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From: Paul Kneisel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Peoples War] The Internet Anti-Fascist: Fri, 7 December 2001 --
5:99 (#627)
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The Internet Anti-Fascist: Friday, 7 December 2001
Vol. 5, Number 99 (#627)
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Latest Readings Updated
01) Political Updates
02) Technical Updates
Action Alert:
03) via Workers Solidarity Alliance - Libertarian Book Club,
"Bialystok/Poland- another anti-fascist charged!" 4 Dec 01
04) 12 Dec: "Forum: The War On Our Rights: Attacks On Civil Liberties
and Immigrants' Rights Since September 11," New York City Labor
Against the War Obituary:
05) Clare Nullis (AP), "Gerhart Riegner, Who Warned of Holocaust, Dies,"
3 Dec 01
Fascism In the News:
06) Jamal Hannah , "Berlin: huge Nazi march December 1," 4 Dec 01
07) AP, "Klan Leader Sentenced to Seven Years," 4 Dec 01
08) John O'Connor (AP), "Court Rules Against White [World Church of the
Creator] Supremacists," 21 Nov 01
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LATEST READINGS UPDATED:
01) Political Updates
via <http://www.anti-fascism.org/page-read-af.html>
ACLU Newsfeed: 4 Dec 01 01
News from the American Civil Liberties Union
AntiRacismNet News: 4 Dec 01
The info-bulletin from antifa.net
Antifa Info-Bulletin: 2 Dec 01
Tom Burghardt's publication from the U.S. west coast
NetAction Notes: 7 Dec 01
Audry Krause's newsletter
RightWingWatch Online: 6 Dec 01
People For the American Way tracks rightwing organizing
- - - - -
02) Technical Updates
via <http://www.anti-fascism.org/page-read-tech.html>
Policy Post: 29 Nov 01
Center for Democarcy and Technology
EPIC: 3 Dec 01
Electronic Privacy Information Center
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ACTION ALERT:
03) Bialystok/Poland- another anti-fascist charged!
via Workers Solidarity Alliance - Libertarian Book Club
4 Dec 01
Hello comrades!
In Bialystok/Poland another anti-fascist activist is facing serious charges
after participating in fight, when nazis attacked antifa crew on one of the
bus station and were massacred. 18 years old Slawomir "Lapa" Lapinski is
charged with assault with dangerous item and grevious body harm. As he has
previous sentence on probation for assault on nazi, he is facing serious
threat of serving few years in prioson. Atlhough he didn't throw the brick
which damaged nazi's eye (thats the main charge) we don't want to go deeper
in "guilty-not guilty" rhetoric. As with previous case of Rufik, this
opportunity was used by nazis to make trouble for activsts with very bad
reputation among them. He is another fighter, which is facing serious
consequences for his involvement in this struggle.
We can't leave him alone!
Things which you can do to help:
1.) send messages of support- although Lapa wasn't arested he is still very
stressed so all letter will help him.
You can send messages to e-mial: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and they will be
trnaslated as he doesn't know English.
2.) collect money- we will need a lot of money for the lawyer to defend his
case. Although we have our own resources they are not sufficient. We still
need about 450 dollars to pay for defense.
3.) Do you job- fight nazis eveywhere and everytime to make sure, that
people like Lapa are not wasting their energy and freedom on lost case
- - - - -
04) Forum: The War On Our Rights: Attacks On Civil Liberties and
Immigrants' Rights Since September 11 New York City Labor Against the
War
12 Dec 01
6:00 PM District Council 1707, 14th Floor,
Auditorium 75 Varick St. (1 Hudson Sq.) (1, 9 or A, C, E to Canal)
*Secret military courts taking the place of trials by a jury of peers
*Government eavesdropping on protected attorney-client conversations
*Thousands of immigrants being locked up without evidence they have done
anything wrong
*Laws requiring you to carry a "National ID" card
New laws presented as "anti-terrorist" are making it easier to arrest,
jail, and execute immigrants, people of color, and poor and working people
of all colors without cause.
Come hear from labor leaders, immigrants rights organizers, and civil
rights lawyers on the impact of new "anti-terror" policies on our
communities. And join a discussion of what we can do to protect, win back,
and guarantee our rights.
Speakers: Nancy Chang, Center for Constitutional Rights; Abdeen Jabara,
Arab-American Anti-Defamation Committee; Ray Laforest, DC 1707 /AFSCME and
NYC Labor Against the War; New York Taxi Workers Alliance member (TBA)
Wednesday, December 12, 6:00 PM District Council 1707, 14th Floor,
Auditorium 75 Varick St. (1 Hudson Sq.) (1, 9 or A, C, E to Canal)
Sponsored by New York City Labor Against the War
Cosponsored by DC 1707/AFSCME/AFL-CIO, the New York Taxi Workers' Alliance,
and the Center for Constitutional Rights
For more information: (212) 388-3793.
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OBITUARY:
05) Gerhart Riegner, Who Warned of Holocaust, Dies
Clare Nullis (AP)
3 Dec 01
GENEVA -- Gerhart Riegner, who tried to alert the world about the planned
Nazi Holocaust and later led the World Jewish Congress, died Monday. He was
90.
Riegner died of pneumonia in a Geneva hospital, according to his
spokeswoman Edda Bournot.
Riegner was known for his cable of Aug. 8, 1942, describing Adolf Hitler's
plan to deport an estimated 4 million Jews to Eastern Europe to anihilate
them.
The telegram was sent to the U.S. vice consul in Geneva, asking him to
inform the U.S. government of the plan and to transmit the contents to
Stephen Wise, president of the World Jewish Congress.
It was based on a phone call Riegner received in Geneva from a Jewish
activist who said a German businessman had been told him of a plan ``to
transfer all the Jews of Europe - 3.5 to 4 million - to the East in order
to exterminate them and resolve for once and for all the problem of Jews in
Europe.''
The State Department tried to verify Riegner's telegram with the Vatican
(news - web sites) and the Red Cross. Both said they knew of mistreatment
and deportations of Jews, but not of a mass extermination plan.
Riegner was secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress from 1965 to
1983 and then became its honorary vice president.
He also worked on improving relations with the Roman Catholic Church, and
was present at the signing of the basic accord normalizing relations
between the Holy See and Israel in 1993.
At the United Nations (news - web sites), he was active in the campaign to
rescind the 1975 General Assembly vote that Zionism equals racism. The
resolution was annulled in 1991.
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FASCISM IN THE NEWS
06) Berlin: huge Nazi march December 1
Jamal Hannah
4 Dec 01
Extremist National Democratic Party NPD had called for a huge march in
Berlin on Saturday, Dec 1, 2001 to protest against the re-opening of an
exhibition showing the crimes of German Wehrmacht in Southern and Eastern
Europe during World War II. After some serious flaws had been noticed in
1999, the exhibition has been worked over thoroughly. The first exhibition
saw 800,000 visitors in numerous German cities from 1995-1999 and there
were Nazi protests against the exhibition in every city it was shown; but
also representatives of Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union
then protested against the exhibition with a rhetoric differing only
slightly from that used by outright fascists. The exhibition now reopened
in Berlin on Tuesday last week.
The NPD march was planned since long and authorities claimed there was no
chance of banning the march since NPD was a legal political party
(although legal actions for a ban of the party are under way since earlier
this year. NPD and its youth organization JN apparently are being used as a
legal cover by other Nazi organizations, like e.g. the so-called 'Freie
Kameradschaften' [free comradeships] operating as autonomous cells,
benefitting from NPD's legal status to facilitate events and marches).
It became known that NPD intended to march through so-called
'Scheunenviertel' in Berlin, a neighbourhood with a high percentage of
Jewish citizens up to the Nazi reign. The Nazi march thus was going to pass
the Berlin Synagogue which escaped destruction in the Night of
Pogroms on November 9, 1938 and which opened up again after the war.
According to all information available, that route had received an okay by
Berlin police.
NPF rallied its clientele from all over Germany and Nazis were traveling to
Berlin in chartered buses and trains. The number of Nazi participants
reported by media varies between 3,000 and 3,500. Authorities had issued a
list of 'don'ts' during negotiations with NPD prior to the march, like a
ban on Nazi regalia, Doc Marten's boots, and the use of several Nazi
slogans. The bans were not enforced thoroughly by Berlin police who
detained only some 17 Nazis for these reasons. Antifa observers report many
Nazi participants taking part without hindrance despite their clearly not
observing the bans issued.
The route planned caused many protests. Apparently, Berlin police had
agreed on a different route during negotiations with NPD bosses as early as
November 6 so that the Nazi march would not get near the neighbourhood and
the synagogue. Police, however, decided to keep the change of the route a
'top secret' matter; some media mentioned this was done on
requests by NPD.
Berlin police leadership claim they informed the Jewish community about the
altered route already during the week which is strongly denied by
representatives of the community. Police claim they informed them in order
to prevent any attempts of 'demonstrative actions in front of the
synagogue' by community members. Several members of the community and
rabbis took a stand outside the synagogue on Saturday to defend it during
the Nazi march and try and block the Nazi route.
Several counterprotests were allowed by Berlin authorities and there were
several meeting points around the original route of the Nazi march. The
info about the route having been altered leaked out Friday, but police
refused to give any comment. A spokesperson of Berlin police commented:
"The NPD demonstration could probably take place as planned originally, but
then again it may not." Police even took up investigations against unknown
parties for disclosure of secret matters, but had to call this off when it
became apparent that Berlin Senator of the Interior Herr Koerting himself
was the one to pass word to the media.
The number of participants in counterprotests again varies between 4,000 to
8,000 or even more. Participants reported that huge areas were heavily
cordoned off by police, four underground stations were blocked with trains
passing without stop, and massive controls and harassment of persons trying
to get to gathering points of counterprotests.
According to info from participants, a march with some 4,000 protesters was
on its way on a route previously agreed upon with Berlin police. After a
few hundred metres, when this march was near the synagogue, they got
stopped by Berlin police who seemed to be decided on applying a strategy of
absolute escalation. Without any detour offered, the demo was stopped short
by chains of riot police, water cannon trucks, and armoured vehicles and
told to dissolve. When a few stones were thrown from behind, police
immediately attacked the crowd with water cannon trucks and CS gas (a
newsshow on a state TV channel even reported pepper spray having been used
against counterprotesters), endangering the huge number of elderly
participants and families with children, especially as the crowd was not
able to make an escape into adjacent streets and given the cold
temperatures.
The crowd was forced back several hundred metres, stopped almost in front
of the synagogue and regathered. A newspaper today reports: An elder
gentleman in front of the synagogue had tears in his eyes, a riot cop
advanced right in front of him, looking down at the old man with a face
showing no emotions at all. The old man shouted at the cop: 'I have got a
right to be here'.
Police attempted to cut the electrical wires of the sound system on a truck
accompanying the counterprotest march, which was answered with a few stones
again by some protesters. Police once again reacted with massive shots from
watercannon trucks and CS gas.
In front of the synagogue, several members of the congregation sat resp.
knelt down on the street, including the rabbi and a protestant minister;
they were joined by a groups of protesters. Riot police advanced and
dragged people away by their hair, they were also hitting them with fists
and kicking them (this was also shown on TV news) while protesters stayed
non-violent. TV news showed a riot officer attacking a protester with fists
and kicking him while that person sat on the ground, when the
protester finally got up and tried to escape, he ran after him, kicking him
all the time until he fell down. Other officers were standing by and merely
looking at the scene. Police made certain, however, not to touch any
members of the Jewish congregation during their attack who shouted at the
officers: 'Shame on you!'
As an reaction to the massive police attacks, several protesters damaged
three police cars parked in front of the synagogue by turning them over.
The Nazi march passed this scene in several hundred metres distance. Their
march was led by NPD chairperson Udo Voigt and NPD lawyer Horst Mahler
(member of former Marxist Red Army Faction who did time for taking part in
terrorist assaults; he converted to Nazi convictions a few years ago). The
Nazis carried pickets reading 'My grandfather was no murderer', 'Glory and
Honour to our Wehrmacht soldiers', shouting slogans in which they attacked
the organizers of the exhibition. The Nazi march was heavily protected by
Berlin police who also used helicopters (were they expecting any air
attacks??).
The Nazis were also transported from their gathering point to the starting
point of their march and back again with trains belonging to Berlin
Underground - for free!
During the rally at the end of the Nazi march, the slogan 'Glory and Honour
to Waffen-SS' was shouted which according to German law is illegal.
Furthermore, the participants sang all three stanzas of the national anthem
- again, the first stanza is illegal here since 1949. Although both
incidents would have provided good reason for intervention, police only
announced they were going to dissolve the rally but did not act. According
to info handed out by Berlin police, they are not compelled to subsequent
action after such an announcement. This is not the first such incident in
which one has to notice that deafness apparently is no reason to be denied
employment with police forces...
NPD leadership meanwhile has announced they will report members of the
Jewish Community to the police, for insult of NPD members and for
'publicly instigating others to commit offences'.
Police at the site in front of the synagogue was not inclined to be
lenient or to compromise and even meant to refuse counterprotesters access
to the exhibition in a nearby parallel street. Clashes continued, some
protesters were building barricades. While furious citizens started
discussions with officers, police announced via bullhorn that the protest
was considered illegal as of then, ordered participants to leave and
announced the use of force if protesters did not comply. A prominent Berlin
politician, Gregor Gysi (member of Party of Democratic Socialism),
negotiated with police and managed to get an okay for the crowd to advance
to the exhibition.
Comments written by participants on indymedia.de report that although the
protest received a previous okay by Berlin police until 2 p.m. that day,
police began to attack the march as early as shortly after 12, even before
the Nazi march had started.
Some comments by participants on indymedia mentioned that it was Unit 23 of
Berlin police which was responsible for the attacks against counter-
protesters, a unit which gained a reputation for the use of exessive force
against protesters. They further reported that 7th precinct was
responsible for protecting and accompanying the Nazi march; this precinct
is situated in the East Berlin district of Marzahn, a part of town which
also earned a reputation for housing many Nazis.
Some antifa counterprotesters also reported Nazi attacks on their way home
in articles posted to indymedia. One group wrote that police put a huge
group of about 120 Nazis, mostly boneheads, onto the train they were in. No
officers accompanied the train. While things at first were quiet, the Nazis
later began to attack and beat up some passengers, among them a French
traveler who tried to come to the rescue of an attacked person. Members of
the group report that an elderly couple accompanied the Nazi crowd and
apparently gave them instructions. They also heard boneheads telling each
other that some of the persons among their group were wearing SS uniforms,
but say that they did not see these uniforms themselves. Police refused to
assist the attacked persons or take action against the attackers when the
Nazis were taken off the train apparently due to the attacks after some
time. Police claimed train security was not their task but that of units of
'Bundesgrenzschutz' [border guard]. The group
apparently thinks of reporting these officers for non-prevention of an
offence.
Another report mentioned a well-known Nazi from Saxony having patrolled a
train on the way home looking for antifa members, then coming back several
times with different Nazi thugs, pointing one person out to them and
threatening the person who later got severely beaten up. Nazi attacks in
the train were said to have lasted for one hour. It was said that the
person was attacked a last time when paramedics got hir off the train at a
station, beating and kicking hir until s/he did not move. The Nazis
apparently got off the train without police taking action. The Nazi who
patrolled the train is said to be a 'security person' known for violent
acts who has been sentenced to a term in prison on probation at the end of
last year.
Today's Berlin papers were reported to have said that Berlin authorities
view Saturday's police action as a failure and as exessive. Both officers
in command at the synagogue site and at the Nazi march were said to have
been in discussion for a possible promotion in the near future, but
chances for this might have become very dim since Saturday.
What has to be noted is that Berlin police applied a strategy of letting
the Nazi march continue undisturbed while attacking counterprotests at an
early time of the day. In a lot of similar incidents in other cities,
police have rather taken counterprotests, also when non-violent, for a
reason to dissolve Nazi marches at an early stage of the planned route.
(sources: ARD TV news, 'taz' newspaper, indymedia germany)
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07) Klan Leader Sentenced to Seven Years
AP
4 Dec 01
AUBURN, Ind. -- A Ku Klux Klan leader convicted of conspiring to hold a
television news crew hostage in his home was sentenced to seven years in
prison.
Jeff Berry was sentenced Monday in a courtroom where sheriff's deputies
checked everyone with hand-held metal detectors.
Berry, imperial wizard of the DeKalb County-based American Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan, pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to conspiracy to commit criminal
confinement with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors agreed to drop three other
charges.
Reporter George Sells IV and camerawoman Heidi Thiel of Louisville, Ky.,
television station WHAS interviewed Berry at his home in northeastern
Indiana in November 1999. They said he became angry when he learned the
story also would include comments from a former Klan member.
Berry refused to let them leave until they surrendered the video of the
interview with him, they said. Another man, who carried a shotgun, locked
the door.
Berry acknowledged in testimony Monday that there was a confrontation, but
he said it happened when he learned the station was not going to pay him
$500 he said it had promised for the interview.
Prosecutor Monte Brown said Sells had denied in a telephone conversation
that any payment had been promised.
Sells and Thiel, who were not in court Monday, won a $120,000 civil
judgment against Berry this year.
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08) Court Rules Against White [World Church of the Creator] Supremacists
John O'Connor (AP)
21 Nov 01
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois Supreme Court dealt a legal blow to a
white supremacist on Wednesday, upholding a state law that requires
charities to register and report their finances to the government.
The court rejected Matt Hale's argument that the law is unconstitutionally
vague.
Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan sued Hale's World Church of the Creator
in 1999 for failing to register as a charity and disclose its finances.
The lawsuit was filed just days after former member Benjamin Smith went on
a shooting rampage that targeted minorities. Smith killed two people and
injured nine before killing himself.
Ryan is trying to fine the East Peoria-based racist group $1,000, freeze
its assets and ban it from soliciting funds in Illinois.
Ryan contends Hale's organization is a charity, not a church. Illinois
requires charities to register so it can protect people from fraudulent
fund raising, while the First Amendment keeps government's hands off
churches.
Hale argued that the law is so vague no one can tell which groups it
covers. A Cook County circuit judge agreed and overturned the law.
The Supreme Court's unanimous decision, which sends the case back to the
lower court, said the state's Solicitation Act describes "charitable
organizations" as being formed for "benevolent, philanthropic, patriotic,"
or other purposes.
"Although the terms at issue in this case are broad in scope, we fail to
see how they could be more precisely defined," wrote Justice Rita Garman.
Hale had claimed Ryan was using the law to shut down his organization
because of Smith's crimes. He has contended that while his group preaches
white supremacy, he did not encourage Smith to kill minorities.
After Wednesday's decision, Hale said Ryan, a Republican candidate for
governor, was trying to score political points.
"We are a body of religious adherents. We raise money in order to print our
literature and distribute it," Hale said. "We have a collection plate, just
as most churches, and I don't see them being hauled into court by Jim
Ryan."
However, Hale based his lawsuit on the constitutional vagueness question.
Ryan argued that Hale's group qualifies as a charity because it sells items
such as "The White Man's Bible."
Garman said the group's solicitation on a Web site for membership dues and
advertisements for books and merchandise gave "the appearance of a
charitable organization."
* * * * *
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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