Attorney-General hails ’success’
Chris Hammer w/ Barney Zwartz
September 16, 2008
THE conviction of Abdul Nacer Benbrika and his followers has been hailed by federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland as the most successful terrorism prosecution Australia has seen.
He said the convictions sent a clear message to those who may be influenced by violent extremism.
“The real prospect of conviction and imprisonment will, hopefully, open their eyes to what terrorism really is, nothing more than criminal behaviour at its most base and brutal level,” he said.
But Mr McClelland said it would be naive to discount the prospect of other attacks.
“Clearly, a terrorist attack in Australia is possible, and hence we have our security rating at the level of medium,” he said. “And indeed it would be naive not to recognise that such a terrorist attack could be perpetrated by home-grown terrorism.”
He said more work was needed to counter radicalisation, as in Britain and the Netherlands. “Our agencies need to be, and are in fact, alert to the prospect of a terrorism event being perpetrated by young Australians,” he warned.
He praised the contribution of Muslim Australians in combating extremism.
“The Muslim community has been integral to the success of these investigations,” he said.
The convictions were evidence that law enforcement agencies had successfully adapted to new anti-terrorism laws.
“The proof of the pie is in the eating,” he said. “I think they have performed their role admirably.”
Mr McClelland indicated he was open to a review of the laws, but would await recommendations from the appropriate agencies.
Muslim community leaders, meanwhile, praised the legal process, but said the verdicts should not reflect on the broader Muslim community.
“Six Muslims being convicted of terrorism offences in no way reflects the 400,000 Muslims out there,” said Ikebal Patel, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
Arabic Council of Australia chairman Roland Jabbour said the Arab community was always concerned that it was not implicated by media coverage.
“Often we pay a price when there is negative coverage,” he said. “The level of racism and racial attacks increase. We call on the media to ensure their coverage is responsible and to consider the implications for the community.”
Mr Jabbour said it was important to note that the vast majority of Muslims were decent, law-abiding citizens who worked with law enforcement agencies.
“We’ve always considered that security and social harmony is not just the responsibility of the law enforcement agencies, but all sectors of the community,” he said.
Voters at several Sutherland and Cronulla booths were confronted with a Hitler lookalike on Saturday spruiking the Australia First Party.
“Steve the national socialist” was the creation of a Sutherland Shire resident who visited at least three polling places clutching a poster of “Kitler”, a black and white cat with markings reminiscent of the dictator’s moustache.
“Steve” also wore a narrow moustache and a red armband featuring a swastika.
A satirical video of the visits was posted on YouTube late on Sunday night.
But the party’s Sydney branch chairman Jim Saleam wasn’t laughing about the stunt yesterday.
“There will be a complaint lodged regarding two men with a video camera who visited several voting places on Saturday,” he said.
“They have committed a series of electoral breaches, including handing out false and misleading information to voters.”
Mr Saleam said the complaint would include at least two websites the party believed were connected to the incident.
“There are a number of standard lines people tend to trot out when they want to oppose us,” he said.
“This Nazi rubbish is one of them.
“They went down like a lead balloon at most booths anyway, but it is actually quite a serious incident and we will be following through with a complaint.”
“Steve” said he had been inspired to make his video after reading about the party in the media and on the internet.
“Most people took it with a smile and a laugh,” he said.
“You can see from the video we approached it in a polite, non-threatening way.
“Some people were a little surprised at first but it was very clear we were being humorous about the whole thing and that was generally the spirit in which it was received.”
Check out Steve’s satirical video and tell us what you think. WARNING: The video contains images which may offend some people.
Does your cat look like Adolf Hitler? Do you wake up in a cold sweat every night wondering if he’s going to up and invade Poland? Does he keep putting his right paw in the air while making a noise that sounds suspiciously like “Sieg Miaow”? If so, this is the website for you.
For many years, Saleam has struggled to distance himself from his past and to recast Australian fascism as simple, unadulterated ‘patriotism’. In fact, the bulk of Saleam’s political activity is dedicated to just this mission: giving fascism a respectable face. Unfortunately for Saleam, his long history of involvement with neo-Nazi groups and individuals, criminal record in its cause, and total failure to repudiate racism and fascism, makes this a very difficult — in reality, impossible — task. Nevertheless, Saleam tries. Below is a list of his complaints to the Australian Press Council. All of which, needless to say, he lost. In December 2005, a not terribly good article by John Huxley (‘Armed, dangerous but shocking organisers’, Sydney Morning Herald) featured a profile of Saleam. Just a few days prior to its appearance, the APC dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against The Australian for its description of the complainant as a ‘prominent neo-Nazi’ in two articles published by the paper!
Mr James Saleam for himself and on behalf of National Action complains to the Australian Press Council concerning three articles which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 18 November, 1988: “Masked hate bears a fiery necklace” on page 1, and “Thugs use terror to back apartheid” and “Hairdresser is a target of hate” on page 20. The article on page 1 draws the reader’s attention to the two articles on page 20.
All articles report violence or threats of violence on racist grounds… The complaint is dismissed.
The Australian Press Council has dismissed complaints arising from the publication of a feature article by the (then) Daily Telegraph Mirror titled “LOOSE cannons” on 11 November, 1995.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and a public speech of the dangers posed by “right wing militia groups” by the Deputy Director General of ASIO, the feature article examined “political extremism and religious fanaticism”, with a focus on the 2000 Olympics.
It canvassed the views of journalists, police and some of the self-professed extremists, with an emphasis in illustration and text on one David J Palmer, of the National Socialist Defence of Australian Peoples, depicted in military-style uniform upon which swastikas were prominent.
Mentioned in passing was the complainant James Saleam for the fact that, when chairman of Australian National Action Group, he was sentenced to three and a half years jail in 1991 for organising a shotgun attack on the home of Eddie Funde, Australian representative of the African National Congress.
[snip]
Mr Saleam states that he regards this a libel upon him and complains about the article on nine detailed points. His central complaint is that the article gives undue prominence to Mr Palmer’s views as representative of the extreme right, and the very prominent photograph of Mr Palmer tends to identify others mentioned in the article with “Nazi doctrine or similar doctrine”.
[snip]
The article was not about Mr Saleam; he was mentioned only briefly and was not credited with the views of anyone else mentioned. He disputes the view of the right wing organisations and people identified in the article and is entitled to do so. He submitted a letter to the editor for publication which the newspaper declined to publish due to its length…
The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint against The Sydney Morning Herald by James Saleam about a report on a campaign that stirred-up racial discontent over Afghan refugees working in Young, NSW.
Dr Saleam was referred to in the article as being a member of the Australia First Party, which had distributed a pamphlet about the refugees. It also said that he was a former head of an extremist political group, National Action. It recorded as background that he had been convicted of firearm offences, and was “caught up in - though never charged” over the murder in 1991 of a National Action member.
The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint by Dr James Saleam against New Idea concerning a “Special Report” by Debi Marshall in its 23 March edition.
The report referred to the activities of David Palmer, described as head of the National Socialist Defenders Aryan People and as “Wizard” of an Australian chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, and his use of the Internet to recruit people to his organisations.
The Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against The Australian for its description of the complainant as a ‘prominent neo-Nazi’ in two articles published by the paper. The complainant felt he had been unfairly labelled by the newspaper.
The Australian Press Council has dismissed a complaint brought by Dr James Saleam against the Daily Telegraph arising from an article published on 3 March under the headline Bikini nazis hit the beach and stir the pot.
The report referred to a video advertisement posted on the website of the Australia First party which showed a woman in a burqa and a bikini being harassed on the beach by an unidentified man of “Middle Eastern appearance”.
When asked about the video, Dr Saleam, who is head of the Australia First party, refused to comment but later wrote a letter to the editor about the report.The letter was not published.
Dr Saleam objected to the description of him in the article as a “former neo-Nazi” and of his party as “white supremacist”. He further complained that the headline was incorrect as the only “Nazi” cited in the article seemed to be him; that it was wrong to say that Australia First wanted to use Cronulla riots to spark a wave of white nationalism; and that the paper had misrepresented or suppressed relevant facts in its reference to him as being “convicted of organising a shotgun attack on a black politician”.
There has been a series of complaints brought by Dr Saleam against various publications dating back to 1996 that have been adjudicated by the Press Council concerning his politics and his criminal conviction and the Council has previously ruled that the press is entitled to report on his activities. It can find nothing in the report that breaches its principles.
Following this latest complaint the Daily Telegraph composed a clarification that included Dr Saleam’s denial that he was a “former neo-Nazi” and a “white supremacist.” Dr Saleam agreed to the wording of the clarification but three months later the paper withdrew the offer to publish it. It is regrettable that the paper did not give Dr Saleam an opportunity to respond.
From the Department of I-Want-A-Fatwa-And-I-Want-One-Now! comes this story about a game called ‘Muslim Massacre’, designed by some bloke from Brisbane.
Oops.
Said designer has since thought better of his game, taken it down, and issued an apology:
I would like to make a public apology for any offense that I might have caused through releasing this game, and to Muslims in particular. My intentions when releasing this project were to mock the foreign policy of the United States and the commonly held belief in the United States that Muslims are a hostile people to be held with suspicion. I would like to make it clear that I have never shared such a belief and my intention was to mock those who actually do believe these things.
It quickly became obvious to me that releasing this game did not achieve its intended effect and instead only caused hurt to hospitable, innocent people. I believe removing this game and website will do much more to attain my desired effect than leaving it on the internet, so I am doing just that.
I would like to ask for the forgiveness of Muslims around the world and to make it clear that I did not release this game with ill intent. So without further ado, I would like to say that I am truly apologetic for what I have done and will take full responsibility for all offense that has been caused. I can only hope that any further misgivings can be laid to rest.
Sincerely,
~ Sigvatr
Thankfully for angry Aryans everywhere, Martin Fletcher of Downunder Newslinks (”Australian news for White people”) has saved the game from oblivion by making a copy of it available to all and sundry on his own rather, er… “cranky” website. Martin himself is a former devotee of James Saleam, but is currently associated with the Australian Protectionist Party, whose disco forum he co-admins with failed Sutherland Shire candidate Darrin Hodges. (Note that APP aren’t exactly ‘down with Mohammed’). Martin is very fond of game-playing, and previous to Muslim Massacre, placed the laff riot that was the Cronulla 2230 game on his website (Cronulla game site gets zapped, Asher Moses, October 18, 2006).
Martin also reproduces a series of very funny cartoons on his site, originally produced by Tom Metzger’s mob, White Aryan Resistance:
“Where they fail with words they excel with horrible, horrible racist cartoons. I know it’s wrong, but I found these cartoons hilarious, if only for the fact they were so desperately stupid. These guys should take Zack Parsons advice and come up with more creative racial stereotypes. However, I have to give them some credit; the racial slur “Moon Cricket” is one I’ve never heard before and find to be quite fascinating. It’s so zany how could anyone take offense to it? Anyway, let’s take a gander at some of these cartoons!”
A COMPUTER game designed by a Brisbane man has caused Muslim anger around the world because it invites players to wipe out the followers of Islam.
Queensland police have launched an investigation into the game Muslim Massacre, which can be downloaded for free online.
http://www.muslimmassacre.com/
Players take control of an American “hero”, are given “an arsenal of the world’s most destructive weapons” and are tasked with killing as many Muslims as possible, ranging from terrorists and civilians to Osama bin Laden, even the prophet Mohammed and Allah.
“This game is glorifying the killing of Muslims in the Middle East and we urge internet providers to take action to remove this site from their services,” foundation chief Mohammed Shafiq said.
“This is not satire but a deliberate attempt to demonise Muslims.”
The game was created by freelance programmer Eric Vaughan, 22, who calls himself “Sigvatr” on his online blog.
Mr Vaughan, who works at a petrol station in East Brisbane, refused to comment when contacted by The Courier-Mail yesterday.
On his blog, he describes the game as “fun and funny” and says to his critics: “The Muslims represented in the game aren’t meant to be based on actual Muslims.”
Islamic Council of Queensland president Suliman Sabdia urged Police Minister Judy Spence to shut down the site.
“This is the sort of game which creates hysteria,” he said.
“It could lead on to other things if it goes unchecked.”
Ms Spence said she was concerned. “I am aware that the contents of this particular website have been brought to the attention of police, who are making an assessment as to whether it breaches any legislation,” she said.
Update : Steve the National Socialist has done the White thing and documented his support for Australia First (NSW) in the ding-dong battle for a seat in Sutherland Shire Council Ward A; a minor skirmish inspired by the “growing resistance to the politics of New World Order liberal-globalist-capitalism throughout Australia”. Take it away Steve:
So, how did our friends on the far right fare?
In the shire of Sutherland, former admirer of Hitler and member of the Stormfront forum Darrin Hodges — the Nationalist Anarchist Protectionist — wanted a seat in Council Ward D. Unfortunately for Darrin, despite considerable media exposure — and a very handsome face — he came last, garnering just 333 votes or 2% of the total. In Council Ward A, the dynamic team of racists belonging to Australia First (AF) fared a little better; John, Karl and Marleen gaining 867 votes, or 4% of the total. They too, however, came last.
Outside of Sutherland shire, it was a mixed bag for AF. In Blacktown (Fifth Ward), the terrible trio of Tony Pettitt, Terry Cooksley and George Atkinson managed to assemble 1,229 votes between them, or 5% of the total. Congratulations Tony, Terry and George! (The racists also managed to beat Gavin Robinson, with just 139 votes.) In Coffs Harbour, despite being led by the remarkably talented clown Darrell Wallbridge — weddings, parties, anything — AF gained just 436 votes. Again, just 2% of the total. On the plus side, Darrell, Alex Parker, Greg Bailey, Richard Hedditch, and Kevin Baldwin did manage to defeat John Hearne, who received a measly 161 votes. Another plus for AF — or rather, Richard Hedditch — is the one vote he personally received, thus making him a very lucky man. For as Richard noted in his ‘Candidate Information Statement’ (CIS):
My observations of the way humanity is gives me the willies. I’m bored, I want to fail dismally. Electorally, I have no chance whatsoever. I’ll be lucky to pull a single vote, but I’m nominating to run so that my ticket will have the minimum 5 candidates. The ticket I’m associated with has very many good and profoundly brilliant policies. So much so, that if Australia First got a candidate elected I’m sure that I’d push for a 30 percent rates reduction for this electee.
Finally, in Newcastle (Second Ward), the Jew-hating real estate agent Nathan Clarke and his racialist comrades Ian McBryde and Jim Smith failed to sell their anti-Semitic schtick to the voting public. The AF ticket received just 302 votes in total; again, 2%. (Poor old John Sunol came last, however, with just 21 votes.)
For one night only, Blood & Honour Australia and the Southern Cross Hammerskins — from the relaxing ambience of the Central Hotel, Beaconsfield (1 Princes Highway, Beaconsfield) — present:
and all the way from horribly multicultural Belgium…
Kill Baby Kill!
As previously noted, the globe-trottingBlood Red Eagle are from Newcastle (NSW), and their Viking-inspired aural assault is spearheaded by the diminutive Douglas Schott; Ravenous is a local band for local people, *ing the racist psychotic Jesse on vocals (and, possibly, Joel of Bulldog Spirit on drums); while Kill Baby Kill *s Dieter Samoy on vox.
Dieter Samoy is a top bloke and fits the bonehead stereotype exceedingly well: in 2006, good old Dieter was behind a vicious racist attack on a black man and his white friend in Bruges. We understand that the black man was put into a coma, and that Samoy’s trial is pending. As a result of these and other efforts by Dieter and his fascist comrades, and as has also been remarked by Belgian antifa, Belgium is rapidly turning into “a playground for all manner of right-wing extremists”; so too — at least for tonight — is Beaconsfield.
Almost 700 boneheads showed up for yet another “Ian Stuart Donaldson (ISD) Memorial” haterock fest in Belgium on 27 October, a disappointing result for the Blood&Honour-Vlaanderen (B&H-VL) organisers who had hoped to attract at least 2,000 nazis to the event.
It is not known whether the poor attendance was because of internal problems in the banned German wing of the organisation but the “event” nevertheless got lots of coverage in the Belgian national media. After having major trouble in finding a venue that could host two thousand participants, B&H eventually reverted to the venue used for last year’s ISD commemoration in the remote village of Wolfsdonk, near Aarschot, in the province of Vlaams-Brabant (Flemish Brabant).
The venue, hired a few weeks ago by a man - not a bonehead - who wanted the place for a “big birthday party”, turned out to be the canteen of a local football club and a huge tent alongside it. At the meeting points, car parks along Belgian motorways where the nazis gathered before moving off to the “secret” location, the people redirecting them were mainly Germans.
At the venue itself, the “security service” was organised by British B&H members who menaced a national TV team that wanted to interview local people. When not doing that, they were ensuring that those attending handed over all their weapons!
On the bill were, among others, notorious hate bands like Whitelaw, Propaganda, Eternal Pride, Avalon and the Flemish band Kill Baby Kill led by one of the fascists - Dieter Samoy - behind a vicious racist attack on a black man and his white friend in Bruges last year.
More attention, however, was paid to beer drinking than to the music with most of the participants at the gig getting drunk and, by getting into several brawls, reducing the event to a chaotic mess. When the organisers called for “a minute’s silence for white hero Ian Stuart” hardly anyone observed it. “Fuckheads who can’t even keep their drunk shitholes quite for a fucking minute for a true white hero” yelled one of the organisers in his own very subtile way. As a result of this fiasco, B&H Flanders had to shut its online forum the next day because it had received so many complaints.
The left-wing party “Spirit”, which was part of the previous Belgian federal government, has announced that it will reintroduce its demand that federal parliament outlaw nazi activities on Belgian soil and also ban groups like B&H that are illegal elsewhere. In Germany, B&H was outlawed seven years ago but in Belgium apparently, the political world lacks the courage needed to ban organised nazi activities.
This failure to act is turning Belgium into a playground for all manner of right-wing extremists. Just days before the B&H hatefest, for example, the far-right Vlaamse Jongeren Westland (VJW - Flemish Youth Westland) organisation staged a “national demo” in the streets of Bruges on 21 October.
Despite an intense mobilisation campaign and winning media attention, no more than 60 to 70 extremists showed up, among them numerous boneheads and a delegation from the Walloon fascist outfit Nation.
At the end of a short demonstration, VJW organiser Pieter Van Damme called for a “national-solidarist society” and demanded more respect for the Dutch language. Taking the presence of French-speaking nazis into account, it is unlikely that everyone present really understood his message. Even though “Freedom Of Speech” (for nationalists) was one of the main themes on the day, the participants in the VJW demo were not allowed to speak to the press.
Neither the far-right Vlaams Belang (VB) nor its satellite Voorpost were present at the demonstration because relations between the “bourgeois-liberal’ VB and the “genuine nationalist radicals” of the VJW are very frosty. Perhaps this rivalry explains why the VJW deliberately made use of the old VB slogan ‘Eigen Volk Eerst!” (”Our own people first”) during the march. Most of the VJW’s activists, incidentally, share a past in the ranks of the VB but were excluded in one way or other.
About 300 anti-fascists, mobilised by the anti-fascist group Blokbuster, protested at the nazi march.
Wim Haelsterman
Reports from Flanders for AFF/Verzet - RésistanceS.
Things have changed a little for Belgian boneheads since this report (seeBad news for Belgian boneheads in Blood & Honour, May 5, 2008; also Blood & Honour in Belgium… and Australia, September 10, 2006) — prompted, in part perhaps, by the shooting to death in May 2006 of a two year old (white) child and her (black, pregnant) nanny. More recently, in the United States: “Two members of Tampa Blood and Honour, a chapter of a particularly violent international white supremacist organization, were indicted in Florida for beating two homeless men to death in 1998. Two other members had already pleaded guilty to the crimes. Federal officials say the men planned to participate in a race war and killed the homeless men because they were deemed inferior”: ‘The Blotter: Updates on Extremism and the Law’, Intelligence Report, Fall 2008 (Southern Poverty Law Centre).
And while the efforts of Dieter & Co. to cleanse Belgium of anarchists, Asians, blacks, communists, the homeless, homosexuals, Jews, leftists and people with disabilities (and assorted other undesireables) may be looked on unkindly by some, the band does at least have the full support of Tom and Myspace.
It may also be considered slightly odd that Australian Customs didn’t ask a few more questions of Dieter and his chums when they arrived in Melbourne last week, but presumably membership of a violent international neo-Nazi network and a violent criminal record is no barrier to entering Australia these days. Meaning that Nick Griffin’s entry to Australia on a proposed speaking tour in December should be a piece of (fruit)cake… As for what the good burghers of Beaconsfield think about making their little hamlet into a happy home to members of two of the most violent neo-Nazi associations in the world, who knows?
Update: Nick was scheduled to speak at an “Anti-Islamisation Congress” in Cologne, Germany over the weekend of September 19–21 but has now withdrawn (possibly in order to avoid arrest under Germany’s strict laws on Holocaust denial). “Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, had been on the guest list but after German anti-fascists, with help from Searchlight, published his comments denying the Holocaust, his name was withdrawn just before Cologne city council and the German Interior Ministry condemned the congress.” (Racists gather for Cologne anti-Islam rally, Hans-Peter Killguss, Searchlight, September 2008).
Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ad-di-ty,
Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ay,
Singing too-rall, li-oo-rall, li-ad-di-ty
Oh we are bound for Botany Bay
Oh we are bound for Botany Bay
A leading British far-right politician is planning a controversial speaking tour of Australia. The Chairman of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, has confirmed his intention to visit Australia in December. Mr Griffin’s tour is sponsored by the anti-Asian [read: fascist] Australian Protectionist Party which was formed last year by breakaway members of the Australia First Party.
Announcing Mr Griffin’s visit, the president of the Australian Protectionist Party, Andrew Phillips, said that the British National Party leader would speak to Australian audiences ”on the experiences of the British National Party in their fight to protect Britain and its people from the demographic genocide that is threatening their homeland, caused by the large-scale immigration of people from the Third World”.
Phillips is one of two public figures belonging to the APP; the other is Darrin Hodges, who will be contesting for a seat on the local council of Sutherland Shire this weekend. A former member of the world’s most popular white supremacist website Stormfront, Hodges has since disavowed both his anti-Semitism and his admiration for Hitler, and transferred his hatred and resentment from Jews to Muslims, the latter of which is now identified as belonging to a more general wave of Third World “filth” and “scum” threatening to overwhelm White Australia. Hodges is also a supporter of the fascist New Right/’national anarchist’ grouping, appearing as a member of their ‘black bloc’ at the APEC demonstrations in Sydney last year.
Mr Griffin joined the neo-Nazi British National Front as a teenager and has led the British National Party since 1999. Like the anti-Semitic historian David Irving, he has disputed whether the Holocaust took place, calling it the ”hoax of the 20th century”.
According to HOPE not Hate: “Nick Griffin is one of the biggest deniers of the Holocaust, describing it as the “hoax of the 20th century”. He has even criticised the far-right writer and Holocaust denier David Irving for daring to suggest that some people might have been killed.” According to Danny Ben-Moshe: “Both [Frederick] Toben and [David] Bennett regularly attend IHR conferences, but the more active of the two through these networks is Toben, who has extensive contacts with deniers across the globe. His European contacts are well documented in his travel diary of a 1998 trip to Europe which was devoted to meeting deniers, visiting concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and delving into archives where his findings reaffirmed his beliefs. In London he met Germar Rudolf where they discussed the involvement of Adelaide Institute Online in an English language publication Rudolf is planning, and he stayed with Rudolf on the farm of British National party leader Nick Griffin.” See : Holocaust Denial in Australia, Danny Ben-Moshe, Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism, No.25, The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), 2005 (PDF).
In recent years, however, Mr Griffin has sought to ”mainstream” the British National Party, avoiding overt anti-Semitism and instead focussing on immigration, especially attacks on the Britain’s Muslim communities.
The British National Party has enjoyed modest but significant success in British local government elections, claiming more than 100 elected representatives, though some of these have reportedly split from the party. [See : Where now?, Nick Lowles, Searchlight, June 2008.]
In May 1998 Mr Griffin was prosecuted for incitement to racial hatred after he published an article that referred to non-white people as ”mongrel slaves”. He received a nine-month suspended sentence and a large fine.
In 2006 Mr Griffin was again prosecuted for racial vilification, but was found not guilty in two trials.
Mr Griffin attempted to visit Australia in August 1998. That proposed visit attracted strong criticism from the federal Labor opposition and then immigration minister Philip Ruddock reportedly banned Mr Griffin from entry. Mr Griffin told The Canberra Times yesterday that ”I was formally told I would not be allowed in.”
Mr Griffin said he hoped there would be no problems with getting a visa 10 years later.
Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council spokesman Jeremy Jones condemned Mr Griffin’s planned visit saying his past criminal conviction for inciting racial hatred should be sufficient to ensure his exclusion.
”A visit by Griffin ought to be a matter of concern for Australia’s Muslim community, indeed by all communities here who have found that tolerance and engagement is a better path than division and hatred.”
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Evans, said all visa applicants must satisfy the character test of the Migration Act that includes provisions to ensure that a non-citizen will not vilify, incite discord in or represent a danger to the Australian community, or part of that community.
Whether or not Griffin will be able able to visit Australia in December is one thing, but the previous HoWARd Government certainly acted to exclude a number of other undesireables. In 2001, US ‘anti-globalisation’ activist Doyle Canning was denied entry to the country; in April 2005, Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Negri experienced some difficulties (later cancelling on the grounds of ill-health), while Scott Parkin continues his battle with Government authorities to discover why he was kicked out of the country in 2005. On the far right, two leading members of the neo-Nazi NPD have been excluded on character grounds: in 2003, Udo “Six million cannot be right. At most, 340,000 people could have died in Auschwitz” Voight, the leader of the party, was told to piss off, while two years later, in 2005, the NPD’s Gerd Finkenwirth was also denied entry. On both occasions, their tours were organised by Darrin Hodge’s ‘national anarchist’ comrade Welf Herfurth.
Still, things change.
In May this year, Don Black banned the use of swastikas on Stormfront; and the BNP itself is now lauding the virtues of Zionism. Jews are OK, apparently, if they stick to Israel.
THE British National Party (BNP) is a far-right group headed by Holocaust-denier Nick Griffin. They caused shockwaves in the White Power world a few years back by announcing they couldn’t be bothered hating Jews anymore.
Their rationale: there are so few Jews in England it was a bit like investing energy in loathing the Amish.
Besides, they hated Arabs more. White European Jews were even told they could join, although you had to be assimilated - so no turning up to meetings in a shtreimel. And tuck in your tzitzit for God’s sake.
The BNP even flouted the conventional White Power wisdom on Zionism. They respected Israelis’ sense of nationalism and admired its firm hand in dealings with the Arabs. On the current conflict in Lebanon, BNP legal adviser Lee Barnes says, “It is in our long-term interests that Hezbollah are ground into dust by Israel as that way we don’t have to do it in the future.”
Barnes also complains about media coverage of the conflict: “The obvious agenda for the media is to assist in ending nationalism as an ideology and the destruction of nationalist states like Israel.”
I don’t want to tell anyone how to run their white-supremacist movement but when you’re complaining that the Jews don’t control the media, maybe it’s time to go back to bonehead school.
Gillard’s hands tied over Uni blog
Chantal Abitbol
DESPITE escalating concerns over anti-Israel propaganda on the taxpayer-funded blog, Khaldoun, the Rudd Government has spurned calls to shut down the site operated by Macquarie University academics in Sydney.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard responded last week to NSW Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell, who lodged a formal complaint about the blog last month, saying that he should take up the matter instead with NSW anti-discrimination and human rights agencies.
“Universities in Australia are autonomous institutions established under their own legislation,” Gillard wrote in a letter dated August 28.
“If you believe that this blog breaches [the discrimination] acts, then you … may wish to contact either the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board or the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission.”
She also suggested finding recourse with Macquarie University’s vice-chancellor, Professor Steven Schwartz, saying he was “best placed to determine the appropriate course of action”.
O’Farrell, who called the blog offensive with “hate-filled and provocative attacks against Israel”, told The AJN that he was disappointed with the Government’s response.
O’Farrell said Gillard’s letter was “absent of any commentary on the blog and what it contains” and even expressed doubt that she had reviewed it. “If she had … she would have joined in the condemnation of it,” he said.
However, he said he would take up Gillard’s suggestions and pursue the matter with the recommended agencies.
“Let’s get politics out of it. What’s important here is to ensure this kind of unacceptable behaviour ends,” he said, and added that he had already written to vice-chancellor Schwartz with his complaint, but had yet to receive a response.
Both Schwartz and the university declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The AJN.
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies has also expressed concerns about the rise of anti-Israel bias in the university’s curriculum.
“There are severe problems with the Khaldoun website, as well as with some of the Middle East content being taught at Macquarie,” CEO Vic Alhadeff said.
“Balanced courses are essential if our universities are to turn out students who are informed.”
Catholics welcome, Muslims not
Sunanda Creagh, Urban Affairs Reporter
September 9, 2008
IT IS the tale of two schools. The Camden residents’ group that fought a Muslim society’s proposal for a school in rural Camden has welcomed a Catholic organisation’s plans to build a school nearby because “Catholics are part of our community”.
The president of the Camden/Macarthur Residents’ Group, Emil Sremchevich, said the Catholic school plan “ticked all the right boxes”, even though he is yet to see its development application.
“Catholics are part of our community so we should be supporting it on this basis alone. We have to welcome them,” Mr Sremchevich told the Herald. “To become part of a community, you need to live in the community. You can’t just turn up.”
The Quranic Society said Mr Sremchevich’s comments were racist but he rejected that tag. “Why is that racist? Why is it discriminatory? It’s very simple: people like some things but don’t like other things. Some of us like blondes, some of us like brunettes. Some of us like Fords, some of us like Holdens. Why is it xenophobic just because I want to make a choice? If I want to like some people and not like other people, that’s the nature of the beast.” Mr Sremchevich was among those who applauded a Camden Council decision in May to reject the Quranic Society’s application to build a 1200-student school at Burragorang Road, Cawdor. The council said it was refused “on planning grounds” but one resident, Kate McCulloch, said Muslims would not fit into the Camden community.
“The ones that come here oppress our society, they take our welfare and they don’t want to accept our way of life,” she said then, when she had hoped to follow Pauline Hanson into politics.
The Catholic Education Office of Wolllongong is in negotiations to buy a plot of land adjacent to the 150-student Mater Dei special-needs school in Macquarie Grove Road. Mater Dei will remain but the Catholic Education Office of Wollongong wants to build a 1000-student high school on the adjacent plot.
It is less complicated than the Quranic Society application, which would have required rezoning. The Mater Dei site is already zoned for a school.
A spokesman for the Quranic Society, Issam Obeid, said: “Everyone can see there is a double standard … No one knows anything about the Catholic school and they say, ‘Yeah, give it a tick already.’ I think racism is affecting this.”
A spokesman for Wollongong’s Catholic Education Office, Peter McPherson, said more schools were needed in south-west Sydney to cope with population growth. “Our site is currently a school zoning so we don’t believe we will have any problems with rural zoning issues,” he said.
Mr Obeid stressed that he did not object to the Catholic plans. But he said the society’s school would have taken non-Muslims. “The council said they rejected us because of traffic and zoning, but I think if we didn’t have the backlash from the community then it could have ended very differently. We want to integrate into the community but they won’t let us.”
Before the vote, protesters placed pigs’ heads on stakes and draped an Australian flag between them on the proposed school site.
Camden’s Mayor, Chris Patterson, said religion had nothing to do with the the council’s decision in May. “And this DA will be treated exactly the same. The council will take into account traffic, amenity, noise.”
A Quranic Society appeal will be heard in the Land and Environment Court later this month.
AN interstate tourist disgusted by a Cairns taxi driver’s racist rant has called for a mandatory training program to stamp out “redneck” intolerance in the service industry.
Interstate visitor Andrew (who asked that his surname not be used) said he was surprised anyone would want to visit Cairns after the conversation he had with a taxi driver who picked him up at the airport yesterday.
Black and White Taxis fleet manager Chris White said all drivers signed the company’s anti-discrimination policy and received training when gaining their taxi licence.
He said the cabbie railed against local Aboriginal kids, Ugandan refugees and Indian taxi drivers.
“The taxi driver was so racist that they complained about every non-white person living and working in Cairns,” he said.
“I felt like turning around and catching the next plane out of town.
“If every tourist arriving into Cairns has to listen to such disgusting redneck comments I am surprised anyone visits here.”
In an unrelated case, the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal is expected to give its decision within weeks into the case of an Aboriginal man who claims he was racially vilified by a Cairns taxi driver.
Manoora man James Sailor claimed Black and White Taxi driver Nelson Hubbucks called him a “black bastard” and swore at him outside a Murray St unit complex in March 2005.
A Cairns taxi driver, who asked not to be named, said there was a definite need for a training program to educate drivers about appropriate customer service.
WA jailing too many Aborigines, says sociologist
Victoria Laurie
September 05, 2008
ABOUT one in 10 Aboriginal men is in prison in Western Australia, and that figure could rise to one in five within five years.
Dr Dot Goulding, a sociologist from Murdoch University’s Restorative Justice Research Unit, said incarceration of Aboriginal people was headed for “shameful levels” in a wealthy state.
“It’s got worse, not better,” she said. “Ten to 15 years ago, around 35 per cent of the adult prison population was Aboriginal, but now it’s consistently up around 41-44 per cent.”
On the eve of the state election, Dr Goulding endorsed the views of Aboriginal Legal Service head Dennis Eggington, who said both political parties had failed to address the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system. He said the state government had not acted on its own Aboriginal Customary Law Report, which had called “as a matter of priority” for Aboriginal courts to be established to handle indigenous offenders, especially in rural areas.
WA lacked a state-wide interpreting service for indigenous offenders, he said, “despite interpreters being available for most other cultural groups”. And Aboriginal women were still being jailed for unpaid fines.
He said the rate of imprisonment of Aboriginal people in WA was almost double that of the Northern Territory.
“What’s the point of (political leaders) talking up the economy if you’re letting down the community?” he said.
Dr Goulding said that, on current trends, more than half the state’s prison population would be indigenous within five years. “It’s absolutely appalling and a gross overrepresentation,” she said.
An even more alarming figure was the number of Aboriginal juveniles already in detention — between 70 per cent and 75 per cent of all young inmates, despite WA’s indigenous population making up a mere 3 per cent of the population, Dr Goulding said.
And with reoffending rates up around 75 per cent among indigenous prisoners in the state (against around 45 per cent in non-indigenous ones), Aboriginal youths were very likely to return to jail.
Dr Goulding said a raft of factors predisposed Aboriginal youngsters to be scooped up into the custodial system, such as WA’s “three strikes” legislation for repeat juvenile offenders.
“If they are caught three times and — unlike the majority of white middle-class young offenders — poorly represented in court, they end up being sent to detention instead of diversion programs.”
In addition, Aboriginal prisoners who spoke only an Aboriginal language were disadvantaged by a lack of translators. “You have a better chance of getting a court interpreter if you are Chinese-speaking than if you are Aboriginal,” Dr Goulding said.
“The prison system has to deal with whoever is sent to it by the courts. So we need to step back and look at Aboriginal arrest rates and the courts to see how sentencing trends impact heavily on Aboriginal people.”
Dr Goulding said little attention was paid to the children of Aboriginal inmates and the impact of incarceration on family life. Of 30,000 indigenous children in WA, it was estimated that around 6000 children had one or both parents in prison.
The result was that families were often enmeshed in institutionalised racism that led straight to jail. She cited the case of “Irene”, a 31-year-old mother of 10 who served a term in jail.
“She saw her life as being totally controlled by government departments,” Dr Goulding said.
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