The SUWA Show (November 2016) : Jason Wilson on Trump/ism

viva

Hola,

On this month’s episode of Floating Anarchy (The SUWA Show, 5.30pm, Friday, November 25 on 3CR), Dr Cam and I yarn to Jason Wilson (The Guardian) about Presidente Trump. See also : How can the left respond to the global resurgence of far-right populism?, November 24, 2016 | Melbourne 1 /// Trump 0, November 20, 2016.

Other notes of interest:

• This Sunday, November 27, the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (AUWU) is holding a public meeting @ the Unitarian Peace Memorial Church in East Melbourne to discuss ‘Solving Our Job Agency Crisis’. Confirmed speakers include David Thompson (CEO Jobs Australia), Sue Bolton (Socialist Alliance, Moreland City Councillor), Duncan Storrar (Freedom From Poverty), Pas Forgione (Coordinator, Anti Poverty Network SA), Owen Bennett (President, Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union) and Godfrey Moase (Assistant Secretary, National Union of Workers). See also : How Malcolm Turnbull’s Men Keeps The Dole Bludger Boogeyman Alive, Owen Bennett, New Matilda, November 20, 2016.

• Next Sunday, December 4, Jewsagainstfascism have organised a counter-rally — We Remember: Celebrate Multiculturalism, Oppose Pauline Hanson — to welcome *cough* One Nation MPs Pauline ‘Please Explain?’ Hanson and Malcolm ‘Jew World Order’ Roberts to Caulfield. The MPs have been invited to speak in Melbourne by a handful of her racist, right-wing fanboys at IDF Training (105 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield North); the counter-rally starts at midday.

One Nation Senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts are slated to “speak to, and take questions from, the Jewish community” in Caulfield on December 4.

Pauline Hanson and One Nation have been at the forefront of promoting Islamophobia. Malcom Roberts’ antisemitic conspiracy theories, are too far out there even for Andrew Bolt.

In the late nineties, the Jewish community was heavily involved in the fight against Pauline Hanson and her racism. We defeated her then and we can do it again.

This is a great opportunity to come together as a community and assert Jewish social justice ethics in a time of great uncertainty and heightened racism.

Multicultural street party against Hanson!

Defend multiculturalism! Fight racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism!

We welcome all community support.

See also : From Cable Street to Caulfield, Australian Jewish News, November 24, 2016 | Jewish group cries foul over One Nation senator’s ‘obscene’ anti-Semitism claims, Bianca Hall, The Age, November 22, 2016 | Strange bedfellows: Hanson, Roberts invited to address conservative Jewish group, Bianca Hall, The Age, November 16, 2016.

• Mess The West is a free DIY festival taking place in Footscray and surrounds from Thursday, December 1 — Sunday, December 4. Blog | Facebook.

mtw2

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Melbourne 1 /// Trump 0

trumprally

Briefly:

Upon the announcement of Donald Trump’s successful bid to become Presidente of the US of A, a local fanboy in Melbourne decided to dub himself ‘Supreme Leader President Donald Trump’ and to organise a public celebration. First aiming to have a victory party at Federation Square on Saturday, November 19, after discovering the fact that a rally to #BlockTheBill was also scheduled for the Square on that date, the time and place was changed to Parliament House and Sunday, November 20. The Facebook event page attracted a large number of interested parties which, as well as all The Usual Suspects of the far right, included a much larger number (hundreds!) of racist teenyboppers. Naturally, shortly after fanboy made his bold declaration, the methgoblins of the True Blue Crew jumped on the Trump bandwagon, as did the neo-Nazis in the United Patriots Front. And so, naturally, anti-fascists organised a counter-protest …

trumprallycarey

Despite a good deal of hype — bizarrely, The Age decided to explicitly link the Trump rally to the Springvale fire (Far-right group to rally in Melbourne as Springvale fire tragedy fuels racism on social media, Neelima Choahan, November 19, 2016) — barely a handful of people elected to rally for Trump: just 20 according to Adam Carey (later amended to 30), with most reports suggesting perhaps twice that number (40-50). On the other hand, something in the order of 300 or so people attended the anti-Trump rally, including the FIVE FLAG GENERAL — who proved once again to be unbashable.

SALUTe!

fivejolly

So … all in all, the Trump train appears to be stranded somewhere between Frankston and Melton stations, the altright in Melbourne remains a fringe enthusiasm for keyboard warriors, and the TBC and UPF failed to paint the town orange. They did, however, once again retreat to The Pumphouse Hotel, confirming the pub’s status as a fascist-friendly venue: boo! mAd props to all the good folk who rocked up to tell Trump and his handful of supporters to bugger off — you rock! See youse next time … and remember that your pressure really does place real limits on the ability of the far right to mobilise and to build.

See also : Anti-immigration, anti-racism forces protest in Melbourne, heavy police presence, ABC, November 20, 2016 | Melb CBD closed off for Trump rallies, SBS (AAP), November 20, 2016 | Melbourne pro-Trump rally outnumbered by police and counter-protesters, Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian, November 20, 2016.

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#Melbourne : #BlockTheBill : Saturday NOV 19 /// No to #Trump : Sunday NOV 20

Dear me.

Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, racists and fascists the world over have been emboldened by President-elect Trump and Australia is no exception.

trumptoo

Local fascist thugs the True Blue Crew and United Patriots Front have organised a public celebration of Donald Trump’s victory. Their celebration is scheduled to take place at Federation Square Parliament House on Saturday November 19 Sunday November 20, between 2.00pm and 5.30pm.

A counter-rally has been organised under the auspices of Campaign Against Racism & Fascism and No Room For Racism, which is scheduled to begin at 1pm outside Parliament House. See the Facebook event page for more details.

btb

In addition: a rally has been called to #BlockTheBill — starting at 1pm and concluding at 4pm — on Saturday, November 19. (NB. Another rally has been organised to take place at the Square to support political reform in Malaysia between 2 and 4pm.)

See also : Far-right announce rally to “celebrate” Trump, Kieran’s Review, November 14, 2016.

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Viva Presidente Trump!

viva

I thought I may as well throw up the stuff that’s caught my eye inre Presidente Trump here:

President Trump: Countdown to Apocalypse, b. traven, CrimethInc, November 9, 2016
An American Tragedy, David Remnick, The New Yorker, November 9, 2016
Dark days ahead, Spencer Sunshine, Jungle World, November 9, 2016
Here Is What Donald Trump Wants To Do In His First 100 Days, Amita Kelly, Barbara Sprunt, NPR, November 9, 2016
Donald Trump is moving to the White House, and liberals put him there, Thomas Frank, The Guardian, November 9, 2016
President Donald Trump wins: Noam Chomsky called this political moment 6 years ago, Christopher Hooton, The Independent, November 9, 2016
Trump’s win is a reminder of the incredible, unbeatable power of racism, Jenée Desmond-Harris, Vox, November 9, 2016
Statement from Political Research Associates on the 2016 Election, Tarso Luís Ramos, November 9, 2016
A New Political Moment: Reactions to a Trump Victory From the Radical Left, Black Rose Anarchist Federation, November 9, 2016
Globalisation is dead, and white supremacy has triumphed, Paul Mason, The Guardian, November 9/10, 2016
Electing Trump: the moment America laid waste to democracy as we know it, Gary Younge, The Guardian, November 9/10, 2016

US election 2016: Bernie Sanders and the alt-left could have trumped Trump, Damien Murphy, The Age, November 10, 2016
If You Think Racism Won Donald Trump The Election, You’ve Missed The Point… Again, Michael Brull, New Matilda, November 10, 2016
Round-up of Recriminations (‘After Trump’s win, there are more culprits than we can shake a finger at’), Corey Pein, The Baffler, November 10, 2016
The hucksters of discontent, Angela Mitropoulos, s0metim3s, November 10, 2016 [A response to It was the Democrats’ embrace of neoliberalism that won it for Trump, Naomi Klein, The Guardian, November 9, 2016]
The Nightmare Begins, Adam Shatz, London Review of Books, November 10, 2016

How Trump Won (‘The Democratic Party’s abandonment of the working class cleared the space for Trump’), Jedediah Purdy, Jacobin, November 11, 2016
No One is Coming to Save Us, First of May Anarchist Alliance, November 11, 2016
Saturn devours his young: President Trump, Salvage, November 11, 2016
10 policies to expect from Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, Lindsay Schubiner, Imagine 2050, November 11, 2016
To avoid the American nightmare, Australia needs solidarity, Van Badham, The Guardian, November 11, 2016

The blank face of a new America, Martin McKenzie-Murray, The Saturday Paper, November 12, 2016
All The Ingredients For ‘Trumpland Down Under’ Are There. Here’s How To Resist, Xiaoran Shi, New Matilda, on November 12, 2016

See also : Election 2016: Exit Polls, The New York Times | Divided We Stand, United We Fall (‘Trump finds supporters on the European populist right’), Péter Krekó, Hate Speech International, November 5, 2016 | The Deportation Machine Obama Built for President Trump, Marisa Franco and Carlos Garcia, The Nation, June 27, 2016.

NO PEACEFUL TRANSITION #DisruptJ20 from subMedia.tv on Vimeo.

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Butterflies & Unicorns Win “The Battle of Eltham”

nickcondoms

Briefly:

Around 70 or so people attended “The Battle Of Eltham” today, the great majority non-locals from Sydney (Party For Freedom), Bendigo and Melton (True Blue Crew). All The Usual Suspects were present: Sergio Redegalli; Nick Folkes (pictured above), Toby Cook and George Jameson (PFF); Kane Miller, Paul ‘Guru’ Franzi & Co. (TBC); The Angry Gnome Jay B Moore & his wannabe bikies (Soldiers Of Odin) et al. Also guest starring (sic) were valour thief and serial pest Ralph Cerminara and (!) Richard Lalich (Australian Defence League); Blair Cottrell and Thomas Sewell (United Patriots Front); UPF lackeys Julian de Ross and John Wilkinson; John Bolton (Reclaim Australia, Adelaide) and a handful of other boofheads.

Something in the order of 200 or so other people joined Diamond Yarra Valley Resistance Solidarity (DYVRS) for a gathering and march, while several thousand more — including the supporters of ‘Welcome to Eltham’ — gathered in the city for a refugee rally. A good account of the day’s events in Eltham is provided by Kieran Bennett in Far-Right Outnumbered In Eltham (November 5, 2016), while the ABC published Eltham refugee rally: Scores turn out to support Syrian refugees being resettled; The Age Battle for Eltham: Welcoming butterflies a background to anti-refugee protests, The Guardian Victorian anti-refugee rally: counter-protesters turn up in strength and SBS (AAP) Pro and anti-refugee protests in Melbourne.

unicornz

The relatively small number who rallied under Folkes’ PFF banner is indicative of two things. One, there’s very little sympathy for those opposed to the housing project in the local community, especially when this opposition is being proclaimed by racist thugs. Two, the brief popularity enjoyed by Reclaim Australia and the UPF as a vehicle for racist, right-wing and xenophobic discontent — especially in Bendigo and, to a lesser extent, in Melton — has largely collapsed. This is likely due both to opposition and the failure to achieve very much through public mobilisations, but is also likely related to the various legal problems encountered by some of its adherents, most obviously in the case of alleged terrorist and TBC supporter Phillip Galea. So too, the prosecution of Blair Cottrell, Neil Erikson and Chris Shortis for racial and/or religious villification. As noted previously, John Wilkinson and Linden Watson, though also taking part in the UPF stunt in Bendigo, have escaped prosecution. Notably, Wilkinson had close dealings with Galea, allegedly providing him with cattle prods for use on leftist demonstrators.

At this stage, the next hate rally is scheduled for January in Sydney under the auspices of Reclaim Australia. In any event, the photo below, courtesy of JE, sums things up in Eltham today I think: a racist teenybopper from the True Blue Crew giving the finger to locals.

tbcgreets

Bonus Grace!

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“The Battle of #Eltham” : #Fascists ~versus~ #Refugees : November 5, 2016

See also : 800 crimes against German refugee shelters so far this year, Middle East Eye, October 19, 2016: Crimes include arson, attacks using explosives and distribution of far-right propaganda.

This Saturday, November 5, a small group of people from Sydney, Bendigo, Melton and Melbourne will be descending upon St Andrew Park in Eltham in order to engage in what the organisers of the rally, the Sydney-based micro-sect ‘Party For Freedom’, are referring to as “The Battle Of Eltham”. The ‘Battle’ is to stop St Vincent’s Care Services in Eltham from providing housing to a number of Iraqi and Syrian refugees, a joint project of St Vincent’s Health Australia and CatholicCare. According to St Vincent’s, the proposal is intended:

… to help settle and support vulnerable refugees from Syria and Iraq – with priority given to women and children.

The refugees will be provided with medium-term rental accommodation in 60 units on the site of St Vincent’s Care Services Eltham. These units are stand-alone and separate from the residential aged care and independent living facilities on site.

The 60 units have been vacant for a number of years and have been refurbished by St Vincent’s Care Services to make them liveable.

The refugee housing project will run for two years and then the accommodation will be transitioned to be used as affordable housing for seniors.

There will be no impact on the residential aged care or independent living residents who live at the Eltham site.

You can read more about the project on the fact sheet (October 5, 2016) St Vincent’s has provided here.

In any case, while St Vincent’s claims that ‘We bring God’s love to those in need through the healing ministry of Jesus’, others, including the Party For Freedom, Soldiers Of Odin, True Blue Crew and United Patriots Front, have other ideas. Thus according to the PFF, in its promotional material for the ‘Battle’, ‘the decision to house the refo invaders in an aged care facility is a slap in the face of locals’, and those who support the proposal are ‘deranged and irresponsible advocates for open borders’. Further, ‘both major parties are working together to destroy Australia by using taxpayers’ money to facilitate the third world colonisation of Australia’: a dastardly plot which now implicates the Christian charities St Vincent’s and CatholicCare. Of course, the PFF also advocates the forcible sterilisation of refugees from the ‘Third World’, and is otherwise infamous for staging an invasion of a church service in Gosford (August 2016) and for attempting to stage a recreation of ‘The Battle of Cronulla’ (December 2015).

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

elthamrallyspeakers

Those scheduled to speak at St Andrew Park as part of the ‘Battle’ are all familiar faces on the far right. Thus in addition to PFF Chairman Nick Folkes and his teenybopper sidekick Toby Cook, Sydney-based anti-Muslim activist Sergio Redegalli, ex-Australian Liberty Alliance candidate John Bolton of Adelaide, and local boys Paul ‘Guru’ Franzi (True Blue Crew), Julian de Ross (AKA ‘Hugh Pearson’, United Patriots Front) and John Wilkinson (AKA ‘Farma John’) will all be delighting the crowds with their verbal wit. One person who won’t be joining the patriotik mob will be Phillip Galea, currently a resident at Thomas Embling hospital, but otherwise on trial for alleged terrorist offences. A friend of Reclaim Australia, the TBC and the UPF, Galea’s previous legal entanglements revolved around Wilkinson’s alleged provision to him of a number of cattle prods; Wilkinson was also one of those who participated in the UPF dummy stunt in Bendigo in October last year, though has escaped facing any charges. Not so lucky are UPF fuehrer Blair Cottrell and former UPF members Neil Erikson and Chris Shortis (now a member of the White nationalist Australia First Party): they are due to face court in March next year.

The fascist plan to grunt and squeal in St Andrew Park has also resulted in the organisation of some other activities by Diamond Yarra Valley Resistance Solidarity on Saturday morning. Titled SAFE – Stand Against Fascism in Eltham, the DYVRS day begins at 10am. In which context, it’s worthwhile noting that this is NOT a counter-rally and DYVRS is seeking to avoid any and all confrontation on the day. DYVRS:

DYVRS is staunchly antifascist, and firmly believes that hatred and bigotry on our streets should be shut down. In this instance though, due to circumstance and location, direct opposition to thugs and bigots is not a workable tactic.

If your desire is to shout at and engage with right wing undesirables, while in other circumstances we might agree, in this case we must respectfully ask you not join us on the day. We cannot emphasise this enough – this is a peaceful protest aimed at avoiding conflict. There is much at stake in this issue and no one to profit from conflict but the groups we oppose.

Note that further details on the day’s events (which are scheduled to finish at 1pm, ie, before the fascist rally ends at 2pm) may be found by checking the DYVRS Facebook event page on Friday night. Just a reminder the first stop on Saturday’s event at 10am is a very long way from the shouty asshats and is in an easily secured location. You are most welcome to just attend that part if you’d like. This stop will have the speeches and the banner drop. Afterwards we’ll be moving a little closer to their group but not in contact and if you’d prefer not to do that, that’s fine too. See you Saturday – remember to check for maps and further instructions on Friday on this page or Twitter.

As always, much love and respect to all the good folk taking a stand against racism and bigotry — see you on the streets!

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Phillip Galea : Y U No Like The Left?

galeayuno

Briefly, Phillip Galea appeared in court again today where, inter alia, police reaffirmed that he allegedly planned on doing harm to leftists. See :

Victorian extremist Phillip Galea planned to bomb leftwing premises, police say (AAP/The Guardian)
‘Patriot’ accused of bomb plans, rewriting terror guide, assures judge of sanity (Adam Cooper, The Age)

The Age article contains a Channel 7 News report which states that Galea attended the May 31, 2015 United Patriots Front (UPF) anti-leftist rally in Richmond armed with a 25cm kitchen knife; ‘according to Federal police that was just the beginning of his violent plan’. (Incidentally, the protest was a bizarre attempt to remove Yarra councillor and socialist Stephen Jolly from office. Happily enough, Jolly was re-elected to his position on the weekend.)

Galea is scheduled to be back in court on December 19.

A few points:

In addition to being linked to Reclaim Australia (Galea attended their protests and claimed to have been an admin on one of their Facebook pages; he also appears to have helped establish the RA Media website and ‘RA media newsgroupe’ Facebook page), the True Blue Crew (TBC) and UPF (Galea attended various of their functions, both public rallies and more private meetings), it’s alleged that he had an association with neo-Nazi grouplet ‘Combat 18’, which has maintained a shadowy presence in STRAYA for some years. A few years ago (2010), several C18 members were convicted of having shot at a mosque in Perth, while in Melbourne it’s more closely associated with Creatard bonehead Patrick O’Sullivan, though others have also claimed an association and have attended various public protests organised by the TBC and UPF, including in Coburg in May and the ‘Blue Lives Matter’ demonstration in the CBD in July. Note that Galea also attended a farcical anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rally in Melbourne organised by the ‘Australian Defence League’ back in April 2010.

galeashortisoct10
Above : Galea with comrades at the United Patriots Front rally in Bendigo, October 10, 2015. L to R : Galea, Chris Shortis, Linden Watson and Ralph Cerminara.

galeawtbc2b
Above: Galea chillin’ like a gangster with the True Blue Crew.

Otherwise:

The True Blue Crew will be hopping on a bus from Bendigo and Melton to Eltham on November 5 in order to attend a protest organised by the Sydney-based Party for Freedom (PFF). The PFF maintain that the decision by St Vincent’s Care Services to temporarily house 100 or so refugees from Iraq and Syria at its site is tantamount to rape and murder. Then again, the PFF has also floated the idea that peoples in the Third World require sterilisation, so we’re not really talking about rational political actors. The boys from Sydney, Bendigo and Melton will be joined by the Soldiers of Odin, who were the subject of a recent column by Jason Wilson: Fear and loathing on the streets: the Soldiers of Odin and the rise of anti-refugee vigilantes (The Guardian, October 28, 2016): ‘Far right groups are gaining a global foothold because they echo mainstream discourse which has shrunk the political horizon to issues of border paranoia, terror, and security.’

In response to the fascist protest, Diamond Yarra Valley Resistance Solidarity (DYVRS) has organised some alternative activities: SAFE – Stand Against Fascism in Eltham.

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#Northcote (Anti) Social Club : Pay Your Workers!

Update (October 24, 2016) :

The ASF is pleased to announce a win for Shawn in his dispute with Northcote Social Club.

On Tuesday 18 October, during a Fair Work Australia conciliation meeting, Northcote Social Club backed down and agreed to pay Shawn compensation for his unfair dismissal. While Shawn is not at liberty to disclose the details of those discussions, nor the nature of the resolution, the ASF understands he is very happy with the result.

In light of what we previously knew, we understand this to mean that Shawn feels fully compensated regarding the pro rata long service leave entitlement he would have become eligible for this October had he not been illegally sacked from his role in July.

The ASF would like to thank all of those who helped by participating in the picketing of Corner Group’s four pubs:

– The Northcote Social Club (Northcote, Vic.)
– The Corner Hotel (Richmond, Vic.)
– The National Hotel (Richmond, Vic.)
– The Newtown Social Club (Newtown, NSW).

This win would not have been achieved without the pressure exerted on Corner Group’s bosses by the ASF’s direct action methods.

For the time being, Shawn has requested that the ASF and all the people who supported him during this dispute refrain from taking any further action in his name against the company.

While the ASF will continue to support other underpaid workers from Northcote Social Club, we will be observing a 30 day hiatus of action in order not to jeopardise the agreement reached between Shawn and Corner Group.

Well done to all involved. And thank you for your support!

nasc

Damn.

Apparently, the Northcote Social Club (301 High Street, Northcote), which is part of the Corner Group of venues (owners of The Corner Hotel and The National Hotel in Richmond and the Newtown Social Club in Sydney), has been screwing over some of its workers. The situation has been developing over some months and it seems that management has been intransigent in refusing to fulfill its obligations with regards at least one and possibly more workers. This is disappointing as the venues are very popular and generally well-regarded and myself and a shitload of people I know like to drink and perform there. In any case, as a consequence of management’s poor behaviour, a boycott of the Northcote has been initiated — until such time as The Corner Group agrees to do what’s right. Hopefully, this is soon, as a failure to do so will permanently scar the venue’s reputation among locals, especially unionists and music-lovers.

The Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF) is calling upon patrons, bands, booking agents to boycott Northcote Social Club (NSC) to support Shawn, in a case of wrongful dismissal.

After reviewing the facts associated with this case, the ASF is of the opinion Shawn’s dismissal was engineered by NSC management to avoid becoming liable to pay Shawn pro rata long-service leave to which he was 3 months short of becoming entitled to under Section 58(1) and (2) of the Long Service Leave Act 1992 (Vic.).

Five of Shawn’s fellow workers at NSC have since resigned in protest at his treatment. The ASF also believes that NSC has been illegally underpaying its employees for the last 7 years, by using their annual leave entitlements to pay certain public holidays in contravention of Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), Sections 114–116.

We note the cynical hypocrisy of these actions in a pub whose branding seeks to cultivate an image of working class values.

The ASF requests your assistance in boycotting NSC until these grievances are addressed.

Furthermore we encourage the boycott of all CUB products in solidarity with the CUB55 (incidentally CUB is the Northcote Social Club’s main supplier).

You can’t quench a hard earned thirst with a cold, scab beer, especially not at the NSC!

For more information and to keep up-to-date with the ongoing campaign, please see : Boycott the Northcote Social Club.

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Deströyer 666 Australian Tour (November 2016)

Update (October 15) : I haven’t linked to the many online discussions re D666 or to anecdotal accounts of their shows attracting nazis. But I will post this extract from an interview with local comedian Aamer Rahman about his experience at a D666 show back in 2003.

metalaamer

Black/death/thrash heavy metal band Deströyer 666, which originally formed in Australia over two decades ago, are touring the country in November. The tour comes on the heels of the release of their new album Wildfire (on French label Season of Mist — you can read a hostile review here); their first since 2009’s Defiance (also on Season). The band is playing the following dates and venues:

Friday, Nov 4: Brisbane – Crowbar
Saturday, Nov 5: Sydney – Manning Bar
Sunday, Nov 6: Canberra – The Basement
Friday, Nov 11: Melbourne – Max Watts
Saturday, Nov 12: Adelaide – Enigma
Sunday, Nov 13: Perth – The Rosemount Hotel

Back in July, the band copped some heavy criticism on the Metal Sucks website, which called them ‘racist douchebags’, and in a series of three articles — since removed from the MS site — made various claims about the band and in particular its lead singer, KK Warslut (AKA Keith Bemrose), concluding that, inter alia, Keith is a ‘proven racist, misogynist and asshole’ who has ‘alarmingly racist, misogynistic and violent tendencies’. (The deleted articles were titled ‘Deströyer 666’s Set at Denmark’s Metal Magic Fest Marred by Fight Between the Audience and the Band’, July 11, 2016; ‘Deströyer 666: Officially Racist D-Bags’, July 12, 2016; ‘Deströyer 666 Frontman K.K. Warslut Digs in on Racist Comments at NYC Show’, July 15, 2016). On July 18, the site published an ‘apology’ to the band — this too has been deleted.

At the time, I made the mistake of sharing one of the articles on my Facebook page. This apparently triggered two of the band’s local fanboys.

angwyd666fanboys

(Note: Ryan Marauder formerly played gits with Melbourne heavy metal band Gospel of the Horns (1997-2005; 2007-2011) and bass with neo-Nazi rockers Deaths Head (2003-2011); the neo-Nazis are assembling again this weekend in Melbourne for the annual Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig.)

So what’s all the fuss?

The publication of the articles sparked a virtual storm in a verymetal teacup, and mostly assumed the forms you’d expect, ie, HAILS! from fans, tut-tutting from critics, and bemusement on the part of the rest. The fact that Keith and D666 have a deliberately kvltivated reputation for being meanies seems to have escaped most commentators, as has the fact that his shtick forms an important part of his appeal (among the band’s fanbase, at least). One site that attempted to provide a more nuanced response was ToiletOvHELL: On Threats, Censorship, and Destroyer 666 (July 19, 2016).

I’ll try my best to lay out a timeline here: On July 9th, a drunk KK spent a good amount of time on stage at Metal Magic festival in Denmark expressing his hatred for the audience. He was particularly “sick of” the men, who had descended from Vikings, but were now living in a “matriarchal” society. He also became outraged at a concertgoer in an Antifa mask, but in fairness, that outburst was far more understandable due to the militant nature of the Australian left-wing extremist group, who tends to default to immediate violence themselves. Several fans jumped on stage at different times in an attempt to fight KK, who had to be held back himself. Luckily, their set ended without violence. This unprompted display of misogyny resulted in perplexed coverage from a few metal websites; Metalsucks paired it with a discussion of KK’s Nazi-associated tattoos, his identification of the white wolf (which is standing over its mutilated brown prey) on their Unchain The Wolves album as “the spirit of the white man,” and his former membership in the openly racist band The Raven’s Wing.

In which context, a few things:

• Keith’s concerns about The Emasculation Of Danish Society are kinda silly, while his drunken antics can be read in at least one of two ways: a) he acted in ways he wouldn’t when sober; b) in his inebriated state, the filter that would normally separate his bRanes from his mouth wasn’t working very well, and so he expressed himself more crudely than he would otherwise. In either case, his views about the threat posed to Men by Feminisms is reasonably widely-shared, and not only among metalheads …

• According to Keith, speaking in another interview (Bardo Methodology, July 27, 2016), the so-called ‘antifa’ who jumped on stage to pick a fight was just Some Guy in a mask: ‘As it turns out, this clown was no left-wing extremist at all; just an idiot who thought it would be cool to wear a mask to a show. I believe the common term for such types is twat.’

• It seems a bit odd to link this incident to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald on Those Mysterious Antifa, especially as D666 is now based in Europe. A more relevant link would be to the ambush of Polish NSBM band Tormentia … but that’s another story.

• Keith does have a ‘Nazi’ tattoo on his tummy — the Wolfsangel or Wolf’s Hook. In his interview with Bardo Methodology (cited above), Keith reckons he got it because he likes wolves ‘n’ shit — and besides, it’s an ancient rune.

• Keith’s quip about the wolf on the cover of the band’s 1997 album Unchain The Wolves occurred during a radio interview on 3RRR’s The Hard Report in June of the same year. You can read more about that interview here.

• Asked about Raven’s Wing, Keith (Bardo Methodology) says: ‘What a fuckin’ joke. I challenge anyone to find a single phrase on that album (“Through the Looking Glass”, 1997) that denigrates any race’, adding that ‘I respect all ethnicities, my own included. I believe that all peoples deserve respect and access to live as they wish in their own homelands – without outside influence or coercion.’ For the record, the Raven’s Wing album Through The Looking Glass was recorded for German neo-Nazi label Destiny Records. Originally released in 1997, it was re-released by Rock-O-Rama in 2008, and featured the talents of Keith, ‘Aussie’ Nigel Brown and Mark Costello (AKA ‘Coz’ and ‘Howitzer’) on drums. The chief vocalist on the projekt was Scott McGuinness, better known as the singer for neo-Nazi reich ‘n’ roll band Fortress. Leaving aside the lyric content — mawkish laments for a better, Whiter Australia and tributes to The White Man’s Struggle, for the most part — it beggars belief that Keith was unaware of the nature of the recording. In any case, while Fortress is defunct, Brown apparently now resides in the Netherlands and occasionally performs live at ‘Rac’n’Roll Place’ in Veendam:

Veendam is about an old gym just outside the center, where a portion from July 2014 was opened as a tavern. Martin pivotal figure of the grind (1969) from Winschoten has been running for over thirty years around in the extreme right scene and this gym has been converted into ‘Rac’n’Roll Place’. Here is sold as in Ravenstein drink and far-right propaganda material distributed. As the southern Nationalist Flemish guests also pulling know, so Rac’n’Roll Place focuses successfully on German sympathizers. The difference between these spots is that there are gatherings take place more often in Veendam, where significantly more visitors coming. There is also a space where archery, strength training and kickboxing can be practiced. Furthermore they occasionally musicians, such as the Australian guitarist Nigel Brown (1967). Brown has played in a number of imaginative Nazi bands and was sentenced in Australia to nine months’ imprisonment for ‘gay bashing’. In 1995 he takes in the North Holland village Zwaag a CD with his band Celtic Warrior. During this recording, the band members were arrested by police. Two years later, Brown was sentenced to a fine of 1500,- for insulting Jews. In the old&new party which 2014 ended the visitors could admire Rac’n’Roll Brown a fee of € 15,- entree.

• While Keith’s status as a ‘neo-Nazi’ is questionable, and it seems he rejects the term, it appears equally obvious that he shares at least some of their views regarding the natural *cough* order of things, and provides at least tacit support for the concept of a Safe European Home for Whites. That said, the recordings he’s made and the associations he’s had over the last two decades seem just as much social as they are political. Partly, this is a product of sharing common origins with the Whyalla thrashers of the 1980s, with Keith doing time in Corpse Molestation, Bestial Warlust and D666; Rob ‘Death Dealer’ Currie in Vomitor and Spear of Longinus; Mark ‘Howitzer’ Costello in D666 and Gospel of the Horns; Brad ‘B.C.’ Chung in Corpse Molestation, Vomitor and Razor of Occam; and Matt ‘Razor’ Schneemilch in D666 and Razor. In other words, it’s a close circle of Happy Metal Friends (which happens to include neo-Nazis).

Back to ToiletOvHell:

This brings us to July 17th. Destroyer 666 posted a long tour wrap-up on Facebook, and spent most of it calling out metal blogs and SJW culture (ah yes, the old standby attack). In a truly deplorable display, KK railed against Blair Hopkins, calling her a “little lying dishonest whore.” He accused her of being “more intent on advertising her attractiveness to drunks than she was in writing an honest review.” Then, switching to a second person narrative (while drastically upping his typo-per-sentence rate), he finished with “Clearly your insecure about your looks woman and felt a burning desire to advertise just how irresistible you are.To drunks.Sad desperate bitch.”

These are not very nice things to say in response to a review, but do seem to accurately reflect Keith’s approach to critics.

ToiletOvHell again:

Next, and most deplorably (although finding new lows seems difficult at this point), he targets the editors of Metalsucks. Like several other metal blogs (and grown men who call themselves KK Warslut), each contributor writes under a pseudonym … KK took great offense to [their articles], and posted the real names of both editors, and a picture, the home address, and personal phone number of the site’s founder in their rambling nonsense.

In other words, Keith d0xxed the site’s eds.

Finally, Stockhausen decries Keith’s misogynist response to Blair Hopkin’s review, but I would suggest that the lyrics to the song ‘Raped’ (from 2002’s Cold Steel … For An Iron Age) are relevant:

d666raped

So too, his response to a question (Bardo Mythology) regarding the incident in Denmark:

[BM] KK once lived in Denmark for a few years, and I’m curious if this is where his resentment stems from. — On the contrary, he proclaims, of all the Scandinavians I’ve found Danes to be the least emasculated. Sweden on the other hand, I’d say is the first real matriarchal society we’ve seen in the West – famous also for their staggering rape statistics. How’s that working out for ya’s, ladies?

In introducing the song to the DeathKult Open Air Festival 2012, Keith states: This one’s for all the Muslim immigrants who are invading — who are invited to invade our fucking continent. Fuck you Allah. Yeah everyone’s busy being anti-Christian. Fuck being anti-Christian, let’s be fucking anti-Muslim for once. This is our fucking land …

Top Bloke.

See also : Deströyer 666, Bordo Methodology, March 14, 2016 | A Brief History Of Neo-Nazi Music In Australia (December 2, 2010) | Reichsrock: The International Web of White-Power and Neo-Nazi Hate Music, Kirsten Dyck (Rutgers University Press, 2016).

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, History, Media, Music, Poetry, Sex & Sexuality | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

antifa notes (october 10, 2016) : Soldiers of Odin Redux /// Eltham /// Hammerskins

See also : Who are the Soldiers of Odin?, Kieran’s Review, October 10, 2016 | An Anti-Muslim Vigilante Group Is Roaming The Melbourne CBD Pledging To “Keep Our Streets Safe”, Tom Clift, Junkee, October 10, 2016.

1) Soldiers Of Odin

Several months after they began parading around the Melbourne CBD, The Age has taken notice of the Soldiers of Odin. See : Vigilante-style group Soldiers of Odin patrolling Melbourne CBD, Chris Vedelago and Cameron Houston, October 10, 2016. According to The Age: “The Soldiers of Odin appear to operate similarly to the Guardian Angels network, founded in New York City in 1979 to patrol the subway system amid growing crime rates.” I would suggest that a better model would be the street patrols of Greek neo-Nazis Golden Dawn. Be that as it may, a few points:

• The SOO were founded in October 2015 by Mika Ranta, a Finnish neo-Nazi activist with links to the Suomen vastarintaliike or Finnish Resistance Movement (FRM), the local branch of neo-Nazi grouplet Nordic Resistance Movement. Like others belonging to SOO, Ranta has a violent criminal record.

• Members of the FRM are allegedly responsible for the recent killing of an anti-racist activist, 28-year-old Jimi Karttunen: “The man arrested in connection with assaulting a man to death at the Helsinki Central Railway Station is a key figure in the Finnish Resistance Movement (SVL), confirmed the police. A passer-by was beaten up outside the Helsinki central railway station where the Finnish Resistance Movement was holding a demonstration on September 10. The man succumbed to his injuries at the Helsinki Meilahti hospital on September 16” (Helsinki murder suspect key figure in SVL, FTimes-STT Report, September 21, 2016). His murder sparked a massive protest in Helsinki, one of the largest in recent memory.

• Since its formation in Finland, the SOO — rather like the (now largely-moribund) English Defence League — has expanded to a number of other territories, including Canada. Anti-Racist Canada has exhaustively documented SOO’s links to neo-Nazism and criminal violence.

• The leader of SOO in Melbourne is Jay B Moore. Like other Soldiers, Moore has an association with other patriotik groups, in particular the Patriots Defence League of Australia (PDLA). Below he’s pictured at the joint Reclaim Australia/United Patriots Front (UPF) anti-Muslim rally in Melton in November 2015 and at the UPF rally in Bendigo in February 2016 sporting PDLA merch. (Another member of the SOO, Cam ‘Moody’ McCann, was present at the Reclaim Australia rally in Melbourne in April 2015 in the company of a small clutch of neo-Nazi methgoblins.) Given the apparent collapse of the PDLA, it makes sense for Moore and others to have hitched their wagon to yet another anti-Muslim vehicle; an ever-present dynamic within the broader milieu. Or: same shit, different pile.

sooatmeltonnov2015

soobendigofeb16

• While the meatheads belonging to SOO are obviously more attracted to the bells, whistles and uniforms, the association between Odinism (and other forms of esoteric religion), fascism and neo-Nazism extends back many years, including in Australia, and most especially by way of Alexander Rud Mills (1885–1964). His peculiar beliefs are examined in ‘Skeggold, skalmold; vindold, vergold’: Alexander Rud Mills and the Asatru faith in the New Age (Australian Religion Studies Review, Vol.12, No.1, January 1999) while his (Nazi) political beliefs are examined more closely in David S. Bird’s Nazi Dreamtime: Australian enthusiasts for Hitler’s Germany (ASP, 2012). See also : Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2002). Anti-Fascist News provides some more recent accounts of the relationship between neo-paganism and the far right on its site here; it’s also worth noting that other ‘heathens’ reject racism and fascism. See : Heathens United Against Racism.

• The SOO joined the True Blue Crew (TBC) and UPF at their anti-Muslim rally in Melton in August this year at which members of the TBC and SOO clashed. The TBC eventually booted the SOO from Melton, with most of their animosity seemingly being directed at SOO President Jay B Moore. Despite this, the SOO — minus including Moore — joined with the TBC at an anti-refugee rally in Eltham on October 1.

sooinheide
Source : DYVRS

Speaking of which …

2) DYVRS – Diamond Yarra Valley Resistance Solidarity

folkeswit

The Party for Freedom (PFF) is holding another anti-refugee rally in Eltham on November 5. The ostensible target of their ire is St Vincent’s Care Services, which has recently won a contract to provide housing to something in the order of 100 Iraqi and Syrian refugees. St Vincent’s has published a fact sheet explaining the initiative here.

In response to this rally and the rally of October 1 a new group has formed: Diamond Yarra Valley Resistance Solidarity (DYVRS). On the DYVRS blog it notes that a majority of those present at the rally on October 1 were drawn from the TBC, SOO and other satellites; the Soldiers, the Crew, the UPF, the PFF and All The Usual Suspects (even Ralph Cerminara!) have announced their intentions to return on November 5, making it a fun day for the whole racist family. Those unhappy at the prospect of another assembly of racist and fascist bigots should follow DYVRS for more announcements.

3) Blood & Honour / Southern Cross Hammerskins

FTR, Benson & Hedges and the Southern Cross Hammerskins are holding their annual Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig this weekend in Melbourne. The event commemorating the death of the Skrewydriver has been held every year for the past two decades with only occasional fanfare in the media — even the massacre conducted by Hammerskin Wade Michael Ppage at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin 2012 barely registered in Australia. In any case, their cheeky kameraden in the UK managed to fool keen-eyed and whip-smart Cambridgeshire Police a few weeks ago as ‘Hundreds of people attended a neo-Nazi rally that was not opposed by police in the belief it was a charity event’ LOL (Cambridgeshire neo-Nazi rally allowed as ‘charity’ event, Sally Chidzoy, BBC, October 6, 2016).

BONUS ALTRIGHT!

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Death, History, Media, State / Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments