Giant Eagle and National Action: Difference between pages

Revision as of 01:34, 30 May 2005

Revision as of 23:47, 20 July 2007

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'''National Action''' (founded [[Anzac Day]], [[1982]]) was an [[Australia|Australian]] [[political party]] which was on the [[far-right]] of the political spectrum. It had no representatives in any Australian parliament, at either state or national level. Its ideology dictated that it remain outside the "political system".

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Its policies included the deportation of [[asylum seekers]] and the termination of [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal]] [[native title]]. For this reason, National Action is usually seen as [[racism|racist]] and [[xenophobia|xenophobic]]. National Action also espoused theories that a [[New World Order (conspiracy)|New World Order]] is taking over the world and must be stopped. They were accused of being a [[neo-nazi]] party as its "chairman" [[Jim Saleam|James Saleam]] Ph.D. was a member of the Australian Nazi party in the 1970s. National Action claimed, however, that it was a "[[National Bolshevik]]" party. Saleam claimed that the party was led collectively.

'''Giant Eagle, Inc.''' is a [[grocery store]] with stores located in [[Pennsylvania]], [[Ohio]], [[Virginia]], and [[Maryland]], [[United States|USA]]. It ranks as the 28th largest private corporation on [[Forbes]] list in 2002. Giant Eagle was founded in 1918 in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]] and has continued to grow.

National Action was a fringe group that never obtained a popular following for a number of possible reasons:

==History==

Giant Eagle was originally known as Eagle Company, founded by the families of Goldstein/Shapira Porter, and Chait. The families sold Eagle Company to [[Kroger]] in 1928, but regained ownership in 1931, after three years. Meanwhile, the Moravitz and Weizenbaum families, run their own grocery chain, OK Grocery. In 1931, the five families combine the Eagle Company and OK Grocery, creating Giant Eagle. Giant Eagle began with stores only in the Pittsburgh area. The chain continually prospered through the 1930's and 1940's, through both the [[Great Depression]] and [[World War II]]. In the 1950's, Giant Eagle started its trading stamp program, called "Profit Sharing Blue Stamps", which encourages growth for the company. The average store at that time was 15,000 ft². In the 1960's, Giant Eagle repealed its stamp program, replacing it with lower prices. In the 1970's the store made a pledge that it had the lowest prices. Insert related stuff.

* its use of [[terrorism]] and intimidation against perceived enemies and rival "racial-nationalists";

==Current status==

* Saleam's conviction for insurance fraud in 1988;

Currently there are 221 store locations worldwide; 100 in Western [[Pennsylvania]], 114 in Northeast and Eastern [[Ohio]], 4 in Northern [[West Virginia]], and 8 in Western [[Maryland]]. Each individual store carries between 20,000 and 60,000 items, approximately 5,000 of which are made by Giant Eagle, showing the success of this corporation.

* the public peception that it was a criminal gang; and

* its plans to fire-bomb a political rival's home and to murder anti-[[Apartheid]] activist [[Eddie Funde]].

Saleam was imprisoned in [[1991]] for the plot against Funde.

In 2004 Giant Eagle acquired and reopened several former [[Big Bear]] stores in Ohio (including about six in Columbus, Ohio alone) when Big Bear went out of business.

In the mid-[[1990s]], the success of the right wing [[One Nation Party]] led many National Action members to join One Nation to promote a broad far-right, anti-immigration agenda within the party. The subsequent implosion of One Nation (which was partially due to Saleam's machinations to take over One Nation) stymied this plan.

In recent years, attempts have been made to resurrect the party by [[Michael Brander]], a rival of Saleam. These plans have had little impact due to the loss of Dr. Saleam's credibility amongst ex-members and other "racial-nationalists", many of whom had been attacked physically or slandered by Saleam. Saleam is often said by rivals on the racial right to be of part [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] origin, an allegation which he has denied on many occasions. The violent background of Brander, convicted and fined $3000 for assaulting an Asian opponent with a flagpole in [[1995]], [http://home.mira.net/~sp/magazine/feb97/fawkner.htm] caused renewed controversy in [[2005]] when Brander's work was published in the government-funded monthly magazine ''[[Quadrant (magazine)|Quadrant]]''. Brander's appearance there was denounced by federal [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]] parliamentarian [[Michael Danby]] (Danby's condemnation was quoted by ''[[Australian Jewish News]]'' on March 18, 2005 and by ''[[The American Conservative]]'' on June 5, 2006). Meanwhile Saleam has published online his doctoral thesis [http://home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/otherradicalism/], an elaborate coverage of the alliances and enmities within extreme-rightist Australian movements over recent decades.

National Action co-founder David Greason's book, ''I was a Teenage Fascist'', tells of Greason's own time within the Australian neo-Nazi movement and the events behind the founding of National Action.

==Services offered==

Giant Eagle offers many different departments across its stores. They include Iggle Video, a store for renting [[videos]], [[DVDs]], and [[video games]], ......

==External linksReferences==

*[http://www.aijac.org.au/review/2002/2711/jack-jim.html?oneclick=true "The Tale of Jack and Jim"], by Matthew Collins, ''The Review'', November 2002. (Hostile account of Saleam, Brander, and others involved in NA.)

*[http://www.gianteagle.com/ Giant Eagle's official website]

*[http://www.gianteagle.com/main/store_locator.jsp/ Store Locator]

{{Politics of Australia}}

[[Category:Political parties established in 1982]]

[[Category:Defunct political parties in Australia]]

[[Category:Neo-Nazi organizations]]

[[Category:Racism]]