>Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 12:31:49 -0500
>From: Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>
>Subject: Re: rationale behind hate crimes
>Daniel Davies says:
> >--- jf noonan <jfn1 at msc.com> wrote: >
> >> Don't forget banning anti-McDonald's literature --
> >> that's pretty
> >> kewl too.
> >
>
> >I don't think that's a valid objection. If you look
> >at the anti-Nazi statutes of France and Germany,
> >they're very closely worded with regard to the events
> >of 1934-45. It's the Nazi Party which is banned, not
> >any particular viewpoint or set thereof. The idea
> >that all anti-Nazi laws will eventually be used
> >against people who aren't Nazis isn't as easy to
> >sustain as one might think.
This is not an accurate representation of BRD policy, which has repeatedly extended the neo-Nazi ban to other such parties, such as the (german) Republican Party.
In general, leftists and progressives should be opposed to all such repressive measures by the state, regardless of whom these measures aim at. These are ultimately aimed at us.
>Though I have no comparative stats at hand, it seems that there are
>more Neo-Nazis in Germany than in the USA, and they present a far
>larger danger there than here (in America, the main organized
>far-right threat has come from anti-abortion terrorists).
This is quite likely because Nazi ideology specifically references Germans and Germany, claiming to represent their best interest, and Germany, well, it's "got a lot of Germans" :-D
>So I
>gather the "banning" had no anti-Nazi effect in reality.
This is because, on the other hand, most of the neo-Nazi literature originates in the United States.
And while we are on the subject of lunatic fringe groups, vide this: http://www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgnews.cfm?orgid=19
This is the Kach/Kahane Chai group: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 06, 2001
FBI Raids Jewish Center Suspected of Links with Extremists
The Federal Bureau of Investigation confiscated documents, computers and videotapes from a Jewish center in New York, suspected of links to a Jewish extremist group. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It will be noted that this group does not operate out of the backwoods of Alabama.
Question: For or against the FBI action? (one vote against here). The Feds are itching to invoke the AntiTerrorism Act against the Palestinian solidarity movement here in the US. This desire was seen in connection with Netanyahus' lecture tour cancellation in the Bay Area, supposedly under a State Dept. "advisory" that hinted darkly of "threats of violence" should the tour proceed. This was pure disinformation, no evidence was ever presented.
Question: Why does this group operate out of NYC? I would suggest this is because NYC provides an optimal ideological environment for such a group.
While there appears to be plenty of time and space to comment on fringe/nut groups, there appears to be dead silence (save one cheap shot) when one (rather inadvertently in my case) touches on certain kinds of more mainstream forms of racial segregationist/supremacist ideology and movement.
Has a taboo subject been touched upon here? If true, it's very sad, because we are prevented from sensibly addressing one of the major forms of mainstream racist and segregationist politics and ideology active in the USA today. One, moreover, with global impact. One, moreover, that plays a key role in a political party that too many leftists have illusions about and ties to.
Please, tell me it ain't so...
/************************************************************************************* Bill Clinton shouts out during an April 1993 meeting with aides:
"'I hope you're all aware we're all Eisenhower Republicans," he
said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 'We're Eisenhower
Republicans here, and we are fighting the Reagan Republicans.
We stand for lower deficits and free trade and the bond market.
Isn't that great?'"
- Bob Woodward, in his book The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House *************************************************************************************** /