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We also gift wrap and have a FREE SHIPPING promotion! http://click.topica.com/aaaa3Qbz8SnrbAjwjxa/eHobbies \=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/ __________________________________________________________________________ The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 12 December 2000 Vol. 4, Number 100 (#495) __________________________________________________________________________ Action Alerts: Stop the Nazi National Front: Margate, 16 Dec 00 News On the Situation In Germany Reuters, "Online Tips to Fight Neo-Nazis," 5 Dec 00 Erich Retmann (AP), "Germans Seize 2 in Synagogue Attack," 7 Dec 00 Veselin Toshkov (AP), "German Lawmakers May Ban Rightists," 8 Dec 00 AP, "Leftist Protesters, Neo-Nazis Clash," 9 Dec 00 Reuters, "Scuffles, Stone-Throwing at Cologne Far-Right Demo," 9 Dec 00 Real Political Correctness: John Nolan (AP), "Court Rejects School Voucher Program," 11 Dec 00 Rightwing Quote of the Week: What's Worth Checking: 5 stories -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACTION ALERTS: Stop the Nazi National Front Assemble: Warren Court Hotel, Arthur Road, Cliftonville, Margate, 1pm Saturday 16 December 2000 The Nazi National Front have announced that they want to hold a demo outside the Refugee Support Centre at the Warren Court Hotel in Arthur Road, Cliftonville, Margate. Margate ANL are mobilising supporters to defend the Refugee Support Centre from attack by the NF. On their march to the Cenotaph this November the National Front were joined by Stephen Irwin a loyalist killer convicted of one of Northern Ireland's bloodiest massacres. He was called the "Trick or Treat" killer because he took part in shooting dead 8 people in a predominantly Catholic pub on Halloween. He was jailed for life in 1995. The National Front have close links with the Loyalist terrorist group the Ulster Defence Association, especially in London. In 1998 the UDA leader, Frank Portinari was guest speaker at the National Front annual rally. Terry Blackham, the National Front's national organiser, who brought the dozen thugs to Euston last Tuesday has over 20 convictions for violence and was sentenced to four and a half years for gun running when he was caught with Czech made sub machine guns and a grenade launcher boarding a ferry to Northern Ireland. Arthur Road is a quiet residential road off the shopping street of Northdown Road. Local people will be out Christmas shopping a few hundred yards away from where the Nazi NF plan to demonstrate. 400 yards away from the Warren Court Hotel is Bugsy`s Bowling Alley which holds kids parties on Saturday afternoons. This will be the fifth time this year that the Nazis have targeted Margate. Local people are furious that the seafront was disrupted this summer as Kent Police protected the tiny NF attempts to march. Margate ANL`s slogan is `The Nazi NF wrecked the summer in Margate - don`t let them wreck Christmas`. -- Anti Nazi League PO Box 2566, London N4 1WJ Phone: 020 7924 0333 Fax: 020 7924 0313 <www.anl.org.uk> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS ON THE SITUATION IN GERMANY Online Tips to Fight Neo-Nazis Reuters 5 Dec 00 BERLIN -- Organizers of a Web site launched on Tuesday aimed at offering tips on how to combat racist and neo-Nazi violence in Germany said it had attracted hundreds of visitors within hours of going live. "We've had hundreds of page hits already, and we're expecting thousands more," said Rudiger Hesse, spokesman for the project launched by six German state governments. Under headings such as "In the Pub," "On Public Transport" and "In Pedestrian Areas" -- places deemed potentially dangerous for foreign residents in Germany -- the site advises readers to enlist the help of other bystanders to stand up to perpetrators of racist crime. The authors stress that passers-by who witness racial violence should try to reason with the attackers rather than resort to violence themselves. A spate of attacks on foreigners this year has raised the pressure on authorities to act to stamp out racist and neo-Nazi crime. The Internet is increasingly used by Germany's far-right scene to disseminate information and recruit new members. The site, www.verfassungsschutzgegenrechtsextremismus.de, was launched following huge public demand for information on Germany's far-right problem and how to combat it, Hesse said. "We used to get hundreds of calls every week from people asking for advice on how to deal with far-right violence," he said. "The good thing about the Web page is that people can access this information from the privacy of their own homes." - - - - - Germans Seize 2 in Synagogue Attack Erich Retmann (AP) 7 Dec 00 DUESSELDORF, Germany -- German police have arrested a Palestinian man and a Moroccan-born German in the firebombing of a synagogue in October on the eve of celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of German reunification, prosecutors said Thursday. The synagogue attack came just months after a still-unsolved pipe bomb attack in Duesseldorf injured 10 recent immigrants, six of them Jewish, dampening reunification festivities and heightening concerns about increasing neo-Nazi attacks. Police arrested the two men, identified only as Belal T., 19, and Khalid Z., 20, after a search of their apartments turned up anti-Semitic and extreme-right material, including swastikas carved into the doorjamb and a picture of Adolf Hitler hand-drawn by one of the men. Both have admitted throwing three Molotov cocktails at Duesseldorf's main synagogue on Oct. 2, federal prosecutor Kay Nehm said. He said there was no evidence so far linking the two Duesseldorf attacks. Nehm said it appears the suspects were not motivated by right-wing tendencies, but acted out of revenge for the deaths of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers. The fighting between Israelis and Palestinians began Sept. 28, just days before the synagogue attack. "With their act, the accused wanted to react, to make a statement about the violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians," Nehm told reporters. Neither had any known contact with right-wing groups, he said. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the arrests would not affect the government's recent moves to crack down on far-right groups. "We have absolutely no reason to change our position toward extreme rightists," he told reporters at a European Union (news - web sites) summit in Nice. The arrests didn't excuse other anti-Semitic crimes such as the desecration of graves with swastikas, he said. The leader of Germany's Jewish community expressed concern that the incident could signal a dangerous coupling of two extremist forces. "My biggest worry is that extreme-rightists will get together with fanatics from the Middle East and we will be threatened even more," Paul Spiegel said. Tips from people arrested during a violent Palestinian-led demonstration against the Middle East violence and attended by both men in nearby Essen five days after the firebomb attack led to the arrests, Nehm said. - - - - - German Lawmakers May Ban Rightists Veselin Toshkov (AP) 8 Dec 00 BERLIN -- Parliament's lower house on Friday endorsed outlawing a party accused of neo-Nazi leanings, bolstering government efforts to show resolve against Germany's resurgent far right. Carried by the governing Social Democrats and Greens, the motion urged Germany's highest court to declare the National Democratic Party, or NPD, a threat to democracy - and in effect illegal. The proposed ban needed only the Cabinet's backing, but Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder wanted to build broad political support against the NPD as a signal of government resolve against resurgent neo-Nazis. The government and the upper house, where the states are represented, have already decided to ask the constitutional court to clear the way for an NPD ban. "This is a good day for all those in Germany who are scared again. It's time to act," Social Democrat Ludwig Stiegler said during parliament's 90- minute debate. Security officials consider the NPD a magnet for violent young skinheads because of its anti-foreigner stance and slogans such as "Germany for Germans." Though the party is electorally insignificant, the government accuses it of fueling racist violence and promoting neo-Nazi ideology. Greens lawmaker Cem Ozdemir, who is of Turkish descent, argued that the NPD has been treated "like naughty relatives" for too long. "This has to come to an end now," he said. The opposition voted against the motion. The conservative Christian Democrats argued that seeking a ban should be reserved for the executive branch, while the small liberal Free Democrats said the entire effort would "rather strengthen the right-radical scene instead of weakening it." The liberals fear that a failed attempt to ban the party would hand the NPD a propaganda victory. The high court is expected to act on the motion within the next few weeks, although a final legal ruling could take years. Only two political parties have been banned in postwar Germany. The successor to the Nazi Party was outlawed immediately after the war, and the Communist Party was banned in West Germany in the 1950s. The NPD has been kept out of state and federal legislatures so far by Germany's 5 percent vote requirement - a hurdle instituted in light of the country's Nazi history to keep extremist parties out of power. But far-right attacks in Germany have been on the rise against foreigners, minorities and Jewish targets such as synagogues. At least three people have died in the violence this year, including a Mozambican immigrant beaten to death by skinheads in the eastern city of Dessau last summer. On Thursday, prosecutors in the Baltic Sea port of Wismar charged five youngsters with the July killing of a homeless man. Authorities believe the detainees, ages 19 to 23, belong to the extreme right scene. - - - - - Leftist Protesters, Neo-Nazis Clash AP 9 Dec 00 COLOGNE, Germany -- Left-wing activists protesting hate and racism clashed briefly with police Saturday during a demonstration of about 25,000 people against a much smaller neo-Nazi march nearby. One police officer was injured when hit by a stone. About 30 people were held briefly. About 2,000 officers were deployed to prevent clashes between some 100 right-wing extremists, including Christian Worch, one of Germany's most active neo-Nazis, and radical elements among the counter-demonstrators. Leftist protesters threw stones and glass bottles at the right-wing extremists, and witnesses said two broke through security lines in an attempt to block the neo-Nazi demonstration before police took them away. Police initially had prohibited the neo-Nazi march through a neighborhood near the famed Cologne Cathedral, but a judge lifted the ban, saying there was no evidence of a specific danger. Protesters, however, were barred from wearing uniform clothing and from carrying banners or signs with unconstitutional slogans. Authorities in the northern city of Bad Segeberg, meanwhile, reported that someone had painted about 20 swastikas and racial epithets on the side of a bus for the Bundesliga soccer club Hamburger SV. A nearby sport hall also was painted with 15 swastikas. Police said they had no immediate leads. - - - - - Scuffles, Stone-Throwing at Cologne Far-Right Demo Reuters 9 Dec 00 COLOGNE, Germany -- Protesters scuffled with police in the west German city of Cologne on Saturday as thousands took to the streets in a bid to stop a far-right march going ahead. Surrounded by some 3,000 police armed with riot equipment and water cannon, a group of 120 right-wing extremists marched through the city center. One policeman received minor head injuries after being hit by a stone and there was jostling as counter-demonstrators tried to breach the police cordon to get at the marchers. Organizers of the counter-demonstration said some 20,000 people responded to calls by political parties, church and other groups to attend the protest. No independent estimate of attendance was available. The far-rightists, many of whom were skinheads and carrying banners bearing slogans such as "National Liberation," had said their rally was a demonstration of their right to express their opinion. Under pressure to act after a spate of racist attacks and attacks on Jewish property, the government is trying to ban the National Democratic Party (NPD), a 6,000-strong far-right grouping it says is at the heart at the country's small skinhead and neo-Nazi scene. Authorities initially tried to ban the far-right march, objecting that some of its organizers were under investigation on charges of causing bodily harm and breach of the peace. However a local court ruled on Friday it could go ahead under certain restrictions, including a ban on two well-known far-rightists addressing the rally. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- REAL POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: It's from the rightwing authoritarians and always has been Court Rejects School Voucher Program John Nolan (AP) 11 Dec 00 CINCINNATI -- Setting the stage for a possible Supreme Court ruling on church and state, a federal appeals court Monday declared Cleveland's school-voucher program unconstitutional because it uses tax money to send students to religious schools. In a 2-1 ruling, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said legislation that created the program appears designed to favor religious schools for public funding. "To approve this program would approve the actual diversion of government aid to religious institutions in endorsement of religious education, something `in tension' with the precedents of the Supreme Court," the panel said. Both sides predicted the dispute will go to the high court, which has passed up opportunities to consider challenges to the constitutionality of providing public aid to families whose children attend religious or other private schools. The high court last year let a voucher program stand that includes religious schools in Milwaukee, and did not take up a challenge to a 1999 federal appeals court ruling allowing Maine to exclude religious schools from a state program subsidizing children attending private schools. Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice, a Washington organization that argued in support of the voucher program, said the Supreme Court should hear the case soon to protect the Cleveland participants. "This is the test case that everyone's been waiting for," he said. "I can't imagine that the Supreme Court would allow 4,000 kids to be just yanked out of the only good schools they've ever attended." The ruling did not halt the program. Fights over tuition vouchers have been waged in many state legislatures, and in the courts of Arizona, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Cleveland's voucher program gives needy families with children in kindergarten through sixth grade up to $2,500 in tuition vouchers. The state authorized the program as an experiment in 1996. Opponents said it is an illegal use of public money. "This means that taxpayer money will not be diverted for use by private, religious schools," Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said of Monday's ruling. Lynn's organization is part of a coalition that sued to challenge the Cleveland program. In Monday's ruling, Judges Eric Clay and Eugene Siler Jr. said the Cleveland program is unconstitutional because most of the 56 schools that receive voucher money have a religious affiliation. Recipients cannot truly apply the aid to any school of their choice, including public schools, because no suburban Cleveland public schools have enrolled in the program, Clay wrote. The dissenting judge, James Ryan, said program supporters presented evidence that aid is allocated on the basis of neutral, secular criteria. "In striking down this statute today, the majority perpetuates the long history of lower federal court hostility to educational choice," Ryan wrote. The ruling upheld a decision by U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr., who halted the program just before the start of the 1999-2000 school year. He later allowed students who had participated in the past to continue getting funds while the case was decided. Bart Grandberry, whose son and daughter use vouchers to attend Lutheran Memorial School in Cleveland, said he hopes Monday's ruling will be appealed. "I don't think it's fair. It's meant a lot for my kids to be in private school," Grandberry said. "They don't have distractions in the classrooms, as far as fights. And the teachers care." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIGHTWING QUOTE OF THE WEEK: For those who believe that fascism is only a thing of the past Subject: An open letter to African-Americans From: anonymous Newsgroups: alt.politics.white-power,soc.culture.african.american Date: 11 Dec 00 Why do you continue to live in the United States? Haven't you noticed that most Americans hate you? That we don't want you around? That this country isn't big enough for two races to live in. That we refuse to allow property values to be niggered down any more? Why don't you put two and two together, buy a ticket to Africa and GET THE HELL OUT OF MY COUNTRY? Could it be that with a proven room temperature IQ, even putting two and two together is too much of a mental challenge? Are we going to have to wait until blood flows on the streets? Wake up and smell the coffee, folks. When Bush, whp promises to be robust on racial issues, becomes president and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are repealed, you folks are going to be illegal aliens with no constitutional rights at all. Immigration service is going to round you up, pack you on leaky ships, and send you back to where you came from. I'll be standing on the dock, my ass bared, mooning you a well earned farewell. Not all the ships are gonna make it... We'll let you have Africa all to yourselves - until we decide to invade it and take over. Get out of my country before we have to throw you out. We only ask politely once. -- BLACKBUSTER -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S WORTH CHECKING stories via <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/story7/> Chris McGillion (Sydney Morning Herald), "The violence against Jews puts us all in peril: Attacks on the Jewish community in Sydney show that society has abandoned its core values," 28 Nov 00, "If, over the past several weeks, two Catholic or Anglican churches in Sydney had been attacked by arsonists, the home of a cleric from the targeted denomination had been firebombed on three occasions, and ordinary parishioners were being harassed in the streets and threatened over the telephone and by mail and email, it is reasonable to expect that there would be a public outcry and a vigorous debate about the state of religious tolerance in this city. Yet precisely these experiences have been visited on Sydney's Jewish population and the reaction has been underwhelming in the extreme." <1986.txt> Michael Janofsky (Sydney Morning Herald), "Arms poised to throw the book at miscreants," 9 Dec 00, "In the course of raiding an illegal methamphetamine laboratory in a caravan home in Denver, agents of a local drug task force found two books, Advanced Techniques of Clandestdine Psychedelic and Amphetamine Manufacture, by an author named Uncle Fester, and The Construction and Operation of Clandestine Drug Laboratories, by Jack B. Nimble. Outside the caravan the agents found an envelope from one of Denver's most cherished retailers, the Tattered Cover Bookstore, in which they believe the books were mailed to one of the occupants."<1987.txt> Theo Emery (AP), Lawyer's will makes a statement: And it was a surprising one, too, when the Mass. man left large gifts to white supremacist and anti-Semitic groups," 9 Dec 00, ""Richard J. Cotter Jr. seemed to be a member in good standing of the Boston establishment: Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard and then Harvard Law, service in World War II, a stint as an assistant state attorney general, then private practice. At his death, though, it became clear that his politics were way out on the fringe. Shocking some of those who knew him, the lawyer left more than $600,000 of his $5.4 million estate to white supremacist and anti-Semitic causes and figures, including the author of the book The Hitler We Loved and Why." <1988.txt> ADC (press release), "Thank ABA Journal for Cover Story on Palestinian Refugees," 3 Dec 00, "The American Bar Association (ABA) Journal published an excellent cover story in its latest issue, December 2000, on human rights law and the Palestinian refugees entitled 'Where Will They Go?' The story is written by Jeffery Ghannam, a legal affairs writer for the ABA Journal. The seven page story addresses the issue of the dispossessed Palestinian refugees and their status under international law." <1989.txt> Ariel Dorfman (The [London] Observer), "Pinochet's own goal," 3 Dec 00, "General Augusto Pinochet has just been deliciously trapped in the web of his own perversity. When Chile's former dictator made thousands of political prisoners disappear into the night and fog of his dictatorship, leaving them without a burial, not even in his saddest nightmares could he have anticipated the joke that history was going to play on him: that many years later, those very crimes would lead Judge Guzman to indict him for crimes against humanity." <1990.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. 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