Posts Tagged ‘neo-fascism’
Read Before Attacking.
Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch has a funny story about a rather dumb neo-Nazi.
Boozy Neo-fascists In Blackpool.
The EDL were in Blackpool today, stirring up hatred as usual.
Here is a photo from one of their many drinking sessions, note the bloke in front:
Anyone tempted to comment should first read the comments policy.
“Anti-Zionists” And The Whiff Of Racism.
Non-Jewish “anti-Zionists” will frequently tell you that they have nothing against Jews. Indeed, some of their best friends are…
Or that they hold no prejudices against Jews.
Some of them even seem sincere when they say that, but the problem is when you follow the goings-on of these “non-Jewish anti-Zionists” you often come across the whiff of racism.
The Smell.
It’s not the strong poignant smell that you get from the Far Right. It is not that choking stench that you find on the Extreme Right, but it’s there all the same. For the most part, it is not vulgar or in your face, but you can detect it if you’re sensitive to the ebbs and flows of racism.
I suspect that part of the reason that it is not such an astringent smell, is that it comes from supposedly highly educated people. It is, more often than not, a product of the metropolitan elites, not vulgar thugs in the street, so is seen in a different light. Nevertheless, you can detect the racism, if you try. It leaves a bitter taste on the back of the throat.
Racist Websites.
So imagine my surprise when reading a left-wing blog, Bob from Brockley, that two racist websites were recommended by a “anti-Zionist”.
Firstly, this “anti-Zionist” suggests the Occupied Palestine blog, which I previously demonstrated had a love of neo-Nazi material.
Next, the “anti-Zionist” rates Alison Weir’s not too subtle racism, I dealt with it here.
It is an exceedingly discomforting sensation to think that you will be discussing politics with reasoned anti-racists, then to be confronted with repulsive anti-Jewish racism from one of the participants.
I think the worst part is, that this particular “anti-Zionist” is an adult, a political activist with over a decade’s experience and an Oxbridge graduate.
What Are They Thinking?
It does make you wonder what goes through the minds of “anti-Zionists” that they can read this racist material and it does not ring alarm bells with them.
None of this pricks their conscience, nothing seems to get through, their supposed opposition to racism is shown to be non-existent, their understanding of racism merely a set of words. All is a sham.
The English Defence League, Red Watch And Neofascist Thugs.
Many readers will be familiar with Red Watch, a neofascist outfit which publishes the details of its political opponents.
Its purpose is very clear, to ensure that the houses and dwellings of its political opponents are attacked, bricks through windows, firebombed, etc
It is an old fascist technique that has been updated for the 21st century.
Unsurprisingly, the English Defence League take a similar approach. A secret Facebook group of the EDL are posting the names, addresses and phone numbers of their perceived enemies.
Presumably, the EDL will organise, directly or indirectly for them to be attacked, physically.
Now their apologists will try to explain that the EDL are not neofascists, that is despite the fact that their events are published on neofascist forums, that is regardless of the presence of neo-Nazis, BNPers and certifiable racists at their events, etc etc.
This latest development shows how the EDL are changing from a proto-fascist street gang to a more traditional neofascist setup.
No surprise there.
More Racism.
Any thinking individual following the conflict in the Middle East could see how the cause of the Palestinians might been used by the Extreme Right.
Put simply, the Extreme Right hate Jews, anything that they consider bad for Jews, makes the Extreme Right very happy.
The truth is, we often underestimate the Extreme Right, and in achieving their political goals they will push ambiguous web sites, use outreach programs and tone down the worst excesses of their racism to reach a wider audience. Surprisingly, they are often successful.
One example is the No War for Israel web site. I covered it in 2007, and readers will remember it is run by David Duke.
Another example is the blog, Occupied Palestine, which was recently drawn to my attention by an “Anti-Zionist”.
Before anything else, I should say I think it’s perfectly possible to be critical of Israeli government policies in the past 60 years, without invoking racism. I have posted on this before, as have the CST. But the Palestinians’ cause is certainly not helped in anyway when it is connected to racism by its Western supporters.
It should be possible to argue the Palestinians’ case without the smell of anti-Jewish racism polluting the air, however, that doesn’t occur on the Occupied Palestine blog, as readers will notice.
Years ago, I wrote a simple guide around this topic, For UCU Activists – How To Avoid Re-posting from Neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan or White Power Web Sites.
That guide applies equally to supposed pro-Palestinian activists and “anti-Zionists”, so let us examine the conspicuous racism found on the Occupied Palestine blog, it is not hard to see.
1. The first port of call is the blog’s links:
Albert Einstein letter to the Stern Gang
Chief Rabbi issues ruling legalizes killing Arabs
Government quitely funds KKK-like organization
How to kill Goyim
IOA Rabbis: ‘Palestinians to the Ovens!’
Jew Watch
Map of “Greater Israel” Published by Radical Settler Movement
Protocols of Zion Explained
Real Torah Jews against Zionism
Settler Violence Not Punished [incl data sheet]
The difference between Real Judaism and Zionist
What The Media Forgets About Israel
Ziogeist
Zionism vs Judaism
Zionism: Real Jew reveals the Truth
Zionist Crimes Against Christianity
Zionists won’t let U see this on TV!
2. The How to kill Goyim should send alarm bells to any thinking people, it is the type of propaganda found on neo-Nazi web sites. 
3. The real warning is the inclusion of Jew Watch.
Jew Watch is seemingly hosted by the notorious Don Black:
“Black hosts a site named Blitzcast, which Stormfront and White Pride World Wide recommend for those seeking online, racist audio “broadcasts.” Using free audio software easily downloadable from the Web, visitors to Blitzcast can listen to the speeches of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell, the weekly radio addresses of National Alliance leader William Pierce, and the ravings of anti-Semitic Jew Benjamin Freedman. Also appearing at Blitzcast is Frank Weltner, who uses the pseudonym “Von Goldstein Mohammed” and runs Jew Watch, yet another site hosted by Black.12
Jew Watch organizes its anti-Semitic materials much in the same way a popular Web directory might group more benign information. Weltner presents accusations that Jews were behind the terrors caused by Russia’s Communist regime in “Jews, Communism, and The Job of Killing Off the USSR’s Christians.” “Jewish Genocides Today and Yesterday” describes an alleged Jewish plan to deport non-Jews from the U.S. in 1946. “90% of All United States News-papers Are Owned and Run by Jews” repeats the oft-heard charge that Jews run the media, and “The Rothschild Internationalist-Zionist- Banking-One World Order Family” claims that Jews control the world of finance. Adolf Hitler’s writings, transcripts of Father Charles Coughlin’s anti-Semitic radio broadcasts, and the text of Henry Ford Sr.’s bigoted International Jew are all available at Jew Watch as well.”
There is nothing subtle about them, as you see from the Star of David above a hammer and sickle.
4. If readers are still not convinced then they can read about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as highlighted in the Occupied Palestine blog’s links, which goes on to the YouTube account of Beyond the Grassy Knoll, full of conspiratorial material and racist clips against Jews. Further, it is supported by the Radical Press, which is littered with neo-Nazi material, swastikas, the lot. You get the picture.
This explains the issues around the Protocols rather well:
“Even today the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is one of the principal propaganda weapons of anti-Semitism. In the United States it continues to be circulated by the Christian Identity movement, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups. It is still distributed by those who deny the Holocaust as well. The Institute for Historical Review – the intellectual center of the movement denying the Holocaust – continues to sell the Protocols and it is still used to attack Jews.”
5. Etc etc
I think that any reasoned assessment of the Occupied Palestine blog would show that they have an ingrained hatred of Jews.
They consciously admire neo-Nazi material which attacks Jews.
Yet there are “anti-Zionists” who read their material, and we can only wonder if they peruse the links as well?
I still don’t know why “anti-Zionists” can’t see these issues.
BNP & Business, A Warning.
A word of warning to any gullible company that wishes to do business with the neofascists in the BNP, they don’t pay, as the Belfast Telegraph relates:
“The British National Party owes companies in Northern Ireland hundreds of thousands of pounds in unpaid bills, it is claimed.
The Belfast Telegraph can reveal that a number of firms here could take the party to court for monies outstanding.
One former supporter of the party has warned that small family-run firms could go bankrupt because of the shortfall, thought to total over £500,000, UK-wide.
A case has already been heard in the High Court in March involving the non-payment of election expenses relating to the Barking constituency in London, where party leader Nick Griffin was the candidate.
A company called Newton Press has taken legal action over an outstanding bill of more than £10,000 for printing services.
Last week the BNP pledged to pay off all the money it owed by the end of the year, adding that the debts were a result of spending during the last European and general election campaigns.
A former BNP supporter in Northern Ireland, who is also owed money, said he is not confident of being repaid soon.
Jim Dowson is a fundraiser who helped set up BNP offices all over the UK, including in Northern Ireland.
His firm Adlorries, which provides promotional and marketing services, claims he is owed around £160,000.
He said he has already had to dip into his own cash to pay off smaller companies related to his firm who were left out of pocket.
“The BNP claim to be the saviours of British industry and British workers, but I am afraid that around half a dozen small, family-run businesses, including some in Northern Ireland, could go to the wall because the BNP have not paid them,” he said.
“We are in a recession and times are hard enough as it is. People have been treated disgracefully.”
Mr Dowson also expressed anger that party boss Mr Griffin was spotted walking around east Belfast last week, just yards from a firm the BNP allegedly owes more than £40,000.”
(H/T: Lancaster Unity)
The Far Right And The Lone Wolf Thesis.
I have masses of draft posts and forgot about this useful site, the Lone Wolf Project.
It covers the false notion that Far Right bombers and terrorists are basically lone wolves, and should be treated as such.
Whereas the reality is that they cooperate across the Internet and are of much greater danger than is often believed, as violence is intrinsic to the Far Right’s beliefs. Here is an extract from the report:
“David Copeland’s two-week bombing campaign in spring 1999 brought the existence of far-right terrorism into the public eye. In fact he was not the first far-right terrorist to be convicted in Britain and many others have followed.
Nevertheless the police, Crown Prosecution Service and courts have generally viewed far-right terrorists as isolated individuals inevitable consequence of the activities of several, often small, organisations that espouse a violent racist and fascist ideology.
This has meant that the authorities have failed to put in place effective strategies to monitor these extreme-right groups with a view to early identification of those individuals who show signs of making the transition from racist abuse and threatening behaviour to terrorism and murder.
This report includes case studies of nearly 40 individuals holding far-right political views who have been convicted for violence or terrorist offences.
The details revealed in court showed that they were motivated, and obtained the knowledge and wherewithal to carry out their acts, through dangerous networks that introduced them to a perverse ideological world.
Many of them used the internet to associate with likeminded people, exchange ideas and obtain information about how to acquire weapons or make explosives and deadly chemicals.”
Lone wolves: myth or reality? [ a PDF download].
EDL In Blackburn, April 2011.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what does the photo below tell us about the EDL?
An EDL supporter giving a Nazi salute during the EDL’s demonstrations in Blackburn, 2nd April 2011:
Update 1: Any dim witted EDLers or their mates tempted to comment should first read my comments policy, and leave.
Jhate And Mark Webber.
For anyone genuinely interested in antiracism the Jhate blog is required reading, it neatly covers the activities of an assorted bunch of cranks and racist, but also their underlying thinking.
I was particularly interested in a new post which mentioned Mark Weber of the IHR:
“Probably the most interesting part of the show was a monologue about American history school textbooks and how they had changed over the years. His choice of examples to illustrate how the textbooks had changed over the years were revealing: the Ku Klux Klan, which used to be accorded some respect by the textbooks; immigration, which used to be treated with caution but is now celebrated; and of course the Holocaust. Weber made much of the fact that textbooks didn’t discuss the Holocaust until the 1960s, when there was a “methodical, well-organized campaign to rewrite” them. Weber didn’t deny the Holocaust in this episode. The final section of the show was devoted to bashing Israel and the “Jewish-Zionist lobby” in the US and cheering for Helen Thomas.”
Don’t miss the piece on Society of St. Pius X.
Chomsky And IHR.
I hold an exceedingly low opinion of Noam Chomsky, but even I was shocked to read this on the History News Network:
“…From at least 1984 through 1992, [Noam] Chomsky corresponded with a man who, during those time periods, was one of the leading authors and editors in the Holocaust denial movement. And it was a very friendly correspondence, complete with praise for the denier’s work, and an offer of assistance on Chomsky’s part.
The denier in question is L.A. “Lou” Rollins. At the time of the first Chomsky correspondence, Rollins was a writer and contributing editor at the Institute for Historical Review (IHR), the North American headquarters of Holocaust denial and Nazi literature. And although the IHR has, in the past two decades, attempted to reinvent itself as a “respectable” Holocaust denial institute by eschewing clumsy, vulgar anti-Semitism in favor of pseudo-academic “historiography,” back in 1984 there was no subtlety in the IHR’s presentation. The publishing arm of the IHR sold such titles as “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” the “pro-Hitler” reprint of “Mein Kampf,” “The Testament of Adolf Hitler,” “The International Jew,” “The Turner Diaries,” KKK leader David Duke’s autobiography “My Awakening,” and various anti-Semitic and white supremacy booklets and leaflets. Contributors to the IHR included former SS Standartenführer Leon Degrelle, and former Nazi General Otto Ernst Remer….
It is against this backdrop that Chomsky and Rollins corresponded. In the first of the recently uncovered letters, Chomsky expresses happiness that Rollins was able to find Chomsky’s anti-Israel book “The Fateful Triangle” useful in his work. Chomsky tells Rollins that he’s pleased to hear that he (Rollins) is writing about Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who Chomsky proceeds to call “one of the major frauds of our time.” He compares Wiesel to Nazi collaborators, and accuses him of “exploiting the Holocaust to justify oppression and murder.”
Chomsky promises to send Rollins “news clippings from the Jewish press” to assist him with his anti-Wiesel screed (Rollins’ Chomsky-assisted essay would appear in the fall 1985 edition of the IHR’s “journal”).
Chomsky closes by writing, “I’m looking forward to hearing more about your study.”
Still, I find it hard to believe.
Rollins certainly is connected to the IHR, as this cached extract from one of his articles shows:
“About the author
L.A. ROLLINS is a Contributing Editor of the IHR Newsletter. He has also written for other publications, including Reason, New Libertarian, Critique, Spotlight and The JHR. He is the author of The Myth of Natural Rights.”
Anyone unfamiliar with the Institute for Historical Review should look up David Irving.
Then imagine two dozen plus active Holocaust deniers much worse than him, hard core racist types, embittered cranks and semi-professional antisemites, imagine that and you’ll only have scratched the surface. This is what the SPLC says about them:
“IHR’s first annual conference in 1979 attracted deniers from around the world and helped to introduce some key American extremists to Holocaust denial. David Duke, the neo-Nazi who was then the national leader of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was so taken with the idea that he followed up the conference with a “Special Holocaust Edition” of his Crusader newspaper. In the same way, National Socialist Party of America leader Frank Collin enthusiastically embraced denial, saying, “There was no Holocaust, but they deserve one — and will get it.” For years, IHR’s yearly conferences were key events that offered networking opportunities for neo-Nazis and anti-Semites from around the world.
A critical contribution by IHR was the pseudo-academic gloss it applied to its anti-Semitism. The group actively tried to avoid blatant anti-Jewish slurs, and instead sought to couch its politics in distortions of history and science meant to sound reasonable. Though the theories that resulted were far out, they had at least the appearance of legitimacy, as did The Journal of Historical Review that the IHR began to publish in 1980. Deniers would claim, for example, that the Anne Frank diary is a fraud because it contained marks made with a postwar ballpoint pen (they didn’t mention that the marks were made later by Frank’s father, who survived German concentration camps to edit and publish the diary). They would assert that the death-camp ovens were not capable of burning as many bodies as the Allies had said were disposed of after gassing. They lied about the qualities of the Zyklon B gas used to kill Jews, the operation of the Einsatzgruppen (the mobile killing squads which shot to death more than 1 million Jews in Eastern Europe), and hundreds of other facts. Through it all, IHR sought to give the appearance that its writers were honest, if skeptical, students of history. “
The IHR are really nasty people with a pro-Nazi agenda, who seek to rehabilitate National Socialism and Hitler’s reputation.
They should be avoided at all costs, I can’t imagine why Chomsky would even think of corresponding with these neo-Nazis?
Update 1: A reminder to new readers please READ, re-read and make an effort to understand my comments policy.
Postings from fans of the IHR or their neo-Nazi mates will remain in the moderation queue until the end of time.
Oh, any fans of Chomsky should read Pierre Vidal-Naquet: On Faurisson and Chomsky before they consider posting.
Update 2: A PDF exists of the correspondence here.
Update 3: Even some of Chomsky’s fans are unhappy:
“Shameful (#146927)
by Helena Kaplan on February 11, 2011 at 1:31 PMI like a lot of Chomsky’s work, but I can’t make excuses for him on this one. By 1984, he knew exactly what those nuts were all about (especially because people had been alerting him ever since he spoke out for Faurisson in 1979). This is a shameful episode in his life. “
Suspected Arson Attack
This is an exceedingly worry development, and as we know the Far Right have a long history of terrorism and bombing, Liverpool Antifascists have more:
“POLICE and fire crews are combing the scene of a huge blaze which gutted a social club earmarked to become an Islamic cultural centre.
North Wales Police and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service visited the disused Shotton Lane Social Club five days after arsonists torched in order to establish whether the building was safe to enter.
The blaze broke out in the early hours of Friday, and police have confirmed they are treating the incident as suspicious.
Detective Chief Inspector Graham Talbot said: “The former social club, which remains owned by a brewery, has been secured as a crime scene and when we can commence our investigations it will be subject to forensic examination, which should help determine the cause of the fire.”
About 100 residents were evacuated from their homes over fears strong winds might spread the fire to adjacent properties.Superintendent Dave Owens said: “Because of the windy weather the fire took hold very quickly and was difficult to bring under control. There were also compressed air cylinders in the club, which popped.
“It was very close to houses and if the wind had been blowing in another direction people could have lost their homes.”Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society (FMCS) had been trying to raise £150,000 to buy the club – which had been closed since August – and turn it into an Islamic centre.
The plans provoked strong protests and about 100 members of right-wing group the English Defence League (EDL) marched through the streets of Shotton last month to voice their opposition.”
The Daily Star And The EDL.
Anyone that has tried to read the Daily Star will know that it hardly counts as a newspaper. It is the type of publication you would put down to catch bird’s droppings, that’s all its good for.
Nevertheless, its open support of EDL is another marker in the rise of modern neofascism and anti-Muslim hatred.
Just as the BNP were falling apart Britain’s Far Right get a rejuvenating shot in the arm from the Daily Star, Roy Greenslade has more:
“Yesterday’s Daily Star broke new ground by publishing a political splash. Over a picture of flag-waving marchers was the headline English Defence League to become political party.
As this reproduction of its front page shows, it was anything but a neutral presentation. It is a clear piece of propaganda on behalf of the EDL, a group that opposes the supposed spread of Islamic extremism in Britain.
The story cannot be read as anything other than a cheer-leading, uncritical piece on behalf of the EDL. Triumphalist in tone throughout, it required no between-the-lines deconstruction to grasp its intention – to build support for the group among its readers.
…
Desmond ought to think very carefully about letting the Star use far right politics to build sales.He should remember what happened in those societies across Europe in the 1930s where Jewish minorities were demonised in the media for their religious beliefs.
Can he not see that the underlying agenda of groups like the EDL is anti-Semitic? What does he think he is doing? “
Update 1: As Minority Thought says:
“It’s not hard to see why the Star would choose to back the EDL. The paper has a long and well-documented history of publishing stories that paint Muslims in a negative light, some examples of which can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
“
Luton And The English Defence League.
Once more the thugs in the EDL want to stomp their supposed authority on the streets of Britain.
They have tried to do this before, in Leicester, October 2010 and before that in Oldham.
Each time they sought to attack ethnic minorities, intimidate ordinary people and even smash up restaurants. As I wrote before:
“1. The EDL *leadership* is stuffed full of BNPers, ex-BNPers, neo-Nazis and their allies.
2. The EDL always pick towns with high ethnic populations to hold their demonstrations. Their objective is to run amok, abuse and intimidate local people. That’s what they do.
3. The EDL want to start ethnic conflict and anyone that supports or excuses them is beyond the pale of reasoned debate, as they are aiding and abetting racial conflict. “
They are thugs, plain and simple, as their attack on Portsmouth’s Jami Mosque showed.
This time the EDL tried it on in Luton, but they couldn’t manage it despite their own bravado, plenty of booze and police protection, Nick Lowles of HOPE not Hate has more in a rolling commentary of the day:
” Foreign nazis are arriving in Luton looking for trouble. Far right activists from Sweden have been here for a couple of days and Norwegian and Dutch extremists are arriving shortly. Our spotters have also just seen a carload of German Blood & Honour supporters, wearing Combat 18 shirts, driving through the town.
We are also expecting hardliners from Vérité, Valeurs & Démocratie (VVD), a front organization of Bloc identitaire from France. ”
“Further to my last post the police have stopped the car carrying the German Blood and Honour supporters and are currently searching them.
Some of the Dutch Defence League have arrived. I’ve heard that they were staying in Bayswater, West London, along with some of the German Defence League.
EDL groups from North London, Gateshead, Aylesbury and Milton Keynes are already here. A group boarded a train at St Pancras this morning but nowhere near the numbers the EDL gave to the press. The EDL have been given two pubs and a nightclub to meet up in. The landlords/owners are allowed to serve drinks until 12pm and then close the venues an hour later, after which the EDL march will begin. All 300 pubs across the town will be shut from 12pm and not allowed to reopen until 7pm.
Interestingly, the police have been erecting steel barriers across streets, both to keep the EDL and UAF apart but also on some of the roads linking the EDL march route and Bury Park, where the Muslim community are gathering.”
“There are 18 EDL coaches lined up along Dunstable Road waiting to enter Luton. Police seem unwilling to allow them to move until much closer to the time the demo starts.”
“The EDL leadership appear to have their hands full trying to keep their rowdy bunch in order. There’s the drunken Sunderland group, others throwing bottles at the police and now the Scottish Defence League are taunting their English counterparts with chants of “where are your famous EDL?” ”
“I can now reveal that two of the speakers at today’s rally will be Austrian Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff and the surfing rabbi from the US, Nachum Shifren.
Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is a representative of “Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa” and last year she was charged with “incitement” and “defamation of religious teachings” in Austria.
Nachum Shifren is an extremist Rabbi from California who has close links to the Tea Party.
Just for clarification, the march hasn’t actually started yet. There was some movement 25 minutes ago but it seems that they just moving into position. However, it is about to start any minute now.”
“One really has to question the tactics of the local police. While EDL thugs fight with police Stephen Lennon is helped out of the march and escorted – by police and his own security – to the square where the rally will be held.
Are they affording the same protection to local citizens terrified by the EDL demo?”
Keep on reading here.
ModernityBlog 