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1/
#auspol #antifa #FCKNZS
It was 5 yrs ago yesterday (April 4) that the first of a series of 'Reclaim Australia' rallies was held in towns & cities across the country. I'm going to do a brief blogpost looking back, but in the meantime ...
#auspol #antifa #FCKNZS
It was 5 yrs ago yesterday (April 4) that the first of a series of 'Reclaim Australia' rallies was held in towns & cities across the country. I'm going to do a brief blogpost looking back, but in the meantime ...
2/ I wrote this for @newmatilda in December 2014, which noted that in the immediate aftermath of the Lindt cafe siege (DEC 15/16), the far-right had not (yet) capitalised upon the incident: https://newmatilda.com/2014/12/19/australian-far-right-still-struggling-gain-traction-after-sydney-siege
3/ When confined to l0sers like the SYD-based Ralph Cerminara of the Australian Defence League, Australia First Party, Party for Freedom & neo-Nazi skinhead group Squadron 88, the appeal of street mobilisations targeting Muslims was limited ...
4/ Fortunately for them, rabid sections of the tabloid media had already primed Ordinary Mums & Dads™ to take action (when given appropriate pretext & form), & @Facebook & @Youtube provided a *brilliant* tool for the rapid dissemination of anti-Muslim & racist propaganda.
5/ From out of this online muck An Hero emerged: Cooma council worker Shermon Burgess. (At the time, I identified Reclaim as a proto-fascist movement; a description which I continue to believe is accurate.) https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=37449
6/ Note that Burgess & Cerminara were BFFs in the ADL before Reclaim. Cerminara has had numerous brushes w the law since 2015, & become increasingly unhinged ( https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/ex-head-of-australian-right-wing-group-posted-anti-islamic-material-online-in-breach-of-court-order-20190320-p515xx.html); as his star dimmed, Burgess went Full Nazi, & been absent online since s/time last year.
7/ Reclaim rallies created opposition, including in #Melbourne. The last time the far-right attempted to rally here was May 2011; a prior rally in APR 2010 was also unsuccessful, being reduced to a handful of drunken boneheads shouting racist abuse. https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=37548
8/ NB. Among those in attendance @ the APR 2010 rally against Islam & immigration was one Phillip Galea. Galea was not. a. fan. of mine or anti-racists generally, & last year he was convicted of plotting to blow lefties up.
He awaits sentencing. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-05/phillip-galea-jury-verdict-plot-to-blow-up-buildings/11755432
He awaits sentencing. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-05/phillip-galea-jury-verdict-plot-to-blow-up-buildings/11755432
9/ The Melbourne Reclaim rally was ah, interesting, & I posted some brief post-match reflections at the time: https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=37955
10/ I also done my best to document the numerically smol but highly-significant role of neo-Nazis & White supremacists @ Reclaim, beginning with: https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=37972
11/ In MEL, Reclaim was the launchpad for the brief & inglorious career of convicted racist, arsonist & stalker Blair Cottrell, a man utterly beloved by the tabloids, but eventually undone by exhaustive documentation of his Nazi beliefs & violent criminal record.
12/ Not long after APR 4, Reclaim did the splits, & the (now-defunct) United Patriots Front (UPF) formed as a pol vanguard, w Burgess as figurehead, Cottrell as fuehrer, & var other familiar faces as his flunkeys. https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=38146
13/ The UPF's first rally was an anti-leftist one in Richmond in May. It was not exactly a success, but @Facebook was the real battleground, & w the corporate juggernaut's assistance, the UPF became quite popular, helping to 'radicalise' many thousands. https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=38216
14/ I began documenting Cottrell's views in this post, pub in JUN 2015:
'There is no “new” conspiracy with an “[I]lluminati” or “Zionist” foundation, there is only Jews; the same old Jews from a thousand years ago practicing the same old shit ...' https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=38306
'There is no “new” conspiracy with an “[I]lluminati” or “Zionist” foundation, there is only Jews; the same old Jews from a thousand years ago practicing the same old shit ...' https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=38306
15/ It was also in JUN that I pub 'A (very) brief guide to the contemporary Australian far right', which I've updated a few times since, & which I'm gonna update later this mth: https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=38465
16/ In JUL 2015, I collated Cottrell's pol views in this post. They read a bit #nazi to me, but state/corporate media were reluctant to agree. (Ofc, when the #Christchurch killer described Cottrell as his 'Emperor', this posi became a bit trickier.) https://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=38730
17/ I could go on (& on) -- & will on blog -- but that's it for now. That said, if you wanna support my work, feel free to join my patreon eh -- I'll send you some stickers if you want some. 
https://www.patreon.com/slackbastard
https://www.patreon.com/slackbastard
