HE is the self-styled “Great Aussie Patriot”, committed to ridding our nation of radical Islam and “left wing treason”.
But Shermon Burgess has just been dealt a blow.
The former spokesman for Reclaim Australia, who is now spearheading splinter movement the United Patriots Front (UPF), has had an application to hold a rally against Muslim extremism in Cronulla — the “motherland of anti-Islam”, according to Burgess — knocked back.
But as support for the UPF grows, who is this man who claims to speak in the interests of the country and who would seek to reopen a wound in Cronulla that’s taken 10 years to heal?
“We are the United Patriots Front, and we’re not going to put up with your sh*t anymore, because our movement is growing,” he tells radical Islamists in one of his video rants.
“Not all Aussies are scared of ya. Some of us still have some balls left.”
Burgess, of Cooma in southern NSW, says he’s not a white supremacist but has long been affiliated with right-wing patriot movements.
He was a reputed member of the extreme-right Australian Defence League before becoming one of Reclaim Australia’s chief spokesmen.
He parted ways with Reclaim Australia in May and formed his own group, the United Patriots Front, alongside Rise up Australia Party candidate Scott Moerland and Neil Erikson, who has been convicted of anti-Semitic harassment, among other far-right cohorts.
Shermon Burgess (r) and Ralph Cerminara (l) at the Reclaim Australia and No Room For Racism rallies in Sydney on July 19.Source:AAP
On the Facebook pageof his alter ego, the Great Aussie Patriot, Burgess said his split with Reclaim Australia was “due to constant attempts of political infiltrators trying to hijack Reclaim for their own agenda and a severe syndrome of too many chiefs and not enough Indians”.
But John Oliver, who is on the committee behind Reclaim Australia, told the Herald Sun Burgess’ affiliation with the Australian Defence League (ADL) was contributing to the wrong image of the Reclaim Australia movement.
“The fact that he [Burgess] had friends in the ADL was the reason why everyone thinks we are connected in some way, and we’re not,” Mr Oliver said.
“We basically said we don’t want to be affiliated with any groups that have any ties to extremists because they’re the people we are trying to fight. We don’t want to be seen as extremists ourselves.”
The United Patriots Front has more than 9600 followers on its Facebook page. It says it opposes “the spread of left wing treason and spread of Islamism”. According to The Age, the group claims solidarity with the Greek Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, which was founded by Holocaust denier Nikos Michaloliakos.
Though still in its infancy, the group is already making headlines, with the planned Cronulla rally causing consternation and police in Victoria investigating death threats against a Melbourne councillor in Erikson’s name although Erikson denies writing them, blaming online trolls.
Even when he was still with Reclaim Australia in April, Burgess said the group was not targeting every Muslim but was targeting “extreme ideology, the extreme sect of Islam, because it is very dangerous”.
Shermon Burgess in one of his many video messages.Source:Facebook
However, at times Burgess’ rhetoric appears to slip into outward hostility towards all aspects of Islam, the ideology of which he has described as “garbage” on YouTube.
Though he’s refused repeated requests to speak to news.com.au, his videos, posted on social media, provide some insight into the man and his extreme beliefs.
His quarrel with Islam appears to hinge largely on the fact many Muslims avoid eating pork products and wearing bikinis.
“When we get an ideology that comes here and tells us that parts of our culture offends them — bacon, bikinis, pork — all these different things … you have places in Australia where they have Muslim-only swimming hours because Muslim men are so paranoid someone might look at their women for two seconds and they get so offended that they can’t have infidels around at the time,” Burgess says in one video.
Burgess also offers tips for dealing with what he calls “left wing idiots” in the workplace.
“You can mock Catholics all day, you can mock every other sect of Christianity ... but the minute you bring up, ‘Oh, did you hear that imam was a paedophile... they’ll be like ‘Ah you f*cking racist’ even though Islam is not a race, we know that.”
He also warns viewers to find out if their partner is a leftie before the relationship gets serious.
“You don’t want to move in with a left-winger, get them knocked up, or in a woman’s case get knocked up by a left-winger, and then say your point of view and have a left-winger screaming at you in your own house,” he said.
“It’s pretty bad at work ... but when you have a leftie living in your house, holy sh*t there is no escape. You’re thinking to yourself, if there was no such thing as police I’d just bump the f*ckers off.”
The “Great Aussie Patriot” Shermon Burgess at rallies in Sydney on July 19. Five people were arrested and paramedics treated two people for injuries when the protests clashed in the CBD. Picture: AAP / Newzulu / Richard Milnes
In April, the Great Aussie Patriot issued a fumbling apology for comments he made int he video, including that many Aboriginal Australians were “just d*ckheads”.
Burgess deleted the video but it was reposted by critics on the anti-racism Reclaim Whatwebsite.
In it, he said: “Just know, I’ve met some nice Aboriginal people, I really have, but they’re few and far between, really. So many of them are just d*ckheads, man. You see ‘em on metho, passed out, bludging cigarettes, and still blaming the modern generation for what happened 200 years ago, which wasn’t even this modern generation that did anything to them.”
In the apology video, posted to The Great Aussie Patriot Facebook page, Burgess said he was sorry for making the comments but reiterated his belief that contemporary white Australians were not responsible for earlier mistreatment of Aboriginal people.
In May, the UPF held a rally outside Richmond Town Hall in Melbourne, which he said was “against the left-wing extremists that hate our Anzacs, hate the Australian flag and hate our way of life”.
Police were called as the protesters faced off against anti-racism activists in a series of clashes.
In a video Burgess uploaded to Facebook and then deleted — but was captured and uploaded to YouTube — Burgess appears to boast about giving a Muslim anti-racism protester “an absolute flogging” at a rally in Melbourne on July 18.
He also describes “beating the sh*t out of” other people and congratulated a fellow protester for grabbing a “left wing chick by the hair” and “owning her”.
Burgess chose Cronulla, Australia’s epicentre of race riots in 2005, as the venue for another proposed rally because he wanted to see “if there’s still a democracy in this country”.
Burgess with anti-Islam and anti-leftist ralliers in Martin Place. Picture: Toby ZernaSource:News Corp Australia
“There will be mums and dads there, patriotic Aussies from all skin colours,” he says in the video.
“This is not a white supremacist rally. This is a rally opposing radical Islam and communism treason within our governments and within our media. It is time Australians stood together and said: enough is enough.
“We are a multiethnic society of all races and skin colours that live in harmony under Australian culture and Australian laws and we will not allow your bullsh*t ideology to spread here and destroy this nation.”
Burgess describes Cronulla as “the very motherland of anti-Islam”.
Burgess claims an application for a permit to hold the rally in Cronulla was rejected by authorities, however Miranda police told news.com.au they had not received an application.
Burgess said the fact the group was unable to get permission to rally in the beachside suburb “proved a point”.
“This goes to show that the Muslims can hold a rally with 800 members in Lakemba, which is an Islamic stronghold in Sydney, right near the friggin’ Anzac memorial with their jihad flags sticking out of the ground, and they get approved for a permit, yet [there are] Australians who want to have a rally in a predominantly Australian suburb, and democracy fails us. We do not get the equal right to free speech in this area of Sydney.”
Sutherland Shire mayor Kent Johns said Burgess and his group were not “not welcome in the Shire”.
“We celebrate the different nationalities we have in the Shire and that’s what makes us who we
are — a wonderful, vibrant community,” he said in a statement to news.com.au.
“The use of language such as Sutherland Shire being the motherland gives not only racial
overtones but extends towards the Neo-Nazi which I find completely unacceptable.
“Free speech is one thing but racism is another.”
In a statement, NSW Police said they respected the right to protest but would not tolerate violent, disruptive or anti-social behaviour, or any threats to community safety.
“Police are reminding members of the public that it is a criminal offence to incite violence in any form, including via social networking sites,” the statement continued.
“Action will be taken against those who incite violence.
“Police will continue to monitor the situation to ensure the police response ensures the highest level of public safety.”
