One of the far-right activists who travelled to Southport on Tuesday night was Matthew Hankinson, an unrepentant neo-Nazi terrorist, who was jailed for six years for his membership of the proscribed neo-Nazi youth group National Action (NA).
Posts on Hankinson’s account on X (formerly Twitter) reveal he was present at the riot, where he took photographs and recorded videos of the violence. In one gleeful post, which included a video of a burning police van, Hankinson wrote: “‘Piggy in the middle’ Police vans trapped between English People showing solidarity in the face of foreign terror get set on fire by misguided Patriots who take vengence (sic) into their own hands. ”.
Before he was jailed, Hankinson lived outside St Helens in Newton-le-Willows.
NA were proscribed in the wake of the murder of Jo Cox MP after one of them posted “649 to go” on Twitter and they set the title on their website to “Death to traitors, Freedom for Britain”, the slogan said in court by Jo Cox’s killer.
Hankinson’s first post on X includes the same slogan and says: “Those who take issue with the Righteous and Just sentiment of these Noble words are those same subversive Traitors that are oppressing and destroying Britain.”
After NA were proscribed, Hankinson continued to be involved and was present at a meeting in a Wetherspoons where the now convicted neo-Nazi paedophile terrorist Jack Renshaw shared a plan to murder his local MP. Renshaw was jailed for life and must serve at least 20 years in prison.
The violence in Southport on Tuesday night, where far-right activists and racist locals rioted in a grieving community, has sparked a wave of anti-migrant violence with disorder taking place in London and Hartlepool last night and anti-migrant protests in Manchester and Aldershot. More protests are planned around the country over the coming days.
We revealed fascist group Patriotic Alternative (PA) were one of the groups behind the protest which turned violent in Southport on Tuesday evening. David Miles (aka Jack The Nipper) from the West Midlands, was one of the PA activists to have travelled to Southport.
Miles could be seen facing down riot police, wearing a t-shirt featuring the slogan ‘Free Sam Melia’. Melia, PA’s Yorkshire regional organiser, is currently serving a prison sentence for producing racist stickers. The protest was promoted by PA’s Wales regional organiser, violent football hooligan Joe Butler (aka Joe Marsh). Butler has a series of convictions for stabbing football fans and attacking women.
Leading politicians are discussing responding to the Southport riot by proscribing the English Defence League, an organisation which has not existed for more than five years. Hankinson’s presence shows that state bans won’t stop neo-Nazis from being involved in violent disorder.
Patriotic Alternative (PA)’s regional organiser for Wales is Joe Butler, also known as Joe Marsh, a leading figure in the Pie & Mash Squad hooligan group. Butler is a violent fascist and football hooligan who was jailed in 2015 for attacking a female anti-austerity protester in central London the previous year.
The Pie & Mash Squad have been responsible for several attacks on left-wing activists, including an attack on a squat and an attack on a 12 year-old girl and her father. The attack on the squat in January 2017 was led by the Pie & Mash Squad who were joined by supporters of the now-banned neo-Nazi terrorist organisation National Action (NA). The squat mentioned was Belgravia ANAL Embassy a £15 million mansion in London’s bourgeois Belgravia neighbourhood which had been opened up to rough sleepers.
Patriotic Alternative activist David Miles in Southport, 30 July 2024. One activist to bus into town was David Miles (AKA the English Wanderer) from Birmingham, a core member of Patriotic Alternative (PA), the UK’s most active fascist group. Miles somewhat unwisely posted pictures of himself at the event on social media.
The purpose of this piece is to better understanding of mass media’s relationship to rebels (including anarchists of all stripes), in general as well as in the context of a repressive atmosphere in Bristol. As well as raising local specifics, it hopes to encourage stronger awareness around wider issues of representation and counter-insurgency…
… even in the best-case scenario, on the level of sheer pragmatism, the mass media cannot be made to serve liberatory purposes. It works by systematically removing events, ideas or proposals from their context, to then re-package and re-serve them as fragments so we can consume them while never actually living them. What sense can critiques with the depth of anarchist ones make when presented as a 60-second jumble sandwiched between ten others in contradiction, how can anything meaningful take root in an environment dedicated to keeping everything restricted to surface level only?
Opening the tensions of dialogue, we present the following section of interviews with individuals, collectivities and related spaces that make up the anarchic body in different parts of the world.
The interviews are a valuable contribution to the observation in detail and depth; they come, in a certain way, to broaden the view to give us feedback among comrades and to debate with perspectives and projections, that although they may be different, they converge in the ideas and practices of freedom against all authority.
Without further ado, we have in this first venture of dialogues the comrades of Espacio Fénix.
1-How and when did Espacio Fénix arise, and what projects converge in the space?
Espacio Fénix was born in the middle of the pandemic, at the beginning of 2021, in the midst of a series of ridiculous mobility restrictions and increased police intervention under the excuse of controlling and preventing the spread of covid-19.
Thus, a group of compañerxs got together, seeking to open a crack, a fissure within the asphyxiating panorama that was regulating everything, imposing the rhythm of power and where many seemed to be accommodating or waiting for the authority to give us “permission” to resume our lives.
We embarked on the idea of opening a physical space where comrades could converge, where anarchic material could circulate and where new comradeships could be woven and articulated. Thus in May 2021 we opened the doors of the space, we began to set up its infrastructure and in July we held our first activity in memory of compañero Santiago Maldonado.
Claustrofobia Ediciones, the Biblioteca Antiautoritaria Sacco y Vanzetti and various anarchic individualities converge in the space.
2-The “Ciclos de Cine” (Film Cycles) is the tool you have used the most to carry out activities. What is the significance for you of the screening of films, documentaries, etc.?
We started with the film cycles in October 2021 and we have not stopped every Tuesday, month after month, grouping the films by specific themes, seeking to stress our ideas and nourish our arguments with content, it is the beauty of the feedback between colleagues with diverse experiences and views.
From the very beginning, we proposed the screening of films as an excuse to sit down and converse, because after each screening, the central part of the activity comes to life, which is the discussion about what has been screened. There the words run, without leaders, where everyone can expose their dislikes, their liking or the results and analysis that is made of what we have seen. With this gesture we also seek to break the logic of passive spectators, of consumers, very typical of socially imposed roles.
In this sense, we have screened diverse audiovisual material, industry films, documentaries made by compañerxs, films that we like or dislike, always aiming at the discussion and tension between compas.
We do not seek to fill the cultural gaps of authority, nor to be the free panorama for those who lack resources; we seek, by different means and tools to spread our anarchic and anti-authoritarian ideas/actions, therefore the film cycles are just one more tool we choose.
Ciclo de Cine March 2024Ciclo de Cine November 2021
3-Regarding the written material, what is the importance and power that you perceive in it?
The written material certainly has another power, another depth and transcendence, of course the spoken thought is important, but writing allows the ordering of ideas, so as to be able to reflect more carefully on what is going to be exposed and to assimilate/discuss more deeply on what is read.
In a present where immediacy, image culture, the digestible and pyrotechnical, where almost the medium is the message, emptying of content many of our tools, writing/reading is a weapon, which can also serve as a refuge, where to continue polishing and sharpening our ideas.
The written material is an instrument that impels us to grow, to argue and continually revise our positions, widening our views, shining light where there was darkness.
On the other hand, it is necessary to say that written material has always accompanied anarchists, as propaganda for the dissemination of ideas, it is an effective tool to enter into dialogue with more comrades wherever they are: in the street, in prison, or other territories. It is important because it nurtures individual thinking, as well as possible collective discussions.
The written material as propaganda can bring together comrades and depending on the objectives and projections that we have, we can realize initiatives of various kinds. In the same way that we can find ourselves on the path of anarchic struggle, we can also distance ourselves from people who spread anarchist propaganda of other tendencies, for us those who are called to participate in the electoral circus, appeal to platform organization, dream of unity and large federations and those who reject legitimate political insurrectional violence – to give just a few examples – puts us in another place on the sidewalk and in several cases as enemies.
4-There are political-cultural spaces that coexist peacefully with power, while others attract police attention. Why do you think this happens? Are there more dangerous ideas-practices? If so, what would these be?
We don’t think this was the intention of the question, but it is worth clarifying to avoid pejorative atmospheres. For us, anti-power spaces/ideas/practices (truly anti-authoritarian and anarchic, leaving out and fighting the bullshit of “popular power”) by definition do not coexist peacefully neither with power, nor with authority, nor with the police and their investigators of all kinds.
Police eyes and ears are always there, to believe otherwise is naive and dangerous. They let themselves be seen or directly attack depending on conjunctures or panoramas that mark a change of rhythm.
In this sense, it is not the police harassment that defines our comrades’ ties -it is defined by our ideas, values and projections- because valuable initiatives that are undoubtedly a contribution to the anarchic tide, may not receive the police onslaught in an evident and grotesque way and not for that reason be considered “legal”, “innocent” or in any way aspire to coexist peacefully with the power. For example, at present there are activities that do not receive police interference, but that 3 or 4 years ago were seen as a danger and received harassment; we are talking about common pots or self-defense activities. It does not change the activity or the background, but it changes the perception of power or the effect it seeks to achieve as a chain reaction (fear, disarticulation, etc.).
Now, it is important to emphasize that these types of practices carried out by those in power are part of their work, and must be understood as such. They have always existed and will continue to exist, we do not say this in an alarmist way, much less to call for immobility or to “disappear” from certain spaces. Simply because it must be clear, those who consciously decide to undertake a confrontational path to power and propagate it in multiple ways, may encounter those enemy dynamics, therefore, the consequences must be assumed. Continue reading “Chile: Interview with Espacio Fénix EN/ES”→
A 30-year manhunt ended in the heart of Berlin when police special forces arrested former Red Army Faction guerrilla fighter Daniela Klette. She is one of the famous RAF trio, three ex-militants still on the run and among the most wanted in Germany. This trio emerged from the leadership of the third and final generation of the urban guerrilla group.
The arrest of Klette in Berlin marked the end of her successful evasion of authorities for over 30 years. Klette, now 66 years old, was found in an apartment where ammunition was allegedly discovered. Her identity, allegedly, was confirmed through her fingerprints.
Alongside Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, they have managed to elude capture for decades. The arrest in Berlin could tighten the circle around her comrades.
The arrest followed a recently launched public manhunt, also screened across Germany on billboards. Additionally, police forces raided relatives’ homes associated with the RAF trio in early 2023 in search of clues about the wanted revolutionaries.
Klette had been involved in left-wing revolutionary groups since 1975. She primarily engaged in Germany’s anti-NATO movement before affiliating herself with the RAF’s supporters network and eventually joining the group.
The RAF carried out attacks agaist imperialist, capitalist and state targets. The revolutionary organization was founded in 1970 and disbaned in 1998. They were particularly active during the 70s and 80s.
In the 1980′, the trio allegedly partly formed the command level of the third generation of the RAF. The third generation coordinated with other European guerrilla struggles like the Italian Red Brigades, and concentrated attacks against US and NATO targets, like the 1981 bombing of the US Air Force headquarters in Ramstein.
The bourgeois state alleges that Klette was involved in the very last RAF action which was a huge explosion targeting Weiterstadt prison in 1993. The attack is considered to be the most technically perfected attack incomparable in terms of damage to other RAF actions.*
On 27 March 1993, the Red Army Faction (RAF) Command Katharina Hammerschmidt bombed and destroyed a newly built prison in Weiterstadt, near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. It was the RAF’s last major action before it dissolved. At least three armed and masked men and a woman climbed a high wall and entered the guardhouse around 1 am. The terrorists tied the 10 guards and locked them in a van near a landfill. They then brought in five cargoes with 200 kg of explosives. At 5:12 am, the explosives were detonated. RAF`s Command Katharina Hammerschmidt warned the population with signs that the prison was about to be blown up and asked them to get to safety. The Weiterstadt prison took eight years to build and cost 250 million Marks ($155 million). It was designed to be multi-use and high-tech. The blast managed to destroy the administration building and much of its security system. At the time the prison was not holding inmates yet – they were expected by May. Over $90 million in damages was caused. The prison had to be rebuilt, which took another four years when it opened and received inmates in May 1997.
Link to PDF of the communique released by the Red Army Faction:
It has come to our attention from infomation passed on to us by comrades in Germany that the former member of Red Army Faction, Daniele Klette, was possibly identified using a new repressive weapon of ‘Artifical Intelligence image search’. The program in question is named as ‘PimEyes’, which was used apparently by an ‘investigative’ citizen cop journalist from the snitch ‘investigative’ website Bellingcat, who put the police wanted notice of Klette from the 1990s through the AI image search. PimEyes is a facial recognition search website that allows users to identify all images on the internet of a person given a sample image. It is comparable to the facial recognition company Clearview which is a notorious for providing software to law enforcement and government agencies and other organizations. The company’s algorithm matches faces to a database of more than 20 billion images collected from the Internet, including social media applications. Several Twitter users claim to have used it in an effort to identify US Capitol rioters, for example.
For several years she was involved in a Brazilian culture centre in the Kreuzberg district, where she practised capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines dance and fighting. It is thought that the discovery of photographs of her with her capoeira group at Berlin’s annual carnival led to her identification and arrest. The cops have yet to confirm the link between the arrest and a podcast from 2023.
The use of Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recogintion software is not only dangerous in the hands of the authorities but also in its widespread use by the have a go heroes and citizen cops. With the increase of surveillance technologies pernmeating through all society, from the smart phone camera to the doorbell camera. All of these are presented as for personal safety and security but in actual fact are leading to the self-surveillance of our entire environment. In the past computer technology was brought forward in Germany in respose to the Red Army Faction’s attacks. Computerisation of taxes, rental agreements, wages, etc were able to be used to narrow down what the German security forces named as ‘sympathisers’, a minimal group of people they could place under surveiilance that did not buy into their electronic system, who they deemed as avoiding it especially if they paid using cash.
The same tactics that were learnt during the 70’s and 80’s are now being upgraded not only by using the advanced technolgies but asking even more for the ‘responsible citizen’ to be their extra pair of eyes in the corners of the society they cannot reach. The expansion of crime fighting ‘private eye’ style entities on the internet and social media such as blogs and podcasts that have already been mentioned fuel even further the active participation of growing online private security industry, by not only private companies but by any citizen who feels the need to fill the void in their life by becoming a Dick Tracey or Imspector Gadget for the day.
This article is only to highlight once again the danger of technology to be used as a weapon to surveil those who dare to resist as the Red Army Faction did, which becomes a weapon easily used by the society to surveil itself in the aid of the authorities and cops.
For the urban guerrilla, against the new surveillance technologies and all the citizen cops
After more than a decade, the publication Refractario comes to an end, and with it we close the door to this project.
We have delayed these final words and the necessary closure of this project, thinking about resuming it or giving it new formats, but it is imperative to leave some words next to the door before closing. A project built with so much effort and affection deserves a decent closure.
In July 2012 we started this counter-informative project. We generated a materiality in paper that lasted eight issues (from 2012 to 2014), and we also published 5 special issues. Undoubtedly, the heart of our project was the website. In it converged various dimensions of the anti-prison field: news, contingencies, calls, propaganda, reflections, material of interest, memory and practical information.
Throughout 11 years, the project operated, far exceeding the initial objectives. We maintained the rhythm of publication, the space for reflection and positioning at different junctures, while on the other hand the feedback from comrades who translated texts, sent communiqués and fed informal discussions within the anarchist movement made Refractario a useful, current and active tool.
Throughout this period we rejoiced with the release of several comrades from prison, accompanied the trial of many and maintained strong solidarity agitation with several who are still behind bars. Several campaigns managed to internationalize thanks to projects like this one, which allowed us to inform, disseminate and position the urgency in other latitudes. The intention was always to become a space to find accurate information, as well as to open the discussion on so many issues that in these years have strained the anti-authoritarian environments linked to prison, trials and repression.
At the end of January 2006, the counter-information web page “Palabras de Guerra” (Words of War) said goodbye to the virtual world at that time. We highlight some of the reasons that led to its closure, as expressed in its farewell communiqué:
– Excessive volume of information, in most cases superfluous, a reflection of the Western society of excess.
– Accelerated publication rhythms, confronted with natural rhythms.
– An immediatism that generates the need to be constantly informed.
– The emergence of a revolutionary subject whose militancy is based primarily on the Internet.
