Racism & fascism - new material (57)
01 January 2007
Hate Music, David Williams and others. Searchlight Extra February 2007, pp.12. This is a Searchlight supplement on the far-right music scene in Europe that covers Scandanavia, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. It also includes sections on the "internationalisation" of the white power scene, the range of musical forms traditionally associated with fascism and the BNP's Great White Records.
"A fortune from the prostitution business goes to a minority far-right-wing group", Diagonal no. 47, 1-14.2.07, pp.44-45. Interview about the involvement of the far-right in prostitution networks in the Valencian region, based on undercover research by journalist Joan Cantarero, who infiltrated the Asociación Nacional de Empresarios de Locales de Alterne (ANELA, National Association of Single Club Entrepreneurs) for over four years by acting as its press officer. The linchpin of this relationship is José Luis Roberto, the general secretary of the España 2000 party and technical general secretary of ANELA, in whose operations right-wing lawyers and personnel, including Eduardo Arias, an official of the Falangist group Falange Española, are involved. Cantarero notes that the obvious contradiction of Roberto campaigning against immigration and using foreign prostitutes in this lucrative activity has led to divisions on the Valencian far-right scene. Roberto was acquitted in court for "inciting racial hatred" in relation to an anti-immigrant march in the Ruzafa neighbourhood in Valencia in 2002 during which racist slogans were shouted and immigrants were threatened, because it was not proven that he was the instigator of the slogans. Twenty-three activists from anti-fascist groups who opposed the march also face trial for the disturbances that the event caused. During the trial, the España 2000 website posted photographs and personal details of journalists, members of migrant associations and witnesses. Roberto also faces charges for providing false testimony in a trial involving his son, an official in the party's security structure, which reportedly received funding from the Valencia region's Generalitat (regional government) through 18 contracts between 1999 and 2004. Later reports in Diagonal newspaper indicate that relations on the local right-wing scene have deteriorated further, after the neo-fascist party Democracia Nacional (DN) denied having any relationship with España 2000 and widely advertised the publication of the book Los amos de la prostitución. Ricardo Saenz de Ynestrillas, a far-right leader who spent a stint in prison after killing a cocaine dealer who would not give him credit, advised his followers to read the book to "definitively unmask Roberto". Roberto has filed a lawsuit against Cantarero. Diagonal, 15-28.2.07, p. 43.
Islamaphobia, xenophobia and the climate of hate. European Race Bulletin No. 57 (Autumn) 2006, pp. 40. This issue of the bulletin documents some of the most serious incidents of racial violence that have taken place across Europe over a period of almost a year. Section 1 highlights cases of racist violence, concluding that "a large proportion of Europe's hate crimes are actively instigated by extreme-right organisations and that such extremist movements are flourishing in the war on terror-induced climate of suspicion and hysteria." Section 2 features case studies showing "that racist and neo-nazi movements feed off the populist and mainstream strains of Islamaphobia and xenophobia". Available from the IRR, 2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS, email: info@irr.org.uk