Yeah Nah Pasaran! #149 w Diana Garvin on Feeding Fascism : February 9, 2023

Posted on February 7, 2023 by @ndy

This week on Yeah Nah Pasaran! we talk to Diana Garvin [Twitter]. Diana is an Assistant Professor of Italian at the University of Oregon and the author of Feeding Fascism: The Politics of Women’s Food Work (University of Toronto Press, 2022):

Feeding Fascism explores how women fed their families through agricultural and industrial labor. Work songs sing of the political stakes of miscarriage in fields and breastfeeding on the factory line. Diaries provide first-hand accounts attesting to the treacherous politics of domestic work in the private kitchens of the wealthy. Personal letters reveal what it took for women to forge careers as cookbook authors and culinary entrepreneurs under a regime that dictated that a woman’s place was in the home. What is more, Feeding Fascism uncovers the surprising methods used by the Fascist party to seize control over food work, to further their goal of building more and better Italians for future military domination. At stake in this story lies the question of how the need for nourishment shaped women’s consent to Fascism – and their resistance.

See also : Mussolini’s Kitchen: On Diana Garvin’s “Feeding Fascism”, Anne Wingenter, Los Angeles Review of Books, October 3, 2022.

4.30pm, Thursday, February 9, 2023 /// 3CR /// 855AM / streaming live on the 3CR website

• A longer version of this episode will be available as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms after broadcast.
• We also have a Facebook page for the show, which you’re invited to ‘Like’ and to ‘Follow’.
• I have a Patreon account which youse are also invited to support.

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Who is Australibus Tenebris?

Posted on February 6, 2023 by @ndy

There is a rising worldwide clash between a renewed, internationally backed fascism and those fighting for a better future. Subcultural scenes are no exception, with many now locked in wars of ideas of varying intensity. In these cauldrons of turmoil, new ideas, tactics, and approaches are being tested by antifascists in less-than-ideal environments, with growing success. These spaces, which this chapter will refer to as “embattled communities,” provide antifascists all over the world ideas, examples, and important lessons in resisting fascism.

This research focuses on two potent examples of such embattled subcultural communities: the world of heavy metal and Norse Paganism. Both communities have long, complicated histories with elements of the modern far right thanks in part to both being early targets for fascist entryism. They also share many of the same hallmarks as other subcultural communities in their relative lack of truly dominant institutions and the pervasive influence of subcultural capital. This combination of shared factors makes both ideal for better understanding how antifascists in subcultural communities can resist and eventually roll back fascists in their own spaces.

The best place to begin is with the concept of embattled community. These are communities, as defined by shared space or affinity, in which antifascist and fascist groups are engaged in active conflict. Such clashes can range from soft power struggles for support to hard power use of force and violence. Embattled communities all face their own degrees of confrontation in clashes that remain an extension of the larger struggle against the reactionary and fascist right. Embattled communities share some broad similarities with the environmental justice concept of front-line communities, although the direct sources of harm and pollution are very different.

An embattled community is not facing the same challenges as those confronting fascist entryism. “Entryist” attempts are best seen in this framework as the first wave of broader fascist attempts to spread their influence into new spaces, with embattlement as one outcome. This condition is characterized by a state of continuous struggle and confrontation in which fascist groups participate openly in shared subcultural spaces, recruit, and can openly harass or attack perceived enemies. Entryism is characterized by fascists being forced by lack of support, strength of opposition, or a combination of the two to operate covertly. To put it bluntly, the problem facing embattled communities is the rats are already inside the walls.

~ Ryan Smith, ‘Subcultural Antifascism: Confronting the Far Right in Heathenry and Heavy Metal’ in Shane Burley (editor), ¡No pasarán! Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis (AK Press, 2022).

Australibus Tenebris

Based in Central Victoria, the black metal label Australibus Tenebris (AT) organised a gig, ‘Return of the Wolves’, in Brisbane on February 4 … only for the venue to cancel it.* This has made some of their fans very angry and is regarded as a bad move.

It’s also the third time the label and its bands have faced such difficulties, having had a previous gig at the Northcote Social Club in February 2020 cancelled. Before this, another gig at The Last Chance Bar in May 2018 ran into similar difficulties. Below are some further details on the label, its associated bands and events, and their promotion of neo-Nazi aesthetics, culture and ideology.

Encyclopedia Metallum is Your Friend

AT was established in 2013. It’s run by two metalheads: ‘Necropriest’ (Matthew Priest) and ‘Bloodoak’ (N/A). The two perform in the band Gurn — which was scheduled to perform at ‘Return’ — along with various others on the AT label (Blood Ritual, Funerary Temple, Goatblood, Molog, Rattenkönig).

Priest and Bloodoak were interviewed by black metal blog Raw War in January 2016. Reflecting on their experience playing in their previous band Mardraum they stated: we have experienced a lot of Jew-like behavior in the so-called “Melbourne Black Metal” scene, even though we do not consider there being a scene … that Mardraum was ever a part of, due to the cancerous amount of PC faggots and circle-jerking posers that infest it. ‘Southern Darkness’, Mardraum’s 2015 album, was released on Greek NSBM label Totenkopf Propaganda.

In 2021, Necropriest played bass and Bloodoak keyboards on the song ‘The Aryan Godmind’ by National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) band Wewelssburg for a split 7″ titled ‘Wir kapitulieren nie!’ (‘We will never surrender!’ — a Nazi slogan) for NSBM label Hass Weg Productions. Necropriest also played drums on the 2020 Shadowgate release ‘Return of the Insurgency’ by American NSBM band Einsatzgruppen on NSBM label Northern Blood Productions.

At Saturday’s gig, Gurn were going to be sharing a stage with Urban Magus. Urban Magus is the side project of ‘Camazotz’, the driving force behind the NSBM band Spear of Longinus. Spear of Longinus has also shared members with Demonreich and Skullthrone; two other bands scheduled to perform on February 4.

Along with Gurn, Necropriest and Bloodoak also constitute the bands Goatblood and Rattenkönig. Goatblood’s first ‘Demo’ (2015) was limited to 88 (fnarr fnarr) copies, and it has two releases on the German NSBM label Hammerbund: ‘Defiance & Intolerance’ (2017) and ‘Hate Division’ (2018). Rattenkönig has released ‘Rotten Demos’ (2017), ‘Conjuration of Hate’ (2019) and ‘Rodentia’s Wrath’ (2020) via Hammerbund. AT itself has released recordings by several of neo-Nazi metalhead Jack Sansom’s bands Perseverance and Vrag.

And so on.

While the design and imagery of AT releases is largely indistinguishable from Over 9,000 other black metal labels, every now and again other, specifically NSBM themes emerge. Thus, leaving aside the fact that Priest has a tattoo of the Sonnenrad (Black Sun) on his elbow, various promotional material incorporates more-or-less subtle neo-Nazi symbology.

In summary, AT and its associated acts are enmeshed in the production, distribution and promotion of NSBM.

*’Return of the Wolves’ : Demonreich / Fornicatador / Gurn / Skullthrone / Urban Magus / Serpentum / Dreadful Noise / Embrace the Solar Winds.

See also : antifa notes (january 12, 2023) : old whine, new books.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Art, Broken Windows, History, Media, Music, Poetry, State / Politics, Student movement, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Soapbox Beer Presents: Australibus Tenebris

Posted on February 1, 2023 by @ndy

[Update (February 2, 2023) : This afternoon Brisbane venue Soapbox Beer announced that the Australibus Tenebris gig will not be going ahead. Thank you to Soapbox Beer for refusing to allow racist idiots a platform.]

Three years ago I wrote “Oh Australibus Tenebris, will you ever win?”. Now, in February 2023, the tentacles of the Victorian mob have reached into Soapbox Beer:

With a relaxing vibe, full kitchen and bar, our BrewBar space offers a range of options and can accommodate groups, big or small, perfect for all beer-flavoured events including birthdays, wedding receptions, corporate events, team building, meet up groups, festive season celebrations and much more.

Much more means, in this case, a gig on Saturday, February 4:

Given the recent fuss over Taake and Akhly having their tour cancelled, I honestly dunno why a boutique beer barn in Brisbane wants to come to the party.

Posted in !nataS, Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, History, Media, Music, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Yeah Nah Pasaran! #148 w Shane Burley on No Pasarán! Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis : February 2, 2023

Posted on January 31, 2023 by @ndy

This week on Yeah Nah Pasaran! we talk to Shane Burley [Twitter]. Shane is a writer and return guest. He is also the editor of:

No Pasarán! Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis

¡No Pasarán! is an anthology of antifascist writing that takes up the fight against white supremacy and the far-right from multiple angles. From the history of antifascism to today’s movement to identify, deplatform, and confront the right, and the ways an insurgent fascism is growing within capitalist democracies, a myriad of voices come together to shape the new face of antifascism in a moment of social and political flux.

We last spoke to Shane in February 2020.

See also : A Literary Guide to Antifascism, Shane Burley, Electric Literature, January 16, 2023. | Interview with Shane Burley, Editor of No Pasarán!: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis, The Institute for Anarchist Studies, October 28, 2022.

4.30pm, Thursday, February 2, 2023 /// 3CR /// 855AM / streaming live on the 3CR website

• A longer version of this episode will be available as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms after broadcast.
• We also have a Facebook page for the show, which you’re invited to ‘Like’ and to ‘Follow’.
• I have a Patreon account which youse are also invited to support.

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Yeah Nah Pasaran! #147 w Boe Spearim on Frontier Wars, Treaties & Voices : January 26, 2023

Posted on January 24, 2023 by @ndy

I always thought it remarkable that Australia, without studying the Fascist political philosophy and methods, so spontaneously developed a form of Fascism peculiarly suited to the needs of the British Empire. ~ Oswald Mosley (‘New Guard Leader: Col. Campbell Welcomed in London: Australia and Fascism’, Sunday Times (Perth), March 16, 1933)

On Invasion Day this year on Yeah Nah Pasaran! we talk to Boe Spearim [Twitter]. Boe is a Gamilaraay, Kooma and Murrawarri man, radio host and podcaster who lives in Brisbane. Beginning in May 2020, Boe has been producing the Frontier War Stories podcast, which is ‘dedicated to truth-telling about a side of Australia that has been left out of the history books’. With the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance and others, Boe is helping to organise Invasion Day rallies this year under the banner of ‘Treaty Before Voice’.

See/hear also : This Invasion Day, I have your playlist sorted, Boe Spearim for IndigenousX, The Guardian, January 23, 2020 | Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance – WAR [Facebook] | Awesome Black | What you need to know about the Frontier Wars, Alexis Moran, NITV, September 19, 2022 | The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book: Revised and Expanded, Gord Hill, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021 | ‘Black Power in rural NSW: the 1973 Aboriginal cotton chippers’ strike’, People’s History of Australia, November 22, 2022.

4.30pm, Thursday, January 26, 2023 /// 3CR /// 855AM / streaming live on the 3CR website

• A longer version of this episode will be available as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms after broadcast.
• We also have a Facebook page for the show, which you’re invited to ‘Like’ and to ‘Follow’.
• I have a Patreon account which youse are also invited to support.

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Trot Guide January 2023 Update

Posted on January 23, 2023 by @ndy

Another year, another chance to Return to the Path of Lenin and Trotsky (and/or Mao)!

I last reviewed the guide in February 2022 (FWIW, the first survey what I done was published in January 2006).

To begin with, I’m encouraged to report that a NEW! blog has emerged: The Waterhole.

The Waterhole is a Communist blog. Its audience is the Australian revolutionary movement, and it aims to serve the interests of the multinational proletariat and the Indigenous nations in their struggles against Australian imperialism. It is completely opposed to the revisionist parties that dominate the Australian revolutionary movement. We believe the primary task of the Communists in this country is to establish a Red Faction capable of analysing Australian society and preparing for the refounding of the Communist Party of Australia. We believe that only through a revolutionary war against Australian imperialism will the multinational proletariat, the Indigenous nations, and all who are oppressed, ever achieve peace and freedom.

The Waterhole blogger gives mAAAd props to the defunct Red Eureka Movement (REM), ‘one of the most important organisations in the history of the Australian revolutionary movement. I cannot emphasise this fact enough. It was a living embodiment of Communism in Australia, then at the stage of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, and it defended it fiercely.’ As it happens, one of the only references on the blog to REM comes by way of an obit (by Albert Langer, Michael Hyde and Kerry Miller) for Comrade Jim Bacon (1950–2004): ‘Jim Bacon was not just a student activist at Monash University. He was a leader of the Young Communist League and the Worker Student Alliance, and remained a revolutionary when he moved on to the labour movement. He was a disciplined Marxist-Leninist until he withdrew honourably from the Red Eureka Movement in the late 1970s’ to join the ALP in 1991 and eventually become Premier of Tasmania (1998–2004).

Sadly, the ‘Committee to Defend Chairman Gonzalo – Australia’ and ‘Red Eureka’ blogs have been silent in the intervening period, and as a result have been scratched (hopefully temporarily?) from the Guide. Otherwise:

Still having a crack :

1. (Alliance for) Workers’ Liberty
Last time, these workers were still struggling for freedom in Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Sydney. I’m happy to report that additional newsletters have been published in the interim to further aid the struggle (which has also left Perth for Melbourne).

2. Australian Communist Party
About this time last year I wrote that Since splitting from the CPA in 2019, the ACP has continued to trod along a ‘new path in the movement for socialism in Australia’. The ACP also plays a critical role in the Community Union Defence League, a kinda Food Not Bombs for local Leninists. Since last time, the ACP has also established the ‘Green Guerillas’, a ‘collective of activists dedicated to the conservation of the environment’ (nudge nudge, wink wink), one which is certainly not to be confused with the Green Guerilla Group.

3. Bolshevik-Leninist
Has the nucleus grown? Did it split (and explode into proletarian revolution)? After three-plus years, I still dunno how the efforts of these Bolshevik-Leninists to create their own Marxist nucleus (‘a dedicated core of professional revolutionaries educated in Marxism physically concentrated in a city’) is going, but I can report that the Nucleus has continued to develop close ties to the urban(e) Marxists of Reagrupamento Revolucionário/Revolutionary Regroupment and to maintain its revolutionary intransigence in the face of the bourgeois spectacle that was the 2022 Australian federal election, noting that: ‘At the tail of the ALP and Greens a myriad of groups hang on opportunistically, aiding in giving a left cover to [party] bureaucrats. One of the most significant is “Victorian Socialists” (VS), an electoral party supported by Socialist Alternative (SAlt). Despite posing as a left alternative to Labor and the Greens, they are hardly anything of the sort.’

3 1/2. Class Conscious
CC remains more of a blog/website than a groupuscule, one armed with a political perspective which closely mirrors that of the International Committee of the Fourth International (SEP). Recently, it launched ‘Anti-War Victoria’.

4. Communist League
In 2022 the CL made the momentous decision to consolidate its forces in Sydney/close its New Zealand branch. ‘The decision will enable the party to respond boldly to key developments in politics and working-class struggles not only in Australia and New Zealand but throughout the Pacific region’, apparently. The CL otherwise operates as a franchise of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States.

5. Communist Party of Australia
‘Following the success of the Communist Party of Australia’s (CPA) 14th National Congress the Central Committee has re-elected General Secretary Andrew Irving and National President Vinnie Molina. Congress was held on 25-27 February 2022.’ While having a presence of some sort in every state, the CPA’s centre of gravity would seem to be Sydney.

6. Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
Founded in March 1964 as a split from the CPA, the party’s last Congress took place in June 2019; I hope and expect that the next will take place in 2023. Whether or not the yoof will join the party in continuing to maintain the legacy of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and E.F. Hill is uncertain, but the Central Committee remains hopeful that in joining, ‘[y]oung people wanting a purpose in life, wanting an outlet for their ideals, hopes and aspirations, will find these alongside those already committed to building the revolutionary movement in Australia’.

7. Communist Workers Party of Australia
A tiny split from the CPA (?) based in Newcastle, the CWPA publishes ‘The Agitator’.

8. Freedom Socialist Party
In 2023, the FSP (Melbourne) continues to trundle along and to advocate for socialist feminism. This year it will do so from a new location: its ‘Solidarity Salon’ in Sydney Road, Brunswick has re-located to Reservoir.

9. Internationalist Communists Oceania
ICO ‘are a group of workers based in Australia who organise around and defend Internationalist Communist positions’ which, for some reason, I failed to include on the list last time around. See also : Internationalist Communist Tendency / Left-Wing, Anti-Bolshevik and Council Communism.

10. ISA Australia
Ultimately derived from the defunct Socialist Party, the International Socialist Alternative Australia announced its existence in early 2021 and is a split from/successor to Socialist Action. Its creation was one outcome of internal battles within the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), which produced both a NEW! IMPROVED! CWI and International Socialist Alternative.

10 1/2. Platypus Melbourne
The Platypus Society has established a chapter in Melbourne. Like other chapters, it hosts conversations on the death of the Left (which is some kinda uncertain cat, I think?) and examines left history and ideology with a view to resurrecting it as a real social force for revolution (like some kinda old mole, maybe).

Progressive Labour Party
Sadly, after 25 years of labouring for progress as an independent party, the PLP has officially dissolved into the Australian Progressives. The AP contested the federal election in May 2022 (for negligible results) and in October 2022, the party was deregistered by the AEC. Verdict : Unlikely to appear in the next update.

11. Revolutionary Communist Organisation
The Founding Congress of the Revolutionary Communist Organisation was apparently definitely held over the 14th and 15th of January, 2023 in Brisbane. The aim of the RCO presumably remains the formation of a communist cadre for the purposes of proletarian revolution, the establishment of a workers republic, and the triumph of communism. Would you like to know more?

11 1/2. Socialism Today
ST looks very much like a blog seemingly produced by what remains of the Socialist Party after the split in the CWI. Verdict : Today yes, but tomorrow? [h/t : Comrade Delta]

12. Socialist Action
The action group formerly known as the Socialist Party (see also : ISA Australia). As of this date, there hasn’t been action from the group since mid-2022. Verdict : Future uncertain.

13. Socialist Alliance
SAll continues to maintain its federal registration (having been able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the AEC that it has a membership of 1,500+), produce Green Left Weekly (in 2023, on a fortnightly basis), and contested both the 2022 federal and Victorian state elections — with minimal results. In Victoria, their recent electoral campaigns have also had to compete with the Victorian Socialists for the left vote. On the other hand, Monica Harte became the second socialist councillor on Merri-bek (Moreland) Council in March last year, joining Sue Bolton.

14. Socialist Alternative
Notwithstanding the 1,500 members of SAll, SAlt likely remains the largest (neo-)Trotskyist political formation/’ostensibly revolutionary organization’ in Australia. Of late, much of its efforts have been directed at supporting the Victorian Socialists. Publishes Red Flag.

15. Socialist Equality Party
The dastardly AEC deregistered the SEP in February 2022, but it motors on regardless, holding its Sixth National Congress in September last year. See : wsws.org for moar news and views from the leadership of the world socialist movement.

16. Solidarity
Solidarity is still here. Still. In December 2021 the Sydney home of a notable member of the group, Padraic Gibson, was attacked by boneheads belonging to the neo-Nazi groupuscule ‘Firm 22’, and Desmond Liddington, a bonehead from Perth, is one of several currently awaiting sentence for the crime. See also : International Socialist Tendency.

17. Spartacist League of Australia
The International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) has been thrown into some turmoil since the death of its lvl boss, James Roberston (1928–2019) and ‘[i]t is no secret for anyone following our organization that we have been conducting intense internal discussions and qualitative political realignments over the last few years’. As a result of the upset, the last issue of Australasian Spartacist was published in Autumn 2020. Verdict : ‘They’ll be back.’ See also : International Bolshevik Tendency / Bolshevik Tendency.

18. Trotskyist Platform
TP emerged as a split from the Spartacists, but remains staunch and may even outlast them, who knows? In other news, Trotskyist Platform’s Article About Genuine Trotskyism in the 21st Century Has Now Been Issued in Print Form (September 17, 2022). Fingers crossed the Platformists open a PO Box in Melbourne to really rub salt into the wounds.

19. Victorian Socialists
Since forming a few years ago, VS has won a councillor (Jorge Jorquera in Maribyrnong) and contested several federal and state elections, each witnessing a modest increase in their vote. Dominated by SAlt, VS also comprises a caucus group called ‘Socialist Unity’. In general, assuming VS can keep the band together and the underlying upward trend in votes remains, it seems possible that it may obtain an Upper House seat at some point in the future. See also : ‘The Socialist Macro-Sect in the ‘Digital Age’: The Victorian Socialists’ Strategy for Assembling a Counter-Public’, Ian Anderson, tripleC, Vol.18, No.2 (2020).

20. Workers League
Inter alia, the blogger known as the Workers League poses serious questions to the proletariat in Australia. For example, ‘Wieambilla Shootings: Tragic Incident or False Flag?’: The MSM reporting of this incident raises instant suspicion. Call me a crazy anarchist, but with such keen analysis, I suspect the WL is more likely to ah, go viral rather than constitute a revolutionary vanguard.

See also:–

• Gong Commune: is a blog by radikals in Wollongong.
• Red Ant: ‘Red Ant Collective formed because we see the need for anti-imperialist, Marxist ideas to have an organised expression. We are called “Red Ant” because we are a small grouping. Though we don’t intend to stay that way. In fact, we have big ideas.’
• Surplus Value: is ‘a network for Australian Marxian thinkers and activists’.
• The Banner Bright: is ‘a weblog about politics and social issues, with a focus on the need to build a more equal, democratic society’.
• The Word From Struggle Street: is … communist?
• Workers Bush Telegraph: ‘provides a class analysis of workers[‘] struggle’.

• C21stLeft: Against The Pseudo-Left!
• Red Eureka Journal: is ‘published by the National Preparatory Committee of the Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Australia, whose mission is to reorganise the Communist Party in Australia’.
• Strange Times: Against The Pseudo-Left!

See also : Anti-Revisionism in Australia.

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Invasion Day 2023

Posted on January 19, 2023 by @ndy

In 1994, the Australian government declared January 26 a day of nationalist celebration: ‘Australia Day’. ‘Australia Day’ is thus either the day in 1788 ‘when Captain Cook stepped ashore’ (according to Bridget McKenzie) or — possibly — when Captain Arthur Phillip raised the Union Jack and took possession of All The Things on behalf of King George III. In answer to the question ‘What happened next?’, the date is also known as ‘Invasion Day’ or ‘Survival Day’ and remembered as a Day of Mourning.

Not everybody agrees January 26 is a date to celebrate. Some even reckon that, if the colonial-settler state of Australia was implanted at (and for) His Majesty’s pleasure on the basis of a legal fiction, then after several centuries some kinda treaty between the state and Indigenous peoples is appropriate. Still others wanna #OMGWTF ‘Abolish Australia’ altogether! Sometimes you’ve got to take the hardest line, I guess.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In any case, along with Melbourne (Naarm), similar events marking January 26 as Invasion/Mourning/Survival Day are taking place elsewhere across the country:

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
• Canberra
Garema Place
9am

NEW SOUTH WALES
• Sydney
Belmore Park
9.30am
• Bermagui
Dickinson Oval
11am
• Newcastle
Customs House
10am

QUEENSLAND
• Brisbane
Queens Gardens
11am

SOUTH AUSTRALIA
• Adelaide
Tarntanyangga/Victoria Square
12.30pm

TASMANIA
• Hobart
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre
10.45am
• Devonport
Tulaminakali Health Centre (106 Best Street)
11.30am

VICTORIA
• Melbourne
Victorian Parliament
11am
• Portland
The Convincing Ground
10am

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
• Perth
Forrest Chase
3pm

See/hear also : What is Constitutional Recognition Through A Voice to Parliament?, From The Heart | The Indigenous Voice Co-design Process Final Report | Voice will empower us, not undermine Sovereignty, Dr. Hannah McGlade, National Indigenous Times, January 16, 2023 | Price and Pearson, uneasy allies?, Tim Rowse, Inside Story, December 23, 2022 | There is no hope in a Voice to Parliament, Irene Watson, Pearls and Irritations, October 29, 2022 | The History of a Lie: The Mabo case after 30 years (featuring Irene Watson), Countersign, May 31, 2022 | Native Title is not Land Rights, and Reconciliation is not Justice, Gary Foley (1999) … and Anarchism and Aboriginal sovereignty (July 16, 2008) /// Decolonizing Solidarity.

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Yeah Nah Pasaran! #146 w Evan Smith on Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia : January 19, 2023

Posted on January 17, 2023 by @ndy

It’s 2023 and Yeah Nah Pasaran! is back for a fourth year of broadcasting (and maybe a li’l trouble-making).

On this week’s episode we talk to Evan Smith [Twitter]. Evan is a blogger, historian and most recently the editor (with Jayne Persian and Vashti Jane Fox) of the NEW! Routledge title Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia:

Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia provides a history of fascist movements and anti-fascist resistance in Australia over the past century.

In recent years, the far right has become a resurgent force across the globe, resulting in populist parties securing electoral victories, social movements organising on the streets, and acts of right-wing terrorism. Australia has not been immune to this. However, this is not merely a recent phenomenon; it has a long history of fascist and far-right groups and individuals. These groups have attempted to situate themselves within the wider settler colonial political landscape, often portraying themselves as the inheritors of a violent and exclusionary colonial past. Concurrently, these groups have linked into globalised anti-communist and white supremacist networks. At the same time, Australia has often seen resistance to fascism and the far right, from the political centre to the far left. Covering the period from the 1920s to the present day, and featuring insights from historians, sociologists, and political scientists, this book provides the most detailed account of this fascinating and important topic.

We spoke to Evan about the book project, anti-/fascism in Australia, Nazi uniforms, ninja turtles and more. (Note that we’ll almost certainly be talking to other contributors to the volume later in the year.)

See/hear also : Yeah Nah Pasaran! #008 w Evan Smith on No Platform : March 5, 2020 | Australia not immune from fascism’s global revival, Peter Hartcher, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 17, 2023.

4.30pm, Thursday, January 19, 2023 /// 3CR /// 855AM / streaming live on the 3CR website

• A longer version of this episode will be available as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and other platforms after broadcast.
• We also have a Facebook page for the show, which you’re invited to ‘Like’ and to ‘Follow’.
• I have a Patreon account which youse are also invited to support.

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antifa notes (january 12, 2023) : old whine, new books

Posted on January 12, 2023 by @ndy

Übermenschen

Thomas Sewell, the budding Gauleiter of Balwyn, was in the news again today. Neo-Nazi avoids jail over brutal attack, Cassandra Morgan, The Canberra Times, January 12, 2023:

The 29-year-old leader of the European Australia Movement was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order with 150 hours community service on Thursday in Melbourne Magistrates Court, where he was previously found guilty of recklessly causing injury and affray …

The magistrate took into account his work history, along with his fiancee being 36 weeks’ pregnant – a factor Sewell emphasised would lead to “undue suffering” through his sentence.

He also asked the court to consider his employer, saying he worked full-time as a labourer and apprentice. He previously served as a rifleman in the army and worked with disadvantaged youth, he said.

Sewell is due to face a separate County Court trial in August and spent seven months on remand in solitary confinement because of that case.

Apart from anything else, the positive reference to Tommeh!’s work ‘with disadvantaged youth’ is amusing. So too, the fact that Christian nationalists have halped raise tens of thousands of dollars for Sewell and the other troubled yoof he’s gathered under his wing in the last few years; presumably, the Hitler Youth training at Legacy Boxing in West Sunshine can now more easily obtain concession memberships, while drinks are subsidised at The Irish Times Pub.

See also : Founder of violent white supremacist group RAM re-indicted on rioting charges, Jordan Green, Raw Story, January 5, 2023 | Tracing the Evolution of Far-Right Movement Framing in Australia, Gerard Gill, GNET, December 19, 2022.

Muzak

There’s been a lotta wailing and gnashing of teeth recently after an Australian tour by black metal bands Taake and Akhlys got CANCELLED by promoter Matthew ‘Southern Extremities’ Chalk. Feels bad, man. See : Promoters cancel Australia tour of Norwegian metal band Taake, accused of far-right sympathies, Mike Hohnen, The Guardian, January 6, 2023. These ‘far-right sympathies’ are further detailed in Why are fascist, Nazi and racist bands still being booked to tour Australia in 2023?, Ben Hillier, Blunt, January 9, 2023. For a token, historical blast see : A Brief History Of Neo-Nazi Music In Australia (December 2, 2010) and for a contemporary, scholarly account see : Heavy Metal Music, Texts, and Nationhood: (Re)sounding Whiteness, Catherine Hoad (ed), Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

Yeah Nah

On the second anniversary of the January 6 stoopid, Spencer Beswick asks The Jan. 6 coup blared an alarm about rising fascism. Will we hear it? (The Washington Post), in which Conrad Beswick notes that in the 1980s, ‘… a new generation of antifascists rose up to meet the renewed danger of fascism — often with masked faces and baseball bats in hand. Anarchists, punks and other leftists united to form the organization Anti-Racist Action (ARA) in Minneapolis in the late 1980s, which quickly spread across the country.’ Funnily enough, a NEW! book documenting ARA has just been released: We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action (PM Press, 2023), which sounds both ace and grouse:

What does it mean to risk all for your beliefs? How do you fight an enemy in your midst? We Go Where They Go recounts the thrilling story of a massive forgotten youth movement that set the stage for today’s anti-fascist organizing in North America. When skinheads and punks in the late 1980s found their communities invaded by white supremacists and neo-nazis, they fought back. Influenced by anarchism, feminism, Black liberation, and Indigenous sovereignty, they created Anti-Racist Action. At ARA’s height in the 1990s, thousands of dedicated activists in hundreds of chapters joined the fights—political and sometimes physical—against nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, anti-abortion fundamentalists, and racist police. Before media pundits, cynical politicians, and your uncle discovered “antifa,” Anti-Racist Action was bringing it to the streets.

See/hear also : Anti-fascist @ It’s Going Down /// NYC Antifa /// Rose City Antifa /// Torch Network.

Two other volumes of relevance to be published recently are:

• No Pasarán! Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis (AK Press, 2022)

¡No Pasarán! is an anthology of antifascist writing that takes up the fight against white supremacy and the far-right from multiple angles. From the history of antifascism to today’s movement to identify, deplatform, and confront the right, and the ways an insurgent fascism is growing within capitalist democracies, a myriad of voices come together to shape the new face of antifascism in a moment of social and political flux.

• Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia (Routledge, 2023)

In recent years, the far right has become a resurgent force across the globe, resulting in populist parties securing electoral victories, social movements organising on the streets, and acts of right-wing terrorism. Australia has not been immune to this. However, this is not merely a recent phenomenon; it has a long history of fascist and far-right groups and individuals. These groups have attempted to situate themselves within the wider settler colonial political landscape, often portraying themselves as the inheritors of a violent and exclusionary colonial past. Concurrently, these groups have linked into globalised anti-communist and white supremacist networks. At the same time, Australia has often seen resistance to fascism and the far right, from the political centre to the far left. Covering the period from the 1920s to the present day, and featuring insights from historians, sociologists, and political scientists, this book provides the most detailed account of this fascinating and important topic.

Fingers crossed we will be speaking to the editors of/contributors to the above volumes soon on Yeah Nah Pasaran!.

Bonus! Brazil

See : January 8, the Brazilian January 6: Tracking the Rise of Fascism from the United States to Brazil, CrimethInc, January 10, 2023 | Democracy under attack in Brazil: 5 questions about the storming of Congress and the role of the military, Rafael R. Ioris, The Conversation, January 9, 2023 | ‘Sir, please get me the Manager’: Brazil before and after Bolsonaro, Guido Melo, Overland, November 24, 2022.

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Blogging 2022 : A Summary

Posted on December 30, 2022 by @ndy

See also : Blogging 2021 : A Summary.

January (3)

Since launching Yeah Nah Pasaran! (a weekly anti-fascist radio show and podcast on 3CR) at the beginning of 2020, most blogposts are now dedicated to promoting episodes — and 2022 was no exception. Hence in January, we relaunched by interviewing former prisoner and rights’ activist Jock Palfreeman and then Haley McEwan. However, I also wrote a little about the boycott of the Sydney Festival and in particular drew attention to the decision by Amyl and The Sniffers not to join it. This did not go down well with fans, especially on Facebook, but in the end did the band no real harm, and since then The Sniffers have gone from strength to strength.

February (6)

In February we interviewed Amanda E Rogers, Bjørn Ihler, Sara Aniano and Amanda Moore. I also updated Trot Guide and republished the speech by Vladimir Putin announcing a Very Special Military Operation in Ukraine.

March (7)

YNP! in March featured Richard McNeil-Willson, Cat Tebaldi, Kelly Weill and Andre Oboler. March also saw ‘Australia First Party’ troll Nathan Sykes plead guilty to making repeated and explicit violent threats against a Melbourne journalist and some other trolls and alleged terrorists gained some media and police attention. In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some voices were raised in opposition and, finally, Shane Warne’s Freedom to hang a picture of Adolf Hitler in every United Australian classroom Party was canvassed.

April (7)

#110 of YNP! was an interview with Stephanie Alice Baker, #111 with Mark Bray, #112 with Andy Campbell and #113 with Anke Richter. I also wrote about Nathan Sykes, The Naughty Neo-Nazi : Do Not Go To Jail, Do 150 Hours of Community Service, Todd Sampson’s brief televisual flirtation with some notorious local neo-Nazis and Far left candidates at the 2022 Australian federal election.

May (4)

Four lousy posts about four (or five) episodes of YNP!, starring Jason Wilson, Hampton Stall, a conversation about the 2022 Australian federal election (among ourselves and then with Cameron Wilson) and finally a yarn — hallelujah! — with Elle Hardy.

June (6)

Jordan McSwiney, Robert Horvath and Heron Greenesmith were guests on YNP! in June (during which we also promoted 3CR’s annual radiothon), I republished Andrew Giles-Peters’ essay Karl Korsch: A Marxist Friend Of Anarchism for some reason and also published some antifa notes.

July (3)

Three posts on three episodes of YNP! with Katherine Stewart, Gerard Gill and Brooke Binkowski.

August (6)

In August we spoke to Jesse Daniels, Priyamvada Gopal, Beatriz Buarque, Tom Tanuki and Lydia Khalil. Some nazis also attended The Irish Times Pub in Melbourne, from which they obtained both fun and profit.

September (6)

In September we spoke to Terri E Givens, Samantha Kutner, Joe Mulhall and Raja of The Humanism Project. I also promoted a benefit gig organised in response to the neo-Nazi incident at The Irish Times in August and recounted how Perth-based neo-Nazi e-celeb Dennis Huts (whom you may remember from such failed projects as the ‘United Patriots Front’) tried, succeeded, but then ultimately failed to have my Facebook page permanently expunged from that august platform.

October (7)

Our guests in October were David Broder, Jason Wilson, Gregor Wakounig and Anna A Meier. YNP! also won a Bonus! Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Awards for Best Radio Program — Talks, neo-Nazis in Melbourne and Ustaše fanboys in Sydney were kept busy making heartfelt salutes at the football and intimidating children and yoof at picnics, while I also took some anarchist notes at the end of the month.

November (5)

In November, Cam spoke to Dylan Reeve on Make Believe, Steph Reist on Post-Bolsonaro Brazil and to Sarah Riccardi-Swartz on ROCOR & Appalachia while I managed to join him for a discussion with Meghan Tinsley on War & Memory (#142) and April Anson on Ecofascism (#143). The month also saw a gathering at a local social centre, I joined Mastodon and briefly examined some of the candidates at the 2022 Victorian state election.

December (6)

Finally, there were just a handful more shows in December (with Alex Newhouse and Ryan Broderick) while Proud Boys paraded in St Kilda (posing the question ‘Are the Proud Boys left wing feminists?’), neo-Nazis were welcomed to a boxing gym in West Sunshine, and I made some final antifa notes for the year.

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