Lest We Forget
The Cenotaph in Whitehall, London was established in 1920 to commemorate the British Empire dead of the First World War. It subsequently embraced those who fell in the Second World War and various conflicts since. Edward Lutyens, the architect, avoided any reference to specific battles or regiments and no national or religious symbols are carved in its stone. It commemorates all who died for Britain, whatever their nationality, ethnic origin, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Members of the Black Lives Matter movement and Gay Pride are wrong to regard it as racist or sexist monument.
There is no need for separate memorials for different people and there is no need for movements such as Black Lives Matter. All lives matter, not just black ones. Another nonsense is Black History. Black people are part of the human race and therefore share their history with the rest of us. If we are to live in peace with each other our studies and institutions must be inclusive. It would be illegal to found a White Policeman's Union and it must be just as unacceptable to have a Black Policeman's Union. Racism is just as bad from the Blacks as it is from the Whites.
The Nazis made the Jews wear yellow stars. In order to persecuted them they first had to know who they were. That experiment ended in disaster and so will the current obsession with race and sexual orientation. Let us judge people by the way they conduct themselves. I believe in European solidarity and I am opposed to mass migration but I don't look down on people from Africa and Asia, and I do not presume to tell people who they should be attracted to.
The Zebra Killers - Mark Webb
This current period of racial tensions and hate/race related crimes in the US is not a new state of affairs and indeed some would argue that it has been going on since the Pilgrim Fathers encountered the First Nations people. One period of serious racial tension that took place in the early - mid 1970s is almost forgotten and is very rarely mentioned. However it's a history that should be recalled as it is relevant to 2020.
In San Francisco from 1973 until 1974 police were baffled by a string of racist murders. White couples or lone white people were being attacked by four black men, sometimes acting together, or in pairs, or alone. They would run up to their victim/target and using either.32 cal revolvers or .32 cal automatic pistols, they would shoot the chosen victim repeatedly, without warning, then they would run off. Several times women were abducted, raped, tortured and hacked to death with machetes and shot with .32 cal bullets.
Some victims were just women carrying their shopping home. One victim was talking on a public phone, others were waiting at bus stops, one victim was folding her clothes in a laundry. Two victims were members of the Salvation Army handing out leaflets. The ages of the victims ranged from 15 to 81. They were made up of students, a janitor, an office worker, a sailor on leave, a homeless person etc. One was a community worker who survived the shooting and later became mayor. One of the white women shot and killed was the girlfriend of a black drug dealer who offered a huge amount of drugs or money as a reward to anyone finding her killers. At the height of the murders no one was walking the streets of SF at night. At one point there was almost a race war.
The police had three clues; all the victims were white, all the suspects were black males, and they always used the same .32 cal weapons with the same brand of ammo. Not much to go on.
The attackers did little to hide their faces and witnesses and survivors sat down with police sketch artists to create likenesses of the attackers. One man, Tony Harris, recognised himself on a police wanted poster. He was on the fringe of things and knew the killers. He did a deal with the police to supply information in return from immunity from prosecution and witness protection.
He told the detectives in charge of the case about four men; Manuel Moore, Larry Green, Jessie Lee Cooks, and JCX Simon. All members of the Nation of Islam and a group called The Death Angels. They had a simple plan, to kill 'blue eyed devils. Each man was to kill nine whites, murdering them at random, execution style. They would meet up after work and kill before 11 o'clock so they could be back at work the next day. Harris admitted that he had witnessed some of the killings but swore he was not one of the killers.
The four men in question were arrested in short order. They were all charged with murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to murder. In 1976 the longest trial in Californian state history ended with the conviction of the Zebra killers. All four were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Two have since died in jail due to illness or old age, the other two are still locked up. In total the Death Angels officially murdered fifteen people and wounded ten (putting three of the wounded in wheelchairs for life). However, it is widely held that they, and others mixed up with the cult, have murdered seventy-three people from the late 60s until 1974. These killings took place up and down the coast, homeless white people were often targetted (all listed as unsolved cases). A large number of .32 cal gunshot woundings with the same MO as the Zebra killings also took place, but these were not linked at the time. Random stabbings of white taxi drivers and drive by shootings at police stations also took place in this period.
The lessons from this case should be remembered today. The police had a special radio band that was only to be used in matters relating to the killings. It was called 'Band Z' Zebra). The police stopped, searched and questioned around five thousand young black men aged between 25-35. in relation to the killings during 1973-4. Each time the men were checked out as OK. The police gave them a special card, called a Z card (which could not be duplicated). The men would show these pocket size cards to the police to prove that they had already been questioned, if they were stopped again. A task force was formed and a dragnet was imposed across the city. Tens of thousands of wanted posters were put up and leaflets were posted to every home in the city. Ultimately the police operation was a success, but huge questions remained unanswered. The Nation of Islam claimed to have no part in the killings, but they paid for the suspects' legal defence. None of the men convicted have spoken much about the events. There is no public memorial to the victims or services of remembrance.
Hate crime doesn't have a colour bar. Racism is not unique to any one race. It's vile regardless of whoever does it.
Other Californian killers, like the Manson Family, the Zodiak Killer, the Hillside Stranglers, and the Night Stalker, have been the subjects of many books, films and documentaries. There is no movie about the Zebra Killers, it's just too hot a topic! Those in charge really want this case to go away; it was left unfinished, justice was not served.
The ''Universal Aspects of Fascism' and 'Fascism' by James Strachey Barnes
This is two books published as one volume, The Universal Aspects of Fascism, and Fascism, both by James Strachey Barnes. Published by the Reconquista Press.
It's difficult to review works that were topical nearly a hundred years old. Benito Mussolini's preface to the first book blames Fascism's poor reputation on bad journalism - false news, as Donald Trump might say today. The author's preface, and Robert Fiore's foreword both focus on Catholicism, but this was only part of a mixture of populism, nationalism and liberalism sprung from the First World War. Italy was a new country recently freed from Austrian control, and Fascism was an attempt at national unity.
Strachey Barnes, who was an Old Etonian, compared Fascism to the British Public School system. Both were based on military discipline, patriotism and Christianity. In modern times Fascism has become a dirty word that is often used in conjunction with 'racism'. In fact, Fascism was not a racial movement until Italy introduced the Manifesto of Race in 1938. This was aimed at the Jews and designed to appease Adolf Hitler. When Italian troops invaded Ethiopia in 1935 they came across a little black girl lost in the desert. They immediately adopted her and the song Faccetta Nera (little black face) became the anthem of the Italian Expeditionary Force. There was nothing racist about it.
When James Strachey Barnes was writing these books the economic catastrophe of 1929 was yet to happen. The Fascist Revolution was in full swing; roads, railways, homes, schools and hospitals were being constructed, the unemployed were being put to work and the enormous task of post-war reconstruction was being undertaken. This was the Golden Age of National Reconstruction, expressed in the United States as The New Deal and in Italy as Fascism. But it was not to last.
The second book 'Fascism' concentrates on the offices of the State. Most of these structures were in place before the March on Rome. Syndicalism was supposed to be backbone of the system but industry and agriculture continued to be run on capitalist lines. When the Italian Social Republic was founded in September 1943, Syndicalism was given its proper place, but by then it was too late.
All political systems start out with good intentions. Fascism wasn't perfect but it was no worse than its competitors. Italian Fascism's reputation for violence was overstated. When Violet Gibson tried to assassinate Benito Mussolini in Rome in 1926, she fired her revolver at point blank rage but only grazed his nose. Mussolini declined to bring charges, she was treated gently and sent back to England, where she spent the rest of her life in a mental hospital. So much for Fascist brutality.
Fascism is rejected by those who do not understand it. It is respectable to be a Socialist in Europe but not in the United States. Nationalism used to be out of favour but it has been reclaimed by Donald Trump's Make America Great movement - a crude form of Fascism lacking any social conscience. Political slogans come and go but ideas persist. And the idea of a State dedicated to social advancement and above market capitalism is as valid now as ir was in 1922.
Frank P Walsh RIP
This photo was taken by Frank's devoted friend Lynne Capocciamo last Christmas when she took him his lunch.
Frank Walsh was born in Lancashire in 1925 and died in London on 19th November this year. He was a gentleman, a patriot and a scholar who fought against plutocracy to the bitter end.
Frank's father was badly wounded in the First World War and he was brought up in a children's home. He joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 14 and volunteered for the army in 1943.
He was known as the King of London's Speaker's Corner where he spoke fearlessly for many years despite a Red ban on patriotic speakers.
His Patriotic People's Power Party attempted to unite the producers, the common people, against the parasites. His unique blog was updated monthly until March 2019, it was a fascinating mixture of graphic art, prose, poetry, and Social Credit. www.ab4ps.com
We do not know what arrangements Frank made for his archives. He certainly had many boxes of magazines and correspondence. When my old friend Carl Harley died earlier this year, without leaving a will, he was buried by the local authority and his books and magazines were disposed of. If you are an old fascist with one foot in the grave, like myself, I urge you to leave clear instructions of your treasured collection will end up in a skip.
Rest in peace old comrade. I shall miss your stoicism, your coffee and your conversation, and your sparkling eyes.
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