A-Infos (en) The Internet Anti-Fascist: Friday, 19 Mar 99 -- 3:22 (#237)

[Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net>]

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            The Internet Anti-Fascist: Friday, 19 March 99
                       Vol. 3, Number 22 (#237)
______________________________________________________________________

                     ANTI-FACIST ACTION ALERT #64
                Demonstration Against Police Brutality
                       April 3, Washington D.C.

For bus seats contact The Center for Constitutional Rights, 666
Broadway, New York, NY 10012, (212) 614-6464.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

                      MONTREAL BONEHEADS BUSTED!
                  via Anti-Racist Action -- Montreal
                         net posted 14 Mar 99

For over a year a gang of neo-nazis has carried out cowardly attacks on
enemies of their non-existant "master race."

Typically, the attacks would follow a set pattern of up to 15 racist
boneheads attacking people by surprise; coming up to them from behind,
rushing into bars and attacking anyone within reach before rushing out
again, following people leaving bars or concerts, etc. Often the
attackers used pepper spray, baseball bats, crowbars and batons.

On September 17, 1998, Montréal Urban Community Police laid 240
separate charges against eight neo-nazi boneheads from the Montréal
area. The police had spent many weeks investigating four planned
assaults by the boneheads that took place between March and June of
1998. Police estimated that a total of 30 people were injured in the
four attacks they investigated.

Charged were: Jonathan Coté, Claude Brunet, Daniel Brunet, Mathieu
Dubois, Alain Letarte, Steve Lavallée, Sylvain Quiron & Brant Smith,
all from the Montréal region.

When police made the arrests, they also uncovered caches of knives,
switchblades, mace, pepper spray, assault rifles, telescopic sights,
silencers, two kilograms of marijuana and a host of racist propaganda.

These eight, members of the Vinland Hammer Skins and Berzerker Boot
Boys, two racist gangs operating in the Montréal region, had been
involved with a number of others in a string of assaults over the last
two years. ARA Montréal's first encounter with them occured in February
of '98 when we successfully shut down a so-called "white power" concert
they had spent weeks organizing. [story below  tallpaul]

Since then, the bigots have made no secret that they were out to get
us. Emailed threats, calls to our hotline, attempts to scare street
kids into giving them information on us, attempts to hack this very
website, anti-ARA propaganda, and finally randomly attacking people not
related to ARA in the vain hope that we'd get scared and back off.

The activities of Montréal neo-nazis and the information that has come
out since the arrest of these eight only demonstrates the crucial need
for our work. Over the past ten years, neo-nazi boneheads in Montréal
have carried out countless attacks against Blacks, queers, Jews, anti-
racists and others. They have murdered people here before. Judging from
the seized arsenal, they were preparing to murder people again.

It is time to put an end to this bullshit. We have got to show this
scum that we will not tolerate their garbage. Arrested or not, found
guilty or not, the right-wing poses a threat to our communities and
must be opposed at every juncture!

                               - - - - -

Hate groups find a new weapon in the Internet: Through it, a white
   power concert almost made it to the Tampa Bay area. 
Wayne Washington (St. Petersburg Times)
13 Mar 99  

TAMPA -- The skinheads almost pulled it off. They paid a deposit to
rent space for a concert tonight at the Whiskey River Saloon, a country
and western bar on U.S. 301 in northern Hillsborough County. They put
the word out through the Internet that, for skinheads who want to exalt
in white power, Tampa is the place to be.

"This show is going to be huge!" blared the Web site of the Florida
Hammerskins, a racist skinhead group.

But the bar's general manager, Pete Gingras, found out that the run-of-
the-mill private party he thought his staff booked was really a
skinhead concert. Gingras said he fired the employee who booked the
party and returned the deposit.

"I feel like we should have done more investigating," said Gingras, who
first heard about the concert from the St. Petersburg Times. "We do not
support this kind of thing."

That kind of thing has happened around Tampa Bay before, as recently as
last year. Employees of Motel 6 on U.S. 301 said skinheads tore up
rooms after attending a meeting.

Florida apparently has become a hotbed for The Sunshine State is home
to 38 of 537 hate groups across the country, more than any other state,
according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Mark Potok, who edits a report on hate groups for the Southern Poverty
Law Center, said hate group members vary widely in age and ideology.
Concerts such as the one planned for the Whiskey River Saloon remain a
primary recruiting tool for skinheads, he said, with the Internet
serving as the main means of national communication.

Type in "skinhead" or "KKK" and a bevy of hate sites pops up.

"These sites aren't run by illiterate Klansmen," Potok said. "That
reflects the movement as a whole. This is not a movement directed by
toothless people who live in a trailer park."

The canceled concert is one example of how much hate groups rely on the
Internet to communicate. The Hammerskins, its members hiding behind
post office boxes and vague Internet addresses, never posted fliers
about the concert. Instead, the group gave general information on its
Web site and advised those interested in finding out more to e-mail a
member of the group. Even Gingras was in the dark about the concert
until questioning a member of his staff more closely.

[Groups (Orlando, Gainesville, Tampa ARA) opposed to the views of the
skinheads -- some from as far away as California -- got access to some
of the skinhead e-mail and alerted the media and law enforcement. --
ARA]

Keeping track of the multitude of Internet hate sites is a lot easier
than explaining the persistence of racial hatred. Typical explanations
-- anger caused by economic  vulnerability -- lose potency with the
national economy soaring and unemployment low.

Potok said the move to the right by both major political parties and
the harsh tone of discussion regarding gay rights, immigrants and
affirmative action has given hate group members cover.

"When you have preachers preaching from the pulpit who say gay people,
for instance, are diseased people, that's seen for some people as a
moral green light," Potok said.

Less violent but no less technically adept than skinheads are neo-
Confederate groups. One such group, the League of the South, held a
conference in Tampa last month. Its Web site is slick, and many of its
members are multidegreed university professors.

League leaders have spoken out against interracial marriage and in
favor of a separate South that would resemble the one they believe
began to fade when the Civil War ended. That new South would be a place
where immigration is severely limited and where affirmative action is
abolished.

The league's position paper carefully avoids stating overtly racist
statements, but it does say "peoples of different cultures should
pursue their own interests without interference from bureaucrats and
social engineers who push such enormities as global democracy and
multiculturalism."

League President Michael Hill, a professor of British history at
Stillman College, said there is no link between his organization and
hate groups.

Jack Moore, who wrote a book about skinheads and teaches American
studies at the University of South Florida, said skinheads like so many
kids in gangs -- are looking for a place to belong.

"Almost invariably, these are kids who wanted more attention paid to
them," Moore said. "They wanted a greater sense of belonging to a
group."

Moore said he does not believe the number of skinheads has risen
sharply in the past decade, but there have been other changes: The
groups are attracting older members, and their violent behavior tends
to be planned.

"I think that there is more danger," he said. "They're bigger. They're
stronger, and they can do more damage."

But just as the damage hate group members can cause has increased, so
has outrage over their actions.

"The dramatic nature of the crimes now are highlighted and responded
to," Moore said. "If you go back to the '20s, lynchings were common,
and law enforcement often turned the other way."

Congress passed a law in 1990 mandating that statistics be kept on the
number of hate crimes committed. Many states, including Florida, have
laws calling for tougher penalties for hate crimes.

The FBI says the number of racially motivated incidents has decreased
since 1995, but Potok says the FBI figures are incomplete.

Gov. Lawton Chiles tried near the end of his days to focus attention on
racism and the number of hate groups operating in Florida.

"Most Floridians are united in their disgust for this type of racism,"
Chiles said in December. "It is harmful to our society, and it's
offensive to all of us."

                               - - - - -

ARA RUINS NAZI CONCERT IN MONTREAL! Nazis Run Away, Hide Behind Police
   When Confronted By Anti-Racists 
Anti-Racist Action -- Montreal 
28 Feb 98  

After many weeks of planning, rumours and general chaos, Anti-Racist
Action Montréal successfully wrecked local nazis' plans to hold a white
power concert here on Saturday, February 28, 1998. 

It was very important for us to do some real damage to their plans. We
wanted to send a strong message to the local nazis and their friends
from other regions that racism will not be tolerated in our community.
We also hoped that, by hampering their plans, we would undermine the
potential for post-concert racist violence, an all-too common byproduct
of these events. People have been brutally beaten and even killed in
attacks by racist thugs immediately following white power concerts in
Ottawa, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario; Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio;
Detroit, Michigan; and Racine, Wisconsin. 

The local boneheads have been holding secret concerts in Montréal for
the last year. But this one was to be different for a number of
reasons. For one, all the previous concerts featured only local nazi
bands (such as Involved Patriots and White Warrior) but this would be
the first concert in some time with bands from the U.S. (Aggravated
Assault & Blue-Eyed Devils) and Ontario (Excessive Force) which would
mean a much larger potential audience and cross-border networking
opportunity. More importantly, this time ARA had spies within the group
of boneheads organizing the show that provided us with crucial info. 

Info like where the concert was being booked. Unfortunately, the venue
also found out that they had booked a nazi show and cancelled it,
giving the nazis 2 weeks to find a new venue and move the show. 

Info like where the boneheads would be meeting. Since the nazis have
grown tired of anti-racists shutting down their shows, they no longer
advertise the venues in advance, opting instead to have concertgoers
meet them in public places to receive directions. Of course, since our
source also tipped us off as to the meeting place, we were sure to be
there as well, and planned to organize our group of anti-racists just 3
blocks away. 

We leaked the location of our meeting point to the nazis the day
before, to see what their reaction would be. Even though we informed
them when and where our group would be meeting, they chose to stay far
away from us. ARA members in vehicles did spot carloads of nazis
driving around the neighbourhood three different times that afternoon,
and each time our people promptly chased them out of the area and onto
the freeway. 

By 5p.m. we had assembled 150 anti-racists. Young people, old people,
real (anti-racist!) skinheads, punks, and ARA members from seven
different cities all waited for word that the nazis were arriving.
Police scrutiny was intense, with a dozen cop cars and vans driving by
or parked nearby the whole afternoon. 

At 5:30, after getting word from our scouts that nazis had been spotted
at their meeting point (a métro station), we converged on the station
and quickly sent a few white supremacists scrambling for their
vehicles. The police called for the riot squad. More nazis came in by
metro trains and by car, and either ran off scared after being
confronted by us or quickly accepted police protection in the utility
closet. After the cops had "saved" half a dozen nazis (including at
least two bawling boneheads), the police escorted them throught a
shower of spittle and into a waiting police van, chauferring them away
from the neighbourhood. Other nazis who had wisely chosen to get right
back on the next train out of the area all went home, according to the
ARAers tailing them. 

The concert organizers (who call themselves the Vinland Hammer Skins),
upon hearing how badly we had squashed their meeting point, tried to
set up an alternate meeting point at another métro station, but were
one step behind the ARAers who chased off the boneheads as they arrived
there, too. 

This concert should have attracted 200-300 bigots, so we were surprised
to see so few nazis actually arrive. On the other hand, if we were
racists driving to the meeting point, only to discover it literally
surrounded by riot cops and anti-racists, we would probably keep on
driving, too! The total lack of U.S. nazis also leads us to believe
that many experienced the full hospitality of Canadian border guards,
who enjoy a reputation for kinder, gentler full-cavity body searches! 

ARA members and the assorted anti-racists present took no arrests or
injuries and decisively won all scuffles with irate boneheads, who were
saved from sounder thrashings only through police intervention. It is
interesting to note how tough the nazis talk yet how quickly they hide
behind the guns and badges of their enemies, the police "agents of ZOG"
when faced with serious opposition. We find it somewhat ironic that the
police protected a group of people who were trying to get to a concert
where one of the bands, The Blue-Eyed Devils, would undoubtedly have
performed "Piece of Shit Cop", whose chorus goes: "For a gun and a
badge you've sold your soul, Gonna blow up your car, beat your dog and
hang you from a pole." Talk about ingrates! 

We were able to talk to a few local residents and people waiting to
catch their bus or train, none of whom were aware of the nazi
initiatives in their neighbourhood. All of them were extremely
supportive of what we were doing. The press, predictably, varied in
their opinions of our action. 

Only after we were sure that no more boneheads would show up and that
no one would come back to give them directions, we dispersed and went
off to celebrate our victory and swap stories about how stupid and
cowardly the nazis were. 

Since our action, the nazis have been busy trying to intimidate local
punks and skinheads into not cooperating with us. Their bully-boy
tactics have been backfiring and anti-fascist resistance has never been
stronger in Montréal! The nazis have also been trying to hack into this
very website, and have sent us a threatening email that was sort of
difficult to take seriously, given their reluctance to face us on the
28th of February. 

ARA Montréal would like to thank everyone that came out to fight hatred
in our city. We would also like to give extra-special thanks to the
anti-racists and members of ARA chapters in Ottawa, Kingston,
Peterborough, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, and last but not
least Toronto, all of whom made contributions to the action that were
instrumental to its success. Finally, a special thank-you to our people
on the inside for getting us such good intelligence. Sorry you have to
hang out with racist losers all the time, but it's for a good cause!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW ftp SUPPLEMENTS: ON THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA AND HINDU FUNDAMENTALISM

The Internet Anti-Fascist: Wednesday, 17 March 99
FTP Supplement #105 (#235): Events in Former Yugoslavia
Supplement Editor: Jared Israel
1) Diana Johnstone, "The 'Racak Massacre' Questioned By French Media:
   Press Review," 20 Jan 99
2) Reuters (no author), "Bombs Will Halt Talks 'indefinitely,' says
   Belgrade," 16 Feb 99
3) George Thompson (Letter to NPR), "Fascist Roots of KLA - a critique
   of Susan Woodward," n.d. (net posted 17 Feb 99)
4) Pera, "Them Serbs is Witches (or) "Teach thy fool to lie: I would
   fain learn to lie."," n.d. (net posted 17 Feb 99)
5) anon. leaflet, "Should a Man be Sentenced if there's a   Reasonable
   Doubt?" n.d. (net posted 25 Feb 99)
6) Petar Makara, "An Old Model Has Been Recycled in Yugoslavia; Very
   Ecological," n.d. (net posted 27 Feb 99)
7) Reuters (no author), "Croat Jewish Group Slams Spate of
   Anti-Semitism ," 2 Mar 99
8) Adam Lebor, (The Independent [U.K.]), "Croatia faces truth about
   Auschwitz of the Balkans," 28 Feb 99
9) Chris Bird (The Guardian [U.K.]), "Jewish fury at delay in Croat war
   crimes trial," 5 Mar 99
<ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/tinaf235.txt>

The Internet Anti-Fascist: Thursday, 18 March 99
FTP Supplement #106 (#236): News On Hindu Fundamentalism -- Part 2
0)  Previous supplements on this topic
13) Hema Shukla (Associated Press), "Class Tensions Rise in India," 20
    Jan 99
14) Reuters (no author), "Mob Torches Hindu Temple In Western India,"
    21 Jan 99
15) Celia W. Dugger (New York Times), "Attacks on Christians Are
    Increasing in India," 23 Jan 99
16) Bandita Das (Reuters), "Hindus Held For Burning Missionary And
    Sons," 24 Jan 99
17) Reuters (no author), "U.S. Firm 'Complicit In India Beatings' -
    Group," 25 Jan 99
18) Celia W. Dugger (New York Times), "47 Suspected Militants in India
    Charged in Missionary's Death," 25 Jan 99
19) Amnesty International (press release), "Religious violence reaches
    unacceptable levels," 25 Jan 99
20) Neelesh Mista (Associated Press), "Rushdie Visit to India Debated,"
    5 Feb 99
21) Asian Human Rights Commission (petition), "Signature Campaign For
    Dalit Human Rights [In India]," 23 Feb 99
<ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/tinaf236.txt>

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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
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prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research
and educational purposes only.

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                               FASCISM:
   We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget. 
       (No permission required for noncommercial reproduction)

                               - - - - -

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