That'll help
The two boys who painted racist slogans all over mosques in July have been sentanced to in jail.
Jail has a great track record for making sure that racist young men turn into fine upstanding citizens, so this should all end well.
(That was my sarcastic voice).
As someone heavily involved in anti-fascist activism, I've written my response to the sentences titled "I Should Be Happy, Right?" on my blog Left & Lefter and http://leftandlefter.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteHave a read :)
I read your piece - your take is different from mine, but quite interesting. I think what I disagree with most is this: "Unfortunately, in our current societies in Aotearoa and Australia, the most effective means for shutting down the boneheads are via the mainstream media and the police."
ReplyDeleteThe police may be effective with dealing with the Nick Miller's of this world, to the extent that they may not be able to do that much damage locked up (depending on who they hook up with in jail). But I think they're a disaster for dealing with people like these two boys.
I've said it before, but I believe that the only way that we can fight neo-nazis is by showing their potential recruits that the problems they perceive are not created by Muslims, jews or immigrants, but capitalism. That's what we could have done, for Jason Molloy & Ross Baumgarten, but we won't get a chance now.
Oh, for sure, our (as in the general anti-capitalist "scene") biggest failure is that when Ross was looking for a support network, he found it in the National Front rather than us. Thats fucking pathetic on our parts.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't over yet though - there is still a small chance, which I'm pushing for as hard as I can.
I think they already do think capitalism is the problem - ie national front is anti capitalism with racism slapped on top isn't it? having said that some people (maybe most) are just hammers looking for a nail. If you got to them first they might be writing "go home bankers" on bank walls and beating up random men in suits in dark alleyways.
ReplyDelete