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In The AreaA Newsletter from AFA Ireland Issue 3, Summer 2011

Perhaps the saddest, most comedic fascist

group that has ever emerged in Ireland

to date has been the Democratic Right

Movement. Under the leadership of one

Michael Quinn, an anti-abortion bigot

that has now drifted into the world of fas-

cist politics, Quinn has, in recent months,

gathered about him a rag-tag band of

Neo-Nazi dregs that had been wandering

lost on the internet.

Twice weekly making video broadcasts,Quinn spends two hours presenting ashow that is quite bafing in its ama-teurishness. Spending the time actuallydrinking (making disgusting lip-smack-ing slurping noises in the process),smoking roll-ups and discussing whathe would do to his critics if they spoketo his face, Quinn regularly pauses inhis tirades to ask for donations. Madeout to himself rather than the DRM,suggesting that the proprietor of hislocal off-license has been insistingthat Quinn pay his tab, Quinn himselfjusties this dubious nancial arrange-ment with a vague conspiracy theoryconcerning the Irish banks.

Democratic Right Movement? Dont

National news continues on page 3

Ireland and the Spanish

Civil War - 75 Years OnFriday, July 15th saw Republican Socialist

group irg host a public meeting in the

Teachers Club on Parnell Square, Dublin

marking the 75th anniversary of the out-

break of the Spanish Civil War. Speakers

on the night included historians Emmet

OConnor and Harry Owens, whilst there

were several bookstalls, including one

from AFA.

Approximately 250 Irish radicals,socialists and republicans of the 1930smade their way to Spain to aid theedgling Republic from the attacks

of Francos fascists. Before departingfor the Spain, Frank Ryan made thefollowing statement: The Irish contin-gent is a demonstration of revolution-ary Irelands solidarity with the gallantSpanish workers and peasants in theirght for freedom against fascism. The

war against fascism was seen as theembodiment of a war for democracyand this attracted men and women intheir thousands to ock to Spain from

the four corners of the world. The es-timation of Irish involvement is difcult

as it takes into account emigrs andthose who came directly from Ireland.

Of course, there were those whofollowed Blueshirt Eoin ODuffys calland went to ght for Franco, but the

majority of these were sent homein disgrace for, amongst other things,starting a re-ght with an allied unit,

failing to obey orders at the frontand one case of a volunteer vomit-ing on a commanding ofcers tunic

during morning inspection. By all ac-counts, the class of Irish fascists hasntchanged much in the last 75 years.

The evening in the Teachers Clubwas well attended, somewhere in theregion of 120 came through the doors.Harry Browne gave an introductorytalk to the Civil War itself, while Em-met OConnor, lecturer and author ofReds and the Green, gave an introduc-tion to Irish involvement in it. By hisreckoning, 140 anti- fascists made theirway to Spain directly from Ireland,with the other 110 or so made up ofIrish emigrs. It is inspiring to imaginethese people dropping everything theyhad to make the difcult and treachor-ous trip across land and sea to get to

the front. There was a third talk, givenby two members of eirg in Englishagus s gaeilge on the involvement ofFrank Ryan, once known by Franco ashis prized prisoner, in the war.

When it comes to talking about thesubject of Irish involvement, its hardnot to come around to Bob Doyle, thelast Irish veteran to pass away and hisopening line in an address he gave inSeptember 2006: I am here to make

you boil with anger; the powers thatsupported Franco in Spain are stillactive today and their reach is global.

No Pasaran!

make us laugh!

The future of the Aryan race... God help them. On the

left is Michael Quinn, on the right is John Kavanagh.

For more info on Ireland and the Spanish CivilWar, visit www.irelandscw.com

Remembering the 75th Anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War in the Teachers Club

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International News A round up of some of AFA Irelandsinternational activitiesIn The Area / 2

Faced with dwindling numbers, growing

multi-faction ghting and ever increasing

court costs, the English Defence League

(EDL) has resorted to more open displays

of racist and reactionary violence in the

last six months.

On April 16 in Halifax, 50-year oldEDL member, Darren Buck was arrest-ed after trying to attack two elderlyAsian men. On May 7, EDL membersinvaded the News From Nowhereradical and community bookstore inLiverpool, chanting and shouting atstaff and customers.

On May 9, Wayne Peter Taylor, whowas wearing an EDL hoodie at thetime, abused and attacked a Asian

passer-by in Rochdale town centre.He was subsequently charged with

racially aggravated common assault.On June 18, in Dagenham London, twoMuslim bystanders were set upon by agroup of at least six EDL activists whokicked and punched the men to theground. Both men sustained multipleinjuries with one needing hospitaltreatment after sustaining head inju-ries and a broken jaw.

On the same day in Leeds, a dozenEDLers tried to disrupt an anti-fascistpunk and skinhead concert, at whichsome members of AFA Ireland werepresent. Hoping to catch the organis-ers off guard by arriving just afterdoors opened, the EDLers tried to

rush the door. Perhaps thinking theywere dealing with, what they describe

as, the spotty student UAF, the fas-cists were quite shocked to feel thewrath of several experienced militantanti-fascist stewards. Fleeing the scene,the brave EDLers threw some bricksat the venue, breaking two windows,and injuring one anti-fascist comrade.

With the increasing attacks on boththe Left and ethnic minorities, anti-fascists in England must rise up to thechallenge by meeting the EDL head onboth physically and ideologically. AFAIreland wishes our comrade overseasthe best of luck as they face the latestincarnation of street based, reaction-ary fascist violence.

In March, some members and support-

ers of AFA Ireland traveled to Bilbao in

the Basque country for a weekend of

festivities surrounding the friendly match

between Celtic F.C. and Bilbao Athletic.

On Thursday we attended a publicmeeting, organised by young politi-

cal supporters of Athletic, at which aformer Provisional IRA prisoner spokeabout the recent political develop-ments in the six counties. Friday saw abig concert at a social centre just out-side the city at which local bands andIrish DJs played to a crowd of Athelticand Celtic fans.

On Saturday, we started festivitiesat a small neighbourhood bar runby Athletics fan group, Herri NorteTaldea (HNT) where we were treatedto a display of traditional Basquedancing and the unveiling of a small

memorial to Bob Doyle, the Irish In-ternational Brigader who passed awayin 2009. We then made our way backto the city and joined a 200 strongpub crawl around the various politi-cal bars of the city. The signal to moveto the next bar was made by a hugerework being let off! Over 1,000 fans

then marched together to the stadium.While the football may not have beenmost exiting, the atmosphere in thenearly sold out stadium, was absolutelyelectric. Over the course of the week-end, we met anti-fascist comrades

from St. Pauli, Livorno, Bordeaux, Milanand all over Britain.

AFA Ireland would like to

thank our hosts, especially

HNT, for their kind hospital-

ity.

The Fall and Fall of the English Defense League

AFA Ireland visit BilbaoSome of the crowd participating in the festivities in Bilbao. AFA Ireland was well represented!

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In The Area / 3

National News ctd.

His right-hand man, John Kavanagh,an obese loudmouth from Limerickwho likes to send long-winded emailsto AFA. These have yielded so manysnippets of useful information on his

fascist friends around the country thatthe temptation was strong to pointthis out to him. It was no real surprisethen, when the DRM emerged intothe sunlight to leaet at the GPO

against the easy target of the regularMuslim stall there. Claiming to haveleaeted for two hours, there was

much jabbering in the aftermath abouthow the hard-cases of AFA werenowhere to be seen. Given that they

had not announced their plans, by

their own admission using the tacticof a leaet blitz this is hardly AFAs

fault.

While such a leaeting is a minor

political event, to the DRM it is amonumental act of deance and in a

staggering feat of self-enhancement,Quinn later claimed that his little bandof losers reminded him of the menof 1916, a difcult proposition for

any but the most meagre of intellectsto entertain. In attaching such signi-cance to this stunt however, Quinnacknowledges the reality that fascismhas been successfully suppressed inIreland by anti-fascists.

On the day, Kavanagh lmed the event

to put up on Youtube: Not a brilliantidea as one of the Muslims at the stall,on challenging the fascists, drew anervous response from the normally

tough-talking Quinn who witteredon about Saudi Arabia as though allMuslims are responsible for this US-backed monarchy. In his next internetbroadcast Quinn appeared concernedthat his expertise on Islam had notbeen properly acknowledged, attempt-ing to rewrite the incident, his ram-bling address attempting to convincehis loyal viewers that he knows allabout Islam. In truth, however, if youhave to keep telling people that you

are an expert, you probably arent.

Like children then, watching uncom-fortably as an elderly relative makesan unholy arse of himself dancingat a family wedding, AFA membershave occasionally tuned in to Quinnsbroadcasts. However, it is now ac-knowledged by the membership thata similar experience could be gainedby anyone going down to the busstation to watch an old man, his braindestroyed by drink, smoking roll-ups,waving his st and asking strangers for

money.

Earlier this year AFA became aware of

an individual with strong links to Folk

Advance, a tiny Ir ish autonomist national-

ist group and neo-nazi outt the Swedish

Resistance Movement (SRM) who was

working in the Devils Den Tattoo studio

on Whitefriar Place. Opened in February,

the studio shares a premises with the Into

The Void (ITV) metal record shop.

The owners were informed about thepolitics of their employee and the neo-nazi was confronted. The individual,

who is in his late 20s and originallyfrom Drumcondra, swore that he hadcompletely turned his back on farright politics and had shed all linkswith fascist groups. As such, he was(generously) given the benet of the

doubt and allowed back to work.

The matter was seemed to be re-solved until it was discovered thatsaid individual was present at a poorlyattended meeting organised by a FolkAdvance front group in April. Realis-ing that they had been lied to and theneo-nazi was still very much involved

in far right politics, the owners sackedand barred the fascist from the shop.Since then ITV has worked with AFAto remove all music from Nazi relatedbands and other questionable mate-rial from their shelves and have takenan active stance against the small rightwing element in the metal scene as awhole. Their position is now one ofmulticulturalism and solidarity be-tween the punk and metal scenes.

AFA salutes Into The Void fortaking such a proactive stance

against racist elements in the

metal scene and wishes them all

the best in the future.

Editorial:Into the Void

If you have any info on Michael Quinn or his ragtagbunch, please mail us on afa@ireland.com

Michael Quinn (left) spouts his bile. Story continues below from page one.

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4 / In The Area

Please be sure to pass on any details of fascist activity in your area.You can contact us by any of the means listed below. As well as thisnewsletter, we produce a magazine, No Quarter which can be pur-chased for 2.50 also by mailing the address below.

Homepage: www.afaireland.yolasite.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/afairelandE- Mail: afa@ireland.comAddress:Anti- Fascist Action,

PO Box 3355,

Dublin,Ireland,

Feel free to take extra copies and

distribute them in your area.

No Quarter 5

Out Now

No Quarter 5 is available

now. As well as the means

listed, it is available from:

- Connolly Books, 43 East

Sussex Street, Dublin 2

- Books Upstairs, 36 College

Green, Dublin 2- Solidarity Books, Douglas

Street, Cork City

- Sinn Fin Bookshop, 58 Par-

nell Square, Dublin 1

Contact Information:

For a little over a year now, AFA Ireland

has been involved in a collaboration with

the IPSC and the St. Pauli Supporters

Club, Dublin called Sounds of Resistance.

The collective has been putting on gigs

and events in Dublin with the idea being

the promotion of the three organisations,

along the tagline Sometimes anti-social,

always anti- fascist.

We wrote in ITA2 about a successfulnight in Murrays of OConnell Street.Since then, weve put on four greatgigs with different genrs of music,raised funds for the three organisa-tions involved, had a group bannerprinted and were involved in DublinsMayday march, where we formed ablock of forty or so people with ags,

ares and plenty of noise.

The highlights since the last issue haveundoubtedly been the Mayday marchand accompanying gig in OByrnes,and our most ambitious gig to date,where we brought over TV Smyth ofseminal punk rockers The Adverts toplay alongside Dublin legends ParanoidVisions and upstarts Liz is Evil. Wesold close to one hundred tickets, hada crazy night, and made some good

friends, not least in T.V. who sung AFAspraises from the stage!

These gigs serve the purpose of pro-moting the existence of AFA Irelandand our ideals of pro-active anti-fas-cism along with the two other or-ganisations. Add Sounds of Resistanceon Facebook to stay in the loop withregard future gigs!

Sounds of Resistance

On the march! Some of the forty strong Sounds of Resistance bloc, Mayday, Dublin.

A Rebellious House indeed!Casa Rebelde

Since the last issue of ITA, Dublin has

gained a new AFA friendly venture; Casa

Rebelde in Temple Bar.

Whilst for the most part, the shop is a

football fans dream, (well, those whosebattle cry is against modern football,)the shop being the only ofcial stock-ists of St. Pauli merchandise outsideof Germany alongside clothing ranges

from Copa Football, GoalSoul and PG

Wear, the shop will also be stockingclothing from Partisano and Fire andFlames, well known anti-fascist brands.

The founder of the shop has saidthat it is living proof that football and

politics can mix. We wish them thevery best!Check out www.casarebelde.com, or search forCasa Rebelde on Facebook for more details.