A man who was briefly leader of Australia's most vocal anti-Islam street movement, the United Patriots Front, has a history online of supporting far-right causes, including wanting to hang a picture of Adolf Hitler in every Australian classroom.
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Is Blair Cottrell a neo-Nazi?
He's been at the head of Australia's largest anti-Islam group United Patriots Front, and Blair Cottrell's online profile shows his interest in far-right causes has gone back years.
Victorian bodybuilder Blair Cottrell became the leader of the UPF on Thursday after its founder, "The Great Aussie Patriot" Shermon Burgess quit because members of his own movement were laughing at him.
However, Mr Cottrell quit the movement on Saturday when Mr Burgess returned. He said he would build a new movement, and "possibly a political party".
![Blair Cottrell, pictured in one of his Facebook posts.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180116050034im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/a/l/h/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gkbbvz.png/1445120356188.jpg)
This is another example of the fracturing of the far-right — the United Patriots Front itself was an offshoot of Reclaim Australia.
Mr Cottrell has created a strong personal brand with his fiery speeches at a number of Reclaim Australia rallies. He also led a recent mock beheading outside the Bendigo council offices to protest against the building of a mosque.
Like others in the United Patriots Front and Reclaim Australia, he has tried publicly to distance himself from neo-Nazism.
However, screen shots of his online activity have emerged that show he has expressed radical anti-Jew, anti-woman and pro-Nazi views.
![Blair Cottrell, who was briefly the head of the United Patriots Front, at a rally in Melbourne.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180116050034im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/a/l/h/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gkbbvz.png/1445120356254.jpg)
![Blair Cottrell Facebook comment on a picture of Adolf Hitler](http://web.archive.org./web/20180116050034im_/http://images.theage.com.au/2015/10/16/6936509/Hitler.jpg)
Blair Cottrell Facebook comment on a picture of Adolf Hitler
In one Facebook post that included a photograph of Adolf Hitler, Mr Cottrell commented: "There should be a picture of this man in every classroom and every school, and his book should be issued to every student annually."
Mr Cottrell, who has claimed on social media that he spent time in prison for arson after burning down the house of a man who had sex with his then girlfriend, has also recommended violence against women.
"Women have manipulated me using sex and emotion; demoralization," he wrote in a comment on a YouTube video, "and I have manipulated them using violence and terror.
"We use what we have got to get what we want."
Blair Cottrell YouTube post
In another post he wrote that women are "attracted to strength", and the secret to keeping them faithful was to "care less about them and even crack them around the ear every once in a while".
Mr Cottrell has also written regularly about Jews.
"The Jews are as small physically as they are degenerate in character ... Enjoy your bullying of the lesser nation of Palestine while you can, because the white races are coming for you."
In another he says Jews "infiltrate and subvert entire generations of other nations in a bid for world power" and are "a much deadlier enemy than the violent Islamic pillagers, who just kill and maim openly".
![Blair Cottrell Facebook post](http://web.archive.org./web/20180116050034im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/b/b/r/x/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1444980733701.png)
Blair Cottrell Facebook post
Mr Cottrell, who uploads videos of himself at a whiteboard explaining to his thousands of Facebook followers his philosophical beliefs, also appears to quote regularly from Hitler's theories.
In one video Mr Cottrell explains the power and importance of propaganda using concepts and even words from Hitler's self-serving autobiography, Mein Kampf. In another video, Mr Cottrell's analysis of society and the need for force echo closely the "three pillars" sentiments expressed in Hitler's writing.
Mr Cottrell became the leader of the United Patriot's Front – an offshoot of Reclaim Australia – this week. Former leader Shermon Burgess said of Mr Cottrell: "He's got what it takes and the man is a natural leader."
Mr Cottrell responded in a video on the group's Facebook page saying: "The natural principles of the world endorse and desire struggle ... The moment you stop fighting for your own nationality, your own culture ... that is the moment you deserve to be conquered by another power."
He added: "What we're going to do next is going to be huge. Bigger than any rally, any public demonstration. Bigger than anything. Probably bigger than anything any political party in this country has ever done before."
In a video announcing he was leaving the movement, he said he was considering starting his own political party.
Mr Cottrell did not respond to requests for comment.
Jewish group the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission said it was "shocked and alarmed by the Holocaust denial, the adoration for Hitler, the scapegoating, and the notorious blood libels and conspiratorial age-old myths against Jews that are on full display and which suffuse Blair Cottrell's postings".
People of all faiths should "stand as one against movements that are driven in their loathing for the Jewish people and for other minorities", the commission said.