The controversy of racist material emanating from within IMC UK continues. A recent attempt from a local collective to break the deadlock was rebuffed and the block on hiding the offending material restated.

A history of Racism.

We all know that Indymedia is has long been susceptible to racists postings, and many will already be familiar with the OCD of a certain racist paranoid clown from Canada and his obsession with the Jews and 9/11.

However Indymedia UK has a rather different problem, the racist material is actually emanating from within the moderation collective. A situation that sheds new light on the long-running tolerance of much of the low-intensity Jew baiting on the UK.

Newswire.

Things have come to a head when in August 2007 a piece by Gilad Atzmon was published on the newswire. The piece generalises about Jews and makes the suggestion that the unpopularity of the Jews was a significant factor in the Holocaust (a none too elegant rehash of "It was the Jews' own fault").

www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/378213.html

The piece provoked outrage, and it wasn't the first time this kind of thing has happened on IMC UK, but the piece was not hidden. Instead a certain admin dug his heels in and defended the article and whitewashed all complaints as "Zionism" and "Hasbara".

A few more astute admins did not buy this and moved to ban Atzmon wholesale from the Newswire- a quick perusal of his work will quickly reveal an antipathy to a perceived homogeneous Jewish culture will make itself self-evident.
www.gilad.co.uk/politiks.htm

Challenged on his work he was either unable or unwilling to answer direct questions preferring instead insults:
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388930.html?c=all

However, the move to ban was effectively blocked. Technically only threatened with a block but in consensus democracy there is no practical difference.

http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2007-October/1030-v...
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2007-November/1101-...
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2007-November/1102-...
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2007-November/1103-...
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2007-November/1108-...

It has subsequently come to light that Atzmon has previously disseminated Paul Eisen's holocaust denial essay from his mailing list (an article that echoes the lies of Ernst Zuendl and David Irving) and Atzmon has described the racist document as "a great text" and describes the author as a "friend".

www.zundelsite.org/zundel_persecuted/may20-05_eisen.html

http://azvsas.blogspot.com/2008/01/gilad-atzmon-now-open-holocaust-denie...

The Anti-Semitic Occupational Government at Indymedia UK?

In the last few days IMC London posted offer to reopen dialogue and a new approach to the deadlock has been rebuffed and the block reasserted.

http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2008-February/0202-...

The common sense proposal to hide such contentious material during the internal debate was rejected out of hand with the block being reasserted.

http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-uk-features/2008-February/0202-...

It is now becoming obvious that like Chamberlain and Hitler, appeasement is a hiding to nothing.

Perhaps it is time for others in the UK collective to throw a block at certain admins' participation in the project?