A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

[American Dream]

25.01.14

The "Brown International" of the European Far Right

by Thanasis Kampagiannis

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2014/ka ... 50114.html

The "Brown International" of the European far Right

November 13, 2013 marked the turning of a new page for the European far Right. The leaders of the French National Front (Front National, FN), Marine Le Pen, and the Dutch Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV), Geert Wilders, met in Hague, in the Dutch parliament building, and announced the conclusion of a new political alliance (probably under the name "European Alliance for Freedom"). Their aim, through an electoral campaign based on euroscepticism and racism against immigrants, is the establishment of a formal whip of the far Right in the European Parliament, which requires at least 25 MEPs (Members of European Parliament) elected from seven countries.

The alliance is not limited to the two parties mentioned. The day after the meeting of Le Pen and Wilders, the far-right MEPs of six parties held their first meeting. Besides the French FN and the Dutch PVV, the participants were: the Belgian Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang,VB), the Italian Northern League (Lega Nord, LN), the Swedish Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) and the Austrian Party of Freedom (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ). The meetings also involved the Slovak National Party (Slovenska Narodna Strana, SNS).

What is different today from earlier attempts at such alliances? Many of these parties were, after all, already represented in the European Parliament. But there is a qualitative change in current developments.

The European far Right had managed before, in 2007, to establish a formal whip in the European Parliament, called "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty" (it then required 20 MEPs from six countries, a provision that changed to that mentioned above in 2009). The leader of those efforts was, of course, the French National Front, a fascist party which over time was forced to "wear ties" (or suits if we are talking about its new leader, and Jean-Marie Le Pen's daughter, Marine) to gain political legitimacy. Beyond the Austrian FPÖ (i.e. the party of Jörg Haider) and the Flemish VB, no other right-wing or eurosceptic party dared open identification with the party of Le Pen. It is characteristic that the Greek far Right party LAOS has chosen not to participate in this group and preferred instead the group "Europe of Freedom and Democracy" which was in practice led by the British eurosceptic party United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) under Nigel Farage.

The formation of the group "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty" ultimately became possible due to the entry into the European Union of Bulgaria and Romania and their representation in the European Parliament by two nationalist parties of these countries: the Bulgarian party Attack (Ataka) and the Greater Romania Party (Partidul România Mare, PRM). The establishment of the group (recognized by the Speaker of the European Parliament in January 2007) signaled the possibility of raising financial resources of €1 million, participation in committees, and a number of other privileges. However, this initiative ended abruptly: in November 2007, Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the Italian fascist dictator and an MEP, torpedoed the coveted unity with a racist tirade against Romanian immigrants living in Italy, calling them "criminals," "thieves," etc. The Romanian PRM reacted to Mussolini's statements by leaving the "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty" group, which eventually lost its official recognition and dissolved.

The difference between then and now is that the party of Le Pen has managed to break the cordon of isolation that existed around it back in 2007 and that prevented many parties from identifying with it. The meeting with Wilders (which the French newspaper Libération says the Austrians worked hard for) is a reflection of this development. This paved the way for the collaboration of the Italian Northern League (much more respectable when compared to the various Mussolini groupuscules) and parties of the Nordic far Right, like the Swedish Democrats.

The new alliance of Le Pen and Wilders does not, of course, solve overall the problem of unity of the far Right space. To its "Right," there is the neo-Nazi far Right of Greece's Golden Dawn, the Hungarian Jobbik, and the British National Party (BNP), led by Nick Griffin, already an MEP, who the now "moderate" Le Pen and Wilders denounced as "extremists." To its "Left" stand the right-wing eurosceptic parties of Great Britain and Germany. Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP, has said he cannot participate in a European group that includes the party of Le Pen, with its known anti-Semitic past. The newly created eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD), which has hoisted as its flag the targeting of the euro, said flatly that it does not want anything to do with the far Right.

The abstention of UKIP is a loss for the new alliance: the parties of Le Pen and Wilders are currently leading polls related to the May elections, and the same goes for UKIP. However, the political legitimacy now achieved by the European far Right is the greatest since the Second World War. It is worth noting that out of the seven parties mentioned as potential members of the new alliance (FN, PVV, VB, LN, SD, FPÖ, SNS), four have already participated in their respective national governments (Netherlands, Italy, Austria, and Slovakia), meaning they have officially been "washed" of the appearance of being "extreme."

To summarize with a rather grey assessment that has seen the light of day: if one adds together the poll estimates the far Right electoral space as a whole, as described above, together with parties not mentioned (in Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, etc), it is feared that the far Right could claim as much as one third of the seats in the new European Parliament, the only institution that is expressing the "democratic legitimacy" of the peoples of Europe.

So how did we end up here?

Racism and Islamophobia

Racism was the ticket for a series of fascist parties to pass from the margins to the center of the political scene. The French FN was considered an openly Nazi party back in the 1980s: its leader Jean-Marie Le Pen had described the Holocaust as "a mere detail of history." The Vlaams Belang is a party originating from the Vlaams Blok, which had officially been declared racist by court order in Belgium, and hence was forced to change its name in order to build a less "radical" profile. The leader of the Austrian FPÖ, Jörg Haider, had become famous for his pro-Nazi statements. When, in 2000, the FPÖ entered the Austrian government, the European Union imposed economic sanctions on the country. It took plenty of splits and a new leadership under Heinz-Christian Strache to get the party on track again. Yet, even in 2011, when it requested its entry into the European group "Europe of Freedom and Democracy," many parties vetoed its admission due to its "extremist" past.

In all these cases, the decisive role in the democratic laundering of these parties was played by institutional racism against migrant workers who come to the countries of the European Union, especially since Europe has decided to "turn off the tap" and erect walls around itself. Sotiris Kontogiannis, elsewhere in this magazine, explains the EU's policy towards migrant labor and how it has changed over time. The fascist parties succeeded in being legitimized as the most decisive voices against the "problems" that immigrants bring amidst a generalized climate of racism created by the EU itself, through its governments and the center-right and center-left parties in power. It is striking that today, whenever the leaders of far Right parties are challenged about their racist positions, they respond that they say nothing more than what is said by Cameron, Sarkozy, or Samaras (depending on the country).

If racism was the ticket for the fascist parties to pass from the margins to the central political scene, Islamophobia ensured that their seat would be Business Class. Islamophobia offered the adhesive tissue for the alliance of Le Pen and Wilders. The differences that kept the fascists of the South away from their cousins of the North are well known: the Le Pens and the fascists of the South have always been more anti-Semitic, more "statist," and not liberal at all on issues such as homosexuality, the status of women, etc. On the contrary, the fascists of the North are fanatically pro-Israel, opponents of a "big" social state, and proponents of the "European way of life," which includes (historical irony!) the rights of women and gays.

The Muslim citizens of Europe, and the immigrants and refugees who came from Islamic countries especially in the last decade due to imperialist wars, became the convenient enemy that smoothed all these variations. That's why all far Right parties, regardless of what "wing," embraced Islamophobia as a key component of their strategies. Islamophobia also offered something that no previous form of racism had offered: an argument that reached deep into progressive audiences, utilizing classic themes such as the protection of women's rights and gay rights, religious tolerance, etc.

Thus, the old-fashioned -- although now "modernized" -- fascism of Le Pen ended up hiding its anti-Semitism behind the more modern variations of Islamophobic racism like that of Wilders. And all this with the stamp of decisions and policies legitimized by the European Union.

[American Dream]

http://overland.org.au/2014/04/false-da ... australia/



False dawn: fascism in Greece and Australia

By Andy Fleming
11.Apr.14

In a context of chronic economic dysfunction and political upheaval, a small fascist party in Greece named Golden Dawn (Χρυσή Αυγή) gained international notoriety when it secured 7 per cent of the popular vote in national elections and eighteen seats in the Greek parliament in June 2012. Support for the party has remained fairly steady since, but a criminal investigation into the party’s alleged criminal activities, launched in September 2013, and the murder of two of its members in November 2013, provoked an internal crisis. The results remain to be seen ahead of elections to local council and the European parliament in May: some argue that the crackdown will actually boost its popularity at the ballot box. In Australia, the party has a very small but active following among the local Greek population and is currently seeking to broaden its activities in collaboration with the Australia First Party (AF).

Golden Dawn (GD) has roots in the Greek neo-Nazi movement. According to Antonis A Ellinas (‘The Rise of the Golden Dawn: The New Face of the Far Right in Greece’), the party’s violent antics have allowed it ‘to establish an anti-system and anti-immigrant profile, and capitalise on these sentiments’. Until recently, the party also operated to help repress the Greek Left, often in conjunction with the Greek police. Following the murder in September 2013 of antifascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas by GD member Yiorgos Roupakias, however, the state has begun to move against the party.

According to another analyst, ‘rather than running the risk of being manipulated by the Nazis of Golden Dawn, the state itself has always manipulated the extreme Right for its own benefit, ready to sacrifice it when the cost outweighs the benefits.’

Shortly after its surprise victory in 2012, the party announced it would be opening offices overseas, in Chicago, New York, Montreal, Nuremberg and Melbourne. These projects have experienced varying degrees of success. In February 2013, GD MP Ilias Kasidiaris claimed on 3XY Radio that the party would send an official delegation to open its office in Melbourne. The announcement sparked outrage locally and as yet no MP has managed to make it out to Australia to cut the golden ribbon. A Facebook page in support of GD in Melbourne (established in March, 2010 but since closed), had gathered over 2,500 fans by the time John Ferguson wrote about it for the Australian in July, 2012. Most supporters were Greek residents; only a few hundred resided in Australia.

In March of that year, a small number of GD supporters attended Greek Independence Day celebrations at The Shrine in Melbourne, and did so again in 2013. According to antifascists who attended in 2013 event officials instructed them to stop leafleting or be forcibly removed. When asked why GD members were allowed access to the Shrine, the stewards replied that GD had obtained prior permission to attend from event organisers. It’s unknown if GD attended 2014’s celebrations, but if they did, it was not as an organised group.

Despite tepid support from local Greeks, the local party’s efforts, spearheaded by Iggy Gavrilidis, appear to have been at least partially successful. Based in an office/warehouse space in the northern Melbourne suburb of Thomastown, in early 2014 the organisation sent a container vessel full of goods to GD in Greece. The goods were collected in the name of Voithame Tin Ellada (‘We Are Helping Greece’). VTE announced its existence with a Facebook page established in November 2013: ‘A group of us have come together to help our people in Greece. We are in need of clothes, blankets, and packaged food.’

Draping itself in the Greek flag, VTE initially disguised itself as a non-GD project, designed to appeal to an audience receptive to ‘helping Greeks’ but not to GD’s political line (Jewish bankers are ruining the Greek economy; politicians and the Left are traitors; undocumented migrants are running rampant, etc). It appears that a number of unsuspecting donors may have friended the page without realising they were supporting GD. As an unregistered charity, VTE may not have informed donors precisely who would receive their donations: in Greece, many local GD branches are under investigation for selling donated goods on the street and pocketing the proceeds. Further, while this kind of ‘charitable’ work has served a distinct propaganda purpose for GD, as antifascists have observed ‘the knife that cuts the bread at their soup kitchen is the same knife that killed Pavlos Fyssas’.

In any event, in recent months VTE has openly declared itself to be operating in support of GD, draping containers in GD flags and attending meetings wearing GD clothing. Curiously, among the few hundred Facebook users to have indicated their support for VTE is the former Mayor for the City of Monash, Peter Vlahos – support which has extended after it became clear VTE was a project of GD.

In addition to ‘charity’ work, GD members have also been active in Sydney, attending Greek community events and collaborating with GD activists in Melbourne in organising the shipments to GD in Greece. In Melbourne, the Australia First Party (AF) has distributed leaflets at Greek community events, including one titled, somewhat incongruously, ‘Multiculturalism Means Death!’

AF declared itself to be in political solidarity with GD in February 2013. In its statement the party welcomed GD’s decision to open an office in Melbourne and noted that while ‘there are no official links between the two parties, there are clear parallels of ideology and politics’. GD has close links with other fascist parties in Europe. On 1 March, representatives from GD, Forza Nuova (Italy), Democracia Nacional (Spain), Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Germany) and the British National Party (BNP) gathered in Rome to discuss ‘Europe Rises Again’.

In December 2013 and February 2014 AF organised rallies at the Greek consulate in Sydney to express this support and to oppose GD’s attempted criminalisation. Party leader Dr James Saleam has previously cultivated links with the far Right in Greece by way of membership of the online ‘Academy of Social and Political Research’ and publishing in its journal Ab Aeterno.

AF’s latest exercise in solidarity with GD is a rally and march scheduled for Friday 2 May in Brisbane. According to organisers, AF and GD supporters will be meeting at The Greek Club in South Brisbane before marching to and then picketing the Greek consulate in Central Plaza. The march and rally is an ambitious goosestep forward for the Brisbane branch of AF, which previously distinguished itself by unsuccessfully attempting to disrupt marchers at an Invasion Day event. How successful the attempt to rally proves to be will, like that of Golden Dawn Down Under, depend in part on the opposition it generates. My hope is that this opposition will be considerable.


Andy Fleming is a Melbourne-based anarchist and author of the slackbastard blog, featuring his political and social musings. He is a long time observer of the far Right in Australia and internationally.

[American Dream]

France: ‘We want sex, not gender’ (note on the alarming rise of the ‘gender theory’ resistance front and their neo-fascist chums)



By posting this little write-up of its research, Plan C Manchester is signalling that it is keen to hear from comrades in France and elsewhere facing similar situations—what forms is the anti-homophobia counterpower taking? what struggles lie on the horizon in light of the seemingly effective alliances being forged between single-issue anti-gay-marriage activists and neo-fascists?

11 February 2014. by S.L.

Our view of France is, to say the least, concerning. The prominent ex-communist sociologist Alain Soral, lately turned ‘nationalist socialist’, has called for “generalized insubordination”—and the call seems to have resonated deep into a frustrated conservative, in large part, Catholic mainstream. Multiple news vehicles are constantly bringing tidings of “la Manif’ pour Tous”, a wave of homophobic agitation right across the republic. Far more virulent than what UKIP represents, austerity on the other side of the Channel evokes the opportunistic invention of a struggle against Left “anti-family” policy; and most notably “against gender theory” and “gender ideology” as a whole, all of which now regularly complements and legitimizes more familiar formations of neo-fascist activism, in a context of increasingly normalized anti-immigrant rhetoric and resurgent populist anti-Semitism.


The “Dieudo” Galaxy and the quenelle gesture

The high profile comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, one time opponent of the Front National and broad ‘hate racism’-style campaigner, lately became infamous for performing the quenelle ritual gesture associated with homophobia and anti-Semitism. Although his Jew-bashing has become more and more explicit, he is still perceived by many of his defensive fans as a benign or non-political maverick. While this functions in part in this way as a diffuser of left-wing energies, it should be noted that ‘Dieudo’ has also teamed up on television with Holocaust deniers like the skinhead leader Serge Ayoub, not to mention lent support for alliances with the fascist ‘French Spring’ platform and royalist group Civitas. While most of the blood-and-soil, one-man-and-one-woman, pro-natality discourse of the aforementioned groups is missing from this Franco-Cameroonian’s comedy, according to him, gay marriage is still being pushed upon an unwilling population while morale is low—by a “Zionist” state, no less. Indeed, in this environment, the mixture of crude ‘anti-racist’ tropes together with anti-Semitism and homophobia is often dizzying.


Frigide Barjot next to a populist sign that says:
“On veut du boulot, pas le mariage homo” or
“We want jobs, not gay marriage”
(which rhymes in French, obviously)

However, the trend remains clear. While support for the leftish-liberal government is at an all-time low, things have certainly taken an extremist turn in France since 2012. No Russell Brands or Owen Joneses of note here: the unelected political free-lancers whose profiles are sky-rocketing are overwhelmingly rightist (with high prominence for anti-feminist women). For instance, one charismatic spokesperson from the hard-line pro-life Catholic French Spring was on hunger strike until last week to demand Hollande’s impeachment (#JeûneBéatriceBourges); likewise, the caricatural pro-”family” persona ‘Frigide Barjot’ has been upping the ante on her overwhelmingly pink blog, disseminating the somewhat arresting slogan “We want sex, not ‘gender’!”

http://www.weareplanc.org/france-we-wan ... ist-chums/

[American Dream]

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/07 ... eg-larsson

Anders Breivik, Stieg Larsson, and the Men with the Nazi Tattoos

—By James Ridgeway| Tue Jul. 26, 2011


Stieg Larsson is the best-known novelist of the past decade, his Millennium Trilogy read by tens of millions of people worldwide. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its two successors are beloved for their thrilling plots and compelling title character. But Larsson also embedded in his novels the abiding cause of his life: his crusade against the far-right movements that he saw as the scourge of Scandinavia and a threat to modern European society. Yet this part of his message never quite got through. Instead, the world stood in shock this weekend as Norway fell victim to precisely the kind of extremist violence Larsson had warned about.

The trilogy that has been met with such an enthusiastic but curiously apolitical response was written by a consummately political man: Raised by a grandfather who had been imprisoned during World War II for his anti-Nazi views, Larsson was in his youth a member of the Communist Workers Party and editor, for a time, of the Swedish Trotskyist journal Fjarde Internationalen. He later became the Scandinavian correspondent of Searchlight, the British anti-fascist and anti-racist magazine, and in 1995, amid an uptick in neo-Nazi violence in Sweden, he founded its Swedish equivalent, Expo—the model for the Millennium magazine featured in his trilogy. In the US, both Expo and Searchlight have maintained ties with another group that tracks the far right, the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. As an expert on the neo-Nazi movements, Larsson was once invited to lecture on the subject at Scotland Yard.

As Expo grew, the neo-Nazis in Sweden targeted it, threatening Larsson (who died in 2004) and his partner of 30 years, Eva Gabrielsson. According to Gabrielsson's book, "There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me, both of them were placed on hit lists and were in enough danger to barricade their apartment doors and arrange for special police protection. "Stieg would receive bullets in the mail, and once someone was waiting for him outside the entrance of the TT building [where he worked]. Warned in time, Stieg slipped out a back door," Gabrielsson writes.

"Our answering machine was set permanently on 'record' to keep evidence of the threats we received," she continues, "and they were always in the same vein: 'Piece of shit, you Jew-fucker…Traitor, we'll tear you apart…and we know where you live.'" At the sign of the slightest provocation on their apartment block, police cars would descend on the street. The danger was undeniably real: Two journalists who once worked for Expo and were later employed by Aftonbladet, one of Sweden's largest newspapers, wrote an expose of the neo-Nazi black-metal music operations. One of them was seriously injured when his car was bombed. A labor union leader who revealed neo-Nazi names was shot dead.

These events, and what Larsson felt was the government's failure to protect citizens, made their way into Larsson's fiction, says Gabrielsson, for example via the murders of Dag Svensson and Mia Bergman in The Girl Who Played With Fire: "In fact, everything of this nature described in The Millennium Trilogy has happened at one time or another to a Swedish citizen, journalist, politician, public prosecutor, unionist, or policeman. Nothing was made up."

Up until recently, Sweden has had Scandinavia's most well defined neo-fascist movement, with the Norwegian movement comparatively small and scattered. However, far-right splinter factions are in touch with one another across Europe and even with their counterparts in the United States. Larsson and Devin Burghart, of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, were coauthors of a 2001 Searchlight article that laid out ties between the National Alliance, an American neo-Nazi group, and the "black metal" scene in Norway. At the time the Alliance was led by the since-deceased William Pierce, the leading guru of the American racist far right and the author of the The Turner Diaries, which has been called the bible of domestic terrorism. Pierce had set up a cultural conduit for the neo-Nazi movement by taking over Resistance Records, a white-power record company in the United States, along with a Norwegian company called Cymophane.

In the wake of this weekend's attacks in Oslo, it was Expo that once again was at the forefront, exposing what is so far suspect Anders Behring Breivik's most direct link to the contemporary neo-Nazi scene in Scandinavia. In his manifesto and on the website where he regularly posted, Breivik portrays himself as a conservative Christian and heir to the Knights Templar crusaders. At the same time, Breivik's ideology was reportedly influenced by the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, racist Norwegian Defence League and its inspiration, the English Defense League. He also appears sympathetic to the established racist line of the British National Party and National Front. And he has been a member of the anti-immigration Progress Party, the second-largest political party in Norway.

Expo revealed that since 2009 Breivik has also been part of the forum Nordisk (Nordic), whose 22,000 members, according to Expo (in a translation provided by Searchlight), range "from high-ranking members of the Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party with seats in the Swedish parliament, to leading members of the Nazi movement and to unhinged psychopaths. What unites the whole lot is a hatred of immigration and immigrants." A favorite topic was The Turner Diaries.

Despite the tireless work of Larsson and his successors at Expo, Norway seem to have put relatively little stock in the threat of homegrown extremists. In its annual threat assessment, published at the beginning of the year, the Norwegian security service reportedly said that "far-right and far-left extremist communities will not pose a serious threat to Norwegian society in 2011."

Writing in the Guardian, Matthew Goodwin, an expert on British fascist movements, argues that "until now, European democracies and their security services had focused almost exclusively on the threat from al=Qaida-inspired terrorism. Rightwing extremist groups and their more violent affiliates were dismissed as disorganised, fragmented and irrelevant movement." The Norway attacks, he says, might "prove to be a watershed moment in terms of how we approach far-right followers, groups and their ideology." If so, European governments will at last be heeding Stieg Larsson's warning.

[American Dream]

http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=36131

161>88 : documentary on Czech #antifa available for download
Posted on April 21, 2014 by @ndy




[... mAd props to antifa.cz ...]

“The documentary 161>88 by Antifascist Action is now available for download in high quality. English and German subtitles are available. Download and share!

The movie maps the evolution of the Czech antifascist movement since the late 1980′s up to 2011. The footage takes the viewer through the period of the first racist murders in the early 90′s, to the protests against the Sládek’s Republicans, clashes with racist hooligans and National Resistance, up to the recent anti-Roma demonstrations. The footage is completed with commentaries and memories of both academics and activists.

Since the premiere in 2012, tens of screenings of the movie were organized around Czech Republic (including the International documentary film festival in Jihlava) and also in many other countries (Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Serbia and others). The movie was also released on a DVD.”

[... also on YouTube ...]

[American Dream]

https://newmatilda.com/2014/04/23/when- ... s-chatroom

23 Apr 2014
Who's Behind The ADL's Racist Violence?
By Andy Fleming


Two shootings on opposite sides of the world show that far right groups pose a constant threat of violence. In Australia, the Muslim community are likely to be the targets, writes Andy Fleming

A shooting at the home of Nathan Abela, the leader of the anti-Muslim Australian Defence League (ADL) in Sydney’s western suburbs, has once again placed the organisation under the spotlight. While the incident is subject to ongoing investigation by police, Abela himself has been charged with hindering the police investigation, along with several other offences related to his activity on behalf of the ADL. The 7.30 Report’s piece on Monday provides a glimpse into these activities:

"The Australian Defence League has been following and photographing Muslim women on public transport, displaying anti-Islamic posters outside mosques and filming at Muslim schools and posting the videos online. The League, which incites its followers to violence, is led by a former soldier who claims to have support from within the Defence Force."

That former soldier is Ralph Cerminara, a man whose service record has been called into question on the notorious Australian and New Zealand Military Impostors website.

Whatever Cerminara’s actual record, or the extent of military support for the ADL, in the last five years the ADL has undergone several incarnations. Control of the group, which until recently had little in the way of formal structure, has largely concerned control of the ADL label and who, if anybody, is entitled to speak on its behalf. In an ironic twist, a previous self-proclaimed leader of the ADL, Englishman Martin Brennan, was expelled from Australia in mid-2011 for visa violations. Currently, there’s something in the vicinity of 40 pages on Facebook, including various splinter groups, dedicated to promoting the ADL, both “official” and “unofficial”.

As noted by The 7.30 Report and as documented by the Online Hate Prevention Institute, the intensity of Islamophobia and attendant issues regarding the place of asylum seekers, refugees and (especially) non-white immigrants in (white) Australia has given rise to some extremely violent and often murderous rhetoric on the part of White nationalists. Much of the ideological ballast for this anti-Muslim activism is drawn from more visible oganisations like the Q Society and a number of right-wing media commentators.

There is a real possibility of serious violence being committed by members of the far right. In the United States this was highlighted by the recent publication of the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s analysis of the Stxrmfrxnt website and more so when three people were shot dead in Kansas City on 13 April, allegedly by a far right activist named Frazier Glenn Miller.

According to the SPLC, “nearly 100 people in the last five years have been murdered by active users of the leading racist website”. The report goes on:

"Stxrmfrxnt users have included Wade Michael Page, who shot to death six people before killing himself at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in 2012; Richard Andrew Poplawski, who murdered three Pittsburgh police officers in 2009; and Anders Behring Breivik, who bombed a government building in Norway, killing eight people, and then massacred 69 people, most of them teenagers, at a summer camp in 2011."

Established by former Klansman and convicted terrorist Don Black in 1995, Stxrmfrxnt has a portion of the site dedicated to users from Australia and New Zealand. Described by the SPLC as a “magnet and breeding ground for the deadly and the deranged”, among the many local groups which use it to publicise their causes and recruit members are the Australia First Party, Golden Dawn, Nationalist Alternative, Southern Cross Hammerskins and Volksfront.

The site was used extensively by the alleged Kansas shooter Frazier Glenn Miller, a militant anti-Semite and white supremacist who has a long history on the far right, from being a witness to the Greensboro Massacre of 1979 — in which five anti-Klan protesters were shot and killed by members of the KKK and neo-Nazis (crimes for which no one was ever successfully prosecuted) — to being denounced by fellow White supremacists for allegedly becoming a state informant in the 1980s.

In Australia, the division in the far right between anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic camps has been fairly entrenched to this point, with both groups generally at pains to repudiate the other. Previously, members of the ADL and APP joined with local Zionists to counter protests against the Israeli-owned chocolate shop chain Max Brenner, which was subject to a series of actions by Palestinian solidarity activists.

The anti-immigrant (and especially anti-Muslim) policies and practices of Greek neo-Nazi organisation Golden Dawn have also acquired some resonance with the ADL, moreso since the 60 Minutes broadcast of Greek Tragedy: The rise of Europe's neo-Nazis. In his interview with 60 Minutes, Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panagiotaro — in addition to claiming that Hitler was a “great personality, like Stalin” — stated that Greece is currently being subject to invasion by “millions” of illegal immigrants, mostly Muslim, and mostly “jihadists”.

Leaving aside the glowing reference to Hitler and Golden Dawn’s neo-Nazi politics, this kind of rhetoric wins obvious support from those seeking to eliminate Islam from Australia — including the Australian Defence League. It’s therefore of no small importance that ADL President Cerminara has indicated he’ll be joining the Australia First Party and local members and supporters of Golden Dawn to rally in support of Golden Dawn in Brisbane next Friday.

[American Dream]

Brick Lane 1978: the events and their significance - Kenneth Leech



Scanned PDF booklet about the events in Brick Lane, in London's East End, in 1978, where Bengali youths and anti-racists clashed with the National Front, amid a surge in racist violence.


Brick-Lane-1978.pdf 4.09 MB

[American Dream]

Ban Islam and knock down all mosques, urges Ukip candidate | The Times

Jackie Garnett, who is a Ukip council candidate in Oldham, proposed that all mosques should be destroyed and accused Muslims of carrying out “ethnic cleansing”.

[Hammer of Los]

...

God save Us and Protect Uz from the Far Right and their hordes of violent fanatics.

XXX
...

[American Dream]

Ukip Is Party For 'Decent BNP Supporters', Says Deputy Chair

Ukip is the party for “decent supporters of the BNP”, its deputy chairman Neil Hamilton has said. The former Tory MP told the BBC that there were “a lot of decent people” who had previously voted for the BNP, because they felt their concerns about immigration were not being heard.

[American Dream]

http://anarkismo.net/article/26957

Mayday: Building A New Workers Movement


A short history of May Day

The first of May is the day we remember the Chicago Haymarket Martyrs. 127 years ago these Chicago anarchists, who were influential organizers, speakers & editors in the Chicago labor movement, helped lead the battle of the day, not only for the 8 Hour Day, but also for social emancipation from all forms of oppression.

The origins of May Day go back to May 4, 1886 which marks the Haymarket Massacre. This memorable day began as a rally of striking workers who demanded the eight-hour work day, climaxing with a bomb produced by an unknown individual while the police dispersed the peaceful rally. The blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; scores of others were wounded.

Eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy during the legal proceedings that followed. Although the evidence was scarce, and could not prove that any of the eight defendants had thrown the explosive device, seven were sentenced to death and one to 15 years in prison. The death sentences of two of the defendants were commuted to life in prison, and another committed suicide before his hanging. The other four were hanged on November 11, 1887. In 1893, Illinois' new governor pardoned the remaining defendants and criticized the evidence that was used during trial.

Since this day, we honor all those who have fought, sacrificed, and died for the defense and advancement of the working class. Not only the Haymarket Martyrs, but also the many who have followed in their wake.

Present conditions

Through blood, sweet sweat, tears and bitter struggle, the working class has continued to fight and has since managed to wrestle much from the capitalist class and the state. Despite these collective efforts, our small, yet hard-fought-for gains are under continued attack. Worsening working conditions, increasingly precarious and low wage work, deindustrialization and marginalization have become the new normal. Governments, under pretext of crisis, have imposed round after round of social austerity measures, where workers and families have been expected to swallow cuts to public funding of services so that the richest can continue to profit from the fruits of our labor.

From the rise of xenophobia through the Partie Québecoise’s charter of values in Québec, the recent gains made by the Front National in France, Golden Dawn in Greece to the rise of fascism in Ukraine, it is no surprise that in these times of crisis, when the very foundations of capitalism are being challenged, right wing elements emerge to mystify, confuse and divide.

To further add to the desperation and confusion, the state and capitalists pit workers against workers in their renewed imperialist wars abroad in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, while irresponsible resource extraction and environmental devastation continue unabated.

Today's struggles - tomorrow's struggles

Though we see the continued advancement of global capitalism and its fascist allies, day to day, workers find sources of encouragement through the multiple examples we have witnessed this past year. Across North America, we are seeing students and workers experimenting with combative organizing and militancy. The indigenous people of North America are engaged in multiple battles and are taking a stand against capitalist developments on their lands. The undocumented in the US are taking militant direct actions to halt deportations and raids. Communities have successfully boycotted corporate imposed testing in Seattle. Through solidarity networks and worker centers, workers in multiples cities are taking a stand and fighting back against rampant wage theft.

On the international level, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, we are seeing workers that are traditionally divided by sectarian violence, come together as a class to fight against austerity and corruption using direct democracy and combative tactics to rally all segments of the working class against its enemies. All over Europe, we are witnessing antifascism confront the growing wave of hatred in the streets. In recent days, workers are participating in the biggest general strike in Chinese history. Spain, France, Greece, and scores of other European countries have been shaken by anti-austerity protests. Poverty wage workers in the garment sectors are striking and confronting suppression to make massive wage jumps in Bangladesh.

The need for a new workers' movement

For far too long major segments of the working class have been dormant under the illusion that change can be delegated to exterior organizations or parties. When our struggles are bureaucratized and delegated to others, we lose ownership over them and in turn lose many benefits gained through them. A victory for the working class can only be established if our class is active in the struggle leading to victory.

From the battle for the 8 hour day, to the struggles witnessed this past year, these examples cry out for the need to organize the fight back against the war that is being waged on workers at home and abroad. Through these examples we can begin to see an alternate future and experiment towards it. This new workers' movement must be established on class struggle lines, a movement that no longer waits for politicians and bureaucrats to resolve the growing inequalities and oppressions. A movement of workers organized through our own self-activity for democratic, combative and autonomous labor and community organizations must replace the stale forms of unionism and social democratic lobbyism that have dominated and compromised most struggles of the last decades.

This new workers’ movement should be allied with supportive movements, such as those against cuts to social services and education, those that seek to protect our environment, and those movements against all forms of oppression and inequality. We see the interconnectedness of various forms of oppression as we wage these struggles, along with the fights against the expansion and brutality of police forces and prisons, the criminalization of the poor and undocumented, and the continued attacks on reproductive freedoms. Struggles against oppression cannot succeed without the power of the working class and the struggle of the working class cannot succeed without the recognition that an injury to one is an injury to all and without purging our class of all reactionary ideas and practices.

Despite how small or embryonic they may seem, the struggles of the past year have demonstrated that working class victory is achieved from struggles owned and controlled by the workers themselves, not due to social democratic parties or lobbyism established from above but social movements from below that are built through their own self-activity and self-management.

A new world to build together

As anarchists we seek to wage the battle of ideas and experiment with new forms of struggle. We must also strive to be involved in combative, democratic and autonomous mass workers' movements, and where these movements don’t exist, we must set about organizing them.

By engaging in these struggles, we gain the necessary experience, initiate needed debates, and confront the current austerity agenda of the elite outside of current labor and civil laws. Through theses struggles, we establish and build the much-needed strength to defend our class today while building the foundations of tomorrow. Through struggle, we can as a class, start to imagine and organize for a classless society, building a society without power, profit, and privilege, in which working people in workplaces and communities make the decisions about how our work is done and what we want from it.

This May Day, just like every other, is a call for workers to organize against the everyday exploitation of capitalism. In the spirit of those who fought for the eight hour day, let us continue the fight for the advancement and amelioration of our class’s conditions while planning and building for the final fight.

Towards a democratic, autonomous and combative workers movement!


1 May 2014
Prairie Struggle Organization (Canada)
Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (South Africa)
Organisation socialiste libertaire (Switzerland)
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Italy)
Workers Solidarity Alliance (USA)
Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (Australia)
Collectif communiste libertaire-Bienne (Switzerland)

Gogol Bordello: Immigraniada (We Comin' Rougher)

[American Dream]

https://tahriricn.wordpress.com/2014/04 ... an-regime/

SYRIA: A reading into the new wave of European far-right and the reasons behind its support for the Syrian regime
APR 24


Members of the extreme right-wing organisation
‘La Troisieme Voie’ protest against US imperialism
on February 2 2013 in Paris.


Originally published in Arabic on Al-Manshour
By Hisham Al Ashqar

Translated by Laila Attar and Ubiydah Mobarak from Arabic for Tahrir-ICN

News of the visits of fascist and far-right groups to Syria, to show solidarity with the regime, have recently started to emerge, especially with the beginning of the revolutionary process in the Arab region. It seems that the Syrian issue ranks highly on the agenda of the European far-right. So, is it axiomatic to say that the majority of the European far-right supports Assad’s regime and stands against the revolution in Syria?

Nearly two decades ago, several parties and far-right groups started to weave relations with the Syrian regime. For example, communications began between some of the French right in France and the Syrian regime, since the nineties. Many visits then followed. Most notable was that of “Frederic Chatillon“, the president of the extreme student group (Groupe Union Défense), who is very close now to “Marine Le Pen”, the current President of the French party «National Front» (Front National). During his visit in 1994, he met the Syrian Defense Minister at the time “Mustafa Tlas“.


In the first decade of this century, especially since 2006, the visits increased. Most of them took place in Lebanon, the usual place to hold meetings between visitors and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party which is an ally of the Syrian regime. Frederic Chatillon with Alain Saural were some of the most prominent visitors. This relation was not limited to the official visits and political discussions, it extended to business. For example, the company (Riwal) which is owned by Chatillon, founded the company (Riwal-Syria) to develop economic relations between Syrian and French companies in 2009.


By the start of the uprising in Syria in March 2011, the far-right began to support the Syrian regime in various ways. Frederic Chatillon was the first to support Assad. Since the early days of the revolution, Chatillon accused all those who took part in the demonstrations of the opposition of being partners to the Zionist lobby, which wants to destabilize Syria. Chatillon went even further to organise a demonstration in Paris to support Assad in October of the same year. Chatillon’s company «Riwal» still perseveres to support the news website (InfoSyrie) which is campaigning for the Assad regime.


With time, far-right demonstrations supporting the regime were organised in many European cities, from Rome to Warsaw and Geneva. At the same time, several visits to show support were organized, notably the «fact-finding mission» in June 2013. Several European far-right personalities took part in this visit like Nick Griffin “MP in the House of Commons”, Philip Dewinter “deputy in the Flemish parliament in Belgium”. This extent of the support reached the level of going to Syria to fight along side Assad forces in some cases, as the New-Nazi Greek organization «black lilly» (Mavros Krinos) declared. There were also many meetings held by the far-right which aimed to discuss the Syrian situation and how to support Assad’s regime. The most notable was the Boreal Festival which was held in Kanto in Italy on the 12th of September 2013 in the presence of a large number of European fascists. Paradoxically, the Mayor of Kanto, who was hosting that event, begun his speech with words by Rosa Luxemburg!


Why does the European far-right back the Syrian regime?
In her thorough article, “Who are Assad’s fascist supporters?” Leila Shrooms attributes this support to:

“Anti-imperialist/anti-globalism sentiment with a strong focus on national states (they believe the Assad regime protects the Syrian state against US imperialism), Islamophobia (they believe the Assad regime fights Islamic extremists), anti-semitism (they believe Assad’s regime acts as resistance to Israel).”

As for Serge Ayoub, leader of the far-right organization Third Way, Troisieme Voie, banned since the summer of 2013, he organized on the 2nd of February 2013 a march in support of the Syrian Assad regime. The reason for his support becomes clear in his answer to the following question, “why are Syrian supporters of the Assad regime participating in this demonstration?” Ayoub replies, “Why are the Syrians with us? Of course, it is our duty to support their cause! Syria is a nation, a homeland, a socialist country with national supremacy. They are fighting for secularism, and they are subject to an attack by imperialist America, globalization and its salafist servants and Qatari and Saudi mercenaries. The purpose is to destroy the state.”


We find in Ayoub’s narrative all the reasons presented by Leila Shrooms, except for Israeli resistance. The far-right does not hide its aversion to Israel, as we have seen in Chatillon. Paradoxically, Ayoub’s supporters who describe themselves as French revolutionary nationalists, and who gained the support of many French and European Fascist organizations, brandished the photographs of five personalities in the demonstration: Bashar Al Assad’s, next to it that of the Russian president Putin, the Belarusian president Lukashenko, the Venezuelan Ex-president Chavez and the national Serb Draga Mihailovič. Many flags were also lifted, among them the Syrian, French, Russian, Venezuelan and Cuban flags.


The grounds for this support presented by all the far-right organizations on the one hand and the organizations who criticize them on the other, stir many questions such as, “Why didn’t this right ally itself with Syria against Israel before the decade of the nineties? Why did this right stand against the Syrian revolution since its beginnings before the rise of the armed extremist Islamic movements? And what is the truth of this anti-imperialist anti-globalization stance of the right?

To demonstrate the background and logic of the right’s position with regards to what is happening in Syria, we have to go back in time 25 years, to a new historical phase that started with the fall of the Berlin wall.


Redefining the enemy: from the communist threat to the threat of the American model.
In his book “The anatomy of Fascism”, Paxton says that Fascist movements are always in need of an enemy that symbolises the overwhelming crises that’s taking society by storm, and who pushes the mass to unite under the flag of the saviour leader. Towards the end of the cold war, most far-right movements in northern Europe considered The Soviet Union to be that enemy-symbol, to the extent that Jean Marie le Pen, the leader of the far-right French party, The National Front, alleged that he carried the legacies of Winston Churchill, Douglas McArthur and Ronald Regan1, not just in the political arena, but also in the field of Economy. For until the end of the eighties, the National Front was glorifying and defending liberal Economy.[2]

In this context, the fall of communism did not just cause a crisis in the left, rather it went beyond it to reach the far-right, who lost over night its main enemy and one of the basis of its politics. The reconsideration done by some of the members of the right led to adopting ideas of ideological groups such as GRECE, which started since the sixties developing the theory of cultural difference, which opposes racial mixing because it represents a danger for the identity of nations. Hence the United States became the enemy – the new symbol, for various reasons:


- Cultural and political American dominance represents a threat to national identities.

- The American model reflects a presence and mix between various races and cultures, regardless of the racism and inequality that are rooted in this model.


Redefining the enemy has forced these right wing forces to reconsider many of their political and economic stances to fit with their new ideological position. It is worth remembering here that far-right and main fascist parties are pragmatic parties which don’t hesitate in redefining their main positions (especially concerning the economy, because they do not rely on a fixed line or position in this field, rather they fluctuate according to the political variables.)[3] In order to achieve their goal: success and power.[4] Hence this Right raised the bar of its animosity towards the USA and the new political order, such as economic neo-liberalism and globalization, and establishing relations with those they consider as enemies of this political order. For example, Jean Marie le Pen is the ally of the Lebanese far-right Phalange party since the mid-seventies, and on his visit to Beirut in 2002, he tried to no avail to meet with Ayatullah Fadlallah, who has close relations with Hezbollah. This redefinition of the enemy is what explains the rapprochement between Hizbollah and the Syrian regime, which started in a shy way in the nineties to become more solid and entrenched in the last ten years.


The new far right: “left wing in its work, right wing in its values”!?…
The transformation undergone by the Right because of the redefinition of the enemy on one hand and reprioritization on the other, has led to adopting and overtaking some of the leftist ideas in order to empower this new intellectual orientation. For example, we see that the campaign of Marine le Pen in the French presidential elections of 2012 was based on social and economic issues, to the extent that it almost failed to mention some of the favourite topics of the far-right such as banning migrants. The far-right’s adoption of some of the leftist and Marxist rhetoric is not new; this was clear since the birth of fascism as Mussolini used to address the proletariat and fascists alike with his radical, nationalistic, anti-capitalist speeches. Of course, this was to a great extent a selective and manipulative manoeuvre, because the enemy was foreign capitalism and not the national one, and some of the aims of these speeches were the conciliation between the work force and the nationalistic business owners. [5]


In this context, the reliance of the new right on leftist ideas is nothing but that populist national communism, in other words, a return to the classical Fascist speech like in the twenties, and in one of the most important European capitalist crisis at the time. This return is apparent in the National Front’s adoption of the slogan “No Right and no Left” in a clear reiteration of the saying of the founder of the fascist Spanish Phalange Party (Falange Española de las JONS), Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera), that his movement was neither of the right nor the left.



However the current rhetoric and orientation of this Right differs from its 80 year old predecessor in many details. This right does not stop at adopting leftist slogans and headings, it also partially takes from its ideology to add it to its heritage. We see Marine le Pen in her book “For France to live” (Pour que vive la France)[6], relying on sayings by many thinkers, politicians, writers and others from the Left, from George Aurel, to Bertlot Brecht and even Karl Marx himself, praising the beginnings of this Left that she considers to have later on betrayed its principles, insisting that it is now the National Front that carries these objectives. Some far-right thinkers such as Alain Soral have even gone a step further, rather than repudiating the left and the right, they try to bring them together. Soral, the ex member of the French communist party and then the National Front looks at the union of the ethical right with the economic social left against the unethical left that compliments the economic right. In form, on his online political group Egalite et Reconciliation, Soral puts together the photos of Che Guevara, Gaddafi, Mahmood Ahmadi Najad, Vladimir Putin and the far-right French icon Jeanne d’Arc. Alain Soral attacks the global political system represented by the USA and Israel and talks about social justice, and the exploitation of the social classes. He denounces imperialism and demands a real left.


In context, he does not suggest anything new apart from the reconciliation between workers and business owners, with full emphasis on the conservative principles and values which lead to the salvation of the French nation.



Soral might seem like an entertainer mixing economy theology and the conspiracy theory, but his page attracts many visitors and followers, especially youth. The ideas people like Soral promote are translated in the streets, such as members from the Third Way brandishing pictures of personalities and flags as mentioned above. That could sometimes be understood as a communication and coalition between the right and some extreme nationalist left movements, such as the Polish fascist organization (Falanga) which is establishing connections with the Mauis and nationalist Bolsheviks.


This ideological change, even if directed solely at the national internal interest of these parties, carries in its folds the support of this right for the Syrian regime. Theorists such as Soral, consider Bashar Al-Assad to be one of the characters standing in the face of the global system. Moreover, the Syrian regime is the example, even if not ideal, for their slogan, “left wing in terms of work, Right wing in terms of values”. Emphasising that this system is not applicable in Europe rather suitable for “the political idiosyncrasies of the Middle East, where it is important to have a strong leader to control the ethnic sectarian cohesion with a firm hand, and that is usually acceptable by all clans… As was the case in the past [in Europe]”.


The limits of the hatred of the far-right for the “Foreigner”
In addition to the excuse of the “pressing foreign danger”, the far-right parties also need and internal enemy that can be a factor in the demise of the mass, and that prevents the achievement of a more comprehensive and stronger society.[ 7] Among the internal enemies of this Right is the “foreigner”, and in Europe the two main “foreigners” in the eyes of the far-right are the Jews and recently the Muslims. However the anti-Semitism of this Right does not always translate into animosity towards Israel. In the era of the cold war, most of the far-right considered Israel as the fortress of the west in the face of the Soviet Union. However this rapprochement was always hindered by the position of the far-right with regards to the holocaust. With the end of the cold war, and the redefining of the enemy, Israel moved from the impervious fortress in the face of the communist danger to the strongest ally of the new American enemy. This development was accompanied by a change in the perception of some of this right and their rapprochement to some of the European groups, in a step some researchers attribute to the appearance of a new danger for this Right in Europe, namely the Muslims.


This comparison remains somehow simplistic, for Islamophobia can represent an incentive for this rapprochement, however it does not explain the radical change in the perception of the far-right towards the foreigner. A few decade ago, we find that some of the prominent faces of the far-right were either Jewish or of Jewish origins, one of the most eminent examples is the vice-president of the National Front and life partner of Marine Le Pen, Louis Aliot, who has Jewish Algerian roots. Moreover, in the French parliamentary elections of 2012, the national front nominated the Jewish Michel Toris for one of the seats in Paris. Also, Far-right Jewish organizations such as the Jewish Defence League, were always close to the far-right, first to the (Bloc identitaire) then to the National Front. If we go back in time to the early nineteen twenties, we find that Mussolini’s fascist party included many Jews.[8] Hence we see that the far-right antagonizes the “foreigner” who tries to hold on to his idiosyncrasies and characteristics, while accepting the “foreigner” who adopts the values and principles of this Right – or in other words, who fuses nationally, according to the fascist expressions – then this foreigner becomes a part of that right, in that case he can assume leading positions such as Serge Ayoub who is from Lebanese origins. Therefore it will be no surprise to find Muslims among the electoral list of some of the far-right parties in Europe, and that’s in the near future.


This is with regards of the internal foreigner so what about the external one? From the unstable relationship between the Far-right and the Jews and Israel, and despite the recent antagonism with Israel, some of this right such as the National Front is trying to restore what was severed for internal electoral reasons. In this context, Marine Le Pen has declared to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in 2011 that “The National Front was a constant supporter of the Zionist movement and a constant defender of Israel’s right to exist.”


However, we would be mistaken to think of this speech just as an electoral campaign, it has to be considered carefully and seriously. Defending Israel’s right to exist does not necessarily mean supporting it, the support is for the Zionist movement, i.e. for another far-right nationalist ideology, that decided to create an entity outside the European Nationalistic movements. The far-right parties while denying foreigners the right to be within its national and geographical borders, do not deny it the right to exist within its own geographical borders, as long as it does not clash with its own sphere. This explains the cooperation and communication between the far-right parties internationally.


This clarifies the original seeming paradox. There is no contradiction in the support of the Far-right for the Syrian regime, and their animosity towards the Syrian refugees in their countries even if they were pro-regime. Moreover, animosity towards Islam becomes a secondary reason to back Assad. We mustn’t forget that this Right supports, even boasts about fighting side to side with an Islamic party, Hizbollah, as declared by the organization “Black Lilly”. One can also see clearly the pivotal role of the far-right parties that are Assad’s regime’s allies, in forming and strengthening this relationship and what that entails. This explains the regular visits of this European right to Beirut to meet parties such as the Syrian National Social party. The role of this party in particular and its network with the European Far-right deserves deeper consideration, to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.


Conclusion
This article has attempted to look at the Far-right in general, while in reality this right has various ideologies. This difference takes many forms according to the type and volume of these groups, from the bigger more pragmatic parties to the intellectual circles and the more radical paramilitary groups. Nonetheless, the general principles are the same, even if the difference in form seems radical, this remains particular and not essential. As we have seen in this article, any reading or analysis of the Right’s position has to take into consideration that the ideology that this right portrays is moving and constantly changing. One of the important tools for analysis and rapprochement is the basis that Paxton deduced such as to feel the crushing burden of a crisis that cannot be solved in a traditional way, priority of the group over the individual, considering the mass as victim and fearing for its demise. There is a need for a closer-knitted purer society, etc…


As for why does the far-right support the Syrian regime? The main reason is that the ideological crossing between the right and what it represents and what the Syrian regime represents has happened at this historical moment. For this Right, this represents one of the aspects of its advertising campaign with the enemy – the new symbol. This support also represents its difference from the other European political parties and movements, which he accuses of being a toy in the hand of this enemy. Although this Right knows that it is not possible to exploit this support internally, because of the bad reputation and violence of the Syrian regime, the development of events in Syria allows it to exploit European public opinion through sympathizing with the situation of the Christians in the east for example, or through the topic of European Jihadists in Syria. This matter requires further investigation to reveal the extent and ramification of these relations.


Most importantly, one of the main incentives behind these reasons is the inherent opportunism of the Far-right’s ideology that will not hesitate in taking whatever stance or doing whatever it takes to get even a little closer to power.




1. Ariane Chebel d’Appollonia, L’Extrême-droite en France. De Maurras à Le Pen , Bruxelles: Éditions Complexe et PUF, 1987
2. Sylvain Crépon, La nouvelle extrême droite: Enquête sur les jeunes du Militants Front National , Paris: L’Harmattan, 2006
3. examples of local, the closer Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon propositions of Marxism in the sixties, after his attempt failed coup’s Eve 1962
4. Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism , New York: Knopf, 2004
5. Paxton, 2004
6. Marine Le Pen, Pour que vive la France , Paris: Grancher, 2012
7. Paxton, 2004
8. Paxton, 2004

[American Dream]

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/a-red-bro ... for-syria/

A Red-Brown Alliance for Syria

By Germano Monti
Source: Qantara.de
May 5, 2014

Neo-Nazis, Stalinists, Catholic fundamentalists and pacifists may seem like strange political bedfellows, but they have found common ground in a diffuse brand of anti-imperialism. This left-wing/right-wing alliance’s online campaigning and its active support for the Assad regime have led to a lack of solidarity with the Syrian people not only in Italy but elsewhere in Europe too. By Germano Monti

Almost exactly a year ago, the Piazza Venezia in the centre of Rome, where Benito Mussolini once addressed the crowds, became the scene of a very strange demonstration: outside the gates of the Syrian embassy, a few dozen people held up portraits of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and waved Syrian flags. Speakers took turns at the microphone, and finally, when the Syrian national anthem blasted out from the loudspeakers, some of the protesters raised their right arms in a Hitler salute, while the rest raised their clenched fists. This first “red-brown” demonstration was soon followed by others.

In the meantime, a movement known as the European Solidarity Front for Syria has become active. It unites numerous extreme right-wing groups from across Europe under the flag of the Assad regime. This brown solidarity front organises pro-Assad demonstrations and has already sent several delegations to Damascus, each of which has been received by the Syrian government in the national parliament.

One of these delegations paid the regime a visit shortly after the chemical weapon attacks in September 2012. Led by Ouday Ramadan, it also included Stefano de Simone and Giovanni Feola, leaders of the neo-fascist movement CasaPound, as well as Fernando Rossi, an ex-senator from the Italian Communist Party, who sought to close ranks with the radical right wing because of his support for Gaddafi and subsequently for Assad. This “poison gas delegation” was officially welcomed by the Syrian head of parliament Jihad Allaham, Prime Minister Wael al-Halqui, Information Minister Omar al-Zoubi and Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.

Fascist tradition

The reason for these fascist organisations’ support for the Assad regime is partly historical. In 1954, Fascists such as Alois Brunner, leader of the SS special unit for the “final solution to the Jewish question” and Eichmann’s closest associate, found a safe haven in Damascus. Hafez al-Assad, the current dictator’s father, tasked Brunner with reorganising the Syrian secret service along Gestapo and SS lines.

Since the beginning of the people’s uprising in Syria three years ago, there has once again been a remarkable mobilisation of radical right-wing groups. Bashar al-Assad’s adepts are primarily of Italian, French and Greek origin, but they also come from Germany, Spain, Belgium, the UK, Poland, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Romania. They are a rather heterogeneous bunch: from Marine Le Pen’s French Front National, to the Polish Catholic Falanga, which called for the citizenship of all Polish Jews to be revoked in June 2013, to the Russian Alexander Dugin’s Eurasian Vision and the Greek national-socialist group Mavros Krinos, which has prided itself on providing Assad with several militias.

Italy is the hub of this red-brown pro-Assad alliance because it can count on open support from organisations such as Forza Nuova (Catholic neo-fascists) and CasaPound (who also refer to themselves as the “fascists for the third millennium”). The alliance also includes several smaller groups that consider themselves “socialist” and vaunt their links with nationalist and Stalinist parties and movements all over the world – from Russia to Venezuela and North Korea.

All of these organisations have networks and links to parts of a confused anti-imperialist and dogmatic left wing. Rooted in Stalinist thought, this branch of the left is convinced to this day that the world is mired in a constant conflict between Western imperialism (represented by the USA, the European Union and their allies) and the resistance of “sovereign states” such as Russia, China and Iran.

A “red-brown army” to serve Assad

In the name of this crude brand of anti-imperialism and an Islamophobia that varies in intensity from group to group, the fascist right, the Catholic fundamentalists and the Stalinists have spawned a small, but active “red-brown army”.

To avoid any misunderstandings, it must be stressed that CasaPound and Forza Nuova have relatively few active followers: only of a few thousand members. Both groups failed miserably in recent polls. Nonetheless, they exercise an influence over young Italians that is not to be underestimated. In student elections at a few secondary schools in Rome they even won the majority of votes, which meant that the European Solidarity Front for Syria was allowed to hold speeches at these schools and elsewhere.

While Forza Nuova focuses on the defence of the traditional family and the fight against abortion, CasaPound is more involved in the social sphere: its members occupy vacant buildings and organise campaigns for people with disabilities – as long as they are Italian. Both groups share a fundamentally racist and xenophobic outlook and a categorical rejection of “mondializzazione” (globalisation), which they perceive as a rapid loss of national sovereignty.

This network of well-known political and cultural representatives is important for the support of the Assad regime. These representatives see the Syrian dictatorship as both a desirable societal model and a protective barrier against Israeli Zionism and Islamic fundamentalism.

Fear of Islam is playing an increasingly significant role in the politics of the right wing. In the run-up to this year’s European elections, the leaders of various European extreme right-wing groups have met on a number of occasions – in Spain last November, for example, and in Rome in February 2014. Jens Pühse of the German NPD attended the Spanish meeting, as did members of the Syrian National Socialist Party (SSNP).

Syria’s National Socialists

The SSNP is a close ally of Assad’s ruling Baath party and has two members in the Syrian cabinet: the deputy prime minister and another minister. The party deploys its own units to fight side-by-side with the regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah militias against the Syrian rebels. The ideology of the SSNP, which was founded in 1932 in Beirut, as well as its symbolism are obviously modelled on that of German National Socialism: a raised right arm is used as a salute, and the emblem emblazoned on the flag closely resembles a swastika. The SSNP’s Italian representative is the aforementioned Ouday Ramadan, who is in charge of organising support for the Assad regime in Italy.

The rapprochement between neo-Nazis, Catholic fundamentalists, Stalinists and pacifists under the banner of anti-imperialism is a crucial factor in the lack of solidarity with the Syrian people, particularly in left-wing circles. This small “red-brown army” is extraordinarily active on the Internet, with websites and blogs that initially seem to be left wing. Over the past three years, this army has managed to paralyse the Italian solidarity and peace movement for Syria by relentlessly invoking the spectre of a supposed NATO attack on Syria and a Zionist-Salafist plot against the Assad clan’s “secular, anti-imperialist and socialist” regime.

Only in recent months have the mainstream media in Italy become aware of this phenomenon. Since then, they have reported on the activities of this dubious pro-Assad alliance. Furthermore, calls for democracy and humanitarian aid for Syrian citizens are increasingly being heard from the most influential peace organisations. Whether this is enough to diminish popular support for this ideological melting pot remains highly questionable.

[American Dream]

http://www.ww4report.com/node/13209

Odessa massacre: fascism on both sides, thank you

Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Tue, 05/06/2014

Ukraine's anarcho-syndicalist Autonomous Workers' Union has issued a "Statement on the Odessa Tragedy," caling the horrific May 2 violence there a "clash of right-wing combatants," with "football hooligans and Euromaidan self-defence on the one side; Stalinists, pro-Russian paramilitaries and local police force on the other." The clash climaxed when the pro-Russian ("Antimaidan") protesters fled into the city's Trade Union house, and barricaded the doors. The pro-Ukrainian forces besieged it; Molotov cocktails were thrown "both to and fro the roof of the building," which eventually went up in flames. Some 40 of those inside were killed, either burned or sufficating in the smoke.

Since then, the Russian and pro-Russian media have been sensationalizing the Odessa massacre in the most exploitative style, while the Western media are predictably giving it little play. Typically, Voice of Russia refers to 46 "burned alive," as if they all met their deaths that way, which is improbable. Among the pro-Russian sources (unfortunatley being forwarded around much by "progressives" in the West) is the Borotba Union, which refers to the pro-Ukrainian forces only as "nazi squads" (such overheated terminilogy seems increasingly common in pro-Russian accounts). The AWU statement asserts that militants from the Borotba Union, which appears to be an amalgalm of Stalinism and pan-Slavism, were actually on the scene at the Odessa riot, inciting things at the Trade Union house.

The Western media, e.g. Reuters, have been giving far more play to the incident two days later, in which pro-Russian protesters stormed a police station in Odessa and succeeded in freeing nearly 70 of their comrades who had been arrested in the street-fighting. They seem to have won over some of the police at the scene, who demonstrated their loyalty to the protesters by donning the offered St. George's ribbons, a Russian military insignia that has become a symbol of the separatist revolt. Ukrainian nationalists are petitioning for the ribbon to be outlawed. Tellingly, the insignia goes back to the Order of St. George established by Catherine the Great, abolished by the Soviets, and revivied after the fall of the USSR—but the insignia (although not the order) was first revived by Stalin in World War II, as Russian nationalism began to loom larger in his ideology than Bolshevik anti-monarchism. (WP, May 5)

Kiev has since dispatched "special forces" to Odessa, and fighting also flared at Slavyansk in the east of the country. Four government helicopters have now reportedly been downed by pro-Russian rebels (or actual Russian troops?) in the east. Alarmingly, the Kiev government has reinstated military conscription (which had been abolished only last year, under Yanukovych). (Reuters, May 5; BBC News, May 1)

Also quite alarmingly, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reports that "hundreds of Jews have been fleeing Ukraine since the start of year and heading to Israel." The number of new immigrants from Ukraine registered at Israel's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption in the first three months of the year totaled 557, an increase of 43% over the same period last year. And small wonder. The Jewsih Telegraphic Agency reported April 10 that the Holocaust memorial in Odessa was defaced with swastikas and the SS symbol, along with the words "Death to the Jews" and "Right Sector"—the name of a far-right formation that has come to the fore since the Maidan protests. Now, was this really the work of Right Sector, or pro-Russian provocateurs? As we've argued, it really doesn't matter very much.

Israel seems to be going along with the Russian propaganda that it is only the Ukrainian side that is infected with the fascist virus. Israel's honorary consul in Rio de Janeiro, Osias Wurman, told Voice of Russia that a reason for Putin's animosity for the new Ukrainian government is "anti-Semitic movements and manifestations." He added: "Undoubtedly, the pro-Jewish atmosphere currently is much more credible in Russia than in Ukraine. Many of those 'revolutionaries' belong to the ultranationalist, racist and far-right Svoboda party." (JTA, April 9)

Ironically, there have been reports of clandestine Israeli support for Svoboda-linked militias in Ukraine. Whether true or not, the stench of fascism infects both sides in this conflict, and it should give "progressives" in the West pause to be uncritically accepting the same line pushed by Israel.

The AWU statement decries the "Antimaidan" forces, led "by the most reactionary clerical conservatives," but adds: "On the other hand, we are disgusted by the reaction of the right-liberal and patriotic general public which takes delight in the Odessa deaths... As Ukrainian workers side with various warring right-wing movements, they are sliding further from socialism to barbarism. The cure is well-known: we should realize our own class interests, organize at workplaces and direct our rage against the real enemy, not at each other."

We concur, and we insist, yet again, that the work of progressives and anti-war activists in the West is not to favor one side or the other in a fight between rival reactionary oligarchs and militarists, but to build solidarity with dissident and anti-militarist forces in Russia and Ukraine alike...

[Belligerent Savant]

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