Combat 18 : Stickers for the Führer

The Age reports that some Combat 18 (18 = AH = Adolf Hitler) stickers have been spotted in West Heidelberg:

Neo-Nazi group Combat 18 plasters anti-Islam stickers over children’s playground in Heidelberg West, Bianca Hall, August 26, 2015.

A few comments:

1) West Heidelberg is the stomping ground of United Patriots Front (UPF) leader Neil Erikson;
2) These stickers have been distroed around Melbourne for a couple of years;
3) In addition to West Heidelberg they’ve been spotted in Abbottsford, Ascot Vale, Belgrave, Brunswick, Coburg, Collingwood, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, Moonee Ponds, Northcote, Prahran, Preston, Richmond, South Yarra, Strathmore and elsewhere. Generally speaking, they appear along public transport routes;
4) C18 in Melbourne emerged as a project of Creatard Patrick O’Sullivan. The photo below shows O’Sullivan and several of his comrades;
5) Stickers produced by C18 and featuring the slogan ‘Support your local skinheads’ (sic) were previously distributed in Perth in 2012/2013. See : Blood & Honour Boneheads Busted for Bad Stickers in Perth (August 2013);
6) C18/Blood & Honour is to be confused with B&H/Southern Cross Hammerskins. The two groups are rivals;
7) C18 in Melbourne is part of a broader network of neo-Nazi activists and has close relations with White yoof gang ‘Full Blooded Skips’;
8) The network has actively participated in Reclaim Australia and UPF events April-July 2015;
9) C18 was established in the UK in the late ’80s/early ’90s. Leaving aside debates re its effectiveness as a combat and political unit, it’s widely-suspected of having been infiltrated by British intelligence. See : Nick Lowles, ‘ISD – The Money Machine’, White Noise: inside the international nazi skinhead scene, Nick Lowles and Steve Silver, eds (Searchlight, 1998); M. Testa, ‘Combat 18: The Nearly Men’, Militant Anti-Fascism: A Hundred Years of Resistance (AK Press, 2015).

See also : “Heil Hitler”: Germany’s frightening neo-Nazi riots, explained, Annett Meiritz and Amanda Taub, Vox, August 25, 2015.

Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad

The aftermath of the Reclaim Australia (RA)/United Patriots Front (UPF) rallies of July 18/19 has produced some interesting results.

• To begin with, the President of the UPF, Shermon Burgess (AKA ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’), has declared that the boys will be rallying again in Cronulla in a few months. How NSW authorities and especially Cronulla locals react to this news will be fascinating to watch. Burgess himself has previously boasted of his attendance at the ‘riot’/’White Civil Uprising’ in Cronulla. See also : Cronulla Anniversary: A Kiwi Perspective (December 27, 2006) | Communists on Cronulla (December 3, 2006).

• Somewhat remarkably, a few days after July 18, Burgess published a video confessing to having engaged in a group assault upon a group of ‘anti-fascists’ in Melbourne. An edited version of the video is below:

Given the intense media scrutiny surrounding the weekend’s events — and the considerable criticism to which police have been subject — it seems possible that police may be compelled to take a closer look at the alleged incident Burgess refers to in the video: time will tell.

• It’s also remarkable that Burgess has chosen to promote a song perfomed by defunct Belgian reich ‘n’ rollers Kill Baby Kill. KBK were a neo-Nazi band that split following the suicide of its lead singer, Dieter Samoy. His decision to kill himself apparently occurred after he learned that he would be forced to abandon his teaching career after being convicted of a racist assault. The band toured Australia several years ago in a tour organised by local neo-Nazi groups Blood & Honour and the (Southern Cross) Hammerskins. The Hammerskins gained some small notoriety in 2012 after one of its members, Wade Michael Page, shot dead worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. See also : Dieter Samoy : Still Dead Baby, Dead (January 15, 2012) | Dieter Samoy : Dead Baby Dead (January 20, 2010) | Wade Michael Page and the (Southern Cross) Hammerskins (August 15, 2012).

• A few articles of interest:

Inside the strange dynamic of Reclaim Australia’s rallies, Martin McKenzie-Murray, The Saturday Paper, July 25, 2015.

Trainspotters note: “At the top was a thick picket line of counter-protesters – largely a mix of anarchists and Socialist Alliance members, but not restricted to them.” A majority of socialists present were members/supporters of Socialist Alternative and the Socialist Party (though members of the Alliance were undoubtedly present).

Reclaim Australia: ‘concerned mums and dads’ or a Trojan horse for extremists?, Joshua Robertson, The Guardian, July 24, 2015.

Comment: Robertson’s article includes extensive quotes from John Oliver, described as an ‘RA spokesman’. Unmentioned is his role as the sometime President of the ‘Patriots Defence League of Australia’, a handful of whose members were present on July 18 in Melbourne. Several months ago, Oliver established a GoFundMe campaign in an attempt to obtain my d0x:

(Note that ‘Australians Against Islam’ is described as a splinter group from RA in Brisbane, est following the July 19 rally.) ‘Concerned dad’ John — whose staunch opposition to racism, fascism, neo-Nazism and to the intimate involvement of his patriotik comrades in neo-Nazi and fascist politics can surely never be questioned — also expressed the view that I should be hunted down like a dog, have my testicles removed and then attached to my forehead:

Top bloke, John.

As for the PDLA, its ‘Eastern Victoria Charter’ was present on July 18, or at least its President, Damien Kourevellis, and its Vice-President, Some Other Bloke, were. (On Kourevellis, see also : Court told violent man not detained, Steve Butcher, The Age, March 26, 2009.) Here they are: a) pictured walking down an alley and; b) having a yarn with neo-Nazi Glenn Anderson:

[Above img via Wardenclyffe Photography.]

Reclaim Australia re-energises radical nationalism, Troy Whitford, The Conversation, July 24, 2015.

Trainspotters note: “Reclaim Australia’s position is probably best articulated through the propaganda arm, The Nationalist Alternative, which was established last year. It argues that the agenda of Australian nationalism is to promote Australia as ‘… an organic nation founded upon Western/European ideals, and created by it’s [sic] descendants primarily the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic ethnicity as well as fellow Europeans from northern, central, southern and eastern Europe.'”

While RA’s position may arguably be best expressed by or thru Nationalist Alternative (NAlt), it is not RA’s propaganda arm, nor was it established in 2014. Rather, NAlt was founded in 2008/9 in anti-mosque agitation in Williamstown. Further, from the time of the emergence of both RA and Burgess adopting ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’ persona, the principal propaganda arm for RA has been ‘Nationalist Republican Guard’ AKA ‘European Australian Civil Rights League’ AKA Melbourne-based neo-Nazi (and criminal anti-Semite) Neil Erikson. Erikson left the group last year, but not before he and some of his comrades outed Mark Hootsen as NAlt’s leader. See also : Nationalist Alternative throw their former Führer under the bus #antifa (December 14, 2014) | Nationalist Alternative : “just a bunch of students from Melbourne” (July 8, 2009).

• ReclaimWhat on Facebook maintains a close watch on the various shenanigans of RA and the UPF.

• Later today I’ll republish some of the comments of UPF leader Blair Cottrell on the subject of Jews, politics, Jews, nationalism and Jews.

A (very) brief guide to the contemporary Australian far right

Update (December 5, 2016) : A (very) brief guide to the Australian far right (December 2016 Edition).

Recently I’ve received several requests for a guide to the Australian far right. Below is a very brief summary of most (but not all) of those groups and projects which I think can reasonably be placed in this category. I’ll add further detail and perhaps some links when I get a chance …

Anti-Antifa Australia

A project of neo-Nazi skinhead and Brisbane resident Chris Smith, AAA exists largely as an attempt to monitor and expose anti-fascists in Australia, details of which are published on Smith’s blog. Smith has a criminal record for robbery and assault.

Australia First Party (AF)

AF is the largest and most well-established of the far-right groups. Founded in 1996 by former Labor MP Graeme Campbell, AF is currently having its federal registration reviewed by the AEC. Dr James Saleam is the party’s current leader, a position he assumed a few years after being let out of prison for organising a shotgun assault upon the home of Eddie Funde (then the African National Congress representative in Australasia). Previously, Saleam was the leader of neo-Nazi group National Action and in the late 1960s/early 1970s a member of the Australian Nazi Party. The party regularly contests elections and its HQ is in Sydney — where it has the largest following. Two AF reps have been elected to local council (Bruce Preece in Adelaide and Maurice Girotto in Penrith – both resigned their memberships following their elections). Saleam and other party members frequently post on Stormfront (the world’s leading neo-Nazi/White supremacist website) and occasionally on Daily Stormer (another US-based neo-Nazi site).

Australian Defence League (ADL)

The ADL formed within the space of a year following the establishment of the English Defence League in 2009. Gaining only a fraction of the support the EDL did, the ADL has undergone numerous splits, fractures and changes in leadership, but of those who’ve nominated themselves its leader Martin Brennan and Ralph Cerminara – along with Nathan Abela – are probably the best-known, along with Shermon Burgess (‘The Great Aussie Patriot’). There have been dozens of Facebook pages created by and for the ADL and it exists as a very loose network of anti-Muslim activists. Sporadic public rallies in Melbourne and Sydney have been poorly-attended but the group has been very active on social media. See : Who Are The Australian Defence League?, New Matilda, January 29, 2014.

Australian League of Rights (ALOR)

The Grand Old Man of Australian fascism, the ALOR has been around for a very long time, successfully defending God, Queen & Country from the ravages of International Communism. The group’s weekly newsletter may be read online and is useful for gaining some insight into the ‘Lunar Right’ and the many, er, interesting, characters which populate its ranks.

Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA)

A yet-to-be-launched political party modelled on Geert Wilders’ Dutch party — largely the creation of The Q Society.

Australian Patriots Defence Movement (APDM)

Est by Darren Beatle Bailey-Morris, the APDM is (was) a short-lived, Brisbane-based project very similar to the ADL and PDLA. The APDM is largely defunct but may continue to eke out an existence online and has most recently been invoked as a supporting organisation to the UPF.

Australian Protectionist Party (APP)

The APP formed as a split from AF in 2007 when one of its Sydney branches – the two most prominent members of which were Nicholas (Hunter) Folkes and Darrin Hodges – elected to defect. It was active for a few years, producing propaganda and holding events, but is now largely moribund. Tasmanian Andrew Phillips is its leader.

Blood & Honour (B&H)

B&H is a neo-Nazi musical network, originally est in England in the late 1980s, and has been operating in Australia for over 20 years. Activities are generally confined to selling neo-Nazi muzak and merch (via 9% Productions) and holding gigs. It functions essentially as an adjunct to the SCHS.

Christian Identity (CI)

CI is a tiny sect on the fringes of the far right with a handful of adherents and a minuscule social media presence. One, James Lawrence, popped up at the May 31 UPF rally.

Christian Separatist

A tiny, bizarr0 White supremacist kvlt. ‘Pastor’ Ken Cratchley is its chief propagandist in Australia.

Citizens Electoral Council (CEC)

The CEC is the name under which the LaRouchite kvlt travels Down Under. Seemingly most active in Melbourne, the group presents a range of entertainingly batshit theories about the world Lyndon LaRouche inhabits.

Combat 18 (C18)

C18 is another foreign import, having its origins in England in the late 1980s. The group was est in order to protect B&H gigs and other fascist events from disruption by anti-fascists and has a rather bloody history. It’s widely suspected that it was infiltrated by British intelligence on account of the close relationship b/w C18 and Ulster paramilitaries. In Australia, the ‘brand’ has been adopted by a number of different neo-Nazis including in WA, where C18 was responsible for a poorly-executed attack upon a mosque (see Bradley Trappitt). AFAIK, its only active ‘branch’ currently is in Melbourne under Patrick O’Sullivan.

Creativity

A bizarre, White supremacist ‘religion’ est in the US some decades ago. It’s undergone numerous, often violent splits: its main exponent in Australia is Colin Campbell (Adelaide) and Patrick O’Sullivan (Melbourne). Scott Harrison was a ‘Reverend’ in the ‘church’ for many years before joining the Young Liberals.

Eureka Youth League (EYL)

AF’s yoof wing; largely inactive.

European Australian Civil Rights League (EARL)

A one-man band est a few years ago by Melbourne-based neo-Nazi activist Neil Erikson. EARL later morphed into NRG. Erikson has a criminal conviction for harassing a Melbourne rabbi and was close to the ‘Crazy White Boys’, a short-lived neo-Nazi group responsible for badly beating Vietnamese student Minh Duong in 2012.

Full Blooded Skips (FBS)

A White yoof gang based in Melbourne which emerged shortly after the SCS, the FBS are closely-linked to NRG and a shifting network of neo-Nazi skinheads. Several FBS members were present at the April 4 Reclaim Australia rally in Melbourne and the May 31 UPF rally in Richmond.

Golden Dawn (GD)

Golden Dawn is the Australian branch of the Greek neo-Nazi party. Its chief spokesperson in Australia is Iggy Gavrilidis. GD has a very small support base in Melbourne and Sydney and over the last few years has raised funds for its parent body and organised a handful of protests in conjunction with AF and a smattering of local neo-Nazis and fascists.

Klub Nation/Klub Naziya

A bizarr0 groupuscule based in Sydney. At one point KN attempted to infiltrate and take over the Humanist Society of NSW. It didn’t work, but the nazis had a red-hot go.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

With an obvious indebtedness to the US, in numerous, generally short-lived permutations and combinations, the KKK has been a minor player on the far right for decades. In one form or another, it continues to generate occasional stories and the image of the KKK is regularly invoked in various rural and regional settings, but the organisation itself is largely moribund.

Nationalist Alternative (NAlt)

NAlt is a neo-Nazi group which has its origins in anti-Muslim agitation in Melbourne. Its leader is Mark Hootsen, who has travelled to the US in order to receive political training with Stormfront. NAlt was present at the April 4 Reclaim Australia rally in Melbourne.

National Democratic Party of Australia

NPDA was launched by UPF activist Blair Cottrell following the April 4 RA rally. Based in Melbourne, the group is tiny but active. Cottrell is a neo-Nazi who believes in a Jewish conspiracy to control the world, is a Holocaust denialist, recommends Mein Kampf be read by every Australian school student and claims to have been imprisoned for arson.

Nationalist Republican Guard (NRG)

NRG is EARL rebranded and since the beginning of 2015 has worked closely with Reclaim Australia, UPF and Shermon Burgess in order to produce agitprop promoting these groups and individuals.

New Right (/National Anarchists) (NR)

The New Right emerged in the mid- to late-2000s as a project of Sydney-based fascist Welf Herfurth – Herfurth envisaged NR as the theoretical expression of ‘national anarchism’, a tendency on the far-right with origins in the UK fascist movement. It has produced some propaganda, staged a few publicity stunts, and attracted a handful of neo-Nazis (ex. Bradley Trappitt) and other fascists to its banner but is currently largely inactive.

One Nation Party (ONP)

See : Pauline Hanson. Initially a deeply attractive formation for the far right, the history of ONP since the mid-’90s is long and complex. Its activists belong to a broader far-right milieu, with some degree of overlap with groups like AF. The possibility of a reconsolidation of the far right in AF remains, though is somewhat complicated by Hanson’s periodic political revivals.

Party for Freedom (PfF)

Modelled on Geert Wilders’ Dutch party, PfF is what happened when the Sydney branch of APP decided to hold a public rally demanding that the Australian government blow up refugee boats. APP disavowed the action and so the Sydney branch of APP decamped to form PfF. It holds regular events in Sydney but has no discernible support outside of it. Chief spokesperson is Nicholas (Hunter) Folkes.

Patriotic Youth League (PYL)

The PYL was est in the early 2000s as the yoof wing of AF. It was not a successful venture and collapsed a few years later to be replaced by the EYL.

Patriots Defence League of Australia (PDLA)

An ADL splinter, the PDLA is largely a Facebook creation, with numerous, very small branches across the country which hold semi-regular, private meetings. In its latest incarnation, the PDLA was established as an incorporated association (Australian Defence League) which later changed its name to PDLA. Mark Lenthall, TJ (Torin) O’Brien and Daniel Sutcliffe are its current office bearers. Also prominent is John Oliver of Newcastle, who helped organise and spoke at the Reclaim Australia rally in Newcastle on April 4.

Q Society

The Q Society is an anti-Muslim propaganda group which functions as the ideological ballast for the anti-Muslim movement in Australia and largely consists of educated, middle class, bigots. See : International guests Q up for bigotry, Andy Fleming, Overland, March 10, 2014.

Reclaim Australia

Largely the brainchild of online activist and ADL member Shermon Burgess (‘The Great Aussie Patriot’), RA was the first anti-Muslim project of its kind to generate anything more than minimal public interest and to successfully mobilise anti-Muslim networks. Its April 4 rallies attracted several thousand supporters who attended over a dozen rallies across the country to which the largest and most effective opposition was in Melbourne. Following April 4, RA split and Burgess est the UPF. RA’s next series of anti-Muslim rallies is scheduled to take place on the weekend of July 18/19. Currently, RA’s online activities are largely directed by Bendigo businesswoman and anti-Muslim activist (‘Stop the Mosque in Bendigo’) Monika Evers.

Restore Australia

Another one-man band, Restore Australia is the political vehicle of Queensland-based anti-Muslim activist Mike Holt. Holt/Restore Australia is part of a shifting network of anti-Muslim activists, largely active online on sites like Facebook.

Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP)

The political vehicle of Christian fundamentalist Pastor Danny Nalliah (‘Catch the Fire Ministeries’) who is perhaps best known for blaming the Victorian bushfires of 2009 on the state government’s decision to decriminalise abortion. Recently, RUAP has entered into an alliance with RA and the UPF.

Southern Cross Hammerskins (SCHS)

SCHS is the Australian franchise of neo-Nazi skinhead gang the Hammerskins. It was introduced into Australia 20+ years ago via Scott McGuinness, the lead singer in neo-Nazi band Fortress (now defunct). The Hammerskins last came to world attention when in 2012 one of its members, Wade Michael Page, shot dead six worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

Southern Cross Soldiers (SCS)

A short-lived yoof gang from Melbourne which came to public attention following the police killing of Tyler Cassidy in 2008. The group has been re-invoked by Shermon Burgess as a supporter of the UPF.

Squadron 88 (S88)

S88 is a tiny neo-Nazi group based in Sydney. Its titular head is Ross ‘The Skull’ May, an ageing bonehead and one of Dr Jim Saleam’s closest allies. S88 has organised a protest against the construction of a mosque in Penrith and has obtained some small media traction via stuffing letterboxes in Sydney with badly-composed anti-Semitic tracts.

United Australian Front (UAF)

A new player on the far right block, the UAF brings together many of the leading organisers of RA and UPF. Its members were present at the RA rally of April 4 and UPF rally of May 31 sporting UAF merch.

United Patriots Front (UPF)

A recent split from RA, the UPF brings together neo-Nazis, fascists, White supremacists and Christian fundamentalists and conceives of itself as the Antipodean expression of various European fascist parties and movements. It organised an unsuccessful rally in Richmond on May 31 to protest socialism; the rally attracted around 50-70 participants. On June 27, the UPF staged a tiny rally outside ABC HQ in Melbourne to protest Islam and the presence of Zaky Mallah on the previous week’s episode of Q&A. Members present were Troy Bloodstone, Warren Broadhead, Blair Cottrell, Neil Erikson, Kriso Richardson, Chris Shortis, Thomas Sewell and Linden Watson.

Volksfront (VF)

VF is another neo-Nazi skinhead organisation, a US import which was active for several years but whose current status is unknown. Its parent body in the US was declared dissolved after the massacre by VF associate Wade Michael Page. Its principal activist is Chris Smith (Anti-Antifa Australia) and while active VF worked closely with the NR (Welf Herfurth).

White Pride Coalition of Australia (WPCA)

The WPCA was est in the early 2000s as a coalition of neo-Nazi and White supremacist groups. It was eventually disbanded but briefly re-emerged last year before disappearing again. Prominent members include(d) neo-Nazis Peter Campbell (Sydney) and Jim Perren (Brisbane). Both men are responsible for the ‘Whitelaw Towers’ blog.

Women for Aryan Unity (WAU)

In Australia, WAU is a tiny group very closely associated with the SCHS. Recently, it raised funds to support the Azov battalion in the Ukraine, to which many neo-Nazis and other fascists across Europe have been drawn.

antifa notes (june 6, 2015) : fascism consolidated

Zionists … I’m sick of hearing that coward word. Get some guts people and just say Jews, they are all Jews or Jewish servants. For thousands of years these Jews have been expelled and chased out of European Nations for the same shit. Napoleon and Hitler were the last to stand against them (please don’t reply to this comment with ‘muh holocaust’ bullshit, cause that is a load of crap too). I[‘]m fed up with all the tiptoe words like [I]lluminati and [Z]ionist … I’ve found that all these so-called ‘truth-seekers’ delve into free information until they hit the plateau of the real truth; that point at which they must admit that there is no [I]lluminati or [Z]ionist conspiracy, only a Jewish conspiracy. Very few people make it past that plateau, they are too pacifist and too egalitarian to accept the reality of the Jewish nature and so they become weird peace & love people who forever talk about the ‘universe’ because they failed to acknowledge the reality of racial dispositions of the Jews. 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, only now they are actually succeeding.

~ Blair Cottrell, leader of United Patriots Front (Melbourne)

Above : Leader of the Rise Up Australia Party, Danny Nalliah, chillin’ with the United Patriots Front leadership (Blair Cottrell on far right).

1) Der Führer (Shermon Burgess AKA ‘The Great Aussie Patriot’) has declared that ‘patriotic’ members of the far right will be entering into a Grand Coalition in order to smash the left in Melbourne on July 18 (the date of the next ‘Reclaim Australia’ rally). As of this date, Burgess has declared that the alliance consists of Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front (two groups already on board with July 18), the Southern Cross Soldiers (a defunct group of white teenagers), a Facebook group called ‘Aussie Brotherhood’ and the (remnants of the) Australian Defence League. He further hopes to enlist the Australia First Party, the Patriots Defence League of Australia and a handful of other Facebook groups what hate Mooselems. (It seems likely that boneheads belonging to the ‘United Australian Front’ and the ‘Full Blooded Skips’ will also be ‘smashing the left’ in Melbourne on July 18.)

Ho hum.

Beyond this, the UPF has begun to more solidly locate itself as the Antipodean expression of European fascism, being celebrated in a video which includes the Front National (France), Svoboda (Ukraine), Jobbik (Hungary), National Action (UK), Party of the Swedes (Sweden), Slovak National Party (Slovakia), Forza Nuova (Italy), Golden Dawn (Greece), The Immortals (Germany), Ataka (Bulgaria) and National Rebirth of Poland (Poland) — as well as Alianza Nacional (Spain), Britain First, British National Party, English Defence League and Party for Freedom (Geert Wilders’ mob, not Nick Folkes’).

(On the Front National, see : Front National’s victory will have a serious impact on both France and the future of Europe, Aurelien Mondon, May 27, 2014 | On Svoboda, see : Who are Ukraine’s fascists?, Matthew N Lyons, threewayfight, March 4, 2014 | On Jobbik, see : Hungary heads to the right, Deutsche Welle, May 13, 2015 | On National Action, see : #hitlerwasright: National Action and National Socialism for the 21st Century, Paul Jackson, Journal for Deradicalization (2014) and Anti-Fascist Network (UK) on ‘National Action’ | Note: The Party of the Swedes — a neo-Nazi organisation — announced its dissolution in May 2015. In March 2014 the Party celebrated International Womens’ Day by attacking and stabbing a group of feminists. | On Forza Nuova, see : The BNP Partied with European Fascists in Rome This Weekend, Leonardo Bianchi, VICE, March 5, 2014 and Tear gas, clashes as anti-nationalist rally in N. Italy turns violent (VIDEO), RT, October 19, 2014 | The leadership of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in Greece is currently on trial; in Australia, nominal XA Australia leader Iggy (Akis) Gavrilidis has expressed support for both RA and moreover UPF. See also : So who were these nazis anyway? Australia First & Golden Dawn in Brisbane, May 4, 2014 | On the (now-defunct) German neo-Nazi project “The Immortals”, see : YouTube Neo-Nazis: The Far Right Updates Its Online Image, Sarah Mühlberger, Spiegel Online, February 12, 2013 | On the National Rebirth of Poland (NOP), National-Radical Camp (Polish: Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny, ONR) and Polish fascism, see : The Rebirth of Radical Nationalism: Welcome back to the ’30s (November 17, 2012) | On Ataka, see : What’s left when you are (far) right in Bulgaria?, Nikolay Nikolov, Open Democracy, April 29, 2014.)

Burgess’s followers tend to be political illiterates so may only be expected to thrill at what they understand to be ‘patriotic’ movements in Europe. Those with some grasp of European politics will understand that the UPF consciously wishes to emulate extreme-right parties and movements. In any case, the context of Burgess’s declaration of unity is the following:

• The launch of the UPF on May 31 was not very successful. The UPF failed both to hold a rally outside the Richmond Town Hall and to ‘smash the left’ and attracted only a relatively small number of supporters (between about 50-70).
• The presence of the nazi (Glenn Anderson) in the t-shirt — and the failure not only to eject him from the rally but to instead welcome and march alongside him — has not played very well, either in the eyes of the general public or among a very small segment of the UPF’s followers.
• As a result, the UPF has been forced to revise its position on the groups (RA especially) previously denounced as weaklings and traitors. In other words, the UPF has demonstrated it has even more limited appeal than RA and to attract hundreds if not thousands of ‘patriots’ to rally in Melbourne on July 18 requires reconciling with RA as well as attempting to draw together the dregs of the ADL, PDLA and other, principally social media creations.
• The fact that the leadership of the UPF in Melbourne — Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson — are neo-Nazis does not register with Burgess’s followers and has received zero attention in mass media reporting to this date.
• There’s ample opportunity — time and other resources — available to ‘the left’ in Melbourne to organise to oppose and disrupt the fascist rally on July 18. Whether it does so is an open question. See : RALLY AGAINST RACISM – Stop ‘Reclaim Australia’ – Melbourne and Melbourne Counter-Rally Against racism, Islamophobia and the far right.

2) In Perth, a small group (perhaps a dozen or so) of anti-Muslim activists gathered in order to … have a slave auction. Or something. Anyway, the rally was ostensibly called in order to express solidarity with persecuted Christian minorities in Muslim countries. I dunno who organised it but a large group of counter-protesters rocked up anyway.

3) In the northern suburbs of Adelaide, some bloke has been stuffing letterboxes with leaflets promoting neo-Nazi group ‘Blood & Honour’. It’s not clear from the Channel 7 news report which faction of B&H distroed the leaflet: one faction is aligned with the (Southern Cross) Hammerskins, the other ‘Combat 18’. In Melbourne, the principal propagandist for C18 is Patrick O’Sullivan, who in March was kicked out of a gig for distributing flyers promoting ‘Reclaim Australia’, but is mostly known for slapping up poor-quality B&W stickers around town denouncing Muslims and praising ‘White Power’.

Curiously, Neil Erikson — one of the leaders of the UPF in Melbourne along with Blair Cottrell — has links to both B&H factions, having attended gigs organised by SCHS/B&H in Melbourne as well as having “Aussie Aryan friends” in the loose network of boneheads that is C18 in the city.

4) Finally, a mysterious cat with the body of a man is suspected of having stolen political maverick Buddy Rojek‘s cap from him when he attended the UPF rally on May 31. Accordingly, Rojek has been making noises online about organising a protest at Channel 7 studios in Melbourne in order to castigate the media for failing to highlight this dread crime.

Neo-Nazis @ #ReclaimAustralia in Melbourne

I thought I may as well feature here a few of the neo-Nazis who attended the Reclaim Australia (RA) rally in Melbourne yesterday. First, Shermon Burgess’s #BFF Neil Erikson (far right w camera and orange vest) of ‘Nationalist Republican Guard’:

The bonehead in the centre of the above photo, Joey Edwards, was very active on the day. The man standing in front of Erikson with his hand on his comrade’s shoulder, Linden Watson, was also very active. He and Erikson later helped launch the ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF).

Both Joey and Neil attended the 2010 (2011?) Ian Stuart Donaldson memorial gig organised by local neo-Nazi groups Blood & Honour and the Southern Cross Hammerskins and can be seen below grappling/dancing with one another:

The bonehead was accompanied by a few other nazis, including some bloke sporting a ‘Full Blooded Skips’ (FBS) hoodie (L) and on the (R), Moody McCann, who is now (2016) a member of the ‘Soldiers of Odin’:

TBH, I’d forgotten the FBS existed. In brief, it was one of several tiny gangs formed around the same time as and in the wake of the emergence of the ‘Southern Cross Soldiers’, a short-lived yoof gang. Otherwise, the FBS forms part of a loose network of neo-Nazis and white supremacists based in the northern suburbs. At least one member of FBS, Dan Newman (AKA Danny Krieger), also fancies himself a member of another neo-Nazi micro-sect called ‘Combat 18’:

Another nazi to throw his weight around on the day was Glenn Anderson (AKA Glenn Androvski):

Also present on the day as a small organised group distributing leaflets was Nationalist Alternative. Below is the group’s leader Mark Hootsen:

Another NAlt member, Fergus Hunt (from the nu-metal band Art Of Wor):

And here is an old photo of one the other members of the group present on the day:

The boys of NAlt were joined by the Cottrells: Christopher (left) and Blair (right):

I’ll probably add moar photos during the week as they’re made available.

Dani the neo-Nazi goth:

[Update : Daniel Jones posted the following on my Facebook page, denying any neo-Nazi association …]

Beardy neo-Nazi:

Golden Dawn supporter @ RA:

Finally, in a rather humourous development, an organisation known as the Australian Jewish Communal Lobby (no, I hadn’t heard of it either), has offered to pay court costs for any RA supporter who was arrested at the rallies:

A pity that the AJCL was not available to provide legal support to Neil Erikson when he was convicted of harassing a rabbi in Melbourne last year.

slackbastard

Anarchy and apathy battle it out on @ndy's blog.

Tagged with Southern Cross Hammerskins

Combat 18 : Stickers for the Führer

Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad

A (very) brief guide to the contemporary Australian far right

antifa notes (june 6, 2015) : fascism consolidated

Neo-Nazis @ #ReclaimAustralia in Melbourne