A-Infos (en) The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 23 Mar 99 -- 3:23 (#238)

[Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net>]

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                           SPECIAL NOTICE
    National Emergency March forJustice - Against Police Brutality
              Saturday, April 3, 1999 -- Washington, D.C.
                     <http://www.anti-fascism.org>

______________________________________________________________________ 

            The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 23 March 99
                       Vol. 3, Number 23 (#238)
______________________________________________________________________

                     ANTI-FACIST ACTION ALERT #65
    Appeal To Help Stop Unionbusting Injustice At Glastic Plastics

"The United Electrical Workers' Union (UE) asks for your solidarity and
immediate assistance in the fight to stop unionbusting by Kobe Steel, a
giant Japanese multinational with plants in the U.S. Please join this
fight for workers' rights by sending protest messages to corporate
officials at the e-mail addresses below. 

"More than three months ago, the 120 workers at Kobe's Glastic plastics
plant in Jefferson, Ohio, voted to unionize. However, Kobe, a billion
dollar global giant, is intent on busting their newly formed union
instead of negotiating a union contract. Kobe/Glastic representatives
have brought nothing but arrogance and insults to the few bargaining
sessions held to date. Recently, when local union leaders tried to
expose these sham negotiations in reports to fellow workers in the
plant cafeteria, management tried to silence them!" [details at:]
<ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/afaa/afaa65.txt>

                               - - - - -

                     ANTI-FASCIST ACTION ALERT #66
                 CZECH ANTI-FA ANARCHISTS NEED SUPPORT

"We are writing you couse we need your help and support. For years 1st
of May was day os anarchist hapenings and demos in Prague, we always
met in park called Strelecky ostrov, this year we have very serios
information that, before us there is a demo of neo-nazis from all over
the Europe, thay have meeting before us becouse they wanna fight with
us right in the streets, and forever "clean Prague and Czech Republic
from Anarchist dirty." If this is true, and we know that for 99% is
this true, we want be able to have fight with them couse here in Czech
are only a few really activ antifas. Nazis are saing that they will
burn up all squatts and "narco-anarchist" once and forever.

"We are calling for help, please come on 1 of May to Prague and help us
in this open fight !!!

"This sunday nazis beated up one young punk and he is now fighting for
his life, so we already see weeks before May the 1st that they are not
joking.

"Thanks for your support. for more info write: <zemepredevsim@ecn.cz>"

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                OBITUARY FOR AN ANTI-FASCIST HISTORIAN:
                  Stig Hornshøj Møller (1949 - 1999)
   editorial boards: Monitor and Searchlight anti-fascist magazines

It was with shock and deep sorrow we received the news of our friend
the Danish historian Stig Hornshøj-Møllers sudden death in Berlin on in
February 1999, only 49 years old. Stig was not only an leading academic
authority of the nazi anti-Semitism and the Third Reich, but a warm and
enthusiastic human being and a committed antifascist of both head and
heart. 

Stigs scholarly involvement with the history of anti-Semitism and
nazism started over 25 years ago with the study of the propaganda-film
"The Eternal Jew", the most vile manifestation of nazi anti-Semitism.
Years of detailed and thoroughgoing investigations into its origins,
production, cinematic effects and political intentions, not only made
Stig the worlds leading authority on the subject, but furthered his
study of the socio-psychology of nazi ideology, resulting in his book
"The Führer-Myth" (1996), where he provides new and important insights
both into the psychological profile of Adolf Hitler and the
decision-making process behind the "final solution". This also formed
the basis of "Atawulf" ­ a series of disturbing and brilliantly made
programs for Danish television.

As a committed antifascist, Stig was newer content with purely academic
research. As often he could, he was engaged in active combat against
racism, intolerance and fascism, exposing the propaganda-methods of
hate for school-classes and students, confronting holocaust-deniers and
their lies, and putting his knowledge to the disposal for the
antifascist struggle.

In the last year one of his paramount achievements was, almost
single-handedly though unfailing verve and energy, to persuade the
Danish government to provide funds for a research-centre for
genocide-studies. It beaks your hearts to think that he himself will
not be able to enjoy the results...

Stig Hornshøj-Møller will be deeply missed by all his friends within
the antifascist nettwork. Our warm thoughts extends to his wife and
children.

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

                      MONTREAL NAZIS STAND TRIAL
             no author, via Anti-Racist Action -- Montreal

On March 2,3 and 4, 1999, eight neo-nazi boneheads belonging to both
the Vinland Hammer Skins and Berzerker Boot Boys faced a preliminary 
hearing, which was to determine if their was sufficient evidence to 
bring all of the 240 charges they are facing to trial.
 
Montréal Anti-Racist Action and Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice 
mobilized to show our support for the victims and witnesses who 
testified over these three days, to thwart attempts by the bigots and 
their cronies to intimidate the witnesses, and to show our disgust and
opposition to the presence of racists in our city.
 
Here's the low-down of how things went: 
 
                               DAY ONE 
 
Well, one of the eight boneheads on trial, Mathieu Dubois (who some of
you will remember from the Jolicouer action last year as the bonehead 
with HOOLIGANS embroidered on his flight) warned SHARP last week that
we were in for a surprise at court. That surprise seemed to consist of
17 bonehead supporters showing up for the preliminary hearing, which
take place from today to Thursday.
 
It's true: we were surprised that the eight boneheads had 17 friends 
between them. (We only brought about 16 on our side for today, but will
make sure we invite more for the next 2 days!) We were further suprised
at their obvious defense tactics like all dressing identically to 
confuse witnesses on the stand. Also surprising: the five high-priced
defence lawyers retained by the pathetic defendants (but when you have
nazis in Florida holding benefit shows for them this weekend, maybe
they figured they could splurge). 
 
In the not-surprising category, we have the level of intelligent 
comments from their side of the peanut gallery, as we faced off against
them for 8 hours. Not surprising how tough they talk with 16 cops 
between us and them (they didn't even wait outside the courthouse for
us at the end of the day, when they outnumbered us 3-to-1!). Not 
surprising how quickly their tough talk dries up when they're 
confronted one-on-one or even two-to-one in their favour at the
payphones, without a wall of police between us and them! Not surprising
that West Island nazi mouthpiece Steve Lepage, star of a certain
altercation with a SHARP on a highway last year, showed up with a black
eye, which nicely matched the shiner Isabelle Forget showed off for us
today in court (courtesy of last week's metro brouhaha). When I asked
Steve how he got his, he told us that my mom had been rough with him in
bed. Quickly, my ARA brethren pointed out that admitting to getting
beat up by an elderly woman hardly qualifies him for "aryan warrior"
status, but we appreciated his honesty.
 
Inside the courtroom, the action was somewhat lacking, with the defence
spending their time asking victims and witnesses pertinent questions 
like what brand of cigarettes they smoked or what their legal status
was in Canada (one witness was - gasp! - a FOREIGNER!). Thankfully for 
them, the prosecution seemed largely asleep during the session, leaving
witnesses to bring up objections to the defence's line  of questioning.
The judge, however, didn't look too happy.
 
                                DAY TWO

Well, to start off I should probably let you know about Tuesday night.
Tuesday night a small group of civic-minded East Montréal youth were 
taking their crowbars for a late-night stroll through the neighbourhood
when they ran into none other than Alain Letarte, one of the eight 
boneheads currently on trial, and five of his cronies. Rather than 
impress our friends with their "warrior prowess", they chose to instead
put on a dazzling athletic performance of the 100-yard dash in the 
opposite direction.
 
The boneheads ran into Letarte's apartment building and locked the door
behind them. So humbled by their sprinting skills, our friends decided
to reward the performance with some impromptu renovation work on 
Letarte's front door. Suffice to say, Chez Letarte now has an open-
door policy.
 
Letarte was even quieter than usual the next day in court. Maybe it was
because his pals from the night before didn't see fit to show up to
support him (perhaps their late-night run wore them out and they slept
in). Or maybe it had something to do with the 25 anti-fascists in the
courthouse, and the 25 others outside waiting for security to let them
in. The boneheads, in comparison, had about 15 supporters, all of whom
were much more subdued than the day before.
 
One of the SHARPs testified against the nazis, along with two others. 
Three more witnesses will be heard from today and possibly tomorrow. 
Word from inside the courtroom is that the witnesses have been batting
.500. One woman yesterday refused to identify a single assailant. We
later heard rumours that she is now dating an ex-nazi and the local 
boneheads are all well- aware of how to find the both of them - you do
the math here. On the other hand, the boneheads looked none too happy
as they left for lunch, following testimony from our SHARP comrade. 

Once again, the prosecutor was asleep at his post - the defence lawyers
asked the SHARP to name members of local anti-fa oi! band The
Streettroopers, hardly relevant to the issue at hand. The SHARP
refused, objecting that with 15 nazis in the court it would put his
friends in  jeopardy. Not a word of objection for the prosecution,
however. 

I really hope that today will be the last day of testimony so we can 
move away from getting people into the courts and do what we do best - 
opposing the nazis in the streets!
 
                               DAY THREE

I can't remember the last time I was so mad that I wanted to kill 
somebody.
 
Marc from SHARP got jumped while he was walking to court this morning.
We have no doubts whatsoever that it was the boneheads. Someone snuck
up behind him while he was walking down the street and hit him over the
head with a baseball bat, knocking him out cold. Total bonehead m.o. 
Those of you at ska ska oi! in Toronto in January will remember Marc as
the giant SHARP from Montréal. This will give you some idea of the 
force required to knock him out, even with a baseball bat. Marc went to
the hospital and was checked out and felt good enough to go to work
onight. The man is a tank!
 
Our side weren't the only ones that took some lumps. Local nazi slime
Johnny "L'allemande" (lit. "the german) (and one of the DARKEST-
complexioned white supremacists i've ever seen!) showed up in  court
all aggravated with some very nasty-looking scratches on his face. 

Apparently, on his way to court, he was attacked by a streetpunk who 
slashed him in the face with a syringe! We kept referring to 
L'allemande as "junkie" the rest of the day. He didn't like that much. 
Other rumours overheard from the boneheads: remember my report on the 
impromptu home renovation job done on Alain Letarte's door Tuesday 
night? From what we overheard from their side, Letarte and his gang of
nazi tough boys were so scared of the "renovators" that they climbed 
out of Letarte's apartment using the fire escape and ran away!   

Our numbers sucked this morning, and we were outnumbered until early 
afternoon, when we went up to about 20 vs. the bonehead's 15. Much
props to ARA Plattsburgh and tha kidz in Saratoga for coming up and
having our backs. 
 
None of us were in very tolerant moods today, and this resulted in a
lot of intimidation tactics and challenges to the nazis, who invariably
responded by running to the cops or the courtroom security to complain
that we were staring at them.
 
The trial itself was over by 3:30 and would've been over sooner if the
defence lawyers hadn't dragged a SHARP in to grill him over an
interview someone else did with a journalist five years ago about SHARP
(someone,  in fact, who didn't even last two weeks in SHARP!).
Incidentally, the  bonehead's legal bill for the pre-lim is estimated
to be around $8,000. A lot of dinero for eight twits like the people in
question, two of whom have lost their jobs as a result of their acts
(and our "communications  outreach strategies") In fact, there's
allegedly going to be a "white  power" benefit show for them this very
weekend, in Tampa Bay, Florida. Hopefully, fate will conspire  against
them...
 
The boneheads will have a last chance to enter a guilty plea before a 
trial date is set at their next appearance on March 24th. Then, the 
trial should commence in June. We'll keep everyone posted.
 
  --  Action Anti-Raciste/Anti-Racist Action Montreal
      e-mail: <aramontreal@hotmail.com>

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                    NEW HOLOCAUST-RELATED WEB SITE
                     "We Remember Jewish Gostynin"
        <http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/4017/GOSTYNIN.HTM>

Webpage commemorating the Jewish Community of Gostynin, Poland.
Includes history of the Jewish Community, Holocaust period, and current
town information.

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

                        WHAT'S WORTH CHECKING
  stories via <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/story3/>

June Preston (Reuters), "U.S. Group Reports Sharp Rise In Web Hate
Sites," 24 Feb 99 <story806.txt>

Andrew Selsky (Associated Press), "Amnesty Denied for S.Africa
Killers," 26 Feb 99 <story807.txt>

Associated Press (no author), "RNC Member Quits CCC Over Racism," 28
Feb 99 <story808.txt>

Roxana Hegeman (Associated Press), "Racism Controversy Splits Kan.
Town," 1 Mar 99 <story809.txt>

Deborah Zabarenko (Reuters), "Washington shock jock is fired for racist
remark," 26 Feb 99 <story810.txt>

Peter Gumpel, S.J. (Hartnett Jesuit News), "Jesuit Defends Pius XII,"
n.d. (net posted 1 Mar 99) <story811.txt>

Marc Mealy, "The Structural Crisis of Police Brutality," 17 Feb 99
<story812.txt>

Amnesty International (press release), "Human Rights Abuses Against
[Afghani] Women," 17 Feb 99 <story813.txt>

Ruth Schubert (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), "Race affects sentencing
reports, study shows ," 18 Feb 99 <story814.txt>

Sarah Clifton, "Eyewitness Account of FBI Harassment at [Total
Liberation] Conference," n.d. (net posted 18 Feb 99) <story815.txt>

Jeffrey Montgomery (Triangle Foudnation), "Staff of Gay Paper
Threatened: Letter in Michigan House Envelope Warns of Fire Bombing
Intention," 18 Feb 99 <story816.txt>

Associated Press (no author), "Three-decade legal battle ends for
former Black Panther," 19 Feb 99 <story817.txt>

Edward J. Boyer and Steve Berry (Los Angeles Times), "Garcetti Ends 30-
Year Case Against Pratt ," 18 Feb 99 <story818.txt>

Flensborg Avis (Newspaper of the Danish minority in Germany), "Student
groups attack Danish fascist centre: Anti-fascist demo in Aalborg ends
in arrests," 19 Feb 99 (translation date) <story819.txt>

South Africa: Truth and Reconciliation Commission (press release),
"[South African Assassin] Jeffrey  Benzien Granted  Amnesty," 17 Feb 99
<story820.txt>

South Africa: Truth and Reconciliation Commission (press release), "TRC
Amnesty Decision On Death Of Steve Biko," 16 Feb 99 <story821.txt>

Elaine Herscher (San Francisco Chronicle), "Group Seeks Warnings For
'Gay' Programs: 'HC' would signal homosexual content ," 21 Feb 99
<story822.txt>

Irish Republican Socialist Party, "Open Letter to Turkish Prime
Minister [on the arrest of Ocalan]," 21 Feb 99 <story823.txt>

Liam Clarke and Vincent Kearney (The Sunday Times of London),
"Religious fanatic leads [Irish] loyalist rebels," 14 Feb 99
<story824.txt>

David M. Halbfinger (New York Times), "Jail Visitors Report Doing Hard
Time," 22 Feb 99 <story825.txt>

                               * * * * *

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research
and educational purposes only.

___________________________________________________________________

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

                               - - - - -

                       back issues archived via:        
        <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/>

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