File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_2001/anarchy-list.0106, message 174


Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 17:58:13 -0400
From: Paul Kneisel <tallpaul-AT-nyct.net>
Subject: The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 19 Jun 2001 -- 5:47 (#569)


__________________________________________________________________________

              The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 19 June 2001
                          Vol. 5, Number 47 (#569)
__________________________________________________________________________

Announcements:
    UNITED for Intercultural Action, "20 June 2001 International Refugee Day
       -- 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention: a celebration with
       mixed feelings," 18 Jun 01
Web Sites of Interest:
    United Against Racism
    ADL Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network
    Lisa Gill (NewsFactor), "Hate Group Opponents Unveil New Internet
       Database," 18 Jun 01
Anti-Immigrant Actions and Protests In New York City
    Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants, "Seeking witnesses to
       police behavior," 17 Jun 01
    David L. Wilson, "Immigrant Rights Organizers Announce Plans to Fight
       Police Harassment," 5 Jun 01
Fascism In the News:
    Peter Moore (365Gay.com Newscenter), "Italy's prime minister names anti
      -gay cabinet," 13 Jun 01
    Joe Menard (Ozark News-Leader), "Man stabbed at north-side diner:
       Nonfatal attack on Maurice Wilson was racially motivated, witnesses
       say," 18 Jun 01
    WTAE Action News (Pittsburgh), "Racist Messages Distributed In
       Shadyside," 14 Jun 01
What's Worth Checking: 10 stories

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

20 June 2001 International Refugee Day -- 50th anniversary of the Geneva
     Convention: a celebration with mixed feelings
UNITED for Intercultural Action
18 Jun 01

On 4 December 2000 the General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously
adopted a resolution to proclaim 20 June World Refugee Day. The first such
World Refugee Day would coincide with the celebration of the 50th
anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Convention on refugees. It is a celebration
with mixed feelings as European governments debate whether the Convention
should be reviewed and tightened in response to the growing numbers of
asylum seekers seeking safe refuge in Europe.

European grassroots non-governmental organisations debate the validity of
the Refugee Convention in another manner. Discussions centre around the
definition of the term refugee and whether this definition should be
widened to include all who need protection, whether this is from
environmental disasters, terror by a non-state agency or hunger. It is
almost one year ago that 58 Chinese died in an attempt to reach Great-
Britain. Discussions on the issue of 'illegal migration' have focused on
persecuting traffickers, instead of on the sources of the problem: European
restrictive migration and refugee politics. People continue to die as a
result of such "Fortress Europe" policies.

Around 20 June 2001 activities in support of refugees take place all over
Europe. Demonstrations, Conferences, Festivals and Exhibitions - mainly
linked to the celebration of the Geneva Convention - are organised by
organisations from Portugal to Russia and from Great-Britain to Georgia,
for example:

*  Online-Demonstration Against Deportation Business "Lufthansa Goes
Offline" will be started from computers throughout Europe on 20 June 2001.
Lufthansa is involved in 10.000 deportations a year. More information:
http://go.to/online-demo or http://stop-depclass.scene.as

*  "Celebrate Sanctuary", the annual Refugee Week, will take place in
Great-Britain from 23.-29. June 2001. Many activities are organisied that
aim to give people the opportunity to celebrate the contribution that
refugees make to life. More information: http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk

*  In Spain, the multimedia exhibition "Through Them - Six Torn Childhoods"
will take place from 21.06- 09.07 2001. More information:
http://www.eacnur.org/evento.cfm?eventoID=33

Find an updated list of activities in more than 20 countries all over
Europe on http://www.unitedagainstracism.org as well as a full list of
documented refugee deaths 1993-2001 (click under 'campaigns' on 'Refugee
Campaigns').

UNITED for Intercultural Action supports organisations throughout Europe in
their refugee campaigns by providing posters and information material free
of charge. UNITED for Intercultural Action is the European network against
nationalism, racism, fascism and in support of migrants and refugees,
supported by more than 500 organisations in 45 European countries.

For more information call Saskia Daru at the office +31-20-6834778 or
(mobile) at +31-6-24503415

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WEB SITES OF INTEREST:

United Against Racism
<http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/>

European network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support of
migrants and refugees

UNITED
Voluntary cooperation of more than 500 organisations from 49 European
countries working together - united in the biggest anti-racism network.

FOR
The rights of refugees and migrants.
For an end to racism, nationalism and discrimination.

INTERCULTURAL
Respecting different approaches. Promoting cooperation across national and
cultural borders. Making our multicultural societies work.

- - - - -

ADL Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network
<http://www.adl.org/learn/>

"Let me again thank the Leadership ("ADL") . . . for giving the FBI the
kind support and insight and direction in some cases that have enabled us
not only to do our job with respect to counter-terrorism, but to really
bring home to the United States the dedication to the principles of the
ADL, which resonate not just in civil rights cases, but also in human
rights cases, and how important that guidance and inspiration have been to
use now for many, many years."

   --  FBI Director Louis J. Freeh
       to ADL National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.
       8 May 2000

- - - - -

Hate Group Opponents Unveil New Internet Database
Lisa Gill (NewsFactor)
18 Jun 01

Hate group members can rest assured that they will be noticed on the
Internet -- at least, by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which on Monday
launched a new Internet database designed to allow law enforcement
officials and the general public to track and investigate hate groups.

The ADL's new site follows hundreds of groups, listing a chronology of
criminal activities, a state-by-state calendar of upcoming hate-oriented
events, and an online database of ADL archives and reports, among other
tracking and law enforcement training information.

"Our new Web page is intended for one-stop shopping for current and
archival information, trends, analysis and programs," explained Abraham H.
Foxman, ADL's national director, in a statement.

"It will regularly be refreshed with new entries and updated information on
existing groups and individuals, as well as be available in a loose-leaf
book format," he said.

The new site is part of the ADL's Law Enforcement Initiative of training
programs that specialize in hate crime, extremism, and anti-bias curricula.

The training is intended to "equip [law enforcement personnel] with tools
to better understand and deal with the issues they confront relating to
extremism, hate crimes and diversity issues," explained Glen A. Tobias, ADL
national chairman, in a statement.

Unintended Consequences

While the ADL's primary intention is to provide access to information for
crime fighters and the public, another population segment often takes
advantage of such indexing sites: current and potential hate group members.

"We do get people now and then who actually became members from looking at
these sites and learning about us through them," Matt Hale of the World
Church of the Creator told NewsFactor Network.

Hale's organization is among those cited by the ADL as being tracked, along
with David Duke's NOFEAR "civil rights" group, William Pierce's National
Alliance, and The Hammerskin Nation, the latter two of which are neo-Nazi
organizations.

"ADL wants anti-Semitism so they can justify their own existence," said
Hale. "That's why they put out press releases saying, 'Hey, there's 500 new
hate groups,' or 'hate is coming to your town' -- so they can come to your
rescue and justify their donations."

Fighting the Fight

"We always think about what happens when we expose haters to the light of
day, but feel it's important for something to be done," Myrna Shinebaum,
spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League, told NewsFactor.

"I'm not sure children will happen upon it, but they might."

Shinebaum noted Benjamin Smith of the World Church of the Creator's use of
the Internet before he went on his 1999 shooting spree in Illinois and
Indiana, killing two and wounding nine before he committed suicide.

Prevention Takes Precedence

Of the ADL site, Shinebaum said, "We understand there's some risk involved,
but we feel it's more important, given how these haters are trying to
seduce young people and are using the Internet to promote their hate."

Recent studies list over 1,400 such hate group sites online, though
Shinebaum conceded that as the Net is ever-changing, the numbers could
vary.

"There's enough out there to be concerned about it," Shinebaum added.

The Anti-Defamation League has operated since 1913 as an international
organization against hatred.

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

ANTI-IMMIGRANT ACTIONS AND PROTESTS IN NEW YORK CITY

Seeking witnesses to police behavior
Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants
17 Jun 01

If you witnessed arrests at the May Day 2001 march for immigrant rights in
NYC, or saw or heard questionable police behavior or comments just before,
during and after the police assault on the march, please contact us. Your
story will help us defend immigrant rights. Your identity can remain
anonymous at your request. We are gathering the stories of police
misconduct at the march (see article below). More stories and photos of the
arrests are available at http://nyc.indymedia.org.

For information:
Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants
339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012
tel 212-254-2591 / 888-575-8242 (888-57-LUCHA)
fax 212-674-9139 email <chri-AT-itapnet.org>
web site: http://www.itapnet.org/chri

- - - - -

Immigrant Rights Organizers Announce Plans to Fight Police Harassment
David L. Wilson
5 Jun 01

NEW YORK CITY -- "Very intimidated," "very upset" and "terrified" were some
of the words immigrants rights organizer Saru Jayaraman used to describe
the feelings of a group of immigrant workers when police charged into a
peaceful demonstration in Manhattan's Union Square area on May 1 to arrest
performers in a street theater show on the basis of a 19th- century law
against masks at demonstrations.

Jayaraman, an organizer at the Long Island-based Workplace Project, was one
of several activists who attended an early- morning press conference
outside Manhattan's Criminal Court building today to charge that police
actions at recent demonstrations are having a chilling effect on organizing
among immigrant workers. The press conference preceded a preliminary
hearing for three of the five young native-born activists arrested at a
demonstration for general amnesty for immigrants last May Day. The trial of
14 activists arrested at a similar demonstration on May 1, 2000 was also
starting today.

"We participate in these demonstrations every year," said Jayaraman, whose
organization has won a number of important legal victories for immigrant
day laborers and domestic workers on Long Island, "because it's important
to our members to fight for a general amnesty." The demonstrations are
family events for Workplace Project members, who bring their babies in
strollers, Jayaraman noted. But the unprovoked attack by police this year
"created a situation where children could be hurt," she said, with the
result that her group had to step away from the march and consider whether
it was too risky to continue.

"The police are saying to immigrants: `If you raise your voice, we're going
to arrest you,'" charged Jose Schiffino, an organizer for UNITE! Local 169.
Schiffino's union has led an unprecedented, high-profile campaign to
organize the mostly Mexican workers in New York's greengrocers stores. The
May 1 street theater, which pitted a local version of Mexico's famous
Superbarrio against various unionbusters, was staged in front of East
Natural on Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, the site of an exceptionally
bitter struggle in the campaign.

The police are using the mask law "to profile and intimidate...people who
are trying to enliven demonstrations creatively," according to Mary Xmas, a
member of the Radical Cheerleaders performance group and one of the
defendants. Xmas was arrested for protesting verbally when police agents
attempted to arrest a young man near her. She and another woman detainee
were held for eight hours handcuffed to the bars in a holding cell for male
prisoners. They were subjected to sexual harassment, but police turned down
their repeated requests to be moved to a women's cell.

Jonathan Rosen, a law student at New York University who volunteered as a
legal observer at the demonstration, described "officers randomly grabbing
people" during the May 1 attack. Rosen himself was pushed to the ground by
the police and stepped on; a white-shirted police officer beat him with a
cardboard pole seized from a demonstrator's placard. Rosen was clearly
identified as a legal observer. "You can imagine how they treated other
people," Rosen said.

Despite the harassment, immigrant rights organizers do not intend to be
intimidated, said Nestor Solano, a member of the Coalition for the Human
Rights of Immigrants (CHRI) who has extensive experience organizing under
repressive conditions in his native Guatemala. Mary Xmas announced that
activists were planning a civil suit against the New York Police Department
over its efforts to abridge the right to demonstrate. She is also seeking
stories from women activists, she said, to use in a possible suit against
the NYPD for sexual harassment of arrested women protesters.

Charging that the police were using the arrests as a way to divide
immigrant workers from young native-born supporters, Local 169's Schiffino
reminded listeners of the German pastor who wrote that he didn't speak out
when the Nazis came for the Jews, because he was not Jewish, and kept
silent when the Nazis came for the trade unionists, since he was not a
trade unionist. "Well, I am a trade unionist," Schiffino said, "and this
time we're all going to get together and speak out."

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

FASCISM IN THE NEWS:

Italy's prime minister names anti-gay cabinet
Peter Moore (365Gay.com Newscenter)
13 Jun 01

ROME -- Newly elected Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been
sworn into office and immediately unveiled a cabinet that includes former
neo-fascists. His selections immediately raised concerns in Italy's GLBT
community.

Gianfranco Fini has been named Deputy Prime Minister. As recently as 1987,
Fini, labeled Mussolini "the greatest statesman of the century" and
predicted he would himself "build the fascism of 2000."

Fini transformed the party of the heirs to Mussolini's Black Shirts to
bring it more into the right-wing mainstream. He now claims that his
National Alliance represents a "modern, democratic, national and social"
system. He has consistently attacked gays and lesbians.

But even greater concern is Umberto Bossi. His Northern League calls for
Italy to abandon Europe and refuse to allow foreign immigrants into the
country.

Bossi, who has a long list of verbal abuse to his record, continually uses
disparaging terms for gays and lesbians.

A significant number of cabinet members, including the new premier himself,
are currently facing judicial probes for possible criminal wrongdoings.

Berlusconi was sentenced to a total six years and five months in prison for
forgery of documents, corruption and illegal party financing, but the cases
eventually came under the statute of limitations.

A number of cases against him are still pending.

New Social Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni has been given an eight-month
suspended sentence for contempt of the national colors. He still faces
trial for violating the integrity of the Italian state.

Justice Minister Roberto Castelli publicly insulted a magistrate
investigating the former separatist Northern League's activities and
compared Berlusconi's predecessor, Giuliano Amato, to Adolf Hitler.

Former Justice Minister Oliviero Diliberto, a communist, said Berlusconi's
government was so right wing it would have made Britain's former
conservative Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher "green with envy."

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said he regretted that while
Berlusconi "could have assembled a government without the extreme right-
wing, xenophobic party of Bossi, he chose to include him in the
government."

Michel labeled Bossi "a right-wing extremist supporting fascist ideas."

- - - - -

Man stabbed at north-side diner: Nonfatal attack on Maurice Wilson was
     racially motivated, witnesses say
Joe Menard (Ozark News-Leader)
18 Jun 01

A Springfield man was stabbed three times Sunday morning at a Springfield
restaurant by a man in a group a witness described as skinheads wearing
swastika tattoos  and Aryan Nation T-shirts.

A 23-year-old Springfield man was arrested after the fight, but had not
been charged Sunday night, police Sgt. Dave Zuhlke said. Other suspects
were being sought.

The incident apparently stemmed from the fact that the victim was a black
man with a white woman, Zuhlke said.

Maurice Wilson, 39, and his girlfriend, Chris Ruble, 27, had attended a
wedding Saturday night and had stopped at Denny's, 2823 N. Glenstone Ave.,
afterward for breakfast with the newlyweds, Ruble said.

She said the two interracial couples entered the restaurant about 1:30 a.m.
Sunday and were immediately harassed by a group of about 15 patrons.

Ruble said the men started giving Wilson a hard time and then began beating
him up. "Somebody hit him in the mouth first," she said.

During the fight, one of the men pulled out a knife and stabbed Wilson,
police said. The men then fled, Ruble said.

Wilson was stabbed twice in the left ribs and once in the buttock, she
said.

According to police, other customers administered first aid to Wilson until
paramedics arrived. He was taken to St. John's Regional Health Center,
where he remained Sunday night.

Ruble said a Denny's waitress was also injured. Denny's employees declined
to comment.

Ruble said she believes the men attacked Wilson because he is black and she
is white.

Zuhlke said suspects "may be involved in a skinhead-type gang."

- - - - -

Racist Messages Distributed In Shadyside
WTAE Action News (Pittsburgh)
14 Jun 01

A white supremacy group is spreading its message in the city's Shadyside
section, WTAE Action News reports.

Residents found flyers promoting the World Church of the Creator on their
car windshields Wednesday.

The flyer provides statistics on crime, poverty and disease for both blacks
and whites, and encourages hatred of minorities.

The group's headquarters is in Illinois. Local contact information found on
its Web site lists only an e-mail address and Post Office box in the 15217
ZIP code.

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

                          WHAT'S WORTH CHECKING
    stories via <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/story8/>


Sewell Chan (Washington Post), "Huge Backlog Saps D.C. Anti-Bias Law:
Clearing Hundreds of Cases Will Take Years, Chief of Human Rights Office
Says," 4 Jun 01, "The backlog of cases at the D.C. Office of Human Rights
is so huge that employment lawyers are advising their clients to head
directly to D.C. Superior Court rather than endure the city's process for
challenging discriminatory employers and businesses. Hundreds of
individuals who have filed complaints at the agency must wait for months,
sometimes years, to get a finding of fact, much less relief. Chronic
understaffing and recent staff turnover, particularly among lawyers for the
office, have created a backlog of more than 500 cases. As a result, the
District's far-reaching human rights law has gone virtually unenforced."
<2271.txt>

"Mumia's Baccalaureate speech at Occidental College"
<2272.txt>

Robert Lederman, "Hizzoner Has No Honor: Rudy Giuliani v Tony Soprano," 25
May 01, "Next to the Godfather films, HBO's The Sopranos is NYC Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani's favorite popular entertainment. Giuliani, who opens most
speeches with an imitation of Marlon Brando's Godfather, has had the entire
Soprano cast over to Gracie Mansion and frequently comments on how much he
enjoys the show. Too bad Rudy the Rude can't achieve the level of decency
Tony Soprano, the fictional Mafia capo, displays in the television series.
Not that Tony is anyone's idea of the perfect father, husband or citizen. A
role model for impressionable youth he's not. It's just that compared to
the disgraceful Rudy Giuliani, Tony's looking pretty good. Although 'T'
cheats on his wife with an assortment of exotic strippers and girlfriends,
he doesn't try to bring them to the family home and introduce them to his
kids. Unlike Donna Hanover, Tony's wife Carmella is always treated with
respect in front of his children and in public." <2273.txt>

Todd Zwillich (Reuters Health), "Gay, Bisexual Teens at Risk for Violence,"
1 Jun 01, "A new national survey suggests that homosexual and bisexual
adolescents run a significantly higher risk of witnessing, experiencing
violence than do their heterosexual peers. The report backs up earlier,
smaller studies linking gay or lesbian sexual orientation to an increased
risk of violence. It is also the first to suggest that lesbian, gay, and
bisexual (LGB) teens may be more likely than straight teens to perpetrate
violence." <2274.txt>

ZENIT [Vatican] News Service, "Church Apologizes for 1941 Massacre of Jews
Poles Took Part, But Details Remain Unclear," 27 May 01, "The Catholic
Church in Poland took a step in improving relations with the Jewish
community by apologizing today for the Poles who took part in a 1941
massacre of up to 1,600 Jews, Reuters reported." <2275.txt>

Michael Martin (ABC NEWS), "Racism as Mental Illness: Could someone who
kills because of race or religion have a mental illness?," 30 May 01, "When
Buford O. Furrow Jr. turned himself in after shooting up a Jewish community
center in Los Angeles two years ago, he explained his actions as a 'wake-up
call to America to kill Jews.' Furrow was a member of a white supremacist
group and an avowed racist. But he had also had mental problems: a year
earlier, he had tried to commit himself to a psychiatric hospital, saying
he wanted to shoot people and kill himself. Furrow's case -- and other
recent incidents of "extreme racism" -- have reopened debate about whether
racism should be considered a mental illness. Advocates say psychological
treatment could prevent some people from committing violent acts. But
opponents say it would open the way for violent racists to plead insanity
to avoid punishment for their crimes." <2276.txt>

Julia Lieblich and Stephanie Banchero (Chicago Tribune), "Archdiocese steps
in after league rejects black school," 1 Jun 01, "Bishops, priests and nuns
gathered at Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago headquarters Thursday to take a
stand against a Catholic athletic league that turned away St. Sabina, a
predominantly black South Side grammar school. In a rare show of force just
two months after Cardinal Francis George's pastoral letter on the sin of
racism, the archdiocese said prejudice will not be tolerated and offered to
mediate a solution to the dispute." <2277.txt>

Randy Dotinga and Gregg Drinkwater (PlanetOut), "U.S. gives $500,000 to
Nazis' gay victims," 1 Jun 01, "An international organization that
represents and memorializes gays and lesbian persecuted during World War II
will get more than $500,000 from a fund dedicated to helping the survivors
of Nazi persecution and to preserving their history.The Pink Triangle
Coalition, made up of eight advocacy organizations in Europe, Israel and
the United States, will distribute the $504,210 grant to projects in
Germany and the United States dedicated to public education about the Nazi
persecution of gays and lesbians. For nearly 60 years, GLBT advocacy groups
have fought for official recognition of the Nazi persecution of gays and
lesbians, until now with limited success." <2278.txt>

Ian Ith and Dave Birkland (Seattle Times), "Shooting death by police renews
charges of racism," 2 Jun 01, "Seattle police Officer Craig Price, who
fatally shot a man in Seattle's Central Area late Thursday, is relatively
new to the force, and he's never shot anyone before. His partner, Greg
Neubert, is a nine-year veteran who once shot and gravely wounded a drug
dealer who pulled a realistic but fake pistol on him. Yesterday, the Police
Department said the officers, who are white, feared for their lives when
Aaron Roberts, an African-American escaped felon, tried to drive away from
a traffic stop and dragged Neubert down the street, forcing Price to chase
the car down, reach inside and shoot Roberts once. But Roberts' friends,
family and neighbors angrily crowded the intersection of 23rd Avenue and
East Union Street with signs and shouts yesterday afternoon to protest the
shooting and demand that the officers be punished. They say the killing of
36-year-old Roberts, described as a kind-but-troubled father of three, is a
symbol of years of police harassment and racism in their neighborhood."
<2279.txt>

Justyna Pawlak (Reuters), "Poland Exhumes 200 Jewish Victims of 1941
Massacre," 4 Jun 01, "Polish prosecutors found the remains of roughly 200
victims of a 1941 massacre of Jews in a small town in eastern Poland during
a contested exhumation that ended on Monday, officials said. The figure was
far less than the 1,600 Jews that Polish-born historian Jan Gross claimed
were killed in his controversial book 'Neighbors' published last year. The
exhumation, criticized by Jewish groups as desecrating the dead, was
initiated by Poland's National Remembrance Institute (IPN), a state body
probing war crimes, after the book blamed local Polish townsfolk in
Jedwabne for conducting the massacre." <2280.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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