The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 19 Sep 2000 -- 4:76 (#469)

[Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@xxxxxxxx>]

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           The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 19 September 2000
                         Vol. 4, Number 76 (#469)
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Action:
   Privacy Conference at New School University in New York City, October
      5-7, 2000
Discussion On the Meaning of "Fascist:"
   David Wroe (The Age), "What, no Satanists down at Crown?," 15 Sep 00
Requests For Information:
   Looking For Materials For Human Rights Education For Children Out of
      India
   Looking For Information On Rehabilitation of Child Victims of Torture
      (USA)
Rightwing Quote of the Week:
   August B. Kreis III, Pastor, "On the Aryan Nations Verdict"
What's Worth Checking: 10 stories

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ACTION

Privacy Conference at New School University in New York City, October 5-7,
2000.  The keynote address will be presented by Charles Nesson, Professor
of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of The Berkman Center for
Internet & Society.  Other speakers include Marc Rotenberg, Executive
Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center; Jerry Berman,
Director of the Center for Democracy & Technology; and Larry Lessig,
Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.  A concluding panel discussion
will be moderated by Kenneth Prewitt, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Full-time students with valid ID are admitted free.  For more information
please contact the conference office at (212) 229-2488 or
socres@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx  Visit our web site at:
http://www.newschool.edu/centers/socres/privacy

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DISCUSSION ON THE MEANING OF "FASCIST"

What, no Satanists down at Crown?
David Wroe (The Age)
15 Sep 00

So a Labor premier has described hippies and school students, among others,
as "fascists". If Jeff Kennett had done it, we all would have said: "Gee,
he's really lost it this time."

Steve Bracks' little bit of hyperbole - fascist behavior is "where you
think you are right absolutely and you don't like debate" - could equally
be applied to the daily activities of most elected governments and, from
time to time, just about every ordinary person.

Bracks' description of the demonstrators' behavior as "fascist" was just
one example of the absurdly overstated, but carefully calculated, language
used during the World Economic Forum protests that will, ultimately, rob
such words of the power to depict true breaches of freedom.

Alexander Downer came up with a goodie, describing the more extreme
demonstrators as "like those people in the first half of the 20th century
who wanted to deny free speech to their opponents".

How exactly did this go from being a global economic issue to an issue of
free speech? The average WEF delegate would have more of his or words
reproduced in newspaper column centimetres, TV sound-bites, Hansard
transcripts and conference discussion papers than all the protesters put
together.

The forum delegates are not the silenced, disaffected majority, denied
their right to a voice in society. They are listened to all day every day,
and every word they speak is picked up and acted upon.

Didn't Bracks see the irony in going on Melbourne's most popular radio
station to complain about being denied his freedom to speak?

The same applies to the star attraction, Bill Gates, whose mega-company,
Microsoft, has just been found guilty of breaching rules that ensure its
competitors' freedom to compete. If Gates wanted to build a speaker the
size of the MCG, stick it on the moon and transmit his nasally opinions on
IT to the world, he alone could afford to do it.

Eventually, people will tire of the references to fascism, Hitler, Stalin
and dictatorships, and the spin-doctors will have to come up with
alternative baseless terms that have an immediate, instinctive, emotional
impact.

Meanwhile, history will become clouded and confused. How are future
generations supposed to understand the word "fascist" as simultaneously a
dictator responsible for the deaths of millions and a dreadlocked woman
tussling with police outside Crown casino?

Blockading the WEF was a pretty pointless act. The delegates were there to
discuss broad issues, not to make decisions or form policies. Letting them
know (however vehemently) that you think their approach is wrong or  self-
serving is one thing. Trying to stop them getting in was just an
overreaction that made me wonder how many of the blockaders had the WEF
confused with the IMF.

But the blockade was neither fascist, Stalinist, dictatorial nor
un-Australian (whatever that word means).

Bracks, Downer, Howard, Carr and Napthine knew that. But they also knew
that an effective way to undermine an opponent is turn their own words back
on them. If they call you a fascist, call them fascists back.

It's really just a slightly - and only slightly - more sophisticated
version of that game kids play in which one says, "You're a so-and-so", and
his interlocutor replies, "I know you are, but what am I?"

The protesters, not to be bested with hyperbole, regrettably picked up on
the tactic. Friends of the Earth spokesman Damien Sullivan said of the
baton charge by police on Tuesday night: "I don't think it was a
confrontation at all. It was basically a massacre ... It's like something
you see in a military dictatorship."

That's right. It was a massacre in which no one was killed, by a military
dictatorship that seized power in a bloodless coup that no one saw coming
last September.

Be thankful it was only a three-day forum, otherwise the ante would have
been upped and upped until each side was accusing the other of being the
reincarnations of Richard III, Ted Bundy, Captain Hook and Satan
thereafter.

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REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION

Looking For Materials For Human Rights Education For Children Out of India

Dear friends in HRE circle,

Centre of Concern for Child Labour started its Human Rights Education
Programme in 1991. During past few years we have realised that in poor
countries more and more children drop out after grade three or four. In
India alone some 70 million children in the age group of 6-14 are out of
school. The HREP-CCFCL since past three years is concentrating on
developing educational material for out-of-school children. We have
greatly benefitted ideas which we come across through invaluable services
provided by <hr-education>.

We are looking for more HRE material for children out of school in the age
group of 8-12 and 13-16. We would be grateful to receive such information
and material. Also all such institutions and NGOs doing similar work need
to come together to forge a network. Ideas please!

  --  Thanks,
      Dr. Joseph Gathia, Director

Please send information to the following address:

Human Rights Education Programme
Centre of Concern for Child Labour
201 Pankaj Tower Mayur Vihar-I
New Delhi 110091 India
<ccfcl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

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Looking For Information On Rehabilitation of Child Victims of Torture (USA)

Hello,

Someone gave me this address with the message that you might be doing work
rehabilitating children who have undergone torture. If this is the case,
could you send me some information or an Internet address where I might
find such information.

  --  Thank you.
      Darrell Schramm
      Editor, Human Rights Education: The Fourth R
      <schrammd@xxxxxxxxx>

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RIGHTWING QUOTE OF THE WEEK:For those who believe that fascism is only a
thing of the past

On the Aryan Nations Verdict
August B. Kreis III, Pastor

This is a criminal act being committed against Pastor Butler and The Church
of Jesus Christ Christian/Aryan Nations! It is being committed using this
countries corrupt jEW controlled courts. YOU, who are watching with smug
indifference and/or applauding the action being taking by these gangsters
will be those that will one day be begging for mercy as you see everything
you hold so dear being taken away from YOU! Although you will cry and beg
for justice and mercy, none will be given. So go ahead and laugh now for
the time of YHVH's justice is not too distant! I for one will show no mercy
as I swiftly carry out the wrath of OUR Almighty Father YHVH!!!!! Judgment
day is fast approaching for the yehudi-shatan and their henchman!

  --  In the name of the Most High YHVH,
      Pastor August B. Kreis III;
      Northeastern Ambassador Aryan Nations

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                        WHAT'S WORTH CHECKING
   stories via <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/story7/>

Human RIghts Watch, "'Consent Decree' to Curb NYPD Abuses Needed: New
Police Commissioner Should Cooperate with Justice Department," 24 Aug 00,
"The U.S. Justice Department has reportedly reached an impasse in its
negotiations with New York City officials to reach an agreement on how to
implement overdue NYPD reforms.  Human Rights Watch recognizes the efforts
the Justice Department has made to arrive at a negotiated agreement with
the police dpartment, but it is now time for the Justice Department to
insist upon a court-enforceable consent decree." <1841.txt>

Roger Maynard ([AU] Times), "Anger as Army is given shoot-to-kill powers
for Games," 22 Aug 00, "The Australian Government is under mounting
pressure to water down draconian new security laws that would give the
military the right to shoot civilians on sight during the Olympic Games
next month. Civil rights campaigners fear that the Government is using the
threat of terrorism at the Games to introduce laws that could be used
during strikes and legitimate protests. Under the new measures, soldiers
could be used to perform duties normally undertaken by the police, such as
the erection of barricades, the detention of suspects and the search and
recapture of buildings, but it is the shoot-to-kill powers that have
enraged Australian civil rights groups." <1842.txt>

Ewen MacAskill (Manchester Guardian), "Britain Snubs U.S. On World Court,"
22 Aug 00, "The British government will formally break ranks with the US on
Friday by supporting the creation of an international criminal court to
prosecute those responsible for genocide and other crimes against
humanity." <1843.txt>

Henry Weinstein (Los Angeles Times), "Persecuted Gay Man Wins Asylum Case:
Mexican who was harassed in his country for having a female sexual identity
is granted sanctuary in U.S.," 22 Aug 00, "Gay men who face persecution in
their home countries because they manifest female sexual identities are
entitled to political asylum in the United States, a federal appeals court
in San Francisco ruled Thursday. The unanimous decision from the U.S. 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals broke new ground in asylum law, expanding the
class of people who can be granted asylum on the basis of sexual
persecution. The appeals court has jurisdiction over cases in California
and eight other western states. The court ordered the federal government to
grant asylum to Geovanni Hernandez-Montiel, who had been abducted and raped
twice by Mexican policemen and subjected to numerous other acts of
harassment because of his feminine appearance." <1844.txt>

Ulrich Rippert (WSWS), "German Green party calls for professional army," 24
Jun 00, "...The lurch to the right by German political parties since the
Kosovo War is most obvious in the case of the Greens. Only three months
after the end of the war, the defense spokeswoman of the Green
parliamentary group, Angelika Beer, presented a 12-page paper entitled
"Less is More! Proposals for a Security-Policy and Technology-Oriented
Modernisation of the Bundeswehr [German Army]". Up to then, the Greens had
always linked their opposition to military service to a general rejection
of the army. Now they call for the abolition of military service and the
creation of a powerful professional army that can be deployed swiftly and
reliably anywhere in the world." <1845.txt>

Paul Shukovsky (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), "Butler heir apparent predicts
race war," 8 Sep 00, ""The heir apparent to Aryan Nations leader Richard
Butler yesterday declared that while his white-supremacist organization may
die, its followers will simply re-emerge under a new name." <1846.txt>

KDFW Fox Radio, "Four Arrested In Bomb Investigation," 30 Aug 00, "Four
people have been arraigned on charges ranging from possession of bombs,
illegal weapons, and drugs possession and distribution. Police say they all
are members of a white supremacist group known as Aryan Circle, using a
hotel room as a place to make and distribute bombs and drugs." <1847.txt>

Joe Pappalardo (Dallas Observer), "A tax-protesting CEO enlists his
employees in the cause," 10 Aug 00, "Dick Simkanin lights a cigarette,
leans back in his chair behind the desk in his office, and casually speaks
the words that could ruin his business and land himself and his employees
in jail.'We at Arrow Custom Plastics choose not to withhold any federal
income taxes from our employees,' he says. ... Simkanin's office is a
combination of corporate office, law library, conspiracy material archive,
and aviation memorabilia museum."
<1848.txt>

Eric Krebbers (De Fabel van de illegaal), "The communist swastika?" Apr 00
(English translation Sep 00), "This February Jörg Haiders far Right party
FPÖ came to power in Austria. That certainly served fascist morale all over
Europe. Also in Holland. ... The campaign against the JS wasn't much, but
the new Right seems to have found a new weak spot in the ideology of the
radical Left. Also in our circles people sometimes say that it was all the
same, fascism or communism. They both made millions of victims. But the
history of political systems and their meaning can of course not be
understood by just counting the mumber of victims. Nor with an almost just
as simple condemnation from a moral standpoint that every political system
that was not completely libertarian is to be thrown on one and the same
rubbish-dump of history. When trying to understand the past it is important
to at least distinguish between the ideology and the praxis of movements,
parties and regimes, and also between the people at the top and them
below." <1849.txt>

Ellen B. Meacham ([Charleston, N.C.] Post and Courier), "Two Klan rallies
draw protesters," 3 Sep 00, "Five members of the Ku Klux Klan led two
rallies in the Lowcountry Saturday, and had their message drowned out by
chants and jeers in Summerville. The American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,
based in Butler, Ind., had  applied for permits to rally at the Charleston
County Courthouse in North Charleston and at Summerville's Town Hall. ...
A crowd of about 50 people lined up against the Klan ... " <1850.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)

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