A-Infos (en) The Internet Anti-Fascist: Monday, 2 Feb 98--2:06 (#64)

[Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net>]

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     A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
           http://www.ainfos.ca/
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______________________________________________________________________ 
 
         The Internet Anti-Fascist: Monday, 2 February 98 
                      Vol. 2, Number 6 (#64) 
______________________________________________________________________ 

The material below is a reprint of a post to <news.groups> made on 2
Feb 98.

Other posts to <newsgroups> discussing the proposal to create the
anti-fascist news groups can be found at the ftp site:
<ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/discuss/spaf>

                             - - - - -

Since several critics of the three anti-fascist news groups have posted
"snipped," partially deleted, or otherwise altered versions of the Call
For Votes document, it seems only fair that I correct this by posting the
full, unedited version below. My comments on issues concerning it are
printed after the document.

[BEGIN UNALTERED DOCUMENT]

                     FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2) 
         moderated group misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce 
          moderated group misc.activism.anti-fascism.tactics 
              moderated group soc.politics.anti-fascism 
 
This CFV is to be distributed only by the votetaker.  It is not to be 
posted to newsgroups, or mailed to mailing lists or individuals, except by
the votetaker.  Ballots or CFVs provided by anyone else will be invalid. 
 
Newsgroups lines: 
misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce    Announcing anti-fascist activities.
(Moderated) 
misc.activism.anti-fascism.tactics     Planning anti-fascist activities.
(Moderated) 
soc.politics.anti-fascism              The politics of fighting fascism. 
(Moderated) 
 
Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 20 Feb 1998. 
 
This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party.  Questions 
about the proposed group should be directed to the proponent. 
 
Proponent: Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net> 
Proponent: Marc Alain Steier <msane@ix.netcom.com> 
Proponent: Tamara Turner <tturner@halcyon.com> 
Votetaker: Neil Crellin <neilc@stanford.edu> 
 
RATIONALE: all groups 
 
The three groups are designed to provide a central place on UseNet for the
discussion of both abstract and concrete aspects of anti-fascism in both 
academic and activist modes as well as to provide a central location for 
information involving real-world events of interest to anti-fascists. 
 
RATIONALE: misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce 
 
This group will create a high signal-to-noise ratio for the communication
of anti-fascist actions, including but not limited to academic
conferences, demonstrations, and published works of interest to
anti-fascists. 
 
RATIONALE: misc.activism.anti-fascism.tactics 
 
This group will create a locus for the more action-oriented discussion of 
anti-fascist activity. 
 
RATIONALE: soc.politics.anti-fascism 
 
This group is will create a locus for the more academic and abstract 
discussion of the topics related to anti-fascism listed in the charter. 
 
CHARTER: misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce 
 
Misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce moderated is intended as a focus for 
announcements of real-time anti-fascist activities. 
 
Moderation Policy: 
 
The moderator(s) reserve the right to reject posts that are off-topic to
the declared purpose of the group. 
 
Single cross-posts will generally not be accepted; non-spammed multiple 
postings to other news groups and discussion lists will not be actively 
discouraged. 
 
END CHARTER. 
 
CHARTER: misc.activism.anti-fascism.tactics 
 
Misc.activism.anti-fascism.tactics moderated is intended as the
anti-fascist time/space antipode of soc.politics.anti-fascism. It is for
discussions and debates of real-time anti-fascist activities (NB: the
triple plural) 
 
Moderation Policy: 
 
The moderator(s) will actively encourage critical anti-fascist discussions
and debates of anti-fascist real-time actions. The moderator(s) reserve
the right to reject posts that are off-topic to the declared purpose of
the group. 
 
Single cross-posts will generally not be accepted; non-spammed multiple 
postings to other news groups and discussion lists will not be actively 
discouraged. 
 
END CHARTER. 
 
CHARTER: soc.politics.anti-fascism 
 
Soc.politics.anti-fascism is intended as a moderated forum for the debate
and discussion of anti-fascism and artistic/aesthetic, economic, ethical, 
historical, legal, philosophical, political, psychological, and
sociological topics related to it. These discussions should logically
include errors that different anti-fascist tendencies made in defining
"fascism" itself. 
 
It is not a "dial-a-demo" group nor a focus for discussions specifically 
designed to develop anti-fascist activism. 
 
Moderation Policy: 
 
The moderator(s) reserves the right to reject any articles submitted to 
soc.politics.anti-fascism that are supportive of fascism, consisting of
more than 1/2 quotation, or are off-topic for the declared purpose of the
group. 
 
Single cross-posts will not be accepted unless they are of immediate
relevance or importance to the news group. 
 
END CHARTER. 
 
MODERATOR INFO: misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce 
 
Moderator: Tamara Turner <tturner@halcyon.com> 
Administrative contact address: tturner@halcyon.com 
Article submission address: tturner@halcyon.com 
 
END MODERATOR INFO. 
 
MODERATOR INFO: misc.activism.anti-fascism.tactics 
 
Moderator: Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net> 
Administrative contact address: tallpaul@nyct.net 
Article submission address: tallpaul@nyct.net 
 
END MODERATOR INFO. 
 
MODERATOR INFO: soc.politics.anti-fascism 
 
Moderator: Marc Alain Steier <msane@ix.netcom.com> 
Administrative contact address: msane@ix.netcom.com 
Article submission address: msane@ix.netcom.com 
 
END MODERATOR INFO. 
 
IMPORTANT VOTING PROCEDURE NOTES: READ THIS BEFORE VOTING 
 
Standard Guidelines for voting apply.  One vote per person, one account 
per voter.  Votes must be mailed directly from the voter to the votetaker.

Anonymous, forwarded or proxy votes are not valid.  Votes mailed by 
WWW/HTML/CGI forms are considered to be anonymous votes. 
 
Vote counting is automated.  Failure to follow these directions may 
mean that your vote does not get counted.  If you do not receive an 
acknowledgment of your vote within three days contact the votetaker 
about the problem.  It's your responsibility to make sure your vote 
is registered correctly.  Duplicate votes are resolved in favor of 
the most recent valid vote.  Addresses and votes of all voters will 
be published in the final voting results post. 
 
The purpose of a Usenet vote is to determine the genuine interest of 
persons who would read a proposed newsgroup.  Soliciting votes from 
disinterested parties defeats this purpose.  Please do not distribute 
this CFV.  If you must, direct people to the official CFV as posted 
to news.announce.newgroups.  Distributing pre-marked or otherwise 
edited copies of this CFV is generally considered to be vote fraud. 
When in doubt, ask the votetaker. 
 
HOW TO VOTE: 
 
Extract the ballot from the CFV by deleting everything before and after 
the "BEGINNING OF BALLOT" and "END OF BALLOT" lines.  Don't worry about 
the spacing of the columns or any quote characters (">") that your 
reply inserts.  Please, DO NOT send the entire CFV back to me! 
 
Fill in the ballot as shown below.  Please provide your REAL NAME and 
indicate your desired vote in the appropriate locations inside the ballot.

 
When finished, MAIL the ballot to: < voting@uvv.stanford.edu > 
Just "replying" to this message should work, but check the "To:" line. 
 
Examples of how to properly indicate your vote: 
 
  [ YES     ]  example.yes.vote 
  [ NO      ]  example.no.vote 
  [ ABSTAIN ]  example.abstention 
  [ CANCEL  ]  example.cancellation 
 
DO NOT modify, alter or delete any information in this ballot! 
If you do, the voting software will probably reject your ballot. 
 
If these instructions are unclear, please consult the Introduction to 
Usenet Voting or the Usenet Voting FAQ at
http://www.stanford.edu/~neilc/uvv. 
 
======== BEGINNING OF BALLOT: Delete everything before this line ======= 
.----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
| 1ST CALL FOR VOTES: misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce 
| Official Usenet Voting Ballot <MAAA-0001> (Do not remove this line!) 
|----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
| Please provide your real name, or your vote may be rejected.  Place 
| ONLY your name (ie. do NOT include your e-mail address or any other 
| information; ONLY your name) after the colon on the following line: 
 
Voter name: 
 
| Insert YES, NO, ABSTAIN, or CANCEL inside the brackets for each 
| newsgroup listed below (do not delete the newsgroup name): 
 
 Your Vote   Newsgroup 
 ---------   ----------------------------------------------------------- 
[         ]  misc.activism.anti-fascism.announce (moderated) 
[         ]  misc.activism.anti-fascism.tactics (moderated) 
[         ]  soc.politics.anti-fascism (moderated) 
 
======== END OF BALLOT: Delete everything after this line ============== 
 
 
This CFV was created with uvpq 1.0 (Aug 14 1997). 
PQ datestamp: 980110 
 
--  
Voting address: voting@uvv.stanford.edu

[END UNALTERED DOCUMENT]

The Call For Votes document above formally defines the new anti-fascist
news groups and explains how to vote for (or against) them.

Supporters had it issued on 30 January. This was the day that Hitler
formally became Chancellor of Germany. Cybernazis have used Dr. Martin
Luther King Day to launch offensives against anti-bigotry and pro-
tolerance news groups, with spammed picture files of swastikas, KKK
symbols, and even photos of Hitler himself. We thought it both fair and
poetically just that we picked the 30 January Nazi holiday to launch our
final anti-fascist offensive.

Unfortunately, the whole voting process has been seriously marred by a
variety of issues.

One was my own unfortunate illness. Originally diagnosed as Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome, it turned out to be hypothyroidism. The loss of physical
energy and other symptoms is essentially the same in both diseases. This
fact, known to many critics, played a central role in the delay over
formally calling the vote.

The fact that critics could ignore this illustrates many of the problems
that hit the anti-fascist proposal. I have not asked for any special
privilege because of my temporary handicap. But critics aware of the
handicap openly charged I never intended to move to a vote, revealing
their dishonesty.

Worse, however, is the action of David C Lawrence. He is the single
individual at the heart of the new group creation process on UseNet.

Several critics proposed that the anti-fascist proposal be killed
administratively, without being defeated in a vote and indeed without ever
being permitted to come to a vote. One argument they used was the claim
that counter-proposals existed and were being unfairly delayed.

Russ Allbery, another figure who looms large in the group creation
process, accurately wrote that no competing proposals existed, adding
"Were there any, I imagine the posting of an unprecedented 7th RFD [for
the three anti-fascist groups] would be reconsidered."[1]

The next day Simon Lyall quoted Allbery, adding "I have submitted the RFD
for an alternative anti-fascism newsgroup to the news.announce.newgroups
moderator [David C Lawrence].[2]

At this point Lawrence changed the rules, not for the entire group
creation process but only for the anti-fascist proposals. He sent e-mail
announcing this to people involved, but did not post it to <news.groups>.
Lawrence unilaterally set a 19 February deadline to get the anti-fascist
proposals "prepared to go to a vote." If we failed, then Lyall's proposal,
never sent to us or published by Lawrence would be given priority and ours
"put on hold until Simon Lyall's proposal has run its course."

This rule change by Lawrence, taken within a day of getting Lyall's
proposal and without any input from us, is simply dirty pool.

Worse for Lawrence, even Lyall had problems with this rule change.

He wrote "... I am not sure something I drew up in 10 minutes is suitable
to go to vote, especially since it is unmoderated."[3]

It has been difficult for me to accept the energy-drain of my health
handicap, however temporary. I never asked for any "special accommodation"
of the sort required by broad cultural norms. But I can not accept
Lawrence's effective "dis-accommodation" via the unilateral rule change.
The time to create limits on proposals is before, not after, they are
submitted. 

As a matter of principle, nobody should accept Lawrence's behavior. But
practical politics, in the short run, are different. Before Lawrence's
action, we had already communicated with various people on <news.groups>
about holding the vote. After emergency consultations with supporters we
decided to "moot" the core of Lawrence's improper action by calling the
vote on 30 January as we earlier intended.

Unfortunately, when we tried we also discovered a new series of
bureaucratic problems. These concerned how information about the vote
could be transmitted. The joke among supporters with whom we consulted was
that "This is a really 'secret ballot.' It is so secret that none of the
voters know about it."

Without going into full details, we were informed that:

1) We could not print the unaltered Call For Votes document on our web
site.

2) I could not print the unaltered document in my own journal The Internet
Anti-Fascist.

3) I could not put the unaltered document on my own ftp site.

4) I could not send a copy of the unaltered document to anybody with whom
I had already corresponded about the anti-fascist groups.

5) We could not produce and publish translations of the CFV into Spanish
and German to stave off attacks by fascists in those countries. This
translation would have been accompanied with an equal translation of the
latest RFD.

6) Finally, we could not even prepare accurate summaries of the CFV in
Spanish or German to fend off disinformation about the document published
by foreign fascists. My understanding was that any information accurate
enough to defeat disinformation would be considered a form of ballot
alteration.

The only thing we were formally permitted to do was to publish a pointer
to the CFV's location on the net. The whole process is humorously ironic
given the nature of the Internet. The technology lets people spread
information at a
rate never before possible. At the same time, a small group of Good Ol'
Boys at key locations in the UseNet news groups create "rules" to severely
curtail the spread of information.

We again consulted with supporters increasingly irritated by taking their
own valuable time to deal with these issues. We -- very reluctantly --
decided to agree with all of the above limitations but to accept no more
sudden and improper rule changes or any other limitations on what was
established procedure. You might imagine that phrases like "draw the line
here," "this and no more," and "last straw" were used.

We received an ostensible pointer to where the vote document was stored.

It was invalid.

This meant there was no "permitted" way to inform people of the vote. The
one single "permitted" method to inform people of the vote turned out not
to exist. It is exceedingly problematical for the Good Ol' Boys to insist
that we keep our side of an agreement when they first failed to keep
theirs.

So we are again back to the "secret ballot."

One wonders how many new rules will be declared without discussion. One
wonders how many "existing" unwritten rules will be invoked to defeat the
proposal. One wonders how many permissible ways of doing things will be
rendered impossible. We wonder if our proposal will ever come to a formal
vote that we call.

  --  tallpaul

PS: I have had occasion to communicate with the votetaker. As far as I can
tell he is not involved with the various improper actions described above.
He strikes me as someone interested only in an honest vote. Writing him or
harassing him in any way can never benefit the anti-fascist organizing; it
can only harm it. So at present our slogan should be: "Don't waste time
protesting; just vote."

- - - - -

[1] Russ Allbery, "Re: 7th RFD: *.anti-fascism* moderated," <news.group>
post, 20 Jan 1998 06:02.

[2] Simon Lyall, "Re: 7th RFD: *.anti-fascism* moderated," <news.group>
post, 21 Jan 1998.

[3] Simon Lyall, "Re: 7th RFD: *.anti-fascism* moderated," <news.group>
post, 22 Jan 1998.
______________________________________________________________________ 

  -- tallpaul 
     Fascism: We have no ethical right to forgive, 
              no historical right to forget. 
 
                       back issues archived via: 
        <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/> 
       (No permission required for noncommercial reproduction.)


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