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

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

Postby jakell » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:05 pm

Back to the Asian Youth movement again. (not much more to say on this from my end)

A seemingly random plethora of repetitive data moving all over the place with no apparent centre or attempt at a useful overview.

(ok, one thing that is not so random, an unexplained concentration on UK stuff)
" Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism"
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby American Dream » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:23 pm

Back to neo-Fascist Cultcha:

Death in June - a Nazi band?

Article about band Death in June, who use fascist symbolism, and their relation to Nazism, racism and the far right.

http://libcom.org/library/death-in-june-a-nazi-band

Death in June (DIJ) is not a typical white power nazi band - they do not shave their heads, sing about lynching Blacks or rant about Jewish conspiracies. Nonetheless, DIJ's unabashed support for fascist ideology and aesthetics is just as strong. Their use of fascist symbolism goes far beyond shock tactics, and ultimately the artistic and philosophical message they put forward serves to create an interest and acceptance that fascist cultural activists can exploit. This is particularly dangerous at a time when the white power music business generates millions in sales each year and fascists increasingly seek to gain a foothold in new subcultures, particularly the goth, neofolk, experimental and industrial scenes. Douglas Pearce, the singer/songwriter and central person in DIJ, has always been careful to conceal his true political beliefs and avoid controversy, but a close examination of DIJ's interests and activities reveals where his loyalties lie.

The name "Death in June" refers to June 30, 1934, the "Night of Long Knives", when Hitler had Ernst Roehm and other leaders of the SA (nazi stormtroopers) murdered. Roehm and his faction were highly critical of Hitler policies (make no mistake-they were still fascists) and are associated with a branch of fascist ideology National Bolshevism, spearheaded by Gregor Strasser. The National Bolsheviks argued for a more socialist version of fascism and criticized Hitler\rquote s reliance on industrial capitalists. (Today, this branch of fascism is called the Third Position.

DIJ repeatedly use fascist and nazi symbols on their albums and on stage, including the Death Head (worn as a pin by nazi SS soldiers), the Life Rune (a pagan symbol commonly used by fascists) and the Black Sun (another rune used by the SS). Likewise, members of DIJ have often worn nazi Waffen-SS uniforms on stage.

On their "Brown Book" LP, DIJ published the Horst Wessel song, the marching anthem of the SA and later the official song of the nazi party. Their song "Circo Massimo" from their "Take Care and Control" album loops a chorus from a fascist marching song. The title of their "Operation Hummingbird" album comes from a nazi military operation aimed at creating anti-gravity aircraft.

In 1992, during Yugoslavia's bloody civil war, Douglas Pearce visited the frontline and the HOS Miliz (Croatian fascists). Pearce made several live recordings in Croatia and then released them as a two-CD set called "Something Is Coming: Live and Studio Recordings From Croatia" that carried the red-white national flag of Croatia. Proceeds from the CD went to a Croatian (fascist) military hospital.

Also in 1992, DIJ backed out and refused to play the Dark X-Mas festival in Hamburg after the organizers issued a statement condemning a spate of fascist attacks on immigrant asylums in Germany. Likewise, DIJ also refused to play a 1994 Festival of Darkness because the show was promoted as being against racism and neo-nazism.

DIJ songs were published on a 1996 tribute to Leni Riefenstahl, a well-known Third Reich director/cinematographer. The CD was published by VAWS (Verlag und Agentur), a right-wing record-label run by Werner Symanek, who is part of the right wing in Germany and active in cultural work. VAWS has released similar tributes to nazi artists such as Arno Breker and Josef Thorak.

DIJ/Pearce have often collaborated and played with proto-fascist industrial artist Boyd Rice/NON. Pearce and Rice have also associated with fascist/Satanist Michael Moynihan of the band Blood Axis. (See more on Rice and Moynihan below.) Patrick "Kill", a former member of DIJ (now with Mother Destruction), disassociated himself from Pearce due to racism and intolerance within

DIJ shows have been cancelled and shut down or suffered protest numerous times on the grounds that DIJ supports fascism-in Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Germany, Switzerland and Norway, among others. In Chicago last year, the Metro cancelled a scheduled Death in June show, though it was rescheduled elsewhere (according to a promoter from American Gothic Productions, fascists did indeed attend the show).

DIJ have a fan base among modern fascist activists, many of whom actively encourage other fascists to attend DIJ shows.

For examples, click here and here.

Douglas Pearce Quotes

"The most influential man of this century has been Adolf Hitler! He's shaped the world we live in today with his hate and destruction."

"At the start of the eighties, Tony and I [Tony Wakefield was one of the original members of DIJ] were involved in radical left politics and beneath it history students. In search of a political view for the future we came across National Bolshevism which is closely connected with the SA hierarchy. People like Gregor Strasser and Ernst,who were later known as 'second revolutionaries' attracted our attention."

Misery and Purity: A History and Personal Interpretation of Death In June by Robert Forbes (Jara Press, Amersham 1995), p. 15.

Regarding the Night of the Long Knives:
"Our interest doesn't come from killing all opposition, as it's been interpreted, but from identification with or understanding of the leftist elements of the SA which were purged, or murdered by the SS. That day is extremely important in human history... They were planning execution or overthrow of Hitler, so he wouldn't be around. We'd be living in a completely different world, I should imagine... It's fascinating that a few people held the destiny of the world and mankind in their hands for those few hours and let it slip, and it could've gone either way."

(source: interview with Sounds magazine, 1985)

"I prefer to suck, white, uncircumsised cocks of a certain age so I suppose that rules out quite a few races and religions in one huge act of sexualdiscrimination. However, that's natural selection for you. It follows on that, of course race is important to me!"

(source: interview with Dagobert's Revenge)

The Argument
Some would argue that DIJ does not support fascism/nazi-ism, but that they just use fascist imagery and symbolism either for shock value or because they simply find them aesthetically pleasing.

This argument can be taken several ways. On one hand, we are to believe that because it is artistic, that there is no political content to it. Though we question this notion (in our view, everything is political), even if we didn't we would question the wisdom of spreading an aesthetic that is the basis for a fundamentally anti-human, anti-freedom philosophy without offering any sort of critique whatsoever. An exploration of fascist imagery could be interesting if it were juxtaposed with an exploration of the inherent dangers of fascism, but DIJ does nothing of the sort. In fact, their handling of nazi symbolism can be more accurately pinpointed as a celebration of fascist ideals. Nazi uniforms may look sharp, but ultimately the people that wear them leave something to be desired. Considering the growth of fascist movements in both Europe and North America over the past decade, and the attempts these fascists are making to spread their ideology, we can only view the promotion of fascist aesthetics as na\'efve at best, dangerous at worst.

On the other hand, we are to believe that DIJ's use of nazi symbolism is just a tired, old marketing gimmick, a form of fascist pornography that uses controversy to garner attention and sales. According to this view, DIJ's pro-fascist stance is just a meaningless marketing ploy. Even Douglas Pearce has said, "Obviously people have fallen into the trap of taking it on a surface value. That is their problem." Unfortunately for Pearce, it is a problem for him as well since the use of such symbolism has and does attract the attention of actual fascists (see above). By creating an atmosphere where fascist aesthetics and philosophy are supported, Pearce and DIJ are drawing fascists in - and they do nothing to discourage this, despite being called on it for over a decade. At best this is irresponsible, at worst reprehensible.

Ultimately, we believe that all of these arguments in defense of DIJ are bogus, as we feel there is enough evidence regarding DIJ\rquote s political stances, projects and activities to show that they are doing more than just flirting with fascist imagery.

Some would argue that by trying to shut down DIJ shows, that we are being "fascist" and that we are engaging in censorship. This is not a question of free speech. Bookers, promoters and club owners decide everyday what bands they want to play in music establishments. This is no more censorship than choosing a rock group over a country act. Do you support fascism? If not, then why would you support Death in June?

Douglas Pearce is gay, so how can he be a nazi/fascist?
There is a documented history of homosexual participation and support within fascist movements, despite the fact that most fascists count homosexuals as enemies. There is also the distinct possibility that Pearce is so interested in Ernst Roehm because Roehm was homosexual, just like Pearce is.

Wasn't Pearce's visit to Croatia and the benefits he did for humanitarian reasons?
In an interview with Descent magazine (issue 3), Pearce stated that it wasn't a "purely a humanitarian gesture. It was a cultural one. A socio-Euro political one." The people he visited were fascists.

Boyd Rice
Like Pearce and DIJ, Boyd Rice has consistently embraced fascism throughout his career as an experimental noise artist. In addition to wearing fascist uniforms and imagery and giving nazi salutes on stage, there is wide range of evidence indicating that Rice is a nazi at heart.

Rice set up an explicitly fascist show on August 8th, 1988 in San Francisco called 8-8-88. "88" is a code phrase commonly used in fascist circles for "Heil Hitler" (H is the 8th letter of the alphabet).

Rice is also infamous for a photograph in which he is wearing the uniform of the neo-nazi American Front and sitting next to his friend Bob Heick, the leader of the American Front at that time.

In 1986, Rice was a friendly guest on the television show hosted by Tom Metzger of WAR (White Aryan Resistance). When Metzger asked Rice: "So whereas modern music propaganda is an instrument of Jewish interest and Black and so forth, you see emerging a new propaganda form for white Aryans?" Rice replied:"Yeah, yeah."

Rice founded a group called the Abraxas Foundation along with Holocaust-denier Keith Stimley. The Abraxas Foundation published a newsletter called WAKE, which told its readers that "nature adheres to an Immutable Order" in short, humanity is democratic, nature is fascist.

Rice has been known to sell at his shows and read as part of his performance from a racist, anti-Semitic book called "Might is Right", by Ragnar Redbeard. "Might is Right" includes an afterword from George Eric Hawthorne, the former singer of the neo-nazi band RAHOWA (RAcial HOly WAr) and founder of the white power music label Resistance Records. The book was edited by Katja Lane, wife of the imprisoned David Lane, a neo-nazi member of the Order that committed several armored car heists and murdered Jewish talk-show host Alan Berg in the 1980s. Proceeds from the book go to support David Lane and similar white supremacist political prisoners.

Though Rice claims not to be racist or neo-nazi, he does not deny that he is a fascist and social Darwinist. According to an interview by Misanthrope, he said: "I feel that I'm a fascist, but Nazi is a real specific term. I'm a fascist in the sense of the modern bastardised meaning of the word. I'm completely against democratic values and liberalism. (read the interview)

As if that\rquote s not repugnant enough, Rice also does not conceal his hatred of women. As revealed in Misanthrope:

Back to the rumours. Are you a misogynist?

"Yeah." Nods fervently for the record. [Laughs.] "Yeah, more and more all the time."

What makes you feel that way?

"Just a lot of experience with women. I don't think women deserve the same rights as men. I don't think women are on an equal footing with men. I think they're totally different creatures. I think the world operated better when they had less say over how the way things went, had less control."
And regarding his piece "R.A.P.E.", which is appallingly pro-rape but allegedly tongue-in-cheek: "I was poking a bit of fun, but it's like there's more than a grain of truth in everything I said in there. I think all the stuff I said was basically true. Which is why it's funny when it's funny. And it's why it upsets women, when it upsets women. Because, you know, they can't really deny most of that stuff. "

"Well that's why when women start having these intellectual arguments with me I say at a certain point, "Listen, I refuse to even argue with a woman." They say, "Well, why is that?" and I say, "Because you overreact, you get all emotional, and fly into a tizzy."


Even Boyd Rice's former lovers do not deny his racist and fascist tendencies. According to an interview with Rice's former girlfriend Lisa Suckdog: "His audience is all Nazis and Satanists and they have their own hall and they do their Nazi racist stuff.

Michael Moynihan
A former friend of Boyd Rice, Moynihan is a prolific writer, musician and straightforward Satanist. Just like his associates, Moynihan clearly comes across as fascist when you see the evidence:

Moynihan wrote the book Lords of Chaos, detailing the church burnings in Scandinavia attributed to the black metal scene. These incidents led to the flourishing of NSBM: National Socialist Black Metal.

Moynihan runs a music label called Storm that distributes music by neo-nazi Varg Vikernes (of the band Burzum) as well as other NSBM music projects.

In an interview with Compulsion magazine (#3, circa 1988), Moynihan said: "I have no problem being called a fascist. If fascism will restore some sense of order, discipline and responsibility to the world, then I am all for it."

Moynihan published the book "Siege" by neo-nazi James Mason. Once a member of the American Nazi Party, Mason now belongs to the Universal Order, a group that sees Charles Manson as the next Hitler. Mason is currently serving time in Colorado for menacing with a deadly weapon.


Sources
Christian Dornsbuch, contributor to RechtsRock, Bestandsaufnahmeund Gegenstrategien and Asthetische Mobilmachung (German books concerning fascist influences in music scenes).

Soundtracks to the White Revolution: White Supremacist Assaults on Youth Music Culture, by the Center of New Community

Misc. Online Research


More info on Death In June, Der Blutharsch and Changes
Changes - R.N. Taylor Changes is the re-union of a 1970's Chicago "apocalyptic folk" band headed up by self described "white separatist" R.N. Taylor. With his long hair, acoustic guitar, and folk tunes, Taylor is the Bob Dylan of bigotry.

Active for decades in white supremacy, Taylor is no stranger to racist violence. In a 1998 interview with the British publication Tribal Resonance, Taylor discusses taking part in attacks against the homes of African-American families, as well as hanging African-Americans in effigy from lampposts in Chicago during the late 1960s.

Taylor went on to join the violent right wing paramilitary group the Minutemen, an organization active in the 1960s and early 1970s that was rife with white supremacists and Klansmen at its leadership.

In the same Tribal Resonance interview, Taylor describes his goal for racial separation in the United States. The verbal map that Taylor draws for his reader parallels an actual plan for racial separation drawn by white supremacist David Duke. According to Taylor, white separatists would get the Pacific Northwest as a homeland, and African Americans would be moved to America's southlands.

In Duke's original version of this concept, which was drawn for the National Association for the Advancement of White People, whites retained overall control of the country while Latino, Jews and Native Americans are moved to various relocation areas. Taylor began sincerely putting his politics into music in the 1970s.

Der Blutharsch (a synonym for "dried blood") is an Austrian white power music act headed by Albin Julius, formed in 1997, with the assistance of Death in June leader Douglass Pearce.

The band takes great pride in their use of fascist symbols, and is well known for its use of Nazi imagery. Der Blutharsch attracts neo-Nazi's and right wing extremists across Europe.

In March 2003, a concert in Clausnitz, Germany was cancelled by the German government. In a statement released by the security police concluded that Der Blutharsch has "right wing extremist tendencies." (The statement has significant weight in Germany, given the legal impermissibility of such extremism.)

Those tendencies are evident in the packaging and music of the band. The Der Blutharsch logo is a symbol with a Sig-rune, like the Waffen-SS used. Their website also relies on the Nazi Iron Cross and the logo of the Hitler Youth.

The covers of their albums are also adorned with Nazi art. The cover of the CD "Der Sieg des Lichtes ist des Lebens Heil!" (The triumph of light is the life's Heil) is a part of a picture about the Varus battle, painted by the Nazi painter Werner Peiner.

The cover of the CD "The pleasures received in Pain" is a reprint of the painting "Defense eastern Einfdle" by Nazi artist Ferdinand Staeger. Their songs also sample lyrics from the Hitler Youth marching anthem "Forward!" and other speeches and marches.

The EP "Adesso viene IL bell" even contains eight songs from Italian fascism. On a live-video, published in 1999, named "Gold gab ich fcr Eisen" (I gave gold for iron) of the second tour, a "Finnish version of Lili Marleen," a popular song in Germany during World War II, was played (called "Lisa Pien").

The song was dedicated to the Freiwillige der Waffen SS and Marsch des Sturmatillerie, European volunteers of the Waffen SS march of the storm artillery. The second tour was together with Death in June. At the end of the video, the second singer Wilhelm Herich shouted "Free Pinochet!"


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

Postby jakell » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:56 pm

Pretty sure this was overstated:

This is particularly dangerous at a time when the white power music business generates millions in sales each year and fascists increasingly seek to gain a foothold in new subcultures, particularly the goth, neofolk, experimental and industrial scenes........


Followed the link and it seems this article is from 2006.

Like I said earlier. a lot of your stuff is random, stale and irrelevant. I'm pretty sure you are aware of this by now, which leaves me wondering "what exactly is your game?"

Previously I had thought that, even though your 'anti-fascism' is misguided and ineffectual, your heart seems to be in the right place. Now I'm not sure about that even.

(10 posts to go)
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby American Dream » Wed Feb 12, 2014 3:36 pm

The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism
(Fredy Perlman - 1984)

Nationalism was proclaimed dead several times during the present century:

* after the first world war, when the last empires of Europe, the Austrian and the Turkish, were broken up into self-determined nations, and no deprived nationalists remained, except the Zionists;

* after the Bolshevik coup d'etat, when it was said that the bourgeoisie's struggles for self-determination were henceforth superseded by struggles of workingmen, who had no country;

* after the military defeat of Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany, when the genocidal corollaries of nationalism had been exhibited for all to see, when it was thought that nationalism as creed and as practice was permanently discredited.


Yet forty years after the military defeat of Fascists and National Socialists, we can see that nationalism did not only survive but was born again, underwent a revival. Nationalism has been revived not only by the so-called right, but also and primarily by the so- called left. After the national socialist war, nationalism ceased to be confined to conservatives, became the creed and practice of revolutionaries, and proved itself to be the only revolutionary creed that actually worked.

Leftist or revolutionary nationalists insist that their nationalism has nothing in common with the nationalism of fascists and national socialists, that theirs is a nationalism of the oppressed, that it offers personal as well as cultural liberation. The claims of the revolutionary nationalists have been broadcast to the world by the two oldest continuing hierarchic institutions surviving into our times: the Chinese State and, more recently, the Catholic Church. Currently nationalism is being touted as a strategy, science and theology of liberation, as a fulfilment of the Enlightenment's dictum that knowledge is power, as a proven answer to the question "What Is to be Done?"


http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ ... ationalism
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby jakell » Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:49 pm

The above is quite level headed compared to the sort of stuff you usually post (which I doubt you read properly).

When I first started engaging with BNP types, I had the quick and easy opinion that nationalism equates to fascism, and indeed, for Americans, this is a more straightforward equation. For Europeans though, this is more complex, and it is more entwined with social history.

Due to this, and in an attempt to make practical headway, I started to see British Nationalism as potentially distinct from White Nationalism, which is definitely an American import (thanks for that you guys). This actually started to work, and a fair few BN's started to see it this way too, especially as there are existing tensions around this that were just waiting for someone (like me) to give form to.

It's a shame that you are very likely going to blindly post some random article after this, because I am again demonstrating to you one of the weak points within the far right. I suppose it's another bear I'll have to cross though

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

Postby American Dream » Wed Feb 12, 2014 6:06 pm

http://libcom.org/blog/why-no-platform- ... m-05012013

Why no platform is still relevant,
and the trouble with liberal "anti-fascism"


Image

Some on the liberal end of the anti-fascist movement have argued that "no platform" is dead and free speech the best antidote to the far-right.


This argument rears its head time and time again, but it bears shooting down every time.

Today, a Robert Sharp posted a short blog on Liberal Conspiracy to argue against no platform. It is, he argues, "counter-productive" because when fascists have a platform "they expose themselves as incoherent and small-minded, and it gives the rest of us a chance to argue against them." It's actually a fairly standard liberal argument.

The reason that it's more significant right now, at least in Sharp's view, is that Hope not Hate mouthpiece Nick Lowles has argued similar in a Huffington Post piece on free-speech:

I think you have to look at the mindset at the person behind it. The tweets against Tom Daley were horrible, but some people’s lives are made an absolute misery every day by this abuse. We have to pay that attention.

There’s been a long history in the anti-fascist movement of “no platform”, but a lot of those principles have become outdated, because of new technology, people have a platform online.

I’m not going to sign up to a Twitter debate with Griffin, that’s beyond the pale. But at the same time we need to do more to take on their ideas in the blogosphere, there are ideas are out there in swathes. Or we sit on the sidelines, condemn them, and refuse to engage, that’s when we look like the pro-censorship group.

The more controversial things they say, the more attention they get. It’s actually easier with people like Nick Griffin and David Irving. But there’s mainstream hatred of Muslims all over Twitter. We have to be in the argument, expose their ideas.


The genesis of this idea is in the Enlightenment. In essence, in the absence of censorship, all ideas have to be weighed up on their own merits and against one another. Those ideas with no basis in fact and reason are quickly shot down and people latch onto those which carry weight. Pure reason wins out, without any nasty censorship to tip the playing field.

From a militant anti-fascist standpoint, there are two problems with this argument. The first is that the aim of no platform isn't actually to censor the ideas of the far-right but to prevent them from being put into practice. Which brings us to the second: that we are not merely talking about a "battle of ideas," here, but the struggle against an ideology built upon violence which means to wipe out its opponents.

Taking on the first point, myself and other militant anti-fascists have explicitly argued on a number of occasions against using the state to get rid of fascism. For example, Tower Hamlets ALARM argued against banning an EDL march in their area two years ago. The reasoning, seemingly obvious, being that if the state gets a mandate to ban political groups or demonstrations, it will not limit itself to the fash.

State intervention is a worrying turn, the State stepping in and banning EDL protests is not a sign of a left wing section of the State acting, or even an Islamic element gaining strength, it is a sign of a further move to a totalitarian State. We already have the camps in Yarlswood, thug police that get away with murder and an ever watching State gathering information on us. We don’t need to campaign for them to ban political groups. Today the EDL, tomorrow us.


Even before the march took place, this warning was proven to be remarkably prescient. Rather than ban that one march, the police banned all marches across five boroughs for the whole of September. Conveniently, alongside the EDL this caught out a Disarm DSEi protest against the world’s largest arms fair.

Militant anti-fascists have consistently argued against such bans every time they crop up. Because we believe, with good reason through long experience, that the state is not a reliable proxy for anti-fascism. That is the task of the organised working class, through direct action, something which the liberals who would "reason" with the Nazis baulk at. They baulk because for them the whole thing is an intellectual exercise, and they remain divorced from the reality of struggle against fascism.

It must be said, before moving on, that one element of that struggle is propaganda. Contrary to Lowles' arguments, militant advocates of no platform don't "refuse to engage" with fascist ideas but in fact do so in a way that he never would. By arguing against fascism on a class basis, on working class estates, and with the very people the far-right sees as their core recruits.

Because this is a material reality that makes taking of fascism through pure reason nigh-on impossible - class. The far-right, whether in more openly violent form or having traded boots for suits, preys upon the alienation and disenfranchisement of the white working class. We are alienated and disenfranchised because of capitalism, of course, as our communities are torn apart, our jobs go and we struggle to scrape by.

But the system itself uses racism and migration to both divide the class and distract from the real culprits behind our misery, whilst the left is nowhere to be seen. Pretty hard for reason to win out when those offering the wrong answers are the only ones offering answers. Militant anti-fascists do engage and challenge this situation, but it is an uphill struggle we face.

The other side of the coin, in terms of why anti-fascism cannot be boiled down to a battle of ideas is that fascism is an ideology rooted in violence. It is hard to reason with those kicking your head in or gunning you down as you run for your life. And of course it is the white, middle class liberal advocating freedom of speech for Nazis who is least likely to be on the receiving end of such attacks.

Bad ideas ought to be challenged, yes, and giving the state a mandate for repression is a bad idea in any case. However, this is not an argument against no platform but one in favour of it.

If this seems counter-intuitive, it is because outside of militant circles the concept of no platform has been boiled down to simply not letting Nazis air their views. To liberals, this means censorship. In practice, however, no platform is so much more - namely, direct action that prevents fascists from gaining a platform to organise.

This distinction is key. As the Workers Solidarity Movement put it:

There is a distinct difference between the right to free speech and the right to organise. Racist comments and ideas should be challenged and opposed, but a distinction must be drawn between this and incitement to violence/active recruitment to fascist organisations. [...] Attempts by fascist groups to recruit members to fascism cannot be tolerated by an anarchist organisation. If such groups are not smashed when they are small, they will inevitably grow to a size where they will feel confident enough to attack immigrants, workers' organisations, etc.


This is what militants mean by no platform - using all physical and direct action means to prevent fascists from organising and from putting their ideas into practice. It's not easy and it's not pretty. But it's not outdated either, and it will make them think twice about attacking minorities and make it more difficult for them to recruit and organise.
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby jakell » Wed Feb 12, 2014 6:19 pm

'Militant' anti fascism sounds pretty cool, but it is usually self applied and usually consists of the same monkeys throwing poo at each other and getting nowhere apart from fulfilling some self image they have.
It's also resulted in an increase if the far right's sophistication and effectiveness, while the Left continues to snooze. It's a shame you are ignoring all this because I'm giving you some good stuff here.

I bet even you AD think of yourself as 'militant', hence your endless stubborn wallpapering and posturing that simply puts absolutely everyone off of the subject**, as an anti fascist your tactics are useless and need a drastic rethink,

** Point 1 of the three points I outlined for you.... a framework
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby American Dream » Wed Feb 12, 2014 6:44 pm

http://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=12260

Building Anti-Fascist Communities

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After the local elections on the 2nd May 2013, there was a certain level of satisfaction amongst some anti-fascists that the British fascist threat was in the process of being comprehensively defeated. Despite five years of national economic turmoil, the British National Party (BNP), riddled with splits and infighting, faced electoral oblivion. The strategic focus of the two most recognised anti-fascist organisations, Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and Hope Not Hate, appeared effective, with the number of elected BNP councillors falling from its peak of 57 in 2009 to its current two. Their leader, Nick Griffin, MEP for the North West, is left to defend the BNP’s sole European Parliamentary seat in 2014. Andrew Brons, a former BNP and National Front activist, is also believed to be attempting to defend his European seat in Yorkshire and the Humber with the British Democratic Party, an organisation he set up last year. In November 2012, the English Defence League at Westminster were unable to mobilise 100 people for their national march and their “March for England” splinter group was chased off the streets of Brighton.The far-right seemed increasingly irrelevant. Then on 22nd May 2013, Lee Rigby was brutally murdered and everything changed.

The gruesome attack was a spectacle made for YouTube. Once it became clear that the murder was the action of Jihadists, the leader of the English Defence League (EDL) and former BNP member, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”) issued a tweet declaring “Feet on the streets” in Woolwich. Within two hours around 100 EDL members, most wearing branded balaclavas, descended on the centre of Woolwich. Despite the very public announcement of mobilisation, anti-racist and anti-fascist opposition were ill-prepared and ill-equipped to react. Press and police surrounded the EDL, Yaxley-Lennon claiming that they warned that this would happen and that “enough was enough”.

Over the next few days the EDL’s official Facebook page went from 22,000 “Likes” to over 100,000. The organisation was reborn with a renewed prominence and in recent weeks Stephen Yaxley-Lennon has enjoyed publicity envied by leaders of small parties represented in parliament. The EDL’s gain in exploiting Rigby’s death has been the British National Party’s loss. On the 1st June, Nick Griffin’s BNP made a dismal attempt to conduct a national march in Westminster. They were blocked and easily outnumbered by anti-fascists and anti badger-cull activists who were nearby. It was a humiliating defeat for the BNP, especially as prior to the march, Griffin had used Twitter to openly beg for Robinson’s support, which was simply ignored. The power shift was complete.

Is the EDL ‘Fascist’?

It has become a common trope for leftists to identify a plethora of political positions on the far-right as ‘fascist’. But what actually is it and do the English Defence League conform to it?

Fascism has a very slippery quality, making it easier to identify than to summarise. In a recent Novara Media radio show, The Beach Beneath The Crisis. In Conversation With McKenzie Wark, the academic Wark said: “Fascism is just really that political operation where someone is telling you: ‘I can make you feel good about yourself by making someone else suffer’”. It has, as a consistent marker, the tendency to persecute minorities in order to “solve” the problems of the majority. We see this in both the genocidal racialism of Nazism and the national chauvinism of Mussolini. Fascists believe the “people” need to purge those deemed as “corrupted parasites”, it doesn’t matter if they are Muslim, Jews or people with disabilities. The EDL are clearly consistent with this tradition of scapegoating.

The EDL are a nationalist street movement, ticking another fascist box. Though street movements are traditionally considered to be of a working class nature there is a key difference; fascist movements are always funded from above. Early patrons are almost universally businessmen with varying levels of wealth, dissatisfied with the political establishment and seeking radical change. The EDL, again, conform to this – a recent leak revealed that they have had multiple small business owners and millionaires as donors. Including City of London millionaire, Alan Ayling (aka “Alan Lake), owners of car dealerships, and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon himself, who is the owner of a tanning shop.

Fascism has its origins in early 20th Century authoritarian socialism, with its emphasis on a small revolutionary vanguard, crude sloganeering and propaganda. But its aims are firmly in the political right, evidenced by fascists’ hatred of liberals, communists and genuine working class organisation such as independent trade unions and strikes. The EDL has a shadowy internal structure. They have no official membership mechanism but organising roles are assigned. Their membership gravitate to the slogan “No Surrender” or NFSE (No Fucking Surrender Ever). Yaxley-Lennon boasts that he is the voice of the “non-Muslim working class”, an attempt to define the EDL as a “working class” organisation. But, in the past, their activists have attacked regional Unite the Union offices. In 2011 they planned to attack the Occupy movement in London and others they identify as “Marxists”, none of which has anything to do with their stated “anti-Islam extremism” agenda.

History indicates that successful fascists never openly state their true intentions from the outset and often lie to obscure it. Fascists legitimately participate in liberal democracies and pay lip-service to existing democratic principles until they are powerful enough to crush them. They organise around a charismatic leader with a resonant, if not entirely accurate, message of a failing and out-of-touch liberal elite that appears incapable of resolving profound economic problems. However, winning the population over through argument is never sufficient; fascists organise militia to intimidate, attack and kill their opponents. They start with vulnerable and isolated individuals then, as fascists grow in confidence and strength, their murderous tactics target entire groups and communities.

The EDL doesn’t entirely sit within this classic fascist profile and have adapted 21st Century modifications. They have a Jewish Section, had notable Sikh supporters and also a LGBT section. In variation from traditional street thuggery is the use of “charitable community” groups like “Woolwich Strong” – a convincing ruse which devises vigils “standing strong” against “extremism, terrorism and oppression”. Whilst allegedly not “officially affiliated with the EDL”, most, if not all, of these groups were organised by EDL activists. “Woolwich Strong” day, Sunday 23 June, received significant public support in local and social media. Though uneventful in Woolwich itself, other groups like “Derby Strong” successfully mobilised over 300 people with no opposition. Co-opting the empty language of “charity” and “anti-extremism” creates an illusion of legitimacy which chimes with the State’s own national security rhetoric.

What is Anti-Fascism?

Anti-fascism is the negative act and struggle of stopping fascists from gaining power and confidence, it is defensive and reactive. Anti-fascists come from a variety of political traditions and are united in what they stand against, if nothing else. Classic anti-fascism has taken a variety of formations using both defensive and proactive tactics. From the defensive tradition of the Battles of Cable Street and Lewisham, that used community mobilisations to defend persecuted minorities, to the militant tradition of anti-fascists like the 43 Group and Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) who, rather than waiting for fascist provocations, sought to disrupt fascist organising capacity and activity using both infiltration and pre-emptive attacks. Searchlight and other groups have continued to infiltrate and gather intelligence on the far-right, most recently with Anonymous UK’s publishing of old EDL membership lists.

However, anti-fascism (like fascism) has appeared at times to be both inconsistent and contradictory. The two most recognised national anti-fascist groups, Hope Not Hate and Unite Against Fascism are symptomatic of this. Both groups utilise the “positive” message of celebrating Britain’s liberal democracy. They praise State-driven multiculturalism for outlawing some forms of discrimination and racism, whilst simultaneously remaining silent on the state’s increasing restrictions on immigration from the global South.

Some Problems with British Anti-Fascism

Anti-fascists often expose elements within UKIP and EDL as harbouring racist, and even Nazi, sympathies which has benefits, though limited. But when the broader political context has already normalised violence towards migrants then these right-wing authoritarian movements can, and will, grow regardless.

Culturally there may be a strong disdain for the term “racist”, but dawn raids and the indefinite imprisonment of vulnerable and traumatised new migrants and refugees has popular support and is considered politically acceptable. Migrants, whether Eastern European or Sub-Saharan, are routinely demonised in the press and the term “terrorist” and “Muslim” are made almost interchangeable. We therefore recognise that the mainstream ideological terrain and narrative that we are faced with favours organisations like UKIP and the EDL. This is exemplified by the BNP slogan, “British Jobs for British Workers”, which was used by a Labour Prime Minister in 2008. The xenophobic slurs of “health tourism” are repeated by the current Health Secretary. We cannot stop the rise of the authoritarian right without addressing the source of their legitimacy. These xenophobic politicians and policies should be robustly fought if anti-racists are to see any victories in the future.

Clearly liberal democracy is preferable to a fascist dictatorship, but South London Anti-Fascists are critical of the tactic of “anyone but the BNP” with its subsequent uncritical support of British politicians. Throughout 2006-08 Hope Not Hate promoted Phil Woolas, Labour’s Immigration Minister, as an “anti-fascist”. Phil Woolas was given a platform on their website to justify Labour’s immigration control policies. Hope Not Hate’s language of “anti-extremism” was adopted by Woolas to paint his Liberal Democrat opponent as a sympathiser of “Islamic Extremism”, in an infamous 2010 general election leaflet which led to him being found guilty of electoral malpractice and banned him from public office. Thus, we had the farce of a Hope Not Hate patron, former Labour immigration minister, being accused of stirring up racial tensions. Hope Not Hate has regularly applied for state funding on “anti-extremist” initiatives, so their cosy, yet conflicting, relationship with the Home Office is hardly surprising.

Unite Against Fascism fares little better in consistency. Though they have shown form against the racism, misogyny and homophobia of the BNP, they have offered little more than warm words when the government of David Cameron (a UAF founding signatory) spent over £18 million to evict the Traveller families of Dale Farm from the land that they legally owned. Fascists point to immigrants as the problem to be solved for the white working class. South London Anti-Fascists believe that it is the job of anti-fascists to oppose the demonisation of immigrants and all serious attacks against them.

UAF, on the other hand, have never spoken out against the UK Border Agency and it’s successive organisations, even though these institutions pose more of a threat to migrants than both the street thuggery of the EDL and the electoralism of the BNP or UKIP combined. The brutal racism towards migrants and their children by successive governments is left to be challenged by much smaller groups like “No-One Is Illegal” and the No Borders Network. The anti-fascist mainstream appear comfortable to focus narrowly on the racism of fringe electoral parties and street groups and ignore the more pervasive and legitimising racism of the State.

A New Approach

Anti-fascists have historically focused on ridiculing fascists’ adherence to biological racism. This argument is increasingly redundant in a Britain where dual-heritage relationships and children are now quite common and regarded as uncontroversial. This victory for anti-racism presents new problems as well as opportunities. Biological racism has been publicly repudiated by all elements on the electoral right, either genuinely or tactically. The political mainstream has the State and the media to propagate their message. In response, we must learn examples such as the 24 year struggle of the Hillsborough Families Campaign, who have shown how to sustain the necessary but less visible work of building resilient relationships in working class communities towards the goal of developing enduring structures of support, mutual aid and solidarity. The militant anti-fascism of groups like Anti-Fascist Action used a dual approach of ideological and physical opposition. Fascist street movements are a physical force so militant resistance is a necessary and a noble tradition but it can only act as a short-term measure. We must organise our communities on a longer timescale.

There are a few key principles that we believe can make our project lasting and flexible for the path ahead. Above all, the national anti-fascist movement must become decentralised, non-hierarchical and democratic. Unlike both UAF and Hope Not Hate, we do not require a professional organised centre but a horizontal network of organically linked groups. Our communities are diverse and there is no one-size-fits-all to anti-fascist activity or community organising. Being non-hierarchical means trusting people who are directly affected to lead their struggle, not push them to follow “experts” from outside. We recognise that the children of migrants have done more to defeat fascists than any “anti-fascist movement”. Being democratic means enabling all voices to have equal say, developing structures for reflection and debate, holding elections for roles with delegated responsibility that are recallable and are rotated. This creates the space for new ideas to flourish and builds a greater sense of trust and mutuality.

We also need groups not to work with the police. The police have a shameful history of infiltrating and smearing anti-racist community campaigns, most infamously including the family and friends of Stephen Lawrence. The police protect fascists and escort them into our communities. Through their National Extremist Unit they hold “intelligence” on almost 9,000 people on their database, including legal firms and “radicals” like Jack Straw or perhaps Occupied Times readers. The police exist to protect the racist status quo, not assist us in challenging it. They are not our allies but quite the opposite.

Working-Class Solidarity

The strengths of anti-fascism are rooted in a rich and proud history with clear goals, if not allies. Its major weakness lies in the fact that anti-fascist ideology is contradictory and largely discredited by the current political context. The traditional ideology of anti-fascism i.e. (anyone but the fascists) needs to be abandoned, in favour of a new practice: building working class solidarity through community organising which is both principled and consistently anti-fascist and anti-racist. We advocate these ideas not because they are politically convenient but because they work. In a climate where Muslims are shot by the police and migrants like Jimmy Mubenga are killed by deportation staff to no public outcry, the rebuilding of class solidarity is crucial. This work has been tried and tested not only in South London, but also in Bristol, by Brighton Anti-fascists and by anti-fascists in Barking and Dagenham. We have seen the success of community work and outreach in various UAF groups, Yorkshire & Humber, Leicester and also in Sheffield.

The Anti-Fascist Network, which organises on the principles we have outlined, may be well founded, but their numbers are currently too small to be effective. Other national groups like UAF are still important when building counter-demonstrations against racists and fascists. Alongside the existence of the old must grow a new network which does the slow and gradual community work that has been neglected on a national scale. Alongside the Anti-Fascist Network we are currently working with mosques, faith, migrant and community groups to build local community networks of anti-racists/anti-fascists against homophobia, sexism and ableism, towards lasting working class solidarity.

For more see: South London Anti-Fascists | http://www.slaf.org.uk

Anti-Fascist Network | http://www.antifascistnetwork.wordpress.com/about/
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby jakell » Wed Feb 12, 2014 6:51 pm

What's with the enormous concentration on UK stuff AD? Is this an interest of yours (assuming you're not a Brit too that is).

I was hoping I could learn a bit more about the Yank end of things from someone like you, along the lines of the WN/BN split I mentioned earlier but it hasn't turned out that way, a lot of this stuff is just bread and butter to me (or hopelessly dated/inaccurate/irrelevent).

(7 posts to go)
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby American Dream » Wed Feb 12, 2014 6:59 pm

American Dream » Mon Feb 10, 2014 4:00 pm wrote:A bit more Asian Youth Movement history:


"When they come to attack our people, we will stand our ground and fight!"

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The third article in the Fargate Speaker's series on Sheffield radical history.

Closer to the present day, the 1980s saw a different kind of struggle in Sheffield, as young Asians fought back against racist attacks, and faced severe police harassment while doing so. In June 1982, Ahmed Khan was arrested and charged with serious wounding for fighting back against racists, an event that led to the formation of the Sheffield Asian Youth Movement. The Sheffield AYM organised against police harassment and deportations, and to support people being prosecuted for self-defence. It was never simply a communalist group, with Asians, Afro-Caribbeans and white skinheads marching with the AYM banner on demonstrations, and it came into conflict with the existing leadership of the Asian community as much as with the white establishment, with one community leader complaining that "our children were growing up hating our culture. They were angry and withdrawn and we could not reach them." Leaders of mainstream groups like the Asian Welfare Association refused to speak at the AYM's events, leading to angry youths producing leaflets with slogans like "Fight for your rights, do away with tribal chiefs." The Sheffield AYM folded in 1987, but the Sheffield Defence Campaign continued to do similar work, organising a big demonstration against racism and fascism from Burngreave to Sharrow in 1989. In 1994, the police reacted to race riots in Darnall by arresting a disproportionate number of Asian youths, leading to the formation of a Darnall Defence Campaign, who organised a well-attended picket of Attercliffe police station. The names and faces may change, but the struggles - from wages and food prices to racism and police brutality - go on.


http://www.libcom.org/library/when-they ... ound-fight




Keep bangin' on the wall
Keep bangin' on the wall
OF FORTRESS EUROPE!
2022 -A new European order
Robot guards patrolling the border
Cybernetic dogs are getting closer and closer
Armoured cars and immigration officers
A burning village in Kosovo
You bombed it out now you're telling us go home
Machine guns strut on the cliffs of Dover
Heads down people look out! we're going over
Burnin up! can we survive re-entry
Past the mines and the cybernetic sentries
Safe european homes built on wars
You don't like the effect don't produce the cause
The chip is in your head not on my shoulder
Total control just around the corner
Open up the floodgates Time's nearly up
Keep banging on the wall of Fortress Europe
Keep banging
Keep banging on the wall of Fortress Europe
We got a right , know the situation
We're the children of globalisation
No borders only true connection
Light the fuse of the insurrection
This generation has no nation
Grass roots pressure the only solution
We're sitting tight
Cos assylum is a right
Put an end to this confusion
Dis is a 21st century Exodus
Dis is a 21st century Exodus
Burnin' up can we survive re-entry
Past the landmines and cybernetic sentries
Plane, train, car , ferry boat or bus
The future is bleeding coming back at us
The chip is in your head not on my shoulder
Total control around the corner
Open up the floodgates Time's nearly up
Keep banging on the wall of Fortress Europe
Keep banging
Keep banging on the wall of Fortress Europe
Dis is a 21st century Exodus
Dis is a 21st century Exodus
They got a right - listen not to de scaremonger
Who doesn't run when they're feel the hunger
From where to what to when to here to there
People caught up in red tape nightmare
Break out of the detention centres
Cut the wires and tear up the vouchers
People get ready it's time to wake up
Tear down the walls of Fortress Europe!
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby jakell » Wed Feb 12, 2014 7:08 pm

UK again. why are you concentrating on my stamping ground?

Are you trying to send me some sort of message?
" Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism"
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby American Dream » Wed Feb 12, 2014 7:27 pm

Jakell, I have told you many times that I don't want to talk to you. Please stop acting as though I do.
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby Zombie Glenn Beck » Wed Feb 12, 2014 7:31 pm

AD, when did your great interest in Fascism start? You seem to know a lot about it. A suspicious amount if you know what I mean...
barracuda wrote:The path from RI moderator to True Blood fangirl to Jehovah's Witness seems pretty straightforward to me. Perhaps even inevitable.
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby jakell » Wed Feb 12, 2014 7:53 pm

American Dream » Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:27 pm wrote:Jakell, I have told you many times that I don't want to talk to you. Please stop acting as though I do.


I think you do, but are scared that I will embarrass you again, at some point though we will have to come to an understanding.

I don't think it's a coincidence that you have been concentrating on UK stuff. The other thing may be a lucky break, but it's creepy enough to make me wary.

(5 posts to go)
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Re: A New Europe: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Nation-State

Postby jakell » Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:00 pm

Zombie Glenn Beck » Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:31 pm wrote:AD, when did your great interest in Fascism start? You seem to know a lot about it. A suspicious amount if you know what I mean...


I'm more concerned with how he simply projects masses of data, with no view to collating useful information from it. This actually obscures the subject matter in my view

One thing to notice though is that what AD actually says, is far less than the amount of stuff he copies and pastes, and it's very easy to conflate the two on a casual viewing.

If I took what he has actually said today (for instance), and put them in a single post, it would be quite short, and also disjointed. I try to do the opposite, and put myself on the page, it's what I like to see in other people, the desire to connect.
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