Short Update on ARC's History Project

As we enter the final couple of days before 2014, we thought we would provide an update on the ARC history project. Those who follow the blog will remember that we sent out a request a year or so ago asking that anyone who has news letters, racist propaganda, photographs, newspaper clippings, or any other documents that might be able to tell the story of the racist movement in Canada to send us a scanned copy. Our focus had been primarily on the Heritage Front and the period between 1989 and 1999, however we decided to expand our focus, so we have in our possession not only electronic and hard copies (thanks to a good friend in Victoria) of primary documents originating with the Heritage Front, but also documents from the Nationalist Party of Canada and the Western Guard Party.

Our readers might have noticed that we have again added to our, "History of Violence" article and time line. Originally the time line ran from 1989 to 2011, but as contemporary events continued to unfold we extended forward to the present date. Likewise, as we conducted more research, we pushed back the starting point, first to 1981 and now to 1970. Many of the new additions feature the Western Guard, but the earliest focus on the Edmund Burke Society.

In a lot of ways, the Edmund Burke Society was the grandfather of the modern racist movement in Canada. The organization was established by three men, Leigh Smith, future Nationalist Party of Canada leader (and perpetual Toronto mayoral candidate) Don Andrews, and this fella:

Yep, our buddy Paulie.

The philosophy of the Edmund Burke Society, founded in 1967 at the University of Toronto, would be described today as paleo-conservative. Not overtly racist when it began, it became increasingly so as the membership became more active and more raucous. Eventually the organization changed its name from the Edmund Burke Society to the Western Guard (later the Western Guard Party) in 1972 which was indeed overtly and violently racist.

Paulie has denied he was a member of the Western Guard. But that isn't quite true as he was a member for at least the first few months after the name change and the "change" in tactics and ideology (though to be fair he did split with the organization before the end of 1972). Paulie suggested he didn't agree with the direction of the Western Guard and instead went on to form his own organizations.

That being said, we actually have some evidence that Paulie's views might not have differed so much from the Western Guard.

The Far Right's Reaction To Mandela's Passing

"Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God." -- Benjamin Frankin

"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -- Thomas Jefferson

"I don't know how many we shot. It all started when hordes of natives surrounded the police station. My car was struck with a stone. If they do these things they must learn their lesson the hard way." -- Colonel J. Pienaar,local area police commander, Sharpeville

We include the quotes above to illustrate a point. Please bare with us.

Nelson Mandela, Madiba, was buried today.

Nelson Mandela's death can't be considered a surprise. He was a 95 year old man who had been in ill health for much of the last three years. He had also more than 27 years in prison, much of it in exceedingly difficult conditions, before being released at the age of 72. But his loss was still felt by much of the world who truly did value freedom and justice and his fight to achieve these goals in South Africa. Mandela was eulogized by world leaders and human rights activists and his passing cause for almost universal mourning.

Almost universal. A small, but relatively vocal, minority have used the passing of Mandela to attack the man himself and in particular the armed struggle that the ANC began in 1960. Most of the attacks is couched in the fact that Mandela spent 27 years in prison after being convicted of terrorism and the ANC had been outlawed as terrorist organization. And to be sure the ANC did engage in bombings of government institutions and other business associated with the apartheid regime as well as targeting the infrastructure of the country. But then it might also be useful to provide some context that could

provide a rationale for these actions.

Prior to March 21, 1960, the African National Congress had been, for close to 60 years, a civil rights organization that used non-violent means to fight for the rights of the majority African population of South Africa. They used methods similar to that of other civil rights organizations; strikes, sit-ins, and, perhaps unique to South Africa, the burning of pass books.

In South Africa under the apartheid regime, Africans living in South Africa were required to be in possession of a passbook regimenting their movement and where they could live. Failure to be in possession of one's pass book would result in arrest. Being in an area deemed off-limits would result in arrest. Any white South African could demand to see the pass book of an African citizen. No white South African was required to be in possession of a pass book.

If you have ever watched to movie, "Gandhi" you might be familiar with this particular law, as well as the means of fighting against it.

The goal of groups such as the ANC and the splinter group Pan-Africanist Party was to refuse to carry the pass book. They would then go to jails throughout the country and demand to be arrested for not following a just law. Eventually, the prisons would be packed forcing the government to address the concerns of the ANC and other similar groups. And it could be achieved in a peaceful manner. The desire was to shame the government, not overthrow it.

Such a campaign began in March of 1960 when the Pan-Africanist Party organized a pass book protest in the South African township of Sharpeville:

There is some debate as to how many arrived at the Sharpeville jail to protest; numbers range from 5,000 to 20,000. What isn't debated is what happened next to protesters who had been engaged in a peaceful action:

Prior to Sharpeville the South African apartheid regime had been engaged in systematic state-sponsored violence to quell the legitimate concerns of the majority African population as well as the Indian and "colored" populations. And even as the violence continued to escalate, the ANC believed that they could, Sharpeville, and the subsequent crackdown on Africa civil rights groups and leaders, altered this view. After Sharpeville, the once non-violent ANC believed the only way to force the South African government to negotiate was through an armed struggle.

through non-violent means, achieve the goal of a multi-racial democracy.

But even during the armed struggle, it might be instructive to read the manifesto of Umkhonto we Sizwe:

"Our men are armed and trained freedom fighters not terrorists. 

We are fighting for democracy—majority rule—the right of the Africans to rule Africa. 

We are fighting for a South Africa in which there will be peace and harmony and equal rights for all people.

We are not racialists, as the white oppressors are. The African National Congress has a message of freedom for all who live in our country."

As we noted though, the attacks on Mandela and the ANC were merely couched in condemnation of the armed struggle as terroristic. What seems pretty clear though is that condemnation is merely a pretext for the real rationale for their attack on the man and his legacy.

Yep, Ed Kennedy has been back posting on Free Dominion for a while now.

Reitmeier: Life in Prison

Before his friends and family begin caterwauling about the great injustice of imprisoning Robert Reitmeier for murder, remember this.

Reitmeier is eligible for parole in 13 years. As such there is a possibility he could be released before he turns 40.

On the other hand, in 13 years Mark Mariani will still be dead. There's no second chance for him.

Robert Reitmeier gets life in beating death of Calgary man

No chance of parole for 13 years for neo-Nazi

CBC News Posted: Dec 10, 2013 2:19 PM MT
Last Updated: Dec 10, 2013 2:19 PM MT

Self-proclaimed white supremacist Robert Reitmeier has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years in the 2010 beating death of a Calgary man.

The Failure of "Cobbsville" Part V: Misanthropy

By now our readers might need to be reminded why this blog, which almost exclusively focuses on the racist movement in Canada, is paying so much attention to the Craig Cobb fiasco in Leith, North Dakota.

Remember when Cobb, not long after his arrest, said that if the charges were dropped he would not only leave North Dakota, but that he would like to leave the the United States as well?

Guess where it looks like he might want to return to:

Cobb, who during his brief stay in the country back in the 1970s applied for and received Canadian citizenship, might have decided it would be better to face Canadian hate crime charges than up to 35 years in a federal prison in the country of his birth.

We had opined that we were not overly concerned with Cobb's efforts to take over the small village of Leith when we first learned of the effort in August (which isn't to dismiss the stress the poor folks of the town must have been going through). In the end, we knew it was going to crash and burn. Still, even we didn't expect just how epic the failure would be.

We could post all of the screenshots of the infighting, the accusations and counter accusations, and the general sense of despair and anger that is on full display on the White Nations, VNN and Stormfront forums, but instead we'll just direct you to click on the links here, here, here, and here. The reality is that instead of reinvigorating the racist movement with a, "bold new strategy", it has resulted in a massive rift in the movement and exposed those who support and promote the ideology as anti-social misanthropes.

Because you see Craig Cobb isn't the only misanthrope.

July 18, 1918 - December 5, 2013

CBC Archives.

ARC Celebrates Six Years of Online Activism....

.... by picking a little low hanging fruit.

That's right. Yesterday marked our sixth year of documenting the activities of some of the more colorful members of the far right in Canada. Truth be told we hadn't planned on being around this long, but we've been having too much fun to leave.

With that in mind, we thought we would revisit one of our favorite creatures, the Yellow Bellied Goudreau because we all know just how fun the Goudreau is. After all, it's funny that a creature that claims expertise in all fields it writes about ranging from playing the stock market and taking over Facebook to military matters to computer hacking....

.... has such a difficult time knowing who its "friends" are:

Again, we remind our reader that the Goudreau
always adds us after being deleted from Facebook.