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- They aren't (all) Nazis.
Today the so-called “March for Australia” is taking place across the country, which you’ve no doubt heard a lot about. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I do think some of the content made by progressive political creators has been reductive and focused more on engagement-bait than education.
In particular, saying “if you attend a rally supported/organised by Nazis, then you are a Nazi” is unhelpful for two reasons:
While Australian neo-Nazi organisations have tried to take credit for organising the rallies, it’s not clear that they were behind it. “Claiming” events that capture mainstream attention is a strategy they use to seem more influential than they are, so unless it’s proven we should take these claims with a grain of salt. Which means…
Insisting attendance of Nazis at a rally means all the attendees are Nazis, means you have to apply the same logic to other protest events. If a group of people attend a pro-Palestine rally and hold up antisemitic signs, does that mean all attendees of that rally are antisemitic? Of course not.
The march is in protest of immigration – which they blame as the root cause for every problem Australia has. Individual attendees have differing primary concerns, from housing affordability, wages, wealth inequity, loss of culture, ‘wokeness’, government overreach – the common thread is that they blame immigration for all of it. Specifically, non-Anglo immigration.
Some of these issues are genuinely big problems in modern Australia. Stopping non-white immigration will not solve any of them.
At its core, the march is in support of White Nationalism. The organisers of the march want Australia to be a white-only country, want Australian culture to ‘return’ to a variation of white British culture, and want Australian nationality and identity to be reserved only for white people.
White Nationalism ≠ Neo-Nazism.
While all neo-Nazis are white nationalists, not all white nationalists are neo-Nazis.
While all neo-Nazis are racists, not all racists are neo-Nazis.
A neo-Nazi must specifically believe in and adopt the ideology and policies of the 1930 Nazis.
For example: Neo-Nazism calls for an authoritarian, fascist government to entrench power for the white man across the entire world. On the other hand, Australian white nationalism tends to focus on white dominance solely within Australia, and wants the ‘remigration’ of non-white people to their countries of origin (literally “go back to where you came from”).
‘Fascism’ is a political ideology which demands an authoritarian, highly-controlling government oppresses the needs of the individual in order to maintain the ultimate power of the state. Fascism is not always present in Australian white nationalism, because the movement includes many groups who believe the government is already too controlling of individuals: anti-vax, sovereign citizen and ‘free speech’ groups, just to name a few.
We need to accurately understand the threat if we want to combat it. Oversimplifying the March for Australia rally by calling them all Nazis doesn’t help. Words mean things.
The rally focuses on genuine issues like ‘housing’ and ‘prosperity’, insofar as the marchers believe these things are related to immigration of non-white people. Here are direct quotes from one of the rally organisers known as “Bec Freedom”, in conversation with self-described Christian ethno-nationalist influencer, Laurence McIntyre, on August 11, hosted on Twitter.
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Bec Freedom: “There are people trying to claim the rally as their own and turn it into a ‘Unity March’.”
Laurence McIntyre: “I said this to someone in my DMs who was having a go at me. I was like, if this migrant, multicultural kind of kumbaya community co-opts the anti-immigration movement we're fucked. Because we're going to have another 10 years of migrants debating with other migrants about what Australia– how many migrants should be coming in. And while that's happening, the white Australians here are going to be completely outnumbered. We’re going to lose every bit of political power we have. So you can't fucking, you know, bend the knee. Because I said this in my post – the two major cohorts are the Boomers and the migrants now. So young white people, even if you’re in your 30s, even in your 40s right, you're being outnumbered by everyone.”
BF: “I understand why some people are saying ‘Oh, it's not about race’ – people like that, they're scared. But if we break it down, this is how I try to explain it to somebody, I said: Okay so, protect Australian heritage, culture, way of life. Next step, protect European culture, heritage, way of life. The next step is protect white heritage. So it all means the same thing, it's just different ways to put it. ‘Australian heritage’ by saying it that way, it is more appealing to the public, it's going to deter them from saying “Oh, it's a Nazi rally blah blah blah.” That’s all it means: Australian is white, European white.”
* * *
There are content creators who have been making explainers about why housing affordability is not an immigration problem. It is definitely worth knowing that one person involved in the rally, Hugo Lennon’s family owns Peet, a residential property developer which has an interest in housing prices staying high. The Lennon family business plays a far greater role in housing unaffordability than a random immigrant family… but the thing is, these explanations and logic will only help if the person you are talking to is actually protesting about housing unaffordability.
If they believe in white nationalism and support the true cause of the rally, breaking down housing economics won’t make a difference. The motivator is racism and white grievance. It’s not the cold, hard numbers, but a general feeling that they are less respected (or feared), less culturally relevant, less catered to than they were ‘before’. And the thing is, they’re right.
How do you soothe the fears of someone whose suspicions are correct? I don’t know.
What I do know is that we should be very, very angry at Australia’s political leaders for allowing this to happen through their inaction. I’m not even talking about Pauline Hanson, or the likes of Bob Katter, Liberals Alex Antic and Matt Canavan who court the votes of white nationalists. I’m talking about the past three decades of both Labor and Liberal governments.
There is a housing crisis. There is more wealth inequality than ever before. Australian culture – by that I mean our once thriving arts, music and literature sectors and community groups – is under threat (from capitalism)(I mean, you can’t even watch Saturday football on free-to-air TV anymore!) These issues are all the result of decades of neoliberal political thinking and a cowardly lack of action.
Housing affordability is a political decision. There are many solutions available to bring prices down. They are complex, require careful management and political bravery, but they exist. By refusing to take the actions necessary our political leaders have given the white nationalists a tool to spread their ideas. It’s hard to exploit grievances if people feel secure.
Whatever the news from the marches looks like today, take care of yourselves and each other.
Smart stuff on the Internet 💭
All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:
Alive Internet Theory by Struthless on YouTube
A video from artist Campbell Walker aka Struthless about how he’s combatting the ‘dead Internet theory’, and taking a more deliberate approach to making and consuming content online. “If we think the spirit of this place is dead, then it is. And if we think the spirit of this place is alive, then it also is. The internet can usher in a new era of optimism. And I mean like a really anti-establishment sense of optimism. Because who benefits when you feel hopeless? It ain’t you, it’s whoever gets your money, man.”
‘Hunt down all cops’: Dezi Freeman fantasised for years about killing police in unearthed social media posts on Crikey
By my pal Cam Wilson on the Porepunkah shooter currently on the run. “Freeman posted about his visceral hate of police more than any other topic. Between 2018 and 2024, Freeman posted more than 100 times about police: advocating for their deaths, volunteering to kill and torture them himself, and calling them ‘traitors’, ‘terrorists’, ‘gutter slime Nazis’ and ‘criminal coproach filth’.”
The search for Dezi Freeman continues as Porepunkah reckons with sovereign citizen ideology on ABC
Really interesting long read about the community in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. “But underneath the surface, the shootings have reopened divisions in the community between people whose families have lived here for generations and those who have moved here more recently to get away from the mainstream. In the local Bright Facebook group, a furious debate has erupted after one local posted: ‘Sorry, Sovereign Citizens aren't welcome here.’ The 141-post thread soon devolved into free-flowing insults, as people who sympathise with some of Mr Freeman's political beliefs clashed with those who do not.”