from trade unions to housing groups to music appreciation clubs.

The behaviour of this far-right group is therefore utterly ridiculous.

However the UPF is of concern because of its racist, Islamophobic and anti-semitic beliefs, its hostility to the left and its capacity for violence.

On the same day the UPF came to 3CR, they also made an unwelcome visit to the Melbourne Anarchist Club.

We totally reject these tactics of intimidation and express our solidarity with other groups subjected to their harassment and vilification.

We call on the people of Melbourne to join us in rejecting this amateur schoolyard bullying and the politics of fear that make it possible. The routine Islamophobia present in mainstream politics and the media must stop and the indefinite detention of refugees must stop. We call on our political leaders to take some responsibility.

3CR urges all people concerned with upholding basic principles of human dignity, diversity and fairness to attend the protest against racism and fascism on Sunday 22 November, 11AM on the steps of Parliament House. Gather around the 3CR banner.

We also encourage people to attend the Melbourne Anarchist Club Open Day on Sunday 8 November from 12PM.

To support proudly independent and diverse radio, donate online or subscribe.

For more information contact Marian McKeown or James McKenzie on 9419 8377 or email [email protected]

4) 3CR /// UPF /// Crikey

Nationalist group invades 3CR Community Radio office, uploads dramatically scored video
Myriam Robin
Crikey
November 9, 2015

Melbourne community radio station 3CR has accused the United Patriot’s Front of “amateur, schoolyard bullying” and “threatening” behaviour, after the far-right nationalist organisation gained entry to the radio station’s premises and filmed it without permission, then uploaded the video to its Facebook page.

The incident took place last Sunday. The UPF’s video shows several burly men approaching the front door of 3CR to find it shut (as it always is on weekends). A man describes the radio station as a “government-funded radio production company of some sort” (3CR is overwhelmingly funded through memberships and donations). But, he says, “so-called anarchists like to speak on radio here and are given a platform here, which confuses me … So we came here to ask some questions to clear up the confusion.” Once a month, Andy Fleming, a progressive campaigner and anarchist, is involved with a radio program on 3CR, and has been for some years. Fleming, using his online pseudonym of Slack Bastard, is one of the key irritants to the UPF, tracking and reporting their movements and arguing that they are best understood as “fascists”.

After an introduction, the video reveals the men inside the 3CR offices talking to a man, understood to be one of 3CR’s programmers. Meanwhile the UFP member holding a camera walks through the building, filming walls of photos, including close-ups of the faces of those involved in the station, as well as the studios. Tense music plays throughout the video. In the Facebook comments, many applaud the UPF’s initiative and suggest other places the group could “visit”, including Moreland City Council, which has an anti-racism banner along its front.

Crikey understands one of the 3CR’s programmers opened the door to the UPF members, who had rung the buzzer. “He didn’t really know who they were, but became pretty suspicious,” station manager Marian McKeown told Crikey. The UPF members told him they were there to do some filming, she says. “He’s on crutches. He’s not physically mobile. So he leans across to open [the] door without looking in [the] peephole. Then there’s five big guys in the building — he doesn’t really feel like in a position to create conflict.”

While this isn’t recorded in their video, 3CR says its own CCTV footage shows the men pocketing one of the photos off a photo board.

Given the UPF’s hostility to 3CR and its activities, which include explicit support for progressive politics and of providing a voice to minority groups who aren’t given a voice elsewhere, McKeown says it’s hard to view the incursion as anything but a “very threatening” and “antagonistic” act.

“I think it is about Slack Bastard, but also what 3CR represents,” she said. “It’s about the kind of voices we give airtime to. They clearly have an agenda that is about intimidating those sections of our community. Refugees, Muslims, any kind of leftist who is going to call out their threatening behaviour.”

The same day, the UPF visited the Melbourne Anarchist Club, where a man immediately told them to leave. Their encounter was also filmed and put on the group’s Facebook page.

The UPF has not targeted many media organisations in the past, with the exception of a June protest outside the ABC in Melbourne during the Zaky Mallah saga that involved the group roasting a pig on a spit.

“What was interesting about [their incursion into 3CR is that it] was an escalation of their activities, and of a willingness to confront those they consider their political enemies on their own soil,” Fleming told Crikey. He notes the group’s main base appears to be in Melbourne, though it has made moves in recent months to expand, including through a picket in Bendigo (or “Bendgio”, as they have it) and a planned trip to Perth later this month.

3CR says it is not telling its programmers to change their behaviour, but is warning them to have a heightened sense of awareness. Police were called about the incident, but McKeown sounds pessimistic about their approach to the situation.

“At the time we contacted police. They told us the United Patriot’s Front hadn’t committed an offence. We’re still getting legal advice — we think it’s debatable. And they stole the photograph.”

Crikey contacted the UPF through their Facebook page. We did not hear back by deadline.

5) Kriso Richardson : UPF + CFMEU

upfleadershitOCT3

In addition to neo-Nazis Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson and Xtian fundamentalists Chris Shortis, Scott Moerland and Danny Nalliah (“He’s anti-Islamic, claims to have raised people from the dead and once blamed the Black Saturday bushfires on Victoria’s abortion laws.”), another leader of the UPF in Melbourne is Kriso Richardson.

krisocfmeu

On November 7, Richardson uploaded a propaganda video to the UPF Facebook page about nationalism: he did so while wearing a CFMEU top. On May 31, Richardson also appears to have attended the UPF rally in Richmond, also sporting CFMEU gear.

cfmeubloke

The rally — which was targeted at Socialist Party councillor (and CFMEU shop steward) Stephen Jolly — was followed by the arrest of a man for allegedly making death and rape threats against him (‘Nazi’ charged over death, rape threats to Socialist Party Councillor Stephen Jolly, Chloe Booker, The Age, August 7, 2015):

A man has been charged after making death and rape threats to Yarra Councillor Stephen Jolly and his family.

It comes days after United Patriots Front administrator Neil Erikson’s name was attached to threats on social media to kill the Socialist Party councillor.

In what appears to be a separate incident, a 38-year-old Moe man is alleged to have left messages on the Socialist councillor’s mobile and office phones.

“Hey Stephen Jolly, I’m going to f—ing rape your face,” the man allegedly said in a message left at 4.15am on July 29.

He then used further expletives before hanging up.

Richardson also attended the Reclaim Australia (RA) and UPF rallies in Melbourne and Bendigo and a protest against the ABC in June.

3CR is of course home to hundreds of union and community groups and projects, including the CFMEU show ‘The Concrete Gang’:

Since 1976, The Concrete Gang has been the most cutting and funny source of construction industry news and views.

Raw community radio at its best, The Concrete Gang is most (in)famous for “Scallywag of the Week” where names are named and the gloves come off.

It’s CFMEU radio for construction workers in the tradition of the late and great John Cummins who was a long-term host of the show.

Listen live at 9:30am Sunday mornings on 3CR Community Radio 855AM or get the podcast at 3cr.org.au/concretegang (or search The Concrete Gang on your podcast provider).

I doubt ‘Cummo’ would’ve been impressed to see fascist thugs attacking the station he broadcast on — or to witness one of their comrades making fascist propaganda in construction union clothing.

Finally, note that the UPF has declared itself to be in political solidarity with a range of neo-Nazi and fascist groups and movements in Europe, including the Greek neo-Nazi organisation ‘Golden Dawn’. In May 2014, the CFMEU participated in an anti-fascist rally in Brisbane, called in order to denounce both Golden Dawn and the Australia First Party.

6) Reclaim Australia /// November 22

The UPF has declared that they will be heading to Perth on November 22, the date of the third round of RA rallies. In Melbourne, RA has recently declared that they’ll be protesting in Melton against the construction of a Muslim skool rather than at Parliament House. Counter-protests have been organised at the following locations:

ADELAIDE
Adelaide counter rally to Reclaim Australia – stop racists and nazis

BRISBANE
STOP ISLAMOPHOBIA! Rally against racist Reclaim Australia (United Against Islamophobia and Bigotry Brisbane)

CANBERRA
Canberra Rally Against Racism: No to Reclaim Australia, No to Islamophobia! (Canberra Anti-Racism Network)

HOBART
Counter rally – Oppose Reclaim Australia and the UPF (Tasmania Welcomes Diversity)

carfmelb

MELBOURNE
No to Racism, No to Fascism: Stop Reclaim Australia (Campaign Against Racism & Fascism)
RALLY AGAINST RACISM – Stop ‘Reclaim Australia’ – Melbourne (No Room For Racism)

NEWCASTLE
RALLY AGAINST RACISM – Stop ‘Reclaim Australia’ – Newcastle (RALLY Against Racism -Community organizing space)

PERTH
Reclaim Australia – No Way! (United Against Bigotry and Racism)

carfsyd

SYDNEY
No to Racism, No to Reclaim Australia – Muslims are Welcome (No to Racism, No to Fascism, No to Islamophobia)

7) Australia First Party ~versus~ Party for Freedom

There’s a ding-dong battle going on in Sydney between Dr Jim Saleam’s Australia First Party (AFP) and Nick Folkes’ Party for Freedom (PFF). The last week has seen the PFF stage a banner drop denouncing Saleam and also, curiously, publish a video which documents Saleam’s attendance at a meeting of neo-Nazis to pay tribute to dead Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi:

Also in attendance at the commemorative meeting was Alex Norwick, a former National Action member, candidate for the AFP (Wyong 2015, Chifley 2013, Deakin 2010) and editor of the party’s newsletter Audacity; it also seems to have attracted notorious neo-Nazi Ross ‘The Skull’ May.

The PFF’s attacks upon the AFP follow similar attacks launched by Shermon Burgess (‘The Great Aussie Patriot’), who has denounced not only Saleam and the AFP as ‘nazis’ but so too Melbourne-based neo-Nazi grouplet ‘Nationalist Alternative’. Odd behaviour given that Burgess was more than happy — proud, even — to work alongside neo-Nazis like Cottrell and Erikson throughout 2015, and even helped to promote Squadron 88’s anti-Muslim agitation in Penrith.

For his part, Saleam denies any and all association with neo-Nazis and blames the campaign upon local Liberals, engaged in a conspiracy with the PFF and neo-Nazi grouplet ‘Squadron 88’ in order to damage the reputation of the AFP.

Otherwise, while Burgess has left the UPF in the capable hands of Cottrell in Melbourne, in Sydney he’s continued to maintain his years-long commitment to Ralph Cerminara, valour thief and sometime leader of the ‘Australian Defence League’. Burgess and Cerminara both now appear to be aligning themselves with Folkes and the PFF against the AFP — Burgess and Folkes are also talking up the PFF’s historical re-enactment of the December 2005 Cronulla pogrom.

See also : CRONULLA /// NEVER AGAIN (October 28, 2015).

8) Australia & the Fascist Idea of Greater Britain

Evan Smith of the Hatful of History blog has written an interesting account of the British Union of Fascists’ approach to Empire and Australia:

Part of this view of Australia as an integral part of Greater Britain’s trading relations was the country’s perceived promise as a destination for British migrants to take opportunity of the vast space offered and its potential for agricultural and industrial development. This was a widely held view since the early days of the Australian colonies and the BUF reinforced the idea of the British colonial settler as imperial pioneer.

Read the rest at the Imperial & Global Forum here.

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antifa notes (november 2, 2015) : 3CR, MAC, UPF and moar …

Posted on November 2, 2015 by @ndy

1)

On Sunday, five members of the fascist groupuscule the ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF) — Blair Cottrell, Neil Erikson, Chris Shortis, Linden Watson and one other man — paid a visit to the Melbourne Anarchist Club (MAC) in Northcote and then to community radio station 3CR in Collingwood. Both incidents were filmed by UPF member (and convicted anti-Semite) Erikson, uploaded to the UPF’s Facebook page, and presented as being evidence of the UPF’s ability and willingness to take the fight up to its political opponents; a long list which includes Muslims, anti-racists, and all those who don’t share their paranoias or rejection of multiculturalism.

This bizarre and disturbing behaviour by the UPF confirms their basic fascist character and suggests that, following two relatively large rallies in Bendigo, they’re feeling quite confident and, seemingly, intent on provoking some kind of physical confrontation with ‘the left’ in Melbourne. Certainly, they are very angry and upset that 3CR has the temerity to allow me to occasionally broadcast anti-fascist news and views … but I suspect that, in picking on the community broadcaster, they’ve simply succeeded in antagonising a much broader range of groups and projects.

While 3CR has yet to formally respond to the UPF’s brief occupation, the MAC has called on friends, comrades and supporters to attend an Open Day at the MAC this Sunday, November 8, from midday ’til close. Hopefully, a good number of local anarchists and other anti-fascists will attend.

See also : ‘Nazi’ charged over death, rape threats to Socialist Party Councillor Stephen Jolly, Chloe Booker, The Age, August 7, 2015 | Jay-Leighsa Victoria Bauman sentenced to community service over online abuse, Brisbane Times (AAP), May 29, 2015 | Patriots Defence League president allegedly spat on Canberra driver, Christopher Knaus, The Sydney Morning Herald, December 18, 2014.

2)

gapvsaleam

Having recently junked the UPF (again), Shermon Burgess (‘The Great Aussie Patriot’) has been attempting to rehabilitate his public image somewhat by angrily denouncing ‘nazis’, which now extends from Blair Cottrell’s mates in Nationalist Alternative to Dr Jim Saleam’s Australia First Party. Joining him in this denunciation is Nick Folkes of the Party for Freedom: the dynamic duo is busy promoting a happy 10th birthday party for The Cronulla Riots. Oddly, while Burgess has suddenly come to the conclusion that Saleam is an horrible nazi, it was only a few months ago (June 28) that his mate Erikson published a video interview with Saleam regarding his analysis of anti-racist and anti-fascist activists (“Dr. Jim Saleam (AFP) Exposes Left Wing Terrorists.”) on the UPF Facebook page.

Which at the time produced not a whimper from ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’.

3)

The ASIO Annual Report for FY2014-15 contains the following relevant extract (pp.9-10):

Communal violence and violent protest

Lawful advocacy, protest and dissent are an inherent part of Australia’s political and social culture. Most protests are peaceful, and there is little public support for the use of violent or destructive protest tactics. During 2014–15 protests in Australia were mostly peaceful. When violence occurred, it was typically not premeditated and it took place between groups with opposing views on emotive issues. Violence was also used against police attempting to maintain order.

There was increased participation in the activities of Australia-based anti-Islam groups; mostly this was online activity but ‘real world’ events attracted increased numbers. The conflict in Syria and Iraq, and widespread mainstream and social media coverage of the conflict—in particular, graphic reports of egregious acts—provided a ready stream of material used by anti-Islam activists as evidence that Islam is not compatible with Australian values or the Australian way of life. Anti-Islam groups whose activities were previously mostly limited to online posts and occasional inflammatory publicity stunts began to attract increased numbers to real-world events, such as the Reclaim Australia rallies and the Stop the Mosque protests. The reporting period saw a number of well-attended, coordinated Australia-wide protests with an overt anti-Islam and anti-immigration message; these protests attracted large numbers of supporters and counter-protesters.

Small-scale violence occurred between opposing protesters at the Reclaim Australia rallies in Melbourne in April 2015. Reclaim Australia rallies will continue to be held throughout the next financial year and, due to their potential for violence, will remain of concern. While anti-Islam numbers increased, there was a concurrent increase in counter-protests on platforms of social inclusion, anti-racism and anti-fascism.

In January 2015, members of Sydney’s Muslim community and their supporters gathered in a peaceful ‘We will not abandon our Prophet’ rally organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir, at Sydney’s Lakemba train station. The event was held in response to perceptions of anti-Islam sentiment following the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris. While the event was vocal, it passed without major incident.

Environmental issues, refugee and Indigenous advocacy, animal rights and anti-government policy protests attracted the most significant numbers to protests in 2014–15. While some capital city protests on these issues attracted large, vociferous crowds, most concluded without incident and complied with protest preconditions and directions of police.

4)

Reclaim Australia (RA) will be holding a further series of rallies across the country on Sunday, November 22. The UPF has declared that it too will be attending, and acting as the fascist vanguard of RA in Perth.

The rallies will be the subject of counter-protests.

ADELAIDE
Adelaide counter rally to Reclaim Australia – stop racists and nazis

BRISBANE
STOP ISLAMOPHOBIA! Rally against racist Reclaim Australia (United Against Islamophobia and Bigotry Brisbane)

CANBERRA
Canberra Rally Against Racism: No to Reclaim Australia, No to Islamophobia! (Canberra Anti-Racism Network)

carfmelb

MELBOURNE
No to Racism, No to Fascism: Stop Reclaim Australia (Campaign Against Racism & Fascism)
RALLY AGAINST RACISM – Stop ‘Reclaim Australia’ – Melbourne (No Room For Racism)

NEWCASTLE
RALLY AGAINST RACISM – Stop ‘Reclaim Australia’ – Newcastle (RALLY Against Racism -Community organizing space)

PERTH
Reclaim Australia – No Way! (United Against Bigotry and Racism)

carfsyd

SYDNEY
No to Racism, No to Reclaim Australia – Muslims are Welcome (No to Racism, No to Fascism, No to Islamophobia)

I’ll add other locations as I become aware of them.

5)

Finally, the final chapter in Alexander Reid-Ross and Joshua Stephens’ exposé on South African writer Michael Schmidt has been published (though the fallout has barely begun I suspect).

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Decadence

Posted on November 1, 2015 by @ndy

[‘Decadence’ by Alex Trotter. Originally published in Drunken Boat, No.2, 1994.]

Beardsley

There is no decadence from the point of view of humanity. Decadence is a word that ought to be definitively banished from history. ~ Ernest Renan

The word “decadence” has been thrown about so much it has become a banality. Authorities or would-be authorities of all kinds (religious or political ideologues, the media) lecture to us about the decline of western civilization. On close examination the meaning of this term, whether used as an epithet or as a badge of honor, turns out to be elusive. In a general sense decadence seems to be connected to fatalism, anomie, malaise, and nostalgia. It describes a falling away of standards of excellence and mastery associated with a bygone age of positive achievement; heroism yielding to pettiness; good taste yielding to vulgarity; discipline yielding to depletion, corruption, and sensuality. A decadent world is one in which originality has ended and all endeavors are derivative, in which pioneers and geniuses have given way to epigones. Decadence has connotations of (over) indulgence in carnal appetites, derangement of the senses, and violation of taboos. It is supposed to be a frivolous pursuit of exotic and marginal pleasures, novelties to serve jaded palates. Decadence makes you think of sin and overripeness.

Physics recognizes a law of decay and decline with universal application to all natural processes. It is called the second law of thermodynamics, or “entropy,” as it was dubbed by the German physicist Rudolf Clausius in 1850. According to this law, there is a natural and increasing tendency in the universe toward disorder and the dissipation of energy. Efforts to arrest the process of decay or reestablish order are only temporary in effect and expend even more energy. Through this inexorable process of entropy, astronomers tell us, the sun will eventually burn out, and the entire universe may well collapse back upon itself in a “Big Crunch” that will be the opposite of the theorized “Big Bang” with which it supposedly began. There’s nothing anyone can do about this cosmic decadence, but the time frame is so immense that there’s no point worrying about it, either. Besides, it’s just a theory. For the purposes of this essay, I will restrict myself to a consideration of the earthbound and largely historical dimensions of decadence.

Health And Disease

In a grand historical sense, the concept of decadence has been used to describe epochs of civilization in biological metaphor, as beings that are born, come to maturity, then sink into senescence and die because they have been condemned “by History” (or God). In this sense decadence is connected to a moralistic as well as a fatalistic vision. The word implies judgment of human experience on a scale of values and measures it against a ‘correct’ or ‘healthy’ standard. Decadence first appeared as a word during the Renaissance (1549 in the English language, according to Webster’s) but its use remained sporadic until the nineteenth century. It can therefore be thought of as primarily a modern concept, and as such it it inescapably linked to the notion of Progress, as its opposite and antagonistic complement.

What lies on either side of Decadence, before or after it, is the myth of a golden age of heroism and (near) perfection. The ancient civilizations tended to place the golden age of their mythologies in the past. Judaism and Christianity (and by extension, Islam) also have a golden age, the Garden of Eden, located in the past. But it is with the monotheistic religions that the dream of cosmic completion was first transferred to the future, in an eschatological and teleological, semihistorical sense. After holding people’s minds in nearly undisputed thrall for centuries, Christian theology underwent a long decay through Renaissance humanism, the Reformation (in particular its unofficial, suppressed antinomian and millenarian currents), and the rationalist, materialist philosophy of the Enlightenment. The French and American revolutions partially destroyed the Christian time line and opened up the horizon of a man-made history. The violent irruption of the bourgeois class into terrestrial political power replaced the inscrutable cosmic narrative written by God and shrouded in grandiose myth with a historical narrative authored by abstract Man and wallowing in the Reason of political ideologies. The dogma of determinism survived, however. Apocalypse, Heaven, and Hell were shunted aside by capitalism, which offered instead its absurd dialectic of progress and decadence. As the nineteenth century unfolded, liberalism, Marxism, and leftism continued with industrial development and the expansion of democracy.

All of the great epochs of civilization (slavery, Oriental despotism, feudalism, and capitalism) are considered by Marxist and non-Marxist historians alike to have experienced stages of ascendancy, maturity, and decline. The Roman Empire is one of the chief paradigms of decadence, thanks largely to the eighteenth-century English historian Edward Gibbon, the most well known chronicler of its decline and fall. The reasons for the end of the ancient world are not so obvious, in spite of a familiar litany of symptoms, most of which have been attributed to economic causes: ruinous taxes, overexpansionism, reliance on mercenary armies, the growth of an enormous, idle urban proletariat, the slave revolts, the loss of the rulers’ will and purpose in the face of rapid change, and — the most obvious and immediate reason — military collapse in the face of the ‘barbarian’ invasions. Can it be said that Christianity’s rise to power amid the proliferation of cults was an integral part of the decay, or was it rather part of a “revolution” that transcended decadence? It is not at all clear that the Roman Empire ended according to an iron law of historical determinism. If that were the case, it is not likely that decadence could be imputed to ‘moral decay.’ The actual collapse of the Western Empire came centuries after the reign of the most depraved emperors, such as Nero and Caligula. And should it be said that the Empire was decadent, while the Republic was not? Both were supported by the slave-labor mode of production, and both were systems of extreme brutality and constant warfare. The notion of progress and decadence, retrospectively applied to this case, implies that the civilization based on slavery was not only tolerable and acceptable, but indeed healthy, in the bloom of its historical youth, and only later became poisoned and morbid.

The same observation applies, of course, to the other ancient civilization of the West — Greece, which was superior to Rome in so many ways because of its democracy and its fine achievements in art, literature, science, and philosophy. The Athens of Pericles is usually considered to have been the high point of that civilization, in contrast to the “decadence” of the Alexandrian or Hellenistic age. But there would have been no Greek art or Athenian democracy without Greek slavery. There is the great tragedy: The beautiful things of civilization have always been built on a foundation of bloodshed, mass suffering, and domination.

The other great classic of decadence in the grand historical sense is the ancien régime in France. This example serves as the core vision, dear to the modern Left, of a tiny handful of identifiable villains, the corrupt, obscenely privileged, and sybaritic aristocrats, oblivious to the expiration of their heavenly mandate, partying away on the backs of the impoverished and suffering masses, but who get their just desserts in the end. This was of course a partial truth, but it was built into a myth that has fueled similar myths well into our own time, the classic modern example being that of the Russian Revolution. The great revolution that chases out decadence has been multiplied more than a dozen times since. But this dream that has been played out so many times is still a bourgeois dream, though draped in the reddest ‘proletarian’ ideology. It is the dream of the Democratic Republic, which replaces one ruling class with another, and it has always turned into a nightmare.

Against the decadence of the old world of the feudal clerico-aristocracy, the Jacobins proclaimed the Republic of Virtue. The mode of cultural representation with which the revolutionary bourgeoisie chose to appear at this time — as a reincarnation of the Roman Republic — deliberately broke with Christian iconography. But it set a precedent for conservative, and eventually fascist, cultural ideology — the identification of social health with the classical, the monumental, and the realistic. The Jacobin regime of emergency and impossibly heroic ideals quickly fell, and the entire political revolutionary project of the bourgeoisie in France was rolled back (more than once) by a resilient aristocracy. But the reign of Capital was assured, for its real power lay in the unfolding, irresistible juggernaut of the economy. This juggernaut was already much further under way in England, while in Germany the bourgeoisie advanced under the banner of philosophy and the arts.

Continue reading →

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CRONULLA /// NEVER AGAIN

Posted on October 28, 2015 by @ndy

Serial pest Nick Folkes and his micro-Party for Freedom have organised a party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the racist pogrom in Cronulla. Joining him in this effort to stir up racial, religious and ethnic antagonism will be ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’ Shermon Burgess and, presumably, an assortment of other racist thugs.

Anti Fascist Action Sydney is organising to oppose the racist rally. To keep up-to-date, please see the AFA Sydney blog and Facebook page and please spread the good word: — download a PDF version of the poster below here : cronullaneveragain.

CNA

See also : Anti-Islam ‘patriots’ set their sights on Cronulla, where it all began, The Sydney Morning Herald, October 22, 2015.

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#ReclaimAustralia Rallies : Sunday, November 22

Posted on October 24, 2015 by @ndy

Briefly:

Leb and wog bashing day : Cronulla redux

Nick Folkes of the ‘Party for Freedom’ has declared that he’s obtained the approval of NSW police to hold a party in Cronulla (midday, December 12, Don Lucas Reserve) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Cronulla riots (aka ‘Leb and wog-bashing day’).

Originally sponsored by shock-jock Alan Jones, the celebration of racist violence has now won the support of Shermon Burgess and the United Patriots Front (UPF), who will presumably be joined by a range of other thugs keen to remind ‘Lebs’ and ‘wogs’ in Sydney of their place. Note that Cooma boy Burgess (aka ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’) has previously declared that ‘Cronulla was Australia’s Muslim Holocaust’ (Eureka Brigade, ‘Border Patrol’), and was deeply thrilled to witness and to participate in the ‘White Civil Uprising’ in 2005. See : Anti-Islam ‘patriots’ set their sights on Cronulla, where it all began, Bianca Hall, The Sydney Morning Herald, October 22, 2015.

Teh Grauniad

I wrote an article for Teh Grauniad: The UPF and Reclaim Australia aren’t ‘concerned parents’ or a bad joke (October 20).

A few additional notes:

• Blair Cottrell’s “taking over” the leadership of the UPF was quickly followed by his resignation from the group and denunciation of its former leader, Burgess, as emotionally weak and greedy (Burgess fleeced his followers of several thousand dollars before returning from his all-too-brief retirement). Cottrell also denounced Burgess’s NSW comrade Ralph Cerminara (Grand Poobah of the Australian Defence League) as a “cancer” on the movement.
• The period between Burgess’s short-lived retirement and the resumption of Business As Usual by the UPF witnessed a range of bizarre postings on the UPF page, including one from Melbourne neo-Nazi and UPF leader Neil Erikson, in which he declared that he would spend the weekend getting drunk and playing with pig’s heads. Fellow neo-Nazi and UPF yoof leader Thomas Sewell declared that the whole, sordid affair was the result of a government plot. Cottrell also span a ridiculous story about a government agent (‘Jason Evans’) giving him a bugged phone.
• A few weeks ago Burgess denounced Melbourne-based neo-Nazi groupuscule Nationalist Alternative and boneheads, declaring that the UPF would attack them on sight. This obviously places him in a difficult position as the UPF leadership in Melbourne contains numerous neo-Nazis and Cottrell is closely linked to Nat.Alt. Which is presumably why the video was deleted.

• John Oliver (Patriots Defence League of Australia), featured in the Sunday TV show, established a fund earlier this year to d0x me. He also declared that I should be hunted down like a dog, have my testicles removed and then re-attached to my forehead. Many concerned Dad.
• “Catherine Brennan” is better-known as Elizabeth (Liz) Shepherd, one of several people — along with Burgess, Oliver and Monika Evers — to have formed a committee to administer RA when it formed early in 2015. Shepherd also established a bank account for the group.

Reclaim Australia

Reclaim Australia will be holding a further series of rallies across the country on Sunday, November 22. The UPF has declared that it too will be attending, and acting as the fascist vanguard of RA.

The rallies will be the subject of counter-protests.

ADELAIDE
Adelaide counter rally to Reclaim Australia – stop racists and nazis

BRISBANE
STOP ISLAMOPHOBIA! Rally against racist Reclaim Australia (United Against Islamophobia and Bigotry Brisbane)

CANBERRA
Canberra Rally Against Racism: No to Reclaim Australia, No to Islamophobia! (Canberra Anti-Racism Network)

carfmelb

MELBOURNE
No to Racism, No to Fascism: Stop Reclaim Australia (Campaign Against Racism & Fascism)
RALLY AGAINST RACISM – Stop ‘Reclaim Australia’ – Melbourne (No Room For Racism)

NEWCASTLE
RALLY AGAINST RACISM – Stop ‘Reclaim Australia’ – Newcastle (RALLY Against Racism -Community organizing space)

PERTH
Reclaim Australia – No Way! (United Against Bigotry and Racism)

carfsyd

SYDNEY
No to Racism, No to Reclaim Australia – Muslims are Welcome (No to Racism, No to Fascism, No to Islamophobia)

I’ll add other locations as I become aware of them.

Fascism, bread and circuses

Finally, a *slow clap* for Lennon Bros Circus. Informed that Shermon Burgess had destroyed some posters promoting a protest over concerns for animal welfare (Burgess also threatened that the UPF would be present to deal with the dirty-smelly-hippies assumed to be responsible), the Circus rewarded the fascist clown with free tickets to their Cooma show. See : United Patriots Front leader given circus tickets for ripping animal rights posters, Henry Belot and Michael Inman, The Sydney Morning Herald, October 23, 2015.

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#UnitedPatriotsFront /// The Days Of Our Patriot Lives

Posted on October 18, 2015 by @ndy

G’day patriots,

It’s been a week full of drama for the network of racists, fascists and yes, neo-Nazis, that support the fascist groupuscule ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF). Tonight, Channel 7’s Sunday program broadcast an advertisement for ‘Reclaim Australia’ (RA) and the UPF, one which will presumably help RA and UPF attract a much wider level of support. That aside …

To begin with, on Thursday ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’ (aka Shermon Burgess) — who’s acted as the face of the UPF since its establishment in late April/early May — announced the closure of his Facebook page and his withdrawal from the UPF. In so doing he also handed over responsibility for the group to two local (Melbourne) neo-Nazis: Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson. Ostensibly, the reason Burgess took this action was because he was ‘done. fucking done’ with pol.activism after another ‘patriot’, Mick Beeche, made a video mocking him. The Facebook page on which it was uploaded, ‘The Great Aussie Potato’, has since been deleted: curiously, the video itself was published on Facebook on February 4 — over eight months ago.

Burgess’s retirement lasted less than 48 hours. Between his departure and his return, his followers established a fund via GoFundMe asking patriots to donate money to Burgess in order to help him ease into (temporary) retirement. In the end, patriots managed to raise over $3,000 for Burgess, whereupon he returned to the UPF and republished his page.

Burgess’s departure briefly elevated Blair Cottrell to the position of UPF fuehrer. Within the space of 24 hours, however, Cottrell himself declared — in two videos uploaded to the UPF Facebook page but since deleted — that he was leaving the UPF, that Burgess was weak, and that Ralph Cerminara, the ostensible President of the ‘Australian Defence League’, was a ‘cancer’. Today it appears that Cottrell has gone back on his word and re-joined the UPF. He has also nominated a man by the name of ‘Jason Evans’ as being an infiltrator and as somehow or other responsible for the drama of the preceding days. (For another (already, slightly outdated) account of recent in-fighting among the fascists patriots, see : New leader of anti-Islam United Patriots Front quits, Raili Simojoki, October 17, 2015.)

Burgess’s brief abandonment of ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’ Facebook page and departure from the UPF generated a considerable amount of media coverage:

• Great Aussie Patriot resigns as head of extremist group after being teased online, 9News, October 16, 2015
• United Patriots Front: Anti-Islam group leader Shermon Burgess quits over mocking by other patriots, Andrew Dickson, ABC (7.30), October 16, 2015
• United Patriots Front head Shermon Burgess resigns over video mocking him, The Guardian, October 16, 2015 | Video mocks Shermon Burgess who quit United Patriots Front leadership – video, The Guardian, October 16, 2015
• United Patriots Front leader steps down after video mocking him surfaces online, Allison Worrall, The Age, October 16, 2015
• After Years of Hassling Muslims, ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’ Quits Because Someone Gave Him Shit, Julian Morgans, VICE, October 16, 2015
• UPDATE: Far right leader un-quits from United Patriots Front a day after resigning over Facebook mockery, Ben Brennan, 7News/Yahoo, October 16, 2015
• Anti-Islam Movement Leader Upset People Said Mean Things About Him, The Backburner (SBS), October 16, 2015

Also generating some media interest was Burgess’s sometime replacement, Blair Cottrell, whose views on the parasitical nature of The Jew, fanboy love of Adolf Hitler and generalised misogyny features in Blair Cottrell, rising anti-Islam movement leader, wanted Hitler in the classroom, Michael Bachelard and Luke McMahon, The Age, October 17, 2015. Notable in this context is that not a single UPF follower has raised any concerns at the organisation being led by a neo-Nazi.

See also : Quotations From Chairman Blair Cottrell (July 27, 2015) | Street fights and ‘internet vigilantes’: Inside Australia’s anti-Islam movement, Bianca Hall, The Age, October 17, 2015.

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October 10 “Global Rally For Humanity”

Posted on October 11, 2015 by @ndy

bendigosea

A month or two ago, October 10 was declared by US anti-Muslim activist Jon Ritzheimer to be the date of a ‘Global Rally For Humanity’. Several small rallies were held in the US and one was organised by the English Defence League in the town of Aylesbury, but among those who quickly jumped on board the hate train was the Australian fascist groupuscule ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF), which organised an anti-Mulsim rally in the Victorian town of Bendigo on Saturday. That rally attracted hundreds in support and was almost certainly the largest anti-Muslim rally on the day. Elsewhere in the country, very small rallies were held in Canberra and Hobart (and Brisbane and Perth), but the great majority of anti-Muslim activists traveled to Bendigo for the occasion. The national mobilisation by the UPF managed to attract perhaps as many as 500 supporters — and a slightly smaller number was organised in opposition to the UPF by the Bendigo Action Coalition.

not

See : Bendigo mosque: Anti-mosque protesters face off with counter activists, ABC, October 10, 2015 | Bendigo mosque protests: Anti-racism demonstrators face off with nationalists, Chris Vedelago, The Age, October 10, 2015 | Pro-diversity and anti-mosque protesters rally in Bendigo, The Guardian (AAP), October 10, 2015.

The bestest coverage of the Bendigo rally came by way of Paul Anderson and Andrew Jefferson (Pro- and anti-Islamic groups protest as Bendigo mosque rages, Herald Sun, October 11, 2015), in which True Australian Patriots were pitted against pirates, environmentalists, clown wigs, masked vigilantes and militant skinheads:

heraldsun

Previously, on October 9, Nick Folkes’ Party For Freedom held a very small anti-Muslim rally at Parramatta mosque. Among the very few who joined him was Australian Defence League Grand Poobah Ralph Cerminara. The previous weekend on his (since deleted) Facebook page, Cerminara called upon his followers to launch ‘lone wolf’ attacks upon mosques and imams. (Cerminara was also in Bendigo on October 10.) The callout received some attention from media but seemingly none from police.

Ralphski

See : Tiny turnout to anti-Muslim protest in Sydney’s west, ABC (AM), October 10, 2015 | Police outnumber demonstrators outside Parramatta mosque, Anne Davies and Eryk Bagshaw, The Sydney Morning Herald, October 9, 2015.

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antifa notes (october 4, 2015) : #UPF /// #GD /// #43Group +

Posted on October 4, 2015 by @ndy

United Patriots Front /// Bendigo

Fascists, racists and various species of bigot — organised by fascist grouplet the United Patriots Front (UPF) — will once again descend on Bendigo next weekend (October 10) to put on a public display of stoopid (pissing and moaning about the construction of Bendigo’s mosque); once again there will be opposition. In this context of organised public expressions of Islamophobia and xenophobia, you can read moar about the feelings of some local Muslims in this (October 1) ABC report. The rally also comes on the heels of the successful disruption by anti-Muslim activists of a Bendigo council meeting of September 16 and the consequent cancellation of a meeting scheduled for this week.

Since their first rally (August 29) in Bendigo, the UPF — having already alienated Monika Evers (Reclaim Australia/Stop the Mosque in Bendigo) — appears to have lost the support of Bendigo local Julie Hoskin, the principal spokesperson for the anti-Muslim group ‘Rights For Bendigo Residents’. Judging by this report in The Australian (Bendigo’s anti-mosque leader fights lawyers for loan costs, Rachel Baxendale, October 1, 2015), Hoskin has enough on her plate and is a bit too busy to play second fiddle to some fascists from Melbourne. Of course, on the other hand, the shooting in Sydney on Friday will presumably inspire a few more UPF followers to take to the streets …

As for Reclaim Australia, it continues to be active online. And while it has notably won the fulsome support of maverick Queensland MP George Christensen, it remains a touchy subject for the government, as Government Spokesperson For Multicultural Affairs Declines To Criticise Reclaim Australia (Max Chalmers, New Matilda, October 2, 2015). And oh yeah : ‘In an effort to boost its coffers the anti-Islamic movement has started marketing a bizarre line of products’ (see : For The Racist Who Has Everything: Reclaim Australia Releases Clothing Line, Coffee Mugs, And Tote Bags, Max Chalmers, New Matilda, September 30, 2015). Note also : Geert Wilders’ Dutch anti-Muslim party forced to reveal US donor, The Electronic Intifada, September 29, 2015.

Speaking of firing up the troops, one tricksy patriot (I suspect someone involved in the Patriots Defence League of Australia) has produced a poster (below), with an unusual emphasis upon f*cking. The reaction to it is as could be imagined, so props, I guess, to the patriotik yoof what done it: Mission Accomplished.

weird

One of the other legacies of the August 29 rally is a $1200 fine being imposed upon an anti-fascist for burning an Australian flag. An appeal has been launched to help them pay the fine here. Finally, on a lighter note, True Australian Patriots mining racism for comedy gold (ABC Radio National, September 30, 2015).

See also : How an anti-mosque campaign in Bendigo became a battle ground, Cameron Stewart, The Australian, September 26, 2015.

“Global Rally Against Muslims”

The UPF’s Bendigo rally on October 10 is one of several (Hobart, Perth and possibly Canberra) expected to take place in Australia as part of a ‘global’ (read: Australia and the United States) movement. For further details on the US protests, see : Anti-Muslim protests—some armed—planned for at least 20 sites across the country, Kalia Abiade, Imagine2050, September 29, 2015. Jon Ritzheimer, the bloke responsible for promoting the concept, is featured in Arizona militiaman howls in rage after Oath Keepers back away from his possibly illegal plot to ‘arrest’ senator, Travis Gettys, RawStory, September 25, 2015.

Golden Dawn /// Athens

Greek neo-Nazis Golden Dawn, whom the UPF regard as political allies, are on trial in Athens at the moment and a few days ago the mother of murdered rapper Pavlos Fyssas (Killah P) gave testimony [via Damian Mac Con Uladh /// GoldenDawnWatch]:

Pavlos was not in any political party. For years had been involved in music. His music was antifascist & antiracist. [Judge:] Did that get him into conflict with anyone? [Mom:] Pavlos’s girlfriend said there was no argument in place where they’d gone to watch a football match. Near place where they watched match, 20-strong group in black sweatshirts holding weapons gathered. Motorcycle police unit nearby. Pavlos and friends could see Golden Dawn one side & police the other. Intermediary came over and said don’t worry, I’ll sort it out. Pavlos: I’m not afraid, it’s my ‘hood. The 20 Golden Dawn who were already there were then joined by the Nikea hit squad. A car pulls up and a guy asks Pavlos and friends “where’s Kefalinias St?” We later learned that he [the guy in the car] was the murderer. Pavlos answered [guy in car]: This is it [the street] and the guy turned there. Then the whole gang of them, 50 in total, started approaching Pavlos and friends. They started to run and chase them. Pavlos told his friends to run. But Pavlos didn’t run. He was surrounded by 2-3 people so killer could come and stab him. I was told that he [killer] got out of the car and stabbed Pavlos twice in the heart. During incident Pavlos’ gf went to police at corner. They said: “We cannot intervene”. Police told Pavlos’ girlfiend that “nothing will happen, after two punches they’ll leave”. When two cops finally came over, it was already too late.

See also : Mother of Golden Dawn Murder Victim: ‘This Organization Trains Murderers’, Katerina Papathanasiou, Greek Reporter, October 2, 2015 | Slain rapper’s mother gives testimony at Golden Dawn trial, ekathimerini, October 2, 2015.

Swastikas

Some bloke in Ballarat was selling swastika merch at a market. In Melbourne, Ek Militaria in Essendon is a top place for Nazi memorabilia. As for Hitler, he liked to take drugs. Lots of them.

Finally, a new TV show is being produced based on the exciting anti-fascist adventures of The 43 Group, established in post-WWII E-E-England “with the unvarnished intent of, quite literally, beating British anti-semitic activists into submission. Among these soldiers, sailors and airmen would be a teenage former British Army private who was serving an apprenticeship as a hairdresser and went by the name of Vidal Sassoon.”

See also : The Darkness Before the Right, Park MacDougald, The Awl, September 28, 2015: “A right-wing politics for the coming century is taking shape. And it’s not slowing down.” | Mouthbreathing Machiavellis Dream of a Silicon Reich, Corey Pein, The Baffler, May 19, 2014.

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Q. Did Trotsky ‘invent’ the term ‘racist’ in 1927?

Posted on September 28, 2015 by @ndy

Over the last few months, Shermon Burgess — a/k/a ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’ — has begun to increasingly indulge in the perpetuation of a range of radical right-wing memes, not only about Islam and the left but multiculturalism, the United Nations (Agenda 21) and allied topics. One of my favourite memes is the one about Trotsky inventing the term ‘racist’.

GAPTrotsky

Short answer:

No.

Long answer:

[Source : The ‘Trotsky Invented The Concept Of Racism’ Myth, One Million United, January 1, 2010.]

The Myth

Nick Griffin [BNP leader]: No it’s because people like the BBC have demonised the word racist and have set about demonising us.
Gavin Esler: Demonised the word racist? There is somehow a good side to racism is there?
Nick Griffin: Ah, it’s a canned term. There’s no good side to racism. If you mean hating people, you’re doing it now. You’re not letting me explain for a start. Racism was a concept invented by Leon Trotsky, a Communist mass-murderer to demonise his opponents and stop people talking about certain issues.

Nick Griffin on BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ 25th May 2007.

The Truth

The concept of scientific racial supremacy was invented by Gobineau before Trotsky was born. Trotsky used the term racism to describe it, but racism only became an epithet to describe racial prejudice after he died.

This is a very popular myth with neo-Nazis and other White Nationalists, who especially enjoy pointing out that Trotsky was born into a Jewish family. According to them a Judeo-Communist conspiracy is trying to destroy Western civilization and the white race, etc, etc, etc and invented that word to silence people… yawn. Funny that Nick Griffin should use a staple argument used by anti-Semites isn’t it? It can be found all over the Internet and Griffin was obviously defending his right to be racist by the looks of things. His argument, which is the general one, is that the concept of racism was invented by a Communist to stifle opposition and freedom of speech. But where did Trotsky use the word? There are two alleged sources, the first one is ‘What Is National Socialism?’, published on June 10th 1933.

The theory of race, specially created, it seems, for some pretentious self-educated individual seeking a universal key to all the secrets of life, appears particularly melancholy in the light of the history of ideas. In order to create the religion of pure German blood, Hitler was obliged to borrow at second hand the ideas of racism from a Frenchman, Count Gobineau, a diplomat and a literary dilettante. Hitler found the political methodology ready-made in Italy, where Mussolini had borrowed largely from the Marxist theory of the class struggle. Marxism itself is the fruit of union among German philosophy, French history, and British economics. To investigate retrospectively the genealogy of ideas, even those most reactionary and muddleheaded, is to leave not a trace of racism standing.

On the plane of politics, racism is a vapid and bombastic variety of chauvinism in alliance with phrenology. As the ruined nobility sought solace in the gentility of its blood, so the pauperized petty bourgeoisie befuddles itself with fairy tales concerning the special superiorities of its race. Worthy of attention is the fact that the leaders of National Socialism are not native Germans but interlopers from Austria, like Hitler himself, from the former Baltic provinces of the Czar’s empire, like Rosenberg; and from colonial countries, like Hess, who is Hitler’s present alternate for the party leadership. A barbarous din of nationalisms on the frontiers of civilization was required in order to instill into its ‘leaders’ those ideas which later found response in the hearts of the most barbarous classes in Germany.

… In the sphere of modern economy, international in its ties and anonymous in its methods, the principle of race seems unearthed from a medieval graveyard. The Nazis set out with concessions beforehand; the purity of race, which must be certified in the kingdom of the spirit by a passport must be demonstrated in the sphere of economy chiefly by efficiency. Under contemporary conditions this means competitive capacity. Through the back door, racism returns to economic liberalism, freed from political liberties.

The second reference is from The History of the Russian Revolution, written in 1930 and translated and published in 1932. In here the word ‘racism’ does not appear, but ‘racist’ does.

Slavophilism, the messianism of backwardness, has based its philosophy upon the assumption that the Russian people and their church are democratic through and through, whereas official Russia is a German bureaucracy imposed upon them by Peter the Great. Marx remarked upon this theme: ‘In the same way the Teutonic jackasses blamed the despotism of Frederick the Second upon the French, as though backward slaves were not always in need of civilised slaves to train them.’ This brief comment completely finishes off not only the old philosophy of the Slavophiles, but also the latest revelations of the ‘Racists’.

So what did Trotsky mean by racism and racist? In the first quotation Trotsky says, “In order to create the religion of pure German blood, Hitler was obliged to borrow at second hand the ideas of from a Frenchman, Count Gobineau”. Who was Gobineau and what were his ideas? Arthur de Gobineau (1816 – 1882) wrote a book entitled An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races in which he proposes that the ‘white race’ is superior and that the Aryan branch of it in Northern Europe was the ‘Master Race’. He also believed race-mixing led to chaos. I bet you thought the Nazis invented all that didn’t you? Anyway, so Trotsky said Hitler created a ideology based on a pure German race and nicked ideas from Gobineau… err, well he did! Trotsky said the Nazis were practising an ideology based on race, which goes without saying is true. He was not trying to stop the Nazis talking about certain issues, he was criticising the concept of their race-based ideology. So if Griffin disagrees with Trotsky presumably he believes the Nazis didn’t have a racial ideology, or Trotsky was wrong to even mention it.

In the second quotation Trotsky says the Slavophiles believe Russians to be inherently democratic, an idea that he rubbishes. He says that also finishes off the claims of the racists. But again he is attacking the idea of racial differences not accusing the Slavophiles of saying racist things.

In both cases Trotsky is commenting on an existing ideology of racial superiority/difference, so he therefore did not invent the concept of racism. No more than the person who invented the word ‘cat’ was the inventor of cats!

Therefore what was the context Trotsky was using those words in, if he only is attacking the idea of inherent racial differences? In the 1930s the word ‘racism’ meant according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “[t]he theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race”. Which sounds exactly like the way Trotsky was using it. No doubt that applies to his earlier usage of ‘racist’ too.

In fact in the 1930s, also according to the OED, the word ‘racialism’ (dating from 1907) meant “belief in the superiority of a particular race; prejudice based on this”.

The current meaning of racism, that of prejudice, has only been attached to it since World War II. Prior to World War II it meant the difference between races. Conversely, ‘racialism’ no longer means racial superiority or prejudice. By the 1960s it had been made redundant as ‘racism’ had replaced it, but William Du Bois redefined it to mean the belief that differences exist between human races. In other words what ‘racism’ meant before World War II when Trotsky was using the word in his writing. A complete reversal.

Therefore the current accusations of racism directed at the Far Right do not mean the same thing as racism did in Trotsky’s writings. The concept of racial superiority itself goes back before Trotsky was even born and he didn’t coin ‘racialism’, which meant in the 1930s what ‘racism’ does today. Just as if Trotsky mentioned ‘gay’ in his writings he’d have meant happy or colourful, not a homosexual.

The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism was founded as the The League Against Pogroms in 1927, [it] later became the International League against Anti-Semitism and in 1932 it acquired its present name. Magnus Hirschfeld wrote his book Racism in 1933 (trans. into English in 1938) and is generally credited with inventing the word itself. As he was a gay Jew he isn’t too popular with the Far Right either. So there is doubt as to whether Trotsky did originate the word, but even if he did he was using it to describe something that no-one would dispute: that Nazi Germany had an ideology based on the racial differences between Germans and others.

Trotsky did not invent the concept of racism, it was Gobineau the grandfather of Nazi racial politics!

One last little thought: why would people like the BNP, who aren’t apparently racist, object to the very existence of the word? If they weren’t racist and neo-Nazis, why would they say the word has no legitimacy because a Communist invented it? If you did away with the words ‘racist’ and ‘racism’ that would significantly reduce the stigma of such behaviour. So why would the BNP want that if they aren’t racist? Presumably for the same reasons they want to abolish the Race Discrimination Act: they want to be able to be as racist as they like, with no legal or moral impediments.

See also : The Ugly, Fascinating History Of The Word ‘Racism’, Gene Demby, NPR, January 6, 2014 | “Race suicide” (January 1, 2011) | Dialectic of Counter-Enlightenment: The Frankfurt School as Scapegoat of the Lunatic Fringe (March 9, 2012).

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“Michael Schmidt is a white nationalist trying to infiltrate the anarchist movement.”

Posted on September 27, 2015 by @ndy

Update (October 30) : Alexander Reid Ross and Joshua Stephens have finished publishing their exposé on Schmidt. It is serialised. About Schmidt: How a White Nationalist Seduced Anarchists Around the World (Chapter 1) | About Schmidt: How a White Nationalist Seduced Anarchists Around the World (Chapter 2) | About Schmidt: How a White Nationalist Seduced Anarchists Around the World (Chapter 3) | About Schmidt: How a White Nationalist Seduced Anarchists Around the World (Chapter 4) | About Schmidt: How a White Nationalist Seduced Anarchists Around the World (Chapter 5).

Update (September 29) : The Institute for Anarchist Theory and History (IATH) (Instituto de Teoria e História Anarquista (ITHA)) — of which Michael Schmidt is a member — have published a ‘Statement on AK Press versus Michael Schmidt Case / Declaração sobre o caso AK Press versus Michael Schmidt’ | (September 30) : Statement from Anarkismo on the AK Press accusations against Michael Schmidt.

Briefly:

Anarchist publisher + distributor AK Press has issued a public statement on the subject of Michael Schmidt, among other things the co-author of Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism (AK Press, 2009). According to AK Press, Schmidt, while posing as a revolutionary anarchist, is in reality “an undercover fascist” and “a white nationalist trying to infiltrate the anarchist movement.”

importantunpleasant

As I see it, until such time as AK Press publishes its evidence — and Schmidt is given an opportunity to respond — it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to make a reasonable assessment of the situation. Nevertheless, some discussion has floated the possibility that Schmidt was moonlighting as a ‘national anarchist’. If so, this would be a case of ‘deep entrism’.

In any event, in Australia at least — and despite the best efforts of its chief promoter, Sydney-based businessman Welf Herfurth — ‘national anarchism’ appears to have been a largely abortive political project. Thus, other than arrange a handful of media stunts (see : When White nationalists attack! New Right @ Gaza solidarity rally, Sydney, November 24, December 7, 2012), ‘national anarchism’ has failed to establish itself as even a minor grouping on the far right. Indeed, one of Herfurth’s former acolytes, Scott Harrison, after taking a detour thru Creativity, eventually wound up as a Young Liberal (much to former Victorian premier Dennis Napthine’s embarrassment).

Obviously, there’s much more to come, but in the meantime note that ‘national anarchists’ are organising a conference to take place somewhere in Europe in 2017, at which Herfurth along with Troy Southgate, Keith Preston et al are scheduled to speak.

namcon

See also : ‘Co-opting the Counter Culture: Troy Southgate and the National Revolutionary Faction’ by Graham D. Macklin (May 30, 2009) | Rebranding Fascism: National-Anarchists, Spencer Sunshine, PublicEye.org, 2008 | Rising Above the Herd: Keith Preston’s Authoritarian Anti-Statism, Matthew N. Lyons, New Politics, April 29, 2011.

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments