In five to ten days, I should be getting my internet back.  Proper posts will follow.  Meanwhile, here’s the latest terrifying revelation from Italy:

Berlusconi has won legislation that will force illegal immigrants charged with crimes to serve sentences a third longer than Italians. Oh, and they’re also going to let soldiers patrol the streets alongside the police. And next year, I’m sure, the camicie nere will be permitted to join them to the soundtrack of Giovinezza.

That on top of Nick Davies’ report last week on the fascist infiltration of the Italian police, well worth a read and not just for the cheap shudders.  It reminds us that fascism isn’t just about racism, it’s about smashing up any progressive or working-class movement that threatens the national elite and their rule.  The enemy within, as well as the foreigner.  But I won’t get into that now, as I’m also horrified by this:

Now we find out that according to the “Foro the Migraciones” eight out of ten Central American women that enter [the USA] through Mexico’s border are raped, regardless of age.

Eight out of ten!  I occasionally wonder whether and to what extent the Latin American popular movements carry over to the migrant workers in the US, whether and to what extent this could bring socialist ideas back to the US (there are even occasional bits of good news to encourage this kind of speculation).  But I have absolutely no doubt that if the “leaders of the free world” ever need some fascist help keeping working class America from getting out of line, they’ll find it in the lunatics who “protect” the borders.

Course, the UK isn’t without its own particular problems on that count – keeping people in detention camps because of their nationality is never a good thing – and most worrying has to be the BNP’s promise to hold a rally in Stoke this September:

“We are expecting between 400 and 500 BNP members to attend and our national party leader, Nick Griffin, will address crowds at a central location in Stoke-on-Trent.

“There will also be about 50,000 leaflets going out to homes around the city.”

The rally is basically an anti-Muslim thing in support of their “martyr” Keith Brown, who persecuted his neighbour Habib Khan until the latter finally snapped when Brown attacked his son.  (“I would say it is more anti-judiciary than anti-Muslim“, just like in the 70s and 80s they weren’t so much anti-Black as “anti-mugger”). They say that the event has been postponed by six weeks because of developments in Khan’s manslaughter trial, but I like to thing that antifascist campaigning in the city has them spooked.  That way my afternoon leafletting the Bentilee estate was worth something.

Actually y’know, I think it was; a few people a spoke to clearly felt a lot of anger towards the party of racist liars and were glad to get it off their chests.  Thus UAF gives hope to those living it what must be a very intimidating atmosphere.  Anyway:

“We’ve been warning that the BNP are planning to make a shift like this towards whipping up race hatred on the ground,” said Weyman Bennett from Unite Against Fascism (UAF).

“This is how the BNP plans to lay the groundwork for next year’s mayoral elections in Stoke. They thrive in an atmosphere of racism and bigotry – and now they plan to create that climate in the city. Everyone opposed to the BNP must stand together against this poison.”

Exactly.