CRAX Mix Rax

[Anonymous]

European Commission Moves To Stamp Out Racism On Internet
     
Burssels, 31 Jan 1996 -- The European Commission (EC) has
formed a pan-European group to "encourage the mixing of
people of different cultures" from both inside and
outside Europe.  

According to EC officials, the first task of the
Consultative Commission on Racism and Xenophobia (CRAX),
as it is called, will be to investigate and, using legal
means, stamp out the current wave of racism on the
Internet.  

In a prepared statement, CRAX said that it hopes that the
EC "will take all needed measures to prevent the Internet
from becoming a vehicle for the incitement of racist
hatred."  

EC officials are soft-peddling on what legislation they
plan to enact to back up the investigations of CRAX.
Currently, apart from France and Germany, there is no
specific anti-racist legislation.

The laws of France and Germany were created in the
aftermath of the Second World War in order to prevent the
rising of the so-called "Fourth Reich," an extremist
group which posts messages on the Internet, as well as
running Thule bulletin board systems (BBSs) in Germany. 

According to EC officials, the Thule BBSs, which first
appeared in 1991, started spreading the Neo-Nazi word on
the Internet in late 1994, having established themselves
as a means of information exchange in Germany and, to a
limited extent, in France.

As reported previously, the "Thule Network" first came 
to the public's attention when the January, 1994, issue
of Chip magazine (a popular computer monthly in Germany)
claimed to have unearthed eight Thule BBSs.  

According to Chip magazine at the time, "The (Thule)
network distributes information on demonstrations and
invitations to meetings, addresses for contacting parties
and groups, and it reviews and offers books and
magazines. One of the mail-boxes contained instructions
for producing military explosives and letter bombs. A
great deal of space is taken up by 'political
discussions' among the users."

Thule is Norse or Viking terminology for "top of the
world." The Thule Network's name actually derives from
the small, elitist 1920s movement which was considered to
be the Nazi vanguard. Thule movement leaders included
Rudolf Hess. Some BBSs on the Thule network have names
such as "Wolf Box" and "Resistance," while many Internet
messages are signed by people calling themselves "The
Wolf," among other names.

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